Kari didn't speak. Tillu sat on the other side of the hearth, facing her. She dipped up two cups of the tea, and offered one dripping mug to Kari. She took it, looked into it, sniffed it, sipped it, and then looked up at Tillu and spoke. 'The night the najd came to my father's tent and spoke, I felt the truth of his words. And more. He spoke of how many of us had no spirit guardian to protect us. I had heard my grandmother speak of such guardians, a long time ago, before she died. Her spirit beast was Hare. He does not seem like much of a guardian, does he? But he was good to my grandmother.
'So that night, I stared into the fire as the najd had and opened myself and went looking for a spirit beast. But 1 saw nothing in the flames, though I watched until long after all the others slept. So, I gave up and went to my skins and slept. And in the night I felt cold, heavy claws sink into my beast.'
She lifted her thin hands, her narrow fingers curved like talons, and pressed them against her breasts. Then she looked up at Tillu. The girl's eyes were a wide blackness.
She smiled at Tillu, a strange and wondering smile. Tillu held her breath. 'The weight of his claws pressed me down, crushing my chest until I could not breathe. The sharp cold claws sank into me. I struggled but could not escape. It grew dark. But when I was too tired to fight anymore, the darkness gave way to a soft gray light. I felt moss beneath my back, and the night wind of the forest blew across my naked body. And atop my chest, near tall as a man, was Owl, perched with his claws sunk into my breasts!'
Her nostrils flared as she breathed, and Tillu could see the whites all around her eyes. The hands that held the wooden mug trembled as she raised it to her lips. Tillu was silent, waiting. Kari drank. When she took the mug from her mouth, her eyes were calm. She smiled at Tillu, a tight-lipped smile without the showing of teeth. 'Then I knew,' she said softly.
Tillu leaned forward. 'Knew what?'
'That I belonged to Owl. That I didn't have to let Pirtsi join with me by the Cataclysm this summer. I am Owl's. When I awoke, I told my dream to my mother, and asked her to explain to my father why I cannot be joined to Pirtsi. It was always his idea, never mine. I never wanted to be joined to any man at all, let alone a man with dog's eyes. But my mother grew angry, and said that a man was what I needed to be settled, for nothing else had worked. So I have come to you. Mark my face and body, so all will know to whom I belong. Pirtsi will not take me if I am scarred. He would not take me at all, except that he thinks Capiam's daughter is a way to Capiam's favor.'
Tillu sipped at her tea, watching Kari over her mug. The girl was determined. In her mind, it was already done. She spoke carefully. 'Kari, I am a healer, not one who damages bodies.'
'Damage? No, this would not be damage. Only a marking, like a notch in a calf's ear, or a woman's mark carved into her pulkor. Not damage.'
Tillu chewed at her lower lip. 'I do not think we should do this thing,' she said softly, and as anger flared on Kari's face she added, 'If Owl had wanted you so marked on your flesh, he would have marked you himself. Is this not so?'
For an instant, Kari looked uncertain. Tillu pressed on, glad for once that Kerlew had nattered on so much about Carp's teaching. She wanted her words to sound convincing.
'Owl has marked your spirit as his. That is all he requires. You need not mark your face to deny Pirtsi. Or so I understood during the time I spent with the herdfolk, when Elsa ...'
'Elsa died.' Kari finished in an awed whisper.
'I understood then that the women of your folk can choose their mates. You have a reindeer of your own, do you not? Are not the things you make yours to keep or trade as you wish?' At each of the girl's nods, Tillu's spirits lifted. 'Then say that Pirtsi isn't what you want. Cannot you do that?''
Kari had begun to writhe. Her fingers clawed at her arms as she hugged herself. 'I should be able to do that. But no one listens. I say I won't have him. They pay no attention. Everyone is so certain that we will be joined at the Cataclysm. It is as if I cried out that the sun would shine at night. They would think it some childish game. They cannot understand that I do not want him; that I cannot let him touch me.'
'Why?' Tillu spoke very, very softly.
Kari's eyes grew larger and larger in her face. She touched the tip of her tongue to the center of her upper lip. She trembled on the edge of speaking. Then, the tension left her abruptly, her shoulders slumped, and she said, 'Because I belong to Owl now, and he tells me not to. Why won't you mark me?'
'Because I do not believe Owl wants me to,' Tillu excused herself smoothly. 'Who am I to make Owl's mark for him? If he wishes you marked, he will do it himself.'
Kari once more lifted her hands, sank taloned fingers against her breasts. 'And if I do it myself?' she asked.
'Then I would try to see that you did not become infected. A healer is what I am, Kari. I cannot change that. Let me offer you another idea. Wait. There is much time between spring and high summer. Tell everyone that you will not have Pirtsi. Say it again and again. They will come to believe you. Tell Pirtsi himself. Tell him you will not be a good wife to him.'
'And if they do not believe me, when the day comes, I will show them that I am Owl's. By the Cataclysm.'
Tillu sighed. 'If you must.'
The girl sipped at her tea, suddenly calmed. 'I will wait.' Her eyes roved about the tent interior. 'You should be spreading your hides and bedding in the sun to air, before you pack it for the trip. Where are your pack saddles?'
Tillu shrugged. 'I have never traveled with an animal to carry my things. I have always dragged my possessions behind me. This migration will be a new experience for Kerlew and me.' Tillu spoke the words carefully, tried to sound sure that her son would travel with her. The old shaman had said he would take Kerlew from her. Kerlew himself had said that he was near a man now, and had chosen to go with Carp. But perhaps he would change his mind. Perhaps he would stay with his mother and be her son a while yet, would not slip into the strange ways of the peculiar old man and his nasty magics. With an effort she dragged her attention back to what Kari was saying.
'You know nothing of reindeer then? You do not know how to harness and load them?'
Tillu shrugged her shoulders, looked closely at the girl who now spoke so maturely and asked such practical questions. 'There are two animals hobbled behind my tent. The herdlord provided them for me. I suppose he will send Joboam to help me when the time comes.' Tillu could not keep the dismay from her voice.
'That one?' Kari gave a hard laugh. 'I was glad when he wouldn't have me. I knew why. He made many fines excuses to my father, saying I was so young, so small yet. As if that ...' She paused and stared into her mug for a breath or two. 'I didn't know my father would find Pirtsi instead,' she finished suddenly. She cocked her head, gave Tillu a shrewd look. '1 could show you. Now, today. Then, when the time came, you wouldn't need help. You could send a message that you didn't need Joboam.' Kari smiled a small smile. 'And 1 could tell my father that I had already taught you, that he need not spare so important a man as Joboam for such a simple task.' There was frank pleasure in the girl's voice as she spoke of spiting Joboam's plans.
Tillu lifted her eyes from her own slow appraisal of the flames. She was beginning to have suspicions of Joboam that made her dislike him even more. She was also beginning to have a different opinion of Kari. The girl was shrewd. As oddly as she might behave, she had wits. And how old was she? Sixteen? 'When I was her age, I had Kerlew in my arms,' Tillu thought to herself. 'And I thought my life belonged to him as surely as Kari believes hers belongs to Owl. We are not so different.' Kari smiled her tight-lipped smile again, a smile of conspiracy that Tillu returned.