Chapter 19
Moving In or This Ain't the Brady Bunch

Gabrielle and Tala spent almost a week in New Gaia after the congratulations party. Gabrielle visited with her people and helped out in a more direct way than she'd been able to since going to stay with the Iroka and Tala spent nearly every waking moment either with Gregory, learning to be a Warrior, or with Gabrielle.

The night before they planned to go back to Tala's tribe, they talked about how her people would react to the news that they were going to be joining Gabrielle's people.

"They will follow whatever decision I make," Tala told Gabrielle as she lay nestled in the crook of Tala's arm.

"You shouldn't have to dictate to them," Gabrielle responded.

"I'm their leader. They will do as I say."

"I know that. I just hope they take it well, that's all. I think having our tribes join together is a good thing and I want them to be as happy about it as I am."

"They will. And if they don't, they'll do what I say anyway," Tala assured her mate. "Let's sleep. The sun will rise soon."

Gabrielle closed her eyes and waited for the quiet rumble of the one word that seemed to make everything alright with her world. She was mildly disappointed when she felt herself drifting away without having heard it. Then, a soft shift of Tala's chin against her forehead and she heard it whispered to her soul.

"Mine."

**********************

They ended up both being right. Most of Tala's people thought it was a great idea to join their two peoples into one big tribe. The things they'd learned from Gabrielle proved that there was a lot to be gained from her people and the Iroka had confidence that they had a lot to offer in return.

However, there were others who thought differently. They yelled and even argued that Tala was no longer fit to lead their people since having joined with Gabrielle. A few demonstrations of exactly how fit she was ended those particular arguments. Finally, Tala simply declared that they were moving to go live with Gabrielle's people and that was it, but Gabrielle decided to keep an eye on the dissenters in the future.

The weeks went by and Tala's people slowly prepared for the move. Gabrielle learned that the preparations would have been occurring anyway since the Iroka migrated between two different camps for Summer and Winter.

Those who objected to joining Gabrielle's tribe brought that up when they learned from Gabrielle that her people intended to stay where they were. This seemed like a really bad idea to a people who had lived their entire lives moving from one campsite to another depending on what season it was.

It was why Gabrielle's people hadn't run across Tala's until that Autumn. It was also the only reason that actually made sense to Gabrielle and she'd argued with Tala about a compromise that first night back after the announcement had been made to the Iroka.

"They do have a point, Tala. It goes against your way of life."

"We will make a new way of life with your people," Tala had argued.

"What if those who want to return to your Summer camp in the Spring do so, sort of creating their own little tribe, while those who choose to join New Gaia come with us?"

"No. We are one people. We will stay as one people."

"But you're about to join my people. That makes you more than one people anyway," Gabrielle pointed out.

"That's different. We're adding to make more. Splitting my people up would be subtracting and would make less. Less is weak. I won't let my people become weak."

The look on her face had made Gabrielle decide to drop the subject for the time being. And as the snows receded and the time came closer for the Iroka to make the move to New Gaia, she could see that many of the people who had been against the merging seemed to be warming up to the idea.

The excitement of Spring was getting to everyone and it was difficult to see anything new as bad when Gaia was coming to life all around them, assuring them that the cycle of life was continuing as it always did. This particular new beginning was starting to seem more like an adventure than a bad decision on the part of their leader.

When the day of the move came, everyone was in high spirits. Gabrielle had been in almost daily contact with Tristan and the others on the Council, so New Gaia was prepared for the influx of new people that evening. Tom and Jose had even made a trip out to get a look at the Iroka's dwellings and took notes on how best to move them and put them back together again. They even decided on a few improvements that could be implemented during reconstruction.

The wagons had been loaded the night before, so as soon as everyone had eaten, they were on their way. The wagons were thin and small in order to navigate the animal trails they all used between the two villages, more like wheelbarrows than actual wagons, but they helped immensely to take the burdens off the humans' backs. The Iroka had been quite interested in the contraptions when they'd first arrived the night before last, but they'd quickly gotten used to the convenience the things offered, as they'd used them to stow their belongings for travel the next day, and seemed almost oblivious to their newness by the time they were on their way to New Gaia.

The night they arrived, there was a huge welcoming party. Gabrielle lost track of the number of times Tala pulled her out into the middle of the Square to dance around the huge bonfire. She was used to doing those things around Tala's people, but in front of her own, it was different. They'd never really seen her be that physically open with someone before and it shocked more than a few people to see their Chief jumping around with the native woman. The last time she'd done anything like that had been at one of the last parties they'd had before leaving their original time and she'd definitely not danced like that with any of her fellow citizens. Most people took it as proof that Tala was good for their leader.

In the morning, a group of volunteers accompanied the new members of their town back to their old campsite and helped retrieve the materials that made up their homes. They spent the next day breaking down half the huts and loading up the wagons they'd brought with them and the day after that returning to New Gaia.

The following morning, another group of volunteers began putting the huts back together in their newly assigned locations, while the first group returned to break down the last half of the huts. They left the longhouse up so that they had shelter to sleep in that night and then took it down in the morning before leaving.

By the time they returned, almost half of the first batch of huts were up, complete with improvements, so they mostly had their own places to sleep, instead of crowding in with Gabrielle's people or taking over the extra huts that were scattered throughout the town.

The last of the huts were rebuilt and the materials from the longhouse were used to expand the Dining Hall so that it could fit their increased numbers. The new buildings inspired other construction work and everyone pitched in and did what they could to help.

In Gabrielle's absence, Tristan had relied much more heavily on the Council and it now convened at least twice every week to discuss the progress of the colony. With the addition of the Iroka to their ranks, the main topics of conversation were invariably how well their two peoples were meshing and the status of the ongoing construction work.

There had been a few altercations, but Gabrielle had warned her own people about the needs of the Iroka to clearly establish a hierarchy of responsibility based on who was most fit. It was important for everyone to know who to turn to in a crisis, so those kinds of things needed to be settled beforehand and frequently were through little skirmishes over relatively unimportant matters, usually having to do with pride.

With the warnings from Gabrielle, the original citizens of New Gaia understood that all the newer citizens required was a demonstration of ability, not a full confrontation to the death. After a few well-placed blows, the fights were over, with nothing more than a few bruises, and the two combatants almost always ended up becoming friends afterwards, the Iroka being very easygoing once their places were established and asking to be taught what they didn't know 'to share strength to make the whole stronger.'

Construction was mostly following the schedule Tom and Jose had submitted to the Council and they expected to have all their proposed projects completed before the next Winter. There were no more accidents on the scale of Billy's tragic mishap, but the Healer's hut was doing a fair amount of business with cuts, scrapes, splinters, and the like. The Council agreed that all in all, everything was going rather well.

Then Jonathan suggested they start planting more crops and everything went to hell.

"Oh no, the Agricultural Revolution basically started humans on their quest for dominance over the entire world in the first place," Tristan said.

"It was only responsible for the population increasing..." Jonathan began to argue.

"Yeah, and look where the population explosion got us," Gregory interrupted.

"Calm down, everyone," Gabrielle interjected.

"I thought we already went through all this..."

"If we plant more crops, we're asking for trouble..."

"We need to be able to feed everyone..."

"We discussed this before..."

"Things are different now..."

Gabrielle sighed and then took a deep breath.

"Shut up!" she screamed over the rising voices.

Everyone clamped their jaws shut and stared at her. Dead silence reigned.

"I believe the original idea was simply based on the fact that we need to feed our people and planting more crops happens to be one of the methods for doing so. Let's focus on the goal, people, not the evils of one of the many ways we can attain it."

She looked pointedly around at the Council members sitting at the large round table, until she got nods or eye contact was nervously broken.

"Now, the fact of the matter is, we are most likely going to end up planting more crops to ensure our survival because we have chosen a stationary existence, rather than a nomadic one. And our population is most certainly going to increase, since the birth control shots wore out a while ago, and some of our female citizens are already pregnant, and the Iroka have no such contraceptive methods among their own people. At this point, planting extra crops will only ensure that those children that are born will have the necessary food available to them to survive; it will not impact whether or not those children are born. Since it's been agreed that we want our community to grow, that's not an issue."

She received nods of assent and continued.

"I think the fear that many of us have is that we will start to rely on agriculture as the main source of our food and will plant more and more crops to accommodate our growing population, thereby beginning the population explosion cycle. The last time this subject came up, we agreed to only plant enough for those already living, but I think it's time we started thinking about the future. Therefore, we need to establish concrete rules governing our agricultural activities. We've already said that there will be no cutting down of forests in order to plant crops and absolutely no unnatural pesticides will be created in order to enhance crop output. If we can make sound rules to govern our actions, hopefully, we can avoid the mistakes we're so afraid of repeating," Gabrielle concluded.

Everyone on the Council had settled down by the time Gabrielle finished speaking and they began to draw up plans for governing the planting of crops, as well as continuing the earlier discussion about how they were going to feed their people.

"We should form a full-time hunting group," Gregory suggested. "They could keep track of where the local herds are in the area. The meat will remain wild and free range without the lag time of having to find the herd each time we need more food. It'll have less impact on the environment too, than if we tried to domesticate them."

Barbara nodded her agreement.

"It'll be less work for us, too. Let the animals take care a' themselves, they already do that well 'nuff. I's kinda worried about needin' more manpower if we were gonna set up a farm the way we'd originally intended, but your idea'll work jes' fine. Still wanna set up a horse ranch, though," she grinned.

They'd found several herds of wild horses in the area and Barbara was intent on catching them and training them for transportation and labor. There had been surprisingly no objections to such plans, those who were staunch supporters of animal rights seeing the proposal as a partnership with the equines, once Barbara described the care that the horses would require and that she would insist upon.

"Alright, Paul? You know the more regular hunters the best. Get the word out and see who wants to make it their full-time profession. And who gets to head up this group? And what are we going to call it?" Gabrielle asked.

"I nominate Sharon," Barbara said. "I'd take the job m'self, but I'm gonna be too busy to be out in the field and Sharon's the closest thing we've got to a vet, 'sides me."

"Good point. Anybody else want to nominate someone or have a reason why they think Sharon's a bad choice?"

Everybody shook their heads.

"Alright. Someone should let Sharon know what she's been volunteered for," Gabrielle grinned. Sharon could turn down the job, of course, but Gabrielle was pretty sure she'd accept.

"We still need a name for the new group," Tristan reminded them.

"How 'bout the Shepherds Association?" Barbara offered.

"Well, aren't they just going to be part of the Hunters League?" Julia asked.

"No, this should be a separate entity. The Hunters League is made up of everyone who hunts for the village, full-time or not. This group will be working full-time and I think we should combine it with the work Eddie's been doing on recording the eating habits and behaviors of the local fauna. They're going to be responsible for keeping track of the migration routes of the local herds, herd strength, herd health, etc. I want this group to be a repository of information and knowledge about how to work within nature for mutual survival, instead of trying to dominate it," Gabrielle told her Council.

Several people smiled at Gabrielle's words. She had such high ideals, but she made them seem natural and down to earth, as though what she expected was nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe one day, it wouldn't just seem that way.

"The Independent Hunters League?"

"What about the Independent Hunters Guild?"

"Or the Association of Independent Shepherds."

"Independent Shepherds Association?"

"Hey, I like that. The ISA. Votes?" Gabrielle raised her eyebrows in question.

There were yays all around and Larry, one of the Historians who had taken over as Secretary for the Council from Jonathan, recorded the creation of the Independent Shepherds Association on the parchment in front of him, along with the appointment of Sharon as its, hopefully, permanent leader.

"Okay, now I think we need to talk about an expansion protocol, since we're sort of already on the subject," Gabrielle began. "From studies that were done by the leading scientific minds of our generation, we know that it's unhealthy for the number of humans in a specified amount of space to exceed a certain amount. Communities should be so large and no larger. Therefore, I think we should come up with some guidelines for establishing new colonies before we actually need to do so. We've already practically doubled our number with the addition of the Iroka, something none of us expected to have happen so soon, if at all. Things obviously happen that we don't expect, so I think it would be a good idea to start thinking about this now. We should have the protocol in place before we really need it, so there's less confusion when the time comes to implement it."

Ideas were tossed out and batted around, most of their conversation spent on just getting familiar with the possibilities and not on coming up with any hard and fast rules. By the time Gabrielle adjourned the meeting, there was a feeling of accomplishment that was shared by all.

**********************

A few days later, Rebecca went into labor and Timothy stayed at her side throughout the whole ordeal. After many long hours, Rebecca finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy, the first child born in New Gaia. They decided to name him Adam, in partial tribute to their Christian beliefs, and everyone celebrated the new life their village had been gifted with. The Iroka were able to observe one of the ways in which life was honored in New Gaia and merrily joined in with the festivities.

When the ground thawed enough a week later, a planting ceremony was held over Billy's grave and Tala's people were then introduced to one of the many ways that death was acknowledged in their new society. It seemed to go over just as well.

A short time later, with the last of the snow finally melted into the rivers and muddy ground, teaching began in earnest for the newest members of New Gaia. Gabrielle set up a class that the new members could attend to learn to read, write, and speak English, the primary language of the original members.

Tala suggested a similar class be set up for Gabrielle's people, so that they could learn to speak the Irokan language. Gabrielle worked daily with Shari, the Warrior who had pointed out the similarities of the tribal language with the language her Native American grandmother had spoken, to set up a system for writing down the language. They intended to build a lexicon that could be studied by everyone who chose not to attend the class, and also just for culture's sake. Being able to write in their mother tongue, which had been dubbed Iroki, would be good for Tala's people. Diversity had a habit of breeding creativity.

Gabrielle also worked with Tala to see about educating her people regarding the various vocations that were possible in New Gaia. Tala's tribe had found that they had a lot more time on their hands, since the things that normally took up their days were actual professions that certain people did exclusively. When they realized they couldn't compete with the more experienced skills of Gabrielle's people, they gave up on even trying. They abandoned the leather repair work, weapons making, and other daily activities that had occupied their time to the New Gaians. This left them bored and agitated and more fights broke out. Gabrielle and Tala realized they needed to give Tala's people a place in New Gaia and went about doing just that.

A buddy system was developed to help the newest members fit in to the daily routine of New Gaia and to show them around and what was possible for them in this new community. Tala pointed out what she thought some of her people would be interested in and Gabrielle made a list to ensure the right people were partnered together.

"Riku would make a good good writer," Tala told her mate.

"Yeah, he would. He just needs to learn how," Gabrielle agreed.

She'd heard him tell many stories during the long cold winter nights and they'd never failed to entertain. She guessed he would be very pleased to record his people's stories for future generations, once he understood the concept.

"Kuta is a hunter, but I think he would be happier with the plants. He understands them better than animals."

"I should set him up with Barbara and Irene then. Maybe Luis too, if he likes to cook what he grows?"

She sent a questioning glance to Tala and Tala shook her head.

"No, but he knows how to make the plants... What's the word? They make you feel better when he puts them on you or makes you drink them or eat them."

"He's a doctor? And I think the word you're looking for is heal."

Tala glanced at her foot and looked skeptically back up at her lover.

"No, no, not that kind of heel. This kind of heal means to make someone feel better, like you said. To cure them of their sickness. That's a really important job. I'll make sure he's buddied up with Claudia. His knowledge of the healing properties of the local flora will really help her out. She's been having a tough time sorting through and cataloguing the plants in the area."

Gabrielle recorded the latest partnering decisions on her parchment and she and Tala continued to work down the list of Tala's people. Once they became aware of what they could offer to their new community, Gabrielle was sure the restlessness that had come over most of the Irokans would subside. They just needed to find their places in their new society.

**********************

Two months after the two groups had joined together, the community had their first real legal dispute.

The Lawmakers Guild had worked diligently to define a system of government and it was slowly being implemented on top of the autocratic system already in place for Gabrielle's term of office. They had also established many civil and criminal laws. What they hadn't created was a way to administer them.

So, in an impromptu session of Council, it was decided that they would work on a case-by-case basis for the time being and that Gabrielle, as Chief, would be Judge, though the Council could overrule her decision with a two-thirds majority vote. Also, the entire community would be allowed to sit in and offer their own judgments, basically becoming the largest jury ever assembled. And, as a final provision to establish a voice for the people, as long as the number in the community that voted was higher than the number of people on the Council, a three-quarters majority vote could overrule both Gabrielle and the Council.

For this case, however, only the people involved and their friends and family were present, along with Gabrielle, Tristan, Gregory, Tala, and several Council members who volunteered for the duty. The dispute itself was over who a certain knife belonged to.

Tina, one of the women who had goaded Gabrielle into becoming Chief the first time around, had been seeing Bodaway, a man from Tala's tribe. They'd been courting each other, love overcoming the slight language barrier, but one argument later and all bets were off, with Tina wanting a knife back that she had given to Bodaway. Tala acted as translator to ensure that Bodaway understood everything that was said and vice versa.

"I only loaned it to him while we were still together," Tina disagreed, when Bodaway said for the hundredth time that the knife had been a gift.

Tala relayed Tina's comments in her native language for Bodaway and his Irokan supporters. Bodaway shook his head violently and started yelling in his own language. Gabrielle yelled over him to calm down, not needing Tala to translate her words for her. Tala did translate what Bodaway had been screaming, though in a much more subdued voice, for everyone else.

"He says it was a lover's gift and he planned to..." Tala had to think a moment before she remembered the right word. "...Reciprocate with his own hunting knife, but then the bi... then Tina and he argued."

Gabrielle worked very hard to keep the smirk off her face at Tala's rephrasing of Bodaway's colorful remarks. She'd understood everything the man had said, but knew most of her people hadn't learned the more derogatory words in the Irokan language. She could tell from the sparkling eyes of some of the other Council members that they'd caught Tala's slip and were now trying to backtrack through Bodaway's yelled words to pick out the one that Tala had skipped over.

"That's not true. I never intended for him to keep it, if we didn't stay together," Tina said.

Gabrielle almost rolled her eyes, but managed to keep them firmly locked on the two litigants. Both Tina and Bodaway had basically been saying the exact same thing in different ways since court had been convened that morning after breakfast and so had those that had spoken on behalf of each of the parties. Tina, and those who took her side, maintained that she had only let Bodaway borrow the knife for as long as she was seeing the native man and therefore the knife should be returned to her. But Bodaway, along with his supporters, insisted that it had been a gift, plain and simple, so Tina had no right to ask for the knife back.

"Do either of you have any more to add?" Gabrielle asked them each in turn, shifting into Iroki to present the question to Bodaway. They both shook their heads. "Then this court is in recess until after lunch at which time we will reconvene and I will give my decision."

Everyone stood and the litigants and their parties left the Dining Hall, while Gabrielle gathered with her attending Council members. She shared a brief look with Tala before the tall brunette left in deference to their temporary public positions. Tala was only the translator for this case and couldn't offer any advice to her mate. It wasn't her place.

"Thoughts?" Gabrielle asked.

"Well, I think they're both telling the truth from their points of view," Tristan said.

"That's fine, but a little irrelevant. We need to decide what the actual truth is, regardless of viewpoint," Gregory argued.

"I don't think it's totally irrelevant. We're talking about people and their feelings have to be taken into account," tempered Julia.

"You're right, but we still need to keep the so-called facts in mind. Tina gave a knife to Bodaway and then they had a fight and broke up. The question is whether Tina originally intended to just loan the knife or if she gave up ownership of it completely and whether Bodaway understood her intentions or not. Once we figure that out, deciding what to do about it should be easy," Gabrielle said.

They went back and forth right up until lunchtime. They couldn't seem to get past Tina's intentions and Bodaway's understanding. Gabrielle finally came to the conclusion that she was going to have to make the call herself and that she really already had. She adjourned the group and had lunch with Tala under a tree on the banks of the river that had become like a second home to the two lovers.

Gabrielle was surprised when Tala made no mention of the dispute she was presiding over. Instead, Tala told her about the new moves she'd learned from Gregory the day before, Kuta's joy at being apprenticed to Claudia, and Riku's slow progress in learning both English and the written form of Iroki. After almost twenty minutes of this, Gabrielle had to ask.

"Why haven't you asked about the court case?"

"You've spent all day talking about Tina and Bodaway. I want to remind you that there are other topics for... talking about. Conversation. There are other topics of conversation. Right?"

Gabrielle nodded. "Yes. There are. Thank you. How do you always know what I need?"

"You're mine. I love you. How could I not know?"

Gabrielle rested her head on Tala's shoulder and closed her eyes. She'd never thought it would happen to her, but it had. She'd found love. Gratitude did not cover the depth of thanks she felt for Tala's presence in her life and she was sure she would never be able to pay her back for everything she'd received from the woman.

Tala sighed contentedly. She wanted nothing more than to remain at Gabrielle's side for the rest of her life. As long as she was allowed to care for Gabrielle and Gabrielle continued to share her feelings, she would be happy. She could never ask for more than that and didn't want to. She kissed the top of Gabrielle's head and hummed in satisfaction.

Gabrielle raised her head at the caress of Tala's lips and received a soft kiss on her temple. The kiss trailed down the side of her face until it found her own lips and she licked at Tala to open her mouth. Tala acquiesced and they leisurely explored one another. Gabrielle had just about fallen in love with Tala's tongue as a separate entity since the first time she'd tasted it and that love seemed to grow with every new meeting, much the way the love in her heart grew with every new day she spent with Tala.

Gabrielle cupped Tala's chin in her hand and held her face as she probed Tala's mouth. Tala pushed her face harder into Gabrielle's and grunted slightly in her arousal. Her right hand gripped at Gabrielle's hip, while her left braced her against the new grass on the ground. Gabrielle used both of her hands to run over Tala's face and neck and through her hair. She pulled away gasping and smiling.

"I love what you do to me," Gabrielle growled.

"What I do to you?" Tala replied with a mock expression of disbelief on her face. Gabrielle laughed.

"Yes, you make me want to ravish you."

"Ravish?"

"Well, technically, it means to take someone sexually by force against their will, but the way I meant it was just to be really sexually aggressive with you, the way I was just being, only more so."

Gabrielle waited to see if her explanation was enough to make Tala understand. Tala appeared to be deep in thought and then she grinned slightly.

"I think I would like you to ravish me."

"You would?"

"Yes, and I would like to ravish you. Is it possible to ravish at the same time?"

Gabrielle laughed.

"Hell yeah!" she exclaimed. "I'm sure we could work something out."

Tala grinned at her. "Good."

Tala bent her head down again to kiss Gabrielle, but Gabrielle backed away a few inches to avoid what she knew would be a very good incentive to take the rest of the day off.

"But not right this moment. I have to get back to render my decision."

Tala pulled back and looked away. The scowl on her face was a good indication of exactly what she thought of that idea. Gabrielle could also see that Tala's feelings had been hurt. Gabrielle had only ever rejected Tala's advances when she still thought Tala didn't love her the way she loved Tala. She had to fix this.

Gabrielle got up to her knees and then straddled Tala's thighs. She placed a hand on each side of Tala's face and turned her head so that she could plant a hard kiss on her lips. She used her tongue to fill Tala's mouth and crushed her lips against Tala's. When they were both breathless, Gabrielle pulled away, but she refused to release Tala's face and looked straight into her eyes.

"I love you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel unwanted. I would love nothing more than to spend the entire day right here in your arms. Unfortunately, I have to go play judge for a little while longer. I think I can get the rest of the day for ourselves after that, if you're interested."

Tala gave her a toothy grin and nodded her head. All was forgiven. Gabrielle laid her head down on Tala's shoulder and sighed as she wrapped her arms around Tala's back. She really didn't want to get up, but she knew the others would be finished with lunch by now and waiting for court to begin again.

Gabrielle sat back up and she gazed into Tala's steady expression. They seemed to have an entire conversation with just their eyes. Gabrielle's eyes conveyed just how much she wanted to stay right where she was and Tala's eyes reflected her understanding of Gabrielle's obligation to settle the argument between her people first before feeling alright with setting aside time for the two of them. What made it bearable was the fact that neither of them doubted the love of the other and both agreed that their people came first.

Gabrielle eased herself off Tala's lap and they packed up what was left of their lunch fixings. They walked silently back to the village, hand in hand, and Tala kissed Gabrielle's forehead before releasing her hand as they strolled into the Dining Hall to start the court session again. Everyone was already there and Gabrielle took her seat at the head table, while Tala went to sit near Bodaway's group.

"The New Gaian Supreme Court is now in session. Alright. After listening to everyone's views on this case, I've come to the conclusion that it is highly unlikely that Tina intended for Bodaway to merely borrow the knife; he has his own. I believe the knife was given as a gift from one lover to another and when that love soured, Tina decided she wanted her knife back. Unfortunately, once something is given, it is no longer the property of the giver. My judgment, therefore, is that the knife belongs to Bodaway."

Tina looked like she was about to blow a gasket and Bodaway grinned as he received backslaps from his friends.

"However, I would like to say one more thing." Gabrielle directed her eyes to Bodaway and switched to Iroki, so that he would understand exactly what she said. "If you keep the knife, it will only cause ill feelings between you both, which is not good for our people. The knife is yours to do with as you wish, but I urge you to return it to Tina. No object is worth this kind of hassle."

Tala finished translating for all those who didn't fully understand Iroki yet and Bodaway looked down at the object in question as Julia handed it to him. He glanced over at Tina and then back to the knife. Then he flipped it over in his hand and held it out, hilt first, to Tina. Tina took it and stood there a little dumbly, as everyone made their way out of the Dining Hall.

Gabrielle saw the stunned look and walked to stand next to the woman.

"Maybe you two should talk about whatever it was that made you guys split up. If nothing else, maybe you could at least salvage a friendship."

Gabrielle held her eyes for another beat and then slightly shrugged her shoulders, as if to say it was up to Tina, and then turned around to leave with Tala, who was waiting patiently by the side exit.

They walked in silence for a while, Tala's arm around Gabrielle's shoulders offering comfort for a sadness Gabrielle couldn't name. It wasn't until she was back in their quarters that Gabrielle was able to figure out what was bothering her.

"I used to be like that," she said quietly into the silence.

Tala looked up from where she was pulling out her reading materials.

"You used to be like what?" she asked.

"Like Tina. I used to think that money was the most important thing in the world." At Tala's questioning look, she elaborated. "Things, objects. I used to think they were more important than people or their feelings. I always thought that because I had so many things, I had the right to do whatever I wanted, no matter who it hurt. If I was still like that, I wouldn't have you. I guess that really scares me. And makes me kind of sad too, for the person I used to be."

Tala put down her study books and came to sit next to Gabrielle on their bed of furs. She lay back and pulled Gabrielle into her body and held her. She had no words to soothe her mate, but she realized that wasn't what Gabrielle needed anyway. She was grieving for a part of herself and there was no need to talk her out of that grief, as long as it didn't consume her.

**********************

Gabrielle spent the next day making decisions regarding their lack of law enforcement and administration. She spoke with Gregory first.

"What do you think about the possibility of a police force?" Gabrielle asked once they were in her office.

"Do you really think we need one?" Gregory questioned in return.

"I'm not sure. We haven't had any real crimes, but I think it's only a matter of time. Fights still break out at least once a week and we've already had to settle a dispute about ownership."

"Well, the fights pretty much handle themselves and they're starting to lessen. And that ownership thing wouldn't have been handled by a police officer anyway. What we really need to do is establish a court system."

"Yeah, I'm going to go talk to Justin after we're finished here. He and Robbie started putting something together when the knife thing came up, but we really only got as far as how we'd handle that particular case."

"You should talk to Tristan, too."

"Oh right, his dad was a lawyer. I forgot about that."

"Yeah."

"Alright. Well, back to the police thing. So you don't think we need it."

"Not yet. We're such a small community. I think we need more defenses against outside attacks, not squabbles from within. If things change, we can always reconsider."

"I think you're right. I just wanted a second opinion and as First Warrior, yours counts more than anyone else's."

"Thanks. Well, I should get back to the troops. Bored Warriors are dangerous."

They both laughed as they walked out of the Main Hall, Gregory heading to the practice fields and Gabrielle to the Lawmakers Guild. She found Robbie and Justin copying over some papers that had obviously come from the suggestion box. They looked up when she entered.

"Court?" Robbie guessed.

Gabrielle nodded. "Yeah. We need to get something in place for future cases. What have you got so far?"

Justin was already gathering up several pieces of parchment that had their notes written all over them. He laid them out on the table and Gabrielle leaned around to look them over.

"This is what we've got so far. We both think the system should be more flexible than the one that was used back home. The laws ended up piling up on top of each other and the punishments were fixed for the most part, regardless of the circumstances surrounding a crime. Women who killed their husbands because they were beaten got the same treatment as a burglar who was taken by surprise by the home's occupants or a jealous husband who killed his wife's lover," Justin explained as Gabrielle's eyes scanned the papers.

"Yeah. It should matter whether someone steals food because they're hungry or because they wanted to see if they could get away with it, you know?" Robbie added.

"Good thinking. How do you plan to work that into the system?"

"Well, we've already got laws against stealing, killing, things like that, right? But we don't have any penalties or anything yet. Right now, that's totally up to you, or whoever presides over the case. What we want to do, though, is set up sublaws, I guess you could call them. Like for stealing. There would be sublaws against stealing for personal gain, stealing for spite or to cause someone pain, stealing in order to discredit someone, things like that. And each of those sublaws would have guidelines for consequences and resolutions," Robbie explained.

"But they would still just be guidelines. The Judge would always have the ultimate say in what the consequences for breaking the law would be. But we'd like to keep the fail-safes in place. The Council could overrule with a two-thirds majority vote and the public could overrule with three-quarters," Justin continued.

"Sounds good. Will you be separating juvenile offenses from adult ones? And what about keeping records on those convicted of a crime?"

"Well, I personally think we should keep juvenile and adult crimes separate," Justin said.

Robbie shook his head. "No, they shouldn't be treated any differently, except in how each case should be treated separate from all others. If you're old enough to commit a crime, you're old enough to reap the consequences."

"That's not true. What about little kids who get a hold of their parents' guns and accidentally shoot their friends?" Justin argued.

"Well, we won't exactly have that problem here. All our guns are locked up, even away from the adults," Robbie retorted.

Gabrielle held up her hands. "Alright, we'll put it to a vote at the next town meeting. You can each make your cases for everyone to decide for themselves. You didn't answer me about the conviction records, though."

"Well, we haven't really gotten that far yet. And with our community being so small, everyone would know who's been accused of what and when and whether they were found guilty or not," Robbie offered.

"We need to plan for the future. Remember the system you come up with now will probably remain the one in use for generations to come. The American legal system was adopted from its British founders, who'd had their system in place for hundreds of years. Try to think in terms of centuries, not years," Gabrielle suggested.

She left a short time later to find Tristan. He was in his office preparing the latest progress report for her to check over before the next Council meeting. He smiled when she knocked on his open door.

"Hey. Come on in. I'm just about finished with this, if you want to read it now."

"Nah, I'll look it over in the morning. I just got done talking to Robbie and Justin. They've got some really good ideas about setting up a workable judicial system. I want you to oversee the project," Gabrielle told him.

"Why me?"

"Your father was a lawyer. I know you weren't interested in following in his footsteps, but you grew up with that kind of thing around you all the time. You must have gotten a feel for what it was all about. And all I really want you to do is keep an eye on what they come up with. I'm already swamped and I think you're better suited for the job than either Julia or Jonathan."

"Why not ask Luis? He actually studied to become an attorney."

"Yeah, but he hated every minute of it. I will ask him to look over the final product, but I don't want to have to put him through that all over again. He was never cut out to be a lawyer."

"Alright. I'll do it."

"Great. Well, guess I should let you get back to work. I have to wade through my own desk as it is."

The paper mill, once it had been finished last Winter, had been kept very busy by the administration of New Gaia. They tried to keep the paperwork down to a minimum, no reports in triplicate, but proposals needed to be written down, records of meetings and decisions needed to be maintained, and basically anything that needed to be made available to more than one person required written form.

So Gabrielle's desk was a constant sea of light brown parchment as she replied to requests, proposals, letters, and memos, and read over reports and updates concerning the various departments of the government she was head of.

She'd known from the very beginning that running a community, even one as small as theirs, would be a very big job. What she'd neglected to take into account was the fact that she wasn't just running a town. She was in charge of an entire nation of people and, no matter how small, that fact added greatly to the amount of work that went into keeping it all running smoothly.

When making decisions for the village, she couldn't just think in terms of their single city. She had to plan for the future and see one nation of people in many communities. She had to envision what precedents her decisions would create for the future of her people.

Sometimes it seemed like a far-off dream. What if they didn't survive past their single town? What if later generations were absorbed into the tribal associations of other groups of people like the Iroka? There were many what-ifs that went through Gabrielle's mind, but she always managed to toss them aside. The future would be what it would be. All she could do was try to guide it into a particular direction and hope for the best. She learned to replace the what-ifs by acting as if. It was the best she could do.

**********************

Two weeks after the 'people's court' had been adjourned, New Gaia faced its first murder. The only problem was that they didn't even have a first suspect. The murdered party was identified as Tormu and had been one of Tala's people. He had led a fairly quiet existence and had no enemies that anyone knew of. He had taken up leather repair as his vocation in the newly joined community and had spent his days sewing and his nights quietly listening to the stories told by Riku and others.

His body had been found just outside of town. His neck had been broken and a piece of torn tunic was clutched between the fingers of his left hand. Scuffle marks in the dirt and surrounding grass told of a struggle, but that and the torn leather was all the evidence they had at hand.

Gregory was at a total loss as to what to do. No one in their group had any experience with investigating a homicide and they certainly didn't have access to a forensic lab. Gabrielle had several different people take copious notes on the corpse and surrounding area before allowing the body to be taken away.

Tala led her people in their tribe's burial ceremony and Gabrielle stayed at her side throughout the whole ritual. When it was done, everyone went their separate ways. Gabrielle was a little surprised at Tala's acceptance of Tormu's death, but Tala just shrugged.

"Death is part of life and Tormu's killer will die as well. But if Tormu was supposed to live, he would still be breathing," Tala explained.

"But his death means somebody killed him. That means we have a murderer in our community. And unless something happens soon, they're probably going to get away with it."

Tala nodded. That was true. They didn't even know whether the person who had killed Tormu was male or female. The piece of torn leather that had been found in Tormu's dead hand could have belonged to any tunic worn by any member of either tribe.

Gabrielle suddenly stood up from their bed. Tala looked up at her and waited.

"I think I've got an idea," Gabrielle said.

She headed for the door and Tala scrambled after her.

Gabrielle went to the Main Hall, where the piece of leather was being stored, and began to examine it. She held it up to her own leather tunic, but of course it didn't match. Upon further inspection, however, she did notice that part of the bottom torn edge was clean-cut, indicating a buttonhole.

She put the leather scrap back in the cabinet and gestured for Tala to walk out of the Hall with her to return home.

At Tala's confused expression, Gabrielle told her, "I'll bet anything there's a button somewhere on the ground around where Tormu was found. We'll have to wait until daylight to look for it, but if we can find it, we might be able to match it to somebody."

In the morning, Gabrielle went with Tala to the murder site and began searching for a button. After nearly an hour, Gabrielle found it. It was bone and lightly carved. The design was definitely Irokan, but very few of Tala's tribe wore the button-up tunics of Gabrielle's people.

Gabrielle got another idea and went to the leather workers' hut. She asked them to try to match the leather scrap with a batch they had done. By the end of the day, Gabrielle returned with Tala to find out that they had been unable to make a match and that imperfections in the processing pointed to the fact that they hadn't been the ones to cure the leather for that piece of clothing.

Before Gabrielle could do anything more than take the information in, Tala was gone. Gabrielle ran after her and found Tala shouting to several of her tribesmen in Iroki to bring several people to her.

"What are you doing?"

"Finding the murderer," Tala replied with a grim look on her face.

Several minutes later, three men and two women were brought before Tala. She held up the button.

"Who does this belong to?"

She eyed each of them, but no one claimed the decorative ivory. She turned to the men who'd done her bidding before and continued to speak in Iroki.

"Go search their dwellings. Look for a torn shirt. Go now."

The men left and Tala paced back and forth in front of the assembled suspects. Gabrielle was trying to figure out how to get Tala to calm down, when she heard a low growl come from her lover.

"I will rip out the stomach of the one who is responsible for killing Tormu, if you don't tell me right now. I will stab your eyes and bite your tongue out of your mouth. I will cut your throat and remove your heart." Her voice was barely above a whisper and Gabrielle's eyes widened with each new threat.

"You can't just execute one of them because of what they did. You'd be no better than the killer," Gabrielle tried to reason with the bristling woman.

"What will be done with them, if not to kill them?" Tala asked incredulously.

"That'll be up to the Council. And everyone will get a chance to voice their feelings and possible solutions, too, before I'll have the final say. Justice will be done," Gabrielle promised.

The men returned empty-handed. They had found nothing. Tala grudgingly let the five suspects go and waved them away. Gabrielle put a hand on Tala's back and rubbed slightly to calm her lover down.

"You are the Chief of all our people, but I still feel... responsible for making things right for Iroka. The balance must be made right," Tala explained.

She really wasn't angry at the taking of a life. Death was a part of life, as she'd said. But death without purpose couldn't be tolerated. It made the tribe weak.

"It'll be made right. You'll see," Gabrielle soothed.

**********************

A week went by with no new evidence and the community reluctantly moved on. There wasn't anything else they could do.

Out of death, the topic of new life came up, especially with the Summer Solstice birth of Gloria's baby girl, Esperanza. It was a Spanish name, meaning 'hope,' and the new child did seem to bring the hope of life with her birth. There were several current pregnancies from among the women of Tala's tribe due in the next few months and over a dozen more women from among the original New Gaians had become pregnant during the Winter months of snuggling and were due to give birth sometime in the Fall or early Winter.

Gabrielle gathered the Council and began to discuss the pregnancies in their community. It was decided that a maternity ward would need to be added to the Healer's hut, as well as a nursery. The talk of new additions to their village had everyone excited and the meeting turned into a long and boisterous affair.

When Gabrielle finally made it home, Tala had heard about the pregnancy talks and decided now was as good a time as any to bring the subject up with her mate. As Gabrielle undressed for bed, she asked her question.

"When do you want to have children?"

Gabrielle was a little surprised that the question was 'when,' not 'if.' The look on her face must have given her away because Tala immediately continued.

"I've seen the love in your eyes whenever children are talked about and you enjoy very much the children of my people. I cannot give you a child to grow inside you, only a man can do that for you. Who do you want it to be from?"

Gabrielle laughed at herself, as she plopped down onto their furs. She was still getting used to Tala's straightforwardness. Well, it wasn't like she hadn't thought about it before. Tristan immediately came to mind, since he was her best friend, but she had a hard time imagining being like that with him. Gregory, however, was another possibility she'd considered.

"What do you think about Gregory or Tristan?"

"Yes."

Gabrielle smiled. "So you think we're ready for parenthood?" She leaned into Tala's side.

"You will be an incredible mother," Tala declared as she began running her fingers through short blond locks.

"So will you."

She ran her hands over Tala's chest and then underneath the thin leather. Tala closed her eyes and smiled. Gabrielle played with her nipples and then reached up to cover Tala's mouth with her own. Tala relaxed back into the furs of their bed and sighed. Life just didn't get any better than this.

They spent the night making love in lieu of a child.

In the morning, Gabrielle issued a dinner invitation to her First Advisor and First Warrior and they accepted. Tala helped dish out the food, while Gabrielle filled their mugs. Gabrielle raised her cup and Tristan and Gregory followed suit. Tala raised an eyebrow before raising her cup also, and then Gabrielle offered a toast.

"To new life."

Tristan and Gregory looked at each other and grinned before they both took sips of their fruit-flavored water. Tristan had been right. He'd guessed with all the talk about new babies that Gabrielle had felt the pull towards motherhood and their dinner tonight wasn't spontaneous.

Gabrielle saw the looks and decided to just jump in. They obviously knew something was up and her toast had been chosen for a reason.

"So, anybody wanna be a father?"

Tristan started laughing and Gregory blushed.

"I knew it. I knew with all those pregnant women around you'd get the itch. Finally heard that biological clock ticking, huh?" Tristan grinned.

"I'm only twenty-six, Tris," Gabrielle argued.

"Oh my God, that's right. We never celebrated your birthday last year."

"Well, I don't think anybody celebrated their birthdays last year. We didn't have much of a calendar to go by then."

"True, but we've passed two Solstices and two Equinoxes now, so Diane's been able to come up with an accurate schedule to use. You won't get out of a party this time around," Tristan warned.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "Could we get back to the subject?"

Gregory sat up a little and cleared his throat. "So, um, which one of us did you have in mind?"

Gabrielle looked at Tristan.

"Well, honestly, I'd always sort of figured you'd be the father of my children," Gabrielle started. She glanced at Tala and then looked at Gregory. "But I'd kind of like the baby to look like Tala and you're closer to her looks."

It was true. They had the same large build and Gregory's hair was as dark as Tala's. His eyes were a darker shade of blue, but Gabrielle hoped her own light hazel eyes would balance that out. Of course, it was entirely possible that the kid would look nothing like either of them, but it couldn't hurt to try.

"I'd like you to be the father of our first child," Gabrielle told Gregory, then turned to Tristan, "and then, if we decided to have more, or if it didn't take the first time around, maybe you could take over the fathering process."

"Yeah, about the fathering process," Tristan began. "This is going to be really awkward. I mean, I love Greg as much as you love Tala. It feels weird to think about you two, um, being together."

"I want to be there," Tala finally spoke up. Everyone looked at her. "The child will be mine as it is Gabrielle's. I should be there at its... the word, the word... creation. I want to be there when it's made."

"If Tala's gonna be there, I want to be there, too," Tristan added.

"Um, I'm not sure about putting on a show for you guys," Gabrielle laughed nervously.

"I wouldn't mind if they participated," Gregory said quietly. He was blushing furiously, but he pushed on through. "I'm not bisexual like Tristan and I'm a little worried about being able to perform with a woman, no offense. I think you're beautiful, but there's just no sexual attraction."

"You're right, no offense and none taken, but you're just a friend. A very close friend, but still just a friend," Gabrielle told Gregory.

"Yeah. If you let us help, I think the whole experience would be more enjoyable for everyone involved," Tristan agreed.

They continued to discuss the ways and means of getting Gabrielle pregnant and decided that they would get together the following month, once Gabrielle could talk to Claudia and figure out when she would be most fertile. With that, Tristan and Gregory left and Tala and Gabrielle went to bed.