Dream of a Vast Blue Cavern

Interlude 3: Maia

Khell, seventeen Summers before

 Overheated by the dense tangle of sleeping bodies, Maia crawled out of the furs, oblivious to the complaints of the other children she tread on. Once she was out, she was almost immediately cold again, but she did not care to re-immerse herself in the suffocating furs. She was restless after months in the egla. The wind howled outside, beating against the thick walls like an attacking tribe. 

 The Liathua had reached the Doaltooth Mountains well ahead of the worst of the winter storms. They set up a permanent camp of sturdy ice egla, nestled on the leeward side, the boareal snuggled in a pile in the pens for warmth, several families together in each egla, sharing fires and stories. Maia lived in the egla of three small families, and she and the other children piled together like the boareal, along with the sled-doal, all under one big hide. No one would have guessed that she was to be given in the next tithing while they would be protected.

 Part of her welcomed the sacrifice. Antahua, healer of the Liathua, had condemned her, telling the others that she was bad for escaping while her whole tribe was taken. In the eyes of the Liathua, being given to the Dhuciri in the tithing was no less than she deserved. It would right a wrong, restore balance to the lives of all Khell. Her sacrifice was not just to save the life of one of the other children snuggled against her, but to save all Khell. Or so the healer said.

 There was no way of knowing when the next tithing would occur. Chief Lubar, Hakua's father, had expressed his hope that it would not happen until next summer, when the skies were clear, the dark birds could be seen from far away, and the Liathua had more captives from summer raids to offer. If it happened during the winter storms, the birds would be obscured, the Khell would not be able to hide until it was too late, and they would only have Maia to offer in the place of one of their own. Maia secretly agreed with the Chief. A summer tithing would give her time to convince Hakua to plead for her, and it would give her more captives to hide amongst. If there were enough new captives, perhaps she would be spared.

 The Liathua traveling camp had been busy, not sleepy and almost dead as this winter camp was. Every morning before the sun they rose and packed everything they owned, tents, hides, weapons, all on the backs of the sluggish boareal and on sleds dragged by teams of doal. They were moving, Hakua told her, from their summer camp at Pebble Beach to their winter camp, snug in the southern Doaltooth Mountains. The mountain range she had been hugging when they found her was the northern reach of these Doaltooth Mountains. All day, every day, they traveled over snow and ice. Maia usually walked, but they had replaced her tattered moccasins with good, thick, traveling ones. Sometimes different riders would swing her up on their boareal and she would rest.

 Her life was so close to normal that the ache of losing her family and everything she’d known began to dull. She did not forget her mother’s face, but it no longer turned to dust every night in her dreams. Her fear of the Dhuciri did not diminish, but she no longer saw them in every shadow. She was allowed to sleep on furs in various tents, fed when there was food, and played with other children as she had in the Nuambe camp.

 Often when she walked, Hakua would escape his father's eye and scamper beside her. Hakua had become her friend in spite of his father's objections. His father was the chief, and Hakua, eldest of his brothers, would be chief when his father took his ice-journey. The chief of the Liathua was too busy, Maia soon realized, keeping the camp organized and planning the summer raids with his brothers, to keep a firm hand on his son. At first, Maia encouraged Hakua’s attention out of the understanding that he could speak for her and save her from the tithing. In time, though, it grew to more than that. While there were many children to play with, only Hakua’s efforts could bring a true smile to Maia’s lips. She loved him as a brother, though he was also as irritating as only a brother could be. He was only one winter younger, but he often acted much more childish. Especially when he spoke of being chief.