Redsand Canyon Out of Sync

Ruenna weathered the outburst without expression, her warmth for the girl receding with every ill-chosen word she spoke. Aquene spoke up to confirm that she would apprentice the girl, and Ruenna offered her a nod in gratitude. She then turned to address Malila.

Perhaps Malila felt indirectly insulted by Ruenna's offer, but Ruenna was very much insulted by the girl's impertinent words. Particularly offensive was the implication that wives (a category which included Ruenna herself) were not productive or needed members of Mereo, and they were only useful for sexual purposes. Ruenna had only just told Malila that the civilians were struggling to gain the respect of the soldiers, and yet the first words out of the girl's mouth were flagrantly disrespectful of the civilians and their purpose. For a girl who expressed no desire to be a soldier, she had a frustrating way of thinking like exactly like one. 

"You were offered a choice of two paths," Ruenna reminded her flatly. If Malila wished to remain in Mereo, marriage was not the only option. And yet, it was the one she fixated upon. "Mereo is a military outpost. It is not a familial pack. It is not a school, and it is not a charity. I have offered you a choice of two ways you may be directly useful to our purpose as the support system for a military operation. If you decline my offer, I can help you find a more suitable place to live. I have many connections in the Teekon Wilds." It was more than the girl deserved after the deeply offensive insinuations she had voiced, but Ruenna would not simply throw the girl out in the cold. 

Ruenna was not without sympathy. She too had been pressured to marry, when she was Malila's age, and she had also found the prospect distasteful. It was an experience shared by many women. The difference was, Ruenna had never been a beggar at someone else's table, devouring the choicest selections of meat while simultaneously insulting those who offered her shelter and tutelage. Malila's words were those of a spoiled and entitled woman-child, and there was no room for such a thing in Ruenna's ranks. 

"You claimed that you wanted to learn and were willing. But now all I hear from you are the things you do not want to learn, and the things you are not willing to do. You have three months. I suggest you use them to make yourself into the person you claim to be. If you have no further questions, you are dismissed." Apparently Malila's "wanting to learn" was very specific in nature, and it did not apply to learning how to be a wife. Or a soldier. Malila wished to be a beggar and a chooser in a place with nothing to spare. She should have been grateful that Mereo was willing to extend any offer to her at all. 

After Malila departed, Ruenna would turn to @Aquene. She wished to debrief the situation with the medic and hear her opinion on what she had just witnessed.