“It does. It’s the same big family, actually—the Bear lineage.
They have holdings at Red Feather, Wind, and Bear clan grounds. They make canoes just for the Trade. Like so many, they’ve specialized as more Trade develops. When we reach the Wind Clan, we’ll dicker with a fellow I know—a member of the Bear lineage—for another canoe. He’ll get a carved pipe, and when we reach Bear clan holdings, we’ll leave the canoe with my friend’s cousin. For another pipe, we’ll hire men to help carry our goods around the Roaring Water. And there, finally, we’ll find my canoe where I cached it on Wind Lake.
Then it’s just a long paddle home.”
“Wrong. That’s where you will find your canoe for the long paddle. home.” She glanced back to ensure that Silver Water
followed behind her. Her daughter had plucked a blade of grass and was flicking it back and forth. “How did you end up clear on the north side of Wind Lake?”
“It’s as far as I could get from my father and still be among people I understood. I didn’t even really want to make the journey back to the Serpent Clans—but I share the duty with a friend of mine. He’s married to Stone Wrist’s sister, so’it works out well. I do all of my Trading at Buckeye—and have a place to stay. Stone Wrist is a reasonable sort, even if he’s fat and lazy and lecherous.”
“What do you do way up there in the north?”
“We farm, harvest wild rice, hunt, fish, trap, and Trade with the Caribou people, who come down from even farther north.”
“The Caribou people?” She’ glanced up at his broad shoulders and noted the easy grace of his walk. She tried not to think of his slim waist or the rounded curves of his muscular back.
“Migrating hunters who follow the herds. Nomads, mostly.
They live in skin huts that they pack on their backs, or on their dogs. They make beautiful carvings of ivory and bone, and sometimes they skewer their noses.”
“And you can marry their women for a copper ring?”
“Your ears are too sharp for your own good. Actually, I made that up. If Stone Wrist knew the truth about them, he’d be insufferable with his questions about their sexual practices. You don’t need a copper ring. Depending upon the clan and lineage, a man will offer you his wife as a matter of hospitality.”
“How charming.” Was this another joke … or an attempt to goad her?
“Not at all. They are a very practical people. Neither husband nor wife is interested in being charming. They want the seed.
Like I said, it depends upon the clan and lineage.”
“The seed? To make a child?”
“That is the desired outcome.”
Star Shell winced. “It sounds very … well, different.”
“Oh, I don’t think so. Conceiving a child generally means that a man couples with a woman, no matter what people they’re part of. At least I’ve never heard of conceiving a child without the seed being planted inside the—”
“Do you always deliberately misunderstand what someone means?”
He chuckled, stepping high over a root as they entered the shadows of the trees. “Not always, but I’ve worked very hard to become as irreverent as I can.”
“Why? You don’t need to be so flippant. It … it doesn’t become you.”
“I become anything I want—from owls to snails.”
She could see the sparkle in his eye when he glanced back.
“Can’t you ever be serious?”
“I can. You’ve even seen me being serious. But I. don’t like being that way.”
“Anything to be different from your father?”
“Absolutely.” He ducked under a thick, wild grapevine.
“You see, once upon a time I was the most serious man alive.
It cost me my wife, my family, and my soul. The night I killed her, I fled my home like a slinking wolf and ran away into the darkness, pursued by every demon a man can conjure: guilt, rage, sorrow, vengeance, and terror. I had no idea of where I was going, or of how I was going to get there. On the shores of Upper Lake, I stole a canoe—almost went over this Roaring Water that you’re so interested in.
“One day I heard about a clan holding, a tiny place, freshly built on a little lake lush in wild rice. I went there, and they took me in, asking few questions beyond whether I could fight and work. After almost a year, I laughed again, and on that day, I resolved that I would laugh forever.” ‘
Star Shell stepped over a rotting log covered with moss and toadstools. She couldn’t help but admire the crimson moccasins he’d given her. “And you found yourself another woman?”