Disclaimers: Lemon in the future and they're MINE! ALL MINE!


Kanani spent every waking minute hunting for these people. She would wake at dawn, be 
patiently told what to hunt and how much, and then she would hunt it until dusk. She then 
ate and collapsed into her bed.

The language was coming slowly to her. The best she knew were simple commands, names of 
animals, and rough quantities. Kinliran patiently tried to teach her whenever they had time, 
but since it was so difficult to get that time, her lessons were rare and spaced far apart.

Kinliran was also trying to teach her how to read, but the concept was so foreign to her that 
as intelligent as she was, it was nearly impossible for her to grasp the concept. Her spoken 
language was barely adequate as it was...

One day, though, she would have to learn the language and learn it very quickly.

Kinliran and Ruina left. They said something about "sick," packed their things and left.

Kanani's only friends were gone. She tried not to cry-only babies cried-but it was hard for 
her. The other people in the camp weren't nearly as nice as Kinliran and Ruina were to her.

The next morning, a boy she knew as Jukilo   woke her up and offered her a poorly-cooked bowl 
of porridge. She thanked him as Ruina had taught her, and ate it pouting.

Jukilo, after she was finished, told her to get dressed and come to the main tent, where the 
other men wanted to talk to her.

She hastily got dressed, ignoring Jukilo's gaze, and walked with him to where the men were.

All eighteen of the remaining men and two boys other than Jukilo-the only children her age 
there-were arranged in a large, semi-disorganized circle on the floor of the tent. Jukilo took 
her hand and led her to a spot on the floor where she should sit.

The ten year-old sat, feeling frightened and alone as the men stared at her unhappily.

One of them, Crulin stood up, "as you know, girl, Kinliran and his sister are gone. They're 
also never coming back." He thought for a moment, arranging what else he needed to say. "We, 
uh... We're not as kindly as they were... We think that you already should know how to read 
and write, speak our language, and worship our gods and goddesses. This is why we're going to 
have Jukilo teach you. Do you understand?" At Kanani's nod he continued, "in one year we 
expect you to speak and read perfectly. Do you understand that?" she nodded again, "alright. 
You and Juklio are exempt from hunting and chores until you have your proper education. I 
suggest you work hard, girl... Jukilo for some reason wanted to teach you, so I hope you're 
a decent pupil."

He nodded and everyone filed out gruffly except for she and Jukilo. She looked at the 
handsome young boy beside her, "you teach me talk?" she asked, her accent think.

Jukilo nodded and smiled kindly, "come on, Kanani... Let's go start. And the proper way to 
say it was 'you're teaching me how to talk?' Say it."

"You're teaching me... How... To talk," she said slowly, carefully saying each word.

Jukilo smiled and took her hand again, leading her into his small tent.

He pulled out an old, thick book of some sort. "These are our Holy Books about the gods and 
goddesses... I think this will be a wonderful way for you to learn all of it at once! All of 
our people learn how to read by reading the Holy Books... It's a nice way to begin while 
learning the religion as well..."

"Holy Books..." she said quietly, getting used to the words. "Holy Books read by people? No 
Holy people to read Holy Books?"

"Yes, there are special people who read them... They're called 'Divined,' but sometimes there 
aren't any Divined nearby, so regular people read them so they don't forget. We don't have any 
Divined out here... We all have to read them ourselves."

She nodded, and pulled the Books over toward her. "What this words on front?" she asked, 
pointing to the title.

" 'The Books'," he read, taking it and opening it up. Inside were beautiful words... Page 
after page of lovely scripted words.

"Do you know how to read at all?" he asked, gently watching her.

Nervously she blushed and shook her head, "I read no good. Word hard to read."


Jukilo nodded and smiled at her, "let's start slowly, then," he said, and proceeded to teach
her the alphabet. 

~*~*~*~*~

It took her many days and weeks, but she finally learned enough to be able to read a full 
Chapter of the Books without much help from Jukilo. She, for some reason, found that she 
wanted to learn to make Jukilo happy more than anything else. She didn't really care much 
about the Books or the language; however, she loved to see his proud smile whenever she did 
something right, or said something without much of her accent. She found him perfectly 
wonderful to be with, and within time she had her first crush on a boy.

Of course, he was quite handsome for his young age of thirteen. He wasn't too thin and was 
average height, with fluffy brown hair that fell into his forehead. Normally, he looked fairly 
uptight and constricted, but when he smiled he was simply beautiful, with a light flush that 
ran along his cheeks, and lovely white teeth. His eyes were large like hers, and a greenish 
hazel that changed color depending on what he wore and what time of day it was.

Kanani, at eleven, was developing into a lovely girl, herself. Her hair had grown back and 
hung thick and glossy black down her back. Her skin was still a rich bronze, and had affected 
a golden hue over the months. The scar on her cheek had faded nearly completely, and other 
than a few bruises here and there, there were no visible flaws in her skin. Her eyes were 
very large and an extremely deep brown, with hidden fears and uncertainties lurking beneath 
them. She had gotten physically stronger and was thin and wiry with few traces of baby fat. 
Her face had lost a bit of its roundness and was starting to look more mature.

She found herself wanting to always be with him, to always make him smile at her in that 
special way he did. Her heart would race whenever he called her name, and her spirit would 
soar and flutter whenever he congratulated her on a job well done. The world was golden when 
she was with him, and thus her learning improved by leaps and bounds.

Her accent had nearly diminished and her vocabulary simply kept growing and growing. Jukilo 
was amazed at her progress, and didn't hesitate to tell her how splendidly she was doing, 
because secretly, he thought she was very pretty as well. He had thought that for some time, 
but was far too shy to do anything about it.

Kanani was on cloud nine. It didn't matter to her that she had no family or people; she had 
Jukilo and that was enough. She had his perfect smile and fluffy hair; his hazel eyes and 
gentle encouragement. Everything was wonderful whenever he was around. Until, of course, the 
fur crisis.

A strange thing was happening to the weather, and so the animals were leaving the area in 
droves. Thus, fur was hard to come by. Since the men based their lives on the fur trade, they 
were understandably upset. Also, to compound this, the economy of the planet was changing as 
well to meet supply and demand. There was massive inflation and everything was amazingly 
expensive. However, the population was increasing astronomically, and demand couldn't be 
higher for all products. Thus, the hunters had no choice to force Kanani and Jukilo to hunt 
as if their lives depended on it, which, in most ways, it did.

Jukilo, however, wasn't an exceptionally good hunter, so Kanani-in exchange for helping him-
was to do most of his share. This meant that a young girl, only eleven years old, was to hunt 
as much as an older, more experienced man in the hunter's camp.

Kanani went from exceedingly happy to exceedingly miserable in only three days. She was forced 
to pull more than she knew she could and the hunters had threatened her with the most dire of 
consequences if she failed. Of course, Jukilo apologized constantly, but Kanani was too tired 
and overworked to even think about such things. She merely sighed, nodded, and went back to 
work. That was her life then: sighing and working; it seemed to be all her body was capable
of. After awhile, the sighing dissipated in her exhaustion and all she could do was work.

She woke up well before dawn and helped the boys and younger men cook. She then ate and 
cleaned up after everyone. Right afterward she would gather her sling and a bagful of 
well-shaped stones and would hunt her quota for that day. For hours on end she would prowl 
through forests and fields searching for the necessary animals; namely creatures that looked 
like slightly large rabbits. They were plentiful and their fur was very soft. However, they 
were good hiders and thus it was hard for Kanani to track them at all. She would hunt until 
she couldn't see any longer, and then head back. She would then show her kills, prepare them, 
and then cook whatever she could for the men. She cleaned up again, finished whatever work she 
needed to do, get her hunting orders for the next day, and go to sleep. There was no room in 
her life for anything else but hunting and working, working and hunting.

Her one friendship was suffering, her body was constantly depleted, and what was more was that 
she was being bombarded with images of happy and powerful women from the past. One night, she 
truly understood Murre. She related to the woman and her insanity in a way that she never had 
before: they were angry, hurt, and Kanani was quickly becoming homicidal. That night, as well, 
Kanani made a promise to herself: she would be the best, most well-behaved woman there was. 
She would do her work without complaint and would try and find time to make the people around 
her happy as well.

She knew she was practically wishing for death, but at that point she didn't care. She was so 
terrified of the things her mother represented to her that she was appalled at any similarities 
she may have had with the woman. She vowed to constantly be the best and most perfect example 
of womanhood that she could be.

The men noticed this change in Kanani; it was reflected in everything she did. She was more 
productive, happier, more cheerful, calmer, and was a better cook for it. Since she was faring 
so well they naturally decided to raise her quota by 50%. Kanani almost died. She was barely 
capable of maintaining the energy she had then, by raising the quota so drastically, they were 
practically killing her. She had more to do than any other person there, with the exception o
f the three best hunters, who had only slightly more to do. She hurt, both in body and heart.

Barely two weeks after her quota had been assigned, she couldn't meet it one day. It was 
impossible. She had walked until her feet were bleeding and her head was swimming, and yet she 
was short by eight. Eight, she thought, isn't too bad... It could be worse... No, she found, it 
couldn't. The men were appalled. How dare this girl miss her quota by eight. The three best 
hunters were so infuriated they started to savagely beat into her with a vengeance. They 
pummeled her into the ground and left her, bruised and battered, until the morning.

Jukilo came running to her after the men had left, tears streaming down his face, to help her. 
He gently eased her up and tried the best he could to clean her. Never had he seen such 
savagery, but to Kanani all it was, was a painful memory. A memory of a worse beating; an 
unhappier time. Her body ached as she stood up, holding her side painfully, trying to stay 
calm. Suddenly, a strange expression of understanding crossed her face. She looked at Jukilo 
with hollow eyes and began to speak, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I understand completely now what I have to do. I must be the best I can be, and then the next 
day I must surpass it. I must do everything that is told to me to do, and do it thoroughly and 
without complaint. They were doing the right thing beating me because I deserved it. I deserved 
my punishment, and expect nothing less," she took a deep breath and told Jukilo not to cry, 
that she understood everything. Jukilo told no, that she understood nothing, but all she did 
was walk to her section of the tent she shared with the others. Jukilo ran up to her and 
grabbed her arm, pulling her close to him until their faces were very close.

"Kanani," she could feel his breath, warm and sweet against her face, "please."

It was a plea from deep within his very soul, tearing at her heart with its vehemence.

"Kanani, please don't... Don't believe them! You're better than that... You're the best hunter 
in the world, I think, and you always have time to help others... Kanani, what they did to you 
was awful! It never should have happened!"

Kanani had started crying and looked desperately into his hazel eyes, "Jukilo..." her voice 
trailed off and she tried to keep from sobbing on the spot.

"Jukilo, you... You don't understand... I..." she couldn't speak any longer. Her throat was 
too choked with sobs to allow any coherent words out.

He gently moved her face to meet his eyes. They stood there for a long time, neither one 
saying anything. He then leaned in and whispered something against her hair, kissing her 
cheek so softly she couldn't even register it. Blushing, he pulled away and walked off.

Kanani watched him go and, exhausted, slumped down onto her knees. As hard as the day was, 
nothing had exhausted her more than that short encounter with the object of her purest 
affection. He was perfect, in her opinion, and the burning on her cheek testified to the fact 
that she was more infatuated with him than she ever had been before.


She sighed and hauled herself up. //I hope I get beaten tomorrow too... Maybe he'll do it 
again...// She was shocked at this thought, trying to banish it from her mind before it s
tarted to entertain itself. //I must be so tired to think that... This can't be good for me!// 
With that thought she made her way to her bed and collapsed into it without another regard. 

~*~*~*~

Kanani kept her promise to herself, but the hunting was so depleted in that area that there 
wasn't even enough to keep them alive. The clothes they all had were worn and falling off of 
their emaciated forms that had shrunken and narrowed with the lack of nourishment. No one was 
healthy. Everyone was tired and miserable... They didn't even have the energy to chastise a 
person who didn't meet the quota. All that was said was a grunt and a sad sigh. The economy 
got steadily worse as the planet sank into a severe depression and it was easily reflected by 
the hunters' camp.

There was no food to be had. The furs they got were few and shabby. No one was happy. No one 
except Kanani, of course. Yes, she was hungry. Yes, she was cold and dirty. However, since 
there was so little they could do, she was permitted more time with Jukilo. Together they did 
most of the necessary chores for the men, talking and laughing like the good friends they were. 
She was again content in the little world the Spirits had given her, and she was becoming more 
integrated into the religion of Jukilo and his people.

They had multitudes of fascinating gods and goddesses, with the Trinity of Gods being its 
center. The Trinity was a man, a woman, and an unknown gender, represented in human form as
"child." These gods created the universe, the sun, the moons, the stars, everything. They also 
created people and the other gods and goddesses. There were hundreds to choose from, and each 
had its own distinct personality and characteristics. The thought of male and female entities 
having equal weight appealed to Kanani, who thought it was engaging and nothing short of 
miraculous.

All her life, only the male Spirits had any true weight in their lives; the females just slept 
and let them live their lives the way they wanted to. Also, the males vastly outnumbered the 
females, who numbered only five.

Suddenly, she was exposed to this new religion, where male and female were equal; where man 
and woman were the same, none being perceived as better than the other. It was so different 
than anything she had previously been exposed to, and it was wonderful... Simply wonderful.

As the weeks went on, and Jukilo and Kanani got closer and closer together, the men and the 
planet fared no better. It turned out there was a massive depression occurring that wouldn't 
seem to let up for quite awhile. The Emperor and Empress, Ren and Kira Greatl, were doing the 
best they could to help the planet, but their efforts would only take effect in the long run. 
For the time being, the planet, Frizzghigge as Kanani learned, was in the bowels of a massive
economic stagnation that refused to ameliorate itself.

Trade was at an all-time low, with the planet losing more revenue to imports, while not 
gaining anything from the few things they could afford to export. People were leaving the 
planet in a massive exodous that would last for months into the future. Farmers couldn't 
produce, fur traders could get no fur to trade, and the weather kept getting worse and worse, 
depleting what arable land was available. It was a world-wide crisis, that crossed all of 
Frizzghigge's surrounding borders, even affecting alien territories.

The men in the camp, specifically, were hungry and exhausted. Everyone pulled more than their 
own to try and get enough money to buy food, but to no avail. What tiny bit of capital they 
got had to be put toward new supplies, which were almost impossible to get, due to the 
withdrawal of the craftsmen who made them. It was a sad and dark situation for Frizzghigge, 
and the men found Kanani to be indispensable. She knew how to do things that they had never 
thought necessary, what with technology the way it was at the time. She could make tools from 
stone, wood, and bone. She could gather plants and cultivate her own herbs. She could 
construct elaborate traps out of simple fibers and leather cords. She could use the fat of the 
animals they killed to cure the leather, and then she could make clothing out of it. And 
what's more, what she couldn't physically accomplish, she could instruct on. Everyone needed 
her help... With her skills and energy, they could sell their higher-technology equipment and 
get more money for what little food they couldn't find or produce. As close to nature as a 
bunch of hunters were, they were incapable of making something so basic as a fire without 
specially-fabricated tools.

Never in her short life had she ever felt so loved and needed. She never realized how 
wonderful it could be for her to be worried over and admired. It was a new feeling for her. 
In only a few days of her intense care, the men started gaining weight, looking better, being 
healthier. Although she couldn't improve the overall economy, she could at least improve 
conditions in the camp. And, also, although she couldn't alter the weather patterns, she could 
work around them and make things feel less severe. She was a self-sufficient profusion of 
knowledge that become so crucial to their lives.

However, the very depression that was destroying Frizzghigge, also destroyed Kanani and 
Jukilo. They had been doing so well, and Kanani became more and more in love with every 
passing day. However, since hunting was so poor and Jukilo so quick in thought, he was sent 
to a school in the main state of Frizzghigge , many miles away from Kanani. She was crushed. 
Simply and totally crushed.