The Mender

Adding Notches

Despite the horrifying discovery in the cave, Zura, Dagan, and Esri slept soundly during the night, each in their staggered turn. By honoring the Others' passage back to earth, it took away some of the terror of what the Violent Ones had done.

Zura, as usual, rose well before Sun-Man returned, watching for the Travelers. Angry Snake now stretched far across the sky, more brilliant every day. If the Travelers were indeed returning, Spear-Thrower should be coming soon.

The three walked on for many days, following every bend of the River of Life. Twice more they found the remains of Others. Once, the remains bore signs of brutality by Violent Ones, and again, the three covered what was left of the bodies and sang their songs for the End Days.

At the other remains, there were no signs of violence, only one body, now largely decomposed, lying beside a fire long cold as if that person was the last of their group to survive the Ash Rain. Dagan found several lightly buried bodies a short distance away. The people in the bode likely perished soon after the rains began. Zura, Dagan, and Esri buried the body that remained and again sang the End Days songs.

"Will that be how it is for one of us? Tending a fire alone with no one to help us on our journey back to the earth spirit. No one to sing the End Days songs over our body?" asked Esri. "We have come so far and not found Others to be with. Why do we keep going?"

Zura spoke sharply to Esri, "Sun-Man is warmer. Moon-Woman is brighter. The River of Life is bringing us food and now Spear-Thrower has returned. These are not our End Days."

Dagan said, "I'm not stopping until I find a buffalo to hunt. And a big cat for a fine fur blanket."

Zura softened her tone to Esri, "It's time you started a new song. You haven't for a long time. You used to make many songs for things as small as an ant carrying a grain of sand. Surely with so many new sights each day and the signs of so much returning, you could make endless songs."

Esri pulled out the Sun-Man Stick and carved another notch. "I might need another Sun-Man Stick before our walk is over." She sighed and offered Zura and Dagan the smallest of smiles, "All right, yes. I will begin a journey song today."

From then on, each morning when Esri added another notch to the many-notched Sun-Man Stick, she added a little more to her song. The days were hard but she could always find at least one good moment from each day.

The three travellers were encouraged by the small changes they saw in the world around them, and by Zura's positive radiance, Dagan's warm strength, and Esri's journey song. There was no denying that many days were tough. Food supplies ran low at times but they always managed to find something to eat, plants, roots, fruit. They were thankful that much of the plant-life still looked familiar though the terrain was new.

Dagan saw it first, "Look, a Huti bird."

"Where?" asked Esri.

Dagan pointed.

Zura laughed, "Ah, that's wonderful. If the birds are returning maybe soon we can sing about eggs."

"And I hope soon we will sing about big animals," said Esri.

"Yes, we need their strength," said Zura. "They will come back too."

One morning Esri awoke and saw that Zura was still sound asleep. Dagan was already up and busy organizing for that day's walk. It was not like the older woman to be the last one up. Esri gently nudged her, "Zura, Sun-Man has begun his day."

Zura barely opened her eyes, slowly shook her head, and closed her eyes again.

Esri rubbed her hands across Zura's face and neck. Zura had taught her that one of the signs of someone being unwell was if their body gave off extra heat. Indeed, Zura felt disturbingly hot. "Dagan, Dagan, Zura is sick. She cannot move today. We need to take care of her and make her well."

Esri and Dagan spent the day hovering over Zura, bringing her food and water though she had little interest in eating. They cleared away and fixed up their sleeping spot to provide a more comfortable place to stay for a while. Neither wanted to think about what it meant if Zura didn't get better.

"We need to make a small fire and use some of Zura's healing plants to make a tea for her," said Esri.

"Yes, we'll make a small fire, just enough for the tea," said Dagan.

Zura slept for most of the day. She woke the next morning feeling a little better though not well enough to continue.

Esri and Dagan were enormously relieved. Dagan told Zura, "Tomorrow you may feel much better, but we're not moving. You need to build your strength. And then the next day we'll only walk a little."

"Yes, no matter what you say, we're not moving," Esri insisted. And Zura finally agreed. Esri turned to Dagan, "Let's build Zura a small Thinking Circle."

The next day, Zura was much better. She got up in time to greet Spear-Thrower and positioned two sticks in the small circle to provide an alignment to where Spear-Thrower came up on the horizon.

Several times during the day, Zura sat rocking and chanting in the makeshift Thinking Circle, placing a few more stones here and there as she followed Sun-Man.

Esri quizzed Zura, "I thought we were leaving tomorrow but the Thinking Circle gets filled with more stones every time I look."

Zura laughed, "I know it's foolish to fix this Thinking Circle but at least for one day, I can use stick Guideposts to find Spear-Thrower. I miss our Thinking Circle. I'm glad you and Dagan made this for me."

Esri sighed, "And I miss our bode. The only things I know now are yours and Dagan's faces. In our bode, I knew everything, every sleeping place, where to get hammerstones, spear stones. And I miss how things were before the Ash Rain, when you and the other Skywatchers used the big Thinking Circle and Sky Bones to tell us when and where to hunt, find roots and plants, catch fish, sing to Sun-Man and Moon-Woman and . . ."

Zura broke in, "We don't have that anymore. Someday, you'll be in a new bode and you'll know it better than our old one. We'll build a new Thinking Circle and I will teach many Skywatchers, anyone who wants to learn. And you'll still have Dagan's and my faces." She stroked Esri's cheek.

"And you'll still stop me from being sad," Esri hugged the older woman. "I'm glad you're well again, Zura."

"And I'm glad to hear your songs again." Zura saw Dagan walking toward them, "It looks like Dagan has trapped something."

Dagan grinned at the two women and held up a brown rabbit, "She's not large but her meat will make us strong. We'll make a fire long enough to cook her."

The last night at their temporary site, they had a good story-telling and singing night. The relief of seeing Zura back into her old form made them happy and animated and with full stomachs from the rabbit, they all slept soundly through the night.

In the pre-dawn, Zura, Dagan and Esri awoke at that same time, likely from the same sound. A group of Others, hunting spears poised in their hands were standing a few feet away from them. Their faces were wild and angry.