You know what I just realized? None of us are telling the truth about what and who we are.

Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Chiera: Winter
Current Date: Unknown

Character: Nalim Sateh
Race: Chieran
Age: 35
Current residence: Midar, Fordam
 

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Sharing a home with Sachiel has been a learning experience. There are mornings when I wake up and I’m still surprised to wake up next to him. We each had our rooms at first, mostly because I think that despite having known for years that I was more than just a little fond of him, I was an awkward idiot who was still processing things.

Sleeping in our separate rooms didn’t last very long. Most evenings were usually spent settled together on the couch, the fire crackling in the fireplace, the crystals glowing dimly in the room and just doing our own thing. I was often reading, though I’ve discovered that I like listening to him read out to me, and he likes word games otherwise.

We’d end up partially dozing, just side by side, doing our own things and when it came time to head to sleep, it made no sense to each step into our own separate bedroom. I started to gravitate toward his because it had been a little bigger than mine and the rest happened as it did. I won’t share details of what goes on in that bed, we’re not rushing into anything as is so dirty-minded folks can get their heads out of the gutter if they even bother thinking of these things. If they do, they’re idiots.

I don’t remember when we had this conversation, I think that it was on a night after I’d come back from my two weeks out. Those are harder now that we’re in the same house. Our routines haven’t really changed but it’s harder to go for two weeks, knowing I could be settling next to him in bed, warm and comfortable but I do find some comfort in the thought that he’ll be home waiting for me when I get back. I know it’s hard on him too but every single one who is married or paired with one of us who needs to head to the cave has to go through this. Most marry into the same working group, though. So, it’s less of an issue, I guess.

The two weeks had honestly been pretty hard on me. There had been a lot of duds in the crystals that we’d managed to mine. I don’t think we would have even bothered with them at all if we’d been able to tell without bringing them out of the caves. Usually, you can tell when the area you’re in isn’t good for crystals but at times, the main surface is great, but further in becomes unusable.

We were settled pretty quietly that evening, Sachiel must have been able to tell just how worn out I was because he didn’t really ask me any questions after I’d come back. He merely welcomed me home with a warm drink and a waiting tub of steaming water. The look on my face must have spoken volumes.

After the soak, I was nearly flopped as bonelessly as I could manage near him. My head on his lap, his fingers in my hair. I remember that he sounded faintly amused as he told me that he’d realized while I was gone that we weren’t really all that honest about what and who we were. I must have breathed a disgruntled noise of confusion at him because he laughed, and I love the sound of his laughter. His fingers were still brushing through my hair as he explained that he’d realized that while we did live in the same house, we wouldn’t be the first two men to do so but being open about our sexuality isn’t really something that’s discussed. Not in public.

He knew the others better than I did and I’m sure that he’s aware of who lives with whom and all the rest, so I had to take his word on men and women living together but some doing so out of necessity more than anything else. It’s true, I admit. But it’s not a bad thing and it’s not so much about not telling the truth about us. I feel that we’re just being private about things that feel private to me. I’m not really one for public displays of affection and he’s all right with that. As chief, even though he now has a council, a lot of people look up to him and while I’m not an unknown, I’m not all that important to others out there—not in the way he is—and I wouldn’t want people to think poorly of him for any reason.

As is, even if he wasn’t in the spot he holds, I don’t think I’d be comfortable kissing him senseless outside of the house. We do walk fairly close, nearly shoulder to shoulder at times, our hands have brushed during walks too and we’re just a little closer than we used to in public and it suits both of us fine.

Final Word Count: 821

Can’t say I’m all that surprised you managed to mess this one up, but that’s all right. We can fix it.

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Chiera: Winter
Characters: Nalim Sateh
Race: Chieran
Age: 34
Current residence: Midar, Fordam
Final Word Count: 775 words
 

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Everything had been just so quiet lately. I’d come back from my two weeks at the caves, Sachiel had actually been waiting for me, and I’d settled back into my home, content that my parents had let me be, this time around.

After the drama from last year when they tried to pair me up with the complainer, my parents seemed to have finally accepted that their sweet, gentle-mannered son would likely never settle down with a woman and never give them grandchildren. It took me time before I was able to bring that up at all to them, but when they did, they studied me with serious, wondering eyes, and eventually seemed to accept this fact of life. It took my mother longer to accept the lack of grandchildren than it did my father.

It was on that same day that I did quietly point out to them that there were children whose parents perished either in the caves or while out hunting. Some even perished during the ice fishing trips. There were children in need of parents and while I might never have any of my own, adopting was certainly not out of the question.

A couple of days after I’d settled in, things went a little… sideways, for lack of a better word.

Sachiel had been waiting for me to come home because there had been a few issues with some of the recent crystals that had been brought back from the cave and he’d wanted to know if I’d noticed anything strange or unusual while I’d been there. I hadn’t really seen anything, the crystals had been as they always were and the work had been no better or no worse than any of the other prior times.

I thought that would be the end of that but, somehow, I seem to have gained the necessary experience to be able to tell the difference between the crystals. Not all the crystals we carve from the cave are good. Everyone is supposed to at least be able to sense if the crystals will hold our magic or not but, at times, it just is more difficult than not, it seems, to get all that figured out.

He was knocking at my door bright and early. I could have done with more sleep, but I suppose that it’s one of those things. Sachiel told me that the same man that had brought back the ‘broken’ crystals had tried to infuse me and things had somewhat backfired. The crystals had cracked, the other crystals that had been in good condition had dulled and just, all in all, he was worried that the last two batches of crystals that had been brought back were useless.

When I walked into the building where they were kept, I could only shake my head at the sight before me. I should have known who was at the source of the issues. Sachiel hadn’t given me a name, but I’d had a feeling it was this particular man, and I can’t say I was even surprised that he’d managed to mess things up.

He came from a different village, this one, and from the start, he made claims that were clearly false. I think he’s been with us for about six months now and during those six months, none of what he’d claimed he could do, he’s done. He claimed he could tell which crystals were better than the others—clearly, the last batch he’d brought in was terrible. He claimed that he could infuse them with our magic but only a select few can do so without any training. Otherwise, it takes years of training and plenty of time spent with the elders.

When he saw me, his face fell. I didn’t get on his case about how I expected this to happen sooner or later. I just told him that it was all right, that whatever had happened was just one of those things and we could fix it.

There is something big to be said about the amount of trust that Sachiel put in me, considering how much energy it takes to fix up a whole batch like this. I’m lucky, I have the natural gift, but I can usually manage just a handful of crystals before I have to stop. Clearing out the bad from the crystals took a lot out of me. The elders were in another village, only meant to come back a few days later and we needed the crystals for trading.

It was an exhausting few hours but I’m glad I could at least fix the worst of the issue.

You’re proving to me that I can find a reason to be mad about anything.

 
Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Chiera: Winter
Characters: Nalim Sateh
Race: Chieran
Age: 33
Final Word Count: 702 words
 

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Recently I was paired with a slightly younger woman so she could better learn the gathering tips and tricks of an old ‘pro’ as they like to call me. While no one has said it to my face, I know they’ve paired her with me in hopes that we might hit it off. My parents are worried that I might never find a wife and I hate to disappoint them in pointing out that I would be lying to myself and be miserable until the end of my days if I were to pick a wife to be at my side. I could spend my life with another man but it certainly wouldn’t help our population or our gathering group.

As was, she doesn’t need my help, she has the basics down to pat and she was started on gathering at the same age I was. We all get started on the knowledge when we’re ten and we start helping only a bare amount of time later.

We aren’t going to hit it off and it’s clear by her behaviour that she wants little to do with me, as is. At this point, we don’t really have a choice but to tough it out because we’re stuck out by the caves until we’ve done our time. This is one of those things that I wish would change but the caves are a distance off and it’s safer for small groups to head over, stay in the cabins provided near these caves, do their time—two weeks—then head back.

There are caves that are closer to home and the crystals are harvested responsibly but the further off caves have bigger crystals to harvest. We only go there once every three months and spend two weeks each time. Of our four hundred days in the year, we spend sixty-four at the cabins. It seemed like a lot when I was younger and hoping that just maybe I could spend even more time with Sachiel but he’s been so busy now that his father has stepped down from the leadership of our town that I barely see him. I mean, I knew we would never be more than friends but a guy can dream.

Anyway, my current partner, whose name I can’t even be bothered to remember and, mind you, anyone who knows me will tell you I’m the sweetest, most mild-mannered one out there, is a complainer. No matter what I do, no matter what anyone does—our group is half men and half women—she’ll find a reason to be mad about it. She keeps on just turning her nose and telling us that our behaviour is just the proof she needs to find any reason to be mad about it all.

She’s the type who hopes that a hunter will one day sweep her off her feet and she’ll never have to work a day in her life. Newsflash, sweetheart, hunters rarely go for gatherers, no one wants to spend their time in the caves, no matter how gorgeous they are. They’re so deadly that they’d rather come face to face with man-eaters than spend any time in the caves.

The thought makes me smile a little. It’s something Sachiel had told me years ago when we used to be able to spend more time together. It confused me back then to think that hunters—these men and women that I used to look up to as being the bravest ever—were afraid of the caves and would rather face big beasts rather than be in the icy death traps.

Once these two weeks are done, though, you can bet your butt I’m going to make sure this complainer gets back to her usual group and routine. It might mean she’ll get out of her next trip to the caves but I doubt it, she was excused out of her last one because she was being ‘transferred’ into ours, so in the long run, she’s due another trip not long after this one is over. You just watch me; I’ll make sure she spends all the necessary time in these caves.

We all have to do our parts.

I thought you said this was going to be fun. All that’s happened so far is sadness.

 
Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Chiera: Winter
Characters: Nalim Sateh
Race: Chieran
Age: 32
Final Word Count: 742 words
 

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I remember playing games with Sachiel when we were younger. Our homes weren’t far from one another and I know that he sneaked out a lot when he was supposed to be doing… whatever it was his father always wanted him to do. As heir to the chief’s title and all, I suppose it’s not all that surprising that the then-chief wanted his son to study all that needed studying and all.

He would show up by my window, his eyes bright and amused and I’d always be startled because I wasn’t from a family like his. I’m not a hunter, I’m not strong physically, though some would say that crystal harvesters are strong in their own way and it’s true in a way but it’s different, at the same time. I’ve never been able to understand why he wanted to be my friend, beyond the fact that we were close in age. My parents would frown upon the sight of him—thus his showing up at my window—and I’m sure his parents would have kept him from coming anywhere near me if they’d known about his sneaking out.

It became more difficult as we entered our teen years and we spent less and less time together. That just about broke my heart because it felt as though Sachiel was the only friend I’d ever had. The lives of crystal gatherers and their families of often a lonely one and most of the time, parents will set up their own children with the children of another gatherer for eventual hand fasting because no one else seems to want us and it’s the only one to continue on the line.

Every now and again, someone from another ‘group’ will actually join us, a hunter wanting to learn to be a gatherer, for one. It happened once or twice in my years so far but it’s rare. No one wants to enter the caves, while the sight they offer is something to behold, the surviving in these places with their mirror-like surfaces is difficult and I believe we’ve lost more people to crystal gathering than we have for hunting.

Never mind the berg that came apart, we lost a lot of people to that and it was a freak accident. One needs to be of strong mind to survive the caves.

When we were ten or so—or well, I was eleven and Sachiel was ten—he dragged me out to a small hunting and fishing spot he and the others went to. That he’d already been introduced to hunting and fishing at that age didn’t surprise me, my parents had already taught me about the gathering of the crystals, it had started when I was ten.

He’d promised that it would be fun and that we’d have a good time together. At that age, I think I still wasn’t comfortable with being aware of just what I was eating. That being, I didn’t want to know that this fresh-caught fish was going to end up on my plate or that this fresh-caught animal was going to be slaughtered so it could feel everyone.

We sat by a little hole by the water and he showed me how he was getting his line hooked up and how he was letting it sit in the water and he’d be pulling out fish after fish. The smaller ones he’d be putting back into the water but the bigger ones he actually placed in a sort of bucket and all I felt at the sight of these fishes out of the water was a deep sadness. I was a child with a heart bigger than I knew what to do with it and I told him as much. I wasn’t having fun, all that was happening was sad and he just gave me this soft, sad look of his own and instead of arguing with me, we packed things up and he walked me back home.

Despite the fact that he’s a little younger than me, I know that Sachiel is a much more mature person than I might ever manage to be. Not that I’m immature but there’s something about him and I know it probably has to do with the fact that he was groomed to take over for his father once he was old enough to.

We don’t talk much anymore, but I still think of him as my friend.

They did nothing.

Timeline/World: Chiera: Winter
Characters: Nalim Sateh
Race: Chieran
Age: 30
Final Word Count: 537 words

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This is probably why I never would be a good chief; I just don’t know that I’d be able to change enough to do something about the situation as it happened earlier, as it always happens. It breaks my heart because I know someone should speak up but if I were to, I would be the one in the middle of that circle and I’m too cowardly to do anything about it, other than sigh and shake my head about how no one else does anything either.

I am just another hypocrite, I know. I watch the punishment being dished out, not uttering a single word or sound though I can rarely watch more than a moment, wishing someone would speak up and do something but no one does. They all stare, some hungrily because this is the kind of thing they feed on, this is what they thrive off of, others, like me, turning their gaze away, unable to watch but just the same unable to actually leave.

We’re somehow supposed to learn some sort of lesson from this but I fail to understand it. For years, I’ve seen this though it isn’t all that common. It still happens and it feels barbaric. It makes me wish I was elsewhere. It makes me question everything I know about our village and everyone within it. I know our lead hunter is sickened by this as much as I am, we don’t talk much since we are from two completely different groups but we still do talk. I suppose it comes from growing up in homes that were nearly side by side.

Nothing much could have ever happened from this friendship, besides the fact that he was the village leader’s son and a hunter and I was just a gatherer, a wandering and a market-goer. We still do talk; we try to get insight from one another’s life so that we might not be completely in the dark about certain things.

What I’ve learned from him is that his father is more than ready to let him have the reins over the village but he doesn’t feel ready yet to accept them. There are so many barbaric traditions that he wants to change and he has to make sure that he knows who will follow him through with these changes and who will oppose him. It is the only way to go about this, the only way to move forward, to make sure he has a majority of the votes. I suppose this is what makes us something better than the monarchies that still reign over several of the other villages I’ve been to for the exchange of goods.

This though, this display of—what, power?—in punishments that hardly teaches anyone anything, it needs to go. I cannot stand the thought of having to watch someone else suffer because we all are too weak to step up and call a stop to the insanity. I think it happened once, years ago, I was still just a child. The one who stepped up had to suffer through the punishment in turn and I think that left a bigger scar than anything else. Why are people this way?