Amulet Beginnings

Ziva walked around the blackberry bush picking the ripe fruit. Sweltering heat lay undisturbed by any wing. Ziva wiped her burnt face. With a sigh she set down the canvas sack. A fresh spring ran just out of sight, in the woods surrounding the Great Glade. Summer had been long and trying for Ziva. Late in the spring her second baby had been still born like the first a year earlier. The loss had made Kelso very bitter. Ziva was reluctant to try again. Laughter came from the clearing around the spring. Ziva pushed back a pine branch to see Kelso embracing Lariah, her brother’s wife. Shock and horror strangled Ziva for a moment. Lariah looked up at the sound of Ziva’s gasp. Kelso followed her gaze. Swearing, he tried to untangle his legs from Lariah’s. She pulled her dress down with one hand and her blouse down with the other. Ziva turned and began running toward home. Tears filled her brown eyes, clouding her vision. Kelso ran hard on her heels. "Ziva, it’s not what you think!!" Kelso shouted as he ran. He couldn’t catch her. On the edge of the Great Glade sat their thatch covered house. Ziva’s feet pounded on the wooden bridge across the creek. She nearly took the door down when she hit it at full speed. Unsteady, her legs gave out when Ziva stopped. In the middle of the bedroom she lay crying uncontrollably. "It’s not what you think!" Kelso panted. He walked in the house on wobbly legs.
" Lariah and I were just wrestling. Kelso bent over, his tanned face unusually red.
"You expect me to believe that! How' stupid do you think I am, Kelso. Has it been going on long?” Ziva wailed. She knew by his expression what his answer would be. Ziva cursed herself for being so blind, so foolish.
"Why, Kelso, why, how could you?" Ziva struggled to her hurting feet. "A man has needs, that’s all." All of the love she had given Kelso seemed hollow. Nothing mattered anymore. Everything Ziva had cherished turned to ashes and faded away. All hope of the future faded with it. "Absolutely calm Ziva answered, "Then you don’t need me." She began to gather a few items together. A knife, a change of clothes, cloak and boots were all Ziva took. Kelso let her go. No pleads for her to stay, no good-byes accompanied Ziva. She just walked away, down the road and out of the Great Glade community she had known all her life.