#please don't be offended by the use of native and orcs in the same breath

[thecandywrites]

Jewel Of The North Part 9

Oh this was so heartbreaking (yet so fun) to write. Am I evil? Yes. Are misunderstandings inevitable? Yes. Can problems be solved by JUST TALKING TO EACH OTHER? Yes. The Tropes. So many tropes. You can’t enjoy the high without getting really low first. 

Again, many thanks to @monstersandmaw​ for sharing ice orcs with me. And because she used hers with Inuit touches, I’ve done the same and please remember I’m from Alaska myself so I have my own experiences that I’m drawing from. And I’m using more Native- Pow Wow elements in my story and I’m trying to do so with as much respect as possible. Please keep in mind this is still a fantasy story. And in a perfect world- we can pretend that genocidal rapist and others like him didn’t destroy the Americas and the original Americans that lived on it. 

Jewel Of The North 

Part 9

After you dropped Noah off at his plane, you took his truck and went to town to get what Sakura needed to mend her outfit and went a little overboard and happily went back to Noah’s house to put everything together and by the time Noah got home, you had made three different outfits for Sakura to wear the next day. 

“Oh my goodness, you’ve been busy.” Noah chuckled when he came home to see you put the finishing touches on the last one to finish it. 

“I have, dinner’s in the crockpot, Sakura and I have already eaten and she’s in the bathtub getting a bath.” You told him as he stopped by the dinner table to see you sowing the last bell to the dress and kissed you sweetly as he passed. 

“Awesome.” He murmured before he set his things down on the kitchen counter before he washed his hands then got a bowl of the stew you made and sat down at the table to eat his own dinner. 

“So do I just show up in my priestess regalia tomorrow?” You asked him. 

“Basically. My mom told me that she already told the council of elders about it yesterday before the family dinner and they’re happy to have you and today they’re setting up a booth for you so you can read tea leaves for anyone else.” Noah informed you proudly. 

“Awesome.” You nodded. 

The next day, you spent most of the early morning getting ready and Sakura ready and you nearly lost your breath when Noah put on his own native regalia and looked very handsome himself and he wore it with such pride as you happily went together as a family to the festival and parked in the vendor’s parking area, it was still morning so everyone was still getting set up for the crowds in the afternoon. Thankfully you had bought a little fold up wagon and Noah had drug Sakura in it so she wouldn’t get her new outfit dirty on the walk in and when you got inside the gates of the area, she finally climbed out of the cart and pulled you to all the vendors who were already set up to get her her favorites which you happily indulged her and even indulged yourself and you were grateful you had gone to an ATM the day before and pulled out a bunch of money to pay for it and even got Noah several gifts as well.

You were the only one there dressed the way you were and it didn’t take long before many were staring at you curiously and you felt the weight of their gaze was heavy upon you. But Noah would not stop introducing you to everyone he knew and it was only a matter of time before you finally got to see his parents and the relief of finally seeing a friendly face was almost overwhelming as you hugged them tight as they did the same.

“We have a problem.” Summer pulled you and Noah aside as Sakura showed off your handiwork to her cousins and uncles and aunts. 

“What’s the problem?” Noah asked. 

“Your sister cut you and Zara off at the knees.” Summer murmured which made Noah growl dangerously. 

“What did she do now?” Noah seethed. 

“She went to the council of elders right after she left the dinner and found Doug along the way and together, they told them the most horrific lies about Zara and why she’s here and proposed for the council to pass a new tribal law among all the clans, that from the moment of the announcement which is supposed to be passed and announced to all the tribal clans tonight- that if any persons moving away from tribal lands for any reason- forfeits their rights to the lands and their rights in the clan. Meaning even if children, who have no say so in where their parents live, that if the parents move, the children also lose their birthrights and if anyone still wants their place in the clan and their inheritance, they will need to move back before the end of the year or they will forfeit everything.” Summer revealed. 

“Oh fuck her, where is she?” Noah demanded. 

“Nowhere to be found. She’s not answering anyone’s calls or texts and she’s not at home or the usual places.” 

“Did you check Doug’s place?” You proposed. 

“Yes we did and both of them seem to have dropped off the face of the world. No one can find either of them. Doug’s ex wife is pissed because she was going to be moving away with her new beau but now she has to reconsider and countless others will too.” Summer revealed. 

“Can I talk to the council of elders? Will they believe anything I say?” You asked. 

“I don’t think so. You’re an outsider and even though you have me and Ukluk and the rest of my family and all of Neena’s family vouching for you, the damage is done and Alorna has already turned them against you and it wouldn’t matter what you said, they’re firm in their beliefs because they had “two witnesses” even though you have dozens of other witnesses to contradict them and because Alorna isn’t here, she can’t be brought in for an account and we can’t argue it without her here to defend herself.” Summer explained. 

“But she maligned me without me being there to defend myself.” You frowned. 

“I know, it’s wrong and it’s not fair.” Summer conceded. 

“I’m gonna kill her.” Noah announced and anger rolled off of him in waves. 

“What can we do?” You asked Summer. 

“Just...try to enjoy the festival.” Summer concluded as you tried to think of a solution. 

“Can you get me to the council. Can we pretend that we don’t know about this? Just let me meet them the way I would have 15 minutes ago when we didn’t know Alorna torpedoed us?” You pleaded with Summer. 

“We can try.” Summer answered. 

“Noah, just hold your tongue. We’re going to try to kill them with kindness.” You suggested as you used what little time there was in traveling to the council’s arena to think of a plan and once there you put on a bright smile and shifted into your priestess persona flawlessly. 

“Greetings, my name is Zarasashasabine Zahnochka Volchitsa Wainswright Kingsley, I’m a priestess of Aura of the Rushaka Order, petite daughter of Manta Olga at Sinai Temple. I’m here on vacation and was invited to this festival by the Kintucks and the Maniiquiks. And to show my appreciation for the invitation, I would like to perform some tea readings not only for the council of elders but for anyone else who wants them and I would like to donate all the proceeds to all the clans in equal portions.” You proposed pleasantly and respectfully. 

“We already read tea leaves ourselves, so we don’t need your services. But we will accept your donations.” Elder Sirmiq answered evenly.  

“Very well.” You nodded before Summer and lsla and their other daughters set you up in a booth they had gotten arranged just for you. Having spent the whole day before preparing it and they were on either side of you, selling fry bread and salmon jerky and all kinds of specialty foods and you had a little booth and a little wheel of numbered tickets, like the kind you would find at a grocery store for the deli department and you had an electric kettle for hot water for your tea. And that’s really all you needed. You would be doing speed readings and you set up little tea cups with generous pinches of tea leaves in each one and thankfully you had a little camp kitchen behind you so you could rinse your tea reading plate. 

You prayed to all the gods, especially Aura to bless you and to give you her spirit in reading the tea leaves correctly and to give you justice and success and to win over minds and hearts and for the council to see the truth of the matter with their own eyes and hear it with their own ears and to believe what they see and what they hear from everyone but Alorna and Doug and anyone else who would mean you harm and for you to have peace and joy and for Noah and Sakura to have peace and joy and you had no sooner said ‘amen’ when you felt peace and were overcome with so much determination. You were going to win them over one by one if you had to. 

“What do you need? And how can I help?” Noah asked before you rummaged through your backpack and found your clipboard before you got a small stack of paper and put it on there and attached your pen via a small chain. 

“I need a helper, I need someone to organize whoever comes. Manage wait times and all that, each reading can be done in about five minutes but it will probably take about ten minutes per person between chit chat and reading it all.” You answered. 

“Consider it done.” Noah took the clipboard and stood at the mouth of the booth

“What can I do to help Mama?” Sakura asked hopefully. 

“Ok so you have the most important job, I have two tea reading plates, when I’m done using one, I need you to take it to the sink and rinse it off really good for me and bring it back to me and set it next to me while I’m reading the next one. Can you do that for me? Now be careful, because this plate is really special.” You instructed her as you set yourself up. 

“You can count on me Mama.” Sakura beamed happily as Sesi set up some chairs for people to use while they waited as you pulled out a black money box and put it next to you and you started it by putting five twenties into it. A twenty for each of the five clans. 

Thankfully your first guest was a repeat customer, Mick of all people. 

“Priestess!” He greeted happily before he gave you a big hug. 

“Oh I’m so happy you stayed for the festival! How do you like it?” Mick asked excitedly. 

“I love it. I set up shop for all of the clan’s benefit, all of the proceeds for today will go to the clans.” You informed him charmingly. 

“Well then let my family be the first to enjoy your blessing. How much are you charging?” He asked. 

“I’m not charging anything, I want everyone who comes to donate what they can and what they want and know that whatever generosity they show the clans, is the same generosity they will enjoy from the gods, specifically Aura.” You answered. 

“Oh who can argue with that.” Mick grinned before you read for everyone in his family and you had not finished with them before more and more of Noah’s clients all came filing in and it became evident that Noah had at least been texting all of them to come and see you which you appreciated and Noah made sure to tell them all the ‘happy news’ that not only were you together and that he hoped that your family and his could join happily and peacefully and be able to spend the flying season in the Arctic Tundra and the winter months in the Great Lakes. And everyone seemed to want to know if you would be coming back and doing this again next year but your answer was simply ‘If I’m invited by the council of elders to be’. 

Noah and yourself happily took all the well wishes and congratulations and Noah encouraged everyone to spread the word and within moments, they followed through and soon you had people lining all around the block of booths and word spread like wildfire and Noah’s list began to get several pages long as many starred in at you eagerly. So much so that even the children of the council of elders came to check it out and be put on the lists and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and assured you that you would be welcome because they themselves would put in a good word for you which you deeply appreciated. You barely got a chance to eat lunch before the call came for the final celebration in the clan’s main hall just after dinner. You took your black box, which by this point had to be emptied several times into your backpack because it kept overflowing. 

And Noah and yourself were happy when you finally turned it all in, you guessed it was in the thousands of dollars and all the clans elders  were gracious in their acceptance of it and you waited a few moments for all of it to be counted before you and Noah got a ticket with the total on it and what each clan would get and you had grossly underestimated it. 

“You could have kept some of it.” Noah noted as you walked through the other food vendors to order something for dinner. 

“Maybe next year, if there is a next year. I did exactly what I came to do. Besides, I’ve been preaching all day that the generosity people show the clans is the generosity the gods will show us and it was important to me to go all in. I don’t do anything half hearted or half assed.” You shrugged as you walked into the great arena and sat down before Noah simply took your hand and kissed the back of it sweetly. 

“I don’t either.” Noah professed. 

“Well with a heart as pure as yours and an ass as fine as yours, you shouldn’t be half-ing anything.” You murmured to him which got him to almost choke on his food before he started laughing. 

“Still want to murder your sister?” You asked after your next mouthful. 

“Uh huh,” He confirmed over his own next mouthful of food. 

“What are we going to do if the law still stands and gets passed? There’s no way I would ever ask Sakura to give up her birthright.” You murmured to him. 

“The end of the year is way too soon for you and your kids though. It’s like jumping from a plane with no parachute for them. Even if the law gets passed, it can get repealed and it can get challenged and I’ll be the first to do so.” Noah professed. 

“There you are,” Summer said as she found you. 

“Zara, you need to come, the council of elders wants to meet with you.” Summer informed you breathlessly. 

“Ok,” you said as you quickly handed your plate to Noah before you got up. 

“I’m coming too.” Noah said before he took your plate and his and put them into the wagon and grabbed Sakura’s hand and followed you to the elder council’s room where all the elder councilors were sitting down with their kids looking particularly perturbed behind them and you made sure to hold your phone in such a way to quietly and discretely record whatever would happen.  

“Greetings elders of the council.” You greeted respectfully as you noticed Isla and Tonrar and Ukluk were also sitting in their spots at the tables set up around the space and even they looked resigned and pissed and you felt the opposition in the air and you wanted to cry because you could feel the proverbial noose around your neck but you had a code of conduct you needed to abide by while in your priestess of Aura regalia. 

“There are those on this council that feel that you should be the first to be told of the new law that just got passed by the council just now, that any persons wishing to leave the Arctic Tundra before the end of the year will forfeit all rights to all lands that are in their natural inheritance by natural birthright. And any persons wishing to join any Arctic Tundra Clan by union of marriage, will also have to do so by the end of the year or any children resulting in such unions will not be seen as natural heirs and therefore will not have any inheritance.” Elder Sirmiq delivered as you held her gaze before she was finished before you simply had to close your eyes and take a breath and silently pray to the gods to give you the strength to accept this as graciously as you could so you wouldn’t make a scene. 

“Are you delivering this verdict to the priestess of Aura that I am in hopes that I will bless this decree?” You asked carefully. 

“No, we don’t need your blessing on it.” Elder Sirmiq sneered haughtily. “Naturally, if you feel this is a slight against you personally, you’re more than welcome to take your donations back.” Elder Sirmiq picked up a check and offered it to you. 

“No thank you. That donation was given with freeness and good will. Returning it would be a reproach from the very gods who witnessed it’s gift in the first place.” You declined as you simply held your hand up in a stopping motion. 

“I knew before I saw you all this morning that I was already maligned and seeing as how my accusers are nowhere to be found so that it is impossible for me to defend myself against them and their accusations and it is not their mouths to deliver the final blow, should say a lot about them and I am sorry that all of you had to be drug into my own personal affairs. This is a day of celebration and I can sense how much all of this sorry business has already cost you, it has cost so much peace and joy that you normally would have felt during this time and I hope that once this matter is settled with fairness and justice, that peace and joy will return to you all. All I ask is if this is ever repealed- guard against anyone who would make it about money. I am not fortunate enough to have any real inheritance left, other than in name and tradition myself. But anyone who would want to secure their birthright tribal lands via a security deposit or buy out or anything else like that, while that might fill coffers now, it will spell disaster in the future because only the rich will be able to afford it, and the poor will have no choice but to go to extremes to survive just to maintain it and it would invariably put a price tag on the priceless. There is no question whether or not this birthright has value in every sense. But even a man in the desert will abandon the gold in favor of water. My entire aim in giving my donation was to hopefully make sure that those who want to put a price on the priceless would be satisfied and leave you be and leave what is really valuable- alone and to preserve what is already here so that it can survive and thrive and be here for countless generations to come. Thank you for the amazing opportunity of sharing such a sacred space with me. May peace be with you all.” You graciously said as you bowed in respect before you withdrew, grabbing Noah and Sakura on your way out before Noah could argue with them because you knew he was really ready to give them hell and several pieces of his mind but to hear the council chamber descend into chaos not two steps out of it, told you made the right choice by getting the hell out of there. 

“Why didn’t you fight for yourself?! Why didn’t you let me defend you?!” Noah demanded as he picked Sakura up and walked with you as you briskly walked out of there dragging the wagon behind you, just trying to escape the suffocating feeling you felt in your chest and fighting not to cry as you could already feel the sting of your tears.  

“Because she won. You saw it for yourself, if I try to defend myself now, I’ll be wasting my breath and aggrieving myself not just to the council of elders but also all of the clans and there is no way that would ever end well. Let’s just go, please.” You pleaded as the first few tears started to fall from your eyes and seeing those tears in your eyes cut Noah worse than any knife could and had any and all arguments dying on his tongue before you went back to the booth to collect the last of your things as Sesi and Noah’s other sisters and sisters in law were already taking everything else down. 

“How did it go?” Sesi asked. 

“It passed.” You answered. 

“Did you appeal it?” Samantha asked. 

“I’m an outsider. How could I?” You returned as you zipped up your backpack and slung it over your shoulder. 

“But did you?” They asked Noah. 

“I was pulled out of there before I could.” Noah answered truthfully. 

“Well, I will make sure that I’m one of the first ones to do it when it’s announced in a little bit.” Sesi reassured you. 

“Thank you, right now, I just want to leave.” You confessed. 

“Then take her home Noah.” Sesi encouraged her brother. 

“We got everything here.” Samantha reassured you and Noah as he nodded in agreement. 

The whole ride home you silently cried with Sakura under your arm as she dozed off to sleep and by the time you got to Noah’s house, your makeup was beyond a mess and neither you or Noah could find the words to say to each other and while Noah tucked Sakura into bed, you were in the bathroom, carefully taking everything off and putting it back into the blessing bag before you slipped into the shower and tried to wash everything away, only to sit on the floor and sob some more as you just sat there and let the hot water wash over you. Your body felt sore, beaten and bruised as if you had been in the fight of your life and lost and before you knew it, the hot water had run out and you were left to quickly clean up in the colder water that was getting colder and colder by the minute and by the time you came to bed, Noah was already in it and you saw a bottle of whiskey and a half full glass of it with a one ice cube melting into it as he laid in bed with his arm up, laying over his eyes. 

You quietly slipped into the bed, wanting his warmth but not knowing how to seek it and you simply rolled over and faced the wall, barely on the edge of the bed, wanting more than anything for Noah to come and pull you to him. But within just a few moments, you heard the distinct sound of him softly snoring before you turned slightly to see Noah asleep like that before you slipped out of bed and came around the bed to turn off his bedside light, picking up his glass of whiskey and taking a long pull from it before setting it down and walking back over to the other side of the bed and slipping in again. And while the whiskey did heat you up some. It was a cheap imitation of the warmth Noah could give you. And with that you fell into a fitful sleep yourself. 

The next morning you awoke to a cold bed and the sound of Noah coming in and out of the house. 

You got dressed and went around and got the rest of your things that you had up there before you came down only to see Summer making breakfast for all of you and Noah loading all of your stuff into his truck and by the stomp of his steps, he was in a fowl mood. 

“Good morning Paradise.” Sakura greeted sadly. “Do you really have to go?” Sakura asked, her big blue eyes already red and puffy from crying. 

“I do.” You confirmed. “Did your dad tell you not to call me ‘Mama’?” You asked her softly as she nodded in confirmation as she closed her eyes tightly and her face scrunched up as she started to cry again before you hugged her tight. 

“He took you not fighting harder for yourself or letting him fight for you as you giving up on them.” Summer murmured. 

“Sakura, listen to me, I don’t want to give up, especially not on you. The council of elders passed a law last night and that law is making it hard on everyone, especially me. And the last thing I want is for you to have to choose between your birthright and me and in a perfect world, you would have both and you should have both, you deserve both. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to go home, and I’m going to meet with my experts and try to find a way to give you both. But please remember that I also need to consider that I also have to make sure that my other kids get the happiness they deserve too. And right now, I don’t know if they would be happy up here. But I’m not giving up. Not yet anyway.” You reassured her as you hugged her tightly as she did the same. 

“You ready?” Noah asked coldly when he came back inside, already having his sunglasses on to hide his own red puffy eyes. 

“Let her eat some breakfast first.” Summer frowned. 

“Fine, hurry up, I don’t want you to miss your boat, besides, I got other loads I need to fly today.” Noah grunted before he went into the bathroom to at least go to the bathroom while you sat down at the table with Sakura and Summer to quickly eat what you could. 

“I’ll see you as soon as I can ok?” You reassured Sakura as you hugged her tight and hugged Summer tight before you left with Noah. 

Noah wouldn’t even look at you, much less talk to you and you could feel the anger and resentment roll off of Noah and you knew that if you said anything, it would inevitably start a fight in just the truck. You still had some time to try to find the right words. 

You wanted to be glued to his side and you wanted to be holding his hand so tight your knuckles would turn white. But Noah’s hands were on the wheel and his shifter and his jaw was clenched so tight- you could see the veins in his forehead pop and you were grateful he couldn’t see your face as you stared guiltily out the window and tried to think of a way to solve this as tears rolled silently down your cheeks. 

Who knew that in just two weeks you would reach the highest highs and the lowest lows. Losing Andy didn’t even hurt this bad. 

Once at the hanger, you used a bathroom break to disguise a trip to the office to buy Noah ten grand worth of airplane fuel and leave a payment check for another 100k for Noah since you doubted Noah would take it from you personally and wrote a message for him on the back of the check, hoping and praying he would see it before he decided completely against you in his heart. And in record time Noah had loaded everything up and had even loaded things into his cockpit so you couldn’t sit in it with him. 

He was blocking you out and putting space between you as you realized that last night was the closest you would get to him and he was willfully ignoring your presence and the moment you got in the air, you felt like the pressure in the airplane was suffocating and you couldn’t stop crying and you were so grateful the plane itself was so loud, you couldn’t hear the sound of your own sobs and to think that your kiss from last night over dinner was your last and how you wished you would have done everything differently. You should have broken the code and thrown a fit. It would have sealed your fate with the clans but at least you would have not have lost Noah. 

By the time you touched down and taxied over to the unloading area, Noah barely had the doors unlocked before you opened them and got off the plane and made a run for the other control tower office and did the same thing in that office and by the time Noah had come into the office to fetch you, you followed him wordlessly to a borrowed truck where he drove you to the port where the cruise ship was parked where various people were disembarking and embarking. 

“Goodbye Zara.” Noah finally said to you as he unloaded the last bag at the baggage check before walking away. 

“Goodbye Noatak.” You answered and just stood there and watched him walk away and get back in the truck and drive away and you wanted to collapse right there on the pavement when he didn’t even look back once. But all you could do is turn and walk into the building once he was out of sight but one look at the cues for the registration had you feeling nauseated and you quickly rushed to the bathroom to throw up your breakfast as you curled around the toilet and just threw up and cried and broke down completely because you felt the window of opportunity shut forever and the feel of the perfect jewels of the north- slip out of your hands.