“Well, what do you think?” Mari asked, looking over Sora’s shoulder while she examined the wound in Nik’s back.
“I think the same thing you do—that’s he’s healing remarkably well for a man who was close to death not long ago and who hasn’t given his body time to rest and recoup since,” Sora said.
“This one is a lot worse than the laceration on his leg,” Mari said, reaching down to prod at the pink edges of the nasty spear wound in his back.
Nik sucked in a sharp breath but didn’t make any other sound.
Mari and Sora exchanged a look.
“You can say ouch,” Mari said. “You’re not going to fool either of us by keeping still. We know it’s painful.”
“And we can see that you broke this open recently, too,” Sora added.
“Yeah, but Mari repacked it last night, and it’s feeling a lot better.”
“And yet it still broke open. That’s not good, Nik,” Sora said.
He sighed. “How long before I’m cleared to do what I need to do?” Nik asked.
“This is just a guess, because it could change if you go out and do something stupid and break either wound open again,” Sora said. “But I think five days of rest and you’ll be healthy enough to overdo without killing yourself, though if you want the truth, you should give yourself several weeks before—”
“I like the sound of five days much better!” Nik interrupted.
“And I do mean five full days of rest,” Sora reiterated.
“So, how about we leave at dawn, six days from today?” Nik asked.
“I wish we had longer,” Mari said. “But I really don’t think we can chance it. Thaddeus and the Tribe are going to start hunting us again. Soon,” Mari said.
From her comfortable spot by the hearth fire in the birthing burrow, Isabel looked up from the salve she’d been mixing for Mari. “Early spring crops will be ready to harvest from Farm Island in another week,” she said. “How many generations has it been since the Tribe harvested their own crops?”
“Generations upon generations,” Nik said.
“So, I think it’s safe to say that no matter how much time Nik’s back needs to heal, a few days are all that he has,” Isabel said.
“I don’t want to agree with you,” Mari said. “But I do.”
Nik took Mari’s hand in his. “I’ll be fine, and if I’m not, I know a talented Moon Woman who can heal me. Again.”
“Thank you,” Sora said.
“I wasn’t talking about you,” Nik said.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Sora said. Then all kidding left her voice. “Nik, do you think any other Tribesmen or women will want to join us?”
“I don’t know. I think that will depend on what’s happened with the Council and how they’ve dealt with Thaddeus,” Nik said. “Are you against more of the Tribe joining us?”
Sora moved her shoulders restlessly. “Yes and no. In theory, I don’t mind. Like Mari, my heart says anyone who wishes to start over—to make the kind of change we’ve decided to make—should be welcomed. But I’m worried about what Antreas said.”
“Which part?” Mari asked.
“The part about the long, dangerous journey. Maybe before we allow anyone else to join us we need to talk with him about whether numbers are good or bad on a trip like the one we’re getting ready to take.”
“I hear you,” Mari said slowly. “But I think we have to do what’s right, whether it makes the journey more difficult or not.”
“So, getting our Pack to safety in a new land isn’t what’s right?” Isabel asked.
“It is, but there’s more to it than that,” Mari said. “If we start picking and choosing who is worth joining us, how does that make us any different from the Tribe or the Clan?”
Isabel blew out a long breath. “I understand. I don’t like it, but I do understand.” Then she put the wooden bowl down and approached Mari and Sora, bowing formally to them. “Moon Women, Danita, Jenna, and I would like to request an audience with you.”
Mari blinked in surprise. “Isabel, you and Danita and Jenna can talk with us anytime. There’s no need to be so formal anymore.”
“Hey, don’t be so fast to throw out all of the old ways. Whatever they want to talk to us about is obviously important, and we should treat it with the same respect they’re treating us with in requesting an audience in the traditional way,” Sora said.
Mari gave a small, conciliatory nod. “Okay, I get your point. Isabel, Sora and I grant you and Danita and Jenna an audience. When do you want to talk?”
“Now would be good, but we want to talk in private,” Danita said, coming out of the storage area in the rear of the burrow with Bast and Jenna close on her heels.
Jenna gave Nik an apologetic smile. “No disrespect intended, Nik, but it’s Moon Woman business.”
“None taken,” Nik said. “As soon as Sora reapplies the bandage to my back, I’m going to take my Moon Woman’s advice and plant my butt beside the stream and watch O’Bryan do some more fishing. I may even help him, but not too strenuously.”
“How about I find you there when we’re done here?” Mari asked.
“You, my beautiful Moon Woman, may find me anywhere.”
“Okay, okay, enough, you two. There, your bandage is reapplied. Put your shirt on and get out of here,” Sora said.
“I love your bedside manner, and by love I mean ‘dislike pretty intensely,’” Nik said.
“Just kiss her and go.” Sora gave him a push toward Mari.
Nik kissed Mari softly. “Hey, anything else you’d like me to carve for you?”
“Yes! How about an equine, so we can all see what they look like?” Mari asked, eyes sparkling with girlish eagerness.
“An equine carving for my Moon Woman it is. Ladies, I will see you by the stream.” He bowed rakishly and winked at Sora, who rolled her eyes at his back.
“He’s very cocky,” Sora said.
“He’s courting her,” Isabel said.
“Huh?” Sora’s head whipped around. “Is he? I mean, formally?”
“Yes, he is,” Mari said.
“Great Goddess! I knew it. I told you way back when you wouldn’t let me kill him that he had a thing for you. Are you going to accept him as your mate?”
“I do believe I am. Eventually,” Mari said, lifting her chin even though she could feel her cheeks blaze with embarrassed heat.
“Seems logical,” Sora said. “But torture him for a little while, first.”
“Yep. I think it’s a good idea,” Isabel said.
Mari giggled. “The torturing or the mating?”
“Both!”
“I like him,” Danita said. “I mean, he’s a man and all, but I try not to hold that against him.”
“Danita, maybe we should talk about your dislike of men. They’re not all bad, you know,” Sora said.
“Really? Then why don’t you have one?” Danita asked.
Sora opened and then closed her mouth, cleared her throat, and deftly changed the subject: “What is it the three of you wanted to speak with us about?”
Danita and Jenna sent Isabel pointed looks. Isabel nodded, straightened her shoulders, and then bowed respectfully to her Moon Women, arms spread in openness. Danita and Jenna mimicked her.
“We come with formal petition,” Isabel said. “To ask favor of our Moon Woman. Um, I mean Women.”
Mari stifled a grin and answered with equal formality, “You may rise. Your Moon Women will hear your petition.”
“This Moon Woman, for one, is intrigued,” Sora said, and then added hastily, “I didn’t mean that with any less formality, but it’s the truth.”
“We’d like to be allowed to study Moon Woman practices,” Isabel said.
Mari felt a start of surprise. “All three of you?”
“Yes,” Jenna said. “And I know I wasn’t born with the gray eyes that mark a Moon Woman candidate, but Mari, I believe I could be a help to you. I’ve always wanted to learn more about healing—ever since my mother died so suddenly and so young. You know I used to take care of my dad, even when Night Fever was affecting him. Sometimes it was hard, but I learned a lot about how to care for someone who has a sickness. I won’t have the power of the moon to call on, but I could be an assistant to you and to Sora.”
“But how much healing can you do without drawing down the power of the moon?” Sora asked, though not unkindly.
Jenna answered her frankly, “More with training than I could with no training at all.”
“That’s true,” Mari said.
“I’m drawn to the healing arts of a Moon Woman as well,” Isabel said. “I know Leda chose Sora over Danita and me, and she should have. Sora clearly has been greatly gifted by the Goddess. But that doesn’t mean that Danita and I—and even Jenna—can’t be helpful.”
“I don’t want to weave!” Danita blurted. “I used to think I did and I was even relieved when Leda didn’t choose me as her apprentice, but recently the way I look at things has changed. A lot. Mari, Sora, I want to try to draw down the moon! Maybe I’ll never be good enough to Wash a Clan, or our Pack. But maybe there’s some small piece of moon magick I could find that is my very own. I’d use it to help our people and even the Wind Riders once we get to the plains.”
“We know this is an unusual request,” Isabel said. “But you did say you’d agree to apprentice more than one Moon Woman at a time.”
“Actually, it’s a request that’s never been made before—at least not to my knowledge,” Mari said.
Isabel hung her head. “Yes, that’s what we thought, too.”
“But that doesn’t mean it’s something that shouldn’t be tried,” Danita said stubbornly.
“And Mari, you said it yourself. Our new Clan—our Pack—should be a place of acceptance,” Jenna said. “Well, for us the new start we want isn’t just about accepting different kinds of people into our Pack.”
“It’s about accepting a new way of living and of learning,” Isabel said.
“And of following our dreams,” Danita said.
“But we will abide by your decision as our Moon Women,” Isabel said, and the other two young women nodded in agreement.
“So, let’s get this straight. Isabel and Jenna, you want to study to be Healers?” Mari said.
They nodded.
“And Danita, you want to learn to draw down the moon?” Sora said.
“I want to try,” Danita said eagerly, and Bast added a rolling purr to punctuate the girl’s words.
Mari met Sora’s gaze. Almost imperceptibly, Sora nodded.
“Sora and I need to consider your very important request.” Mari tried to sound as wise and formal as Leda would have. “We will make our decision by dinner hour tonight.”
“Thank you, Moon Women.” Danita, Isabel, and Jenna bowed again and then quietly left the burrow, with Bast trotting after them.
Mari glanced over her shoulder. Lydia and Sarah were sleeping soundly on pallets well across the burrow, and everyone else, even Rigel and Laru, was outside, either resting, like Nik, or hunting and gathering and preparing for dinner. Mari took a seat beside Sora.
“Well?” Sora asked.
“Easiest decision I’ve made in a long time,” Mari said.
“Totally simple,” Sora said.
“But they surprised me. How ’bout you?”
Sora shrugged. “Jenna did. I can’t say the other two were a shock. They’re smart and talented—even if they’re not as talented as a Clan would require for a traditional Moon Woman.”
“Maybe they are, but in a different way,” Mari said.
“It’ll be interesting to find out,” Sora said.
“I never thought life would be this strange; did you?”
“Nope,” Sora said, rearranging Chloe more comfortably on her lap. “All I wanted was to be worshipped and adored as a very fat and very lazy, though still incredibly attractive, Moon Woman,” Sora said with a cheeky grin.
“Well, there’s still time to get fat.”
“At least I have that to look forward to,” Sora said, and the two Moon Women’s laughter filled the warm burrow.
* * *
Dinner didn’t take as long to prepare as Mari thought it would—not with Sora commanding an army of Clanswomen who had Davis’s turkeys and O’Bryan’s trout to cook as main courses and a fresh crop of kale and garlic and onions to add to the fragrant wapato roots that baked to perfection in the coals of the bonfire. Sunset was painting the clouds that had been scudding across the sky all day with blushing colors when Sora finally proclaimed dinner was ready.
Mari called the mixed group of Tribe and Clan and Pack together once again in the little clearing after encircling the space with the oils and salts that would keep out hunting insects. The people waited eagerly for their Moon Women to appear.
“Is my hair really okay?” Mari asked Sora nervously as she tried to keep her fingers from plucking at the blue jay feathers her friend had braided into her short, curly blond hair.
“Yes, but only if you stop messing with them. Sheesh, you’d think you’ve never had your hair properly dressed before.…” Sora paused. “Um, that was inconsiderate of me. You haven’t had your hair properly dressed before, have you?”
“No. I’ve spent all of my life until recently hiding my hair, my face, basically everything that was really me.” Mari looked down at her bare legs. “And are you sure we shouldn’t put on skirts?”
“What did you think last night when you saw me down there in just a tunic?”
“I thought you were beautiful. But you are beautiful, Sora.”
“Yes, I am. And thank you. So are you. There’s nothing wrong with showing our beauty to our Cla—, I mean Pack. And you have Leda’s lovely cloak on. That covers you from your head to your toes.”
“I’m nervous, but I’m not sure why,” Mari said.
“It’s because you’re used to hiding. Think of it like this—once you get used to not hiding, your nerves will go away,” Sora said.
“Promise?”
“No, that’s up to you, but it makes sense. Hey, if you want another opinion, just look at Nik. I’ll bet his teeth will fall out when he sees how gorgeous you are tonight.”
“That’s not a very appealing image.”
“I was trying to be dramatic. You know what I mean. Now come on. They’re all hungry and no one will eat until we do.”
“Okay, okay. I’m ready.” The two Moon Women began to walk slowly down the wide steps that led from the birthing burrow to the clearing beside the stream. Just before they became visible to the people gathered below, Mari touched Sora’s shoulder. “We’re making history tonight; do you realize that?”
Sora’s eyes glinted with excitement. “Yes, I do. We’re doing the right thing, Mari. Your mama would be so proud—of the both of us.”
“That’s exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you.”
Sora patted one of Mari’s curls back into place. “You’re welcome. That’s what friends do—say the exact right thing sometimes.”
“I’m glad you forced me to be your friend, Moon Woman,” Mari said.
“Me, too, Moon Woman,” said Sora. “Forward together?”
“Always.”
As one, they descended into the Gathering. Following Sora’s idea, they were dressed in short tunics that left their legs and arms bare. Freshwater shells had been sewn into the hems of the tunics where they dangled to make music with their every step. Sora had taken special care with their hair. Hers was, as always, a magnificent dark mane that fell well past her waist and was decorated with beads and shells and feathers. Mari’s hair, though much shorter, had brilliant blue feathers braided within it so that it appeared as if she were wearing a beautiful headdress. She’d brought her mama’s cloak from their burrow—and it was draped across her shoulders. The flickering firelight caught the intricately embroidered fabric so that it seemed the birds and vines and flowers were magickally alive. Together, the two young women were as beautiful as they were powerful.
“Our Moon Women! Our Moon Women are here!” Isabel’s voice was the first to take up the cry, but it was followed by a swell of greetings that rolled over Mari like a warm summer rain. All faces turned to them as the canines barked enthusiastically and Rigel, unable to contain himself any longer, sprinted to Mari. She’d expected him to jump up and act like the puppy he still was, but Rigel shared her emotions and he felt her nervousness. Instead of jumping about, he fell in beside her, keeping pace with Mari and Sora and looking regal and very adult.
“Good boy, smart boy. I love you so much!” Mari whispered to him. His tail wagged with happiness, but he maintained his adult demeanor. When she walked he did, too, his shoulder touching the side of her leg. When she paused he did as well, and as he moved with her Rigel flooded his Companion with love and strength and a great sense of unwavering pride in her—and Mari’s nerves dissipated like dew before the magnificence of the sun.
Nik was there, with Laru beside him. He stood in the center of the small group of Companions, with O’Bryan on one side and Antreas on the other with his Bast. As she met his gaze, Nik lifted his fingers to his lips, kissed them, and then bowed his head to her.
There was a confusing flurry of activity at the edge of the little group that clustered around Nik, and suddenly Chloe bolted from her littermates who were nestled beside Fala. Chloe half ran, half waddled to Sora, who bent to scoop her up, but instead of whining and wriggling and begging for kisses, the pup quieted as soon as she was in her Companion’s arms. Chloe lifted her head and gazed out at the gathered people, looking as serious as was possible for a fat, adorable puppy.
“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Sora whispered to Mari.
Mari stifled her grin and nodded in agreement. Up until today Mari would never, ever have even considered the possibility of Sora being chosen by a canine as a Companion, but already the two of them fit so well together that Mari couldn’t imagine them any other way. And it was wonderful to see Sora filled with such happiness.
They approached the center bonfire that blazed high and hot before the reclining image of the Great Mother. As they had practiced when they prepared in the burrow, Mari and Sora lifted their arms together and shouted, “Bright blessings to you all!”
“Bright blessings to you, Moon Women!” the people cried in response.
“Before we eat, Sora and I have two announcements to make, and after that we will ask each of you to make a difficult decision,” Mari began.
“Danita, Isabel, and Jenna, please come forward,” Sora said.
The crowd stirred, letting the three girls through. Mari thought they looked nervous, and she didn’t blame them.
“These three Clanswomen petitioned us earlier today, asking that we apprentice them in the healing arts of being a Moon Woman, as well as the magick of drawing down the moon,” Sora said.
Mari waited until the curious whispering of the Clanswomen in the crowd silenced before she spoke. Then she drew herself up as tall as possible and spoke formally to the Gathering. “Sora and I have considered their request, and we are announcing tonight that we have happily accepted the three of them as apprentices.”
The joy that lit the three girls’ faces made Mari’s heart sing.
“But Mari, Jenna does not have gray eyes.”
Mari looked through the crowd until she saw that it was an older woman named Adira who had spoken.
“True,” Mari said.
“And even though Danita and Isabel are marked by gray Moon Woman eyes, our Leda did not choose either as her apprentice,” Sora said.
“But that was another time. Things have changed since my mama chose Sora,” Mari said. “The Clan has fragmented. The Tribe of the Trees is in turmoil. Our people have been freed from their captivity.”
“And that is just the beginning of our changes,” Sora continued. “Mari and I will keep some of the Clan’s traditions, but we also intend to create new ones—traditions that work for the new world we want to create.”
“Clanswomen, you didn’t know who I really was until recently. I had to hide myself from you. That made me miserable. Except for Mama, I was alone. Had Rigel not come into my life I would have had no will to live after Mama died.”
“And we would have no Moon Woman at all,” Sora said. “We all know the consequences of that. We never want that to happen again.”
“I never want anyone to feel as sad, as alone, as I have felt. So, we have decided to encourage each of you to follow your dreams, even if they are secret dreams you think might never be able to come true,” Mari said. “And we hereby name Isabel, Danita, and Jenna apprentice Moon Women.”
“Do you accept our naming?” Sora asked the three girls.
“Yes!” they shouted in unison.
As the girls smiled and were congratulated, Mari and Sora shared a long look. Sora nodded, and Mari raised her hand. The group fell silent.
“The next change we must announce will be more difficult to hear, but even more necessary. As you know, much of the Tribe of the Trees has been destroyed. Sadly, we do not believe their recent tragedy will change them as a people enough that they will stop hunting and enslaving us.”
Sora let the Clanswomen’s murmurs die before she began speaking. “There are good people in the Tribe. You see several of them here, with us now. But there are also dangerous, angry people who do not want change. Those people will not let us live in peace.”
“They especially won’t let Nik and me live in peace,” Mari said. “So, I have decided that we must leave and make a new home, a new Clan, far away from here.”
“I am in agreement with Mari, and I am going to join her as well,” Sora said.
The Clanswomen erupted in frantic shouts and denials. Sora and Mari raised their hands, calling on quiet.
One broken voice lifted from the silenced group. “But what will we do without our Moon Woman?”
“Come with us,” Mari said. “Join us, and you will not be without a Moon Woman—you’ll have two of us!”
“Are the Companions coming, too?” Another Clanswoman shouted the question.
“Some of them are,” Mari said.
“Then what will we be? A Tribe or a Clan?”
“Neither,” Mari said.
“We’ll be a new group, for a new way of living,” Sora said.
“We’ll be a Pack,” Mari said. She nodded at Nik, who stepped forward.
“I have sworn to be part of this Pack,” Nik said, his voice loud and strong. “O’Bryan, Rose, Davis, Sheena, and Antreas have sworn to join me. And I have agreed to follow the Earth Walker tradition of matriarchy.” His eyes searched his group until he found the young sisters Sarah and Lydia. “It is your choice,” he told them. “You may join our Pack if you want to. If you would rather return to the Tribe, I will make sure you get there safely once the Pack is on its way to a new land.”
The two girls clutched hands and put their heads together, whispering. Then Sarah surprised Mari by addressing her, and not Nik, directly. “If we belong to the Pack, does that mean you will cure us if we get the blight?”
“It does,” Mari said.
“Then we will join your Pack,” Sarah said firmly. “We watched our grandmother and grandfather die of blight. It’s a terrible thing. Something we’ve been afraid of for years. We don’t want to fear it anymore.”
“And our parents perished in the fire. We have no family to return to,” Lydia said. “If you accept us, we will make a new family with you.”
“Our Pack accepts you,” Mari said. Then her gaze moved around the clustered Clanswomen. “And now the rest of you have a choice. Join our Pack and leave to make a new world with us, or Sora and I will help you collect enough supplies to reach the Clan of your choice.”
There was a long, pregnant silence. Then Adira stepped forward. “You want us to leave our burrows where we have lived, loved, and raised our children for generations in this forest we know as well as our own bodies?”
“For your safety, yes,” Mari said.
“Mari, I mean no disrespect when I say this, but is it not true that the Tribesmen will be hunting you and Nik specifically?” Adira asked.
“Yes. That’s true,” Mari said.
“And for the rest of us, it will be as it was before—the Tribe will hunt us, capture some of us, and leave the rest to live our lives in peace.”
Adira didn’t say it as a question, but Nik spoke up in answer. “They may. They may also hunt you harder than they did before.”
“But you don’t know for sure,” Adira said.
“No, I don’t.”
Adira turned to Sora. “Then why don’t you stay and be our Moon Woman? I understand why Mari must leave and it is right that the Companions go with her, but you are an Earth Walker, fully one of our blood. Why not stay here, where you belong, with your true people?”
Sora answered with no hesitation, “Because I want a different kind of world—the kind where we don’t judge each other by Tribe or Clan, the kind where we can be free to be ourselves, the kind of world Mari and Nik want to make together. Adira, for most of my life my only desire was to be Moon Woman for Clan Weaver, but now I want more.”
Adira looked beseechingly from Danita to Isabel. “Would one of you stay? Would you be our Moon Woman?”
Danita’s eyes went wide with shock and she began to shake her head while Isabel said, “No, Adira. We want more, too.”
Adria’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “But where will you go?”
Mari met Antreas’s gaze and nodded encouragement. His voice rang throughout the clearing. “I will lead our Pack through the mountains to the Plains of the Wind Riders and the new world we will build there!”