Going Walking Out

[Gwen Eiber]

Gwen was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  Tomorrow night was the harvest dance and for the first time in her life she'd be allowed to attend as one of the young women of their town.  No longer relegated to wearing her hair loose like a child and sitting at the kids table.  She could drink with the adults if she wished and now that she was a young woman perhaps some of the young men would ask her to dance.  She and her mother had been working on the dress for nearly a month, since she had her first moon time and would be considered a woman grown.  It had taken her longer than some other girls her age but it had finally happened, just as her mother had assured her it would.

She spent a good portion of the next morning brushing and braiding her.  It was important to her that her braid be just so.  It was a sign to anyone that saw her that she was a woman grown, no longer a child free to wear her hair loose.  From now until she was married, no grown man would see her with her hair unbraided.  It would be more intimate almost than seeing her naked. 

Once she was satisfied that her hair was done properly, she put on the dress that she and her mother had made.  It was probably the nicest thing she'd ever owned.  They patterned it after a dress her mama had worn for a fancy dance back on Sihnon, the dance she and daddy had met and fallen in love at.  Some 'Enchantment Under the Sea' dance or something like that.

The fabric was a rich shade of blue, the same color as her eyes.  The bodice was fitted, the skirt full with a bustle and it was even trimmed with lace. She didn't feel quite like the princesses in the storybooks, but she did feel like a woman grown.  Even the new boots were made of white calfskin with a low heel and delicate buttons.  When she twirled the skirt flared just so.

She stayed on the sidelines for the first little bit, the only person asking her to dance her daddy.  It was a little later when the local young men ventured close to where she stood with the other young women.  After that it was a whirlwind of a night.  She danced for hours it seemed, being whirled and twirled about.  Though the last 3 dances were all with Mathias.

He hadn't spoken with her in over 2 years.  Not since she had chased off two older boys who had been picking on him with a branch when they were younger.  He'd had a bad stutter then.  Since that time, he'd shot up about 6 inches and put on a good bit of muscle.  Growing into a fine young man.

The morning after the dance, he came by the farm, asking her daddy's permission to call on her, to go walking out, as they called it.  A few of the other boys had wanted to ask her to go walking out and a few of them ended up with blacked eyes and busted lips they wouldn't admit how they came by.  Mathias only had some busted knuckles.

It was a whirlwind at first, all properly chaperoned of course, supper at the house with her family, walks after dinner (with daddy on the porch keeping eyes on them), carriage rides etc.  Gwen was fine with all the romance; that's how things were supposed to go. And while it was fun there just wasn't any spark. 

Mathias wanted them to get married.  He didn't want her to be a doctor though.  Just be his wife and to make babies. He expected her to be docile.  He expected her to obey. He wanted her to be quiet and still.  Somehow it made sense to him that he loved her for being wild and fierce, but he wanted her to be something different.  He fell in love with the unbroken filly and now wanted her tamed and ready to canter at his whim.

That didn't sit well with her, not a bit well at all.  So Gwen talked with her father and her mother and it was decided that she would take some time, travel, before she came home to settle down and marry.  Mathias wasn't happy and there was no guarantee he'd wait for her, but she felt she needed the time to see what was out there outside of Santo. 

So passage was booked on the next ship leaving Santo, which was exactly how she ended up on Iscariot working in their Medbay.