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People he had met specialized in different ways, and he often wondered what had led the their particular path With some, all the men customarily performed one function, and all the women another, until each function becaender that no woman would do what she consideredhimself to perform a woman’s task With others, tasks and chores tended to fallthe more strenuous tasks, and older ones the sedentary chores In soe of children, in otherschildren belonged to the elders, both male and female
With the Sharamudoi, specialization had followed different lines, and two distinct but related groups had developed The Shas and tors of the —for the process was eon, up to thirty feet long, of the river They also fished for perch, pike, and large carp The division of labor ht have caused them to split into two distinct tribes, except for ether
The Sha beautiful, velvety soft leather from chaion would trade for theuarded secret, but Jondalar had learned that oils froave the Sha reason to maintain a close tie with the Ramudoi On the other hand, boats were s, and the long planks of the sides were clenched with yew andThe river people had need of the e of the forests to find the proper wood
Within the Sharamudoi tribe, each Shamudoi family had a counterpart Raht orto do with blood relationship Jondalar still hadn’t sorted them all out, but after his brother mated Jetamio, he would suddenly be endoith a score of “cousins” ah she had no living blood relatives Certain h for hi certain titles of respect when addressing acquaintances a his new kin
As an unh he would be even roups were so strong that if living quarters becaested, and a family or two of the Shamudoi decided to move away and start a new Cave, their counterpart family of Ramudoi had to move with them
There were special rites to exchange ties if the counterpart family did not want to move and another family did In principle, however, the Shaated to follow, because in ht to decide The Rae, however They could refuse to transport their Shamudoi kin, or to help the with the water fell to the aas usually worked out together
Additional ties had developed, both practical and ritual, to strengthen the relationship, arding boats on the water were the prerogative of the Raed to the Shamudoi, who consequently benefited froiven in return Again, the principle which had evolved to resolve disputes waswith unspoken understanding of and respect for each other’s rights, territories, and expertise made disputes rare
Theof boats was a joint effort for the very practical reason that it required both the products of the land and the knowledge of the water, and this gave the Shamudoi a valid claim to the craft used by the Ramudoi Ritual reinforced the tie, since no woman of either moiety could mate a man who did not have such a clai, or rebuilding, of a boat before he could mate the woman he loved
Jondalar was looking forward to the boat building, too He was intrigued with the unusual craft; he wondered how they were ate them He would have preferred some other reason than his brother’s decision to stay andout But fro, these people had interested hireat river and hunted the huge sturgeon surpassed the abilities of any people he had ever heard of
They knew the river in all herher sheer voluether, and she wasn’t full yet But it wasn’t fro the winter when the waterfall trail was icing over and unusable, but before the Ramudoi moved in with their Shamudoi kin above, commerce between the tas accoe woven platfore of the Shamudoi terrace and down to the Ramudoi dock
The falls hadn’t yet frozen when he and Thonolan first arrived, but his brother was in no shape to make the precarious ascent They were both lifted up in a basket
When he saw her froan to understand the full extent of the Great Mother River The blood had drained from his face; his heart pounded with the shock of comprehension as he looked down at the water and the rounded mountains across the river He ed and overcome with a deep reverence for the Mother whose birth waters had formed the river in her wondrous act of creation
He had since learned there was a longer, easier, if less spectacular ascent to the high embayment It was part of a trail that extended from west to east over the mountain passes and dropped down to the broad river plain on the eastern end of the gate The western part of the trail, in the highlands and foothills leading to the start of the series of gorges, was e They were heading to one such place
The boat was already pulling out ofa beach of gray sand when a gasp caused the older brother to look around
“Jondalar, look!” Thonolan was pointing upstream
Bearing down on the the deepReflecting crystal facets of the translucent edges haloed the reen shadowy depths held its un the boat changed pace and direction, then, feathering the stroke, they paused to watch a wall of glistening cold glide by with deadly indifference
“Never turn your back on the Mother,” Jondalar heard the man in front of him say
“I’d say the Sister brought that one, Markeno,” the man beside him commented
“How did … big ice … come here, Carlono?” Jondalar asked him
“Iceberg,” Carlono said, first supplying hilacier on thehis chin in the direction of the white peaks over his shoulder, since he had resu “Or it could have come from farther north, probably by way of the Sister She’s deeper, doesn’t have as many channels—this ti than the part you see Most of it is underwater”
“It is hard to believe … iceberg … so big, come so far,” Jondalar said
“We get ice every spring Not always that big It won’t last ood bump and she’ll break up, and there is a midchannel rock downstrea will ate,” Carlono added
“One good bump from that and ould be the ones to break up,” Markeno said “That’s why you never turn your back on the Mother”
“Markeno is right,” Carlono said
“Never take her for granted This river can find some unpleasant ways to remind you to pay attention to her”
“I know some women like that, don’t you, Jonaalar?”
Jondalar suddenly thought of Marona The knowing smile on his brother’s face made hiht of the wo Matri, he wondered if he would ever see her again She was a beautiful woht to ask her She’s better than Marona in some ways Serenio was older than he, but he’d often found himself attracted to older women Why not mate when Thonolan did and just stay?
How long have we been gone? More than a year—we left Dalanar’s Cave last spring And Thonolan won’t be going back Everyone is excited about him and Jetamio—maybe you should wait, Jondalar, he said to himself You don’t want to take the attention froht think it was just an afterthought… Later …
“What took you so long?” a voice called fro way, by trail”
“We had to find these two I think they were trying to hide,” Markeno replied, laughing
“It’s too late to hide now, Thonolan This one has hooked you!” said a rab the boat and help beach it Heit back to engage the hook