Chapter 3
"Oh, God," John said when he had a spoonful of apple pie jam. "Name your price and we the people of Olympia will pay it."
"Well, since you like it so much," Peter chuckled, "I think fifteen cents for the jam and twenty cents for the butter is fair. You can charge 20 and 25 cents in the shop, so we're both happy."
"It's a bargain," John smiled. "I'll have to keep these jars for the purpose of sampling," John said before taking another spoonful of jam.
"Will anyone besides you get to sample them?"
"If they ask me nicely," he joked. "So when do I get more jars of these masterpieces to sell?"
"I'll let Renesmee know how much you liked them and make sure she makes more. I'll need more mason jars of course."
"Since you're using these mason jars to make apple butter and apple pie jam, I'll give them to you for free."
"I'll take you up on that offer. Give me as many jars as you want to sell and I'll make sure Renesmee fills all of them up with apple butter and apple pie jam."
"I'll have to charge forty cents and forty five cents since I'm giving you these for free. I need to get the money back from these somehow."
"I won't complain," Peter smiled.
John handed over far more mason jars than Peter ever thought the man had in stock, but he accepted all of them and accepted his help to put the jars in the back of his cart. Several people saw all the jars and enquired as to what they were for to which Peter proudly announced Renesmee's idea to sell jars of his mother's apple butter and apple pie jam in the general store. Everyone he told was more than delighted with that idea and were even further delighted to have a sample of what Peter brought to the general store. Not many people got to try the jam and butter, though. The first dozen people that tried it cleaned it out before the rest of the town had a chance to try it. The townspeople demanded that there be jam and butter for sale in the general store by the end of the week: with love of course.
Now equipped with the mason jars, Peter made his way back to the house. He was looking forward to Renesmee's apple pie that she promised. He planned to suggest Renesmee take the next day to herself so she could relax before delving back into jam and butter making. They had eager customers to please now after all. Upon arriving home, Peter noticed the door was wide open and frowned a little. He would have to talk to Renesmee about leaving the door open like that. Sometimes the pigs would wonder onto the patio and if they left the door open, the pigs might get into the house and break something or worse. It wasn't until he got past the fence and was getting closer to the house that Peter realized that the door was actually flat on the floor. Peter leaped from his cart and ran the rest of the way to the house. He yelled Renesmee's name and when he entered the house, he saw a knife on the floor and several jars on their sides on the table as if it had been jolted roughly. Peter ran up and down the house yelling Renesmee's name and then looked around for her outside continuing to yell. When he got no response, Peter went back to his cart, untied the horse, hopped onto its back and made a mad dash back to town.
Further west from Olympia, closer to Forks, Jacob and Quil finally made it back. Caevia had stopped screaming when they were far from the house and there was no hope of anyone hearing her. She did, however, continue to attempt bargaining with the two men that kidnapped them, hoping that she might be able to convince them to let them go. They wouldn't relent, however, and all Caevia's demands fell on deaf ears. Renesmee had not woken up since hitting her head and it was making Caevia worry. The man holding her promised she seemed alright but that he would take her to the medicine man as soon as they got back to the tribe. Before entering the clearing where the tribe was rested, Jacob stopped and turned to look at Quil.
"I'm going to take her to Sokajili. Take the other woman to my father's tent. The two can stay with him."
"You don't think she's badly injured do you?" Quil asked about Jacob's imprint. She had been bleeding and they'd stopped a moment to clean her wound, but the fact that she hadn't come to in the past two hours was worrying.
"I'm sure Sokajili can help her. The man's healed worse."
"If you hurt her," Caevia started, having lost all patience for these men, "I will make sure you pay for it."
"I won't hurt her," Jacob said defensively. "You let me worry about her."
Caevia continued to make threats, but Jacob stopped listening to her and began walking into the village. Initially, those close looked on just to confirm who was entering the clearing. However, glances changed to gawks when they all saw Jacob carrying a sleeping white woman. More and more tribe's people stared in horror at the pale face being brought into their home and wondered what possessed Jacob to bring her here. Jacob and Quil walked towards William's tent. William poked out his head having heard the commotion and when he saw Jacob and what he was holding, he near burst a vein. Jacob ignored his father as he walked past the largest Teepee in the clearing. He also continued to ignore the other woman they brought with them as he walked away with his imprint. Quil attempted to approach William's teepee with Caevia, but William yelled for him to take her to Jacob's since he was the one that brought the two women there in the first place.
"Jacob!" William yelled.
"We'll talk after I have Sokajili look at her," Jacob bobbed his head towards his imprint indicating he was referring to her. Jacob went right into Sokajili's tent and was aggravated to find he seemed to be in the middle of a moon ceremony. He sat in the corner with his imprint and waited patiently for the couple to be done.
They sat across from Sokajili with a fire between them. When instructed to, the couple hovered their left hands above the fire for as long as they could and when they pulled their hands away Sokajili threw some herbs into the fire and chanted. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he did and the couple waited patiently to hear what he had to say. Moments passed before the smoke from the herbs finally cleared and when they did, Sokajili looked at the couple with a kind smile.
"For most prosperity, happiness and healthy children, you must wed under the half-moon in three days. Congratulations to you both." The couple thanked Sokajili and shared a kiss before they walked out of the tent eager to tell the tribe the good news. With them gone, Jacob walked to the fire pit with his imprint still in his arms. "Who is this?" Sokajili asked when he saw the woman. Jacob was surprised at how lacking in surprise Sokajili was at the sight of Jacob holding a pale faced woman.
"She's my imprint,"Jacob answered.
"I meant what is her name,"Sokajili chuckled. "I assumed she must be your imprint. Why else would you bring a pale face here?"
"I don't know her name."
"Well that's not a good start," Sokajili laughed. "She seems relaxed all the same."
"Please don't tease me," Jacob said. "She bit me while we were running, it stunned me and I tripped. She hit her head when we fell and she hasn't woken up since then."
"She's not bleeding at least. Rest her on the mat," Sokajili motioned towards and mat and Jacob rested his imprint there and stepped back.
"She did bleed for a bit, but as soon as we cleaned the wound, it looked like it'd already stopped bleeding. It was under her hair, though, so I couldn't get a good look at it."
Sokajili kneeled down beside the mat and began examining the woman's head. There were small bits of dried blood here and there in her hair, but when he felt her scalp nothing seemed amiss. She didn't have so much as a head bump: interesting. Sokajili also noticed her temperature was greater than he would expect yet she looked perfectly healthy. Suddenly, Sokajili felt her forehead, then felt Jacob's forehead for comparison.
"Well that's interesting. She's the same temperature as you." Jacob said nothing while Sokajili continued his examination of the woman. Then Sokajili did something strange. He took the woman's wrist and smelled it.
"What are you doing?"
"She smells very sweet. Surely you must have noticed."
"She'd been cooking with apples for two days. That's why she smells so sweet."
"Hm," Sokajili said with one more sniff of her wrist. He was highly skeptical but otherwise said nothing. He felt her head again and still felt nothing there. He brought his ear to her chest to listen for her heart and see if the beat was off from what it was supposed to be. Then Sokajili leaned over towards his tools and grabbed a mortar and pestle and some herbs that he mixed together appropriately. "Put this in some water and make her drink it. She'll come to before long."
Sokajili handed Jacob a small wooden cup holding the herbs and moved aside to allow Jacob access to the woman. But Jacob didn't take hold of her immediately. Instead he looked at Sokajili mildly disheartened.
"Do you think she'll love me?"
"Women have loved the men that imprint on them since Taha Aki fell in love with his third wife. Why would this woman love you any less?"
"I did kidnap her."
"Women aren't too fond of being kidnapped I hear," Sokajili joked.
"Why do you tease at a time like this?"
"Because I'm your uncle and I'm allowed to," Sokajili smiled. "She won't be receptive of you at first of course. No woman would given the circumstances. But she will come to love you in time I'm sure. You must be patient, be kind, and it wouldn't hurt for you to learnEnglish." Jacob cringed at the thought. Seth and Leah spoke English and that was all he cared about, especially considering the only need the tribe ever had for English anymore was when dealing with the Meat Monger that exchanged beef for salmon and that man was vile on looks alone.
"Why can't she learn Quileute?"
"She most likely will, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't make an effort to learn her language. Listen to me Jacob. I might not be married but I know women well enough. They like it when you go out of your way to make them happy. I wouldn't think such a thing would be too much to ask of you in this woman's case." Jacob looked at his imprint and saw how peaceful she really looked at the moment. He'd do anything for her, even if it meant learning English. "I also find couples get along better when they're able to talk to each other: a basic requirement of marriage."
"I don't know if she'd marry me now."
"Not willingly, no," Sokajili attempted to tease, but it just made Jacob look solemn. "Don't worry yourself over it so much, Jacob. If your mother can love a proud man like my brother, than this woman will certainly fall in love with you."
"I thought you said I was more stubborn than father," Jacob finally smiled. Sokajili thought a moment and smiled back.
"Oh dear, it may be hopeless after all." Despite everything, Jacob laughed with the man and looked at his imprint again. Jacob stepped outside to get water for the cup and allowed the herbs to soak for a few minutes before going back to Sokajili's tent and gently pouring the liquid down his imprint's throat as best he could, making sure he didn't pour at any point she took a breath. Jacob finally picked her up and began to carry her to William's tent, but he was stopped dead in his tracks.
"Put her in your teepee with the other woman. You come into mine right after. We need to talk." Jacob only nodded at his father and continued to walk away. The other woman wasn't in his tent just yet. Instead, she was in the circle of people surrounding Quil, who had managed to open up the jars. Jacob could smell it from where he stood and it was as great as it had been the day before when she'd made it.
"Quil!" Jacob yelled. "Make sure you save some for me." Quil nodded dismissively as everyone took at least a small taste of the apple contents of the jars. When the other woman saw Jacob with his imprint, she began running towards him yelling for him to put her down. Jacob ignored her and continued to his teepee. The other woman barged in after him once he entered his teepee and went right to his imprint, trying to make her come to. Jacob poked his head out and yelled for Quil to come over, bringing the jars with him. "I want you to keep an eye on them," Jacob said to Quil before finally taking a taste of each already half empty jar. Each was so sweet and tasted so good that he nearly fell over.
"Aren't you glad I grabbed these?"
"You should've grabbed more," Jacob answered before taking another sampling and walking away to his father's teepee. When he let himself in, his mother was sitting in the corner while his father was pacing back and forth. He stopped when he saw Jacob. Then he snapped his fingers and pointed towards the other side of the teepee instructing Jacob to sit. Jacob did as he was instructed and waited for his father to begin.
"Who is that woman and why did you bring her here? Where did you get her from?"
"I found her when she was traveling to Olympia. She's my imprint, father. I had no other choice but to kidnap her." Now William's eyes went wide.
"You kidnapped her!? What were you thinking?! Do you know what you've done?!"
"Kayechiwetchwe," Sara said, hoping to calm William. Aside from Sokajili, Sara was the only person anymore than addressed him by his real name. It was usually enough to relax him.
"I had little other choice, father. I couldn't just come to her and try to start a relationship. I had to take drastic action."
"And what, exactly, do you think will come of this? What do you think will happen when that Meat Seller sees her?"
"He won't see her. We'll make sure she's well hidden when that man is around, when any pale faces are around."
"And how do you know she'll comply with that?" Jacob held his head down and looked at his hands. He realized he had no idea. Outside of kidnapping her and bringing her to his tribe, he had no idea what he was going to do from there. "That's what I thought. You have to take her back."
"My love, be reasonable," Sara spoke up in her son's defense. "He can't take her back; they'll lynch him if he does. Even would they not, she's still his imprint. Can you say you would do any differently were you in his position and it were me?"
"Father," Jacob interrupted. "I won't take her back. She stays here with me. I'll take full responsibility for anything that happens in the future, but I won't be away from her."
"I won't keep those women in here," William asserted. "You kidnapped them, they're your responsibility. Are we understood?"
"Yes father," Jacob answered before bowing his head. William excused him and Jacob left the teepee and finally left Sara and William alone.
"It will work itself out," Sara promised. "We just have to trust his judgment."
"You're too soft on that boy sometimes," William said. That part of the conversation ended and William desperately changed the subject.
Jacob noticed Embry come up from the ocean side with several fish on one spear, so he waited for Embry to reach him before asking if there were any sightings of cold ones while Jacob and Quil were away.
"One wondered near the village, but it was easy enough to kill."
"You made sure to burn it?"
"Yes, I did," Embry confirmed. "Why were you gone so long? How difficult is it to kidnap a pale face?"
"There was a pale faced man at the home she was staying at. I needed to wait until he was gone. Quil wouldn't let me just kill him and I wasn't about to take him with us."
"Do you think they'll be able to figure out we're the ones that took her?"
"I doubt it. They'll look at tribes closer to Olympia first. Let it be their problem."
"Do we have allies in that area?"
"No," Jacob answered.
"I heard you took another woman with your imprint."
"Yes, we did. She never left her side. Besides, she's of native origins. She speaks a language very similar to ours but I don't think she's of our tribe. She looks too dark for that."
"It would be worth asking," Embry said.
"Give me three of those fish. They're probably hungry."
Embry pulled three small fish from the end of his spear and handed them to Jacob who proceeded to clean the fish once he was next to a fire pit. Once cleaned, he skewered all three fish with sticks so they could sit upright above the fire and cook. When they were done, he put all three in a woven basket and started looking for Seth. He wanted to have someone he trusted with him just in case the other woman might take anything he tried to say to his imprint and mistranslate it. He found Seth throwing a soft ball around with a few of the younger kids, but Seth passed the ball to someone and ran right to Jacob when he saw him.
"You made me dinner? You shouldn't have," Seth smiled.
"It's for the two women we brought here. I need you to come with me and translate."
"Why did you take two women? I thought you were only after the one."
"There was someone with her at all times. She's a native, but I'm not sure of where. Either way, she speaks our language but I don't trust her to tell my imprint everything I want to say. That's why I want you there with me."
"Whatever you say," Seth smiled. He followed Jacob as they went to his tent where the women were being kept, being sure to excuse Quil once he got there.
In the teepee where Renesmee and Caevia were left, Caevia did her best to bring Renesmee to. Eventually, she groaned and opened her eyes but she jumped to a sitting up position and looked around with fear in her eyes.
"So it wasn't a dream?" was all Renesmee could muster to say.
"No, it wasn't. How are you feeling? You've been unconscious the whole time we've been traveling."
"How long were we traveling?" Renesmee rubbed the back of her head a little. It didn't really hurt, but she felt dried blood and a mild wetness that seemed to be more from water.
"About two hours. We were under the cover of trees most of the time."
"Do you know where we are?"
"This tribe is seated right beside the ocean, so we're at Washington's furthest western point but that's all I'm sure of. I'm not sure whether we're northwest or southwest or even directly west of Olympia. The men that took us kept changing directions and they ran through a brook for a large portion of the way here. Dogs won't be able to track them. Would a vampire be able to?"
"I doubt it," Renesmee answered with a groan. "You understand them?" Renesmee asked when she remembered Caevia had been yelling at them in her native tongue. She couldn't think of a time Caevia had ever spoken in that language. She'd assumed perhaps Caevia had forgotten it.
"They were speaking a language like mine. They're not exactly the same, but I could understand them."
"Did they say what they're planning to do with us?"
"Not specifically. They kept saying they weren't going to hurt us, but I don't know how good their word is."
"Me either," Renesmee managed to joke. "What are we going to do? The best I can think to do is run when everyone's asleep."
"That was my first thought too, but I'm not sure we should. We don't know where we are or how far the closest town is from us."
"What other option do we have?"
"I'll start talking to the people and see if there's a town near here."
"Would they tell you?"
"So far they're curious of me from what I can tell. You, they're more wary of. So long as I talk to them alone, I might be able to milk some information out of them."
"What do they even want with us if they're not going to hurt us?"
"The man carrying you kept referring to you as his," Caevia took a moment to try and remember the word they used, "Zoayisak."
"What does that even mean?" Renesmee asked with irritation heavy in her voice.
"No idea," Caevia answered frankly. "It's not a word we use in my language. There are words they will use here and there that I don't recognize."
"So are they planning to hold us hostage for ransom, are they going to make slaves of us, are they going to sacrifice us? Hell, are they going to eat us?"
"I don't know," Caevia answered. "They won't eat us; that much I'm sure of. Cannibalism is more of a practice of southern tribes as far as I know. My tribe never practiced it but I remember a tribe we were allied with that used cannibalism as a form of asserting dominance over smaller tribes. They never did so to us of course."
"Of course not. You kept flying away." Caevia smiled at Renesmee's joke and took her in a gentle hug.
"No matter what happens, I'll make sure you're always aware of it. We'll figure out how to escape, but we'll have to be patient. I noticed these people drying meats, so I'll make sure to stock up on that. I shouldn't need too much."
"I'll leave it in your hands then."
The two continued to hug but released each other when one man and a young boy entered the tent. Renesmee recognized the man as the one that had grabbed her. She backed away ready to defend herself if needed. But now that she was looking him in the face, she realized his eyes were strangely familiar. She could swear she'd seen those black eyes before. For the briefest of moments, he smiled at her and it made her quiver but in the blink of an eye the smile was gone. The young boy was the one to come forward however and he rested a basket of fish in front of them.
"This is dinner," the boy said.
"One of you speaks English?" Renesmee asked the boy.
"My sister and I," the boy answered. The boy then proceeded to say something to the man, which Caevia immediately translated.
"He's repeating what we said to him," Caevia said. The man then said something to the boy which Caevia translated first. "That man said if we want more food, we can ask for it." Seth translated what Caevia said. "Talk directly to me," Caevia said, having gotten irritated with the arrangement. "The boy's English doesn't sound great anyway."
"My English is just fine thank you," Seth said defensively.
"Regardless, he can talk to me directly. Anything he says I'll relay to her."
"What is she saying?" the man asked the boy.
"I told you to speak to me. I'll tell her what you're saying and that'll be the end of it."
"I don't trust you to translate my words accurately," Jacob said frankly.
"And I don't trust you at all."
"I don't care if you trust me or not." The man looked at Renesmee, and then looked at the boy. "Ask her how her head feels. Did the medicine Sokajili give her work?"
"She's fine," Caevia said. "Tell me where the closest town is. We'll leave now and say nothing more of this."
"Seth," Jacob looked at the boy. "Ask her how her head feels."
"He wants to know how your head feels."
"I'm fine," Renesmee answered.
"She said she's alright."
"Thank you Seth." Jacob turned to leave, as did Seth, but Caevia stopped them.
"Answer my question! Where is the closest town and how do we get there?"
"You both stay here. Enjoy your dinner."
"Where is the nearest town?!"
"You're beginning to make me angry," Jacob mumbled more to himself than to the woman.
"Answer my question! Don't think you can intimidate me. I've suffered worse from the hands of men born of the desert hawk. I have no fear for the likes of you!"
"You have nothing to fear from us anyway," Jacob said sternly. "Don't you dare tell her otherwise." The man and boy walked out of the tent then without answering Caevia's question.
"What did he say?" Renesmee asked once the two were gone.
"He said we have nothing to fear from them." Caevia looked at the fish. It did smell good and she was hungry. "How are you feeling?"
"I already said I'm fine."
"I mean blood wise," Caevia clarified. "If we don't get out of here soon enough and you need blood-"
"I won't drink your blood," Renesmee asserted suddenly. "That wouldn't be right and I can't promise that I would be able to stop. I'll attack something on our way back home, but I can wait until then."
"At least eat a little of this fish with me then. I know you don't like it, but it'll make me feel better."
Renesmee stared at the fish a moment. She scrunched her nose, but she took a piece off with her fingers and put it in her mouth. She forced herself to swallow it, but she couldn't stomach eating any more of it. Caevia asked her to try more, but after that first bite Renesmee refused to eat and told Caevia to eat it. It tasted good to Caevia, so she ate as much of the fish as she could, doing her best to avoid any pin bones or scales. Outside, Jacob and Seth walked to the fire pit where other members of the village were, eating their fish and foraged fruits and veggies. Seth ran over to his sister to be with her while Jacob sat down next to Embry.
"How do they like my fish?" Embry asked once Jacob sat down.
"I didn't stick around to ask. That woman we brought with my imprint is making things difficult."
"Do you even know your imprint's name?"
"I doubt that woman would tell me if I asked her to. I should've asked Seth to find out."
"I take it you don't know that other woman's name either right?"
"No," Jacob answered. He grabbed a piece of fish and nibbled around the bones. He planned to eat something else while on patrol tonight, so he kept it light.
Embry stayed home from patrol that night while Jacob and Quil went out. Nothing happened while they were out and they took turns napping throughout the night. The next morning, Jacob went right to his tent and saw both women sleeping on the floor, the bowl filled with polished off fish bones. He took a hold of the basket and the sound woke up his imprint rather violently. She took in a sharp sudden breath and leaned on her elbow after she jumped. Jacob jumped too, but they both managed not to wake the other woman. The two stared at each other and Jacob managed to smile at her. He figured now was as good a time as any, so he kneeled down and rested his hand on his chest so she knew he was referring to himself.
"Jacob," he managed as he tapped his chest.
"Jacob?" she asked him and Jacob nodded. She realized he was telling her his name, so she went ahead and returned the favor. She brought her hand to her chest as Jacob had done and tapped her chest. "Renesmee," she said.
"Renesmee," Jacob repeated. "It's a beautiful name."
"I don't understand you," she said. This would get nowhere, so Jacob smiled at her again and left the tent. Jacob brought the basket to the fire pit ready for later use and when he turned around, he saw Embry standing behind him.
"You look pleased this morning."
"I learned her name," Jacob said.
"And what is it?"
"Renesmee," Jacob smiled more.
"It's nice knowing her name. I take it the woman wasn't as stubborn as you thought?"
"She was asleep. I couldn't talk with Renesmee, but at least I know her name now."
"It only took days," Embry joked.
"I tried telling her I like her name but she didn't understand me. Where are Seth and Leah?"
"Probably still asleep," Embry answered. "It's still really early for most of us."
"I'll wait then," Jacob said.
Jacob walked over to one of the baskets that held some salmon jerky and snacked on that for his breakfast. He waited for Seth and Leah to get out of the tent they shared. Leah and Seth preferred the arrangement they had even if to others in the tribe it seemed strange. Leah didn't want to get married after what she saw from her parents. Seth would get married one day everyone was sure, but there would be time for that after he became a man. Leah was the first one to come out of the tent, so Jacob went straight to her. He handed her a few pieces of salmon jerky first.
"Thank you," she said as she accepted the jerky.
"You're welcome. So what are you doing today?"
"Helping clean some clothes and helping Loa sew her dress for her wedding tomorrow night."
"Could you sneak in any time to teach me English?" Leah's expression instantly became agitated.
"It's a useless language. Don't waste your time with it."
"I need to learn so I can speak with my imprint. If I can learn English quickly enough, it might impress her."
"Pale faces aren't impressed with anything but themselves. Learning her language is useless to you. If she really wants you, she'll learn Quileute and be glad for it."
"I see you won't help me," Jacob said with a groan. "I'll just ask Seth to teach me."
"Don't make him waste his time with teaching you that viper's tongue of a language. I'm shocked you even want to learn, imprinting on a pale face or not. Seth and I speak English so we can trade salmon for beef with that leech man. That's all anyone needs."
"I'm learning English for her. The sooner I can speak with her, the better."
"Well, you won't be learning it from me. I don't have time to waste on making a wife of a useless pale faced whore."
"Take that back," Jacob hissed back at Leah. The tone made her take a step back.
"Fine, she's not useless," Leah said before walking away before Jacob could demand she continue her apology.
After Leah walked away, Jacob stayed near the tent and took a few deep breaths. He couldn't stay mad at Leah for her comment though. She had every reason to be hostile, more than Jacob certainly. It would take time for her to put her biases aside and accept Renesmee into the tribe. Jacob grabbed a few more pieces of salmon jerky, ready to hand it over to Seth once he came out of the tent for the day. Seth would certainly be more open to the prospect of teaching him English, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to butter him up with food (granted their own basket of food, but he couldn't concern himself with such details at the moment). Seth finally came out of the tent stretching and yawning. The young boy was excited when he saw Jacob, who proceeded to hand him some salmon jerky.
"Good morning, Seth."
"Morning Jacob," Seth said, accepting the jerky and taking a big bite. "I already overheard you speaking with Leah. I'm hurt you didn't come to me first."
"I didn't only because Leah'sEnglishis a little more fluent than yours."
"MyEnglishis fine!" Seth defended with a sigh. "If you want English that's to the level of aHarvard scholar, neither of us can help you, but if you just want to be able to communicate with a pale face, I'm your man."
"Harvard Scholar? What does that mean?" Seth began attempting to explain, but it was difficult to translate words like 'university', 'higher education', 'law practice' and 'priest school' into Quileute so Seth settled for the simplest explanation that came to mind.
"It's a big…town for lack of a better word where men go to learn…difficult things that most men can't do."
"Sure, sure," Jacob groaned. This prospect of learning English was beginning to become more and more daunting the more he pressed for it. He'd thought English was just a language to learn, yet here Seth was telling him there were evidently higher levels of the English language. Why couldn't it be simple like Quileute? "Well, let's get started. Teach meEnglish." Seth smiled a moment, then lost his smile and furrowed his brows a little in thoughtfulness.
"I'm not sure where to start. Englishis really hard."
"How hard could it possibly be? You know what words to use, you put them together to communicate, what's so hard to understand about that?"
"There's a lot to understand. There are rules inEnglish. There are exceptions and even more exceptions to the rules. I before e except after c. Subject comes first then you use lots of words to make the subject prettier."
"Stop, stop, stop," Jacob held up his hand getting frustrated already. "You're talking as if I understand you."
"The difficulties of English are hard to explain in Quileute. For example, in English, there are countless ways to say the exact same thing. Sometimes one word can mean a lot of different things. You can only find a word's meaning based on the sentence in which it's used."
"How can there be so many words for one thing?"
"BecauseEnglish," Seth said frankly. Jacob just stared at him completely at a loss as to what he was trying to say. "I have nothing against teaching youEnglish. You just need to understand this won't happen quickly. We have to practice every day. You will need to start speaking the language as often as you can. The only way you'll improve is if you continue to use it. I can't summon the wind spirits, have magical leaves fly around you and you suddenly knowEnglish. That's not how this works."
"I'll do what it takes. Just teach me." Seth finally smiled again and held out his hand. Jacob stared at it and grabbed a hold of it. He knew what this was at least. It was how pale faces came to agreements.
"Well then, Welcome to the English School of Seth of the Quileute Tribe." Jacob just stared at Seth, clueless of what he said. "We'll start with the basics." Seth pointed at his little teepee. "Repeat after me. Teepee."
"Teepee," Jacob repeated.
"Other words to call it include but are not limited to: Hut, tent, home. Now repeated after me. Hut."
"Hut."
"Tent."
"Tent," Jacob repeated.
"Home."
"Home," Jacob repeated.
"Good. A lot of this will include tiring memorization. So be ready to repeat a lot of these words several times. Now what is that?" Seth pointed at his teepee again.
"Teepee," Jacob answered.
"What else?"
"Home," Jacob remembered first. It took a moment for him to remember the others. "Tent?" Seth nodded approvingly. "Hunt?"
"Hut," Seth corrected. "Huntis the English word expressing to hunt. But that's good! You learned a new word already!"
"Hut," Jacob corrected himself. "Hunt," Jacob repeated the other word.
"You're doing great. Let's keep going. I'll teach you something you need now."
"And what is that?"
"What is your name? Repeat after me. What," Seth instructed.
"What."
"Is."
"Is," Jacob repeated.
"Your."
"Your."
"Name?" Seth finished.
"Name?" Jacob repeated.
"Now put it all together. What is your name?"
"What is your name?" Jacob repeated.
"Good. Ask that next time you see your imprint and she will tell you her name."
"She already told me her name," Jacob said proudly.
"She did? What is it?"
"Renesmee," Jacob said.
"That's not one I've heard before."
Seth suggested they walk around the village and Seth pointed at things, said their English name and told Jacob to repeat after him. Seth had imagined this would be a daily morning endeavor, but Jacob insisted they continue through the whole day, only ending the session when it was beginning to get late and it was time for him to go out on patrol. While out, he tried to remember as much as he could, repeating each word in his head in hopes of memorizing them. It drove Quil and Embry nuts but he pressed on. Seth had told him practice was all that would make English possible, so practice is what he would do until he would be able to speak to Renesmee on his own with no one there that needed to translate for him. Surely she would be very impressed when he spoke to her for the first time in her own language. The next morning, Jacob woke Seth up bright and early, something Seth didn't appreciate in the least, and continued practicing while the rest of the tribe concerned themselves with preparing a bonfire and a feast for the wedding tonight.