Call Down the Stars by Sue Harrison

Author:Sue Harrison [Harrison, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical
ISBN: 9780380726059
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2000-05-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

QUNG WAS NAPPING AS she often did during the middle of the day. When else could a storyteller sleep? Most people wanted to hear tales during the long twilight of summer nights. Daughter sat near Qung’s oil lamp, crimping seal flipper boot soles with her teeth and thinking about being wife to a River man. When her fears seemed too large, she pulled Ghaden’s face into her mind, his smile, and then the tight ache in her belly eased.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice calling from the top of the ulax. It was K’os. Daughter set down the boot sole and climbed partway up the log, whispered to her mother that Qung was asleep.

“I have fireweed leaves made into tea. Would you like some?” Daughter asked.

K’os waved a hand in refusal and said, “I have something to tell you.”

Even after many years away from her own people, K’os was much more River than First Men, direct in her way of saying things, without the quiet joy of shared food or tea.

K’os climbed into the ulax, and Daughter put away the boot sole, squatted beside the oil lamp, and waited as her mother took off her parka and sat down.

“Your father has accepted a brideprice for you,” K’os said, and she did not seem concerned about what Daughter thought or how she felt. “The man is Ghaden, and he is a hunter.”

“So I have heard,” said Daughter, leaving her mother to guess whether she meant she had heard about Ghaden’s hunting or about Seal’s choice. “I will miss you.”

“You think I would let you go by yourself and live as wife to a man I do not even know?” K’os asked. “I am a better mother than that.”

Daughter’s relief was so great that she had to close her eyes against the burn of tears.

“And Seal?” she asked. “What does he say?”

“He is a good father,” said K’os, but she looked away, as though she were embarrassed at making the claim. “He promised that we would spend a year with you. That way he will have opportunity to trade with the River People and perhaps the Caribou. While he trades, I will teach you River medicine so that you will not only be wife among the River People but also healer.”

Questions filled Daughter’s mind, but her throat was so thick with gratitude that she had to drink from her cup of fireweed tea before she could find her voice. “After that year you will return to our island?” she finally asked.

“Most likely,” K’os said, “but a year is a long time, so we will wait and see what happens.”

Daughter wanted to ask if she might return with them, but why request a promise that her mother might not be able to keep? Instead she thought of all the good things that come to a woman when she is a wife—her own ulax, children, and a man to share her bed. She thought of Ghaden’s smile and the kindness that shone from his face.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.