"Chapter 2: Amber of the Valla"
By robblu (https://pastebin.com/u/robblu)

URL: https://pastebin.com/F3gu50MM
Created on: Friday 28th of July 2017 12:16:42 AM CDT
Retrieved on: Saturday 31 of October 2020 03:18:57 AM UTC


Chapter 2: Amber of the Valla

Amber found herself being marched at a steady pace through the village. She had barely seen any of it on her way in, practically unconscious at the time. There were primitive huts all over the village of various sizes, made of wood with patches of straw or great big leaves for a roof. The big, older woman who had been at her bedside lead her by the shoulders, walking just behind her. The huts all seemed empty, and she realized why when she saw a large semi-circle of women in front of one of the largest huts. Amber's heart raced and her eyes watered. "What's going on?" she asked the big woman quietly. She had made no threatening actions despite towering over the young girl. It was enough that Amber felt she could trust her as much as anything else around her.

"The chieftess must see you," she replied, a low but gentle voice to her.

"Now?" Amber replied nervously, but the woman nodded and squeezed one of her shoulders in a big, calloused hand.

"I won't leave your side for an instant," she replied, seeming to ignore the question before stepping into the ring of grown women. They were of all sorts, from what Amber could see, but all so unlike her. Every one of them were big and strong in some capacity. Even their thinnest were built like athletes or the hard-bodied warriors that acted as guards when she went into town. Like her big guardian, they were dressed in primitive clothes. Many wore furs, with very few silks or actual cloth among them.

Also unlike Amber, they wore anything at all. They had left nothing but her own short, dark-brown hair to cover her skinny body. She'd always been short for her age, and the many tall onlookers made things no different for the girl nearing the end of her teens. Straight across from her and her hostess, the only solitary woman sat before a fire. She was clearly one of the oldest among the women, but just how old was hard to put her finger on. The women there were all in such remarkable shape that she could have been anywhere from a weathered 40 to an impressive 70, for all she knew. She stood calmly behind her fire, a long shawl of some dark fur around her upper body and down past her knees, a crude but well-made skirt covering her bottom.

There was quiet apart from the crackling fire, the women all watching the frightened, naked girl. She had no idea what to expect. She remembered her parents in the carriage, then the sound like thunder... and that was it. There she was in the big pile of furs with the muscular woman watching her.

At last, the same woman she woke up to stepped in front of her. She was built even bigger than most of the women, a mountain of muscle with a layer of softness piled on top of her to give her a bit of feminine curves. She looked to be about her mother’s age, somewhere into middle age but in a kind of shape that she couldn’t have imagined her mother maintaining. Long, light brown curls came down over her shoulders, and her hips and chest were covered in a large fur each as if for a pretense of modesty. Amber had seen dancing girls at festivals and traveling circuses wear more than that. Though to that end, despite her pretty face, her keeper looked to be strong enough to lift Amber in one hand, if not rip her in half.

The woman spoke just in front of her in a booming voice. "I am Bella the Huntress! Slayer of Winterfang!" she declared to the other villagers. There was some quiet nodding, but no immediate reaction as she leveled out her tone, still speaking louder than Amber would prefer for being so close. "I found this child, alone and afraid by the roads of men. There was only wood and bodies beside her, and she was touched by death by the time I found her." She stepped back enough to rest her heavy hand against Amber's back, looking to her briefly before back at the crowd. "Here she stands alive. She is strong like valla. I ask for her to be welcome."

There was the slightest of whispers from a few of the women. The oldest woman walked from around the fire, and Bella the Huntress took a step away from Amber to take one knee and lower her head respectfully. Amber watched as the woman in charge came close, her body lean and a bit bony, but her face still a strange, sculpted beauty to it, and her every muscle tightly wound and solid from decades of hard work. She took Amber’s chin between her strong fingers, looking into her wide, green eyes as Amber stared back. She wasn't sure what else to do.

"What is your name, child?" she mused, as if wondering out loud more than she was actually asking her. She circled Amber slowly, running a hand carefully over her, squeezing or prodding here and there with curious and delicate fingers.

"I'm Amber," she answered in her dry and quivering voice. She looked to Bella when the old woman's orbit went behind her, but the warrior woman stayed with her head obediently downward. Amber gave a short squeak of surprise when the old woman's warm hands gave her rear a firm pinch.

"A fair name," she noted, a bland shrug in her voice. She lifted up Amber's arm, and she let it move with her grip limply like she was at the doctor's office rather than surrounded by some of the biggest women she'd ever seen.

"What's going to happen to me?" Amber managed to ask. The old woman seemed to think for a moment, rubbing a hand curiously at her belly below her ribs, something that might have tickled in a less grim situation. For her small size, Amber still had a bit of baby fat that hung onto her.

"Well, you seem healthy enough," the chieftess appraised, stepping back in front of her. She took her chin again, this time pulling down gently. It took Amber a moment of her expectant staring before she opened her mouth for her, and the athletic old woman looked inside like her father used to with horses. "And it seems you'll live. Perhaps you'll even be good at it," she smiled, wrinkling the bit of soft skin around her eyes. She patted Amber on the shoulder and turned back to the fire, crouching down in front of it and fiddling with something in it. "We accept her."

At that, Bella rose and stepped closer to the girl. It wasn't quite a comfort to be more confused than scared, but it felt like an improvement on the mood. The women shuffled anxiously, and Bella took hold of Amber’s hand. Her big palm and fingers could wrap entirely around Amber’s, and it held firm. It was like when she held her mother's hand crossing a road or around the big animals, assuring but making sure that she didn't run off.

The chieftess turned back towards her seat (or throne, Amber supposed), taking a small bowl and dunking it into a nearby barrel. She brought it to Amber and pressed it up against her lips, tipping forward. "Drink. It will help," she assured, and Amber did her best to swallow the strong-smelling liquid as some of it spilled over her front. The chieftess still leaned it forward until it emptied, and Amber coughed at the thick, almost smoky taste of it. Her vision blurred a bit and she felt a brief wave of dizziness wash over her before it was gone, but a tingling in her fingertips remained.

She was distracted by that as the chieftess addressed Bella, only seeming to catch the second half of it.

"And you take this child's life as if it were your own? That her fate be yours?"

"She shall BE my life, chieftess," she replied firmly. The elder nodded and reached the short way to the campfire, drawing her tool from it; it was a thick mass of furs wrapped around a length of metal, and at the tip was a circle with an ornate, wavy line through the center. Amber grew up on a farm. Even in her mild haze, she knew what a branding iron was. She looked up and saw on several of the women the same mark; old, circular scars with swirling lines inside, just near the top of their right breast.

"Be strong, child," the elder said evenly. "Sometimes, it is all we can do." Amber had just enough time for a deep breath before she thrust the iron against her chest.

Amber didn't scream, maybe for any number of reasons. She knew it was coming, and she knew you had to do a brand clean. If there was too much squirming, they'd have to do it again, and it wouldn't be any better for her.

Her hand was also squeezed by Bella just before she did, a minor distraction but enough for her to squeeze the giant hand back, digging her nails into the calloused skin.
She was so tired, too. The accident had taken a lot of out of her, and what little she had left was miles away, and no help to her now. Nobody who would hear would help her.

If Amber had to answer, it was just too hot to scream. It pierced her skin like a shallow knife, and the smell of burning meat hit her nose. It felt like it burned the air out of her little lungs, sinking into her skin and just staying there for countless seconds.

She grit her teeth until her jaw hurt. She ground her feet in the dirt. She sweat like she'd walked a mile, and wished she'd learned more swear words to hiss under her breath. But she couldn't hear the women mutter, or see Bella quietly, grimly smile at the fact that she didn't scream.

She felt the agony stop, breathing heavily for a few seconds and letting her sense of reality come back to her. She was shocked back when the chieftess splashed another handful of the powerful drink over her brand, sizzling quietly. She looked at the spot on her chest, seeing the neatly singed mark through her teary eyes. The chieftess had already set the poker down beside the fire, a few red specks across its edges.

"There. You are valla," the chieftess explained, plain and certain. "You will love, you will live, and you will be strong, for they are what we do best. Be proud, child."

After their stretch of silence, the women burst into wordless shouts, too high and boisterous to be war cries or outraged, so Amber took them as signs of joy. She wiped her tears with the back of her arm, still looking at them with a confused and hurt expression. Bella stooped down in front of her, a thick thumb brushing the wet streaks from her cheeks. "You were beautiful," she said, giving Amber a soft smile. "Come. You have a home to get to."

She placed a hand on Amber's lower back, gently guiding her forward the way they'd come. Amber wasn't sure what she'd expected by the offer of home, but she'd known it wouldn't be the farmhouse. It was the hut she had woken up in, but she hadn't been awake or aware enough to look at it closely. All together, it was about the size of a large living room. The walls were sticks of wood wound together, with some random furs or antlers of long-dead animals strung up here and there. The ceiling was covered in a mix of large leaves and more wood, a small hole left at the center just above a shallow fire pit. The fire itself was down to a few barely-burning embers, and a pot of water big enough for her to fit inside rested on a thick stone over the flames. Another broad barrel with even more water was placed not far of.

There was the most basic of furniture around the hut, and even that was sparse. There was a low table, but no chairs, and a few simple wooden boxes or cabinets were set up in one corner. There was the bed she'd slept in at one corner, seeing for certain now that it was simply a heap of various furs. One thing was very clear about the valla, whoever they were: they loved killing and skinning things.

Bella had stepped over to one of the dressers, calmly removing the fur around her chest and setting it into one of the drawers. As she did, she took out a loincloth from inside, one like hers but noticeably smaller. It was a dull brown, like it had been aged and worn down from a much more lively color at one time. "You can use this. I wore it as a child," she offered, smiling warmly at the young girl. Amber took it gingerly and looked it over, but she didn't know what she expected to find about the garment. She didn't find it anyway.

"For your body," Bella offered helpfully, her smile curling a bit more. "I have chest wraps, but you'll want to let that heal first."

Amber looked at the loincloth a moment, then started to sniffle. "You were very brave out there, little valla," Bella told her, getting to one knee so she was more or less down to her level. "I've seen older valla trained from birth who scream at their marking ceremony."

Amber clutched the piece of fur tightly and started to cry. Bella opened her arms carefully and Amber threw herself into them, squeezing at her tightly with fear and sorrow and anger in her heart. It was her first time feeling the burly woman, a strange texture of a soft give in her full figure just before she seemed to feel an unyielding wall of muscle underneath. Bella hugged her back, wrapping her inside the powerful arms against her soft chest. Her tears fell over broad shoulders that put the farmhands to shame as they rippled from hugging the scared little girl so tightly.

"It's alright. No one can see," Bella assured her softly. "Let it go."

Amber sobbed and sniffed several minutes, her little fingers gripping and scratching at the big woman's back before she spoke. "What about my parents?" she asked softly. "I want my mom..."

"I found them beside you..." Bella told her, and Amber felt her stomach sink down through her toes. She should have known, but she had to hear. "There was no life left in their bones. But I heard your breathing, and I either brought you here or left you for bandits."

"Why am I here? What are you doing with me?" she demanded, though her voice far more small and afraid than she wanted it to be. She didn't have the strength left in her to be angry. Not while the deep burn still tingled at her skin, even after whatever the chieftess had thrown on it.

"You are here because you are valla. I will care for you, and teach you, and then... you will do what you wish among us."

"You keep saying that!" Amber blurted. "You're all valla!? You just... you kidnapped me!?"
Bella gave her a confused look, holding onto her shoulders but easing her back a few inches to meet her eyes. "Child, we... we risk much by taking you in. The land of men is full of wickedness and disease and ugly magics. We valla live pure here." She gestured at her house, nothing but pots and wood, stone and furs.

"Valla, we wear this together." Bella removed one hand from her to tap her breast. It had the same brand on her skin, much older and scarred over, but still deeply marked into her chest. "Bound through flesh and blood by the mark. All of us are sisters, all give to each other. You were strong enough to survive, so I thought you seemed very valla. I welcomed you to my family, and I am honored to wear it with you."

The big woman smiled at her warmly, Amber rubbing around the tender skin of her own mark. She looked around the room a bit before looking back at Bella with a baffled look. "Wait, did you just adopt me?" she demanded.

"Excuse me?" Bella asked, her head tilting a bit like a puzzled dog.

"Did you just make me your kid? Without even asking me?!"

Bella looked at her strangely again, but nodded slowly. "Yes... like that. You are my duty to protect and teach..."

Amber shoved back from her chest, briefly alarmed at how easy it was. The woman felt like she was full of bricks, and she practically bounced off of her. She regrouped as best she could. "You're not my mother!" she snapped.

Bella blinked at her, and while Amber expected some look of hurt or outrage, Bella looked... surprised more than anything. "But I want to be."

Amber returned the look, if a bit more baffled than angry about the matter now. Bella held out her hand palm up towards Amber's. Amber lifted a hand for it briefly, but recoiled and held her hand like she was afraid Bella could steal it. The amazon let her hand stay steady and patient, waiting for her.

"I swore my life on you," she explained calmly, still that gentle smile on the other end of her thick arm. "I will love you as my own, see you fed and protected, and teach you to be valla." Amber's face shifted a bit as she started to wonder how many ways these valla used the word "valla."

"Also, you are still naked. Not that there is anything wrong with that in your own home."
Amber blushed sharply, stepping over the upper loop of the loincloth and trying to wiggle it around her hips, only to find it was still too big to stay up without her holding onto it.

"Like this," Bella laughed jovially, reaching around her waist to take it from her hands. She slid it around a bit, carefully showing her how to knot the short strips cut out on the end. It hung a bit low on her, reaching a bit past her knees, but stayed snug like a long skirt. "A valla who can't tie her loincloth," Bella mused. "You do have much to learn."
"We have pants where I come from," she grumbled back, but couldn't be terribly angry when she was being dressed and handed clothing. “And dresses.”

"Waste of furs," Bella muttered as she studied her a moment. She took hold of one side of the cloth in both hands and ripped it halfway up, repeating it on the other side to give Amber some more freedom with her legs. "How does it feel?" she asked at last.

Amber tugged at the loose flaps of fur over her rear and front. "Breezy."
"You will appreciate your space later when you're running," her sudden foster-mother insisted, firmly patting a broad hand on her butt. "Trust me."

"Why will I be running?" Amber asked, taking a few testing steps as Bella watched her curiously with that same smiling face.

"Because you are valla. We hunt and stay strong. I will not raise my child to become some silly housewife." Amber winced a bit at the idea, but Bella finally stood up again. "Are you weary?" she asked. "If you hunger, I have some elk from today, but if not, the furs and I are ready to rest when you are."

Amber's stomach hurt, but she wasn't hungry. She was tired from all the shaking and crying, and exhausted from feeling that stinging pain of the brand. "I want to sleep," she mumbled, but she honestly wanted to wake up from whatever this was.

"Of course, my love." Bella went to the furs and laid down on her side, watching her expectantly. The pile was thick enough on the plain dirt ground that Amber hadn't realized it wasn't a mattress when she was in and out of consciousness.

Amber paused a moment when she realized the implication, but she was too tired now. She'd argue more in the morning. For now, she conceded to sliding into the furs, some dozen or more animals’ worth, with Bella wrapping her arms around her in a loose but powerful hug. It was... oddly comforting, all things considered. There was no blanket to speak of for the warm night, but with the wall of muscle pretending to be her mother wrapped around her, it was hard to not feel safe.

"I did not birth you," Bella said softly behind her as her breath breezed through Amber's hair. "But I will honor you as if I had. You are just as valla as I."

Amber had a lot of questions. Were there really only women here? Did that mean that Bella had been abducted like she was at one point? Was there anyone her age there? Was there any way out, and did she have anywhere to go if there was?

Soon, the steady breathing of the mountainous woman and her gripping hug were too much for her, and she drifted to sleep. She had dreams, neither good or bad. So much was on her mind that it was all just replaying the strange moments in the last hour of her life, and still not making any real sense of them.


Chapter 3: My First Valla Sunrise

Amber woke up when her guardian shifted around her. The girl mumbled and started to rise, but Bella rested a hand on her head and gently held her down. "Rest," she advised quietly, more firmly than Amber would have liked, but listening as she let herself drift back off to a light sleep. She heard some shuffling and dull noises as Bella worked at something, only bothering to truly open her eyes once. The amazon had carved apart some kind of meat, tossing it onto the rock that the cauldron had been resting on last night. It sizzled like a hot grill, and Amber forced her eyes closed again but her stomach started to raise trouble at the smell of the hot meat growing ready. She had to rise before too long.

"Listening to your belly," Bella chuckled as she pushed herself into a sitting position. The woman was at least wearing one of her fur tops now, and she dunked her hands into a shallow bowl of water to wash away the blood from the meat. "Good to see you can follow your instincts."

Amber could see the fire going strong under the improvised grill, and noticed the smoke going out of the hole in the ceiling. The valla weren't fancy, but she guessed they knew what they were doing. She pushed herself up with one arm, and hissed a bit as her shoulder stung. She looked down at the spot she was branded, the mark still there with some of the skin sealed into the shape, but scabbing showing over some of the less clean markings.

"Good morning to you too," Amber muttered, resisting the urge to rub at the valla mark. It hurt to move it, and poking it felt like a bad idea.

"They are all good mornings, so yes it is," Bella chuckled, as if it were some old joke she was proud of. "Sit at our table, child. This deer was strong enough that you can taste the fight in him."

Amber obeyed and sat at the table, though with no seats she took a moment to figure out what to do with her feet. She settled on sitting with her legs folded in the dirt, tugging the rear of her loincloth to act as a seat of sorts. Bella came back a moment later with some broad leaves like primitive napkins, two large cuts of the venison laid out on each. Each sizzling piece was skewered on a thin spike of wood like a kebab. They were blackened in some parts from being overcooked, but at this point it was more assuring than if she had it cooked rare in this place.

"Did you hunt this one yourself?" Amber asked, not sure what else to say as she picked it up. It was obvious no utensils were here. Bella nodded, and watched her with hope in her eyes until Winterfang took a careful bite. The meat was hot, but the skewers made it easy to handle and bite into. It was fresh and a bit on the plain side, but not much about Amber was fancy. She wasn't much for spices, and her simple life was never much to provide them.

She also couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. She took a big bite, pulling off with her teeth and chewing thoughtfully. Bella gave her a concerned look, Amber finally gulping it down with an apologetic look. "It's very good," she said, licking some of it from her lips and raising it for another bite.

"Is it?" Bella asked, raising her own skewer and taking a huge bite, ripping it off heartily and letting some of the flecks of meat fall off over her chest and lap. She smacked her lips and wolfed down more before she was even finished with her first mouthful.

Amber found herself smiling the first big, dumb smile she had since she'd arrived. The woman was so oddly eloquent and mannered, in her sort of noble savage way, but there was. Eating like a hungry dog who'd just learned how to reach the table. She caught herself giggling while Bella licked her fingers, picking bits of meat from her clothes and body that she'd missed before popping the morsels in as well.

"Yesh," she agreed before swallowing her last  few scraps. "I suppose it was very good!" Amber snickered, and it was hard to keep control over her appetite at this rate. She bit into another big chunk of meat and tore it loose, hurrying to feed her stomach as quickly as it demanded. Bella's chuckling joined with hers, the women gobbled down their meat like they were racing, only on vastly different scales. It was only so long before they were both messy with grease, smiling widely at each other over a few scraps of flesh.

"Wherever do you hide such a belly on a tiny child?" Bella teased with a grin, reaching over to tickle her fingers over Amber's ribs and side. Amber had to giggle and spasm from the startling rubbing.

"I'm not tiny!" she squeaked, the smile still on her face. "You're all just too big."
"Then you'll have to become 'too big' too," Bella advised, biting her next piece in half before popping the other half into Amber's mouth. She was surprised when Bella's fingers went directly into her mouth when she did so, having to wait until she removed them again before she started chewing. Bella had been her only major contact in the village, and if she was any indicator, they didn't have much for personal boundaries. Considering everyone back in Amber's town, with their modest dresses and soft-spoken courtesy, she supposed she had to expect it from a bunch of half-naked women in huts.

Bella finished the meal with a pail of water, dunking a pair of shallow, clay-looking cups, clearly handmade and asymmetrical. It reminded Amber of the kind that a craftsman in her town would throw away or pass off to the less fortunate as something not worth selling. They both washed down their meaty breakfast, Amber apparently forgetting just how thirsty she'd been as she emptied her cup. She set it down on the simple table, where Bella wordlessly dipped it in for a second helping. Amber only guzzled half of it this time before stopping herself to avoid choking. Bella leaned over to rub her back a moment, making Amber cough a bit before it came out as a small burp instead.

Amber blushed at the rude little noise, but Bella grinned hugely at it. Her thick chest visible flexed before she parted her lips for her own larger, deeper belch that filled the cabin for a moment with her gutteral roar.

"You're disgusting!" Amber accused, but she couldn't contain her giggles.

"I am too proud for it to be disgusting," Bella insisted, letting Amber finish her drink as she went back to the fire, dipping her hand into the pot of water. "Were you ready to clean yourself?" her guardian asked, running her wet hand through her brown-blond hair.

Like her thirst, the exhausting trauma of last night had distracted her from just how filthy she was. Dry sweat and tears left sticky patches on her, and the tough meat left its mark on her face and lips. It just hit her how badly she wanted a bath.
"Yes," she said warily. Bella nodded and patted the edge of the pot.
"Well the water couldn't be finer than it is."
Amber hesitated out of modesty, but she realized that the maternal amazon had seen her naked for most of the past night, plus however long she had been asleep before that. She undressed from her simple clothes, setting them on the table before she went to the pot. She held the edge to try and climb into it, the lid higher than her waist, but Bella was quick to take her by the armpits and lift her up. She shuffled her hips to lose her own attire before stepping into the large pot, sinking them both into the hot water with Amber settled into her lap. The bath felt amazing after all this time walking and sitting in dirt.

"So..." Amber muttered, running her hands through the makeshift tub. "Mothers bathe with their daughters here, do they?"

Bella laughed again and hugged the girl to her body. "Poor little pup," she chimed, running a handful of water over Amber's cheek. "Of course they do. Whenever they can. No one should have to sit through a lonely bath when they can avoid it."

Amber curled up a bit, rubbing at her sides to scrub at herself under the water. "Did you?" she pried carefully.

"Yes," Bella said solemnly, dipping her hands into the water to rub it through the child's hair. "Many of my nights were warm but alone." She was quiet for a moment, only the splashing of the steaming water to be heard as Bella tended to her new child. "I would bathe like this with my mother after suppers," she said conversationally. "She would lick the mess from the meal off my face, and I would lay on her while she cleaned me, listening to her breathe like it was music."

Amber seemed to get the message, as every brazenly exploring hand scrubbed down her skin. Every motion seemed to set off a ripple of muscles buried in the big woman beneath her, and the limited space let her feel every flex and push. Amber winced as the wide hand went up her belly and reached for her chest, but the strong fingers rubbed delicately over the valla brand.

"Does it still hurt?" Bella asked softly against her ear. Amber shook her head as her hand brushes away some loose skin from the wound. "It's alright if it does. Valla may show pain, we simply do not let ourselves be ruled by it."

"No... it's fine," Amber insisted. "It's sensitive, but it doesn't hurt." The heat made it tingle, as if trying to rekindle the fiery brand that caused it, but it mostly felt numb after hurting so long. More sore than burning. She hadn't had anything worse than hot soup before the valla, so she wasn't sure if it was just a part of the normal process, or something in the substance the chieftess had applied to it.

"That is good," Bella said plainly. She stayed with her work, and Amber could hear the faintest of voices and women working in the distance through the walls and ceiling of the hut. But they were far away, and far more she could hear the humming of the towering woman as she rubbed her down, massaging her muscles and scrubbing away all the filth from her skin. All the while, she hummed deeply and tunelessly, making her big round bosom vibrate and flex softly behind her.

Amber felt herself relaxing in her grip, almost ready to fall back asleep with the rubdown. She was like a ragdoll in her new guardian's strong hands, and her arm lifted limply when Bella raised her wrist to scrub her underarm. Amber just laid comfortably in her lap, letting her strong hands work their magic and watching bits of dirt and loose hair float away in the water.

After uncountable minutes, she felt one of Bella's hand hold her, but the cleaning stopped. She still splashed and moved, but Amber was still listlessly facing away from her, her bottom snuggled into her lap. She had to clean herself, after all, but she wasn't letting Amber go either.

"Should I help?" Amber offered, rolling over enough to look at the amazon. It was the first time she'd seen another woman naked that she could remember, especially so close, and it was a stranger sight than she'd expected. Bella's body was an artistic maze of curves and bulges, hard-earned muscles that appeared to have nothing to do with weights or fitness training. The woman was built like some of the larger farmhands, or the big woodcutter's she saw going in and out of the taverns. She was a result of a lot of rich food and hard work, positively huge like a walking mountain. She looked like everything she ate must have been chased down, killed, and prepared by herself.

"You don't need to," Bella replied, rubbing the water up a long and thick arm. "I can shoot a bird in mid-flight. I can wash myself."

"Right..." Amber still watched her with quiet fascination. "Am I going to be that big some day? After living here, I mean."

"You may be," Bella shrugged casually, still perfectly calm and steady in the bath with her new daughter. "I was a babe like anyone else, so it took a long time and lots of hunting. I'm sure you'll grow up into whatever you wish to be."

"I'm not a baby," Amber said half-heartedly, realizing she was still in the other woman's lap. Bella just smiled at her warmly but didn't reply. She finished her washing and took a dry fur from the bed, wrapping it around Amber in a motion that made her imagine what being hugged by a bear was like. She dried them both off and handed Amber back her clothing before she hung the makeshift towel on over an edge of one of the dressers. She then returned to the fur pile to take one of the larger furs from the bedding and pulling it out to lay across a part of the floor.

Amber didn't know what else she was supposed to do, so she stood out of her way and watched and Bella tugged at it fussily to lay it out as flat as it would go on the dirt floor. "What are you doing?" she asked at last.

"Getting ready to train you," she said with a proud, maybe even excited smile. "I haven't been able to train an apprentice, let alone a daughter before."

"Train me for what?" she asked carefully, still keeping her distance from the fur.

Bella gave her a smaller smile and a look that suggested she was being ridiculous by asking. "To fight," she summarized. "Valla live, valla love, and valla fight. It is what we have always done and what we do best."

Amber went a bit pale at this. "You're going to fight me?" she asked quietly, concerned now that she had seen exactly what the woman was made of in the bath.

"I’ll be training you," Bella laughed at her response. "Of course I won't fight you. Not really, anyway. It would not be fair of me to fight someone who does not look like the have slain a bear before."

"You hunt bear too?"

"And worse," Bella smiled rather proudly, showing her teeth with her grin. Amber looked closer at the fur on the ground, and she couldn't tell just how big it had to have been to cover so much ground.

"So what am I doing? To train, I mean," Amber asked as she approached her foster-mother carefully.

"Well I won't be attacking you, as I said." Bella finally seemed satisfied with the fur and stood in the middle of it. She patted her thighs as if trying to call a dog to her. Her persistent smile held its ground as it kept trying to take over her whole face. “So come on. You attack me."

"Just..."

"Just fight me," Bella insisted brightly. "Try to hurt me. Come at me however you can."

Amber stepped hesitantly towards her and onto the fur, but Bella's hand reached out and tugged her sharply by the wrist. "No hesitating," she insisted. "Act first. You're a valla, and fighting's in your instincts." She tapped the back of her index finger on Winterfang's brand, tender enough to give her a quick shocking sensation but not quite pain.

Amber paused another moment, then pushed out towards Bella with both hands. She had gotten into harmless scraps back at her homeland, but nothing she'd consider actual training. Then again, she wasn't even sure if this was how you trained someone, but a giant woman who killed wild animals had to know something.

Bella flexed her body and let Amber crash into her, shoving with her hands into the bigger woman's fur-clad chest. Bella hardly budged, and raised one arm into Amber's midsection to push her back a few paces. "Good. Now harder, little one. Come! You couldn't hurt me if you tried," she insisted, thumping her chest with her fist.

Amber sucked in another breath and charged again, grabbing the motherly woman's hair. Bella caught her wrist and pulled firmly to one side, letting Amber stumble wildly out of control her side. Amber turned and swung a desperate backhand fist at the amazon. Bella leaned back and blocked it with another meaty arm, smiling all the while. It seemed that as Amber tried harder to hit her, Bella just seemed to smile and enjoy herself that much more. She was caught up in trying her best, but a bit of her wondered if she was that confident, or if she would be even happier if Amber somehow landed a hit.

"Aghhh!" Amber let out a frustrated shriek and dove at her sparring partner. As she connected, Bella leaned back as if she were falling, but planted a hand on her back and twisted to shove Amber down onto the furs. Her big hand pressed against her back, slamming her against the thinly padded ground as the air rushed out of Amber's lungs. She coughed to try and suck in a fresh breath as she tried to rise as if she was doing push-ups, but Bella was still holding her down. Amber could hardly budge her an inch before she was forced back down, trying several times in a mix of squeaks and grunts.

"Let me up," Amber insisted, blushing heavily from effort... and embarrassed about how childish she sounded.

Bella grinned at her and flexed her fingers on the skinny girl's back, grinding her against the ground as her fur rubbed against her squashed little. "You are strong enough. Get yourself up. "

"Uhnng... I cannnn't," Amber insisted.

"Then you are not angry enough," Bella insisted, still smiling serenely. She gave a sharp smack against her ass, getting a high gasp from her adoptive child. "Come now! You kissed the fires last night and tell me there's no rage in there?"

Amber scrambled and kicked at the ground, getting a bit more headway but still trapped by the massive woman. She stopped to catch her breath, her heart pounding as her modest chest puffed against the furs. "You're too big," she admitted. she hated to whine, but how could she be expected to be put through this and succeed?

"And you are small. But runts always surprise their sisters," Bella insisted. "You have all the valla rage squeezed into a smaller pot. Boil it and let it explode, little pup."

Amber tried again, pushing hard against her. Her thin arms shook with effort as she forced her eyes shut, letting out a long groan as she worked against her rough teacher. The hand moved up, Bella giving small pushes and squeezes but still being worked back. Amber was sweating heavily with all the effort and tumbling around, and even if Bella was reducing the pressure on her as she pushed, she was proud. She remembered that once she could walk she would fight with her mother, and she would proudly show some of her friends the bruises she got from their more intense practice sessions. Amber might not be ready for those, but already she admired the promise in her.

Amber got up high enough to roll out from under her grasp, laying on her back and breathing heavily. Bella reached out again, Amber flinching but only receiving a soft pat on her belly. "Good girl," she praised, rubbing the warm, exposed stomach. "I can feel muscles grow under there already." She wriggled her strong fingers, tickling Amber's abdomen and forcing her to break her rest to giggle and squirm in her grip.

The sweating girl shook her head wearily, but she was still smiling as the strong hand rubbed her more steadily, as if rubbing the big woman's hearty calm into her through her palm. "You've earned a short break," she praised, her hand roaming down below her stomach in a way that made Amber previous weary muscles tense. She hadn't exactly had much experience below the loincloth, as it were, and Bella seemed to notice.

"Are you alright? Did you break a muscle?" Bella asked with a touch of concern to her voice, but her hand kept massaging at the space between her navel and groin.

"No, I'm not hurt," Amber said meekly, looking at the amazon's calm, inquisitive face. "But you're... touching." She couldn't seem to fix her gaze on Bella's face, slipping modestly away from her, just to look at the fingers that rubbed just inside the loose waistline of her loincloth.

Bella's eyes softened with her smile as her hand retreated. Amber was a bit relieved, but her heart still raced from the nearly intimate touch. "Ahh, I see. My poor little man-born pup." She reached a hand under Amber's shoulder instead, lifting her up while the smaller girl was still blushing heavily. "You never knew the touch of a mother?"

Amber shifted her weight as she tried to sit comfortably again without showing too much under her loincloth, ending up sitting with her legs spread out and pulling the bottom flap under her bare bum while the front settled between her thighs. "Sort of. My..." She wasn't sure she wanted to talk about her dead mother yet. Part of it was missing her, of course, but it felt like she would offend her savior and hostess, for some reason. "I've been hugged and kissed before, but no one's touched me like that..."

Bella clicked her tongue softly as she palmed Amber's cheek and stroked it over her hair with that confident, benevolent smile that she usually only saw on statues at the temples of the kinder gods. "You've missed much by living in the world out there... a mother and child are the deepest love. The first love, since the First Mother gave life to the second valla from the first. The daughter knows her first breath given by the mother, and her body grows so that she may be like her. The mother is the first to hold her and give her pleasure in her first smile and comforts, and we valla carry this tradition well into their later seasons."

Amber shuffled a bit on her loincloth, still feeling warm in her cheeks and groin. "So... you have sex with your daughters here?" she asked carefully.

Bella paused as she seemed to shuffle some terminology in her head. "It is expected to feel your first release from her mother. Just as my mother did to me when I came of age, and how near every valla comes to know love and their bodies."

Amber blushed again, rubbing her sweaty hands over her thighs. The loincloth was wide enough that she found it was actually pretty handy for that sort of thing. "So... by release, you mean...?”

Bella looked almost shocked at her for a moment. She leaned down and kissed Amber on the lips, another first for the girl. Her body was just starting to cool off from the wrestling practice, but she immediately felt a heat rise up from her lower belly. “Poor little thing,” Bella cooed to her, barely parting her lips from her so that the words blew out and danced across her mouth. "You miss one of the greatest gifts two could share."

Amber wasn't experienced in any sense, not with boys or with girls. The other girls her age sometimes talked about their experiences, but it wasn't something she had pursued. She was busy with the farm, and she had been what her family had assured her was "just a late bloomer." It came up whenever she didn't have a boy she liked or was teased for being too short.

But now, this woman's big, calloused hand ran over her stomach and rested a moment at the edge of her loincloth. Amber didn't know what she expected to happen, but her body was warm and relaxed. The ache in her chest seemed to have vanished, despite the rest of her skin feeling especially sensitive right now. Bella smiled at her, seeing Amber staring up at her wide-eyed and deeply and slowly. She was surprised, confused, but there was no fear that she could see in the girl. Perhaps even a deep, desperate sense of hope.

"Such a beautiful child," Bella smiled, laying down beside her and stroking a hand through her hair. Amber's eyes fluttered at her touch, having never felt so vulnerable in her life. She was all but naked and practically laying in the dirt next to a giant of a woman and her hands were roaming freely over her body. Despite all her confused emotions, something in her just wanted to let her proceed.

Bulla curled up against her, kissing gently at her face as her hand took the fur wrapped around her chest, lifting it up and exposing her chest to the air of their hut. Bella's lips kissed at her cheeks, almost tasting her slowly before her lips reached Amber's again. She felt the girl tense against her, but Bella let her hands wrap around her to hold her against her, fully embraced.

Amber's body relaxed, curling up closer to the amazon. Bella's hands rubbed over her back and neck, massaging her new child's muscles as she relaxed against her. "There's a good girl," she purred against her lips, feeling the girl growing warmer still. She reached down to rub a strong hand on Amber's breast, gently rolling and squeezing it over her chest. Amber's mouth hung open, even as Bella stopped kissing her. She just smiled and watched her reactions as she appreciated her attentions, giving a needy, high-pitched moan.

"Easy now, love," Bella almost laughed at her virginal excitement. "The best is yet to come. I promise." She whispered all her praises and teasing, like it was their little secret. Like it would never leave their hut. Like it was this private world where Bella did nothing but praise and please the strange new girl.

"Please," Amber whispered back, eyes and mouth open wide. Her legs squirmed against her, acting on some confused instinct as Bella rubbed her thumb over Amber's nipples, hard as pebbles at the tips of her breasts. She was small for her age, but at least healthy handfuls grew from her chest.

"Of course," Bella mused back, nodding gently. A hand went down, the other tending to her breast while the mother's fingers brushed aside the smaller girl's loincloth. The air against it was still startling, but Amber didn't recoil or jolt from it. She shivered slightly from excitement at the brush of the fabric and fingers against her thighs.

"Your reward for your trust," Bella explained, just as her index finger curled between her daughter's thighs. It pressed past the thin barrier of her pubic hair and slid just inside her womanhood. Amber had never had anything closer to her than her underwear, so her fingers clenched on Bella's skin and clothes as if she was afraid to leave her.

"I have you, my love," Bella spoke softly and squeezed her to her. Bella's voice was a bit lower in her contained excitement, but she remained in control as her mother and teacher. The finger ran gently up and down, never burrowing too deep as her steady hand spent its time simply coaxing her folds into spreading slowly. Amber opened her legs out further, an unspoken invitation and plea for her touch.

"Good girl," Bella praised softly, her smile growing wide with pride and her finger swept in slowly deeper. Amber was clinging to her tighter still, her hot little breaths puffing against Bella's soft chest. She nodded rapidly, unable to find words for the new sensation beyond simple approval.

"Now... this is what we call a pearl," Bella cooed to her gently, almost as if she were a child. She supposed she was to the big older woman, but that was an afterthought at best. Bella's finger reached deeper still into her, pressing the end of her finger directly against the little nub of flesh and holding it there, as if she were pointing it out to her daughter. Amber let out a sharp gasp at the pressure, almost jumping off the furs if it weren't for Bella holding her against her.

"It is very precious, and very delicate," Bella went on explaining, rubbing her finger very slightly up and down. Amber could tell it was only slight because she felt every twitch and shift of her finger against the sensitive growth. "It is a woman's secret, and it is her dearest treasure. You protect it, and share it only with those that you love, understand?"

Amber breathed heavily, her eyes glassy and her mouth hanging open enough that she drooled over the edge of her mouth. Then Bella's finger slid back out of her.

"Do you understand?" she said, the slightest bit more firmly. She ran her finger up Amber's thigh, reaching her stomach before she could answer. Amber noted how her finger felt warm and sticky, looking down enough to note the clear fluid that coated the finger that had entered her.

"I do. I promise," Amber panted, her voice tight and desperate. "Only ones I love. Please... please, mama!"

The last word made Bella pause, but only to smile wider still. "Anything for my child," Bella chimed gently, reaching her hand back down. She wanted to reward the girl for being more docile and appreciative, so this time she slid two fingers into her. More than that looked like it could hurt the poor thing. The big digits pushed in until both of their tips wriggled and teased against Amber's love button. Amber's body arched and pressed up against Bella's as the amazon mother slid her up higher, leaning down as if to kiss her. Instead she locked her lips onto one of Amber's hard nipples, sucking and kissing noisily at it.

Amber gasped and shivered as the noise of Bella's mouth mixed together with the faint, wet sucking noises of Amber's womanhood around her fingers. "Yessss..." Amber hissed in mindless pleasure, fingers raking over Bella's skin.

"Yes what?" Bella muttered before placing her open mouth around most of Amber's breast, batting at its nipple with her tongue.

"Yes, mama!" she squealed out, her hips starting to buck in time with the pumping fingers. There came a sort of fog over Amber's mind as her whole body shook uncontrollably, as if she were having a seizure. She felt wonderfully numb as her vagina clenched around Bella's fingers a moment before she released her orgasm over them. It was her first, and she wouldn't be able to move or think for well over a minute afterward. She felt something coming out of her, Bella smiling proudly and keeping her fingering going until Amber seemed properly emptied. She rolled her fingers around slowly inside of her before slipping them back out gently. Even then Amber felt every touch down there, sweaty and panting on the fur as if she had just run a marathon.

"Oh wow," she said at last, trying to steady her breathing and staring up at the ceiling. "I can't... what was that?"

"You had your first orgasm, my love," Bella chuckled with a shake of her head. "The goddesses were generous to give them to us when they made us. Tell me. How does it feel, so fresh and new?" Bella curled up against her, still holding the child who shivered now and then in small aftershocks of pleasure.

"It's... insane. It's so big and throbbing, and it's all... so warm and fuzzy inside. I'm so hot and tired, but so excited too."

Bella smiled and cupped her cheek, turning her to kiss her firmly on the lips again. "How about this? Whenever you want. Any time we are alone, I will grant them to you."

Amber's eyes fluttered dizzily at her. "There... I can have more than one?!"

Bella hid nothing in this laugh at her daughter's words. "Oh the things that we say after our orgasms! Yes, my little one. You can have as many as you like. You'll grow used to them, but..." She reached down and tapped on Amber's crotch gently, getting a squeak and a jump from the smaller lover. "You'll find you need rest between them for now."

Bella lifted her fingers to her face, licking them clean in front of her. The smell was earthy, but a bit sweet to Amber, like some sort of exotic juice. Bella must have caught her staring, as she smiled at her and playfully thrust a finger into her mouth. Amber's eyes widened, instinctively suckling on it. It was a strange flavor, not something she was against per se, but shocking and not overwhelmingly strong.

Bella took the finger out with a husky giggle and licked the last of her hand clean. "It's a taste you will grow used to before long," she advised vaguely, holding her tightly against her. Amber just buried her face into Bella's breasts, the big warm flesh billowing up and down slowly against her cheeks. Amber took her time relaxing with the sturdy woman, and Bella made no moves to rush her.

"Thank you," she muttered softly from between her mother's breasts.

"It was a pleasure," Bella assured her, rubbing her back with a powerful hand. "It's a shame you hadn't felt it sooner."

"I mean everything." Amber nuzzled up against her as if trying to find some way to be even closer to her. "All you've done for me so far. It's... it's all strange and scary for me. I called you a kidnapper, when you've given me food and shelter. And... this. Thank you so much for being my mother."

She looked up at Bella, the big woman already looking down at her. Amber kissed her on the lips gently, a small but powerful gesture to the big woman. Her great arms hugged her tighter to her, her heart stirred by the peck on the lips even after the intimate touch.

"I will keep you safe," Bella whispered softly to her. "I will guard you with my life, child, and make you strong. I will keep you fed and happy. This I promise." She eased her grip to bring Amber back into view. She took Amber's fingers, moving them to touch the old brand on her own chest. "I swear it as your sister of the valla, and as your mother."

Amber took one of the big hands in both of hers, rubbing it a bit until Bella lifted it helpfully. She guided the warrior mother's hand to her own brand, tingling more than it hurt by now, though that may have been the afterglow of her orgasm talking. "And I'll never thank you enough. I owe you my life."

Bella smiled back at her, eyes watering up as they quietly touched each other's' matching marks. Neither had the words to continue until Amber's stomach spoke up for them with a low growl. Amber blushed again and Bella laughed heartily, sitting back up and patting her daughter on the thigh.

"Ah! The one reason we cannot stay inside and touch our pearls all day!" she joked, pulling Amber's loincloth back around her hips and standing up. "I can fetch us a supper."

She sat up and paused, turning back towards Amber. Her legs were a bit shaky, but she was able to sit up and pull her fur top back on. "Would you like to see?" Bella offered.

Amber looked up at her puzzled as she pulled on her top. "See what? Dinner? Yes please!"

Bella laughed and gestured at the flap of furs that covered the door to the hut. "Of course, my precious gem. But I meant the village. Do you want to meet the valla?"