Bonesetter 2 -Winter-

by Laurence E. Dahners

  He turned back to the spokes he was cutting and mused, I should be grateful that Boro’s decided he’s interested in learning how to work leather. At least I don’t have to do that. He glanced at Pell, I’ve got to ask him to teach me what he can about Panute’s leg. I’ve got to take advantage of the only one who’s actually healing a broken bone.

  Yadin slipped silently along the path, keeping Pell’s mother Donte and the boy Falin at the limits of his vision ahead. They’d walked away from the cave earlier and, wanting a chance to talk to Donte again, Yadin had followed. At first he’d thought that their leaving together was merely coincidence, but it soon became obvious that they were traveling together. Each carried an empty basket as if they were women out to gather, though that left Yadin wondering if something was wrong with the boy. As they got farther from the cave, he began to worry that they might encounter a predator. Neither of them carried a spear, though he suspected that having a spear in the boy’s hands wouldn’t do them all that much good if wolves attacked.

  At present, they were climbing a switchback trail up the side of the ravine to the plateau above. Not wanting them to look back and see him, Yadin paused beneath a tree to watch. There’s just something about the way she walks, he thought to himself, unable to tear his eyes away from her ascent. She wore furs and leggings, so it wasn’t like he could see and be attracted to her bare skin. The way she moved though, so smooth, each step so graceful… it reminded him of something…

  Ah, of course… her son.

  Pell moved gracefully like his mother. Yadin wondered what Pell’s father had been like. Was he a great hunter like Pell? Though Yadin hadn’t yet heard of any amazing hunting feats by Pell, anyone who could throw rocks like that young man had to be highly accomplished.

  Donte and Falin gained the plateau and a moment later, Yadin started up the switchback trail behind them. He wondered why he was going to such great lengths to keep them from seeing him. At first he’d been waiting for Falin to turn off on whatever his errand was, so that Yadin could catch Donte alone where he hoped…

  Well, he wasn’t really sure what he hoped for… except to spend some time with her while no one else was around. This is crazy! I’ve barely met her. I hardly know her, yet I’m following her around like some callow youth!

  Nonetheless, Yadin continued on up the path. Reaching the top, he looked around, to see Donte and Falin just disappearing over a small rise in the distance. There wasn’t much of a trail, but Yadin could see by some flattened grass where they’d gone. He started following them. He hadn’t been up on the plateau since he’d left the Oppos. He looked off into the distance at a herd of some kind of large animal. Even squinting, he couldn’t quite tell what they were and wished for sharper eyes like some people had.

  Yadin didn’t worry that he couldn’t see the two people he was following. It wasn’t like he could lose track of them up here on the plateau. Though it was chilly, there was bright sunshine and his furs kept him warm enough to enjoy the day. It wasn’t a bad day for traveling he realized and hoped Agan didn’t ask him why he was still hanging around this evening after he’d said he was waiting for better weather. He crossed the rise where he’d lost sight of Donte and Falin, but still couldn’t see them. Feeling a little worried, he stopped and looked around, shifting his spear from his left to his right hand. He looked down. He could see grasses and small bushes that had been pushed aside recently, so he felt relatively certain that he was still on their trail.

  Yadin started walking again, his head swiveling as he looked around. Suddenly, Falin stood from behind a small stand of bushes. Donte popped up next to him. “Yadin? What are you doing up here?”

  “Um, I came to see what the plateau is like here.” He shrugged, trying to look blasé, “Turns out it’s much the same as the plateau over near the Oppos.”

  “I see,” she said, giving him a little smile that made him feel completely transparent. “Well then,” she waved a hand around them, “we found a little patch of barley over here. As long as you’re up here, you want to help us harvest some?”

  Yadin blinked, taken aback by the supposition that a hunter like himself might participate in gathering barley. For a moment he considered protesting that he was in the midst of something manly like scouting the herds farther out onto the plateau. Then he realized he’d wanted to spend some time with Donte and this task would accomplish his goal. “Um, sure… You’ll have to show me what to do though.”

  Soon Yadin found himself gathering a bundle of barley stalks in one hand and using a knife in his other hand to cut the stems. Donte had him lay the stalks down with the seed heads all facing one direction. Once they had cut all the barley in the little patch, they began gathering the stalks into bundles they wrapped and tied with other stalks. Then they stood the sheaves upright so they leaned against one another. He’d always imagined the gathering that the women did was physically undemanding, but after they’d been at it for a while he changed his mind. Next he started worrying that the other hunters would learn that he’d been doing women’s work.

  When they’d stood all the sheaves, Yadin realized they had quite a lot of them and began to worry that the next step would be to carry them back to the cave. Instead, Donte brushed herself off and started back to the path. “Um, what do we do with…” he waved, “the barley?” he asked.

  She glanced back at it, “We leave it here for a few days to dry. Then we’ll come back out here and thresh it on a large skin.”

  Yadin had vague knowledge that “threshing” involved beating the seed heads to separate the seeds from stems. He thought to himself that he should have known they wouldn’t carry the entire sheave back to the cave when they could just bring the seeds themselves. “Ah,” he said, turning to follow her. “That makes sense.” They’d been walking quietly for a few minutes, when, in order to make some sort of conversation, he said, “That was interesting. I’ve never even watched the women harvest grain before.”

  She gave him a sly smile, “Back when we were a tribe of three, Pell insisted that there were no ‘men’s’ or ‘women’s’ tasks. He’s determined to learn how to do all the things that women do.” She shrugged, “He’s also been teaching me his new method of hunting.”

  That’s crazy! Yadin thought to himself. After a moment, he said aloud, “That’s… interesting. How does his hunting method work?”

  She grinned at him, “You know we can’t tell you until you have Agan’s permission!”

  Yadin shrugged without embarrassment, “I thought it was worth a try.” After a pause, he said, “How did Pell come up with the notion that men and women should know how to do each other’s tasks?”

  “Actually, it started when he was all by himself, you know, after the Aldans cast him out. “When you’re a tribe of one, you absolutely have to do both men’s and women’s tasks if you’re going to keep yourself alive. He thought one of the reasons he was going to die was because he had no idea how to do the things that women do, especially gathering the foods that come from plants. He managed to find some tubers just pulling plants up randomly, but he was really glad when Tando and I joined him so that I could teach him more of the women’s lore.”

  Yadin found himself completely startled by this possibility. He’d always assumed that if he was ever on his own he could take care of himself unless he got hurt. But the only times he’d actually been on his own, say on trips, he’d carried along the fruits of women’s gathering in the form of pouches of grain and a few tubers. He thought that he could hunt well enough to keep himself fed with meat, but everyone knew that people who only ate meat eventually got sick.

  Yadin hadn’t said anything in response while he thought through this, and Donte apparently wondered what was going on in his head. She said, “Do you think that’s crazy?”

  From the tone of Donte’s question, Yadin had the feeling that if he did think it was crazy she’d lose respect for him. He shook his head, “Sorry, I was just realizing that, although I t
hought I could take care of myself if I was all alone, I might not be able to do it for very long because, like Pell, I really don’t know how to harvest any of the roots, or grains, or fruit.” He shrugged, “I do know that if I only eat meat, I’ll get sick.” He turned and gave her a little grin, “So, now that you’ve taught me how to harvest barley, I’ll be self-sufficient.”

  She gave a little laugh, “You know how to harvest sheaves. You don’t know how to thresh grain or how to separate the seeds from the chaff. And, after that, you have to get the husks off the seeds.”

  “Oh,” Yadin winked at her, “I guess I need to follow you around for the next few days learning how to do all the women’s tasks, eh?”

  Donte gave him another of her sly smiles, then turned her eyes back to the front. After a moment, she said quietly, “That’d be okay.”

  They kept walking. After a moment, Falin said, “Yadin? Can you teach me how to knap flint?”

  “Sure, what did you want to know?”

  “I think I need to learn everything. We don’t have any real flint knappers at Cold Springs, so I’ve never seen anything knapped except hand axes. I don’t even know where to find flint!”

  Yadin smiled to himself at the thought that this young man wanted to learn “everything.” But to Falin he just said, “There may well be some flint around here. It’s found in limestone like these cliffs we’re about to climb down.” They’d reached the edge of the plateau and they started down the switchback path. Yadin waved his hand to either side of the path and said, “Keep your eye out for nodules. Maybe we’ll find a piece you can practice on when we get back to the cave.”

  Yadin pointed out a medium-sized nodule of flint as they descended the switchbacks so Falin would know what to look for. After that, he kept quiet, but felt pleased when Falin found a small nodule of his own. The boy missed a number of others, however Yadin didn’t point them out to him. The boy would be on the switchback again someday in the future and if he truly became interested in flint knapping, it’d be an object lesson for him to realize how many nodules he’d failed to see the first time.

  As they walked out into the clearing in front of the cave, they were all startled by a loud “snap” from one edge of the clearing. Their eyes, drawn in that direction, saw a rock pigeon flailing about in the air as if caught on something. It reminded Yadin of a flying insect caught in a spider’s web. For a moment he wondered if some kind of huge spider lived in this area, one big enough to catch birds.

  As one, they turned to go see what had happened.

  Before they’d taken their first step; Pell, Tando, and Woday were rising from the ledge outside the cave and beginning to trot across the clearing toward the pigeon. Consumed with curiosity, Yadin sped his own steps a little, but, not wanting to look like someone who had no clue what had just happened, he didn’t actually begin to run.

  Tando got to the pigeon and twisted its neck. Yadin had the distinct impression that Tando purposely positioned himself to block Yadin’s view of what Tando was doing. By the time Yadin arrived, the men had turned back toward the cave. Tando held up the bird and said cheerfully, “Look, we’ve got a pigeon to go with our fish for tonight’s dinner!”

  Curious, Yadin turned back to where the pigeon had been, wondering just what had happened. There was a small sapling with the branches trimmed off of it standing there. It had a leather thong tied to the top of it. There was a stick dangling from the thong. He studied it for a moment without gaining any idea just what had happened to the pigeon. He turned after the men and said, “How… What… what happened to that pigeon?”

  Tando turned and gave him a grin. Then he uttered words Yadin had by now heard often enough that they were starting to get really irritating, “You’ll have to ask Agan if we can tell you.”

  That evening, the tribe had their food portioned out to them by Ontru, who’d led the cooking. Woday quickly got his helping of stew and a chunk of fish, but then stood uncertainly. He wanted to sit next to Pell so he could ask if Pell would teach him about Panute’s leg. Shifting from foot to foot, he tried not to make it obvious that he was waiting for Pell to take his seat so that he could sit next to him. When Pell stepped up to be served by Ontru, Woday positioned himself where he thought he’d be able to quickly move to wherever Pell chose to sit.

  Suddenly, Woday realized that Gia had taken a seat next to her grandmother, Agan. Surely Pell will sit next to Gia, Woday thought, beginning to move that way. A circumspect downward glance showed Pell’s feet moving toward that open space. Woday took another step that way and as Pell settled into position next to Gia… Gurix, the girl who’d arrived with Tando and Ontru, slipped in to sit on the other side of Pell! The girl hadn’t seemed to move quickly, so to Woday it almost seemed like she’d appeared in the spot Woday’d been angling for through some supernatural power.

  Frustrated, Woday decided to sit next to Gurix since it seemed his next best choice. As he stepped toward that place, he glanced at Gurix wondering why she was sitting next to Pell. Maybe I could ask her to move over so I could sit there. I could tell her that I had some questions for my Master. Then Woday saw Gurix look up at Pell… with adoring eyes. She’s got a crush on him! Woday suddenly realized. Further, he realized that if he asked her to move, she’d probably do it, but would hate him for making the request.

  Woday seated himself next to Gurix, head spinning. He’d had the impression that everyone expected Pell and Gia to be formally mated next summer. Could he be wrong about that? Or could it be that Gurix didn’t know they were planning to wed? Or… could Gurix be hoping that she could usurp Gia’s place in Pell’s heart?!

  Gurix was nattering on to Pell about something. Wondering whether she knew that Gurix coveted Pell, Woday looked at Gia. He saw to his amazement that Gia was watching the younger girl chatter with an expression that Woday thought showed amused affection! Why, he wondered, isn’t she furious?

  Pell responded to Gurix’ questions, though Woday paid little attention to the subject of their conversation. He ate his fish, thinking that it was good, but not as good as the two fish he’d cooked the night before. At first he took some pride in his fish cooking skills, but then realized that the difference might have been the salt Gia had given him to flavor his fish. The excellent stew apparently contained the pigeon they’d trapped as well as some porcupine. Porcupines were slow and easy to kill with a spear, but they were difficult to skin. He wondered who’d done that scary job. Probably Manute or Deltin, they seemed to go hunting every day. Besides, having been with them, Woday knew that Pell and Tando hadn’t gone hunting. Yadin had been gone for a while, but he’d come back while the snare had been catching the rock pigeon and Woday knew Yadin hadn’t been carrying a porcupine carcass.

  Since Woday’s experience with cooking the fish had been positively reinforced by the compliments he received for it, he found himself much more interested in how the stew had been prepared. It was particularly good and he wondered whether it’d be too embarrassing to ask Ontru how she’d cooked it. Because of the flavor, Woday thought that Ontru probably put garlic and onion in the stew along with whatever grains and chopped roots she’d added. He wondered if she’d also added some salt.

  Woday felt a touch on his arm and turned, hoping that Pell wanted to talk to him. Instead he saw that Pell had turned to talk to Gia. Gurix was the one touching his arm. “Your tribe was the Falls-people, to the west, right?” she asked.

  Woday nodded, realizing Gurix was pretty. If Gia hadn’t been so unusually attractive, Gurix could have been quite a threat.

  “Your people live on the main river and eat a lot of fish?”

  “Yes, we’re called the Falls-people, because there’s a big waterfall there. We probably eat more fish than we do land animals, even though fish are harder to spear.”

  Gurix frowned at him, “Why’s that?”

  Woday explained how you had to aim your spear below the fish to actually hit them. He got the impression she didn’t really be
lieve him, but was merely listening to be polite.

  At least, he thought, she hasn’t asked me if I’m any good at spearfishing.

  Yadin sat next to Donte for the meal. Shortly after he’d taken his place next to her, Tando sat on the other side of him. He was wondering how to start a conversation with Donte, when she leaned forward and spoke to Tando. She lifted an eyebrow, then said, “I got Yadin to help harvest some barley today.”

  Yadin felt embarrassed, but Tando slapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hah! We’ve got you doing women’s work! Welcome to Cold Springs!”

  Yadin shrugged, “I’d never harvested grain before. It was interesting,” he laughed, “and, a lot harder than I expected.”

  Tando looked curiously back at Donte, “I thought the grain harvest was all done?”

  Donte said, “Yeah. It’s pretty late and a lot of the seeds have already fallen. Falin and I went up to explore the plateau and see what there was to be seen up there. When I saw a small stand of barley that still had quite a few seeds, I thought it’d be a shame not to harvest them.”

  Tando glanced at Yadin, then back at Donte. “So it was just you and Falin?” He grinned at Yadin, then turned back to Donte, “How did Yadin happen to be there to help you with your harvest?”

  Donte gave Yadin another one of her sly smiles, “Oh, he just climbed up on the plateau to look around, see if it was the same as the plateau over by the Oppos.”

  Tando laughed and elbowed Yadin, “See anything up there that you liked?”

  Yadin had thought he was too old to blush, but he felt a little heat rising his cheeks. He cut his eyes to Donte as he said, “Maybe.”

  She grinned back at him.…