Fear
After finishing with the animals, Alrienne headed inside to find the
others had sat down to eat without her. She went to the wash basin to
clean her hands before sitting at the table.
“If the Fischer boy will still have you, you are to be married in a
fortnight,” her father stated before Alrienne’s bottom had even graced
the chair.
It felt like a punch to the gut and Alrienne’s eyes widened. “But what
about the farm?” she asked, hands hesitating on either side of a
wooden bowl filled with porridge.
“We do not need you here in order to care for the farm!” her father
said, fist slamming against the solid pine table. “Why must you always
argue with everything I say?”
“But father, I am only thinking about the family. Evina is not able to
pick up everything I would leave behind!” she stated.
“We have found a place inside the village to live,” her mother quietly
explained. “We are selling the farm.”
“But I can work it!” Alrienne protested. “Why can’t the Fischer boy
move here instead?”
“Alrienne, enough,” her mother stated, shaking her head.
“This isn’t right! Why must I leave everything when you all need me so
much?! I only want to help!” Alrienne’s words rushed out, packed with
a sense of desperation.
“And was what you did today helping the family?” her father roared,
redness blossoming across his neck as his anger rose. “With that sort
of help, we’d be better off without!”
Alrienne felt the urge to cry but refused to do so. Such a display
would solidify her father’s feelings that women were weak. She hadn’t
cried in years. Her gaze slipped to her younger sister, Evina, who had
continued to eat through the commotion, keeping her head low. “I am
sorry if I brought shame to the family with my actions. I only wanted
to help the village and us. We are not lesser because we are women.”
“You do not even act like a woman! You act as if you wish you were
born a man!” her father hollered.
“Just because I sometimes do things men do, does not mean I wish I
were a man!” Alrienne’s voice was rising as she stood, pushing her
chair back from the table. “I only have those feelings because you
make me feel as if I’m not allowed to be me! As if it is a crime to be
me and be female! There’s nothing wrong with me! I am fully female and
I am still me! There’s nothing wrong with me!” Alrienne repeated. “And
there’s nothing wrong with Evina!”
Alrienne knew why her father was rising from his chair but stood there
with her jaw locked as he did. When his palm stung her cheek, she
again refused to flinch. She knew there would be a welt where he
struck her but she didn’t move.
“Know your place!” he hollered. “If you don’t shut that hot-headed
mouth of yours, the Fischer boy will return you in a week! And then
where will we be?!” his words could hardly sting more than they had
throughout Alrienne’s childhood. “You have duties. Women have their
place. You are not needed in war. You are not needed in the hunt. You
are needed to clean, to prepare the food, and to make babies. That’s
your purpose. And that is your only place!”
“You are so full of pride!” Alrienne hollered. “Even with your injured
arm, you cannot allow a woman to assist! You cannot even deign to
think a woman could do some of the things a man can do?! Is your
self-esteem that easily crushed? Your manhood so fragile, that for a
woman to help, it brings you shame?!”
The words brought another slap and this time, Alrienne fell to the
floor. Looking up from where she fell, she saw tears rolling down her
sister’s cheeks. Perhaps Alrienne wished to do all this for her little
sister, but who was she truly helping? There wasn’t a touch of headway
being made. A sense of despair sunk to the pit of her gut. If her own
family saw her as nothing more than a thing to be pawned off on a man,
why would anyone else see more? Was this a hopeless battle?
“Please, you mustn’t hit her face anymore or she won’t be fit for her
wedding day,” her mother said, reaching over to rest a hand on
father’s arm.
Was that her only worth? To be pleasing for her husband to look at?
Alrienne could bring home the biggest kill and it meant nothing to
them? Nothing to anyone? She’d heard tales there were people that
lived differently and her tribe had always called them savages,
barbarians. But maybe they’d only risen past their own insecurities,
and realized dignity came not from putting others down, but from
rising with them, regardless of gender.
“Have you learned your lesson, girl?” her father’s venomous voice spit
the question in accusation.
The cramped main room of the cabin spun a moment as anger swarmed
Alrienne’s brain, but she cleared her thoughts. “I have,” she ground
out between grit teeth. She meant it to sound meek, but was too filled
with anger and regret, it came out sounding sarcastic.
“Please, she cannot cause trouble soon. Only a few more weeks,” her
mother pleaded. “And her kill will bring meat to the village. What is
done is done. Once she is married off, she’ll soon have babies of her
own, and her strong-headedness will fade.”
Alrienne rose to her feet as her mother spoke. Why did her family hate
her so? She looked toward Evina again; her little sister’s gaze had
lifted. But her sister still wasn’t speaking. She’d pushed her plate
away on the table, apparently having had her fill.
“I will fetch some water from the spring,” Alrienne said, turning to
grab the bucket from beside the door. If she was acting helpful, maybe
her father would let her leave.
He didn’t move to stop her and she waited to hear the creaking of the
front door shutting before releasing a pent-up breath. Alrienne headed
into the forest, toward the fresh mountain spring to collect water. At
least nature could ease her anger and offer time to clear her
thoughts.
~ G.G. Marshall
Enjoying the story? Read more!
Part 1: Rise Together (Part 1)
Part 2:
Rise Together (Part 2)
Part 4 (Available: Thurs 6/19/25): Rise Together (Part 4)
Want to learn more about the creatures in the story?
Valkyrie: Valkyrie Profile
Spirit Animals: Spirit Animal Profile