Episode 242: Rhoda (Misha)

Misha set out from Ana, leaving her with his family. He believed she could manage, she seemed good. After her night, he had made it his focus to ensure she was comfortable in every way. She had not become his wife, but Rhoda had promised she was the right wife if he could be patient.

Misha set out to find Rhoda alone, to talk to her about Ana and her future.

He found her wandering the campfires, weaving between tents and checking on families. She was hunched over, like always, the rounding of her back like the curve of the moon. She was the phuri of his people, and he did not go to her without conviction.

Rhoda was always right, but Ana was special.

Before Misha could greet her, Rhoda turned to face him.

“She turn you down?” she said through her blackened teeth.

He took a breath. Misha had never been so interested in a woman before Ana. He had passing interests, but no one he would have for a wife. He had grown older and most women had mocked his age at campfires.

If Rhoda was asking if she had turned him down, she was going to turn him down.

Everything Misha had worked for, the past night, would be gone. He wondered if he was meant to have a wife, or if he was meant to be alone. He was successful on his own.

“Not yet,” he replied.

“So she pregnant now?” Rhoda asked.

If she was pregnant, it was not because of him. He had respected her space even with rolo. He hadn’t wanted to, but he wanted more nights with her more than one night with her.

If she was pregnant, and she needed a home, Misha set himself to provide it. He was wealthy enough to support a family. It wasn’t perfect, but if Rhoda said she was his wife then he would make it perfect.

“Is not mine,” he told her. He helped her move a pair of legs that blocked a main path through the camp.

“She not pregnant,” Rhoda stated. “She come from very stubborn family. Time.”

“I want to take her to Caidler,” Misha said. To show her the worlds and what he could offer, to distract her from what Rhoda had taken from her. He was not sure he was worthy of her, of the way she moved to her own beat at the fire, the way she slipped from his arms when she was afraid of what the rolo was doing to her.

He admired her strength, most of all. After dying and Rhoda’s demands she had danced and been strong.

“Make sure it cold there,” Rhoda said.

Misha didn’t want to be cold. He wanted to enjoy time with Ana, show her flowers and try to show her what he could offer. It was not much, compared to other realms, but it was more than many had.

If he even had any chance at all. Rhoda had asked if she turned him down yet.

“When you need me back by?” Misha asked.

He could show Ana home, if she wanted to go. It was against Rhoda, but keeping her a prisoner was against himself.

Rhoda took his face between hers, and pulled him down to her level. “Misha. I find you very special wife. She not ready, but she need to be. You see? If it too warm, she sleep away from you.”

If it too warm, she have a choice.

She could have a choice in the cold too. Rhoda needed her ready, but she didn’t say for him. Maybe he was just a piece of what she needed to do. Maybe the training and learning to fight was what she needed.

Misha would not let her die because he was too proud to subject himself to more rejection. He didn’t care, because if it saves her life, it was good. He looked at Rhoda. “I take her to Noc Thui.”

Rhoda dropped her hands and grinned. Her teeth bared through blackened gums again. “Keep her from Vezin Market. Her niece go there.”

“Why she not allowed near family?” he argued.

Even in Noc Thui, she was a prisoner of Rhoda.

“If she meet them, they take her. Then you not get her, she go back to her old husband.”

“If she not want me, maybe she not right wife.”

“The harder she fight you, the more she want you.”

He was not going to bet his health on her no meaning yes. Whatever Rhoda thought mattered, Ana should be included in her life decision.

“We travel for week?” he asked, permission to not work.

“As long as it take.”

Misha nodded. Rhoda could see future, so she could see he was going to be open to Ana. If that was a problem, she would stop them from going.

It was the right choice, he decided, to take her to Noc Thui and be truthful. To give her a choice.

“She the right wife. You have beautiful children. She only not ready. Yesterday, she honeymoon and then she dead and now she here.”

“Okay,” he agreed. That was too much for one set of time. Rhoda should have taken her before her honeymoon, before she was out of time.

He smiled, glad he was not the phuri, glad he did not have to understand if going against Rhoda was going with Rhoda, or if he aws making a mistake. Instead, he smile. “Thank you, Rhoda.”

He was going to be himself, show Ana who he was.

That meant he might lose her, because he gave her a way home.

He didn’t care. They were not married. If he had wanted any wife, he would have married years before. He wanted the right wife. Ana, or not.

He wanted to see Ana again, to see her beauty flourish.

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