Page 20 of Fall

She shrugged. “Winter,” she repeated.

He frowned in that way he did when she wasn’t understanding what he wassaying. “Cold. Winter.”

“Yes. Cold winter.” It was already quite cool outside, even in thewarmest part of the afternoon. She was scared to think of how cold this planetwould get when winter came for real. At least she wouldn’t have to be sleepingon the ground without a blanket. “Bed good.”

He frowned at her again, but evidently gave up trying to make herunderstand his point. He just turned around and headed out of the cave.

When she glanced back at the rest of the cave, she saw that several ofthe others were peering in her direction. They were looking at her differentlynow—some with respect and others, mostly the young women who didn’t yet havemates, with resentment.

Evidently getting a man suddenly meant you mattered in the world of thistribe.

Shrugging off the stares, she leaned over to straighten up the blanketson Rone’s bed before she headed out to breakfast.

***

Breakfastshould have been good, since she sat next to Rone, he gave her a good meal, andsome of the other women actually spoke to her. None of the women had said aword to her since she’d arrived, but having Rone as a mate evidently jumped herup high enough in the tribe’s hierarchy for her to be addressed as an equal byother women.

It all felt strange, though—like this wasn’t really her. It felt wrong onthe deepest levels for her to be so pleased that a man had actually given her thesocial status she’d lacked before.

She’d never been that kind of person. She’d always been fiercelyindependent.

She might be stranded on this backwards planet, but she didn’t want toturn into someone she wasn’t.

So she was feeling rattled and uncomfortable as the quick meal ended andpeople started to go their separate ways—some to fish, some to gather roots,some to work on beating out animal hides, and some to other random tasks thatwere necessary for the tribe’s survival.

Because she now had a mate, Lenna probably could have joined some of theother women who were mending clothes and cleaning the tools and weapons oftheir men. She needed to learn how to do those things, if she was going to takecare of Rone the way she was expected to.

Something inside her resisted it, though. She wasn’t used to taking careof anyone except herself. So instead of joining the women, she went to joinDesh who was dealing with the bones of the wildebeest, whose carcass had beencompletely skinned, gutted, and carved up last night.

“You don’t have to do this kind of stuff now,” he said, when she croucheddown beside him. “This is just for the fringes to do.”

“I just spent the night with him. It doesn’t completely change who I am.”

“Yes, it does. He’s going to get mad if he sees you doing this. He’lltake it as an insult.”

“He’s already left camp for the day.”

Desh just shook his head with a wry chuckle and didn’t argue anymore.“This is an ugly job. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Itwasan ugly job. They had to pick the bones clean of theremaining meat, separate them from the cartilage, and then boil them until theywere spotless. Animal bones were always kept to be used for tools or buildingsupplies. Every part of every animal killed was used for something.

She and Desh worked for hours, and when they were finally through, Lennawas exhausted and covered with blood and animal innards. She wasn’t a squeamishperson by nature, but she felt rather sick when they finally laid the cleanbones in the large pile at the back of the cave.

Desh was looking at her in faint amusement, but Lenna hadn’t made onecomplaint all day. She couldn’t let Desh say, “I told you so.”

It was the middle of the afternoon, and the sun was bright and vibrant.Deciding it was warm enough, Lenna went down river until she found a privatespot. There, she got into the water to clean herself off, still wearing hertattered clothes.

The tribe wasn’t much in the habit of bathing—except when it was hot andthey needed to cool down. Lenna had grown accustomed to being dirty and smelly,but she wasn’t going to stay covered with animal guts.

She felt better when she got out, although she was shivering in the coolair. She wrung out her wet hair and finger combed it as she stood in the sunand tried to dry off.

When her skin was dry and her clothes were just barely damp, she startedback toward the camp. It wasn’t really smart to be by herself for very long.She was too close to camp to be in danger from another tribe—she was still inKroo territory and no other tribe would violate that—but there could be predatoryanimals around.

Humans were clearly at the top of the food chain on this planet, and eventhe large bears and wolves wouldn’t attack a group of humans under normalcircumstances. But they might see her as vulnerable, out here by herself. Shedidn’t want to risk it.

She’d only walked a few feet when she was suddenly confronted with ascowling Rone. He grunted out a bad-tempered question that included the words,“Lenna” and “danger.”

She was startled and unsettled by his sudden appearance, and she didn’t appreciatehis attitude. She scowled back. “Lenna no danger. Lenna clean.”

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