People of the Owl(122)
She shook her head as though baffled. “It’s just a feeling.”
“A feeling?” Night Rain shifted, glancing covertly around the room. “What happened the day that you and Salamander were gone? Remember? The day you left me the bladderwort?”
Pine Drop smiled slightly, then her perplexed look returned. “It was …”—she seemed to be searching for the right word—“ … fun.”
“Fun? A day with Salamander?”
Pine Drop raised her hands and dropped them. “You can’t understand.”
“That’s drilling the bead in the center. You’re right, I don’t understand. I think he’s about as much fun as a lump of mud. He hasn’t so much as broken a smile since we’ve been married. He’s a dupe, Pine Drop. People laugh at us behind their hands. I can’t wait until Uncle says the time is right to divorce him. I just thank the Sky Beings he hasn’t crawled into my bed for nearly a moon.”
Pine Drop’s lips pinched. After a long pause, she said, “How does it make you feel now that he’s spending his time with that Swamp Panther and not us? I mean, doesn’t it bother you that he prefers the companionship of some wild barbarian to ours?”
“Eats Wood says it’s the same woman White Bird captured during the raid at Ground Cherry Camp. The one who escaped so mysteriously in the night. Remember? She took Red Finger’s canoe? He says it’s a Swamp Panther plot, that she came here to do something terrible to us in revenge for what we did to her and her friends.”
“Eats Wood is an idiot.”
“Well, so is our husband.”
“Is he?” Pine Drop wondered. “I’ve heard Uncle and Mother talking about it. About this marriage. They want to believe like Eats Wood, that it is some terrible plot hatched by Owl Clan with the Swamp Panthers to hurt the clans, but they are both worried they might be wrong.”
“How so?”
She shook her head. “Think about it. Wing Heart has lost her souls. Any action Water Petal would take is instantly challenged by Moccasin Leaf. The fight between the lineages has paralyzed Owl Clan. Salamander is the Speaker, but everyone thinks he’s a fool.”
“He is.”
Pine Drop ignored her. “Nevertheless, this fool now has an alliance with the Swamp Panthers, and Owl Clan receives a canoe load of sandstone every moon.” She gestured around, pointing.
At every location at least one, and generally several pieces, of sandstone were lying on the packed clay floor amidst pieces of wood, leather, and stone. The material was essential to Sun Town. The finishing of most stone tools and all woodwork depended on the abrasive quality of the sandstone. Anything that needed to be smoothed or fitted had to be ground, and Swamp Panther sandstone was the perfect abrasive. She opened her other hand, showing Night Rain the piece of sandstone she had been grinding the ocher on.
“Sandstone will not return them to authority,” Night Rain declared. “Snapping Turtle Clan now occupies that position.”
“We’re not on top yet. Thunder Tail has been given leadership of the Council. But for us the vote would have been unanimous.”
“Give Uncle several more moons, and we’ll be on top. Just wait and see.”
Pine Drop asked, “Did you know that Deep Hunter detailed men to kill Jaguar Hide? Our husband managed to delay them. Somehow he kept Saw Back’s party on the Turtle’s Back just long enough so that Jaguar Hide escaped into the channels. Salamander baited them, confused them, and the Swamp Panther got away. Deep Hunter was furious. He stalked back and forth in a rage for a whole day. He still can’t understand how he was thwarted, but he exiled Saw Back to Yellow Mud Camp for four moons.”
“Delayed how?” Night Rain was curious for the first time. “Saw Back is a really a handsome man. He’s Alligator Clan, and, well, you know, I’ve been thinking that after we’re through with Salamander, he’d make a fine husband.”
Pine Drop gave her a sober look. “You’d better hope he can placate his Speaker. That, or, assuming we are ever ‘through’ with Salamander, you had better plan on enjoying your life in Yellow Mud Camp.”
“Having a man like him to share my bed, I could stand the climate over there. I’m surprised that he didn’t just ignore Salamander. Everyone else does.”
“Perhaps, but Salamander talked Saw Back out of fulfilling his Speaker’s orders. And Deep Hunter blames Saw Back, not Salamander.” She seemed to retreat again, lost in her thoughts.
“You’ve been preoccupied ever since he married that barbarian.” Night Rain shook her head. “It’s not a disaster! It frees us! Think, Sister. Why does he need us? He’s got her, a barbarian, for a wife. That makes him more of a freak than he already is. I think we should ask Mother and Uncle to get us a divorce.”