Sorry about the long wait on the update. I'm currently in my last class of college before graduation and I'm getting bombarded with stuff that needs to get done. Once the first week in April is over, I'll have lots more free time, so look for an update then.
I want to thank you all for reading and your wonderful reviews. I do read all of them, but I've found less and less time to respond to all of them like I had been. I'm happy that people still seem to be enjoying this and I know where I want to go with it now, so hopefully no more sticky parts for a while.
PART FOURTEEN:
When Pierre woke up the next morning the first thing he registered was how much his head hurt. He groaned as he sat up, opening his puffy eyes and looking around. The next thing he realized was that he wasn't in his room. As a matter of fact, he wasn't in the house at all. He looked around to the thatch walls and the burnt down candles, then to the animal furs he was covered in.
His tired eyes then moved over to see Chelsea still sleeping beside him. Oh Goddess, they kidnapped us and drugged us! He started shaking Chelsea awake, hoping she was alright. "Chelsea! Chelsea!"
"Mmnn. . ." She groaned as she rolled over onto her stomach. "What's wrong?" She mumbled.
"They've kidnapped us and now they're gonna eat us! I knew they were cannibals! We have to get out of here!"
She looked at him like he was crazy. "What? They didn't kidnap us and they're not cannibals."
"Then why are we here?"
"You got drunk off their wine and couldn't walk straight." She sat up and stretched.
"Oh." He watched as she rearranged her t-shirt and redid her hair in its ponytail. She was so pretty.
She looked over at him. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts."
"I bet. You drank like, eight glasses of wine last night." She dipped a cup into the water and handed it to him.
"Thanks." He drank it down and wiped at his mouth. "What time is it?"
"I dunno, but it's probably late morning."
"We should go back." Chelsea nodded and stood up, straightening the furs before the two headed out. The women were already awake and Olla came up to them. "How feel Pip?"
"I'm alright."
"Here." She handed him a cup of brown liquid.
"What's this?"
"Boil root. Good for after drink at big celebration." She smiled and Pierre drank it down. It tasted horrible, but in just a couple of minutes the pounding in his head went away.
"We're going to head back."
"I hope you have good time?"
"We did! You'll have to come meet everyone else soon."
Olla nodded. "I come back see you in woods next week. Tell you then what Wada say."
Chelsea nodded and Sinba came to escort them home. After a while of walking, the farm came into view once again. Chelsea could see Ferena and Natalie at her front door. "Oh! We'd better hurry." She turned. "Thanks Sinba." He nodded and Pierre and Chelsea hurried out of the forest. "Ferena! Natalie!"
"Cheslsea! There you are."
"And Pierre-san, too. Where have you two been?"
"In the woods." She tried to answer as calmly as possible.
"Doing what?" Natalie looked to the both of them suspiciously as the other farmer waved her off. "Nothing like that! We got lost." The redhead still wasn't buying it, but Chelsea hurried off, insisting she had chores to do.
As Chelsea hurried to the barn, Natalie in tow, Ferena chuckled. "How did things go Pierre-san?"
He smiled. "It went well, I suppose." He'd confided his relationship problems to Ferena when they'd first started and her advice had been to either be persistent or give up. Pierre knew he wasn't willing to give up on her due to how he felt, so he'd stuck with his stubborn girlfriend and things seemed to have turned out alright.
Ferena smiled. "As long as things are going well. I think the two of you are really good for each other."
"Thank you Ferena-san."
Chelsea had decided she'd tell everyone of the tribe in the forest at supper that night. While everyone was enjoying their meal, the young farmer stood and tapped her glass. "Um, I'd like to take a moment to tell everyone of something important that Pierre and I discovered." Natalie smiled. She knew this was coming. "When we went out truffle hunting a while ago, we actually stumbled across a tribe of natives living up in the forest on the mountain."
Roven and Ariella smiled. "We found evidence that suggested something like that, but we didn't know if it was true."
The nun nodded. "Some of the books we found in the Church had notes about people that lived here. But we haven't seen any evidence of that so far."
Chelsea smiled. "Well, they're there. We've met with them and they're very friendly. The leader of the tribe wants to meet with everyone, but he doesn't know when."
Marsell smiled. "If they're friendly, I wouldn't mind meeting them."
Chen nodded. He was used to meeting lots of different kinds of people. The kids were also excited to meet strange new people and were already talking with one another about what they were like.
Ceffiena and Darshan didn't say much. Danny and Lilly looked a bit nervous, but said they would like to meet them. Ferena smiled, trusting Chelsea's judgment completely.
The rest of the meal was eaten with the same sort of chatter and all the following day, Chelsea kept getting asked question upon question. She answered them as much as she could and the excitement kept growing among the townspeople.
When the farmer finally met with Olla and got the okay to arrange a meeting with everyone in town, she was happy. She asked Pierre if he would help her and he said he would. So, together the two sat down and planned a big party for the natives to come and meet all of their friends.
Pierre was glad that Chelsea was so excited and, while she talked about the natives a lot, she also took out time that was totally free of any talk of them. Pierre smiled when Chelsea asked if they could sit and watch soap operas together or if he would teach her a new recipe. These little bits of time really made him realize that she did care about him enough to put aside everything else, and that their relationship wasn't so bad off after all.
Chelsea knew how he felt somehow. He figured he'd probably told her at one point but he just couldn't remember.
Soon the day of the party arrived and Chelsea and Pierre went to meet Wada and the others at the edge of the forest. Olla smiled widely as she greeted her friend and they led everyone to the Church. Wada grinned, seeming like a child at seeing things were much like they had been when the other settlers were here.
Everyone in town greeted the natives as they entered and helped them find seats. There was so much chatter as everyone introduced themselves or asked questions and Pierre smiled as he held Chelsea's hand. He had had his doubts at first, but everything seemed to be turning out just fine.
Over the next few weeks, Chelsea worked hard to get the last of their farming in before winter hit again. Members of the tribe could be seen coming out of the trees to fish closer to ocean or going out in boats. Sinba brought Olla to see Chelsea several times and the girls talked while the boys sat by and watched.
One such day, Sinba plopped down next to Pierre on the grass while Olla and Chelsea walked around the fields. The boy handed a bag to Pierre who opened it. "Truffles!"
"Is what came for first yes?"
Pierre nodded. "Yes! Thank you Sinba."
He smiled. "I have something else." He reached into the bag at his side and pulled out something wrapped in animal furs. He looked to make sure Olla wasn't looking before showing it to the blonde.
Pierre smiled when Sinba pulled back the material to reveal a shining blue feather. "Is for Olla. I climb all way up to top of mountain for it."
"You went all the way up there?"
He nodded. "I prove I strong and be good husband for Olla."
Pierre looked at the feather. "We usually buy ours."
Sinba snorted a bit. "You no get yourself? How woman know you be good husband, if not go get yourself?"
Pierre shrugged. "I never thought about where they came from." He felt kind of. . . inferior? He supposed that was what it was.
Sinba rewrapped his gift and stowed it safely once again. "You can go next fall."
"Huh?"
"When blue bird come back next fall, you get Chelsea feather."
Pierre looked to the top of the mountain. "I don't think I could climb that far. I've never been one for a lot of physical activity."
"Oh." The dark boy patted his shoulder. "I sure Chelsea still like you, even if buy feather."
"Yeah. . ."
Sinba got up and went to Olla, telling her he was ready to leave. She nodded and waved to Chelsea who watched as they went back into the forest.
Pierre still sat where he was, sulking from underneath his hat as he watched Chelsea. They'd been over some rough patches in their relationship and though he had found her unbearable just a few weeks ago, he knew now that he could never really feel that way. It was just one thing that he'd have to learn to accept about her, and that was that she often got carried away with whatever she was currently focused on.
But as he watched her work so hard in the fields with her friends, that look of determination on her face as she focused on her work, he knew it was something he loved. It was just one of the many things he loved about her. I love her.
He smiled to himself and finally stood, brushing off his pants. He walked over to Chelsea and gave her a big hug before going off to help Ferena, leaving the girl smiling and wondering just what had gotten into him.
To be continued. . .