Weekend Writing Warriors: 12/10

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, both of them are injured from killing monsters, and that night they tend their wounds and discuss the charms made from monster hide, bones, teeth, etc.–and Kaie promises to make his next kill something exotic and pretty.

“Your mama trades hides, right?” Adann asked. “You could give it to her, from your first real kill.”

“Yeah, the monsters are rarer in big cities, so they love mementos there,” Kaie’s eyes brightened with excitement.

“When we kill your fabulous monster, you can make a cape, with feathers and quills on the collar, and wear it to the festivals. And everyone will envy you.” Adann could picture him dancing in the firelight, the cape snapping with his movement, the quills gleaming, and the feathers bright and ruffling in the wind.

“I think you want everyone laughing so hard that no one wants to dance with me,” Kaie said, and tisked at her, shaking his head.

“Oh, no, I think you could make it work. And if you couldn’t, that means I get all your dances for myself.”

*    *    *

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