"Did Ganne bring these plants here?" Larann asked. She was excited for the grapes because where there were grapes, there could also be wine. That was exciting.
"No, they were here already, but we never planted them like this. Ganne insisted on it. She said she likes to drink the juices." Sawa said.
"She was angry later, though. She said that the juicing didn't work. She had some of us squash the grapes in a big vat like the one we hold the city water in, but once we finished and gathered the juice, she put it in a cave we dug for her nearby.
She left it for so long that it turned sour and tangy, but that is what fruit does when it rots." Shuiss said.
She wanted to laugh. Leave a person to think they could turn water into wine with a few grapes.
"What did she do with the containers?"
"She left them. Said it was a failed experiment, but the rest of the city likes to come here to pick the grapes to eat.
Larann started asking another question, but Sawa came up and hugged me. She started trying to push him away when she saw the other two look at something that was just beyond her shoulder.
"So, this is your new wife!"
The three men shifted uncomfortably. Larann decided to cling to Sawa and let out a scream, pretending to be scared. The solid muscles underneath her did not escape her attention and at any other time, she would have liked to drool over them properly.
"Ganne, Shamen. We greet you." Mura said with a short bow. Shuiss also gave a quick bow. Just long enough to be respectful.
Sawa gave his own bow and Larann used the movement to glance quickly at the people behind her. The Shamen was still a giant of a man, but he looked annoyed for some reason. Like he and his beloved had just fought.
But the woman next to him was startingly plain. Her hair was long, but stringy and had streaks of white and gray. She had been blond once, but the salon dye job had long since grown out.
She also looked old. Larann would be surprised if she was any younger than fifty, though she looked younger if you accounted for the botox.
I wondered how old the shaman is. I mean, good for her, but if he didn't know that she was older and most likely unable to bear children, would he have still chosen her? Larann could tell that he wasn't much older than her husbands. They must have been in their mid-twenties while he couldn't have been more than thirty or so.
Ganne reached out and pulled her away from Sawa and she fell to the floor. Larran made sure to exaggerate her movements so that it seemed worse than it was.
Then she began to cry, wailing so that anyone nearby could hear. Her antics started drawing attention, but Ganne just stared down at her with a sly look.
"Are you sure that you are happy with this woman? I would still take you in as husbands if you like," she crooned. She stepped over to Sawa and placed a possessive hand on his arm. Larann could see the bearman tense and grit his teeth.
Sawa stepped back and around Ganne so that he could get to his wife and help her up.
"We are more than satisfied with the wife granted to us by Shaman Urse." Mura and Shuiss stared blankly off in the distance. Larann realized that Ganne hitting on them was not an unusual occurrence.
I really need to find out how to keep it from happening because she really annoys me.
"But the poor thing is scared of her own shadow. Come, she isn't suited to warriors like yourselves."
"What good is a warrior without someone to protect." Mura asked, coming around and blocking Ganne's heavy gaze in my direction. Larann could see the witch staring at Mura.
I really shouldn't insult witches like that, she thought to herself. She pressed into the perfectly formed wolfman's chest and had to give the woman credit. She was drooling over the best-looking men in the city. I can't fault her taste.
Ganne would have continued, but the shaman was at his limit. Taking her hand, he nodded to us.
"We are checking on the wine stores. The second batch of juice we made should be ready to try by now, according to Ganne." At that, he led her off to a small mound sticking up out of the ground close by.
Larann sighed in relief and looked over to the three men in her care. She pointed to where she thought the hut was and they grunted. If she hadn't just witnessed them getting harassed, she probably would have thought it was cute.
They took her back to the hut. When they arrived, the men secured the entry and the four gathered in the middle, away from the prying eyes of the shaman and his woman.
"What was that?" I asked them.
"That was Urse's woman Ganne." Shuiss scoffed. She noticed that they were not calling him shaman in private.
"Why does she do that with someone else's husband, and so publicly."
"It is because you have not accepted us yet." Sawa replied.
"What do you mean? I have accepted you," Larann asked, bewildered.
"He means you have not yet mated with us." Mura replied. She looked over at him, cocking her head.
"How would she know that unless she was sitting in the room when it happened?"
"We do not have the mark." Mura exposed his neck and showed her bare skin. At that moment, a ray of light passed through the door and Larann had to stop herself from clutching her chest. His skin practically glowed in the twilight.
"What mark?" She asked, not really paying attention to the conversation anymore.
"When beastmen mate, they leave a mark on their wife and their wife's mark appears on them." Sawa said, distracting Larann from the delicious view before her.