Weekend Writing Warriors: 7/30

This 8-10 sentence blog hop is hosted by The Weekend Writing Warriors. (Click the link for the list of participants, or rules if you want to join!)

This is a WIP, NaNoWriMo 2015, Forest Wed. Adann and Kaie (who was engaged), are married as symbols of their gods, and 2 weeks into their marriage, the gods’ blessing and the town are suffering, so they are sent on a hunting trip with two experienced hunters (Rui and Corliss). On the third day, Kaie and Adann  race to find the best climbing tree–Kaie wins, but can’t think of a good prize.

 

“Are we racing to the top?” Kaie asked.

“That wouldn’t be a great idea,” Adann said, “that’s how people fall out of trees.”

“People?” Kaie teased.

Wrinkling her nose at him, Adann chose not to answer, instead starting up the tree. Limb by limb, she pulled and balanced, making her way upwards, aiming for a nice thick branch near the top, but not so near as she was likely to get stuck. Settling against the tree trunk, she waited for Kaie to join her, wriggling her toes on the bark again for the feel of it, rough against her callused feet.

After a bit of effort—he found a branch from which he could climb no higher, and had to back track and try a different route—Kaie ended up on a branch a couple hand spans higher than hers, and close enough that she could have reached out and touched his shoulder.

“When do you think they will miss us?”

“Oh, not before the midday meal,” Adann said. “Three times a day, more or less, seems to be enough for them to ensure we’re still alive.”

*    *    *

Beikife is a small town in something like the Amazon rain forest, protected by a pair of married gods. The gods are represented by human avatars, two young people chosen and married by divine power. The strength of the marriage represents the bond between the gods’ blessing, so the new forest wed must find a way to connect to each other, or the crops will fail, the rivers will flood, and the cursed monsters that live in the forest will claim many lives.