July 27th, the Year of Our Lord 2282
Early Morning
As the Vertical Bird rotates its wings and rises back into the air, Tears-In-The-Rain clutches her right hand onto her shawl to stop it blowing off her head. Rather than pay attention to the Ammonites or Canaanites raising a shout in the town of New Canaan she instead focuses her attention on the rear… Compartment? Where Warband Leader Goris is waving farewell.
Chief Krono bade her farewell in Denver City, since his business with the other Chiefs would require him to remain there for more time. This was the earliest they could guarantee her safety in returning her home, and if she strained her ears she could dimly hear the sound of the flying machines of the Shi tribe far over head. He did not want to take a risk because it was known that the Ouroboros tribe has their own flying machines; more primitive than what his tribe-alliance could command but easily capable of harming a Vertical Bird.
She stood there, ignoring the closer shouts now calling her name.
The great machine-demon named Argos stealing her away from her people had been terrifying. She can admit that. Stealing women to wife was not unknown amongst the White Legs. Sometimes, it even produced happy marriages, though she had long ago decided for herself that anyone trying to steal
her had best hope that their manhood was proof against knives.
She did not think that Argos had a manhood. And if he did, it was probably proof against knives. Still, she would have tried.
A giant machine-demon stealing away women from many tribes sounded like something from a bawdy tale told by drunken virgin boys. A giant machine-demon stealing women for a smaller machine-demon with many bodies who thought that it was a matchmaker…
"Rain!"
Now, she turns away from the distant flying machine. Smiling, she extends her arms to catch her delighted sister Dancing-Upon-The-Graves-Of-Her-Foes as the girl threw herself into her arms.
"Did the metal monster take you to hell? Did you kill all the demons?"
"No." She has a better idea of what the metal creatures truly are now, though she does not think that she will ever think of them in that way. "It was just a big machine, not a demon. And where it took me, the people did not let me kill anyone."
The small but very powerful gun given to her by Krono weighs heavily in both her mind and satchel. Far more advanced than anything that New Canaan can make, comparable in her experience only to the strange demonically-named weapons of the steam-worshippers to the north.
She sets her adopted sister back on the ground, prompting her to grab Tears' left hand and pull her in the direction of New Canaan.
"C'mon! Father wants to know what happened to you right away!"
Yes… Her father. Who was a war leader of great power, about to hear from his eldest daughter about the people who stole her away from his house. The religion of the New Canaanites was something that he had not fully accepted into his soul as he had accepted it into his head. Tears was… Worried, about how he might react.
The lands around New Canaan was well farmed, with water running in irrigation channels from the rivers and the water towers which collected it during the rainy months. And its people were industrious and God…
She frowns. Was it 'God-loving' or 'God-fearing'? 'Loving' would seem to make more sense, but she's sure that she remembers hearing the other as well.
Hard at work, then. Hard at work even this early in the morning. Some of them she half-recognises, warriors of the White Legs who have beaten their spears into pruning hooks so they may learn a new way of life as Ammonites. Apparently, that was something that God liked. Probably because spears were poor weapons compared to guns but He did not want them to waste metal.
Inside the town it was much the same. Many people that she recognised, few that she
knew. Her friends would be busy with their work or their children. Her mother would be learning the medicines of the Canaanites, and unless her father 'had need' of them then her mother's sister-wives would be elsewhere as well. Her father would be in the Great Hall or in the Canaanite Temple, but Dancing was leading her towards the hall. There would also be
Daniel, the priest of New Canaan who stood outside of the city when the White Legs came and tried to persuade her father to stop his attack. Her father laughed, then threatened, then argued, and never once did Daniel raise his voice or his hands. He was a good and patient man and she
had thought about marrying him, but…
That… Did not seem quite so appealing now.
"Father!"
Dancing ran ahead with no regard for propriety, pushing open doors as she searched for their father. Tears took a moment to order her thoughts, and a second moment to pray to God for guidance. What had happened to her was so outside the experience of any of the Ammonites, and while her father was patient even he had limits.
"Father, a flying machine brought Tears back!"
And so she walked towards her father.
As she approached the chamber used for the meetings of the leaders of the tribe, elders of the Ammonites and New Canaanites began leaving. Ammonites smiled and told her that it was good that she was back, and Canaanites made the sign of the cross and thanked God for her return. And when they saw that, the Ammonites crossed themselves as well. Learning to serve a new God would take more time, but none of them
refused. That was a good sign.
And then her father, Balm-Upon-Wounds, his war helm on a shelf behind him to show that he had put war aside. And Daniel, smiling in joy at her return.
Father was not smiling.
"Tears-In-The-Rain, my daughter. So. You are a married woman."
She didn't understand. Why would he think-?
Daniel looks awkward. "They broadcast it. The… 'The Wasteland's Most Eligible Bachelor'. We've still got a few working televisions here, and a couple of them picked it up."
Tears' face goes red, and her hands rise to cover it.
Father is still not smiling.
"He is a chief, and it was pleasing to see you triumph over the other women the machine-matchmaker brought. He seemed strong of body. Is he with you? I would… Speak to him."
"No… We are not married."
"No?" Her father shifts in his seat, right hand making a fist where it lays on the table. "He did
not marry you?" His eyes narrow. "Daughter, did he..?"
"No! He took-. He did not lay a hand on me. He said that it would be improper to marry me without first meeting you and my mother and seeking your blessing."
Her father breaths easily once more, his fist relaxing.
"And that the matchmaker-machine did not have permission to arrange a match anyway. It did so because it is mad, and does not know how to do anything else."
"They did not hurt you?"
The strange… Rope that the big machine used to steal her had left a mark for several days, but it had not hurt
that badly.
"Be at ease, father. They did not hurt me. But… You remember the tale Gregor Grey-Skin told you when he joined our tribe, about the Master of all Super Mutants?" Her father nods. Bands of mutants joined the White Legs after their Master died, and the tales they told were almost all that the White Legs knew of the west. "A Super Mutant tribe to the far east tried to…" She is not stupid, but she had not had a great education. Krono used words, but… "Make an heir to it. They created a great monster, and Krono brought together many tribes to fight it."
"Were they large tribes?"
How can she explain it? The warbands of Colorado alone were more than what the White Legs and New Canaan had together at the height of the war, and were machines rather than normal men and women. When she saw the far larger force that joined them from the south, she could scarcely understand how there could be so many people in the world. And then they were joined by an even greater host from the east.
"Yes, father. Extremely large."
"They hold him in such regard?" She nods. "Is he their Chief-of-Chiefs?"
Tears shakes her head. "No. He said that he is their negotiator. Their peace-maker and their shaman. He rules only a tribe smaller than the Sorrows, but their allies respect his wisdom."
Her father nods slowly.
"Do you wish to marry him?"
Does she? He was clearly a good leader. The members of his tribe that she saw were well armed, and all treated him with respect. He was patient and calm with his followers. Even when they were stealing women for him, so maybe that was not always good. His face was nothing special, but his body was
strong-.
She found herself blushing again.
"I see that you do. I think then that it is time that the Ammonites got to know our neighbour to the west."
Sadly, sadly accurate. And old age isn't always a guarantee that they won't.
