Glade and Ivory Ch. 18

Demure had much to do to repair her reputation with the elders. As soon as the sun rose over the sea she slipped from Glade's side, kissed her on the lips and strode off over the sand towards the huts where the elders lived. Although Demure was in more danger than she'd ever been since she first arrived in the village, Glade could see that she was actually excited by the threat. She'd been a passionate lover throughout the night and left Glade with a bruised vulva after the vicious fisting she'd inflicted.

Glade got up as early as she could to run across the sand to the shore before it roasted under the bright sun and would burn the soles of her feet. She waded out into the sea as far as she could, but not too far (as she couldn't swim), and gathered seaweed, shellfish and whatever else she could find. The sea was a great source for all kinds of bounty that floated against the shore. There was always a haul of food and other useful flotsam that could be scavenged in the early dawn. Glade periodically returned to the shore to deposit the seaweed and seafood she'd found on the sand where it could dry.

It was while she was doing this—her body streaming with salt water and her tangled hair damp to the very roots—that she noticed that Dolphin was waiting for her. He was a middle-aged man who was too young to be an elder but was accorded sufficient respect by the village to warrant Demure's amorous attention. He was standing by the shore, holding a flint-tipped spear and a net made from tangled kelp.

"How are you this morning, Glade?" he greeted her and gestured his hand towards a shaded space on the sand.

"I am well," said Glade moving towards the proffered area while Dolphin crouched down on his heels, anxious to keep his buttocks and penis above the hot sand. Glade knelt beside him, careful also to keep the lips of her vulva high above the sand that would adhere to her damp skin.

"And Demure? Is she well?"

"Yes," said Glade.

"You know that she's been the cause of great consternation in the village," said Dolphin. "I've been consulting with those villagers who accompanied you so many seasons ago. I've also spoken to the elders. It isn't good for there to be strife in our village. And yet there is now discord in our midst. There are bitter accusations. There is acrimony. And this causes sorrow for the elders."

"I understand," said Glade.

"It is true that in the year or more since your close friend, Demure, first came to this village that she has become astonishingly familiar with the elders. And not only with them. Many others have also come to know her well. And amongst those who have known Demure, sometimes in the most intimate manner, she is considered a wise woman, a passionate lover and a beauty to behold. It is difficult for a man who has known her intimately to think ill of her in any way. Yet, as you know, there are many in this village who know her from a time before she settled on our shore. And as you also know they have said many things about her that do not accord with the woman we know so well who is so passionate at the meetings in her defence of democracy and whose advice is so often wise for one of such tender years."

"Demure is a woman who awakens strong feelings in men," Glade remarked.

"Not only in men but also women," said Dolphin cryptically. "There is one person who knows Demure better than anyone. A woman who I've been told by Macaque and Dignity was once a 'slave' to her when she was married to the tyrant who ruled her savannah village. A woman who knows well whether the words spoken against Demure are calumny or truth. You know who that woman is?"

"It's me," admitted Glade miserably.

"So, tell me, Glade," asked Dolphin kindly. "What is it that we should do? There is a petition gathering force in the village which demands that Demure be exiled. The argument is that the ways of the Ocean People are incompatible with Demure's continued presence in our midst. It is said that many of the reforms implemented in the village that have been proposed by the elders are ones which Demure far from opposing, as she appears to do in meetings, is in truth their instigator. And it is claimed that these reforms have been anti-democratic and divisive in nature. These are serious charges, but no elder is ever likely to admit that he has allowed his judgment to be clouded by the advice of a young woman. And not just a young woman, but one who is not of our tribe. Should we believe the elders who we are duty-bound to honour and respect? Or should we believe the rabble-rousers who have come from far beyond the coast and who may have motives of dishonourable vengeance in slandering a woman whose tribe is known to have treated them badly? What is your advice, Glade?"

This question put Glade in a difficult position. From a moral perspective she knew exactly what she should say. Even if she didn't know the truth of Audacity's accusations, supported as they were by the testimony of her former lovers, Macaque and Dignity, there was the fact that should Demure be vindicated then more than just one person would face exile from the village. It wasn't possible for the village to accommodate both Demure and her accusers. But, on the other hand, Glade couldn't abide to lose her lover. What should she say?

It may have been the spirits of the Forest People who guided her. It may have been the spirit of her mother who'd been so cruelly slain on the day when Glade was first raped and when the true pitiless cruelty of the Knights was revealed. Or it may have been a sense of moral duty balanced with her loyalty for those with whom Glade had lived for so long by the river. Whatever it was, Glade decided to tell Dolphin the truth about Demure and her belief that she was seeking a husband from the elders who might very well be promoted through the affect of her reforms to a role not unlike that of a lord.

"It is well that you have spoken so frankly, Glade," said Dolphin. "In truth, I already believed that this was so although I have enjoyed Demure's body many times. I am sure you will be rewarded for your honesty."

"And were you rewarded?" asked Ivory, as she and Glade struggled through the chill breeze of early snow that contrasted so much with the heat and sunshine associated with Glade's reminiscences.

"No," said Glade bitterly. "Not at all. Unless you believe that it was a reward for me to be exiled along with Demure."

"You were exiled too!" gasped Ivory, who believed this to be the worst punishment that could ever be inflicted short of death.

"I was Demure's lover," said Glade. "It was inconceivable that she should leave and I should stay. It wasn't decided at a meeting that we should be exiled. Dolphin, Cormorant, Dugong and other elders visited Demure and me in our hut when the day was over and advised us to leave the following morning. When Demure expressed her dismay she was informed, quite sternly, that the harmony and unity of the village took precedence over even her professed innocence."

"And what did they say to you, who was truly innocent?" asked Ivory.

"They said nothing beyond wishing me all the best in a life beyond the village's confines," said Glade. "Nothing more needed to be said. From the moment Dolphin left me on the shore surrounded by seaweed and netting, I knew that Demure and I were inseparable and that I would be leaving with her. And even had I not been exiled it's likely that I would have chosen anyway to leave with Demure."