The Matriarch Chronicles: The Maiden - Chapter 2

Raegna


The children ate inside the house at the kitchen table, nibbling on beef sandwiches. Pinar’s oldest daughter was talking her lips off to Adabelle about how her mother could braid her hair in a thousand different ways. Dakarai and Cadoc didn’t seem to be paying attention to their sister. In fact, Dakarai was watching Adabelle with some sort of sympathy while Cadoc shyly ate his sandwich. Pinar’s children served as good siblings to Adabelle to play and socialize with. Raegna didn’t believe she needed to have more babies so Adabelle wouldn’t be lonely. If her daughter wanted playmates, she could go to Pinar’s house and play with her children.

Pinar and Raegna sat on the porch chairs outside the house, keeping an eye on the children at the table through the open door. Pinar held her baby to her breast, nursing her, covered by the cloth that was used as a sling. The wind tossed their hair about in sweeping motions. Raegna never liked that about wind. It blew strands of hair into her mouth and often ruined her braids. Pinar, on the other hand, was an image of perfection, even with the wind stirring. Her daughter was true in her babbling, Pinar knew how to weave good braids tight enough not to be painful and not lose strands. It reminded Raegna of Bai’s mother who must be living the rest of her days in the north. She wondered how the woman was with a house by the ocean with Bai’s father. For a moment, she wondered how Bai felt about it.

He didn’t seem very close to his mother whenever they were together and Raegna knew Lagina resented him because she wanted a daughter. Had Lagina stayed, she might have been very proud of Adabelle and might have claimed Raegna as more than a daughter-in-law and by Gaea. Raegna’s mother was. Jaleesa had studied Adabelle approvingly when Raegna presented the baby to her.

“I told you,” Jaleesa had said. “There is a better future for you here. That boy will give you many daughters, you’ll see.”

Later that winter, Jaleesa had fallen ill and passed in the healer’s house in peace. Her body was lifted the day after in Gaea’s temple. Raegna missed her but somehow felt at peace. As much as she loved her mother, Jaleesa had forced Bai on her and Raegna could never forgive her for that. At least she knew that Jaleesa could never force them to have children ever again. Raegna wasn’t sure she could do it, especially not like Pinar.

Unlike Raegna, Pinar was married to a husband she loved, Naleem, who loved her in return. Raegna envied her for that and envied her children for being products of love. Pinar gazed at her children inside the house with soft eyes.

“Raegna,” she said, tearing her from her thoughts, “this is something I’ve been meaning to bring up with you. Be warned, it’s just an idea and nothing is set in stone.”

Raegna had a bad feeling. “What is it?”

Pinar finished nursing her daughter and removed her from her breast. She covered herself again with her blouse and threw the sling blanket over her shoulder, placing the baby over it.

“I thought since Cadoc and Adabelle were born so close in time,” Pinar said, patting the infant’s back, “that perhaps some day they would marry. This way, we don’t have to worry about finding spouses for them in the future. They would be betrothed before they become mature enough to-”

“Absolutely not!” Raegna snapped. “No woman should be betrothed for forced to marry any man even if she is familiar with him! Whether or not Adabelle marries is her choice and not mine or yours.”

Pinar flinched at the fierceness in her friend’s voice, her eyes widening and going quiet again. “I thought you might be that way. I understand. It was just a thought.”

“I’m sorry, Pinar,” Raegna said with a heavy sigh. “But I won’t let my fate be the same for Addy. Now, if she chose to take your son as a husband, then I have no problem. And if she chooses not to, you must respect that. Everyone around her must.”

“I understand. I’m sorry to upset you. I just wanted my son to go to a promising woman who will treat him fairly.”

Raegna frowned and glanced back at the children. Cadoc didn’t seem as outgoing as his older siblings. He sat quietly and ate his small sandwich, listening with the girls to his eldest brother who had started to challenge his sister for talking so much. He was small for his age, with dark hair unlike his mother’s. Perhaps it was a trait inherited from his father which made Raegna’s mouth twist. A boy who resembled his mother was fine enough. He was truly blessed by Gaea. But a boy who was a copy of his father was something different. The female heritage was not strong within his blood and he may not produce as many daughters as desired from a wife some day. That was why Jaleesa chose Bai to be Raegna’s husband, for he matched Lagina in face, and even had the same hands and feet. The only flaws were his father’s eyes and blond hair which he passed on to Adabelle.

Thus, Adabelle already had a man’s bloodline within her. Cadoc, appealing to his father, may only give her sons with his own traits. Raegna’s entire marriage would be in vain for her mother came from a line of many, many women and mother-like sons. Breeding aside, he seemed tame enough to make a good husband but that could change with age.

“If he treats a woman as he should, he will be,” she explained to her friend. “You know his place as a male and hopefully, you teach it to both of your sons.”

“I do,” Pinar said. “They both have their father and uncle to teach them as well.”

Raegna gawked at her. “You let Naleem teach them? And Hadwin?”

Allowing Naleem to mentor the boys was questionable. Allowing Hadwin to aid him was outrageous. Hadwin was Naleem’s brother, both of them were sons of a businesswoman who worked under the village’s Matriarch to oversee the village’s economic growth. This made them prized husbands indeed, especially Naleem who had a looks and determination of his mother. She raised him as if he were a daughter to her, they were so close. Raegna remembered seeing them walk through the village together, simply enjoying each other’s company. He was strong but tame, handsome and kind, Raegna didn’t mind him. It was his bachelor brother that put her on edge.

Hadwin was the youngest brother in his family and his mother seemed to favor his older brother more. He was scrawny and played with the other boys in the village as a child. His mother never found him a wife and no woman wanted him for their daughter. Left a bachelor and too old for his parents to care for, Hadwin had nowhere to live which was often the fate of an unmarried man in Galaenia unless he could find work. But Pinar sympathized with her brother-in-law and took him in, much to the pleasure of her husband. Raegna didn’t approve but thought it best not to tell Pinar that. She was sure her friend could sense it from her anyways, not to mention every woman in their village.

Pinar nodded, finished with burping her daughter. She swaddled her in the blanket. “They are both good men who have respected me since I married Naleem. As his name implies, Hadwin is a good and friendly man and good to his nieces and nephews. Naleem and I agreed when Dakarai was born that he too would take part in parenting our son and future sons. I’ve even let him tell our daughters stories of Gaea. He’s very good at it. The children love him so much.”

“He tells them stories?” Raegna said. “Is he even accurate or does he shame Gaea?”

“He is. He tells them how strong and brave she is, how loving she is to not only women but men too.” Pinar chuckles. “He even gives different goddesses and gods different voices and it’s amusing-”

“As long as he stresses Gaea favors us,” Raegna said, “that’s all they need to know.”

Pinar’s scowled. “Yes. Well… he gives her plenty of credit.”

Raegna couldn’t imagine Bai telling Adabelle Gaea’s stories. It was the mother’s duty to tell her daughter all about the world goddess and her love for her daughters on earth. And if a girl had no mother, a priestess would share the love of Gaea with her. Raegna doubted Bai knew very many stories anyway.



After lunch, Raegna and Adabelle bid farewell to Pinar and her family and set off walking again all the way to the outskirts of the village. The village was surrounded by hills that bounded up to the woods on all sides. Priestesses say that it is written, Gaea upturned the earth in search of Fan after he had defiled Sachi in her fury. All mountains and hills were made that way. When Gaea came upon the magma of a volcano to the far north east, across the ocean, she found Fan there and cast him to the fires of Helle as punishment. Hiking up the village hills was trying, exhausting Adabelle who was quick to complain.

“Mummy,” she said, “I want to go home. My legs hurt. Carry me?”

“No, Adabelle,” Raegna told her. “You have to strengthen your legs so they can grow. That way, you can be taller than I am.”

“Even taller than Daddy?” Adabelle asked.

Raegna gulped. “Maybe…”

They walked until they reached the river on the other side of the hill, winding and separating the village from the woods. The setting afternoon sun cast shadows through the trees that gave the woods it’s eerie aura. The dark water rumbled as it moved, as if every particle were giving out a battle cry to protect the village beyond. It was a wide river that gave the village its water and fish but to a toddler who had been forced up its hills by her mother, it was intimidating. Adabelle hid behind Raegna’s skirts.

“Mummy, I don’t like the river,” she said. “Daddy says it’s dangerous. Children sometimes fall in and die.”

Raegna snorted. “He’s being protective. You should be cautious of the river and the things beyond it, but you should never be afraid, my love. Gaea is always with you like I am.”
Adabelle watched the water racing over rocks. It was most likely as deep as she was tall if not more. “It’s still dangerous.”

“Yes, but only be cautious,” Raegna said. “Sit down, now. We’ll let your tired legs rest and watch the sunset.”

They sat near the bank and Raegna took her daughter into her arms and kissed her head. The sky turned from bright yellows and oranges to mellow blues and purples. The clouds were pink as a horse’s white-marked nostrils. Then turned a dark blue, shadowing the sun. Raegna loved to admire Gaea’s world around her. It filled her with peace and washed out her worries and regrets. It was her way of meditating without being in a temple, surrounded by others.

“Mummy? Can Daddy walk with us tomorrow? He doesn’t work,” Adabelle said.

“Hm. Would you actually walk or will you have him carry you the entire way?” Raegna asked. “And technically, he does work. He fishes tomorrow.”

“And he brings me with,” Adabelle said gleefully. “A lot of daddies bring their babies. And they teach the boys to fish. Daddy said he’d teach me too when I’m bigger.”

“We’ll see,” Raegna said. She wasn’t so sure about her daughter being a fisher. Plenty of women fished but it was mostly the man’s job to provide food either from the fields, livestock, a hunt, or fishing. Bai always hunted at least once a month and when he would come back empty handed, he would bring a sheep to the butcher. He fished as often as he could but with the entire population of the village throwing their lines into the river, sometimes he had no luck.

Raegna watched the clear water, imagining Bai teaching Adabelle a man’s job. The little girl had always been interested in what her father did while he was away. She asked him one night while they sat on the floor before the family would go to bed. Raegna was washing dishes in a tub of water on the kitchen table, keeping an eye on the two of them as she always did since she let Bai interact with Adabelle.

“Why do you always come home so dirty, Daddy?” Adabelle asked him.

“Because I am always in the dirt,” he told her with a smirk. “Some of our food comes from the ground.” He began to tickle her sides and lifted her in the air. “So I have to dig it up! Then we can eat it!”

He made munching and growling sounds as he pretended to bite into her cheeks and neck to tickle her. Adabelle squealed and kicked her legs. Sometimes when he caused her to scream, Raegna wondered if he was hurting her. Raegna’s father never did that to her and neither had her mother, so Raegna did not understand this form of play. But then, Adabelle would return to a fit of giggles and Raegna would realize Bai had not harmed her.

Bai released Adabelle after he had given her a kiss on the corner of her mouth. Adabelle fled from him so she wouldn’t be tickled again. “Daddy, can I go get food with you?”

“Hm, maybe when you’re older,” he answered. He turned to look at Raegna in the kitchen. “If your mother allows it.”
Raegna felt her face pinch into a frown. No, she didn’t want Bai to take Adabelle to the fields where all the men worked. That was not a place for a little girl to be.




“What’s for dinner, Mummy?” Adabelle asked at the house.

Raegna hung a pot of water over the fireplace. She poured bits of rabbit meat from a wood plate into the pot to boil. “Stew. Your father will be here soon with the vegetables.”

Adabelle wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like stew.”

“You’ll eat it anyway.”

Always interested in being a Maiden one day, younger Raegna didn’t pay attention to her mother when she taught her how to cook. Thus, Raegna wasn’t good at cooking her family meals. She knew if she didn’t figure out the trick to not burning food soon, she would look to Pinar for lessons.

When the sun disappeared from the sky, Bai entered through the front door with a heavy sack over his shoulder. With an exhausted sigh, he set it by the door and slammed it shut. Adabelle bolted toward him, her skirt floating about her. “Daddy!”

Bai’s eyes light up. “Ah! My beautiful girl!” He knelt down to pick her up as she launched for him and he caught her in his arms, twirling her around. “You precious thing. How are you today?”

Raegna came for the sack and opened it. The scent of carrots, onions and potatoes rose accompanied by the aroma of soil. She picked a few from the bunch and carried them to a bowl of water to be washed.

“Me and Mummy walked all day today,” Adabelle told her father as he carried her to the a chair. “We had lunch with Pinar and watched the river and the sunset.”

“Hm. And you were careful not to fall in?”

“Uh-huh. I didn’t go anywhere near it. I told you I listen, Daddy.”
“I didn’t doubt you, daughter,” Bai said and kissed her forehead. Raegna listened to them absent mindedly like she usually did, apart from their bond.

When the stew was ready, Raegna set the table and called Adabelle and Bai. She poured the hot soup into their bowls and set the pot back above the fireplace, the fire long put out. As she sat at the head of the table, Raegna noticed Bai wrinkling his nose at the stew. Adabelle had nodded in agreement to him and when Raegna sat down, they both hid their silent conversation as quickly as they could. She dismissed it. Let them have their fun before dinner but she wouldn’t let it slip the next time.

“Thank Gaea,” Raegna said, “for this meal she has given us.”

“Thank Gaea,” Bai agreed. Adabelle beamed.

They began to eat, picking up spoonfuls of the stew. Raegna prayed she made it right. One taste and she knew she had done it again. The liquid was not only over-seasoned and watery, but the rabbit meat was tough and the vegetables melted on her tongue. She swallowed it, struggling to keep back a grimace from her family.

Bai was concealing a face too but couldn’t help but gag after swallowing. Adabelle shook her head at her bowl.

“I don’t want it, Mummy,” she said.

“You must eat it,” Raegna insisted. “You need to eat to grow.”

“She can’t grow on this,” Bai mumbled.

Raegna looked up at him, her eyes full of forced fierceness. He didn’t meet them. He just stirred his spoon in the soup bowl.

“What was that, husband?” Raegna asked.

“I said she can not grow on this,” Bai repeated dauntlessly. “There’s nothing but rabbit meat and water.”

As much as she knew it was true, it was still food and had to be eaten. That was her mother’s law in her household no matter how much Raegna disliked her cooking. Another household law was that the husband must not disrespect his wife’s authority with any sort of back talk. Bai was stepping over a thin line.

“It is a recipe made to help us become stronger,” Raegna told him.

“If it’s made correctly,” Bai challenged. This time, he did look her in the eye. It was the first eye contact the couple had made since the night their virginity was seized from them and the night Adabelle was conceived. The golden hue in his eyes sent Raegna’s heart racing. Her lips thinned and she sat up straight.

“Maybe next time, you’d like to take up woman’s work,” she snapped, not knowing what else to say.

Bai looked away and stood from the table. Adabelle and Raegna watched him as he went to a cupboard and retrieved a loaf of bread. He brought it to the table, took a knife and started to slice it.

“What are you doing?” Raegna asked.

“It may be terrible stew,” Bai said softly, “but it could pass for some kind of broth.” He handed two slices to his wife and one to Adabelle. “Dip it and eat it. Besides, this loaf you made a while ago can not go to waste. This stuff will soften the burned crust.”
Raegna’s eyes narrowed on him but Adabelle gobbled up the stew-soaked bread and asked for seconds. In minutes, the loaf was finished off and the stew had been eaten. Afterwards, Raegna and Adabelle cleaned the dishes while Bai stored the rest of the vegetables. When all chores were done, the sun completely disappeared from the sky and the moonlight shone through the house windows. It was the only light within the home besides the candles Raegna lit.

She placed a candle on the window pane next to Adabelle’s bed. The little girl watched the flame nervously as it flickered and twirled.

“Addy, why are you so afraid?” Raegna asked. “Gaea controls the candle flame so it won’t hurt you.”

“But it might fall,” Adabelle said. “My bed will be on fire.”

“Little one… let me tell you about Gaea and her daughter, Sachi. See, writings tell us Gaea became lonely after the world was created, watching the earth and making it go ‘round. So she made herself pregnant and had a beautiful daughter she named, Sachi. Gaea and Sachi lived on earth together though sometimes, Gaea would have to leave Sachi to fulfill her goddess duties. But she would always come back.”
Bai came into the room, shirtless and drying his wet hair with a towel, and sat on the edge of their bed. He gave Adabelle a warm grin from across the room. Adabelle looked away from her mother for a moment to return it.

“One day,” Raegna continued, ignoring Bai’s exposed back, soaked from the water, “Sachi was alone while Gaea was away. She walked through the forests and happened upon the god Fan, the evil one. Fan was driven by Sachi’s beauty to trick her and rape her. He did what he desired before Gaea returned and found Sachi laying on a forest path, sobbing, pregnant and slowly becoming human. Outraged, Gaea hunted the evil one down and punished him for what he did; she sent him to the underworld, the land of Helle.”

“What about Sachi?” Adabelle asked, eyes wide.

“She had a child,” Raegna answered. “A boy who was deformed and too weak to survive only a few minutes. This left Sachi traumatized, childless and human. She couldn’t see her mother in physical form any more and cried every day for her.”

“That’s not fair,” Adabelle said.

“Gaea missed spending time with her daughter,” Raegna said. “Because she could not be with her, she made Sachi a companion from the earth, the first man. His name was Sergei, meaning one who serves. He was meant to protect Sachi, provide for her and she fell in love. She wanted Sergei to be her husband and under Gaea, they were married.”

“That’s nice,” Adabelle said. “Did they have children?”

“Many, many, many children,” Raegna told her. “You and I are descendants of Sachi. All of us are.”

“Even Daddy?”

Raegna thought she could see Bai twitch in her peripheral vision. “Yes. He, like all men, is a son of Sergei, one who serves. Like the first man, it is his job to protect us and provide for us.”

“Dakarai said all men are a gift from Gaea,” Adabelle said. “That’s what his daddy told him. And now I know why!”

Raegna winced. “Dakarai?”

“Miss Pinar’s son,” Adabelle told her, her eyes sparkling with stars.

“...Yes… I suppose they are like a gift. But remember their purpose. They are here to respect us.”

“Uh-huh. Daddy loves me,” Adabelle said. “Daddy’s just like Sergei.”

Bai chuckled softly from his spot on the bed, throwing a shirt over his head.

Raegna sighed hopelessly. “Sometimes. Now get some rest, baby. You’ll need it if your father is taking you to the river tomorrow.”

Adabelle snuggled up into her bedsheets and Raegna kissed her goodnight. She and Bai switched places, passing each other on their way. As she prepared for bed, Raegna eavesdropped on Bai telling Adabelle goodnight. He knelt in front of her small bed and pushed her blonde hair from her face.

“Daddy, you always protect us, don’t you?” Adabelle told him.

“I will,” Bai said. “No matter what. I love you. As much as the sky is wide, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Raegna watched as Bai leaned in to kiss Adabelle goodnight, once on her forehead and again on her nose. “Sweet dreams, precious girl.”