Chapter 41

"I do not control other camps, but I do take my attitudes with me wherever I go. I do not like to see such things anywhere and I know that I would have a hard time holding my tongue if I encountered it. I can usually get my point across," I said.

I hadn't meant to get into a lather about something which hadn't even happened yet. I knew that physical abuse of women by men could have no good results though. I wanted to make sure that Roweea let all her people knew exactly where I stood. I wasn't opposed to a man in this time giving his wife a spanking if she really needed it, but I hadn't seen a woman yet who needed one. As far as I was concerned there would never be a woman who needed a beating.

I drifted back to my cave then to keep from showing my displeasure at even the thought. I was anxious for the festivities to get started, but I was tired of watching the preparations. I couldn't let go of my thoughts about what Roweea and I had talked about so I went to see if Georgo was in his cave. I found him just leaving his little chamber.

I went to him and told him of my conversation with Roweea, asking him what he thought about it. He felt the same way I did about it, but also told me that a leader almost never got involved in such matters. I told him that I would be involved in every one I heard of.

He didn't think it was out of the question for me to make it my business. He did warn me it would come up if I invited both of the other camps he'd told me about. Hearing him say it made me want to invite them all the more.

Soon Maia came to get us since the food was ready for the feast to start. This lifted my mood at once and Georgo and I followed Maia outside.

I found out Georgo was always served first at the ceremonies and I was next and then my mates. The others were to follow as their status indicated.

Bigglieo was whom I considered my most important man and I'm sure everyone in my camp knew it. He was insistent Roweea follow my mates in line though, due to her status as the other camps leader's former mate.

A slight confusion followed after that as the new members did not know who should follow next and Bigglieo didn't either. They worked it out by alternating according to their status in the respective camps. I knew I would have to discover that status and see if it would fit in with the way we were currently operating with regard to pecking order.

I hated this type of thing, but knew it had to be dealt with. Everyone needed to know where they stood and what was expected of them. It would probably be a little tricky at first, but I was hoping everything would settle down soon. I did decide I would have to ask Georgo more questions about what would be expected if I invited the other camps. I needed to find out what place the leaders of the other camps would expect to play if they came and how their men would expect to merge into mine.

It was time to forget all that now. I had some eating in mind and after Georgo had done his part for the spirits we would be bringing out the surprise bruga. I figured things would get comical fast after it appeared.

They did. After the first gorging of the feast was over Georgo gave us another speech thanking the spirits for all our new things. He had his buckboard dragged out for all to see and told us that the spirits had made it for him so that he could visit other camps more easily and so he could return to our camp regularly.

I don't know if he did it intentionally or not, but I noticed in the following few weeks, since Georgo and I were the only ones with wagons, and since mine was bigger and I'd had it longer I seemed to be elevated to near shaman status alongside Georgo.

Tonight though, everyone looked over Georgo's buckboard and praised the spirits for giving it to him. After Georgo finished his speech he called for the celebration to begin. I hadn't noticed some of the men and women had brought out musical instruments, but I did when they began playing. They were mostly of the percussion persuasion, but there were a couple of flutes joining in.

The music was more like a melodic moaning with a heavy beat than anything else I could compare it to. There was a lot of singing to go along with it, but there were no lyrics. They were just carrying the melody with their voices and weren't using words to tell a story or anything of the sort. It sounded ancient to me - of course it was ancient.

The music didn't end and then start again like it would if different songs were being performed. It just continued. Some dropped out for a while and then came back. Some joined and later just quit. The music kept on though.

It very nearly all came to a stop when Georgo had Bigglieo and some of the others bring out the kegs and the tables with all the new beer mugs. There wasn't a big excitement at first because none of them had any idea what it was.

When I gave Bigglieo a mug of brew and he drank it down and told the others what it was the rush was on though. As the music ebbed to its lowest Georgo broke into another round of thanks to the spirits, saying they had sent this bruga themselves for our celebration.

The spirits were thanked nearly to death for the next couple of hours. I was hoping Argent was enjoying the praises being shouted to him. As the night wore on and the beer kept flowing I began to think there was no way he could miss them if he were in this solar system.

As Georgo had predicted they hammered on the kegs until not a man was left standing and most of the women were shitfaced too. They were certainly the happiest bunch of cave men and cave women I had ever heard of.

I'm fairly certain Georgo and I were the only males in the whole camp who were sober. Even the children had been allowed to march up and get all the beer they wanted. It is funny to see an eight-year-old boy swilling beer from a mug that seems as big as his head.

Somehow all the women had known they would need to be able to stand at least, even the little girls. When a man went to the ground for the duration, several women would take hold and drag him as close to his sleeping furs as they could get him. My mates had to help too and when Bigglieo hit the dirt even I had to help. That big bastard was a load.

I hadn't had more than two mugs of beer all night so I got to watch without worry of falling down myself. I also helped Jaiya pull Jonoco to the unmated men's place and later helped Melieta with Nadlo's similar trip. They both seemed very grateful for the help and weren't shy about pressing up against me as we put their soon to be mates to bed for the night.

Since this let me end up alone with each of them for a time in the bachelor's quarters with no one besides their dead drunk intended mates around, I took the time to give each of them a good kissing and fondling while I was at it. Jaiya showed me quickly she was very grateful for the help.