People of the Lakes(239)

She felt that way, why shouldn’t he?

He’d seemed so uneasy after waking with her in his arms.

Was it something she’d done? Said?

Buck up, Pearl. Stop being a fool. Only an idiot expects a man to take care of her. Like Grandmother always said, it’s not in their nature, so start taking care of yourself. She took a deep breath, steadying herself. It had to be fatigue driving her crazy.

Yes, that was it.

“The young woman’s heart was broken. She couldn’t break the bowl. She had to do something. She walked to the doorway … and threw the bowl up into the sky. High. So high that it caught up there, and we can see it still.” Which is a lesson for you, Pearl. No matter how kind this man seems, no matter how you enjoy that twinkle in his eye, you must not expect anything more from him.

“It’s a sad story,” Otter told her.

“Yes, it is.” She turned ‘ rearranged the packs so she herself could paddle. But then, Trader, life is full of sad stories.





Thirty-seven




Star Shell knew where to look for her father as they crossed the eastern side of Starsky City. They paralleled the bluff overlooking the muddy water of the Plying Squirrel River. Ahead of them, a group of people stood in a knot, huddled under rain-soaked blankets and capes.

In defiance of the rolling thunder and the misty rain, a number of engineers worked with their strings and pegs. Star Shell couldn’t ferret out the meaning of all the measurements, lines, and angles, but she understood the construction process. What able body, born and raised at Starsky, didn’t?

She, Silver Water, and the Magician had walked down from the ridge trail at first light. The night had been spent with a young couple—members of the Fast Squirrel Clan—whose holdings stretched up a small tributary creek south of Duck River. From them, Star Shell had learned that Starsky would be building a new earthwork, construction to begin at the close of the summer solstice ceremonials. And, of course, that’s where her father would be.

Star Shell had draped her blanket over her head for protection against the misty rain. Her worn and stained moccasins were already soaked from the wet grass. Silver Water, too, used her blanket as a watershed. Her little fists—shiny with moisture— clutched the blanket firmly. Tall Man walked bareheaded, beads of water adding silver to his tight hair bun.

“You Flat Pipe people amaze me,” the Magician said as they walked through the wet grass. “How much more can you build here? What will you do? Cover the entire world with mounded earth?” She smiled grimly. “Stargazer would be appalled.”

“He said that people forget too much,” Silver Water re558 Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear minded them solemnly. “After a few tens of years, nobody knows why things work the way they do.”

The new earthwork would be a semicircle on the terrace above the confluence of the Flying Squirrel and Duck rivers. A series of paths had been worn between the terrace and the sloping banks of the river. Traders generally landed at this place.

But only the Star Society knew whether that had anything to do with choosing the location. Similarly, only they could determine the shape of the earthwork to be built there.

Once the determination was made, the Elders of the Star Society went to the clan leaders, and the project was discussed in an open council. Then, if the people agreed to construction— for whatever reason the Star Society offered—the engineers would be called in to translate the vision of the Star Society into reality.

Star Shell now observed a step in that process. The outline of the proposed earthwork had been established with pegs and string. The engineers were good at that sort of thing. They carefully guarded their knotted measuring ropes, pegs, and cords, along with the secrets by which they figured angles and distances.

After the pattern had been laid out on the ground, a course of stones was placed to mark the outline. Then the strings were taken up. In the following months, the Star Society astronomers made celestial observations from the site, ensuring that the orientation was precisely correct. Perfect alignment often necessitated several rearrangements of the stone courses and recalculations by the engineers. On occasion, squabbles over the details had become severe enough to split societies, and, on extraordinarily rare occasions, whole clans.

When both the engineers and the Star Society were satisfied, the clan leaders—such as Hollow Drill—were called in. They represented the necessary labor.

As any leader knew, coordinating people had its own endless list of potential troubles. Was the planting on schedule? How many bodies could be spared from clan duties for the construction?