You swallow. “Where is she now? I notice there are no young women in this clan.”
Pek jumps in to answer. “We met up with another clan about two years ago—it turned out to be the clan of her mother’s family. Her mother had left them years before to marry into our clan, but her husband had died, and when we crossed paths with them again, she was reunited with her family. Shava and her mother returned to the west with her mother’s native people, to their territory beyond the northwest hills.”
This simple story by my brother touches some nerve in you. Your head whips around in his direction. “What clan? A clan to the northwest? What clan is that?”
“Mya.” The voice of your brother interrupts you sharply. I notice a very small shake of his head, a message to you. “Do not pester our hosts with such questions.”
There are secrets here, I realize. Clearly, there is something your brother does not wish to discuss. But whatever secrets your brother wishes to keep, they do not interest me. “Excuse me. I’ll carry the first load to your boat,” I say, filling up my arms with packages of meat. I move toward the door, careful to keep my eyes on the floor as I pass by you.
To my surprise, you follow me out into the cold morning light.
“Kol.” I stop, acutely aware that this is the first time you’ve ever addressed me by name. I’m not sure how I feel about the sound of it. Your voice is halting, less confident than usual. “If cooking isn’t the best way to attract the interest of a hunter, what would you say is better?”
I turn to study you. This is a trick question, I’m sure, but I can’t imagine what the trick is meant to accomplish. It doesn’t matter. Last night you were quite direct with me. I won’t hesitate to be just as direct. “Perhaps something more personal,” I say, “like accepting small gifts that are offered without assuming they are meant to buy you. Even if you could gather all that you wanted at home.”
Your lips part and your focus slides from my face; for a moment, you stare into the air, trying to piece together how I came to know the words you used last night. The softness of confusion fades and your features sharpen as you arrive at the only plausible explanation—that I heard you through the walls. As your eyes return to mine they narrow and draw together until a crease appears between your eyebrows.
“You shouldn’t listen at doors.”
“I couldn’t help but hear,” I lie. Still, what difference does it make now? After I raised my spear at you, your opinion of me is clearly unsalvageable.
“You misunderstood my refusal of that gift,” you say. “Maybe my words were too strong, but what I meant was, you can’t purchase a person’s affections. They have to be won naturally.”
Behind me, I hear the clan waking up. People stir inside their huts. I feel the need to end this awkward conversation before there are witnesses to it.
“Well, we have Pek and Seeri as an example, don’t we? They have certainly come to share a mutual affection naturally. Clearly ties between our clans will be forged by those two.”
You drop your eyes and take a step backward toward the kitchen. “I don’t think that will happen.” Your voice, like your eyes, has dropped. You speak so low I can hardly hear you. “They are an impossibility—Pek and Seeri—she is promised to a boy in our clan—one of Chev’s closest friends.”
Your words confuse me, though their plain meaning is clear. Still, it can’t be true. If Seeri is betrothed to a boy in your clan, why would she lead my brother on the way she has?
And why would Seeri be betrothed before you, since she is younger? Certainly your family wouldn’t have looked for a match for Seeri before you were betrothed.
Or could it be that you are already promised, too?
I’m sure it’s obvious how your words have stunned me. I shift the packages in my arms and steady myself on my feet when, without warning, someone knocks into me from behind.
I spin around to find my brother Roon, his face flushed. Though he’s younger and smaller than me, he’s strong and sturdy, and when he grabs hold of my shoulders he upsets my balance and sends three packs of meat tumbling from my arms to the ground.
“Roon! Watch what you’re doing!”
I bend to pick up the dropped packages, which, thankfully, did not unwrap and spill into the dirt. You retrieve one that landed at your feet, and my brother takes it from you and hands it back to me.
“I’m sorry; I just ran all the way from shore. I got up early this morning—very early. I’m not sure that I ever really went to sleep last night. It was as if I could hear someone creeping outside the huts, wandering through the dark. Anyway, when I got up I found nothing, but I could feel something there; you know? It was like the Divine was calling to me. I found myself all the way down on the western shore before the sun came up, and I kept walking until well after it rose. And what do you think I found?”