Ivory Carver 02 - My Sister the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

grandchildren," said Chagak, lifting her head so Samiq saw the tight set of her jaw. "She needs to be away from Gray Bird. He beats her." 
    Samiq rubbed a hand across his forehead. Yes, who did not know that? But a girl belonged to her father, and he could beat her, kill her, if he wanted. 
    "I think she will be safer now, if Gray Bird knows he can get something for her, sealskins or oil," said Kayugh. "I will tell Gray Bird that Amgigh will not take a woman with broken bones." 
    "Amgigh will be a good husband," Samiq said, and his voice sounded again like the voice of a man. It would be better for the girl if she were in this lodge, and even though Samiq wanted her for himself, he would rather see her with his brother than given to some hunter who came to their beach with skins and meat to trade. 
    Samiq stood. "I will go outside and watch for Amgigh." 
    His father nodded but Samiq saw him lift his eyebrows in question to Chagak. Samiq climbed from the ulaq. He squatted in the grass that grew in the sod of the roof. 
    To hunt the whale, the greatest of all sea animals. What hunter would not feel his spirit grow large and boasting at the thought of taking such an animal? Yes, he had  the better share. After all, any man could take a wife, become a husband. Very few could learn to hunt the whale. 
    Samiq fixed his eyes on the sea and watched for Amgigh's ikyak. He thought of whales, huge and dark, thought of their breath spouts flowing high, and would not let himself think of Blue Shell's daughter, would not let himself feel the ache in his heart. 

FIVE
    BY THE NINTH DAY, BLUE SHELL'S DAUGHTER HAD finished all the belts and had woven a gathering basket as well. That evening she would return to her father's lodge. Chagak had once told her about the woman's ceremony Chagak's parents had held for her after Chagak completed her first bleeding. In those days, a girl had to live alone for forty days after her first bleeding. Then there were feasts and gifts. 
    But when Chagak's daughter Red Berry had come to her first bleeding, the men decided that this new village on Tugix's island was too small for one of their women to sit idle, weaving only belts and baskets for forty days. They borrowed a custom of the Walrus People: only nine days alone, only nine days to weave belts and baskets. As Big Teeth said, "Were not Kayugh's own parents once Walrus People?" 
    Blue Shell's daughter had heard Chagak's protests: Why take the chance that spirits would be angry? Why take the chance that hunting would be cursed? 
    But Kayugh had said, "Who does not know that the number four is sacred to men; that the number five is sacred to women? Nine is a good number, a strong number. Nine days is the  right choice. Besides, who can doubt that the Walrus People understand the ways of spirits?" 
    It seemed that Kayugh was right. Red Berry, now First Snow's wife, already had a healthy son. And the hunting was good, had been good many years. 
    Blue Shell's daughter remembered the feast Kayugh had given when Red Berry's nine days were ended. She remembered the many gifts Red Berry received. 
    Blue Shell's daughter knew that no celebration would mark the end of her own confinement, but it was enough that she had escaped her father's beatings for nine days, enough to be allowed to work without fear of a stick across her back. She sighed and pushed open the mat that covered her door opening. 
    Her mother would soon come to get her and take her back to her father's lodge. She shuddered, wondering whether her long absence had irritated the man or if he would treat her with more respect now she was a woman. 
    Perhaps he would be carving his small crooked animals and would pretend she was not there. Idly, she let her fingers caress the whale's tooth that hung at her side. But even if he did beat her, perhaps the tooth would give her added strength, make it easier for her to endure the pain. 
    Of course, if her father saw the tooth, he would claim