Page 21 of Fall

“Clean?” He looked around, obviously searching for something she’d beencleaning.

“Clean Lenna.” She showed him her clean hands and clean hair.

Instead of relaxing, now that he’d understood what she’d been doing, hisfrown deepened even more. He grabbed her hands with both of his and pulled themup to his face, sniffing at them.

She let him do so, since smelling her hands was harmless enough, and heappeared genuinely upset about something. He sniffed up her arms and grabbed ahandful her hair, sniffing at it too.

She gave a pained exclamation when he yanked her hair too hard. “Rone hurtLenna!”

He immediately released her hair, which was a relief. He’d never seemedlike a violent man or someone who would hurt her, and she was glad becoming hismate hadn’t changed that.

He took her hands again and smelled them. “Lenna Rone mate,” he said.“Rone mate.”

“Yes. Yes.” She was feeling bad now since he seemed so troubled. “LennaRone mate.”

He rubbed his face and beard all over her hands and forearms, like he wastrying to get her to smell like him again. “Rone mate. No… wildebeest. No… danger.”

She didn’t understand all of his words, but she realized now what he wassaying, what had upset him.

He’d been worried about her when he’d returned to the camp and found outshe’d wandered off alone. And then he must have smelled the wildebeest on herskin and realized what she’d been doing that morning.

Desh had said he’d be insulted if she did demeaning tasks—when as hismate she didn’t have to. She might have rebelled against such an attitude, sucha claim on her.

But he wasn’t really insulted at all. He was upset. He was taking it as asign that she didn’t really want to be his mate after all.

Lenna’s chest hurt very strangely at the knowledge. “Sorry. Sorry. LennaRone mate.”

He was relaxing now. She could see it in his eyes, in the set of hisshoulders. He was still rubbing his rough jaw against the inside of one of herwrists. “Lenna Rone mate,” he murmured.

Ridiculously, she felt a little touched by his earnestness. “Yes. Yes.”

She wasn’t used to feeling guilty, and she didn’t really like it. But shewas part of this world—whether she wanted to be or not—and it wasn’t right forher to defy the rules if it meant hurting Rone in the process.

She was going to have to learn how to act like his mate.

***

The next day, Rone gave her some lovely, soft animal skins to makeherself a new outfit for the winter—because, as he explained, her torn clotheswould be too cold. She had no idea how to do it, so she had to ask one of theother women for help.

She asked Mara, Tamen’s second mate. She was a quiet, competent woman andhad always looked at Lenna with interest rather than condescension orresentment, even before she was allowed to speak to her.

The next few days, Lenna spent learning how to sew clothes with theprimitive supplies they had available, and she was very pleased with her newoutfit—belted top and loose trousers—when she was finally finished.

The next afternoon, Mara came to her with a flint comb, a sharpinstrument like a single-edged knife, and a clay bowl of oil. “Mate groom,” shesaid, very seriously. “Lenna groom Rone.”

Lenna’s lips parted as she stared down at the grooming implements. Ofcourse, she needed to groom Rone. That was what women did for their mates. Shehadn’t even thought about it, since she was so used to seeing Rone dirty andhairy.

But it would cast a negative light on him—on both of them—if she didn’tdo her job.

She’d watched plenty of women grooming their men in the cave. She knewhow it was done. Comb and braid their hair. Shave their beard. Rub their skinwith something like olive oil. Lenna was certainly capable of doing that forRone.

She smiled at Mara and accepted the supplies. Then she went to find Rone.

She knew where he was. Since the tribe was still living off the meat fromthe wildebeest, the men hadn’t left for another hunting party yet. Rone wasdown by the river today, spearing fish. He always came back with a large basketof them every day, which they dried and kept for the winter.

If she understood correctly, in the worst part of the winter, it was toocold to even leave the cave, so they had to save enough food to get themthrough that month.

When she found Rone, she stood and watched him for a minute. He wasfocused intently on the river, standing on the bank with his spear in his hand.Like everyone else, he’d changed to wearing trousers now that the weather wascooler, so nearly every part of his body was covered with either hair or animalskins.

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