Okay, here's chapter 4. A little deeper into the plot here... hope you enjoy!
Madenia had no idea what to make of this pronouncement; it simply couldn't be! She hadn't had a chance to properly examine the woman herself, but she knew what prolonged, deep cold did to a human body. Could the Mamutoi woman be wrong? No, Madenia didn't think so; even if she weren't a particularly skilled healer, a supposition for which she had no proof, frostbite wasn't easy to miss, even for an unskilled laymen. Was the strange woman some sort of spirit after all? Again, Madenia didn't think so; she seemed entirely solid and was obviously in need of human assistance. She couldn't imagine a spirit ending up in a position like that. Unless, Madenia thought with another sudden chill, she'd been sent by Duna as a test of some sort…
But before Madenia could pursue this line of thought, there was a sudden commotion in the center of the tent. As Rugie moved to climb into the furs and share her warmth with the half-frozen woman, the stranger apparently had other ideas. With a cry of alarm, she blurred into motion, throwing the furs off herself and rolling backward in an acrobatic maneuver that no one there had ever seen before, somehow flipping over to land on her feet and then backing as far away from everyone as the small tent would allow. She stood there then, a wild look in her eyes, her body assuming an odd, bladed posture, her right side and foot forward, her hands up in an unmistakably defensive manner.
Neither Madenia nor any of the others had ever seen anything like the woman's posture before, but it's purpose was clear; it exposed as little of her body to potential attack as possible while keeping her hands poised for either defensive or offensive action. In short, the woman was poised for a fight and, to judge by the unconscious ease evident in her stance, she was likely quite skilled at such things. Not only that, but given the look in her eyes, it was fairly obvious that the woman was confused, perhaps even delirious; Madenia doubted that she had any idea where she was or what was going on.
Apparently Madenia wasn't the only one to have such ideas. Before she could quite make up her mind how to proceed, the older man, Talut, was a step ahead of her. Holding his hands up in as non-threatening a way as he could, the great bear of a man moved slowly toward the strange woman, saying in a low, soothing tone, "Easy, now. No one's going to hurt you, we only want to help."
But there was no sign of comprehension on the woman's face, just the same wild, wary look. Then, as Talut drew near, tentatively extending a hand toward the stranger, she began to call out in a language none of them were familiar with, gesticulating in a manner that made it obvious she wanted him to stay away.
Talut hesitated for a moment, considering, and then, deciding that the woman might be doing herself harm by refusing treatment from the daughter of his hearth, took another step toward her. This proved to be a mistake, as he very quickly found out.
Blurring into motion once more, the strange woman moved almost faster than the eye could follow. As Talut crossed whatever invisible line she'd drawn around herself, her right hand darted out, grasping Talut's right arm at the wrist. Then, before he even had time to realize what was going on, the woman dug her fingers into the pressure points where the wrist joined the hand and, applying pressure and twisting forcefully, spun Talut completely around, forcing his arm up into a painful hammer lock at the same time. Finally, with a hard shove, the woman sent the giant of a man, nearly twice her size, staggering and sprawling at the feet of the others, much to the shock and dismay of all.
With a cry of concern, Latie knelt down beside the man of her hearth, rushing to assure herself that he was unhurt. But as she approached, Talut waved her away, already moving to regain his feet.
"I'm alright, Latie," he said a bit sheepishly. "The only thing hurt is my pride, I think."
Madenia registered this peripherally, still unable to believe how quickly the strange woman had dealt with Talut. Even ignoring the large discrepancy in size between the two, Madenia doubted that she'd ever seen a human being move as fast as the woman had. In fact, now that she thought about it, the stranger's movements reminded her more of one of those small darting lizards that one occasionally saw, or a striking serpent perhaps. Either way, it certainly wasn't what anyone would expect from a person who'd been frozen nearly to death only a few minutes before.
Once again, Madenia felt a thrill of fear run down her spine. What was this woman that she could just leap to her feet, half-frozen, and then toss around a man twice her size as if he were a child? But then, registering the all-too-human fear in the other woman's eyes, once more she was unsure. Would a spirit be so afraid of anything, much less a small group of human beings? She didn't think so. And that being the case, she decided that there was probably only one way she was going to get any answers to this particular mystery.
Moving very slowly and being especially careful to make nothing that could be construed as a threatening gesture, Madenia began to sidle her way toward the stranger. As she came near, the other woman began to yell in her strange language again, using the same words and gestures as before. For her part, Madenia came as close as she dared, not quite as close as Talut had, and then slowly lowered herself to a sitting position, muttering the sort of soft, soothing nothings under her breath that one might use to calm a frightened child.
This brought the other woman up short; apparently Madenia's actions were the last thing she'd expected, if she expected anything at all. She fell silent at first, her gaze unfocused as if she were seeing something inside herself rather than what was before her. Then, eventually, her eyes seemed to focus on Madenia and, dropping her defensive posture, she slowly settled into a sitting position as well.
Once she'd seated herself, the strange woman began to shiver violently, as if her perilously low body temperature had just suddenly caught up with her somehow. Seeing this, Latie jumped up from where she'd been, next to Talut, and, grabbing the fur the woman had thrown off as she moved, made her way to the woman's side cautiously. There was no adverse reaction from the stranger this time, and Latie quickly threw the fur around her shoulders. The woman nodded then and rattled off a phrase in her language that was obviously a thanks of some kind.
Latie grunted a quick response, not intending to be unkind but in a hurry to get back to the central hearth where the medicinal tea she's started brewing still sat. After what the other woman had done, Latie wasn't sure what effect her healing herbs might have, but the stranger did still seem to be in need of warmth, and the hot tea would at least provide that.
As Latie moved away, Madenia found herself momentarily 'alone' with the stranger. True, no one was more than arm's reach from anyone else in the small tent, but somehow it felt to Madenia as if she and the other woman were the only people within a day's walk of where they sat. She wasn't sure why this was, but she supposed it had something to do with the intensity of the stranger's gaze, which seemed to be directed at Madenia alone. Somehow, she had the impression that the strange woman was sizing her up, almost looking through her in some way, and she found the sensation less than comfortable.
Finally, after several moments of this uncomfortable silence, Madenia found that she just had to break it in some way. Considering for a moment, she finally decided that the best way to proceed was the way she'd learned from the traders she'd been traveling with. When you met a new people who spoke a language you didn't understand, there was a fairly standard protocol to follow, and so she did. Raising her hand slowly, she tapped herself in the middle of the chest and said, "Madenia." Then, pointing to the stranger, she raised her hands in a questioning gesture.
The other considered for a moment, frowning as if she were trying to remember something, and then, with a sudden smile said, "Storm. Sergeant Major Joanne Storm."