Chapter 9: Missing

Nobu sat sulking at his fire. He had to cook his own dinner tonight—and probably for the near future—and he didn’t like that. While he would never admit it, cooking was something Neta had been good at; it was one of her few qualities he considered worthwhile.

That bitch had run away while he and Aky were getting drunk during the rainstorm. He had left her with the entire tent to herself, and she still ran off. Worse, she had convinced that other trollop, Khea, to go with her. Like the idiots they were, they had run off without planning or preparing in the middle of some of the worst weather and gotten themselves killed trying to cross the river. It was a waste of perfectly good pussy.

After drinking most of the bag of cider wine, Aky decided he was hungry and went to look for Khea to make dinner for them. Nobu thought it was a great idea but stayed inside with the cider while Aky looked for his betrothed. Nobu chuckled at the thought of Aky still unable to come up with even one extra kill each moon. Aky was two kills behind by now and showed no signs of catching up. At this rate, he would never actually get Khea as a wife.

People were already talking, and it wouldn’t be long before Aky’s social standing started to nosedive ... and my standing by association, Nobu thought with a frown. It might be time to distance himself from Aky until he gets his shit squared away or maybe even take action. He would have to think about that.

Aky returned without Khea. Nobu reluctantly roused himself, and the two left to search the village. Khea tended to end up around Neta whenever she had free time, so they started by at Nobu’s tent.

Khea wasn’t there, but neither was Neta.

This was when Nobu started to think something might be wrong. Moving quickly now, he dragged Aky to all the obvious places where the two women might be found. When all those options came up empty, Nobu was sure his wife and probably Khea had run away.

Nobu was infuriated now from the futile search and being soaked by the rain. He stomped to the Chief’s (and Neta’s father’s) tent and demanded an audience. Kolto pulled back the flap of his tent and sat just inside on the dry ground and out of the weather.

“What is so urgent that you pull me away from my warm fire and into this rain?” Kolto asked.

“Your daughter has run away!”

“And how is that my problem?” Kolto rebuffed. “You took great pains to make her your wife, which makes her your problem. Everyone is free to come and go as they please; I will not run after every tribesperson who walks out of the village.”

Inside, however, Kolto was anxious. A missing tribesperson was a worry, but not a large one. A missing daughter was something else. People didn’t wander during a rainstorm, so her disappearance was serious; something was wrong, or she ran off. Neither situation was good nor boded well for her when Nobu found her.

Nobu spent the next few hours looking for Neta from tent to tent. It didn’t take long to discover that she wasn’t hiding. Still, the natural curiosity of each occupant led to questions: “You don’t know where she is?” “Why did she leave?” and Nobu’s favorite, “Did you ask the Chief?”

While the first two were slightly embarrassing—only increasing Nobu’s anger—he was happy to elaborate on the third. “Yes, I asked the Chief, but he didn’t care ... yes, even about his own daughter ... yes, it does seem like the welfare of his tribe should be important.”