Exiles of Gor: The Homestone.

After Scrawny Fierce Woman had sliced my arm marking me for testing, I had the evening to prepare for the Ceremony of Purification, which would begin with the zenith of the second moon in the night sky. My exile to within the boundaries of the great Northern Forest would begin when next the light of Tor Tu' Gor fell upon my face. My few possessions had been cleaned, oiled, and wrapped in fur lined leather; then stored safely within the dry void of a tree for whoever found them. They were of no further help to me now. Beneath the fullness of the three moons, nude I had entered the flowing waters of the boulder laden stream, which tumbled and fell among them with the noise of thunder and the warmth of ice.

A reflexive shiver surged rapidly in pursuit of the sudden chill throughout my thickly muscled and vascular form. The hair of my strong legs and powerful arms stood on end as my blue green eyes widened in realization, and my manhood shrank between my thighs in search of warmth it would not find. Bending at the waist, large and calloused hands gathered from the natural basin where I stood, sand and stone from around my feet; lifting them to the light of the moons as I rose again to my full height. Hands filled with dripping stone and sand, I began to sing of her beauty as the water fell over my broad bare shoulders and the wide expanse of my chest like cold rain. "Her eyes shine with the light of the stars! Her mane wraps her in darkness like the night!" Bringing my hands to my face I began cleaning my skin with scrubbing motions as I pressed them firmly against it. I sang and scrubbed then my thick neck and wide shoulders. refilling my rough hands I used them to scour my bronzed body from head to toe beneath the light of the moons. Rinsing at last by submerging myself fully in the stream, I rose again and began again, time and time again until my skin was the rose hued color of the coming dawn which heralded the arrival of Tor Tu' Gor. As his radiant face fell upon my own, bloody and yet unbowed, in his magnificence I was freed from the tumultuous confines of the leaping, sparkling pool.

Exhausted and stumbling I struggled from the pool, falling and choking yet rising and coughing again, and again; I waded ashore and cast myself in a collapsing heap of raw skin and delirious tremors among the sand and stones of the further shore. Mighty Tor Tu' Gor looked upon me smiling, his warmth enveloped me, comforted me, sang me to sleep and in my slumber carried me to my people along the border of the Spirit world. There, among them, I looked again upon faces that I knew; there, among them, I was instructed by the whispering of voices I recalled. There, among my kind, I learned what was to come. in time, the hand of Hunger gripped me, shaking me from my sleep; rousing me for my journey, urging me to go and from the fields to gather the energy I would to continue the path ahead. As I walked, the tall and thick grasses of the fields provided a bountiful supply of those winged green and yellow insects which jumped and flew ceaselessly among the endlessly swaying tufted heads of seeds, Many insects and seedheads filled my stomach as I moved still further south. I followed the river; because it's great power, and those things which thrived within and around it would always be needed by our kind.

Returning again to the freshly tumbling stream, I began to search among it turbulent shoals for suitable stones with which to form a tool, or a weapon; one, being both of opposite utility yet equally required for the whole. One being, of two halves inseparable. I would make for myself a hand axe, from stone. It could chop, it could cut, it could pound and it could cleave; and it was required to return with me; to her, if I lived. This is our way; for the weak have no place among us. Only free women, give birth to free men. Only those men who allow a woman to have her freedom; shall also have free sons and daughters. Scrawny Fierce Woman had chosen to have me; the most handsome of my kind, tested for suitability as Her mate. It was her right as a free woman to choose for herself the One with whom she would spend the remainder of her life; where went one, so went both. The harmony of the bond must be complete; as in life, so in death. It is our law; for the weak have no place among is. Here, in this place, at this time, is this way; from this ground and these things we are born, we shall stand, and we shall die upon the same ground; together. This is our word; for the weak have no place among us.

Searching diligently within the rippling shallows for the soft translucent glow the stone I desired for making fire, I tossed several ashore to be sorted through once I had finished my collecting of possibilities. Cold blue green eyes with the sheen of frost upon them moved to the left and right, as thick fingers moved within the rolling current to gather one stone or another for tossing among the others piled loosely upon the gravelly shore. From among the pile I would select stone which fit my large hands well and carried a good deal of weight in themselves. Others I discarded back into the stream to rejoin it's kind, in their place, in their time. The few that remained would be picked through carefully to determine whether they would be broken down, or simply to be used to break others down; to shape them in a way which drew out the inner qualities of their true nature. Some stones were smooth and used for grinding, others were sharp and savage, to be used for cutting and thrusting. I spent unmeasured time with the stone, talking with it, listening to it, watching it closely to learn it's spirit as my hands worked skillfully to form its shape; thus revealing it's true nature. The stones talk to us, if we listen as quietly as a stone does.

Selecting a stone which was smooth edged, well rounded and had a good texture for gripping, I began to shape the axe I would need for harvesting and processing many of the lush reeds which clung to the river's banks. I needed rope, which only came from reeds, which one only harvested with a a sharp blade. The reeds were to be bend and cut low to the ground without disturbing the roots. They had to be harvested correctly so they would continue to live to provide food, and baskets for food, forage for the migrating herds, and rope for the testing of men among other things. I needed such a rope, therefore I needed the axe, therefore I followed the wisdom of generations of my kind which stretched back to the first rising of Tor Tu' Gor over the land. This is the wisdom of the Eternal Spirit, who abides with us; within us, within all things, making us one thing connected, created us. The light of the stars which shone in the eyes of Scrawny Fierce Woman was the same as the light of the stars above; her spirit dwells with them, for from such things she is made, and they too will guide me back to her; just as surely. This night I passed with but one stone in my hand; as I lay sprawled in fits of restless slumber, nude among the other stones which also lay cast about upon the shoal beneath the moons, returning yet again to the realm of the Spirits. I listened as they, our ancestors; murmured the ancient knowledge of great magic softly to my ears, speaking our shared truths, for I am of them. They dwell within me, the spirits of these things; for from them I came, their strength and vitality live within my flesh and blood, within my bones and sinew.

When at last I returned to Scrawny Fierce Woman, if return I did; with this stone in my hand, forever more our lives would be entwined, and inseparable as one. One which would center around the stone in my hand, the stone which I would bring her, to build our lives around. It would become the epicenter of our daily existence together; until we existed no more. It would feed us, and clothe us, it would shelter and defend us for all of our time, Where we went, it went, where it stood, we stood; it was ours, hers and mine, we alone shared it. It was our Homestone, the very foundation of all we would share together, until we would begin our journey to the Spirit World together. It is the way of the Eternal Spirit; it is the path of Honor. It is our way of life, it is our word, and it is our law; for the weak have no place among us.