Serendipity
K'uji noticed her moving away and was going to ask if she was alright or if she was hungry. N'ori beat him in talking, so he listened, unsure what to do at this point. Gently, he reached out to her hands, holding them in his. As he listened he unexpectedly blushed.
“E-yes. T-there’s other reasons too. Rarely do our lives actually reach the maximum age that most other tribes have. N-not to mention we have to make sure there’s enough warriors in case of an attack. B-but there’s a system, so there won’t be neglected or unwanted children. With so few festivals, most are optional since they have to be planned and have some sort of goal to it.
”If a good chuck of us want to show off to our mates, the festival would have games or amusements for them to show what they could do. If we prefer conquering, then matches would be held. I think most are registered with some slots available for the latecomers or if a match went beyond the intended time limit. So, there’s a lot of input and requires those that lead, plan, and what we wanted.“
He paused when he remembered N'ori mentioning the Storm season courting festival. ”Yours is called Storm season courting festival? How does that go?“
Ke’a was surprised when he took her hands. She was frozen. Not wanting to disobey but also... even she longed to be touch. His hands felt warm on hers. The touch made her skin tingle. What did he want? Why had he grabbed her hands? To prevent her from going? She looked up at his face and caught his blush. Was he as unsure about attraction as she was? N’ori was making her a bit uncomfortable with his talk about the courting festivals. She just wanted to get away.
Chuckling N’ori took a deep breath. “Here in the desert as we head into the summer heat we also get the worst sandstorms, They often last days sometimes even weeks. Trapped inside people used to get irritable and sometimes even violent. You see the storms feel like the very world you live on is trying to break your home apart and get inside to kill you. Being on edge for days tended to made our relationships strained. But our dragon showed us there was a better way to pass the time. In the festivals we find someone new we be interested in. Spending the days learning about each other made the storm season bearable. Some of those partners made it permanent, Others moved on to the next interested partner. It made the storm seasons more pleasant.”
“Plus it gives young people a chance to express their interest. Take on an older more experienced partner to learn a few things.” He nudged K’uji then whispered very softly in his ear. “Or a untouched flower to ... find the right fire to make her bloom. Someone who wont reject her or make her feel bad about giving them her first kiss.”














