“Elder Nuanu is instructing the women to stay ready to move and to gather what they can,” Paven said, suddenly turning back to Ubantu. He grinned at Attu’s father. Ubantu did not smile back.
Attu wondered if Rika went off into the low hills to gather with the other women. Thinking of the possible danger to her, Attu glanced toward Rika. She was watching him again, but she flashed him a look of annoyance as their eyes met, and looked away first this time, suddenly giving all her concentration to the work in her hands.
“Rock moss is not all that’s been gathered,” Paven said, glancing again in the direction of the women, and bringing Attu’s attention back to the conversation. “My brother’s son, Topulek, has asked permission to become Pashua’s man.”
Attu’s father grunted. “That makes two now, to be taken and given at the next full moon.”
“Yes, an even exchange, one hunter from my clan, and one from yours.”
“Who from our clan?” Attu asked.
“Kinak,” his father said. “He has asked for Suanu.”
“Kinak?” Attu was surprised.
Another thing for Moolnik to taunt Suka with, the bonding of his older brother, just like his own father had done to Moolnik.
In spite of their recent argument, Attu felt sorry for Suka.
Paven said, “Now that you’re feeling better, Attu, you must come and walk our camp. Perhaps a twinkling eye may catch yours.” Paven chuckled. Ubantu and Yural exchanged looks, but did not laugh.
Attu felt his cheeks grow hot, and he picked up his knife, suddenly interested in checking its sharpness. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Rika was sewing furiously. She pulled her sinew thread so hard through the furs it snapped.
“Here, let me help you with that,” Yural said, and the two women examined the break.
Paven had said Rika would be given at the next full moon as well, to the man Banek,
Attu thought.
Yet she sits there looking boldly at me. Women.
He turned his attention back to his sharpening. The conversation seemed to die out after that, and Paven left soon after, Rika and Rovek following behind him out into the darkness of the Nuvik night.
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“M
other is afraid of Paven,” Meavu told him the next day. The two of them were sitting in the shelter. Mother had gone gathering, and Father fishing.
“She heard he’s looking for a new woman. Mother is beautiful, strong, and an excellent keeper of our fire. He might try to take her.”
“Paven? You don’t know what you’re talking about, little Kip,” Attu said. “Paven has helped me fight the ice bear’s spirit. He’s a friend, not an enemy.”
“Don’t believe me then,” Meavu said, her lower lip full in her pouting face. “Watch Father. He knows. Watch Rika. She’s nervous around her father, also.”
That much was true. Even though Attu had never seen any reason for it, he knew Rika watched her father closely, always. She acted as if she felt unsafe around him. He remembered the tenseness in the shelter last night, the feeling of fear he had suddenly experienced. Attu wondered.
Meavu got up from her spot on the furs and knelt in front of Attu, taking his face in her hands as if she were little once again and wanted his full attention. Her hands were soft on his cheeks, but her eyes appeared ancient in her face, not the eyes of a child at all, but of one as wise as Elder Nuanu. “I speak the truth, Attu,” Meavu said. “Paven is not a true leader. He does not treat his women as precious.”
Attu knew in his spirit his little sister was speaking the wisdom of the women of her clan, as true as the spirits that surrounded them all.
Meavu turned away and busied herself in straightening the furs, much as his mother did. Attu pondered her words for a long time afterward. Was the Paven he knew on their walks together the real Paven? Or was he as Meavu had said? Perhaps he was somehow both, and if so, Attu must remember to be wary of Paven, no matter how much help Attu had received from him.
L
ate the next night, Attu overheard his father and Moolnik as they sat talking in the shelter.
“More game?” Ubantu asked Moolnik. “Why, my brother?”
“Tomorrow will be a good day to hunt,” Moolnik replied. “This is our home now. Why not?”
“We can’t stay here, you must see that!” Ubantu hissed, trying to stay quiet but clearly upset.
“Have you seen an ice bear since the attack?” Moolnik asked. “No, I know you haven’t. No one has, because there are no more. Your son was lucky enough to have the last bear fall on his knife. We’re safe now.”
Attu almost growled at such an outrageous remark. Leave it to Moolnik to act as if Attu’s bravery had been a lucky accident. But Attu didn’t want the two men to know he was listening to their conversation in the shadows of the shelter instead of sleeping, so he stayed quiet.
“But the tracks Paven’s hunters have seen-” his father began.
“Are just a trick to get us to leave,” Moolnik sneered. “Don’t you see it, brother? They want this land for themselves, so they’re trying to convince us to leave. They will leave too, but once we’re out of sight of each other, they’ll turn back and take this great hunting place for their own.”
Moolnik sighed, as if he were trying to explain something to a small child. “You’re too trusting, Ubantu. You always have been.”
“No, you’re the one who doesn’t see the truth. You only see what you want to see, hear only what you want to hear.”
“Then why do the others follow me instead of you now?” Moolnik said, pointedly looking at the brace of nuknuk skin Ubantu wore over his mik to strengthen his ankle.
“Because you tell them what they want to hear, instead of what is true. That’s why.”
“You just better watch yourself, brother, or that schemer Paven will steal what’s most precious to you.”
Attu saw Moolnik gesture with his head toward Yural’s sleeping form.
“You go too far, Moolnik. Get out!”
Ubantu jumped to his feet, his fists clenched to his sides, his face livid in the light of the lamp.
Moolnik laughed as he left the shelter.
Attu’s father collapsed back onto the furs once he was alone, cradling his head in his hands.
Attu buried his face in his sleeping furs
. Even Moolnik knew Paven might try to take my mother. How could I have been so blind?
––––––––
T
he weather was so warm Attu threw his parka hood back as he walked. The sun shone on the ice and low hills near the edge of the land as he traveled in the direction of the Great Frozen camp instead of his usual route the opposite way. Attu looked at the sky. Far above, a few thin clouds ran fast to the east.
As if even they feel the need to hurry to safety.
He had dreamed again last night of the crack in the ice, of the woman calling to him, and something more, something about ridges of rock on either side of him, something through which he must travel. But it made no sense, and he awoke in the middle of it.
Beware of dreams, Paven had said. Dreams bring only pain and trouble, Moolnik had said. Listen to your dreams, heed them, his mother had said. Elder Nuanu had not said a word to him about his dream coming true. That seemed the most unsettling of all.
What should I believe?
Attu had felt anxious that morning and decided to take Paven up on his offer to visit the camp, not to look for a woman, but because he needed to get his mind off things and he was curious about these new people. He was feeling strong enough to walk further away from his own shelter.
As he walked, Attu noticed that on this southern edge, where the water met the land, there were several areas of unfrozen water, patches many spear lengths long and at least a foot wide, water gleaming and lapping at the rocks of the shore.
What if the Great Frozen were to melt and we got trapped on this land? Eventually the game would run out...
Attu lengthened his stride, pushing himself to exercise his legs. He wanted to be ready to leave. His clan needed to leave. But again today, Moolnik and several other hunters from their clan had left the camp to hunt nuknuks, even though they didn’t need the meat.
––––––––
“Y
ou’re too late,” Rika said as Attu walked between the Great Frozen Clan shelters a little while later.
“What?” Attu asked. He’d been busy studying the hunters, most of who were sitting outside their shelters, sharpening weapons in the bright sunlight.
Too bright,
Attu’s mind warned him, but he pushed the thought back. He’d already learned a new way to get a better tip on his spear point with the dark rock slivers this clan used. He had negotiated a trade of one of his bear claws for a small sack full of the sharpening rocks from the hunter who had shown him the technique. Now he was walking further into the camp, wondering what else he might learn from these people.
“You’re too late to find a woman,” Rika said, her eyes daring Attu to find fault with her boldness. “There are only two available women in our clan and only one is young. A hunter from yours has already laid claim to her. So you might as well just turn around and walk back, lazy hunter who brings back no game.”
Attu stood there, his mouth open like a dead fish as Rika stomped off, her braids tossing behind her as she went.
What’s gotten her spirit swirling?
Attu thought as he tried to figure out what had just happened.
“Don’t bother trying to understand Rika,” a new voice said, and Attu turned to see a man, older than Attu but younger than his father, sitting on a pack and sharpening fine-looking spear points. “Rika’s moods are like the wind at the heights of the hills, strong and always changing direction.”
The man looked up from his work, putting down his spear and standing in greeting. Attu was surprised to see he had thick dark hair growing on his face. Attu had only seen one man in his life with a beard, a lone hunter who’d joined their camp for a few days. That man had claimed to come from far to the south. Did this man?
Raising both hands in greeting, the man stepped forward. “I am Banek, son of Rallod, hunter of the Tooth Fish clan. And you must be Attu.”
Attu returned the greeting.
“I’m glad to see you’re up and walking,” Banek said. “To survive an ice bear attack is an amazing feat.”
“I was just protecting my sister and cousin,” Attu replied.
“And humble, too,” Banek said. “Come. Sit.”
Banek slid sideways on his pack, giving room for Attu to sit beside him.
“So, tell me, what’s it like to fight an ice bear?” Banek asked. “We have rock bears where I come from, but they’re only the size of a large man, and two hunters can usually kill one without serious injury. Ice bears, now that’s a whole different fight!” Banek grinned at Attu, as if he would welcome the chance to fight an ice bear.
Attu shuddered. He didn’t want to speak of the attack, but he was also curious about this man who had won Paven’s approval and laid claim to Rika.
“Until I saw the hill of white rise up and move, saw its teeth and claws, I thought ice bears existed only in the Between,” Attu said in a round-about way of answering without going into detail. “And now you say there are rock bears also?”
“Yes,” Banek replied. “Rock bears are gray like the rocks where they shelter. They fish for tooth fish near the shore by chipping holes in the ice with their great forepaws and dabbling their claws into the water to attract the fish.”
“They put their paws in the water, like bait?” Attu was astonished.
How clever of the bears, but tooth fish teeth are dangerous.
“They actually let the fish bite their claws,” Banek said, drawing his eyebrows together at the wonder of it. “Then they drag the tooth fish out. You know how tooth fish won’t let go, once they grab onto something.”
“Yes, I know,” Attu said, pushing up one sleeve to show Banek the scar on his left forearm where a tooth fish had bitten him.
“Me too,” Banek said, and he rolled up his right sleeve to show a similar mark. “It’s like an extra clan tattoo for my people. By the time we’re grown, everyone has at least one. Some, if they’re slow to learn the fish’s ways, more.” They both laughed.
“So, consider yourself a member of my clan,” Banek added, and he turned and gave Attu a rough thump on his back, right over his deepest wound.
Tears sprang to Attu’s eyes from the pain, but he didn’t cry out.
Did Banek forget my injury, or is he somehow testing me?
But Banek seemed not to notice Attu’s pain.
He must have forgotten,
Attu decided. He was curious to know more about Banek. “How did you happen to come so many moons north and west alone? To hunt?”
“For a woman,” Banek grinned. “And Paven has given me Rika in exchange for leading his clan back the way I came. I have never seen the great land to the south and east of our clan’s territory, but I believe it exists. Our storytellers also speak of it. It will be a great adventure to see it for myself.”
Banek abruptly stood and gathered his sharpening tools. “See you at the ritual of gift giving?”
So Banek and Rika would be joined then, at the full moon.
“I’ll be there.” He wasn’t looking forward to watching Banek and Rika being given to each other. The man seemed too old for her, but Attu knew this was often the way of his people. The older, experienced hunter would make a better provider, the younger woman a healthy mother. Still, Rika was being given to him as payment. Had she been given a choice? It all seemed wrong.
“We are not to be joined this moon,” Banek said after a moment, clearing his throat and looking away, across the Great Frozen. “Paven has asked for a few more moons to have his daughter with him.”
Attu could see the frustration in Banek’s eyes and tried to ignore the lifting of his own mood at the information.
“She is young yet; there is time,” Banek continued. “She’ll be mine soon enough. Then she’ll settle down, not be so bold. Paven has been too easy on her since his woman passed to the Between.”
Attu felt his stomach clench at Banek’s words. He sensed no caring for Rika in Banek’s voice at all, just the same eagerness he had expressed when wanting to hear about the ice bear attack and exploring new places.
Why would Paven allow this rough hunter to have his daughter?