Great Sky Woman Read Online Free PDF

exhausted by the time she and her escorts returned to Great Earth, but that was the Ibandi Way, the Way she had inherited from her own mother and teacher, Night Bird. The Way she taught to her own students and daughters.
    “Ah! I know this one!” she said, eyes bright, as another mother offered her naked, squalling babe for blessing. This baby’s face was shiny and wet from crying, his eyes reddened, little lips stretched tight, dark gums shiny. “I knew your father. Threw your father’s name! This one will be strong, but a rascal. And this one…”
    A fourth naked bundle of squirming arms and legs was offered. Stillshadow pressed her lips against the girl’s smooth, warm forehead. She looked slantwise at the child, fuzzing her vision until she could see the life-glow. “This one’s fire is clear,” Stillshadow said. “She will be a great beauty, and men will break bones wrestling for her hand. Watch her carefully—she is sweet enough to draw leopards from beyond the horizon.”
    Break Spear’s broad brown face split in a smile. “Bring Stillshadow water and meat. Welcome her to the boma.”
    So she ate baboon with relish, and pretended to enjoy the zorilla meat, nibbling until she could tuck the rest into the fire pit. Then the villagers displayed dances learned in their recent dreams, and she devised songs and shadow-play to accompany them. As the day wore on the tribe gathered around Stillshadow, all other work and play coming to an end. Finally, the newest baby was brought before her, displayed on the ground upon a yellow eland skin.
    The old woman paused as the infant sprawled before her. The long walk and profligate sharing of
num
had taken its toll at last. Her eyes watered as she peered at the newborn. The hairs at the back of her neck began to itch. Just fatigue? Or was there something different about this one?
    She closed her eyes.
    In her waking dream she saw his future. He was slender, strong but not tall. His running and jumping were not particularly good, but there was something odd about his
num…
the fire about his head was brighter, clearer than she had ever seen.
    He jumps with his thoughts, not his body.
    What?
    Her mind spun. Such images, such thoughts, were unknown to her.
    Now he was running. Leaping. Over…what?
Dead water.
He was being chased by a man with a spear. A man he knew and loved. Then he stood still, the heaviness in his limbs saying that he was prepared to accept death. There was steam and fire and…
    And terrible, terrible cold.
    She blinked her eyes open. What was that vision? Great Mother, she was tired. Strange. Such vivid sights usually came to her when a girl was destined to be a dream dancer, a sign to convince her mother to let the child journey to Great Earth. Boys competed fiercely to catch Break Spear’s eye, that he might nominate them for hunt chief. Only rarely did she have insights into their future status.
    But this one…there was something strange about him.
    This, she knew, was a great moment, a moment that would shape the boy-child’s life, the Circle’s life. Either now, in this ritual, or at the Spring Gathering, every Ibandi child came before her to be judged. She needed to peer into his
num
-fire, the glow that flickered around the edge of his body when she slanted her eyes just
so.
It was important for her to inspect the hands and feet to see if those eyes had yet winked open. Reading these signs would tell her things she needed to know, but for the life of her she found it difficult to read this boy. His seven eyes were dim, nothing special….
    But his head. The crown of his head. Such fire!
    So
bright.
    A devastating wave of fatigue clawed at her suddenly, rooting all the way to her marrow. Was that natural? Or a demon seeking to cloud her inner eyes when she needed them most?
    “This one is strong,” she said. “Very powerful…”
    She peered into his tiny brown eyes. She saw something, felt her own questions and uncertainty, but made a