Ember of a New World (6 page)

“We should dance before we eat. Remember River Breeze last harvest? I've never seen someone eat so much
before dancing!”
Blo
s
som said.

“...and she was doubled over
for half of the night afterward,”
Kan
ter added.
Ember rounded both of them beaming a smile at each.

“Who cares what we do? We need to have fun while we still can. Don't you see? This is the last night I am still just a child. In a few seasons from now both of you will be in my place. We should just let
go... just for tonight.”
To this proclamation,
Blossom gave Kanter a sly wink.

“I think you're on to something. W
ho knows where the wind blows,
” Blossom exclaimed.
Kanter stared at Blossom with a co
n
fused and slightly hopeful look. She knew what he wanted, but she would let him dangle as long as possible. Blossom's
unquenched
temptations had started as an essential act, for uncoupled women di
d
n't have children often, but now it had become a sort of sport. Ember gave her a knowing look and shook her head.

During the early part of the night, the tribe danced, ate, and made merry throughout the festival area. Ember, Blossom, and Kanter joined the dance to twirl and move to the natural beats of hide and gourd drums, sound sticks, and singing. As Ember twirled and bounced, her tunic flowed like a great storm around her body, tossing this way and that. Many of the people had come in their best outfits, but none rivaled Ember and she knew it. The point was made nearly immediately after she started dancing when a girl with long blonde hair, Yellow Flowers, came face to face with Ember.

Hate filled Yellow Flower's eyes instantly at the sight of Ember's impressive attire. Yellow Flowers was to become a woman tonight as well and was generally thought to have the best chance at choosing her partner. She was, in effect, the premier woman of the event. E
m
ber was considered attractive by her people's measure of beauty, but she was not glamorous nor was she flashy. Ember's beautiful dress and overly expressive body paint were too much for Yellow Flowers to accept! Ember was stealing her role quickly as she danced in a whirl of feathers, beads, and the flashy appeal that only a dress made of s
tring could attain.

Yellow Flowers was completely outraged, and to make matters worse, there were several young hunters from other tribes here t
o
night, as well! Her clothing was revealing and of high quality, much like Ember's, but just not unique enough to set her apart. The sight of Ember's tunic sent her into a frustrated anger. She threw her hands aside and walked from the dance with her latest
boyfriend
following closely be
hind.

“I didn't mean it Flowers!
Whatever
I did I d
idn't mean it...
”
the confused boy said as he raced after her.
Ember and Blossom laughed as the boy, about Kanter's age, chased after Yellow Flowers making things much worse with his lack of understanding. Kanter watched the whole spectacle and realized that he would never understand women.
He surmised that Yellow Flowers had left the dance for a reason other than her date. That was all he, or
any other male, could deduce.

Gods, please grant me the strength to handle them and the cou
r
age to keep my mouth shut, for they make absolutely no sense
, he said to himself as he watched Blossom glide over to him with an odd
ly sly look.

The dancing continued for a good length of time afterward, and became more and more formal as time progressed. Special dance moves and lyrics were used as each member of the tribe who danced geared their collective dancing towards pleasing the Gods. At a sp
e
cific time, everyone in the dancing group fell to the ground or genuflected, as was part of the act of the song. Ember fell to the cool ground laughing and laid still for a moment with her eyes closed. When she opened them again, she was staring dire
ctly into a sky full of stars.

For a brief moment, Ember was struck by the beauty of those mysterious points of light. Her people called them the eyes of the Gods. As she looked, Ember thought she saw a star appear and vanish leaving a short streak of light in its wake. As she looked on, she didn't see anything like it again. Ember closed her eyes once more and held them shut for a moment until she heard people laughing and standing. She opened her eyes and quickly looked to ensure that all of her tunic had made it. Above her, she thought she saw another streak, but her attention was taken by a blue feath
er.

Not but a few hand lengths away, a blue feather had fallen. E
m
ber touched the feather and pulled her hand back suddenly as she thought she had seen a snake! The “snake” turned out to be a root pr
o
truding from the ground. Ember snatched the feather and stood aside, out of the way of the dancers as they resumed their joyful festivities, and fastened it back into place. As she got ready to stand, she felt two eyes boring into her. Ember, still on her knees, slowly turned to come face to face with little Fox. Fox blinked her blue eyes at Ember. S
he smiled and pointed at Ember.

“A root scared Ember! A root scared Ember!” With that Fox ran off making fun. The encounter was quite strange, though slightly amusing to Ember.

Children...
,
I was never one of those...
, Ember thought.

As the dance began to wind down, the Elders came forward to perform rituals. The Elders were half a dozen old men and women who controlled the tribe in an executive fashion. Each Elder was
elaborately painted and decorated in their best clothing. Each sported various necklaces and other jewelry indicating special merit and st
a
tus. The leader of the tribe wa
s a wise old man named Aurochs. He now
walked forward with a semi-serious grin on
his face.

The animal
Aurochs is a large and powerful cow or bull which some tribes actually kept and bred for food.
The man
Aurochs was barely like a cow, more like a bull, being quite muscular and impo
s
ing. Aurochs had the look of a powerful and authoritative hunter about him. He wore a wolf pelt over his back like a cape and a thick and
well-constructed
leather shirt. His legs were wrapped in leather leggings with a flax breechcloth. All-in-all, Ember though
t
Aurochs over dressed for the occasion, but that was the way of the mighty A
u
rochs.

Ember knew better;
she
had secretly watched the mighty warrior Aurochs as he knelt on the ground and played with his
granddaughter
. She had a little rabbit fur doll, and the two of them had played for a short while. Aurochs used most of his size and powerful frame to keep those inline who needed a good enough reason or to force the hand of reluctant traders. In most affairs, Aurochs would defer to the other Elders and merely back their decisions. This powerful but am
e
nable disposition had seen him rise to the leader of the tribe.

Among the other Elders in the group was Na Na, or Blue River, her real name. Na Na wore a fine flax shirt and skirt with beads set into the cloth at varying lengths. The clothing was dyed pale blue. Blue circles had been painted down Na Na's arms, the tribal symbol for unity and strength. Around her neck, Na Na wore necklaces with various important Gods and spirits. Na Na smiled at the sight of E
m
b
er and gave her a little wave.

The Elders entered the circle around the fire, walking around the dance area where the edge of light radiating from the fire faded away, several times while chanting. Each Elder held a ceremonial stick adorned with feathers. As the Elders chanted, they slowly walked around the fire in
a
large swinging radius from the center. They screamed and chanted driving out the evil spirits and other nasty things which might hamper a proper ritual. During this time, they were cheered on by the tribe. After the prolonged and loud circu
m
navigation of the dance area, one of the Elders, Dark Rock, approached the old
est female Elder, Morning Dew.

“We have walked the dance with p
ure moves. Is the dance clear?”
Dark Rock asked, to which Morning Dew entered a thoughtful
pose. After a moment, she began to walk around the dance area mo
v
ing her hands this way and that way as if feeling for bad thoughts or sp
irits.

“She never finds anything bad
,
” Blossom whispered to Ember.

“That's because your cousin Frog scares everything off
,”
Ember replied nodding at a board looking boy not far from the Elders. His name wasn't “Frog”, but many thought that he somewhat sounded like
one and so the name had stuck.

After a moment
,
Morning Dew looked back, as much at the trib
e as at Dark Rock, and yelled,
“The dance is clear! Let the ritual be
gi
n!” To this the tribe let out nearly 170 breaths as one. Rituals were always a scripted affair with thanks to the Gods being given the same way and with the same speeches by Elders each time. Ember wondered if the Gods might one day become bored with the repetition and find somewhere else to
go. East had explained to Ember
when she was a child that the Gods cared about form and intent and less about the exact words. Ember knew that this was not a view held by all tribes and that some tribes considered their survival to be contingent upon perfection of the ritu
als.

The Elders gathered in a circle around the fire and bade the hun
t
ing dancers come forward. Within moments, the Elders and the fire were encircled by dancers holding favored weapons dancing in time with a fierce beat. The weapons were carefully wielded to prevent a
c
cidents and some were not even true weapons, being ceremonial entirely. Given a correctly performed ritual, the coming cold season would be full of fresh game and warm hides. Ember truly didn't u
n
derstand why the Gods required so much over some simple deer and game, bu
t that was the way of things.

The affair was not without humor. Some of the smallest children wore little rabbit or bird costumes as they ran around the outside of the fire area. The costumes were merely rabbit pelts or a reed co
n
struct of feathers with small and quickly constructed ears or beaks. The hunters had trouble dancing as they laughed at the little children bounding around in such funny costumes, making noises to-boot. Ri
t
uals were based on intent more than action. It was said by the Elders that the Gods knew your intent better than you did and that the actions you took were not as important as the will to make them. For this re
a
son, the child
ren playing and the little err
s and accidents during the ritual were laughed off and not considered dangerous to the entire event, though rituals were taken extremely seriously in many ways.

The most important parts of rituals were readings and signs. A pronounced sign or vivid reading could not be ignored, especially if the Gods were to look favorably on the tribe this cold season. The Gods had not called for anything to be given to them or any special tasks in a long time, but the tribe still offered the coming-of-age tasks, a task each newly created adult must perform, as a quasi-offering to the Gods. A poor harvest or harsh cold season could devastate the tribe and people could die, especially the old and the young. This was especially noticeable when the average life expectancy
was less than thirty
harvests
.

“I wonder what task they will give you?”
Blossom commented.

Kanter smiled and whispered loudly e
nough for both girls to hear.
“I heard from a trader two harvests past, and he looked truthful too, I can tell... anyway, I heard him say that a tribe to the far south sacrificed a person each harvest for good crops! I hea
rd they took the blood and...”

“Be qui
e
t
Kanter. Ember doesn't need anything to worry about. Be
sides, we
don't do such things,
”
said
Blossom.
After a short time, the hunters left the area and those with spiritual business came fo
r
ward. There were couples seeking blessings for a child, a man seeking healing for an injury, and finally those to be joined. The Elders pe
r
formed minor rituals for each
of the people who came forward.

For the couple seeking the blessings of a child, the woman to b
e
come pregnant was touched by each of the female Elders, as well as other women nearby. The stomach of the woman was painted with a deep ocher paint and seeds were placed into the thick ocher. For the injured man, Na Na came forward a chanted as she applied a coating of mud to his wound. It was known that fresh mud could cause death, but when boiled with magic ingredients, the mud actually aided in healing. Ember suspected that the magic ingredients were the real re
a
son and that the boiling and the mud were just for show
.