Return to Eden

still very quiet and only spoke when talked to. If she thought of her dead parents she never mentioned it. She was very much like a daughter to them now.
    The night was so still that the murmur of voices from the hunters' tent could be clearly heard. One of them laughed and this pleased Kerrick. Ortnar, crippled as he was, still had a place here. As long as his skills could be taught to the two boys there was no more talk of walking into the forest and not returning.
    A night bird called in the distance, the lonely sound emphasizing the silence. There was peace, food for them all, the family and the sammad. Kerrick wanted no more. He smiled into the darkness until Armun's whispered words disturbed him.
    "I wish the baby would come. It has been a long time."
    "Soon. Don't worry. Everything will be fine."
    "No! You should not say that—it brings bad luck to speak well of things that have not happened yet. That is what my mother said. No matter how clear the water in the river is, there is always something dark upstream drifting down towards you."
    "Rest now," he said, reaching out to find her mouth in the darkness, placing his finger gently against the cleft in her lip. She murmured something but was close to sleep and he could not make out what it was.
    When Kerrick awoke it was to the grayness of a misty dawn. The haze would soon burn away under the searing touch of the summer sun. Armun sighed in her sleep when he gently took his arm from beneath her head. He stood and yawned and made his way from the tent as silently as he could. Arnwheet must have slipped out at first light for he was returning now from the direction of the lake, chewing on a rich lump of raw fish.
    "Nadaske and Imehei go far around the lake today," he said. "To a place where fish live/grow/swarm richly."
    He shook his hips with this, for he had no tail to express the modifier of expansiveness. As always when he had been with the males he spoke Yilanè to Kerrick. In the time his mother and father had been away, the best part of a year, he had grown proficient in speaking. Kerrick glanced back at the silent tent before he answered. They were careful to talk only in Marbak when Armun was present.
    "A good exercise/walk for male/fat/Yilanè. But a young ustuzou hunts in the forest with me today."
    "Yes, yes!" Arnwheet said, clapping his hands and falling into Marbak. "Harl too?"
    "And Ortnar. They have found a tree where there is a bansemnilla den and will need help driving them out. Go get your spear. Ortnar wants to leave while it is still cool."
    Armun heard them speaking and emerged from the tent. "Will it be a long hunt?" she asked, worried, her hands unknowingly resting on her rounded midriff. He shook his head no.
    "The den is very close by. I won't leave you alone until after the baby comes, not for longer than the smallest part of the day. Don't be afraid."
    She shook her head and sat down heavily. "Return swiftly. Darras will be with me," she added as the silent girl joined them. "It might happen today."
    "I don't have to go…"
    "It won't happen that soon. There are no signs."
    "Tonight we will eat bansemnilla. Baked in mud in the coals."
    "I would like that very much."
    Before they set out Kerrick walked along the lake to the vine-covered shelter that the males had grown at the water's edge. One of them emerged and Kerrick called his name in greeting.
    "Imehei."
    Kerrick smiled to himself as he realized the name meant soft-to-touch. Nothing could be less appropriate for this squat, grim Yilanè who now shaped his arms in respectful acknowledgment of welcome. His round eyes, both looking towards Kerrick, were empty of emotion. But his great jaw opened slightly in the gape of pleasure, to reveal a white row of conical teeth.
    "Eat with us/join with us," Imehei said.
    "I have already eaten, regretful thankfulness. Arnwheet tells me you explore the world today?"
    "Little wet-from-the-sea sees our small journey as a great adventure/exploration. Along the lake shore is water of some depth/ springs of fresh water. Fish of great size abound. Desire to catch/eat. Will small/soft go with us?"
    "Not this time. Bansemnilla have been found in the forest and we mean to hunt them."
    "Lack of knowledge of creature/name unknown."
    "Small furry, long-tailed, pouched; good to eat."
    "Pleasure of contemplation of a portion! We will bring back fine fish in exchange."
    "May your nets be full, your hooks sink deep."
    Nadaske emerged in time to hear this and