Blood & Milk by N.R. Walker

saying I was fat when I got here?” I was hardly overweight when I arrived here―hell, my weight loss in the last twelve months had been a concern for my doctor. He’d almost certainly keel over if he saw me now. Ideals of body shape were vastly different between my country and Damu’s. I grinned at him and tapped his visible ribs. “Not as skinny as you.”
    He jumped. “Ah!”
    “You’re ticklish?” I laughed. “Good to know!”
    Ignoring his shy smile, I picked up the stack of wood and slung it over my shoulder so it rested on my back.
    “You wish me to carry?”
    “No. It’s fine. Come on, we better not be too late.”
    We’d walked about a quarter mile when I nodded toward the ridge line. “Will you take me there one day?”
    “Into Serengeti?”
    “Yes.” I mean it wasn’t far, and the Serengeti itself was huge. Technically this land was part of the Serengeti, but I meant into the valley. “Where the animals are.”
    “If you wish.”
    “Do we need permission from Kasisi or Kijani?” I asked. I wasn’t sure on what the actual protocol was for leaving the kraal for anything other than chores.
    “No permission. I tell them I take you, but ask when it be good time. It must not interfere with everyone.”
    Okay, fair enough , I thought. Everything everyone in the kraal did was always in fair consideration of everyone else. It was how the Maasai lived. As a whole entity. United.
    “I would like that. I would like to see elephants and giraffes.”
    Damu smiled. “I ask for you. The moran will leave soon for Eunoto .”
    “What is Eunoto?”
    “Warrior ceremony.”
    “Really?” I couldn’t hide my surprise. Or my curiosity. “What happens at the Eunoto? Who will go? Will Komboa go?” I doubted he would, he was no older than six… but I had no idea.
    Damu chuckled and shook his head. “Always with questions.”
    “Always.”
    “Komboa is wrong age-set. Nampasso’s age-set will go.”
    “All of them?”
    “Yes.”
    “For how long?”
    He held up four fingers. “Moons.”
    “Four months?”
    Damu laughed again. “They will go with other warriors and learn their ways.”
    “Where do they go?”
    “Away from kraal. Many days walk.”
    “Will Kijani take them?”
    Damu smiled again, knowing very well why I asked. Four months without Kijani sounded pretty good to me. Damu nodded. “Kijani will go for some, not all of this. One or two moons only.”
    I couldn’t help but smile. Hell, even one month without Kijani sounded good. But then something dawned on me. “Who will protect the kraal if he and the other warriors are not here?”
    “Not all go. Kasisi will see who stays.”
    It had to hurt knowing his father and brother were tribal leaders and he was completely disregarded. He acted like he didn’t mind, but I had to wonder just how well he hid it. “Did you go to Eunoto?”
    Damu shook his head. “Not for me.”
    We walked in silence for a while, and I couldn’t help but think of something I’d read… But it wasn’t like I could just come out ask something like that.
    “You have questions,” Damu said, smiling at me.
    “I do, but it is very personal.”
    Damu looked at me warily, his smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “You will ask it anyway.”
    My smile was slow spreading. “You know me so well!” What the hell? “If you didn’t go through a warrior ceremony, why are you circumcised?”
    Damu surprised me by bursting out laughing. He playfully pushed my shoulder, causing me to lose my step. He covered his mouth with his hand. “You pay attention?”
    “It was hard not to notice,” I told him, grinning widely. “You have a very… um, what is the Maa word for elephant penis?”
    Damu stopped walking and his mouth fell open. This time I pushed his shoulder, and we both fell about laughing.
    I noticed then that Kijani was watching us from the gate of the kraal, but I didn’t care. Damu and I laughed the rest of the way home.
    Kijani watched us again that