Page 155 of Circle of Days

“Wait,” said Joia. “You haven’t heard it all. It will also tell how many people we need to move a giant stone, and how many days it will take to bring a stone to the Monument.”

“Answering the elders’ questions.” Seft’s hopes lifted. “They might consent to that.”

Ani said: “I sensed that Keff would have liked to consent, but he felt the arguments against were too powerful. He might back this more modest proposal.”

Joia said: “It has to be worth a try.”

And this time the elders consented.

Joia, Seft, and Ani were euphoric for a while, then they started to make plans. They would move the stone after next year’s Midsummer Rite. They had a lot to do in advance.

Joia started the priestesses making ropes. She got an elderly couple of ropemakers, Ev and Fee, to come and show how it was done. They were grumpy but expert.

First the priestesses had to collect honeysuckle vines. Honeysuckle grew everywhere, on trees and sometimes on houses too. It could flourish in all kinds of soil provided it got some sunshine. Its sweet scent and bright yellow flowers made it easy tofind. The priestesses went first to Three Streams Wood, where the plant was abundant. They enjoyed the outing: it was a change from their usual routine.

Fee showed the priestesses how to cut the vine just above the lowest set of leaves, to ensure that it would regrow quickly. She told them to strip the vine of leaves and branches, leaving the debris on the forest floor to return to the soil, coming home with only the tough, flexible main stems.

To braid the vines together into a rope was a job for two people. Ev and Fee demonstrated: Ev took three vines by their ends and held them tight, and Fee twisted them. Both had to pull to keep the vines taut, and this was where tempers frayed. Fee said Ev was pulling too hard, making it difficult for her to braid the vines, and Ev said that if he didn’t pull hard the rope would be loose and weak. They must have been quarreling about this for years, Joia thought, hiding her amusement.

Next they would take another three vines, overlap them generously with the first three, and twist again, splicing the two lengths together.

Joia had a long discussion with Seft about how long the ropes should be. The largest stones were about as long as four men lying head to toe. The rope would have to be twice that length and a bit more to go all the way around the stone. Then each grab line had to be long enough for forty people to be able to pull it at the same time without treading on the feet of the person in front and the one behind. That requirement would quadruple the length of rope needed.

Inside the Monument they made thirty priestesses lie on theground head to toe—which made the women giggle. As men were slightly taller they added two more. Then they dug lines in the turf to mark the beginning and end of the rope.

When Ev and Fee had two strands that length, each of three vines, they then twisted the two together, this time twisting in the opposite direction. Fee explained that the opposite twist locked the two yarns together.

After that, the process could be repeated any number of times until the rope was of the needed length and thickness.

Once the rope making was underway, with Ev and Fee dropping by daily to make sure the priestesses were maintaining high standards, Seft and Joia decided to go to Stony Valley.

While Joia was getting ready, Ani told her that Scagga was desperate to know more about what was going on at Stony Valley. “He’s looking for something to complain about,” Ani said.

Joia frowned. “I don’t know why he’s so against us,” she said. “Is it just a habit?”

“He’s frightened,” Ani said immediately. “People who bluster like that, and constantly propose aggressive action, do so because they’re scared. They want everybody to be disciplined and work to store up resources for the future, and they’re nervous of anything new. They always see disaster coming.”

“That’s very wise,” Joia said thoughtfully.

“You’ll be wise, if ever you calm down,” Ani said, and they both laughed.

Joia noticed that her mother had a bracelet made of seashells. “That’s new,” she said, pointing.

“A traveler was here yesterday,” Ani said. “I gave him a small piece of leather, enough for a pair of shoes. Do you like it?”

“It’s pretty.”

“The traveler was curious, like Scagga. He asked me why herders had set up camp in the North Hills.”

“How did he know about that?”

“He said everyone was talking about it.”

I might have guessed, Joia thought. Gossip traveled fast on the Great Plain. “What did he say?”

“I asked him what he had heard. He said no one knew what the herders were up to.”

“Did you enlighten him?”