Page 123 of The Ruler
“Do you accept your position on the school board?” Pearl asked Magni and Archer.
They both agreed after a long glance in my direction.
Normally I would have put an end to this coup, but Pearl’s being cooler to me worried me and I thought that maybe giving her this small victory would soften her up.
“Great,” she said. “Then let’s vote about the massage. Who is in favor of trying Kya’s idea and letting the children give each other neck rubs?”
My hand went up and so did everyone’s but Archer and Magni.
“Thank you,” Kya said triumphantly, “and who supports meditation on the schedule twice a day?”
“I don’t even know what it is.” Magni shook his head.
“It’s that boring shit where they sit and do nothing with their eyes closed,” Boulder explained.
“Ahh.” Magni gave a nod. “No, that’s just a waste of time.” He turned his thumb down.
“You don’t get to take a vote on this until you’ve actually tried meditating for at least a week,” Pearl said with a finger pointing to all us men. “It’s nonnegotiable to us. Meditation is fundamental in our lives and our children are used to it.”
“Once a day then,” Archer suggested and it was agreed upon.
We discussed discipline and the use of physical punishment, which not surprisingly had the group split between men and women. We discussed the yearly survival drill that all Nboys had to go through. The women were horrified that the children would be left in the woods in groups of five for three days and two nights without food and constant supervision.
“We could give you a yes on the showers if you give us the survival camp,” I suggested but ultimately it was decided to postpone the vote.
I wanted Pearl to look at me, and maybe it was the desperation that her coolness caused in me that made me say what I did next.
“Good, and while we’re all here, I would like to invite you to our wedding this Saturday,” I declared.
“This Saturday?” Pearl stared at me. “That’s in two days, I thought we would wait a few weeks.”
“There’s no need to wait,” I said.
“Don’t you think that’s a little hasty? Not to mention that we’re a little busy,” Magni sputtered and I felt heat rise in my face.What the fuck?
“Can I bring Raven?” Kya asked and at leastshewas smiling.
“No! And you’re not going either,” Archer told Kya, whose face fell.
“Why? I’ve never been to a wedding,” Kya argued.
Archer tensed up and looked at me. “Will the ceremony be with an audience or just a private gathering?”
“It’ll be public,” I said.
“Then you can’t let Kya go,” Archer insisted. “She’s a single woman and the men would demand to fight for her.”
“Oh, she’s not going!” Magni boomed. “And there’s no fucking way Raven is getting exposed either. We need to keep this project safe, and parading two treasures around like that would be fucking reckless.”
“But you just said no one would touch a girl under eighteen,” Kya pointed out.
All the men at the table looked tense. “They won’t,” I said because there was no reason to go over worst-case scenarios.
“Actually, I would like to invite my mother,” Pearl announced, and it was as if a sweet melody played in my head. With her coolness I had feared that she had gotten cold feet, and how could I blame her after all my confessions yesterday?
“You can invite your mother,” I assured her.
“And Kya and Raven will be there as my guests too. Officially, we’ll say that Kya is my friend and Raven is Kya’s daughter. That way every Nman will know not to get his hopes up, since Kya is only visiting as far as they know.”
