Hi! This is my first story in a while, in about two years actually, so I am a bit nervous I guess. I have read the rules and guidelines, so I think I am finally able to post my story here . It is almost a transition from VV2 to VV3, in the eyes of a young woman named Natawa. Thanks for reading.


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We, as a tribe, went in search of new worlds, new lands. We had heard of a people far away, but we didn't believe they existed - until a few months ago. Our tribe leader, Niki, was walking when he saw a boat on the distant ocean. It was pretty big, and he knew there had to be people in it. So he proposed an idea. This idea was that eight people be taken on a boat and search for new lands. If they did not report back to him in six weeks, then he would assume they were perished and send another boat.

You see, for the very reason of how dangerous this was, Niki only allowed grown men to go on this adventure. Among the men that went on the first mission was my beloved Tokou. At the young age of eighteen, he wished so dearly to partake is something so dear and important to the tribe, that who was I to beg him to stay? Even though I was pregnant and about to give birth to my first daughter, I saw him and the other seven men off that fateful day. I was so fearful I would never see him again..

Everyday for near five weeks I waited by the shoreline, sewing or doing some other simple task that I could still do since I was nine months pregnant by now. Just a day before the six week deadline was up, I started having contractions and knew my little baby was about to come into the world.

Just after they told me my child was a girl, the last person I expected to see (and most wanted to see) came through the door. My husband, Tokou. I squealed in delight, and, though it was custom not to name a child until the age of two, we bent the rules and decided to name our baby after her mommy - Natawa.

In the next few weeks stories were told of the men's voyage, but they had seen nothing real exciting. An uninhabited island, a bit offshore, and beautiful animals. They had come back empty handed, but I didn't care, I was ecstatic that my husband had come home safely, and just in time for little Natawa's birth. So, personally, the next few weeks were amazing for me.

About three months later, another boat was sent out - Tokou did not go. He stayed to help with Natawa. I was incredibly grateful because this boat never came back. Many tears were heard for months after wards. Another boat was not sent for two years.

By this time, Natawa could talk and walk, and knew many things. I was with child again, and Tokou was a perfect farmer. We were a comfortable family, and a happy one. My parents came over often to speak with me and Tokou, and to make a fuss over Natawa. Life was great, until my husband heard that they were sending another boat out.

He was set on going, he said that it was his purpose to go and explore the unknown.

I couldn't help myself, I interjected.

"Tokou, I -we- might never see you again! What about little Natawa and the unborn baby? What about your family and what about those that never came back two years ago?!?" I begged.

"I have to go, Natawa. I am sorry. I will be back - I promise. I love you." He insisted.

So, four weeks later, I waved goodbye to Tokou and the other sailors. It was the last time I would do so. When the boat came back, perfectly on time, five weeks later, Tokou wasn't in the boat. He was lost in a storm and fell overboard. The rest of the men were fine, completely unharmed.

It wasn't fair! Why my Tokou?!

I was depressed for awhile, but my parents helped me through it. The baby was born, Natawa turned three. Two more boats went and came back - no men harmed. Nothing was found. Finally, someone suggested women and children go into a boat - almost a tour type thing. People thought that by now, if they found nothing, that there was nothing out there, and it was safe to bring the women and children.

My parents, my mother especially, urged me to go, to live and see what Tokou saw. But I couldn't... I knew I would get sick... I stayed home. The boat went out, came back in three weeks - no one hurt. They said they found a small patch of land, the same patch the other boats had been landing on. When asked if it was big enough to start a colony, they said it wasn't - too rocky, too little, no soil worth anything....

The next boat was sent out just a week after the last one. Mother insisted I go, and take my baby and Natawa with me. I agreed finally. I was twenty four by then...

As soon as I set foot in the boat, I became all wobbly legged. I sat down and waved my mother goodbye - I hugged Katawa and the baby close as the shore became further and further away. Then it disappeared.

Being out in the open ocean was surprisingly calming, and the boat was big enough to walk around in, but small enough to be wary.

I got to know the others in the boat very well. There was our 'captain' as he called himself, Akuaku, twenty-eight. He was in the boat when my husband went overboard. Akuaku had such sympathetic black eyes.

Then there was Udu, twenty three at the time, he came along to supervise the ride. He was yet another veteran of sailing. He, however, was not there for my husband's accident. He was married to Soda back on the homeland, who was going to come with us but came down with an illness the night before. She insisted that Udu and their six year old son Niti go anyways, and she would go next time.

Then there was Kanga, a single woman who wanted to come along. She was urged to come by her parents, as I was. We got along well. She was twenty one.

There was Makawa, a nineteen year old girl, barely an adult. She fancied a guy named Obi, who proposed to her the night before the voyage. She said yes, and they were to get married the day she came back.

These were my ship-mates. People whom I would learn to get acquainted with very well over the next while...

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(cont.)
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