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you may be a threat to her rule…”
    “A threat to her rule,” Ronan repeated. Once more he looked astonished. “Can Arika really imagine that?”
    “I think so,” said Neihle. The two men stood there, facing each other under the darkening sky. “That is why I wish to take you to the Autumn Gathering to find a wife. I wish you would consider it.”
    There was a long silence. Then Ronan answered, “Perhaps I will, one day. But not this year, Uncle.”
    Neihle dropped his hand. Trying to throw off his sense of foreboding, he made himself say humorously, “You are having too good a time, I see.”
    Ronan’s dark face lit with its irresistible smile. “Sa,” he said. “I am.”
    * * * *
    The summer weather faded, and Leaf Fall Moon rose in the night sky. In the highest passes of the mountains, snow fell. The deer began their annual trek back to the lower-altitude grazing around the Greatfish River, followed by the hunters of the Tribe of the Red Deer.
    As Leaf Fall Moon waned, preparations began for the great semi-annual fertility rite of the tribe, Winter Fires.
    It would be the first Fires ceremony Ronan had ever attended, and he looked forward to it with enthusiasm. Not even the news that his half-sister Morna was to make the Sacred Marriage this year could dim his anticipation.
    The three girls who had been initiated since Spring Fires were awaiting the coming ceremony with scarcely less anticipation than Ronan. A girl of the Red Deer tribe was not introduced to sex at her initiation rite as was a boy. The girls waited until the next ceremony of the Fires, when the pounding drums and unrestrained dancing brought heat to the blood and fire to the loins. Then they had their first mating, and the pain was muted by the sweet urgency of the need.
    Morna had been pleased when Arika told her she would be the one to make the Sacred Marriage this year. According to ritual, at each Fires the Goddess mated with the god and their joining was what brought fertility to the tribe and to the herds the tribe depended upon for survival. The Goddess’s role was usually taken by the Mistress, but this year the role would be played by the Mistress’s daughter.
    “It makes for a powerful ritual when the Goddess is played by a maiden,” Arika explained to Morna. “That is why I will allow you to make the Sacred Marriage this year, at your first mating.” The Mistress smiled at Morna’s expression. “You must name the man, my daughter. It is always the prerogative of the Goddess to name the man who will play the god.”
    Morna said, “I know who would be named if the choice were offered to any other of the Red Deer girls. I am thinking it is a pity that Ronan is my brother.”
    Arika stared in appalled silence at her daughter’s faintly flushed cheeks and parted lips. Morna seemed utterly unaware of the consternation her words had produced in her mother.
    “Do not ever say such a thing to me again,” Arika said in an unusually harsh voice.
    Finally Morna realized that her words had upset Arika. “It is not my fault if I do not think of him as a brother,” she said defensively. “After all, we have never lived together in one family as brothers and sisters normally do.”
    Arika was very pale. “Nevertheless, the blood tie is there.” She drew a long, calming breath. “Remember, you are not just any girl, Morna. You are the Chosen One of the tribe. You must think always of the tribe, my daughter, and of what is good for the tribe. Not of yourself.”
    Morna said sulkily, “Sa, Mother. So you are always telling me.”
    Arika’s beautiful mouth set in a grim line. “You need not name the man right now. There is time for you to think about your choice.”
    Morna tilted her head a little and ran her eyes speculatively up and down Arika’s figure. “I hope I am a better breeder than you, Mother,” she said. “How many Sacred Marriages did you make before you bore Ronan?”
    “Many,” Arika said. Her face was like