Chapter 6
The smell of fall was pungent in the air. Falling leaves damp from the rain, burning wood in the distance coming from Forks, and the smell of ripe apples everywhere. The dampness of the leaves allowed Renesmee and Caevia to travel with stealth through the woods and under the cover of the trees with only the moon peeking through. Renesmee and Caevia had gone to Jacob's tent for the night, as had become their habit, and waited until the moon was high in the sky when everyone was surely asleep. Once they were in the woods, they started walking faster, but made sure that they remained as silent as possible.
"Will they believe us if we tell them we just got lost?" Renesmee asked when they were far enough away.
"I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see. You'll have to do the talking, though. If I try telling them anything, they'll immediately discredit me."
"I know," Renesmee said. "I should be more upset about this whole thing, but I can't bring myself to want them in trouble."
"Me either," Caevia said with a heavy sigh. She began walking much slower and Renesmee kept pace. "Jacob said to me that if we left, he and Embry would follow us to the ends of the earth. Do you think they will?"
"Caevia, if you want to stay-"
"No," Caevia said but then she stopped suddenly. "I don't know."
"Caevia, I understand." The two shared a knowing glance until Caevia held her head down.
"No, we'll keep going. If they are going to follow us, then we'll deal with it. For now, let's focus on getting back home. Maybe we can get back before anyone tells the Cullens about this."
"Oh God," Renesmee whimpered. "I don't even want to think about how daddy will react when he finds out about this."
"No kidding. Remember how he reacted when he found out the guy that said hello to you and your mom was a serial killer?"
"Oh for the love of God, that was eight years ago!" Renesmee realized too late she was yelling and put her hands over her mouth in surprise.
"A little louder, Renesmee. I don't think the Denalis heard you," Caevia joked.
"Shut up," Renesmee mumbled and then she went to her knees and tried her best not to cry. "What if daddy confronts Jacob about this?"
"You'll just have to reason with him."
"How can I even begin to? Daddy was already really upset with me when we left. When he finds out about this, he'll be too angry to even say, 'I told you so.'" Renesmee sighed heavily. The more she was thinking about it, the more she wanted to turn around and just deal with the hand she'd been dealt. "I want to hunt before we get into town."
"I was going to tell you to anyway. Is there a deer nearby or something?" Renesmee closed her eyes and listened for anything that was near. She heard footsteps that sounded like they were from an animal, but it wasn't a deer.
"Stay here. I'll look for one and come back once I'm done."
With that, Renesmee wandered off in another direction in hopes of finding some kind of faun to hunt. As she moved along, she heard the little noises of a faun but then heard a growl that ran after the faun once it ran away. Renesmee followed that sound. Deer was always decent enough, but the blood of a predator was much better. It sounded like a wolf from what she heard, but a wolf was better than nothing. She heard the beast take the faun down, so Renesmee slowed a little so she could sneak up on the beast while it was distracted by food. She heard the bones crunching from the attack and she continued to sneak closer and closer with the smell of blood luring her forward. She was a mere fifteen feet away when she saw the beast that had taken the faun down. She realized it wasn't just any wolf; it was Jacob. She would remember that coat for as long as she lived. She began to back away slowly, but stood completely still when Jacob suddenly lifted his head from his kill. She saw the look of concentration that showed in his eyes before he lifted his head higher to smell the air. Renesmee continued to back away until she bumped into a hard surface. She'd realized the overly sweet smell was there not even a second before she bumped into the cold frame. She turned around and saw a man with eyes fading to black. She didn't know him. His hair was a dark brown but his skin was such a pale shade, even Carlisle was tanner than this man.
"Well, holy shit," the man laughed when he saw Renesmee's face. Renesmee realized this man had about the thickest Boston accent she ever heard. "You're the Cullen girl the Volturi got into a huge stink over."
"How do you-"
"I was on their end of the whole thing. You've grown up since then." Just as the man started out pleasant, he instantly lost his smile and turned to run in the other direction. But just as he turned, two more wolves popped out of the shadows as Jacob ran up to him from behind. She heard breaking that sounded like a stone being smashed into pieces and it made Renesmee scream and fall backwards. Jacob turned to look at her, scared another might have come up behind her. He was relieved when he saw that she was alright. The creature was dead in minutes and one of the wolves, Renesmee realized it was Quil, changed into his human form and started a fire. Jacob did the same and he was kneeling down and grabbed her by the shoulders, breaking her from her trance.
"What are you doing out here at this hour?"Jacob yelled at her. She just stared at him only able to assume he was upset that she was in the woods and running away. Jacob realized she didn't understand him and raked his brain for something correct to say. "You," Jacob pointed at her, "out here. Why?"
"I…" Rensemee began, but she couldn't continue. Caevia came running, having heard Renesmee scream, and nearly screamed herself when she saw a man in shambles set ablaze in purple fire. She smelled the overwhelming, clawing sweet smell and realized it was a vampire. She ran to Renesmee and fell to her knees when she reached her.
"Renesmee, are you alright? I heard you screaming!"
"I'm alright," Renesmee finally managed.
"What are you two doing out here? You could've gotten her killed!" Jacob yelled at Caevia.
"Me?! She ran off to-" Caevia stopped suddenly.
"Ran off to what?!"
"Nothing,"Caevia said, unable to think of a reasonable excuse. "She thought she heard something."
"It's bad enough to go running into the woods when it's light out, but to go into the woods at night when Cold Ones are active?"
"Jacob, relax. They probably never even heard of Cold Ones."
"Yes they have," Jacob said in a frustrated groan. "I know I've told this one." Jacob pointed at Caevia.
"We would've been alright!"
"Not by the looks of it!" Jacob returned his attention to Renesmee. His hands still on her shoulders, he helped her get back to her feet and kept his hold on her so that she wouldn't lose her balance again. In truth, Renesmee didn't need it, but she was finding his touch rather comforting. That vampire might've known her from a distance but that didn't mean she was safe with him. Renesmee was stronger than most, but she knew damn well that if she got into a fight with a vampire, she would lose. "Renesmee," Jacob said suddenly. "Are you alright?" Renesmee looked at Jacob, impressed that he'd said that so well. His accent was still there, but with the sentence lacking any ns or ms, it was easier for him to pronounce everything properly.
"Yes," Renesmee finally answered.
"Good," Jacob said with a smile. Then he looked at Caevia. "Don't ever take her out at night again."
"Jacob," Embry spoke harshly, having changed back from being a wolf. "You can't act like this was all Caevia's fault."
"You don't need to defend me," Caevia said to Embry. While they were all talking, Renesmee was desperately averting her eyes from any of them, all too aware that they were naked. She was shocked Caevia didn't seem to care at all.
"I do,"Embry said back. "Jacob, I'll take Caevia back to the village alone. I want to talk to her."
"I'm not leaving Renesmee alone with him."
"You know perfectly well he won't do anything to her, Caevia. Please" Embry said. Jacob had already agreed and began leading Renesmee back to the village, telling Quil to return to patrol and wait for him and Embry to return. Caevia took a deep breath and finally nodded her head in agreement. Embry walked over to her and, to Caevia's surprise, took a gentle hold of her hand and led her back to the village. She realized he was going an odd direction, no doubt to lengthen their time alone.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Listen, Caevia," Embry said. "Jacob and I both know why you two were out here."
"I would hope so. We've been planning this long enough."
"Yeah, Seth mentioned that before we talked at the wedding."
"I'm sure."
"Caevia," Embry said as he stopped, making her look at him while he continued to hold her hand. "I understand Renesmee wanting to run. Our world is probably strange to her, but you? You I don't understand. We've welcomed you openly, embraced you into the tribe as if you'd always been one of us. You can't be happy out there with pale faces if the way we've been treated is any indication for your treatment. Why are you so desperate to run?"
"The Cullens have been like family to me," Caevia said.
"Who are the Cullens?"
"Renesmee's family. Out of all the pale faces that've ever had me in their house, they've treated me the best."
"Don't you miss being with your own kind, though?"
"No," Caevia said frankly.
"Why?" Embry asked, shocked that she would speak so negatively.
"I don't want to talk about it. I was sold to pale faces by my own people and even in the face of beatings, brandings and unpaid servitude, I still never looked back. I would like to keep it that way."
"You were sold by your own people?" Again, Embry was at a loss.
"I was nothing to them, just like the others considered lesser than the Thunderbirds. I knew my father only by my mother's words. Some of the only words her and I were ever allowed to share." Caevia did her best not to choke up. She was sick of losing tears over her mother, over any of her people. She'd managed to put them all out of her mind for years. Renesmee always told her not to think about it because she knew it made Caevia upset, so Caevia continued to never think about it. She preferred it that way.
"Did he not know you're his daughter? You should've said something. He would've saved you."
"Saying something would've meant my death. Please stop asking me questions. I don't want to talk about this anymore."
"What do you mean it would've meant your death?"
"I said I don't want to talk about it anymore!" Caevia screamed as she forced her hand away from Embry. "How would you feel if I made you talk about your mother and father? Huh?"
"I see you've asked about my parents," Embry said while scratching his head. He didn't seem mad at all. Caevia found that infuriating. "I would be sad, but only that I'd lost them too soon. I have no reason to look back on their memory poorly."
"Well, you didn't go through what I did," Caevia bit back.
"That doesn't mean I wouldn't understand."
"That doesn't mean I should have to tell you about it either." Caevia faced away from him, going in the direction she assumed the village was in. Embry looked at his feet a moment before looking up at her again. She might not want to talk about any of this, but she needed to. Embry knew it. She needed someone to listen to her vent about whatever had happened and tell her to forget about it.
"Perhaps Renesmee was wrong to tell you not to think about any of it. Does she even know what troubles you?"
"She knows enough to know it's a painful topic that shouldn't be discussed."
"Shouldn't be discussed or she didn't want to discuss it?"
"She would sit with me and talk about it if I asked her to. But she knows I want no more mention of that time in my life. She understands how much it upsets me, unlike you evidently."
"Caevia," Embry said a little louder, hoping to get her attention and force her to look at him. When that didn't work, he closed the distance between them and took a hold of her shoulder, turned her around and made her look at him. "Don't do this anymore. When we first met, you were smiling and happy to dance with me. Since then you've only drifted further and further away from me. Whatever I did to upset you, tell me and I'll apologize as many times as you want."
"You didn't do anything,"Caevia said.
"Then why do you treat me like I have?"
"I'm not trying to treat you like anything." With that said, Embry let go of her shoulder and took a step back. Whether she'd meant it the way she said it, Embry wasn't sure. But the way she'd said it made him feel inconsequential and unimportant.
"Harsh words," Embry finally said after a long silence between the two.
"Were they?"
"I'd rather you were treating me badly than treating me like nothing."
"You're twisting my words," Caevia said. "I'm trying to say I never meant you any offense. Not you at any rate."
"Then don't speak to me in the manner you have been. Talk to me the way you did when we were dancing before. Speak to me like you trust me again."
"I never trusted you to begin with," Caevia answered. "I have no grounds on which to trust you."
"Have I given you grounds not to? And don't bring up anything Jacob did, I'm talking about me and what I've done. Have I personally done anything to give you reason not to trust me?"
"I don't trust new people purely by nature. It was nothing you did or said. I just don't trust you."
"And why is that?"
"It's nothing worth talking about. Just get me back to the village, Renesmee and I will go to bed like good girls, and everyone can be happy."
"You know what, Caevia?"
"What?" Caevia asked, bracing herself for the worst based purely on Embry's exacerbated tone.
Embry almost spoke, but something stopped him. He was so frustrated with her and wanted to tell her so, but he couldn't yell at her for it. He didn't know what was wrong and she refused to tell him. Then Embry had an idea. She wasn't willing to talk out here in the open where Quil could certainly overhear them were he close enough or simply outside. Maybe she just needed a closed space, somewhere where it really was just the two of them.
"Follow me," Embry instructed before bringing his hand to her back again and leading her forward. He ceased with the roundabout method of getting back to the village and went directly back. His tent was furthest from the forest, very close to the beach. Caevia noticed they passed Jacob's tent, which she noticed had a fire lit inside. Caevia attempted to turn around and go straight to Jacob's tent, but Embry took a hold of her arm and pulled her with him.
"What are you doing? Jacob's tent is over there."
"We're not going to Jacob's tent, we're going to mine."
"For what?"
"Quiet," Embry whispered back after Caevia raised her voice too loud. "Everyone else is trying to sleep."
"Embry, let go of me," Caevia ordered. When he didn't let go of her, she continued to pull and tug, trying to get out of his grip, but it was no use. He was too strong for her.
The more she fought, the more she began to lose all sense of control. It started with pulling, then she started hitting him. When that didn't work, she tried digging her feet into the ground, but the rocks were painful compared to the dry desert sand she'd been familiar with years before. She felt a rock cut her foot, but she didn't concern herself with that. Screaming never did her any good in the past, so she didn't scream now. Instead, she attempted to dig her nails into his skin and managed to draw a little blood, but it seemed to instantly heal. He didn't even seem to notice the injury at all. Her heart was pounding furiously and memories flashed through her head: terrible memories. Memories that went as far back as she could remember. She was getting panicky and desperate. Her first instinct was to look for a knife he had, but he was naked and unarmed. She looked around for something else to use but all the rocks she saw were too small to do any amount of real damage. Eventually realizing Caevia's erratic movements, he looked back at her and finally saw that look of panic. Pure, unadulterated panic. He stopped and turned to face her. He let go of her hand and quickly took a hold of her shoulders. The touch was meant to be gentle, but he moved quicker than intended when she attempted to run away from him.
"Caevia, calm down. Tell me what's wrong," Embry begged quietly after he brought his face closer to hers, bending his back so they were at nearly the same level. She only shook her head and it was then that she finally started crying. Without a word, Embry lifted her into his arms and practically ran back to his own tent and tied the door once they were inside. He didn't bother with a fire. He could see her just fine in the dark. "Caevia, please. I can't make it better if you don't tell me what's wrong."
"What could you possibly do to make it better?" Caevia managed through her tears.
"I won't know until you tell me. Caevia,"Embry continued to plea with her. She didn't answer him after that last plea, so Embry scooted closer to her and took her in his arms in a gentle hug. She fought him, hit him, tried to get out of the embrace, but Embry wouldn't let her go. He could feel that, deep down, she really didn't want him to let go, needed him to hold onto her. So that's what he did: he held onto her.
Eventually, Caevia stopped hitting Embry and stopped trying to get out of his hold. The gentleness, despite being so firm, made her feel truly safe. She couldn't think of a time when she'd ever felt this way. Even with the Cullens, she didn't feel this cherished and protected. That was all she needed to finally let herself really cry. She hadn't cried over all this since she was a small girl. She'd eventually realized it never helped her or did anything to stop what happened, so she'd stopped crying all together. To her surprise, it helped. She was beginning to feel better, like she was finally letting go of something that did nothing but weigh her down like led. For better comfort, Embry sat down, crossed his ankles, and lifted Caevia into his lap so he could hold her closer. She barely noticed the shift in positions. She was far too occupied with her tears. Neither of them knew how long Caevia had cried for. It didn't really matter. She'd gone to sleep after a time. It was the most serene he'd ever seen her look. Embry gently placed her down on the small blanket he had tucked into the small recession in the ground and let her sleep. They could talk in the morning. He would make sure to get back from patrol right before sunrise.
Jacob, on the other hand, had wasted no time getting Renesmee back to his tent. She still seemed somewhat frazzled and he wanted to get her home. She stayed quiet the whole walk back and remained quiet even after they got back in his tent. When they returned, she went right to the small blanketed spot that she and Caevia had been sharing. Jacob worked to light a small fire and when it was lit, he went to her and began to look her over ensuring that she wasn't injured. He started by taking her chin and moving her head so he could really look at her. Then he began to press all over her body looking for any spot that might hurt. He did it quickly. It wasn't as fast as Carlisle would've done it, but it was still faster than Sokajili. When Jacob could find nothing, he looked at Renesmee to ask her directly.
"Hurt?" Jacob asked.
"No," Renesmee answered. "I'm not hurt."
"Good," Jacob smiled. "No go out at night," Jacob said.
"You mean 'don't go out at night'," Renesmee corrected.
"You mean don't go out at night," Jacob repeated, but Renesmee shook her head.
"No. 'Don't go out at night'," she repeated.
"Don't go out at night," Jacob repeated again. When Renesmee smiled just the smallest bit, he smiled right back.
"Good," Renesmee said. "Is Seth teaching you English?"
"Seth teach English," Jacob said with a nod.
"Seth is teaching me English," Renesmee said.
"You?" Jacob asked, confused. Renesmee shook her head. She even managed the slightest bit of a laugh.
"No. Seth is teaching you English, so you say, 'Seth is teaching me English'."
"Seth is teaching me English," Jacob repeated, earning another smile.
"Very good," Renesmee said. "I'm surprised you've already learned so much." Jacob only understood bits and pieces of what she'd said but he did understand her praise.
"I try," Jacob mumbled. "Seth say practice," Jacob said.
"Practice makes perfect as the saying goes. And you mean, 'Seth tells me I need to practice." Jacob stared at her, knowing she wanted him to repeat after her but not sure which part of the sentence she wanted him to repeat. "You say, 'Seth tells me I need to practice.'"
"Seth tells me I need to practice," Jacob repeated.
"Good," Renesmee said. She seemed to be relaxing and that made Jacob really pleased. He knew, though, that one of the things that really put her on edge and made her uncomfortable was being left out of the conversation when everyone was speaking Quileute. Caevia didn't appear to be teaching her, so Jacob decided to take matters into his own hands or at least get her started.
"That fire," Jacob said to Renesmee, pointing to the fire. Renesmee nodded, assuming he was asking her to confirm.
"Yes, that's a fire." But Jacob shook his head.
"Fire," Jacob said, first in English, then repeated, "Fire," in Quileute. She realized then what he was trying to do. Caevia had not bothered to and Renesmee had no intention of staying long enough to need it. Yet it had nearly been a month already since she and Caevia had come here and she knew little more Quileute then what she'd figured out herself and even that she couldn't be sure of. She decided, after careful consideration, that she'd be much better off if she just learned the language so her stay here would be that much easier, however long that stay might be. "Fire," Jacob repeated when Renesmee didn't speak immediately.
"Fire," Renesmee repeated and Jacob smiled.
"Good," Jacob said in English first, then said, "Good," so she would know the word.
"Good," Renesmee repeated.
"You have a good accent," Jacob began without thinking. "You're already sounding like you've spoken Quileute all your life." Renesmee just stared at him, so Jacob smiled and scratched his head, only then realizing his error. "Sorry," Jacob said. "I forget you no speak."
"'I forgot that you don't speak Quileute'," Renesmee corrected.
"I forgot that you don't speak Quileute," Jacob repeated.
"Good," Renesmee smiled again. Just listening to Jacob speak in his native tongue, she realized the language was very pretty. It reminded her a little of French just with a lot less nasal and no ms or ns to speak of. She heard a lot more Es and Is in the language. There were also harsher inflections than what was in French with a great deal of emphasis on the Is. Wanting to continue their impromptu language lesson, Jacob began by pointing at himself.
"Man," he said in English and then, "Man."
"Man," Renesmee repeated and Jacob nodded in confirmation then pointed at her.
"Woman," he started. "Woman."
"Woman," Renesmee repeated. Jacob tried to think of another word that would be relevant to teach her before decided he should tell her what most have been calling her. Jacob pointed at himself firstly.
"Quileute," Jacob said.
"Quileute," Renesmee repeated. That part she'd already been told and she wasn't sure where he was going with this. Then he gestured towards her.
"White or pale face," Jacob started. "Pale face," he then said.
"Pale face," Renesmee repeated.
Not wanting to go back on patrol, Jacob continued to teach Renesmee random words while she taught him full sentences from words he already knew. Renesmee tired quickly though, already having had a rough night. So Jacob let Renesmee go to sleep and he stayed there with her for the remainder of the night and morning.
Caevia didn't wake up until it was late in the morning and she woke up to an empty tent. She looked around, not recognizing where she was, then remembered what happened the night before. She remembered Embry trying to make her talk, she remembered him dragging her to his tent, she remembered fighting violently, and she remembered being put in the tent and eventually crying on his shoulder. That was all she remembered. She could see through the small cracks between the teepee's leather and the ground that it was daytime. Or as much daytime as the permanent cloud of overcast weather had ever allowed since they'd arrived here. Yet just as Caevia was coming to her senses and was ready to try and go back to Jacob's tent where Renesmee was, Embry came back into his tent with a small basket filled with salmon jerky and a potato that had been mashed up and cooked over the fire until the outsides were browned.
"Good morning," Embry asked.
"Good morning," Caevia replied.
"How'd you sleep?"
"Fine," Caevia answered.
"Good," Embry smiled. "You needed a good night's sleep."
"Yeah," Caevia mumbled back. Embry sat down in front of her, now clothed in tan leather pants, and held the basket in front of her.
"Try the potato cake. It's a bit of a delicacy for us."
"Potato?"Caevia asked. Embry pointed at the little cake, Caevia smelled it, and then she realized what the word meant. "Oh," she said. "You meanpotato."
"Is that how you say it inEnglish?"
"Yes,"Caevia nodded. "You said it was potato?" Embry nodded. "I'm sorry. We never had potatoes in the desert, so it's not a word I'm familiar with."
"What is a desert?" Embry asked. Caevia almost smiled. When she thought about it, it made sense to her they wouldn't technically have a word for desert in their language.
"It's a very hot place with little or no water and poisonous creatures. Our lands were infested with poisonous bugs and snakes like scorpions and rattle snakes."
"What are scorpions and rattle snakes?" Embry asked, seeming to be very interested. Indeed he was very interested. He wanted to learn all he could about her, especially since she came from such an exotic land compared to him and she'd been all over the country. What wasn't there to be fascinated by?
"Scorpions are bugs with six legs and a long tail with a needle at the end and large claws near their faces. They're big and black and if you're close enough to them, you can hear them hiss right before they sting you."
"What about rattle snakes?"
"Rattle snakes are long brown snacks that warn you when you're too close by shaking their tail to make the sound of a shaking drum. My people eat both scorpions and rattle snakes."
"Do they taste good?"
"If you know how to cook them, yes,"Caevia nodded. "First and foremost for the scorpions, you had to cut off the tips of their tails so they can't sting you. Then you have to take a hammer and just barely smash the outer shell of the bug and immediately throw it in a hot pan and cook it quickly so it'll still be crunchy and soft on the inside."
"Wow," Embry said. "It makes our potato cake sound so much less exciting."
"It's less poisonous," Caevia joked. "The rattle snake you have to cut off its head so you can catch it. Our hunters had special wide bladed arrows specially made to decapitate a snake in one hit and kill it instantly while also removing the poisonous sacks in its head. The snake we would just boil in water until it was cooked all the way through and the water took on a brownish color."
"Where did you get water?"
"Cacti usually has water you can extract."
"Cacti?"
"It's a giant plant that can reach up to be taller than a man and it's covered in thorns. We also had a large lake right next to our village with a cactus on a tiny hill of land right in the middle of it. We used that lake for everything. We could also cut up the cactus and boil it so we could eat it. Cactus, when it's cut, produces a really thick sticky ooze that you have to boil off before you can eat it. But once that ooze is gone, the cactus is very tasty. It has a nectar that you can drink too that's very sweet. Only the Thunderbirds were allowed to drink that, though."
"I have a question."
"What's that?"
"You keep saying 'my people' and yet sometimes you'll refer to them as a separate group. Why do you keep doing that?"
"I'm only half Thunderbird. My mother was a member of the slave class of people. When the Thunderbirds were traveling south from their original northern home, they enslaved many people on their way."
"If I asked you more questions, would you be willing to talk about it? I meant what I'd told you. I might not be able to make any of it go away and I know I can't undo the past. But I can at least listen to you and tell you that no matter what happened to you, I'm here to make the future brighter." To Embry's surprise, Caevia started laughing a little. He wasn't entirely sure if she was genuinely amused by what he said or she was trying to make fun of him.
"Well that was awfully poetic," Caevia mumbled to herself.
"What?" Embry asked her to repeat in Quileute, but she shook her head.
"Nothing, it's not important. What you said was just very…"Caevia trailed off, unsure of what word to use. Any English word she thought of had no Quileute equivalent. "I can't think of a word for it."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"It's probably a good thing."
"I'll take it," Embry said. He moved just a little bit closer and handed her one of the potato cakes. "Have one. We had to decapitate it," Embry attempted to joke and Caevia smiled, accepting the potato cake.
"It smells really good."
"So tell me," Embry began, "Would you be alright with me asking you more questions? I did grab you a potato cake after all." Caevia laughed.
"Are Jacob and his family usually the only ones allowed to eat these?"
"No," Embry shook his head. "It's just we have to forage for potatoes for hours to find enough to feed the village. Usually we only have these when there's a wedding. That's why there were so many baskets of potatoes at the wedding: it's considered a commodity. We have an easier time finding geoduck."
"What is geoduck?" When Caevia asked, Embry couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. In truth, as delicious as the clam was to eat, there was one thing about it that never ceased to have even the eldest among them chuckling like a child. "What's so funny?" Embry was about to tell her, but he decided it was really best to just show her.
"Come with me to the beach and we'll look for one. If we find one, I'll show you what it looks like and you'll know exactly what's funny."
"After we eat our potato cakes," Caevia said.
Embry finished his cake in no time, but he waited patiently for Caevia to eat her potato cake and a piece of salmon jerky before they left his tent and started to walk along the beach. Caevia had no idea what they were looking for so she let Embry worry about looking around. When they got to a certain spot, Embry pulled Caevia with him towards the water's edge where the tides were strong. He stood there with her waiting for the wave to go down and when Embry found a small indentation in the sand, he smiled and pointed at it.
"There," he said before going to the spot and began to dig. Caevia came closer and looked over his shoulder as he continued to dig. Initially, she saw what looked like a long, brownish tube, but eventually, Embry seemed to find what he was looking for and he pulled out a long shelled creature with a mostly white body with the exception of a brownish tip. He kept pressure on the shell of the creature and he presented it to her. "This is a geoduck."
When she saw it, she realized exactly what they all found so funny. It was without a doubt the most phallic looking thing she'd ever laid eyes on. And just like that, she started laughing, tears nearly coming to her eyes, and Embry laughed with her.
"Oh my God," Caevia said through her thick laughter. She almost fell over.
"You see what I mean?"
"Yes," she said, continuing to laugh.
"Once you take the shell off, you can see it's stomach." Caevia began to laugh harder. As if it wasn't phallic enough with its shell. She wanted to tell Embry the shell looked a little like a codpiece, but he wouldn't know what that is and she kept it to herself.
"How do you even eat that thing?"
"Let's look for one more and then I'll show you. Here,"Embry kept his fingers firm on the shell and held it out to Caevia. "Hold this and keep a firm pressure on the shell. They're so used to the pressure of the sand around their shell that if they don't have it, they might die."
"Don't we need them that way?"
"Not these guys. We don't kill them until we put them in the pot."
Caevia took the creature from Embry's fingers and kept a firm grip on the shell just as Embry instructed. While he'd been able to use just his fingers, Caevia had to use her whole hand. Embry continued along the beach looking for another recession in the sand while Caevia followed behind, staring at the creature. It was cold and covered in sand. As she held it, the mildly erect dirty looking tube began to limp over onto her wrist. She held onto it, but the cold feel of it was making her uneasy. Eventually, Embry came across another recession in the sand and began digging until he was able to pull out another geoduck, this one being much bigger than the one she held.
"Okay, let's get back. There should still be some water boiling."
Embry led Caevia back to the village and as Embry predicted, there was still a pot of water over the fire from earlier when the women were boiling potatoes. One of the women saw Caevia and Embry holding geoduck and, with a bright smile on her face, she took another, larger, pot and ran to the water's edge so she could fill it up.
"Thanks Quiyahle," Embry yelled to the woman in question.
"I hope you plan to share some of that. My generosity comes at a price."
"I'll let you have the belly meat of this one," Embry chuckled, holding up the much bigger geoduck.
"That'll be acceptable," Quiyahle teased. "Use this pot. This one's still really hot."
"Thanks." Embry kneeled down in front of the pot and waited for Caevia to sit next to him. It was then that Caevia realized Quiyahle had taken out two rods made from rock that she was now hovering over the pot.
"What is she doing?"
"I'm waiting for you the put the geoduck in the pot so I can time it."
"You'll see," Embry said with a smile. "Now hold yours over the pot and drop it into the water when I say."
Caevia did as Embry instructed and held the limping creature over the pot as Embry did. When Embry said to let go, she did so and Quiyahle began tapping on the pot with the rods, making a little beat. The beat lasted about fifteen seconds and when she stopped, Embry retrieved a small basket that he dipped into the water and rushed to get the creatures out. Then he dropped both creatures into the much colder sea water.
"That's it?" Caevia asked.
"Not quite. We still need to clean it." Embry motioned for Caevia to come to his side near the basket of cold water and waited just a few seconds before taking the bigger geoduck of the two and began to work on it. He started at the base of the shell where there was a small tag of what looked like skin. He pulled it off completely in one swift motion, revealing a much cleaner looking geoduck. But when she saw Embry tear away the outer skin, she started laughing again. "What's so funny?"Embry asked. He'd thought she'd already had her laugh about the clam's phallic appearance.
"I'm sorry. It just looks like you," Caevia stopped a second. There was no way to say it in Quileute, so she decided to say it in English, then explain later. "You circumcised it."
"What?" Embry asked.
"CircumcisedinEnglishmeans that the foreskin of the penis has been removed by a doctor. It's something pale faces do." Embry just stared at Caevia mortified.
"They do what?" Quiyahle asked, just as horrified.
"Pale faces take off the foreskin of the penis when a baby is about eight days old. It's a very common practice now." Embry and Quiyahle looked at Caevia as if she were insane. She had to admit she thought the same thing when she'd first heard of the practice.
"And we're the savages?" Quiyahle eventually said to herself. "Just give me my belly meat and I'll leave you two alone."
"Sure," Embry said after he returned his attention to the geoduck. He took out a knife and cut away the shell until it came off and revealed the belly and stomach of the clam. He removed the big ball and put it in the water before cutting away the belly section from the long tube and handing it to Quiyahle. "Here you go."
"Thanks," She said appreciatively. Quiyahle stood up and left, taking bites of the belly as she walked away.
"Did I scare her away?" Caevia asked.
"Don't worry about it. You got her to leave. She would've stuck around and eaten more of our geoduck if you hadn't gotten rid of her. Let's just never talk about that again."
"Alright, fair enough," Caevia smiled.
Embry removed the shell from the other geoduck and let it fall into the cold water. After that, he pulled off the stomach of the clam and then searched for the other stomach. He cut both in half and began to clean them copiously. Once they were clean, Embry looked for another basket and placed the meat in there. Then he removed the belly meat from the other geoduck and cut that into smaller pieces and put them in the basket with the stomachs. Before continuing, Embry lifted the pot of hot water off the fire and poured out the water. Once he placed it back on the fire, he threw in the stomachs and belly meat into the pot to cook. After that, Embry turned his attention to the tubes. He firstly cut them in half and placed both of them under the water and cleaned out the black stuff. After that, he brought the other basket over and cut the halved tubes into smaller pieces that landed in the basket. Embry looked in the pot once he was done to see how the belly and stomach meat was coming along. He waited a few more seconds before he picked up the pot and tilted it over the basket, pouring out the rest of the meat. The first thing he grabbed was one of the halves of stomach and handed it to Caevia.
"Let's start with this piece. Every part of the geoduck tastes different."
"Is this your favorite?" Caevia asked after she accepted the meat.
"I actually really like the belly best. It's the most tender part and it has the most flavor. The stomach and the tube meat are really good too." Embry finished one stomach in a few bites while Caevia tasted the piece she was given. It was a very strange taste. She didn't really like it, so she handed it back to Embry. "You didn't like it?"
"No. It's too strong."
"You might not like the belly then, but try it anyway." Caevia took a piece of the belly and ate it. It wasn't nearly as strong, but it certainly still had that taste. This time she shrugged.
"I liked that better."
"Looks like you're a tube girl," Embry joked, handing her a piece of that meat. This was the meat that was almost completely raw, so she was a little apprehensive. "What's wrong?"
"I've never eaten raw meat before."
"Really? That's when fish is it's best sometimes. We clean the salmon really well and we'll eat them raw while we make the jerky."
"Would you ever eat raw deer or something?"
"No, that doesn't taste good raw. Don't turn your nose up to it just yet. Try it first,"Embry encouraged. Caevia looked at the piece of meat again and took a deep breath. She finally put it in her mouth and started to chew. It was crunchy. Crisp might be a good word to use. It was nowhere near as strong as the stomach or the belly and it was much more appetizing to her. Having been cooked and cleaned in seawater, there was certainly no lacking of salt. Too much maybe, but other than that it was actually very good. She was surprised and Embry smiled at her triumphantly. "I see you liked that."
"It was much better."
"I'll eat the belly and stomachs from now on then," Embry smiled and it made Caevia blush a little.
About the same time, Renesmee woke up feeling strangely alone. She was so used to Caevia being there when she woke up now that her not being there was very disconcerting. She pushed herself up to a sitting position and looked around to find Jacob in the tent, still with her. He was sound asleep on the other side of the tent on the exposed ground. It made her feel really bad. The kidnapping aside, he'd never once treated her like a prisoner. Not really anyway. He'd allowed her and Caevia freedom to walk around, he helped the two of them get intergraded with the people and though Renesmee still wasn't completely accepted, Jacob always came to her defense. She might not understand what he was saying when he defended her, but she knew that's what he was doing when she saw the women around her recoil in obedience and didn't utter another word against her. At least that's what Caevia told her. Rather than wake him, Renesmee quietly let herself out of the tent, doing her best not to let much light in. Once she was out, Renesmee looked around for Caevia and finally found her on the beach with Embry surrounded by pots. She walked over and saw the two eating some pale meat that looked like it belonged to a clam.
"Renesmee," Embry said when he saw her. Caevia turned around and smiled. "Here, try some geoduck."
"What did he say?"
"He's offering you some geoduck."
"What is that?"
"The most phallic looking clam you will ever set your eyes on. You probably won't like it, though. You can tell him you don't want any." Caevia looked closer at Renesmee, though, and changed her mind. "You know what, maybe you should have some anyway. You look really pale."
"I feel it, believe me. My throat is killing me. I don't think a phallic clam will make that go away."
"At least you'll have eaten something," Caevia pleaded.
"What's the matter?" Embry asked. "Don't tell me she's turning her nose up at it without even trying it too."
"She's not used to raw food either," Caevia said. "I'm trying to convince her to have some."
"We're wasting geoduck on her now?" Renesmee, Caevia and Embry looked to see Leah approaching the ocean to clean some pots.
"Is that what the locals call it in English?" Renesmee asked. "I suppose you would know that wouldn't you." Leah sneered a little before tossing the pots in Renesmee's direction nearly hitting her. Renesmee took a step back so they would land in the sand.
"Make yourself useful for a change and clean those. Or is the task too daunting for those lily white hands?"
"Is the task too daunting for yours?" Renesmee snapped back. That was it and Leah had enough of Renesmee. Embry didn't know what they were arguing over, but he knew whatever they'd been arguing about had Leah ready to beat Renesmee to a pulp. Leah was a very tall, strong woman, so Renesmee's only hope, unless Embry stepped in, would be outrunning Leah.
"Leah, leave her be. Just walk away."
"No," Leah said. "This pale faced homesick little brat has insulted me for the last time."
"Leah, just leave her be. Jacob will kill you if you lay a hand on her."
"Leah, please don't patronize her," Caevia said, still trying to keep on Leah's good side should she need to be on it.
"Patronize her?! You think I'm scared of her?"
"That's not what I said. I'm just asking you not to make this any worse."
"I won't be scared by you," Leah turned her attention to Renesmee. She didn't pay attention to Renesmee's nose flaring and how focused she seemed, but Caevia certainly did.
"Leah, just walk away and leave her alone," Caevia asked.
"Well," Leah went on, ignoring Caevia, "Are you all bark and no bite? Go ahead and call me white one more time. I dare you," Leah taunted.
"Pale face,"Renesmee said, going a step further and calling her what she was in her own language.
This time had really been the last straw. Leah began to approach Renesmee ready to give her a swift punch to her pretty face. Embry stepped between them and began to argue with Leah, but she kept trying to get past Embry. Caevia made a mad dash for Jacob's tent and made no attempt to wake him gently. When she reached the tent, she tossed open the small leather door and screamed to him that Leah was about to get into a fight with Renesmee. Jacob leaped from the ground, nearly hitting his head on a narrow side of his teepee, and ran out following Caevia to the beach. From what they could see, Leah was still trying to approach Renesmee and start a fight and several people had gathered round to see what was going on. Caevia noticed Renesmee hadn't made the slightest effort to step down or step back and avoid the fight. Caevia told Jacob to hurry and started to run faster. By the time they finally reached the beach, Leah managed to attempt grabbing Renesmee and what Caevia feared would happen happened. Renesmee not only knocked Leah a few feet back from her with a simple but very painful sounding slap to the face, she then proceeded to approach her rapidly. Caevia saw Renesmee very nearly bite right into Leah's neck, but she finally got to her and tackled Renesmee aside and the two rolled until they were both in the water. The shock of the cold water took Renesmee out of her trance and she looked around as if she'd really been completely unaware of her actions for the past minute or two. In all honesty, she had been.
"She tried to bite me!"Caevia yelled, pointing at her and backing up.
"What did you do?" Jacob yelled back at her. As the two argued, Sokajili came to the front with William and Sara beside him. William and Sara were shocked, but Sokajili only looked shocked momentarily. Then he let out a deep breath and nodded.
"So that's what it is," he said.
"What are you talking about?" William asked after he heard his brother make that comment.
"I've known there was something very different about this girl and now I know what it is. She's not a cold one exactly but-"
"She's a what!"William screamed before his brother could finish. Jacob stopped talking to Leah and looked right at his uncle.
"What did you call her?"
"I didn't say she was a cold one. But she's certainly cursed with their traits. That strange sweet smell of hers hasn't gone away since you brought her here has it Jacob? When you brought her here, you just told me she'd been cooking with apples and that had caused her sweet smell, but that hasn't gone away. And now she attempts to drink Leah's blood."
"She's not a cold one, Sokajili! If she were, I never would've imprinted on her."
"She just attempted to bite me! Why else would she do that besides being thirsty?"
"You've done nothing but patronize her since she got her and you're surprised she finally snapped at you?!"
"What are they yelling about?" Renesmee asked Caevia as they continued.
"Sokajili figured it out more or less," Caevia said. "He's trying to convince them that, while you're not a vampire, you certainly share their traits."
"There!" Leah yelled suddenly. "There," she continued in Quileute, "Caevia just admitted that Sokajili is right about her. She's a monster!"
"She's no monster!" Caevia yelled in Renesmee's defense as she tried to stand up from the water despite her dress weighing her down. "Neither is her family for that matter. The Cullens are some of the kindest people to ever take me into their home and they've never once harmed me, cold ones or not. Renesmee hasn't fed in a month and she's thirsty. When Leah began to yell at her, Renesmee just lost her senses. This would've never happened were she properly satiated."
"There, Jacob! What more proof do you need?" Leah yelled. "Let's get rid of her and be done with it."
"But she doesn't drink human blood, she drinks the blood of animals! She can take down a mountain lion just as well as a vampire. She and her family satisfy their need for blood by hunting animals. They're different!"
"That doesn't make them any different. She's still a monster!"
"Quiet, Leah!" Jacob yelled right back at Leah.
The look in his eyes went from stern strong eyes to something strange and completely different when he shifted his attention to Renesmee. There were so many emotions flashing in his eyes that Renesmee couldn't pin what he might be thinking. Jacob wasn't even sure what to think. He still didn't really believe what he was hearing. He began to approach Renesmee slowly and Caevia didn't try to stop him. Something told her that Jacob understood, at least a little bit, that Renesmee wasn't a monster or a creature to be scoffed at. Nevertheless, she knew Jacob wouldn't hurt her. Renesmee, however, wasn't entirely sure. So she did the first thing she could think to do: she ran. Despite the weight of water making her dress heavier, Renesmee ran. She heard Caevia yell her name and she heard the other villagers mumbling and talking amongst themselves as she ran.
She wasn't sure exactly where she was running, but she just ran. It was a long time before she realized that Jacob was right behind her, not only keeping pace with her but catching up as well. Then she heard him shift suddenly and begin to run around her. She was so confused why he would do such a thing, but she took advantage of the situation and began to change course. After a minute of just running, she heard the sound of a wild cat in the distance make a sound of distress. Her instincts took over and she went right in the direction the sound came from. It took seconds for her to find where the sound came from and when she'd found it, she saw Jacob hovering over a dead mountain lion. Renesmee simply attacked it without a thought. The still warm blood cooled her throat like she'd desperately needed, so much so that she even moaned. She finished off the beast before long and when she released it with a sigh of relief, she looked up and saw Jacob. She expected him to look horrified, disgusted, anything. But he wasn't. Instead, he seemed to smile with his eyes and kneeled down to a laying dog position, proceeding to hold his head down just submissively enough.
Renesmee couldn't believe what she was seeing. He was telling her accepted this. She could still see love in his eyes for her. Something about that struck her as so strange that she wasn't sure how to feel about it herself. She was touched for how kind and accepting he was being and yet she felt so guilty that this act of kindness touched her so much. She was beginning to realize this man that had forced her from her from Peter's home was showing her more affection than her own husband and that really scared her. She stayed sitting, as did Jacob, and the two just stared at each other. Jacob hoped this was a sign that perhaps things were moving forward and she finally was beginning to love him. To Renesmee, though, it felt like a brick wall of an impasse.