"So be it. It'll work. The point's the thing, Fox. Got to have that tip sharp so it cuts in. Now, the next thing is the binding. I remember what that worthless man of mine always said. 'Get the hafting too thick, and it hangs up, slows the dart.' Well, at least the old maggot bait could make good darts. But keep in mind, girl, when you haft it, too little binding and the point turns on impact instead of penetrating."
Dancing Fox frowned, sucking at the red slip of skin on her hand where she'd cut herself. It was the bane of all flint knapping; she'd driven a flake deep into the webbing between her thumb and forefinger. About her feet lay a litter of stone chips—including more than one of the long, thin points that she'd cracked during manufacture, striking too deeply into the stone. She lifted the point again and grinned.
"Now," Talon added softly, "you must breathe spirit into the point. That's the key—making it live so it knows it's supposed to drive deeply into the side of the animal, to seek its life. Use all your soul, girl. Sing!"
Dancing Fox nodded, slowly chanting, feeling the Power of her soul as it washed over the dart tip. She clutched the point in her bloody hand, willing herself into the black rock. A warm feeling filled her.
"Now do the binding and the shaft," Talon explained. "You have to get your Power into the whole thing. The point
is only part of the whole. Without a strong straight shaft, the point can't kill. Without the point, the shaft is harmless. The binding makes them one. Then you have to run the grooves along the base and tie the feathers on. That's important . . . keeps the dart flying straight and stable in the air.''
"I never realized how much went into this."
Talon rubbed her fleshy nose. "Think of it like a man and woman. The binding is the marriage to make a whole out of the system. It joins the spheres of Power. Taps the spirits of the rock, the wood, the animal, and the bird. A union , that's Power. Male and female, understand?"
Dancing Fox stared sightlessly at the point. "Like I would be with Runs In Light," she whispered.
"Still can't get him out of your head, huh?"
Dancing Fox pulled long strands of gleaming black hair back from her face, looking longingly to the south. "No, Grandmother, I can't. He fills my dreams, making my nights lonely and empty. I hear his voice, feel his arms."
"Well, it won't be long until Renewal. We'll find him there."
Fox sighed heavily. "I hope so."
"You'd give up your freedom for him? After all this work you've done to learn how to survive on your own?"
Dancing Fox lifted her slim muscular shoulders. "I'd rather survive with him helping me. Is that bad?"
Talon considered, tongue prodding the gaps in her teeth, eyes scanning the darkening sky. A few stars poked through the slate blanket overhead. "To be honest, child, I don't know. Without children, there's no People. But once you've got a baby, you can't hunt like we've been doing. Men are free. They don't have to stay around and look after their brood. Women do."
"Won't you take care of my child for me while I go out to hunt?"
Talon smiled. "Of course I will. But I won't be around forever.''
Dancing Fox nodded thoughtfully. "Well, even without help, there's hunting I can do with a baby. I can still run animals off a cliff like we did that buffalo. Or use a pit trap, like you showed me for the caribou. I can smoke out ground
squirrels, club mice, rob eggs out of nests, and snare hares. I don't have to stalk the way a man does."
"And where's the baby going to be while you're doing this?"
"For small game, I can carry her on my back. For big game I might have to find a safe place away from the jump or surround, then come back and get her later."
"You can do it, that's true." She squinted hard, rearranging all the lines in her ancient face as she studied Dancing Fox. "But consider this. If you go out and get killed by a wounded buffalo while you're hunting alone, then what? You see, that's the real difference. If a man dies, his child is home safe, but if you die when your baby's with you, well ..."
"So I'm stuck with having other people to care for my children while I hunt." She shook her head.
"Or you don't have children." Talon leaned forward, bending over her knees. "And then where would the People be?"
' 'All I want is to love Runs In Light, to be with him. Why do I have to give up my freedom?"
"Because Father Sun made men one way and women another. You tell me, what if Runs In Light walked over the hill just now? What then, huh? How long until you were under the robes with him?"
Dancing Fox lowered her eyes.
"Uh-huh, that's what I thought. That's the trouble, girl. Everything alive has a drive for coupling. It's deep, keeps us going. Man's worse than woman. Always got to stick his spear into you. But a woman—a young woman in love—that's just as bad. And that's how Father Sun made us."