Roth could barely draw himself up to his full height he was so weakened with hunger. Jun was sprightlier, having been given food and water by an unknown Meh-teh. Roth had seen and heard him or her come up and bring Jun food and water, but in the darkness, he could not discern who it was. Jun had many who were loyal to him so pinpointing just who it was would prove difficult. What made it more tricky was that if Roth started asking around, it would be known that he was looking for whoever it was, and that person would know that they were being looked for. And if they knew, they surely work that much harder to conceal themselves. Not being able to identify someone who would flout rules bothered Roth's sense of leadership and threatened his ability to ensure Dania's safety. He did not relish either realization. But the latter released a rage in him that he'd never known before.
This situation was delicate and must be dealt with delicately, Roth reasoned. At least until he could figure out who it was that had betrayed the Meh-teh and interfered with the trials. At that point it would be Jun and his accomplices necks that would be delicate. But until then, all he could do was gather information and then let the evidence speak for itself. And more importantly to him, he decided he couldn't let Dania know what was going on. She'd worry. It would make her acculturation harder. It was his to make and he'd made it to protect her.
~~~~~~~~~~
Over the next few cycles of the Moon, things returned to a relative normality and complacency. Roth worked every day to earn back the trust of his former constituency and the Meh-teh once again felt safe. Roth continued to consider who might have helped Jun. Roth and Dania too fell into a comfortable pattern of routine. It did take some time for the Meh-teh to accept Dania as Roth's significant other, however. They didn't feel as if she were capable of the political position given that she was not one of them and had limited knowledge of the culture and its customs. Dania eventually proved she was up to the challenge and although she made mistakes initially, she learned quickly and the mistakes became infrequent. She hunted early in the morning before the others awoke to show respect to the Meh-teh's dietary habits.
While Dania wasn't Roth's mate, she was his other, and it was suggested that she should take on the role that his mate would have: Alpha Female. This was a political position which she had not known about when they'd discussed her coming here. In that role she would be responsible for making sure that the women of the tribe were heard and that no injustices were thrust upon them by others, intentionally or not.
This sounded like a wonderful thing, but in reality it wasn't. When one of the women had a problem with their mates, they came to Dania for advice. When they felt that their workload was greater than someone else's, it was Dania they came to. Mose of the time her day consisted of listening to complaints and trying her best to offer a solution to the problem. This proved to be dreary work.
Her solitary life, the one before the Meh-teh and one she thought she'd miss, turned out to be an asset to resolving various issues. Because she'd been self sufficient, she expected the other females to be able to be that way as well; but because they'd also grown up in a culture where cooperation was the way to go, working collaboratively was required as well. Further, her decisions were not clouded by favoritism as she had no history with these Meh-teh to draw bias from and she soon had a reputation as one who was fair. Inexperienced, but fair.
Roth was ecstatic when Dania's work led her to her first friend among his people. When she wasn't busy with the Meh-teh or with Roth, she spent time with Tiber. Roth would often see them during the day talking and laughing. She says it was Tiber who helped her with things the most. She took time to explain things, sometimes over and over. It was through Tiber that Dania learned much about the Meh-te, and Tiber seemed genuinely interested in Dania and her life before. Roth was please to see that the two got along well. Deep down, he wasn't entirely thrilled that Dania's first friend was Tiber, Jun's mate, but he ultimately decided that she had nothing to do with what had happened during the contest, so his feeling towards her were unwarranted and he decided to be happy for the both of them.
Roth's feelings about Jun were, unsurprisingly, more complicated than for Tiber. Roth still considered Jun someone to keep an eye on. He knew the depth of pleasure a mate could bring could be life-changing....in any direction. Tiber's relationship with Jun made him even more of an x-factor to Roth's mind. On the one hand, Tiber seemed good and maybe she would have a positive effect on Jun. After all, she was a large female and was considered to be attractive by most of the Meh-teh (a real "catch" to anyone but Roth, who didn't think she was ugly or anything, but in his eyes, she paled in comparison with Dania). On the other hand, whatever their problem was, it was clear that they didn't relate to each other very well when it came to intimacy. Sometimes Jun would come out after mating looking pleased with himself, but Tiber would follow shortly thereafter with an unpleasant look upon her face. When she hadn't been pleasured, you could tell. And then there times when they would both come out looking like this. It was at those moments that Roth grinned inwardly for his enemies poor relations, but he also feared that it made Jun prone to acting out. In practical terms, Roth only expressed the conventional pleasure of a Meh-teh leader; that he was proud that two of his people had "found" each other and were mating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roth and Dania's relationship was anything but conventional. For one, she wasn't his mate. Dania's Cat insisted that she already had a mate and she couldn't overcome the Cat. And the other thing was that the Meh-teh didn't require that you mate for life. You could be with someone and everything be great....but if you decided to go your separate ways, you were free to mate with someone else. This was not the case with Dania. She'd mated before and was still loyal, even though she had no memory of it.
What they wouldn't have been called mating, at least none of the Meh-teh would have recognized it as such. For one, Dania's screams of pleasure could be heard by all. This mattered to her now because she was Alpha and the others would look to her for leadership. Well she hoped they would eventually. Right now they didn't fully trust her. And if they didn't trust her, it would make her job much harder. But Roth didn't like for her to be quiet. He loved the sound of her being pleasured. It was music to his ears. The kind of music that you can't stop listening to, the kind that just makes you want more of it. So she was not quiet.
If someone asked why she was so loud each and every night, she was to tell them that she was sorry to have kept them awake. If they persisted, she was to tell them that Roth pleasured her in such a way that it was impossible to be quiet. That the pleasure took over and her Cat couldn't help but let everyone know how good she felt. When hearing this last part, the women of the Meh-teh would either look away or look down at the ground, almost as if they were embarrassed by the candor in which Dania spoke. This, of course, told Dania that they didn't receive a fraction of the pleasure that she did, and if the weren't getting the pleasure, the pain that went hand-in-hand with her pleasure was nowhere in sight. Take all of this into account as well as the fact that Roth had never actually penetrated Dania. More than a few were envious of her.
And then there were the mornings when the both of them would come into the clearing leaning on each other, looking as if they'd just escaped death by mauling. In truth, they'd spent the night entertaining Dania's Cat and its need to hunt and be aggressive. And as intense as these fights between the two of them could be, there was never any malicious intent. Injuries were common and were never serious. Roth's injuries tended to consist of mostly deept gashes left by Dania's claws and hers were mostly bruises from where he'd thrown her against a tree or the ground.
The Meh-teh were always confused on these mornings. They had clearly been in a fight with something. And yet they were always smiling and holding each other. Did they fight whatever it was together? Did one save the other? No one knew for sure, but many speculated. The favored rumor that spread was that she had wondered off alone and had been attacked by a bear and Roth had to risk himself in order to save her. Her "carelessness" would cost them one day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is not to say that Dania was without incident. There were times when her Cat would come to the surface and she would be more playful; usually when she was socializing. Roth thought this was, perhaps, necessary for her to be around others. She had been alone for so long. But at the same time, he didn't find it acceptable for her to forget her place. Usually, her behavior was mild enough that he could deal with her later, in private. There were times, however, in which he had to deal with her in public. Her punishment needed to be swift.
She wasn't his mate and he knew that she never would be. But she was his other and had taken on the role of Alpha Female. The others initially rejected the idea, but soon saw that even though she wasn't Meh-teh, she was, by far, the most dominant female. Period.
Dania's first public punishment came when she was with Tiber and a few of the other females. The winter was soon approaching and they would need to decide where the tribe would go so that food would be readily available. Food during the winger wasn't a factor for Dania; there would always be game for her. But the Meh-teh did not eat meat....their food sources changed with the seasons.
"Dania, I need to speak with you for a moment."
"I'm busy, Roth, can it wait?"
"No, it can't."
Her demeanor changed. "But I want it to wait." She stared him directly in the eyes, a small smile creeping into the corners of her lips, and the tip of her tail swishing back and forth slightly. Her Cat had come out to play.
Roth said to the other females, "Ladies, I'm sorry about this." And to Dania he gestured for her to come to him. He knelt down to one knee and motioned for her to lie across. He let her lie there for a moment, letting the anticipation of what was to come do more damage than he actually would. Finally he began, moving her tail out of the way and stopping to talk to her between each strike.
*Smack*
"Dania, you are here at MY request and serve as MY Alpha Female.
*Smack*
"I am your leader."
*Smack*
"You will do as I ask you to."
