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"Mother?"

There was no reply She hadn't expected one Her mother had been dead now for four days, and Kira could tell that the last of the spirit was drifting away

"Mother" She said it again, quietly, to whatever was leaving She thought that she could feel its leave-taking, the way one could feel a sht

Now she was all alone Kira felt the aloneness, the uncertainty, and a great sadness

This had been her mother, the warm and vital woman whose name had been Katrina Then after the brief and unexpected sickness, it had beco spirit After four sunsets and sunrises, the spirit, too, was gone It was siers would come and sprinkle a layer of soil over the flesh, but even so it would be eaten by the clawing, hungry creatures that caht Then the bones would scatter, rot, and crumble to become part of the earth

Kira wiped briefly at her eyes, which had filled suddenly with tears She had loved her mother, and would ed her walking stick in the soft ground, leaned on it, and pulled herself up

She looked around uncertainly She was young still, and had not experienced death before, not in the small two-person family that she and her h the rituals She could see so, huddled beside the ones whose lingering spirits they tended She knew that a wo the spirit leave her infant, who had been born too soon Helena had come to the Field only the day before Infants did not require the four days of watching; the wisps of their spirits, barely arrived, drifted away quickly So Helena would return to the village and her family soon

As for Kira, she had no family, now Nor any home The cott she had shared with her mother had been burned This was always done after sickness The sone She had seen the smoke in the distance as she sat with the body As she watched the spirit of her ments of her childhood life whirl into the sky as well

She felt a small shudder of fear Fear was always a part of life for the people Because of fear, they s For the sa There was fear of cold, of sickness and hunger There was fear of beasts

And fear propelled her now as she stood, leaning on her stick She looked down a last time at the lifeless body that had once contained her o

Kira thought about rebuilding If she could find help, though help was unlikely, it wouldn't take long to build a cott, especially not this time of year, summer-start, when tree limbs were supple and mud was thick and abundant beside the river She had often watched others building, and Kira realized that she could probably construct soht not be straight The roof would be difficult because her bad leg made it almost impossible for her to climb But she would find a way Somehow she would build a cott Then she would find a way to make a life

Her mother's brother had been near her in the Field for two days, not guarding Katrina, his sister, but sitting silently beside the body of his ooman, the short-tempered Solora, and that of their new infant who had been too young to have a name They had nodded to each other, Kira and herfinished He had tykes to tend; he and Solora had two others in addition to the one that had brought about her death The others were still small, their names yet of one syllable: Dan and Mar Perhaps I could care for the to find her own future within the village But even as the thought flickered within her, she knew that it would not be periven away, distributed to those who had none Healthy, strong tykes were valuable; properly trained, they could contribute to fareatly desired

No one would desire Kira No one ever had, except her mother Often Katrina had told Kira the story of her birth — the birth of a fatherless girl with a twisted leg — and how her ht to keep her alive

"They ca the story to her in the evening, in their cott, with the fire fed and glowing "You were one day old, not yet named your one-syllable infant name —"

"Kir"

"Yes, that's right: Kir They broughtto take you away to the Field —"

Kira shuddered It was the way, the custoive an unnamed, imperfect infant back to the earth before its spirit had filled it and made it human But it made her shudder

Katrina stroked her daughter's hair "They meant no harm," she reminded her

Kira nodded "They didn't knoas me"

"It wasn't you, yet"

"Tell ain why you told them no," Kira whispered

Her"I kneould not have another child," she pointed out "Your father had been taken by beasts It had been several months since he went off to hunt and did not return And so I would not give birth again

"Oh," she added, "perhaps they would have given me one eventually, an orphan to raise But as I held you — even then, with your spirit not yet arrived and with your leg bent wrong so that it was clear you would not ever run — even then, your eyes were bright I could see the beginning of so and well-shaped —"

"And strong My hands were strong," Kira added with satisfaction She had heard the story so often; each ti hands with pride