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CL126
Clanluna

Chapter 126: the aftermath

Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling
Earth’s Children is owned by Jean Auel

“Obliviate!”

Iga, The Clanluna, was suddenly aware that things had changed. She was sitting on the ground cross legged. A man, presumedly Groog, had his chest pressed to her back and his arms around her. Zeen, The Mog-Ur, stood in front of her. His wand pointed at her.

“What? What happened?” signed Iga.

“This Weez-ur Obliviated you,” replied Zeen, tucking his wand behind his ear. “This man has been doing it a lot lately.”

“Why?” signed Iga.

“You were not able to cope with what happened to you,” signed Zeen. “This man’s oldest sister came back. She captured most of us and did very bad things to us. But you got it worst of all. She gave you polyjuice potion to turn you into a little girl, then had her people Force you continuously for days. Every time the polyjuice wore off, they would give you more. So you had to experience being a little girl who was Forced before 1st Rites over and over again. While this was happening to you, she was killing most of our people including: your mate, Groog.”

“Groog is dead?!? Then who-” signed Iga as she turned around to see that the old man holding her was not Groog, but a familiar looking old man with Zariz’s sky-blue eyes. “Dyondar? Dyondar? Is that you?”

“Yes Iga, It’s me, Jondolar,” said Dyondar.

Iga’s eyes lit up with happiness before she expression contorted in horror. She turned away from him and hid her face.

“Iga, Iga it’s all right. We’ve been through this before,” soothed Dyondar. “I know you wanted me to remember you as young and beautiful, but it doesn’t matter to me. I grew old too. Besides, the beauty that really matters, your inner beauty has not faded. I’m sorry about Groog, but I’m here for you now.”

Iga was unable to sign for a while as the grief over took her and Zeen recited to her the list of all those, especially her children who had died. Silently, the cried for each of them.

“After we won the battle, we left quickly. Mariza had started a grass fire that was out of control,” explained Zeen. “Most us had nothing, not even wraps on hips. So we made portkeys and went to each clan’s cave to salvage what we could of our supplies. We picked up a few survivors that had been missed and returned here to the other Summer Gathering.”

“Even with all you say, this woman has difficulty believing that she would ask you to remove her memories of it. A person’s memories are very important in shaping their character. When you took my memories, you took a piece of me!”

Zeen looked uncomfortable for a moment before finally signing: “You are correct. You did not want me to oblivate you. In fact, you specifically forbade me to.”

“Then why?” signed Iga.

“You were having great difficulty coping with what you had gone through,” signed Zeen. “You hugged yourself and cried almost all the time. You would not let anyone comfort you . . . But when Zariz told this man that you were planning to kill yourself, this man felt he had to do something. This man grieves if he has caused our friendship to end.”

Iga stared as him for a moment.

“No. You did the right thing,” signed Iga. “Knowing what has happened hurts. But this woman thinks remembering it would be much worse.”




Wilmara has asked her two closest friends to go with her to look for her unicorn, Rimu. So Zariz and Đoroči had apparated, brooms in hand, with her back to Luna’s Cave. Once there, Wilmara didn’t even bother with warming potion. She just shed her boots, leggings and tunic, straddled her broom and flew away. The two men hurriedly shed their wraps and followed after her. Wilmara flew low, as she retraced her steps from that terrible day. Finally, she came to the spot where she had been taken. Wilmara landed her broom and started looking through the grass.

The scavengers hadn’t left much . . . a few pieces of meat and bone and . . . the horn. . . picking up the spirally twisted horn of her unicorn, Wilmara clutched it to her chest and began sobbing. She’d known when that man first cast the bone-breaker curse that there wasn’t much time to save her unicorn. And she’d known that there wasn’t a chance that her mate had survived all these days with a broken leg. But to see proof of Rimu’s death . . . .

When Zariz came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, Wilmara flinched and squeaked. But she didn’t shrug him off. Đoroči came around front and wrapped his arms around her so that she was enveloped by the two men as she wailed her grief. They just held her as she cried until she had cried it all out. Finally, her sobbing subsided. She gently pushed Đoroči away and shrugged off Zariz. She took a few steps away from them and stared across the steps with her back to them.

“We’d better get back,” said Wilmara, not turning to speak to them, before apparating away.

Pop!

When Zarziz and Đoroči apparated back to Luna’s cave, Wilmara was already getting into her leggings. She turned her back to them as she finished pulling them up, then pulled her tunic on. She turned to face them and sat on the ground so that she could pull on her boots. Zariz and Đoroči were still tying their wraps.

(Wilmara is acting quite strange) thought Zariz. (Almost as if she were afraid of being seen naked by us. . . but we three have never been shy about each other’s bodies before)

“I want to thank you for coming with me,” said Wilmara. “It helped a lot to have you two by my side.”

Once they were all dressed, They took their brooms and the unicorn horn and apparated back to the other Summer Gathering.



Pop!

Luna side-along apparated herself and Ayla back to the former site of the Dragon Camp of the Sungaea. A wildfire had scorched the whole area, ignited by the Fiendfyre curses of her people. There wasn’t much left of the camp.

Luna held out her hand and began dousing. Listening to her inner eye, she felt herself pulled away from the ruins of the camp. Following the pull, she came to a charred corpse that appeared to have two heads, one above the other. The attached one was mashed flat. The other one. . .

Ayla stepped past Luna and knelt beside the heads.

“Zar!” cried Ayla as she untied her wrap and used it to cover the second head.

Luna laid a sympathetic hand on Ayla’s shoulder for a moment. Then reached down and removed the ring from the hand of the corpse. Once the Deathly Hallow was returned to her finger, Luna stared at it for a moment transfixed, before holding her hand out before her.
There was a shimmering and Thonlan appeared before her, once more amongst the living.

“DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!” shouted Thonlan.

“Thonlan?” sobbed Luna. “You don’t want to be back with me?”

Holding Zar’s head in the crook of her arm, Ayla wrapped her other arm around Luna. scowling over her shoulder at their mate in a (See what you did?) expression.

“Of course I want to be with you,” said Thonlan as he rubbed Luna’s back soothingly. “But Creb is right. It IS wrong to bring back the dead. The first time, you surprised me. I couldn’t speak your language, was bewitched by your beauty, and I was worried about my brother. But now . . . I’ll stay with you for as long as I continue to live. But if I get killed again, promise me you won’t bring me back. I lived a life and it was over. You brought me back and I lived another life. Two lives are more than any man should have. I’ll live a third life if I can have a mortal one. Promise me that if something happens and I die again, you won’t try to bring me back. I hope we have a long life together. But promise me that this is my life, my last life, PROMISE ME!”

“A- . . . all right Thonlan,” sobbed Luna. “I promise I won’t bring you back again.”

Thonlan’s attitude was shared by the others whom Mara had killed. Not one of them wanted to be returned from the Spirit World. But they agreed to stay for the duration of the Summer Gathering.

After Ayla re-united Zar’s head with his body in his grave, Luna began using her ring to bring back the dead. But after speaking with the first few, she wouldn’t bring back children, and she wouldn’t bring back adults, unless their still living mate requested it. Couples who had both died were left dead.



The people of the Clanluna had first traveled by portkey to each Clan’s Cave to gather supplies and hold funerals. Many Clans had lost everything. The other clans shared what they had. Mariza ended up giving away much of what she had traded for. But every clan would need to hunt and gather a lot to store for the winter. But they still found time for socially bonding activities. . . .

“Would you like to go ‘hunting’?” Zariz asked Đelđuma.

Đelđuma smiled at her mate. But then looked out across the steppes. She wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of the two of them being all alone out there.

“Why don’t we Share, here, by the fire?” countered Đelđuma.

“Here?” asked Zariz. “All right, Why don’t we?”

Zariz pulled the shrunken mammoth fur from his belt pouch and enlarged it. As soon as he had spread it, Đelđuma pulled off her summer dress and lay her self on it, patting a place for her mate to join her.

Đelđuma had grown up in the Đumbleđore Cave with partitions for privacy. So she had been appalled when she had first mated Zariz to be living in the 3rd Chamber of Luna’s Cave with only hearth stone boundaries and custom to provide a sense of privacy. But she had soon over come her initial shyness and transformed her inhibitions into exibitionism. But the time they left, she gained a reputation as the loudest woman in the Cave. A title that she retained when they had started a new Clan and moved into the stone-house. But this was a new level of wantonness for her.

As they Shared Pleasures, Đelđuma and Zariz made no effort to be discreet. Soon other couples were following their example. This set the pattern for the whole summer Gathering. A ring of small fires were build around the large central fire and families slept all together, rather than in their tipis. Couples Shared by the fire, and often couples would Share with the people next to them. When people when hunting, they went in large groups, all together. Gathering was also only done in large groups. No one wanted to be alone.


“So . . . are we all agreed that we want to continue being a Clan,” asked Zariz.

“I’ve spoken to some of the members of other clans,” said Đeeš. “They are all Pretty much agreed with us that they don’t want ‘her‘ to win. So they’re going to continue their clan no matter what.”

“Some of them don’t have very many members,” observed Zoub.

“Or women,” agreed Ood. “Come to think of it, we don’t have but one woman left.”

“I’ve thought about that,” said Đelđuma. “As you know, one of my duties as clanluna is to see that everyone’s Needs are Relieved. . . . to help people find someone to relieve them, or, if there is no one else, to relieve them myself.
I’m sorry Zariz, but you’re going have to share me with the rest of the members of the clan.”

“I understand,” said Zariz. He left unspoken that he wouldn’t like seeing so little of his mate. He knew what she was doing was nessesary if they were to remain a functioning clan. “So who will be the new Leader?”

Just then, Đoroči walked up with Wilmara and Igooa. Đoroči had been the first member of their clan that Igooa has seen then they arrived at Luna’s cave. She had latched onto him then and was determined that she would be his mate by the end of the Summer Gathering. Đoroči was encouraging her, but also courting all the other widows of his clan. He hadn’t decided who he would mate yet. Many of the Weeches of Olivander Clan had been mated to muggles. So Đoroči had several women to choose from. And his status had gone up since the Battle of Dragon Camp. Everyone had seen him go toe to toe with the Dark Lady, fighting alongside Luna, Zeen, Mariza and Lena. No one had been surprised that the Goddess Luna, or Zeen The Mog-Ur or Mariza-who-performs-great-feats-of-magic-without-even-a-wand, or Lena (unofficial Clanluna to the Other Clans) had fought the Dark Lady in the final Battle. But Đoroči had surprised them with his skill at Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was now sought out as a summer tutor in Defense.

One of the changes brought by the Dark Lady, was that everyone had pulled their children out of Luna’s magic School, prefering, instead, Ceban and Maeba’s model of children being tutored by the older Weez-urs and Weeches of their clan. And for those classes that there was no one in their clan to teach, people sought out someone to tutor them over the summer. Several people were making plans to intensively teach during the summers and trade for their time. In this manner, Luna would teach members of other Clans about Divination, Ayla would teach potions, Zeen would teach Charms, Iza would teach Herbalogy, A visiting centaur trader would teach astronomy (while also meeting with Mariza to Share Knowledge) Mariza would teach Care of Magical Creatures, And Đoroči would teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.



“Can I speak to you about something,” Vantha asked Vezava.

“Certainly, what is it?” asked Vezava. She always had time to speak to her mate’s daughter.

“I am confused about my 1st Rites,” explained Vantha.

“And you didn’t want to talk about it with your mother,” finished Vezava. “I would be happy to explain it to you. Who performed your 1st Rites?”

“It was while we were in HER power . . .” said Vantha. “She found out I was a woman who hadn’t had 1st Rites. So she told some of her men to do it. At the time, I didn’t think I wanted them for my 1st Rites. But they must have done it right, because they were able to Relieve my Need. I’m confused. . . . A part of me feels like I was Forced, but another part of me feels guilty because I enjoyed it. But isn’t a girl supposed to enjoy her 1st Rites?”

“You had more than one!?!” gasped Vezava. “Oooh that woman! If she weren’t dead, I’d kill her myself!

Listen Vantha. Let me tell you about what happened to me one time. A few years ago, your mother and I were captured by my first people, the Vanthonoi. They Forced us both, but they stopped Forcing your mother after she lost her baby. I wasn’t so fortunate. I was Forced over and over by every man in the tribe. And every time they did . . . every single one . . . Relieved my Need. This doesn’t mean I wanted them to treat me like that. It was humiliating and, I think, more emotionally painful than if they had not been able to Relieve my Need. I think I suffered worse than your mother did, and she lost a baby! You see, some women, like you and I can be Forced to Share Pleasures. For us, it doesn’t matter what’s in a man’s heart, if our parts are rubbed in the right way, our Need will be Relieved, even if we don’t want it. In fact, this is a common curse amongst the Vanthonoi women. Which is, I think where you got it.”

“But I’m not Vanthonoi!” protested Vantha.

“I think you are partly . . “ explained Vezava. “Mariza told me that she was Blessed with you shortly after she was Forced by a Vanthonoi man. She thinks it was his totem that defeated hers to make you.”

“And so she named me Vantha!?!” shrieked Vantha.

“You need to go through 1st Rites again,” pointed out Vezava. “Pick a man that you like, that you can trust. Let him Share with you Mariza’s gift of Pleasure so that you won’t be afraid to Share Pleasures for the rest of you life.

And after you are done . . . You know how I sometimes like to pretend that I’m being Forced? How Vojkovica, only liked it if she was pretending to be Forced? You might find that if you are only pretending to be Forced . . . by a man that you WANT to Share Pleasures with . . . . that you can turn your curse around and derive some Pleasure from it. But that will only work if the Forcing is only pretend. If you set yourself up to be Forced for real, it will be as traumatic as you would expect. More so, because of our curse.”

“Thanks Vezava, you helped a lot.”


Đelđuma had been watching Wilmara . . . seeing how she wore a winter tunic and leggings all the time. . . . how she flinched and squeaked every time a man brushed against her, even Zariz or Đoroči . . . finally she had pieced it together and could keep her silence no longer.

“Wilmara, I think it’s time you had your 1st Rites,” commanded Đelđuma.

“NO!” yelled Wilmara. “Đelđuma, before my mother tortured and killed half our people, I was Forced by some of her men . . . more than once! I don’t know how many times, because it was so many, that they blurred together, and they kept pouring bouza down my throat when I would try to fight them off. So, no, I never want a man to hurt me like that again.”

“I know you were Forced,” replied Đelđuma. “This is precisely why you need 1st Rites. You need to learn that not every man will hurt you. You need to learn not to be afraid of a man’s touch.”

“But I don’t LIKE Sharing Pleasures with men!” protested Wilmara.

“How do you know?” asked Đelđuma. “You’ve never Shared Pleasures with a man before.”

“What about those men who-” started Wilmara.

“”Being Forced is not the same thing as Sharing Pleasures!” countered Đelđuma. “You need to learn what it like to truly Share with a man. Even if you choose not to Share with a man ever again. You need to know that you don’t have to be afraid of men.”

“After what my mother did, how do I know some man wouldn’t use it as an opportunity to hurt me out of revenge on her?” protested Wilmara.

“Then pick someone that you know you can trust,” said Đelđuma, pointing at Zariz.

Wilmara looked at Zariz for a moment . . . then at Đoroči . . . then at Zariz again . . . then at Đelđuma . . . before walking over to Đoroči.

“Đoroči, would you perform my 1st Rites?” asked Wilmara.

Đelđuma sighed . . .

“What! Uh . . . sure! I’d be happy to,” replied Đoroči. “Where-”

“Here by the fire is fine,” said Wilmara as she drew her wand, summoned a fur for them to lie on and sat on it. At soon as Đoroči had sat next to her, she cast a notice-me-not-charm on them.

Everyone in the Clanluna then witnessed Wilmara’s 1st Rites. But no one remembered it very well . . . they hadn’t been paying attention.

Afterwards, a few other couples copied Wilmara’s idea of using notice-me-not as a way to get a little privacy. But most didn’t bother. A summer of public Sharing had lowered everyones inhibitions.

After her 1st Rites, Maeba was the first person Wilmara sought out to Share with. They made a habit of it for the rest of the Summer. Though Wilmara continued her use of the notice-me-not-charm when she and Maeba Shared, in public, by the fire.



Luna, Ayla and Thonlan had fed and put their children to sleep by the fire. Everyone was sleeping by the large central fire these days all in a pile with a circle of smaller fires around the edge. Once most of the children were asleep, some people would stroll away from the light to star-gaze with the centaurs, others would take advantage of their break from child care to Share Pleasures with their mates before sleeping. But this time, Luna had something to say to her mates.

“We need to do something about the way people see me,” stated Luna. “I’ve always tried to discourage the cult that Iga founded around me. But I will admit I was also flattered by it. I didn’t think it would do any harm for people to use me as a symbol of their own better qualities. But now I see that it can make people feel powerless. I think that was part of what twisted my oldest daughter. She wanted the power I have, not realizing that she had it all along. She felt she had to take power from others in order to have power for herself.
I want to prevent that from ever happening again. But to do so. I need to do things that will make people see me more as a woman and less as a Goddess.”

“What are you suggesting?” asked Ayla.

“Sharing here, in public, is a start,” replied Luna. “But I think we three should Share around with others too. It’s hard to idealize your own lovers.”

“Or easier,” said Thonlan. “After all, I’ve been your mate for years, and I’m more convinced than ever that you are the Great Mother.”

“Perhaps I am . . . . But no more than Ayla or Mariza or Maeba or you,” replied Luna.

“Me?” protested Thonlan. “But men can’t have children.”

“No, but they help start them,” replied Ayla.

“Like you did with our oldest daughter,” added Luna.

“What do you mean?” asked Thonlan.

“You are my mate,” pointed out Luna. “I Share with you more than all other men combined. Most of my children, including our oldest daughter were started when you defeated my totem after we Shared Pleasures.”

“I never realized . . .” mused Thonlan. “So, she was my daughter . . .”


The next day, Thonlan gathered together all the traders.

“I’ve called you all together because you all travel to other peoples to trade,” began Thonlan. “You all know about the recent unpleasantness involving HER. She was a sweet girl when she was younger. But then some men, some strangers, captured her and Forced her, over and over for days. These men Forced my little girl and turned her into a monster! They had to come from somewhere. They had to learn how to treat little girls like that from somewhere. I want these men found! And I want their people found! When you’re out traveling, keep on the lookout for anyone who was not born to their people, anyone who came from elsewhere, anyone who doesn’t belong. Find them!”


With the loss of so many, the Clans had to re-organize. Many of them had lost their Leader to The Rock. Many of them, like Peverells, the Clan that Zariz was a member of, were mostly men now. A few had more women than men. Mariza’s Clan was the most extreme example of this. But no one wanted to let their Clan die. Everyone was determined not to let Mara succeed in destroying their Clan. So few people were willing to leave their Clan, even if it meant not having a mate. Nor were people who were already sharing their mate, willing to leave their mate in order to have a mate to themselves. This led to some odd matings . . .

For example Thonda and Levana, both daughters of Luna, had lost their mate. Their new mate was Gren, a 3/4 Clan who had just become a man. He couldn’t speak languages of the Others and otherwise would have joined Ceban’s Clan.

Grerg had already rejected the idea that he join Ceban’s Clan. Now he had no mate while others had two.

Now that Durc was gone, the new Leader of Flamel Clan was Đurčaž, a widower from the Đumbleđores, who had mated into the Flamels. But he was trying his best to follow Durc’s example, and act more Clan than most of the other Clans.
Their mog-ur’s new mate, Craylna, grandaughter of Ayla, had just become a woman and just started studying magic. She had plans to be their medicine woman and clanluna. But for this summer, she only had learned the levitation charm, the stinging jinx and how to transfigure twigs into bone needles. She planned to practice those over the winter. But this summer, was spending all her free time learning potions from Ayla.

Đoroči ended up taking two mates. He mated Creba, the new Leader and widow of the old one. And he mated Igooa daughter of Iga, who was the Clan’s chief clanluna.

The Quirell član was the hardest hit. Điš was the only surviving adult. So Luna’s daughter, Kohnša, mated him on the condition that she get to be the Leader. And Ayla’s grandaughter, Zeerdara, mated him with plans to be their član’s članluna.


“Đelđuma, would you be my mate?” Wilmara asked her.

Đelđuma sighed. . . . She looked over at Zariz and sighed again . . .

“Wilmara, I enjoy Sharing Pleasures with you,” sighed Đelđuma. “And I would love to Share with you again. . . . and I wouldn’t mind living at the same hearth as you. But . . . . But I can’t take responsibility for providing for your children and sisters . . .”

She sighed again . . .

“I think you should ask Zariz to be your mate,” sighed Đelđuma.

“But he’s a man!” protested Wilmara.

“Wilmara, I would happy to have you live at our hearth,” said Zariz. “And I wouldn’t mind taking responsibility for seeing that there is enough meat and furs to support your child and sisters. But I would never ask you do anything with me that you are uncomfortable with.”


“This Clanluna has called you all together because she wanted to discuss a few things,” began Iga. “First of all, this Clanluna thinks that we should recognize the fact the clans of the other Summer Gathering need their own Clanluna. This Clanluna therefore recommends that Lena be proclaimed as assistant Clanluna, The Clanluna for most things with the clans of the other Summer Gathering.”

The other clanlunae, especially the ones from the other Summer Gathering, nodded at this. She had already be acting in this role for years.

“The second thing I wanted to discuss with you is: this Clanluna’s retirement,” signed Iga. “This woman is too old to be The Clanluna. This woman is planning to step down as The Clanluna and go live with Dyondar at the cave of the Ravenclaw Clan.”

“Who do you want to replace you?” asked Đelđuma.

“This woman would be signing a not-so thing if she signed that she would not wish that one of her daughters, like Igooa, were her successor,” signed Iga. “But this woman can not choose for you. Who ever you chose will be The Clanluna for years to come.”

“This woman thinks that Mariza should be The Clanluna,” signed Vezava.

“This centaur thinks that Lena should be The Clanluna,” signed Bangar.

“This woman thinks that Lena would be a good choice, but that it would be better to keep Iga as The Clanluna,” signed Mariza.

The debate on Iga’s successor continued late into the night.