Isabella Ch. 04

Isabella woke up the next morning and slipped into the robe that she had used for the ceremony yesterday. She put a pot of oat meal over the fire to cook. As she straightened up Rafa wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her neck, "Do you want to open some presents?"

"We have presents to open?"

"Yeah, they are over in the comer."

They went over and started opening them. Some gifts were very impersonal from members of the tribe who weren't sure about their joining but they didn't want to upset Isabella and Rafa either. There were small things like sharpening stones, cooking utensils and even a few mats and small furs to use as patches around the hut. Then there was the present from Sebastián, an old hunting knife that was so dull there was probably no hope of putting a sharp edge on it. Most newly joined mates would know to be upset about the small slight the dull knife was meant to be but, Isabella either didn't know or she understood his father's feelings better than Rafa did. He was upset that anyone in his tribe could be so mean to someone that they barely knew. But from the King and his sons, they got an extra sword for Rafa and some cloth Isabella could make into clothes. From Nat, Isabella got a huge box of different colored yarn that Isabella could knit into clothes. Nat also gave Isabella ten dresses for her to wear around the village.

It surprised Rafa when they found a gift from his mother. It was a small copper statue that she had, had since she was a little girl. It had been one of Rafa's favorite things when he was young. They hid it, in the off and unlikely case of Rafa's father ever came over to their place; they didn't want to get her into trouble. Isabella dished up two bowls of oatmeal and, after they had eaten, Isabella put on one of the dresses and they headed over to Nat's hut. Nat would be teaching Isabella the rules of the tribe and seeing what else Isabella could do to help the tribe. Rafa kissed Nat on the check as a greeting. And Nat's mate, Apolo hugged Isabella.

"We really didn't expect you two to be out and about today. Most newly mated couples need to be dragged from their huts to get back to normal." Teased Apolo.

"I want everyone to get use to Isabella and she also has a lot to learn. But I forgot that you have been away for a long time and probably want time alone with your mate." Rafa replied cheeky.

"Yeah but I miss Isabella too. " Apolo leaned over and hugged Isabella again.

"So have we." Nesa and Lewis the elves that had been Isabella's protectors came up behind them. It was Nesa speaking, "Why don't us girls go join the other women who are doing a weaving circle that way Isabella can both continue working on the art, and start winning over the other women. I think they just need to be around her to notice how normal she is, and for them to start liking her."

"Us men are needed in your king's hut." Said Lewis he rolled his eyes with sarcasm as he said, "We are trying to figure out a schedule for Isabella to visit everyone, and everyone wants Isabella to live with them. You will also have to tell us elves and the werewolves what type of home you expect in our villages."

Isabella rolled her eyes "I don't care what my house looks like as long as you are happy Rafa. I don't know about you but I don't mind spending a few months in each tribe if you don't mind. I just don't want to have to travel every month."

Rafa laughed but understood how she felt he had never lived anywhere else besides his village he was both excited and anxious to be leaving it. He didn't want to be gone for too long. He looked back as he and the other males walked in one direction and the women walked in the other. Nat's arm was around Isabella's shoulders and Nesa's was around Isabella's waist they look like just what they were, three old friends off to enjoy some much needed time together.

He watched as Roger in his small form climbed up Isabella's dress to perch on her shoulder. It helped Rafa to relax knowing she was well protected by the dragon. He then started to talk to Apolo as they got closer to the king's hut, they passed by the tent that the king of the Elves had set up. There were raised voices arguing in a language that Rafa did not understand. The argument ended when an elf stormed out of the tent.

He collided with Rafa and was about to apologize until he recognized Rafa. Then he spit on Rafa and walked way. Rafa reacted to the insult the only way he knew how, he wanted to go and attack the elf, both Apolo and Lewis where holding him back. "Rafa calm down. That was just Suiauthon He has been asking for Isabella's hand almost as long as she has lived with us; he is just mad she did not chose him." Lewis whispered in Rafa's ear.

"Is that who your king meant when he told my king 'there are others who wanted her for themselves?'" Rafa asked.

"Yes that is the one I meant," King Caunidhrenon said as he came out of the tent behind Rafa. He was also looking at Suiauthon. He was afraid that the young elf had made a deadly enemy. He wanted peace and this was not going to help. "Please give us time Rafa I will let you settle with him later. Just know that when you two fight I will not find fault with you. He started this.", King Caunidhrenon was now between Rafa and Lewis. He faced Rafa and Asked, "May I walk with you three to the gathering? I want to get to know you better."

Rafa pushed back his thoughts of the elf for another time as a warrior he knew how to redirect his thoughts. He would settle with the elf at the proper time. Rafa was mildly shocked when another elf came up to him, this one greeted his king then he putting his hand out to Rafa "I am prince Meldiron I have thought of Isabella as a sister since she saved my life all those years ago. I know that Suiauthon has started something with you, just know there was a reason Isabella never chose him, besides I never even liked him," he looked slightly guilty as he looked over to his father, "with respect father."

"Did you say something son? I was distracted by the decorations that this family has decorated their hut with." The king went back to looking at a dream catcher and medicine wheel that were hanging in a doorway.

"It is wrong for an elf of my ranking to speak so publicly against another," he explained to Rafa before he continued, "there is something hard and cold in him. You are a warrior and thus there are times where you are terrifying and violent but I also know you are kind or else Isabella would never have healed you. I hope that over time you come to consider me as a friend."

"Thank you, if you are a friend of Isabella then you are a friend of mine. I hope that you and Lewis can help me to understand all of your tribe's rules."

"I look forward to it." Meldiron fell in behind the others as they walked as a group to the king's hut.

Once the talking got underway Rafa quickly became bored. They really didn't ask him for advice on what he and Isabella wanted they just argued then asked if what they had come to agree on would satisfy them; the first plan was that him and Isabella would move every month. Rafa said no as he knew that Isabella didn't want that. Then the leaders went back to arguing.

Rafa's vision blurred for a second then he could see Nesa and Nat sitting on either side of him. He could hear laughter as the loom in his hands had gotten into a knot and the other two women helped him to unknot it. Then his vision cleared to what was truly in front of him. He understood that it was Isabella just saying she was having a good time. It helped him relax as he again said that the plan of them staying a full year with each tribe would not do either as it would make him uncomfortable at this time.

The final agreement was that the cycle would be every four months and that if there was anything major they could send for Isabella. Rafa was amazed that the werewolves and elves lived only a day or two away. A few of the centaurs found it shameful that their enemy had lived so close and they had never found their home in all of the searches of the mountain that they had preformed to find the wolves. Most of them now understood that their long battle with the werewolves had been more of a tradition then actually based on anything. Both the pack and the centaur heard had similar rules and living styles. The only difference was that there were female wolves, so the women were of more equal status with the males where in the centaur heard women were viewed as weak and needed to be defended.

While most of the centaurs left the hut at lunch to eat with their families, Rafa stayed talking with the leaders. Because he was Isabella's mate they viewed him as an equal it made Rafa a little nervous; he had never really talked to Juan Carlos before all this had happened. Now he was on first name basis with him. Caunidhrenon was asking him how to make a suitable lodging for them. On top of all that Zander was acting as if Rafa was an old friend instead of an old enemy.

Isabella came into the lodge and sat with Rafa as they sat down to eat. Through their new way of communicating she told him of her morning, how she thought she had made new friends with some of the women in the tribe; even how his mother had given her a pat on the back as they passed.

It made Rafa think of how his mother had treated Isabella and how he had told her that Isabella is the one who would have to forgive her when his mother had asked for forgiveness. "How do you feel about my mother? She told me that she was not very kind to you on your first meeting?"

"I would say she wasn't kind," she played the scene of the water going over her and he could feel how sore and cold her body had been. A moment of hate flashed though his mind but before it could take root she showed him his mother's eyes and how much pain his mother had been in. "I can understand her actions so. If it was our son I think I would have behaved the same way; wanting the woman punished and not wanting to wait for the trial for my justice. She has been nothing but kind now, as long as your father is not around; that is when he is there she seems scared of angering him. He won't hurt her will he?"

"No, he won't hurt her but he can make her miserable if he chooses to do so, he can even tell her she can't talk to us and by our law she has to obey him. Most of us won't go that far because we love our mates so much that the women have more power over us males than we would like to admit." Rafa winked at Isabella. "She can make him just as miserable since she knows what will hurt him the most. But my father will come around just please give him time. After all it has only been one day and I can already see how the tribe is relaxing around you. You have actually brought a lot of peace to us as the greatest threat to us was the werewolves. Now through you they have become our friends. Since the wolves and us are both threatened by the humans that would either enslaves us or destroy us out of fear. We now have a common enemy. Because, the wolves can appear human, they have been protecting these woods from men. By the law of men they own most of these woods. The wolves also told the centaurs how they got new mates from the human cities. Isabella nodded.

"I know, remember how I sent you a picture of what I was doing? I was practicing, the more I do that the better the picture is and over longer distances I can send it. I can also tap into what you are doing so I could hear most of what you were talking about."

"About the picture, you freaked me out a little. Promise that you won't do that if I need clear vision. Like if I am in a fight."

"Of course I won't do it then. But, if we practice you will know what is happening and it won't scare you, plus I hope that eventually you will be able to see what is in front of you and what I am showing you. Because if I see you are going to be attacked from behind I want to be able to send you a picture of where the attack is coming from."

"I understand." He kissed her softly on the temple as they were brought more food to eat, Nesa seemed to think Isabella was underweight; they enjoyed the company of their family. Rafa contemplated how just a few days ago he felt like he had no family and now the most powerful beings he knew were like his brothers. "By the way what happened that your loom got all knotted up? I thought all women knew how to weave?"

"I didn't have a woman around until Nesa was put over me. One of my earliest memories of my mother is of her throwing me down a flight of stairs then a memory of one of the female staff beating me because I did something wrong. When I got to the elves I clung to Meldiron as my life line. I trained with the men on how to fight and even the other healers who trained me were men. Then the day came to that I became a woman; I didn't understand what was happening and I wanted one of the healers to fix me. When he said he couldn't I threw a temper tantrum," she turned her head a way in shame, "I am not proud of what I did. I started to beat him up; I also started to assault his mind." She felt Rafa go tense as he pictured how that could really hurt. "I can do it only if I am really mad. I can't promise that I will never do that to you but I have only ever done it to him. One mental assault in 24 years seems like I have really good control over it."

"Was he ok after you were done with him?" Rafa asked trying to assess how strong the attack had been.

"Yeah, in fact we became great friends after that; you have even met him. It was Lewis," they shared a laugh at the thought. "Nesa came in and literally knocked me out to stop the attack. She was then put in charge of me. That was when the king realized that he had neglected a major part of my learning; mainly that I needed to be with women and to learn how to do women's work. Nesa agreed to teach me but the other elves grew scared of me after what I did to Lewis. That is when I was sent to live with them in the woods."

That reminded Rafa of what the men had said about the king paying for her return. "Do you know if your father has been looking for you?"

"Not that I know of."

"Yes her father is looking for her." Caunidhrenon said as he had been listening to Rafa's side of the conversation. "Sorry to intrude. He wants her back because he realized that by accepting her now he would be forming a treaty with us elves but we are not handing her over, ever. We have sent a group to tell him that she has died so he will quit looking for her. We said that she attacked a high member of our society and as punishment was executed. That should make him quit looking for her; after all he only wanted the treaty with us. Even if he thinks she may be still alive he we think that he will see she has lost favor with us and quit looking. We will never hand her over to a greedy man like him."

"Tell him thanks for me. Also tell him that I think of him as my true father. He was the one who raised me and made me feel like I was worth something."

"Can't you tell him?"

"No it only works with people I share blood with and because of your ceremony we now share blood. I was thinking of some form of sharing with him but I didn't want to make my husband feel like he had to share me. I was thinking while I was listening to the leaders talk if I shared my blood with the leaders I would know when they need me faster. But I will leave that up to you to decide; now tell him what I said."

Rafa laughed before he said to Caunidhrenon, "She said that she thinks of you as her true father, you taught her how to be and that she was worth something. She also thanks you for covering her trail."

"She is welcomed, but she knew that already."

Isabella was feeding bits of chicken meat to Roger when she said to Rafa "Ask Roger if he wouldn't mind traveling with us. That way if someone was close to dyeing he could fly me to where ever I was needed."

Rafa passed the message on to Roger. Roger spread his wings and hissed at Rafa. "Don't get mad at me Isabella thought of it."

Roger looked at Isabella and when she nodded so did he. He spread his wings and did a loop around the room he enjoyed the feel of the warm air on his wings. Isabella laughed at his joy. But the happy moment was ruined as Toni came charging into the meeting house. "Rafa's longhouse is on fire."

All the men took off to try and put it out. When Isabella tried to follow Rafa turned and said "I need you to stay here. I doubt that this fire was an accident I want you here where you are safe."

Rafa joined in on the bucket line as they pull water from the river and passed the buckets to each other trying to put the fire out. But it was all in vain; by the time the fire was out there was nothing left of the long house but burnt timbers that had made the frame. As Rafa looked at the devastation of his home Juan Carlos came up and put his hand on Rafa's shoulder. "We will build it better. Until then you and Isabella will stay with me."

In an angry move Rafa brushed off his chief's hand. "I have to go tell Isabella. We are going with the elves as it is clear we are unwanted here."

Juan Carlos looked to Caunidhrenon for help. "I will watch over them. You just find out who did this and make them pay." Caunidhrenon said testily. "This is a great insult to the both of them."

The two leaders walked back to the meeting place when they heard Rafa's roar of agony. They ran to him. He was inside the meeting house but it was a different scene then the one they had left. Chairs and tables were broken, and food was spilled all over the place. The dragon Roger was hanging upside down he was tied up in shredded cloth and obviously pissed at who ever had done this to him. But the most freighting thing was there was no Isabella.

Rafa quickly cut down Roger but wisely took him outside before he cut the bindings off. Roger promptly morphed into his lager form and let out a roar the shook the ground. He spread his wings and took off. He reached down and picked Rafa up and they went off to find Isabella.

"Well we better follow if we want to see who the poor bastard that did all of this is." Juan Carlos said. The armies followed as quickly as they could. They tried to stay in Roger's shadow so they would know where Roger and Rafa were heading. They were lead to a clearing where they could hear the sounds of a sword fight going on. Rafa was fighting Suiauthon. Both of them were sweating profusely in the bright sun. Roger was not in sight and neither was Isabella. Two elves and two centaurs ran in and pulled Suiauthon and Rafa apart away. As Caunidhrenon went to talk to Suiauthon, Juan Carlos spoke to Rafa trying to calm him. "If he did take Isabella we need him alive to tell us where she is."

"No we don't she was tied to a stupid horse. When the horse saw Roger it bolted in fear. Roger went to follow it. I expect him back soon." Roger's shadow fell over the clearing almost as soon as Rafa had spoken these words

Two centaurs went over to control the frightened horse that Roger was holding in his front claws. Rafa went over to cut Isabella free and told them to let the horse go but follow it so that it would not hurt itself. They obeyed; all the centaurs knew that they would see that horse again. Horses were a kin of theirs and they watched over them whenever they could. Isabella was shivering in Rafa's arms fearful but also grateful to be back with him. Roger came to stand over them in his protective manner.

Suiauthon was tied up and made to kneel in front of Caunidhrenon. "I told you she was mine I will not give her up."

"Oh yes you will," Caunidhrenon replied, "by your own admission you are guilty." Caunidhrenon raised his sword, preparing to dish out the punishment for kidnapping Isabella.