Winter in Eden

said.
    It was a true and practical answer. She understood his feelings—but did not share his sense of responsibility for all the others. What she had received in her life she had fought for. He, their son, this tiny sammad, this was her world and the only thing of any importance to her. To live in peace with them, to survive, that was her only desire. The sammads were not her concern.
    Nothing was that simple and straightforward for Kerrick. He rolled and turned and finally fell asleep.
    He awoke at dawn, went to sit at the lake's edge and looked across the still water. The surface rippled as unseen fish arrowed under it. A flight of great coral-colored birds flew by in line, calling to each other.
    The world, here, at this moment at least, was at peace. Arnwheet had left the Yilanè charts blowing about the camp so Kerrick had picked them up as he walked, gathered them together. Now he spread out the top one and tried to make sense of it. It was useless. Perhaps some colors meant land, some meant ocean, yet they turned and twisted over each other in a manner quite impossible to understand. In this they resembled the Paramutan frames of joined bone. But those were just possible to comprehend. Kalaleq had pointed out the ice cap, the distant land, and Kerrick had understood that much. But other things about them were beyond him. Perhaps the Paramutan might understand these masses of color, he certainly could not. Maybe he should give them to the males to hang up for decorations. He tossed them to the ground and looked unseeing and uncomprehending at their swirls.
    What could he do? When he looked at the future he saw only blackness. To remain here by the lake provided only temporary salvation; it had no future. Here they were like animals burying themselves in the ground, hiding from the enemy outside. The spy-birds flew, the Yilanè watched, and one day they would be seen. It would end then. But what other choice had they? To trek west to the valley? A dangerous trip—yet at the other end there would be friends, all of the sammads. Under a threat of disaster because Vaintè was on her way there as well. So what should he do? What could he do? In all directions he saw nothing, nothing but certain despair, despair ending in certain death. There was nothing he could do, nothing at all, no way out. He sat in the shadows beside the water until the sun was high in the sky and the flies busy around his nose and eyes. He brushed his hand across his face but was really not aware of them at all, so deep and intense were his fears.
    Winter in Eden - Harry Harrison
    Later they ate most of the leg of the deer Harl had killed, admiring it and his skill greatly so that the boy was red with pleasure and turned away. Only Ortnar disagreed.
    "You should be ashamed. You needed three arrows."
    "The undergrowth was thick and there were leaves in the way," Harl protested.
    "The brush is always heavy. Come over here and bring your bow. We will say that tree is a deer. Now you will kill it for me."
    Ortnar moved only with a great effort. He could no longer use his bow—but was still deadly with his spear. And he knew how to hunt: there were many things that he could teach Harl. Arnwheet too Kerrick thought, as the smaller boy ran over to join the fun, to watch and learn.
    "It is not yet time for Ortnar to go alone into the forest," Kerrick said to Armun. She followed his eye and nodded agreement.
    "The boys must learn. Ortnar is a hunter who knows all the important things."
    "And I am one who doesn't."
    She was angry in his defense. "You know things stupid hunters will never know! You can speak with the murgu and have crossed the ocean. You are the one who led the sammads in battle to victory. Any hunter can shoot a bow or throw a spear—but did they know how to use the death-sticks until you showed them?
    You are more than all of them." Her anger faded as fast as it had come and she smiled at him. "All of those things are true."
    "If you say so. But you must know that nothing now is clear to me. I look at the sunshine and I see only darkness. If we stay here we will certainly be found by the murgu one day. If we go to the other sammads we join them in death when Vaintè attacks them. What shall we do?" He thought of what she had said, searching her words for some help. There was a glimmering there. "What you said just now about crossing the ocean. I did that in the belly of a murgu beast. But there are others who cross on top of the