“A trade offering?” Ivy’s smile was huge. The prospect of meeting more Homo floresiensis tribes was thrilling, not least because it could resolve some of her unanswered questions.
“We trade every half moon,” Leihna explained. “There!” She said pointing above her, “That’s the best spot to pick from.”
Ivy looked up. The base of each trunk was surrounded by a thorny tangle of vines, feet deep. There seemed no way to reach the clusters of pale green nuts hanging above. Beside her, Rinap stood with her head back surveying the heights. She suddenly seemed absurdly small.
“I'll go,” Rinap announced casually. The girl gripped her toes and fingers tightly on the rough bark of an adjacent dalunut palm and shimmied up. With a leap she was safely on the branch of the oleos tree, pulling sprays of berry nuts off the branches and throwing them onto Leihna’s head with a wicked laugh. Kyah and Filhia clambered across to join her, bombarding Ivy with handfuls of nuts as well.
Hit! Rain! Kyah signed as she screeched, bouncing on the branch above Ivy. Ivy laughed and tossed a handful of them back up, hitting herself again in the face as gravity returned them. Kyah chortled and instigated a cascade of ripped leaves in retaliation.
With a shout, Leihna tossed a raffia bag up to Rinap and Filhia and before long; it was full, then another and then a third.
“We should take some dalunuts too, so Phren can make more tuak,” Rinap shouted down. Leihna agreed and left Ivy’s side to scoot up a palm, knocking the hard green cases down with sharp blows from her blade.
“What’s tuak?” Ivy asked.
“A drink,” Rinap cut in, landing beside them with a bag of oleos nuts. “The elders like it, especially Krue. The last time he drank so much he climbed a tree and fell asleep up there. Xiou had to pull him down.”
“He had a sore head the next day too,” added Filhia, rolling her eyes as she dropped down beside Ivy.
“He deserved it,” Rinap muttered, ignoring a shove from her younger sister.
A prehistoric hangover. Ivy chuckled ruefully, trying to imagine the ill-tempered old man drunk up a tree. I guess that's another shared trait for humanity.
“Let’s go,” Rinap said. “We still need to pick durian before the trade and I want to be home before sunset.”
“You just want to see Kari before sleeping!” Filhia teased.
The older girls burst into a fit of giggles.
“Maybe I do,” said Rinap, sparkling with mischief. “If he wants to be my mate, shouldn’t I make sure he’s up to the job?”
“You tease him too much.” Filhia pouted. “He'll get trampled by a probech trying to impress you!”
“I don’t tease him,” Rinap’s wide eyes feigned innocence, “I just test him a bit, that’s all. Anyway, Kari should try to impress me. You just wish you had someone to visit before sleeping!”
The youngest girl scowled indignantly. “Perhaps I will soon, you don’t know who I’m watching.” Rinap and Leihna looked at each other, surprised, then lapsed into laughter.
“Well, now we’ll both watch you to find out!” Rinap snorted.
A cloud of self-consciousness darkened little Filhia’s face. She took Ivy's hand and tried to pull her along, rolling her eyes.
“Come Hiranah, these two are stupid,” Filhia said. “We should leave them behind.” Ivy bit back a laugh and nodded gravely to the youngest girl, letting her lead the way.
Rinap was a little firecracker and reminded Ivy in many ways of Jayne. The women of the cave were well aware of Kari's infatuation. When the boy wasn't strutting about hoping to catch Rinap's attention, he was staring moon-eyed from his hearth. He was certainly no match for Rinap’s wiles. Poor boy, Ivy thought. I hope he has his wits about him.
The wretched smell of the spiky green durian fruit was now all too familiar. They collected a half dozen of the larger ones, each over a foot long, while Kyah stuffed her mouth. Leihna showed Ivy how to grate the barbed points on a rock, making them easier to carry.
“I still hate them,” Ivy muttered. She breathed through her mouth for as long as she could to escape the stink.
The girls were met halfway by Phren who had come as escort to the trade. They each carried two woven palm baskets, now heavy with durian and oleos nuts, dalunut, volcanic glass cores and bladders of fermented tuak. Not long after Phren arrived, the girls spotted a beehive. At Rinap’s suggestion, they each threw a spear into a knotted tree to determine the loser. With the poorest aim, Ivy had drawn the proverbial short straw.
Now Ivy crouched precariously on a high branch with Rinap beside her, a shell bowl in one hand filled with dung and a flaming torch in the other.
“Just do it, Hiranah! You’re so big that you don’t even need to stretch!” Filhia encouraged.
“We have more than enough to trade already,” countered Phren from far below. The old woman shot a warning look up at Rinap. “You girls will carry her home if she falls.”
Leihna failed to hide her amusement behind her hands. Rinap was outright laughing.
“Just keep staring at them Hiranah, eventually your face might scare the bees away,” Rinap said. Ivy gave her a solid nudge with her elbow. Rinap’s endless taunts about Ivy’s appearance were a running joke between them. Rinap surveyed the cone-shaped beehive dangling above Ivy's head and took a dramatic breath for her audience below.
“Even a baby like Turi could do this. But I suppose if you’re scared…”
Ivy shot Rinap a glare.
“Never!”
A swarm of guard bees buzzed around the entrance to the hive, colourful and alert. Inside, the older bees worked, unaware of the threat, but more venomous by far. Below, Leihna and Filhia cheered Ivy on while Phren frowned.
“Be brave, Hiranah!” Filhia called. The littlest girl’s positivity at the outcome far surpassed Ivy’s own. Rinap leant in close, one hand stabilizing Ivy’s wrist and the other curled around the branch beside her. Her features and voice softened uncharacteristically.
“I won’t let you fall,” Rinap said, squeezing Ivy’s wrist gently.
Ivy smirked. “You’d better not. If you do, I’ll tell Kari I heard you singing about him again.”
“You would not!” Rinap exclaimed. Ivy winked at her, leaving Rinap frowning in confusion.
“Hurry up!” yelled Leihna from below.
“Alright. Ready. Now!” Ivy lit the bowl of dung into flames then dropped the burning torch down through the branches into Leihna's waiting hands. She sprang up, balancing on her toes. Ivy blew the heavily smoking dung as forcefully as she could into the hive. The guard bees were hoodwinked. The smoke dulled their senses, circumventing the release of pheromone alarm odours to alert their venomous brothers to sting. Instead, the older bees instinctively gorged into the honey, pacified with the sudden urge to fill their stomachs in case a fire ruined their hive and forced them to build another. Squinting through the smoke, Ivy fingered the sticky mass inside. With a grimace she pulled out large combs of dripping honey and dropped them into Rinap’s bowl. The stunned bees were brushed off and returned to their hive.
“Ha!” Ivy descended victorious, sticky and smelling thoroughly like dung. She winked at Rinap and tapped her gently on the nose. “And who doubted me then?”
Rinap grinned and pulled Ivy’s face down to rub against her own forehead affectionately. “I knew you could do it.” She let Ivy go and raised her voice, “You’re still big and ugly though!” She ducked Ivy’s hand and ran ahead, cackling.
The walk was long but passed quickly as the girls chatted. They headed steadily north-east. Ivy glanced at Filhia, who showed no sign that her heavy baskets were a burden. Ivy shifted her own uncomfortably. Rinap caught Ivy’s eye with a reassuring smile and disappeared in a protective sweep of the surrounds. If there was an ambush by the karathah, they would be forewarned.
When they arrived at the fringe of a small clearing, Ivy quickly retreated, scanning the hazy undergrowth ahead. The prospect of coming face to face with more ho
bbits was exciting, but she knew how intimidating she looked. She’d wait for Phren to make introductions first.
“Where are they?” Ivy asked.
“Gone. They will return at the mid morning sun,” Rinap said.
In the centre of the clearing, a wide, flat stone was already piled with woven bags and gourds. The girls milled around the stone while Phren inspected it. Salt. Shellfish. Fruit. Fish. Bone plates with ornamental grooves. Ivy had noted that, with the exception of Phren, none of the hobbits wore ornamental jewellery. Comparing the marking on the plate, to those on the beads around Phren's neck, she realised that the jewellery was from the other tribe.
“It is an acceptable trade” Phren announced finally. “Let us see if the others agree.”
Ivy unloaded her bags onto the stone. The women retreated to the cover of the forest to wait.
“Why are we hiding?” Ivy asked.
“It’s a silent trade,” Leihna explained. “We take our goods to the offering stone and leave it for them. If the other tribe have already left theirs and it's fair, then we take it and it's done. But if we think our trade is worth more than theirs, then we leave the stone untouched and they will add a new offering. If they want more from us, we add to ours. And so it goes on until both tribes feel we have equal value. When we are happy with it, we take their offering home, or they take ours.”
“So you never see them at all?”
“Well…” Leihna twisted her long toes into the grass. “We don’t always leave straight away. Sometimes we stay to watch.” Rinap and Filhia listened to the exchange with restless feet.
“I don’t understand why you don’t speak to them. They could help you -” Ivy started. Rinap choked on a scoffing laugh.
“You’ll see why, Hiranah. Just wait,” she said.
To pass the time, Kyah drew lexigrams in the dirt. The girls copied her. They already recognized at least fifty of the signs Kyah used to communicate. Ants bit at their toes in the mulch, their food trail disturbed and broken. Slow minutes passed and the insects eventually dispersed, punctuated and harassed by Kyah’s prodding finger.
“They’re coming.”
Ivy looked up, through the veil of forest in front of her into the clearing.
Homo sapiens. Two young women stepped from the northern tree line. Ivy sucked in a breath and tried to scramble for her spear.
“Karathah!” Ivy hissed. The girls pulled her back to the ground.
“It’s alright, Hiranah,” Phren hushed. “We’re safe. This is women’s business; it always has been.”
“What?!” How could such a contradiction exist? Why trade with the Homo sapiens that multiplied so prolifically, stealing their forest and food? Not only that, but why risk another brush with the violence that had marred their recent history? “But they’re dangerous,” Ivy hissed, “and Krue hates the karathah!”
“Krue isn’t allowed here, he is a man,” Rinap said. “Besides, the karathah girls never even see us. It’s a silent trade.” She shook her head, as if stating the obvious. If Rinap shared any of Ivy's concern, she didn't show it.
Ivy was astounded. She looked at the karathah girls again. I haven't seen another human for three weeks. At least, one that reaches past my waist…
Clothes. Although Ivy shouldn't have been surprised, she had grown so accustomed to the near-nakedness of the hobbits, clothes suddenly seemed a novelty. The karathah women’s hide wraps were longer than the hobbit girls’ and better crafted. Ivy guessed Shahn had used them for inspiration in making Ivy’s more modest version of her own utilitarian one. The women themselves were tall and lithe. Their dark brows were painted red and shells tinkled as they moved. Decoration. Symbolism. The beginnings of art unfurling across the globe. Ivy fought back the urge to approach them. Humans. No, there were other humans here too. Homo sapiens. Although these women felt so fundamentally familiar to Ivy, it was actually their kinship to her that was their biggest threat.
“I just don’t understand,” Ivy whispered. “Is it really necessary to put yourself at risk like this?”
Phren's fingers found the string of beads hanging from her neck and rolled them gently between her fingers. “We women have traded with the karathah women for a very long time. It is only the last few seasons that their hunters are coming into our territory and becoming violent. Something’s changed.” Phren closed her fist tight around her necklace and looked at Ivy, resolute. “This is a risk, but a necessary one, Hiranah. It’s better for us to bring them what they need, than to give them a reason to come looking for it. This way, we keep them away from the oleos grove and Home River. Besides,” Phren said, trying to pull her arthritic back straighter and lifting her jaw, “We can’t hide from them forever. If we have any hope of survival, the karathah must see us as equals. At least when we trade, we have that.”
Ivy frowned and shifted her arm, surreptitiously breaking their thought connection. Homo sapiens have no equals.
The karathah women moved confidently around the stone. Neither could be more than eighteen years old. The taller girl with long black hair ornamented by strings of turquoise feathers began gathering the bags, apparently deeming the trade acceptable. Once done, they disappeared back into the trees.
“Let's leave,” Phren said. Rinap, Filhia and Leihna skipped to the stone and began to fill bags.
Ivy followed the girls into the open glade, carrying Kyah on her hip with her spear in her free hand. Kyah’s long arms twisted affectionately around Ivy’s neck.
A terrified scream shattered the forest. Then a second wail that continued over the first, sending birds screeching in fright.
Ivy spun around, her heart racing as she sought the danger. She reflexively hugged Kyah close to her body as Rinap appeared beside her with a spear held high. She pointed.
The two karathah women were crouched, frozen, in the shadows. Their mouths gaped in horror and it broke Ivy’s heart just a bit when she realised they were staring directly at her. The screams began anew. Ivy stumbled back in shock. They’re terrified of me.
The youngest karathah woman scrambled to her feet and tore away into the tree cover, leaving the other to fend for herself. For the briefest moment, the taller girl hesitated. She was alone. The azure feathers in her hair floated against her lips as she stared from Ivy across to Filhia. Even across the distance between them, Ivy saw concern and fear for the littlest hobbit girl in her eyes. But when she turned back to Ivy, the woman’s face blanched. She took in the bonobo’s body connected to Ivy's hip then wailed a string of babbled words and began scrambling backwards through the ferns.
“No! Please!” Ivy cried, running toward her. But the hand Ivy raised still held her spear and the woman with blue feathers shuddered even more violently at the sight of her. She screeched again, struggling for her footing as Ivy tossed her own spear to the ground, still running.
Petrified at the sudden turn of events, Kyah exposed her teeth in a grimace of fear and arced violently backward in Ivy's arms trying to escape. They bent together, imbalanced, as Ivy tried to support her weight, like a twisted, two-headed beast.
The sight was too much. The karathah woman launched up from the ground with heaving breaths, tripping and flailing in her desperation to escape. A wisp of blue feathers and the girl was gone.
Orrin pushed through the glass doors of the Social Sciences building. The memory of Ivy’s amulet, dirty and cast aside in a specimen bag, brought a feeling of lead to his stomach. But he was sure it was hers. So if it existed, so did she. And he had a plan.
He rounded the corner past the small university museum, sidestepping a display stand of tribal masks. He was hammering on the door of the Archaeology Residue Laboratory within a minute. Orrin paused and took a deep breath, remembering his last confrontation with Jayne. Pull yourself together. You need this. The security keypad by the door lock ensured he would never get it without her help.
“Hang on,” a voice called. A bench stool scraped across the linoleum and the door ope
ned revealing Jayne’s sunny face. When she saw Orrin, the smile dropped instantly.
“I don’t have time for you,” Jayne said, pushing the door closed again. Orrin shoved his foot in the crack, jarring it open. She looked at him angrily.
“Please Jayne, wait -” Orrin pleaded, “I’m really sorry about the other day. It wasn’t like me at all - I swear I’m actually a socially acceptable person. Or at least I used to be.” He smiled as sincerely as he could. “I just want to talk for a minute. I need your help… your professional opinion. You can leave the door open - and I’ll go as soon as you ask me to, I swear to Jaysus. Please?”
Jayne looked at Orrin doubtfully, eyeing the busy corridor. She sighed.
“Okay, I suppose if there are witnesses to your insanity,” she said. “Although I’ve already told you I don’t know this Ivy or any chimp, so I don’t know what help I can give you.” She retreated to her bench and sat down. Leaving the lab door wide open, Orrin dragged a chair opposite her and took a deep breath.
“Right. Here’s the thing. What I’m going to tell you will sound nuts.”
“You don’t say.”
“No, I mean, I honestly thought I was a header until last night. But you can prove me sane.”
Jayne raised an eyebrow. “Unlikely. But go on,” she said.
“Okay, it’s like this,” Orrin said. The woman I’m looking for, Ivy, she used to work in this lab. Up until last week, I swear she used to work right here, on these stone tools from Flores, with you.” He noted Jayne’s pursed lips and tight eyes. “I know, I know, you’re the only one working on these tools – please just hear me out.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t know what went wrong, but she’s gone now. It’s like she never existed. She worked here for eight years and there’s no sign of her anywhere. I’ve been through every journal article, every dissertation, every reference to work she mentioned. She even told me about you Jayne, she told me about your supervisor, Professor Ellermy.”
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