Nadia was the first in the Duchy of Morrovale. No other woman was issued a permit for hunting in the duchy. She had worked most of her life for this right and honor. As the sheriff presented her with her badge of station, she grinned like a fool, as did her only relative, her little brother, Rechan. She was now only twenty three and had carved her place among the huntsmen of the village, earning their grudging respect and friendship.
The path to her current position had not been an easy one, it had taken her months to find a mentor. Her first was Ervan. Her face soured as she remembered what her first mentor had forced her to do to remain in his service, and the memory brought back old feelings of resentment and betrayal. She had been too young for that man's depraved wishes, and had balked one time too many and he had sent her from his camp. Deep in the woods, she had been forced to find her way back to Morrovale alone, sore from the acts she had allowed him to commit and crying for fear of having disappointed her parents' spirits.
Then she had found Relkan. Rather, Tammer had found Relkan. She managed to make it back and as she sat in Tammer's tavern, the Pierced Boar, she had poured out her whole sad tale, figuring she would be drummed out of the hunter's clique anyway, so she let Ervan have it with her whole quiver. She found out weeks later that when he had returned to Morrovale, he had been set upon by a half-dozen huntsmen and beaten almost to death and forced to leave the duchy.
As Relkan introduced himself he had told her that she would be totally safe with him.
"Why will I be safer with you than Ervan?" she had asked.
He leaned toward her slyly and whispered, "Just you and I know this, else I will have to leave the duchy as well, but I like other men as bedmates." The look of shock upon her young face had made him laugh uproarously.
"I've never thought any huntsman could be that way," she said.
He laughed as they walked out of town. "Why not?" he asked. "You did know that some men did so, right?"
She nodded slowly. As a general concept, she knew of homosexual men, but as a practical application, she had never met one, at least, until now.
True to his word, Relkan never touched her inappropriately, even to the point of them bathing together in the pool on his allotted lands. As she grew older, she actually started to resent his lack of interest as her own in men increased. He was a handsome man, and well-built, and well-equipped, she found out after she started dallying with village boys when they were in town. Only a few of the bravest boys would dare approach her, though, for her manner of dress was not very lady-like and her demeanor was even less so. She wore arms most times, unless in church, and she kept her hair cropped sensibly short.
Rumors among the youths of Morrovale were that she preferred girls to boys and that she took the role of a boy when she took a girl as a lover. These persisted even when there could not be found among the village's girls anyone who was her lover. They diminished, finally, when she allowed one rather bold and loudmouthed lad to bed her, and he acted as her own personal emissary to carry forth the word of her preference for males. After a weekend in his company, she wondered herself if she would not prefer a girl as a lover.
Relkan laughed at that idea. "Nadia, you look at my prick too much to be a woman-lover," he said. "Were I desirous of girls I would have allowed you to do what I know you think about when you look at it."
She nodded sadly. "Indeed, Relkan, I find boys to my liking, but I don't like any of the boys I know." She shrugged. "Perhaps I should move when I become a journeyman."
He shrugged. "That may well be your fate," he said, grinning. "You are nearly there, you know, young woman."
He smiled as she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "And I do wish you were attracted to women now, Relkan," she said as she stood up. "I'd bed you yesterday."
He chuckled again and tossed her a slab of meat from their kill that day. "Eat, shut up, and go to bed and dream of boys you can have," he said.
She grinned and chewed on the chunk of cooked deer.
---
Now she had her own allotment and she was doing well as a hunter, enough so that she managed to get enough money to send her brother to faraway Ghant to university, to learn a skill of the educated men. He was a frail creature, and performed the labors of farming and hunting poorly. She hoped he would find cerebral pursuits more to his suiting.
However, as much as she liked, the village of Morrovale had yet to yield up a lover. She had slept with several youths from there, and even a few more from surrounding villages, but none had that something she sought. Most were too possessive, and let it be know early that her profession would have to be sidelined if they were to wed. This disqualified those close-minded youths right off.
A couple of the others were all for her having her occupation. They wanted to laze about and let her do the work. She discovered their love-making was likewise lazy and quickly discarded them.
So, she was doomed to a life of solitude, except the occasional flings with younger huntsmen who still had the male superiority attitude, but at least tempered it by keeping their mouths shut long enough for her to enjoy a night or two with them.
---
She was patrolling her territory and had nearly completed her trek outward, and was already anticipating the comforts of home when she returned, having already netted more than her required number of deer and elk to meet her self-imposed quota. The weather had been very cooperative this trip out, raining only at night, and in moderation. However, today looked like it could be a change to that kind pattern. The clouds glowered over her head and seemed pregnant with rain. Even flashes of lightning could be seen among them, lighting the dark clouds from within.