The Choosing

"I claim The Choosing!" she said, her voice ringing out over the crowd. The gathered tribe stood in stunned silence.

The elder's gravelly voice broke the taut quiet. "His spirit is not part of the Tribe. Though you know his spirit-body and we won't kill him, you can't Choose him."

Dliva gazed at the old woman. "Then bring his spirit into the Tribe."

A cacophony of shouts, gasps, and excited talking filled the clearing as every Tribe member had a vocal reaction. Calvo wasn't sure what had happened, but he guessed that his blue lover had said something that got everyone upset. He didn't like the sound of it; a majority of them sounded angry.

"Stop!" called out the elder, her voice carrying a power few suspected she could muster. The villagers returned to awed silence. She stood up, saying "Her spirit has spoken her wish. My spirit shall rule. His spirit seems to be an enemy of the hated alien women, even though he too is an alien. The spirit that opposes the hated ones is our spirit-ally. If his spirit wants to join the Tribe, we will make him a spirit-warrior!" The noise erupted again, even louder than before. She waited for a minute, and, when the chatter didn't die away, she shouted, "Silence!" Everyone was still.

The woman walked over to Calvo. Her rheumy yellowing eyes held his as she moved. She spoke to him, but he didn't understand. She spread her arms at the collected villagers and then brought them together in front of her and made a circle with the fingers of one hand. Maybe the circled hand meant the villagers. She said something else, slapping a hand on her chest. Then she pulled her fingers away from her, acting like they held an imaginary object between them. She said some more gibberish and placed her fingers within the circle of her other fingers. Does she mean she is part of the tribe? She repeated the light slapping on one of the men holding him and then put her fingers into the circle. Again she encompassed everyone behind her with a sweep of her arm and then put those fingers into the circle of fingers. More meaningless syllables came out of her mouth, but Calvo thought she meant 'Everyone is in the village'. Then she said something else and slapped his chest. She pulled away her fingers again in the same gesture and placed them outside the cluster of fingers. She means he is not part of the tribe, he decided.

The tribe elder stepped over to the blue woman. She took her hand and led her to Calvo. Then she grabbed the girl's hand and slapped him gently and drew his cyanotic lover's fingers into the circle of her fist. Calvo thought a bit and decided that the girl wanted him in the tribe. The elder then took Calvo's hand, made him slap himself and drew his fingers toward her encircled fingers. She put his fingers outside the circle and then inside. She repeated this several times. Then she stopped with his hand outside her fingers, held his hand for a second with a gentle squeeze, and let go.

Calvo's eye went wide when he realized that she was letting him decide if he wanted to join the tribe. He held his hand where she had released it. All he had to do was put his hand into hers to indicate his decision. He looked at Blue; she was watching him with intent, confident eyes. She smiled at him and licked her lips. She breathed in shallow pants. She still wanted him.