Calamity's Child Read Online Free PDF

disturb me."
    "Thank you," he said,
sincerely, and touched her thin cheek.
The heat of their gift consumes them...
he thought, and wanted nothing more than to fold
her in his arms and protect her from that fate.
    "So," said Gineah, and his wife stood,
to attend the grandmother with due respect, and to receive two
medicine pots.
    "Rub the leg with this, morning,
mid-day, night. If there is swelling, three drops of this, in
noginfeil tea. If there is fever, send, and I will
come."
    "Yes, grandmother," Arika murmured,
and tucked the pots into her pouch. She looked down at him
doubtfully.
    "Can you walk?"
    The leg was considerably stiffer,
despite the warmth, but he thought he could walk. "If I can rise,"
he said.
    Gineah held out a plump arm, and Arika
offered a thin one. It took the support of both, but gain his feet
he did, and stood wobbling, arm around Arika's waist for balance,
while Gineah fetched his vest and his spear.
    *
    They made love, their last night in
Dark Camp. After, in the soft silence, Arika snuggled against his
chest, and he put his arms around her. She had gained weight since
they had married, and the tent had improved as well -- in some part
due to his efforts; in greater part, so he had it, to hers. As the
Dark wore on, more came to ask the Finder to locate this or that
misplaced item, animal, or -- rarely -- person. They paid well,
those seekers -- in fur, in food, in good metal knives and spear
tips. He watched her closely, having taken Gineah's words much to
heart, but, truly, she seemed more well, not less.
    "Slade," Arika murmured. "Tell me
about your home."
    He stirred, breathing in the perfume
of her hair. "My home?" he repeated, lazily.

    "Gineah told me that you were not of
the Sanilithe," she said, nestling her head onto his shoulder. "She
said you were not of the Trinari, or of the Chinpha. She said that
you had fallen out of the starweb, and were no ordinary hunter at
all."
    Shrewd
Gineah,
he thought, stroking Arika's
hair;
and really -- what does it
matter now?
    "She said," Arika continued, "that she
expected your tribe to come for you, and held you away from the
Choosing. But when they did not come after two full rounds of
seasons, she sent you forth, for a hunter of the Sanilithe must
live by the law of the Sanilithe."
    Slade sighed.
    "Did you fall out of the starweb?"
Arika asked him.
    What does it
matter?
He thought again. For surely
Gineah was correct -- no one would come for him now.
    "My ...starship... was caught in a
storm," he murmured, which was true, if not factual. "Yes, I fell
out of the starweb."
    "And before it fell? Did you live on
your starship?"
    As much as I was
able
, he thought, and sighed
again.
    "Much of the time. I was ... the
hunter... who went ahead, to find how the land lay, if danger
crouched, or if sweet waters sang..."
    This she understood, the order of
march during the gathering season being: scouts, hunters,
gatherers, tents. She also knew that scouts often took harm from
their duty. She shifted, pressing her body against him in a long
hug, and nestled her cheek more closely against his
shoulder.
    "Tell me about your mother's
tent."
    His mother's
tent
-- almost he laughed. Instead,
he stroked her hair and stared up into the darkness.
    "My mother's tent was...full," he said
slowly. "We lived in -- a permanent camp. It was not necessary to
wander in the Warm Days, to spread ourselves thin so that we did
not strain the land. It was," he said, even more slowly, feeling
his way, "a land of plenty. The camp -- it was called
‘Solcintra'."
    "There must have been many people in
your camp, Solcintra," Arika said after he had been silent for a
time.
    "Yes," he said, "many, many hands of
people."
    "What else?" she asked, and this time
he did laugh.
    What else, the child
asks.
    "Is my question funny?" Arika
demanded, between hurt and angry.
    "Not at all," he assured her,
smoothing her shoulder with his hand. "Not at all. Listen, now, and
I will tell you..."
    And so he