Page 165 of Circle of Days

The villagers were interested and amused by this invasion of cheerful people, and some residents offered them snacks and honeyed drinks.

Dee sat down by Joia. This time Joia was not startled and she managed to keep calm. Dee said: “I came to the Rite with some hoggets to trade.”

Joia knew that hoggets were year-old sheep. She said: “What did you get for them?”

“Some flints. My brother is carrying them home for me.”

“Do shepherds use special tools?”

“We need very sharp knives to cut a sheep’s fleece close to the skin.”

“What do you use the fleece for?”

“To stuff leather pillows. Much softer than straw.”

Joia looked at the crowd. “I was afraid a lot of people would drop out on the way, tired or bored, and perhaps a few did, but Ican’t see any significant fall in our numbers. They might stay the distance. I’m relieved.”

Dee said: “The sunrise ceremony was wonderful yesterday. This is the first time for some years that I’ve seen it, and it seemed more coordinated.”

Joia smiled. “I’ve been working on that.”

“I’ve been told that when you dance like that you count the posts, and somehow that enables you to know what day of the year it is. Is that true?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I can’t imagine how it works. Could you tell me?”

“Yes, although it will take a while. I’ll gladly explain it when we’ve got time. Right now I need to get these people marching again.”

“Oh, of course.”

Joia went around telling the volunteers to get out of the water and put on their tunics. They were slow but they obeyed, and soon they were on the way. Once again Sary and Tem were left to round up the slow ones.

So Dee was curious about the days of the year. Joia felt lucky. The woman who made her heart beat faster wanted to learn. That would make it easy to get to know her better. Why do I want to know her better? I’m not sure, she seems like she would be a good friend.

After Upriver they came to the Great Plain, then turned away from the river. There were no cattle here. Joia remembered Seft saying the herders sometimes moved the beasts here in summer, but they had not done so yet.

Halfway through the afternoon they began to climb into the North Hills, and the walking got harder. The ground was uneven and the landscape went up and down. They followed Seft’s track—undamaged here—and found that it cleverly avoided steep slopes.

From this point on, Joia felt, people were unlikely to drop out. They were more than halfway to their destination.

She allowed herself to feel a thrill of triumph. She had won over her volunteers and she had brought them this far. Until this moment she had hardly dared to believe she would manage it. But here they were.

They passed only one village, half a dozen houses standing on a hilltop. No doubt the position enabled the residents to see their sheep, which were grazing the hillside. Two hundred marchers made a noise even when they were not singing, and the villagers came out of their houses to stare. Some volunteers waved at them, and the shepherds waved back. Joia asked Seft the name of the place, and he said he did not think it had a name.

The afternoon dimmed. The walkers were tired when they reached the valleys. The hillsides were green and the tall trees were in leaf. Bold squirrels scampered from one tree to the next. Bees sipped the nectar of the wildflowers that dotted the grass. It was a pretty sight.

When at last they arrived at Stony Valley, they found it covered with oxeye daisies, tall flowers with long white petals and a golden-yellow center.

Seft’s track led straight to the stone they had chosen—not the one they had lifted last year, which had been only medium size,but one of the largest. There were many other stones about the same size, and uniformity was important in the Monument.

The volunteers were thunderstruck. They had never seen such big stones. There was a buzz of surprised conversation. Cass walked all around it, wide-eyed, and said: “This is a Monument all on its own.”

Joia raised her voice to speak to the crowd. “You’re probably wondering how we’re going to move it.”

There were nods of assent and sounds of agreement.

“I’ll show you.” Along the track, ten paces from the stone, stood a large object shrouded in hides. Joia nodded to Seft, and he and some of his cleverhands began to remove the cover to reveal the sled. The volunteers broke out into a buzz of astonished conversation. They were impressed because they had never seen such a large work of carpentry, and they were intrigued because they could not see, at first glance, what its purpose was. The greased wood gleamed in the evening light. Joia thought again how beautiful it was.