Here is the next in the series of character studies from The Flame Before Us, presented in the form of interviews.
Today’s interview is with Nikleos and Kastiandra, members of the Sherden tribe and now living just outside the village of Yabesh, east of the river that forms the boundary of the Kinahny province. I arrive in the late morning of a festival day. I am directed to their home by a lad who is watching a group of cattle grazing in the fields down beside a stream.
The house is made of rough-cut wood with a few courses of stone at ground level. A wagon, dismounted from its wheels, is built into one side. Nikleos, sharpening some tools outside, sees me approach. He calls back into the house, and welcomes me in.
Kastiandra is already sitting on a stool beside a table, with a very pregnant Kinahny woman standing behind her. Alone among the women I have seen in the camp, she wears a kef, a Kinahny headscarf, and her hair is braided into tails underneath it. Forewarned about their customs, I ignore the women and sit where Nikleos indicates.
“My thanks for your hospitality on this feast day.”
“It is one of the festivals of the land we now live in. We are scrupulous about keeping them, so that both the people here and the land itself will accept us.”
“Your own customs must be very different?”
“Oh yes. There was no celebration for this season in the home of my fathers. I am learning to acknowledge new holy days and the gods who are honoured by them.”
“I am told that you make festival in your own way, though.”
“Oh yes.” He laughs, a great booming noise which fills the little room. “I will honour the spirits of this land, and I will respect their proper days, but I will do so with my own hands and my own heart. I negotiate, but I do not submit.”
I had already heard from others how they would celebrate later in the day – martial games of various kinds in the evening, as the light faded, would give way to music, song, and riddle contests. They practiced at aggression and competitiveness in the common land between their houses, in order to keep ready for the field of war.
“And how have you learned the ways of the land?”
“From my son’s wife, for the most part.” He gestures to the Kinahny woman. “Come forward, Dantiy, and speak for yourself.”
She comes and stands at his side, making sure to position herself very slightly behind him.
“This girl took the heart of my son. Took him right away from the daughters of the clan itself, and came into my wagon to be his bride. Her brother negotiated the terms of the arrangement with me. And look at her now. My wife tells me that there is only a single child in her, but she is big enough for twins. It will be a boy, for sure.”
He rubs his hand over her rounded belly in a possessive manner. Dantiy kisses the top of his head and addresses me directly.
“My brother and I took refuge with the Sherden when we fled from Ikaret. They gave us a home and a place of respect: how should we not share all that we know with them?”
My curiosity was aroused.
“But Ikaret was burned by clans which are like cousins to the Sherden. Has this not been difficult for you?”
“Not for me. Nor my brother. The Sherden are not like some of the other clans. And Yasib and I took our personal revenge by killing the Peleset man who led his tribe to Ikaret.”
Nikleos nods vigorously.
“That was a good fight, and a satisfying end for us all.”
Dantiy smiles, full of her own satisfaction, and I shiver inwardly at the ferocity of her maternal features.
Kastiandra leans forward and looks at Nikleos, waiting until he gives permission to speak.
“That was just after we nearly lost Dekseus. He was in one of the raiding parties, at the time when the Mitsriy learned how to defeat us. The severity of that loss turned the clan aside from war, to look for peace here in the land. My son barely escaped with his life, and many of the other women were grieving that day. We halted at that place and burned many of their bodies. But Dekseus lives, and his child will be among us in a few weeks.”
She looks across at a hawk icon, perched on a stand opposite the door, and makes a gesture of supplication.
“And if you could live through those months again, would you do anything different?”
“I would have trusted Dantiy and Yasib sooner. Perhaps then I would already be holding a grandchild in my arms.”
Dantiy smiles, shakes her head a little, and moves back again to stand beside Kastiandra.
Nikleos laughs again.
“I would change nothing.”
Next time, the interview will be with Hekanefer, a Mitsriy scribe attached to one of the military units charged with defending the province.