Disclaimer: I do not own anything here, no people from Poto or Alia Waking
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Christine hunkered down on her heels and held herself steady, waiting. As she listened to the silence, she wondered if a keeten, a warrior woman, might be watching from somewhere among the trees. The warrior women often watched the fights and mock battles to see which of the girls was the strongest, the fastest, the bravest. Then when the girls reach eighteen springs, the keetens would envite them to join the sisterhood. Unlike boys, who all trained and served for a time as warriors, only girls chosen by the keetens had the honor of learning the war arts and fighting for the village. Christine wanted nothing more than an invitation into the keeten sisterhood, but in the last moons, she had little time to show the warrior women her worth. Her elder sister had married the past spring, leaving all indoor chores for her. This day was a gift. There wouldn't be many more before the next spring, her sixteenth.
A slight crunching sounded behind her, and she tensed and turned. At the sight of her close friend, Meg, Christine relaxed. She reached out and pulled the tall, leggy girl down beside her.
It's not good for us," whispered Meg with a grimace. "The Beechians have caught three of our people."
Christine nodded and glanced out into the trees. No real Beechians were hiding out there; this was just how they named their sides in mock skirmishes. Christine was a Trantian - one of her own people this time, thankfully. Even if pretending to be a beechian was a simple game, it still made her feel tarnished.