Ivory and Bone Read Online Free PDF Page A

head bent away from the sound of my voice. The air stretches taut with tension, like the skin of a drum. I continue. “I thought you were gathering. . . .”
    Seeri offers a dim, melancholy smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “What we left behind can’t be seen; what we gathered can’t be carried.” She says this without looking directly at me, as if she’s speaking to someone unseen who’s just beyond my shoulder.
    I’m not sure what to make of this—is it a quote of somekind? A few words of a prayer or chant to the Divine? I think of the words I heard youspeak in unison. . . . Before I can ask, Seeri strides away, leaving me alone with you.
    I stand there, hovering over the place where you sit, for long enough that I begin to think I will either have to speak or walk away. Thankfully, just at the moment I feel I will need to decide between the two, you silently get to your feet. You shoot me the briefest of glances—not really a look , but rathera means of determining where you don’t intend to look—before dropping your eyes to the grass and pinning them there. Your hands move to the pendant that hangs from the cord at your throat, tucking it into the collar of your parka as you step around me.
    “Wait,” I say. “I’d like to talk to you. There’s something I need to say.”
    You keep moving until your shoulder comes alongside mine.
    “Mya, wait.I owe you an apology.”
    You stop. You don’t answer, but you don’t walk away, either, so I take this as a sign that you’re at least willing to listen. I pivot toward you but you won’t even turn your face in my direction— so stubborn —so I’m forced to speak to your profile—your shoulder, your sleeve, the ear you’ve tucked your hair behind.
    “I know that you’re upset with me about what happened, butI never would have thrown at you—you were never inany danger. I wanted to tell you that, and I wanted to ask you to forgive me.” It feels ridiculous to say these words to your left ear. I take a few steps until I’m standing right in front of you. Your head stays lowered, though, leaving me no choice but to speak to the straight line that parts your jet-black hair. “Mya?” The next words are noteasy to say, as if each one is a heavy weight I have to push uphill to reach your ears. Still, I will be the next High Elder, and selflessness and peacemaking are the defining traits of a clan leader. I take a deep breath and continue. “Mya, will you please forgive me?”
    You remain silent so long . . . I have the chance to imagine a myriad of possible responses, each one more full of condemnationthan the last. Finally you raise your head. Your eyes sweep over my face as if you are seeing me for the first time. “You don’t know, do you?”
    Of all the replies I was anticipating, this question was not among them.
    I take this unexpected question and combine it with the cryptic words of your sister—none of it makes sense. My eyes dart from your face to the spot where you and Seeri had kneltin the grass. My mind races to piece things together, to give shape to this formless confusion. In the end I can only be honest. “I don’t understand.”
    You regard me suspiciously, as if you aren’t quite sure that I’m someone you can trust with the truth. “Five yearsago,” you start, “our two clans nearly went to war—”
    “Yes, I know. Of course I know—”
    “But do you know why?”
    Do I? I always thoughtthat I knew the reason why. I was young when it happened, but as I’ve gotten older somebody must’ve told me. “There was a misunderstanding. . . .” I fumble through my memory. Could it be that I’ve never learned the reason? “Something happened that led to violence—”
    “ Something happened?”
    Once again I find myself standing in front of you, grasping vainly for the right words to say. “I’m sorry.That’s all I know.”
    Your eyes narrow; you are assessing me. And it’s clear by your tight lips that the assessment