Soulmates Across Borders

Chapter 6

Solí found Panui with little trouble. She raced up the slight slope of the mountain lowlands towards the heart of the forest, her misty wolf following behind her. As she neared the large village, she noticed several warriors standing guard, and she waved a misty arm at them as she flew by.

Finally, the first dwellings appeared around the trees, and Solí stopped, her soul vibrating with the pure force of her misty state after traveling such a long distance. She waved away her mist makutu and fell to her knees as she returned her body to its rightful solid state.

An uproar rose about the large village as more and more people noticed her. "Who goes there?" someone shouted.

"Solí Tangaroa, of the wolf tribe from Tangaroa, the Village on the Water." She forced herself to her feet and held her head high. At her side, Pango wagged his misty tail and removed the mist makutu.

Several of Panui's villagers gasped. Word spread quickly by way of the villagers' tribal animal, the bears. They lumbered out of the village to get a good look at her. This large village had far more summoners than Solí's home had. The powerful bears the summoners had bonded with would surely make formidable allies.

Maybe Tokah's father would send enough bears to defend her people while they set up a new settlement for the wolf tribe. Though, Solí remembered, after a mere three days, the midspring moon festival would be here and Solí would turn twenty-one. She'd marry Tokah the very next day and then Panui would become her home. Itaone would be left in the very capable hands of Solí's father and eventually her brother Kuao, who had been betrothed to a princess of the coyote clan.

Finally, after Solí tried and failed to walk into the village on her own two feet, Tokah appeared. He took confident strides toward her. This man was the opposite to Solí in every way. He had short black hair, while Solí's hair was long and blonde. He had piercing angry black eyes while she had blue eyes that her sister once told her glowed brighter than the blue moon that came once a year. The only way in which they were similar was their lean muscular physique. But while Solí was tall and lithe, Tokah was thick and lumbering. And his thickness didn't just describe his body. His mind was thick too.

Solí hated him.

He strode up to her and scooped her up in his arms. She reflexively wrapped her arms around his neck as he turned and made a show in front of his people. Look at the strong bear prince, rescuing his princess. Solí had to try hard not to roll her eyes.

She had reason enough to hate this man. When they had first met, Tokah argued with his father, the king of the bear tribe, saying that Solí wasn't the match for him. But the wolf king and the bear king had decided for them.

Their match was a matter of politics. The wolf tribe needed the bear tribe's abundant stash of lilacs, and the bear tribe needed strong allies close to the river who could protect the nation of Väria from the beastmen's incessant attacks. Solí would have begrudgingly accepted a match that served her people, but knowing that Tokah had argued against their betrothal had set them against each other from the beginning.

Solí knew that Tokah had his eyes on the warrior queen of the fox tribe. They met on far too many an occasion, and even Solí, who didn't live nearby, had heard of how often Tokah met with fox queen Pokiah. Even though she had been mated with the king of the coyotes, who died several years ago.

Now, the fox queen held the coyote tribe together on her own, but she called for council meetings far more than was necessary, and always insisted that Tokah join his father in the war councils even though he was only a prince. Once, when Solí insisted she join a war council meeting as the princess of the wolf tribe, she had shown up only to be shunned by her betrothed who had seemed irked to see her. And then she had seen for herself how Tokah looked at the fox queen.

But now in front of his people, he put on a show of taking care of Solí, as if he had any semblance of feelings for her at all. His actions only reflected his duty, and to honor the wishes of his father. And Solí only agreed to her betrothal out of duty as well.

Tokah carried her through his village of nohonga, homes that were so large and made of thick trees, that they'd likely be impossible to move. Unlike the wolf tribe that was always on the move, taking down their tents and setting up a new village away from the beastmen threats. They had permanent homes here, made of logs and decorated with tree bark. They were entirely too hot inside, and Solí didn't look forward to sleeping in one when the time came.

In three days, she would belong to the bear king's second son, bear prince Tokah. Whether she liked it or not.

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