Tanya

Tanya had just turned sixteen and was only now considered to be a woman in the eyes of some of the village elders. This wasn’t always so as Tanya wasn’t even considered a member of the village for many years before this. And to some she is still marked as a stranger.

Tanya arrived in the village when she was just thirteen. She made the three month journey through the country side and finally through the badlands with her mother and father. They made it in spite of the bandits and wild animals that roamed at will throughout the badlands. But they didn’t get through unscathed.

The trek through the badlands took three weeks alone as set by the pace of their two oxen teem as it pulled their supply laden wagon along. Tanya’s father, Jacob, had to dispatch two highwaymen at one point along their journey. The trio had to fend off several attacks from the wild animals that also inhabited the badlands. Tanya was well versed in the use of the bow as well as the knife much to her mothers dismay. Her father had taken her on many game hunts when she was growing up.

Tanya’s parents were both injured during the last attack just days before they reached the border between the edge of the badlands and the countryside near their new destination. The family worked hard to settle into the new village life. But they were strangers and many of the villagers treated them with caution and skepticism. It didn’t help that one of the village elders had fallen ill and died shortly after they had arrived in the village. And of course, the newcomers were to blame.

Jacob, along with his wife Ester and Tanya toiled and worked harder than most to prove themselves to the villagers. Every day was a struggle Jacob would do extra fishing and hunting just to prove his worth while his wife and daughter planted extra food in their garden as well as foraged with the others to provide for the village. They would weave extra baskets and turn vines into ropes for trade with a neighboring village as well. It seemed, though, that nothing he or his family did was good enough for some of the elders. Tanya’s parents hadn’t known it at the time, but when they were attacked last out in the badlands they were infected with an illness. They both died within two years of settling down. Tanya was now an orphan at fifteen.

Tanya had to work twice as hard now to put food on her table and keep her house clean. Most young women of her age were married and had a man to help provide for them. But she was still considered an outsider by many and no one had interest in her. That is until one day another stranger entered the village. Tanya recognized him as one of the highwaymen that had attacked their wagon one day. He was marked by her fathers blade and missing part of an ear. Tanya was not without some friends in the village. She told them what she knew and it turned out that this man and a few of his friends had visions of raiding the village. With Tanya’s help the villagers thwarted the attack.

Tanya had one friend that she was unaware of. It seemed that Jane, the wife of Jonathan, the head elder of the village was fond of her. Tanya would find extra fruit or an extra chunk of meat at her table some days. As she did not know where it came from, she was sure to help everyone when they needed it.

One evening Tanya went out with her bow and hunted down a buck and brought it back to the village and hung it at the butchers market before going back to her house. When the butcher got up and found the deer he called for the person to come forward that had shot it. It was not proper for women to hunt so Tanya kept silent and accepted her small share with humility. But Tanya’s actions had not gone unnoticed. Eric, the nephew of Jonathan was out and he saw what she had done. He found her alone one day and asked her about it.

“Why did you go and hunt that deer?” he asked. “You know it isn’t proper.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stated.

“I saw you that night. Do you want me to tell everyone?” he asked.

“And who would believe you? A girl taking a buck in the middle of the night! They would think that you were trying to get me in trouble,” she stated.

“I could show them your bow as proof,” he argued.

“So what! It was my father’s bow and now he is dead. Who would question me wanting to hold onto it?” she argued back.

It seemed that Eric was at a stalemate with Tanya on this one and that the matter would end there. But Jane had overheard their conversation. Now she knew why she liked her so.

Jane had a hypothetical talk with Jonathan about women and men hunting together. He was adamant that hunting was not proper for women and told her not to talk of it again.

It would seem that once every couple of months game would be found at the butchers market when he woke up in the mornings. After a few months Jonathan had sentries posted around the village to try and catch the person responsible. All this achieved was that the game would be found just outside the village.

Tanya wanted to leave and find someplace where she would be accepted. She would take her share of the game and fruits and preserve some of it. When she had enough food and water to last her a few months she loaded some of her possessions into her wagon and was hitching up the oxen when Jonathan and Jane found her. Eric was with them as well. There was much discussion and it seemed that Eric was interested in Tanya as well. He wasn’t bad and Tanya did think that he would make a suitable husband so it was agreed that she would stay and marry Eric.

At the age of sixteen, Tanya married Eric and was finally accepted into the village. She continued to provide extra food for the village and only three people knew.

The End.