“That we will,” Ledin said. “And we will bring back whatever is beautiful and useful.” It stood, brushed off its thighs, then bent down and touched the child’s sloped nose. “Maybe we will find something of such great value we will be able to return to the towns and put down a stone to found our own House … a House of such riches we will doze-dream on piles of shell.”
Thodi giggled. “But why would we want to stay in one place?”
“That’s a good question,” Ledin said.
“Some of us could stay at the House and doze in the piles of shell,” I said. “The rest of us would run the caravan. Then, when the caravan comes back, we’d switch….”
Thodi pressed its hand to its mouth. “That’s silly.”
“Yes,” I said.
And, “Who can know the future?” from Ledin, who ran a hand through my mane before saying, “Enjoy the evening.”
The two of us remained before the fire. I idly stroked Thodi’s soft, dark curls; it continued playing with my waist-chain. “Do you think I can do something brave and useful on the journey?” it asked me.
“Like what?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I could catch so much food for us off the trail that we don’t need to touch our stores at all? Or maybe help defend the wagons from marauding beasts!”
“Marauding beasts, is it?” I said, laughing. I ran my finger down its nose. “Why would you want to get in the way of such things? I bet they’re large and hairy and mean.”
“Like the anadi!” Thodi crowed.
“And how do you know what the females are like?” I asked, amused. “You’ve probably never seen one.”
“I would if you let me go with you and Ledin into town,” the child said, frowning.
“Probably not,” I said. “We usually talk to the males. They run the Houses. Besides, how else could we protect you from the anadi’s dripping fangs?” I feigned a pounce, baring my own fangs.
Thodi snorted. “Anadi poison is a truedark tale!”
“Are you sure?” I asked, all innocence.
It frowned at me. “Aren’t you?”
I grinned. “I don’t know. I’m not anadi.”
Thodi shivered. “Me neither! Thank the World. Females don’t have any fun!”
Ah, bald truth. “So why do you want to wound yourself in the brave defense of the caravan, little one?”
“I was hoping to earn my ring soon,” it said, looking up at the silvery hoop hanging from my left ear.
I chuckled. “You know we can’t give you a ring until after your second puberty, or you’d have one already.”
“But I could have already gone through my second puberty, and not known it!”
I hugged it and sighed. “You must be patient, ba Thodi. You will know when you’re not a child any longer.”
It wiggled in my arms, then deflated, resting its cheek against my flat chest. “I guess so.”
“You should go help Mekena with supper, ah? It’s your turn tonight.”
Thodi nodded and drew itself to its feet. It had an almost anadi-like obedience … something for which I was thankful, if also somewhat concerned. Shaking my head, I rose and ambled back to my wagon. We’d be rolling in an hour or so, and the creak in the right wheel would soon drive me sun-crazy if I didn’t fix it now.
* * * *
I stopped inside the store to savor the flat floors for a few minutes. At no point on its year-long circuit did the caravan traverse anything but broken road and uneven ground. The general store in Het Ikoped had stone tile floors, cool and smooth against my callused toes.
Perhaps youth was blind to such subtle pleasures, for Thodi trotted past me and began poking into barrels and glancing into bins.
“Ba Thodi, be careful, ah?” I said, proceeding to the back counter. The emodo there wore his tan mane in a handsome braid, and his clear purple eyes rested on me with polite interest. His light tunic covered most of his skin, but what I could see of it was a supple dark brown with lighter spirals. “Good afternoon, ke emodo.”
“And to you, ke eperu,” he said. “May I help you?”
“Ke Ledin’s caravan just came into town,” I said. “We were wondering if you were interested in barter?”
“I might be,” he said. “Your caravan is outside?”
“Indeed.”
He nodded. “I will talk with your caravan master, then. What were you hoping to trade for?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I said, glancing around the store. “I would appreciate some time to make a list.”
The male smiled. “Please, take as much time as you need. I will be outside.”
I nodded, watched him walk out, then pulled out one of the three slates the caravan owned. The piece of stone in my hand had cost half a trunk of furs—somewhat expensive, but far less than one of the specially treated slabs of wood would have been. With a thin sliver of chalk in my hand, I drifted through the store, noting what would be useful for the journey. Grain and dried fruit. Dried meat. Fire-coals and tinder, soap, fat for cooking, fodder for the animals…. The tally grew.
I sat on a trunk with the slate and rubbed my head.
“Bad, Ekanoi?” Thodi said, thumping onto the trunk beside me.
“Difficult,” I said. “We will have to unload everything we brought at an excellent price to afford all that we’d need for a year’s journey. The grain is more expensive than it should be.”
“Is he cheating us?” Thodi asked, eyes wide.
“No…. Probably something happened this year. Bad harvest, or a caravan missed this het.” I shook my head. “Come on. Let’s go talk to Ledin.”
Thodi followed me out to the caravans. We passed the emodo on the way, and I did not like his obvious cheer. I reached Ledin’s wagon and glanced inside. “Ledin?”
“In here, Ekanoi.”
I climbed onto the platform, helping Thodi up after me. Ledin was seated on one of the trunks, a slate resting on its lap and one hand tangled in its mane.
“We will not have enough, will we,” I said.
Ledin shook its head.
I took the slate and glanced at the numbers. My tail twitched. “Is that all? This is barely more than we paid for it.”
“I had to sell, quickly,” Ledin said with a sigh. “I heard at the wayfarer’s house that Batasil’s caravan is only a day away.”
I grimaced. Batasil could have dozed atop a pile of shell had it chosen to; it preferred instead to trade, and had twice the number of wagons we had, full of luxury goods that commanded such exorbitant prices it could afford to sell its basic goods at cost. Ledin was right: we could not compete with Batasil.
Yet the prices on the two slates missed one another by two wagons’ worth of goods.
Thodi looked from Ledin’s face to mine. “Does this mean we’re not going?”
“No … ,” Ledin said. “Just that we will come back in half a year instead of a year.” It smiled and cuffed Thodi lightly on the shoulder. “Sa, what’s with that face? At least we’ll have a party tomorrow night. Batasil throws wondrous parties.”
That was the final injustice: that hating Batasil was impossible. Its affable nature and easy generosity with what it considered its fraternity of neuter traders precluded hatred. I finally found a wry chuckle. “That it does. Shall I go buy half a year’s supplies, then?”
Ledin nodded.
Thodi followed me off the wagon. “Ekanoi! Half a year? That’s nothing! We’ll barely get into the wilderness!”
I waited for it to catch up to me, then rested my arm over its shoulders. “We have no choice, little one. We can only stretch our shell so far.”
“But can’t we borrow some? Maybe from Batasil?”
“Ke Batasil to you, little one. Be polite. And no, we can’t borrow money from Batasil. We would spend too long paying it when we got back.”
“Why?”
I rubbed my forehead, wondering just how much to explain about the worth of shell over time. “Because we would have to pay it more than we borrowed, because that would be shell Batasil wouldn’t have while we had it.”
“Ke Batasil has other money though, so what does it matter?”
I laughed. “Just trust me, ba Thodi. Borrowing money will only make us poorer.”
Thodi sighed and leaned against me. “I was so excited.”
“Ba eperu, listen to me,” I said. I stopped, faced it and rested my hands on its shoulders. “We’re still going. We’re just coming back a little sooner than expected, that’s all. Understand?”
Thodi rolled a lip between its teeth, then nodded, ears splaying.
“Good. Now you start looking forward to that party, ah? Batasil is going to have things to eat and drink so exotic you won’t remember their names in the morning. A real adult’s party.”