Page 78 of Circle of Days

That word “true” was a concession, a sign that he was softening. She knew that the way to get around Seft was to start him thinking about the practical problem. She said: “We should at least talk some more about it. Suppose we had six teams.”

“What, six teams each the same size as the one we had this year? Are there that many people in the Great Plain?”

“There are twice that many people in the Great Plain. And they’ll come from elsewhere too.”

“But what if we don’t get so many?”

“If we don’t, Seft, we’ll do our best with what we get, and at least bring some giant stones to the Monument, and hope to do better the following year.”

“All right, so long as we don’t start making ridiculous promises.”

“Let’s work it out. On Day One all the teams walk to Stony Valley. On Day Two, three stones are lifted and put on sleds—you’ll have to make more sleds—and sent on their way. They arrive at the Monument at different times, the last by the end of Day Four. Day Five is a rest day for them.”

“All right, that seems possible.”

“They walk back to Stony Valley on Day Six. On Day Seven another three stones are dispatched, and arrive by the evening of Day Nine.”

“That’s six stones.”

“The other three teams are just a day behind, and their stones reach the Monument by the end of Day Five. They don’t need to return to Stony Valley for a second run, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were glad to go back and help the others.”

“You have to allow for unexpected snags.”

“I’ve added an extra day. My timetable has all the stones at the Monument on Day Nine, but I’ve told people we need ten days.”

Seft clearly did not think that was enough, but by now he was losing the argumentative spirit. “I’m not sure the elders will approve this,” he said weakly.

“There are only five people who matter at an elders meeting,” Joia said. “Scagga and Jara will oppose us, my mother and Kae will support us, and Keff will make the decision. Any other elders who may show up will go along with Keff.”

“I agree, but how does that help us?”

“It means we need to convince Keff before the meeting.”

Seft nodded.

He was extraordinarily clever about physical stuff, Joia knew, but surprisingly unimaginative when it came to dealing with people. Fortunately I can do that part for him, she thought.

She said: “We should go and see Keff now.”

Seft was taken aback, but he had got used to Joia’s perpetual wish to do things immediately. “All right,” he said.

They left the Monument and found Keff outside his house in Riverbend.

When they arrived, he was sharpening a flint.

This was a skill most adults had, because everyone used flints and flints often needed sharpening.

However, the operation demanded concentration.

Keff placed the point of an antler carefully near the edge of the stone and pressed hard, leaning over the antler.

A perfect little flake came off the flint, leaving the edge sharper.

This was a technique called pressure flaking.

Keff looked up at Joia and smiled.

“We’ve come to ask your opinion about something,” Joia said tactfully. What she really wanted was to convince him of her own opinion, but it would help to give him the illusion that he was dispensing wisdom.

“Sit down,” he said. “You won’t mind if I carry on with my work.”

They sat, and Joia said: “We’re trying to think how to continue the building of the Monument with the least possible disruption of normal herding.”

Keff pressed another flake off his blade and said: “That’s a good start.”

“We’d like to complete the next stage in a single working week—ten days.”

“I’ve heard rumors. Nine stones in ten days sounds ambitious.”

That meant that Scagga had already talked to Keff.

Never mind. Joia leaned forward. “This whole enterprise—rebuilding the Monument in stone—depends on one thing,” she said, and Keff looked up.

“Enthusiasm,” she said emphatically. “The volunteers must feel a sense of achievement. They must want to do it, like doing it, feel proud after doing it, and hope to do it again.”

“So I imagine,” Keff said coolly, but she knew she had his interest.

“If we move one stone a year, everyone will know that, long before the Monument is finished, we will all be dead and our children will be dead too. Moving the stones will become a tedious annual chore. That won’t do.”

“What did you want my opinion on?”

“The risk,” Joia said. “We have a timetable for moving nine stones in ten days, and we hope to do it, but we know we may not succeed. Do we take that risk? Or do we follow a less ambitious course, and accept that none of us will ever see the completed stone Monument?”

She looked at Keff. So did Seft. There was a long wait. Keff was looking down at the flint he was sharpening, but he had paused, and he sat motionless.

At last he answered her. “Let me think about that,” he said.

The elders’ meeting was stormy. When Ani presented Joia’s plan, Scagga ridiculed it. He was even more insulting and contemptuous than before. Jara, his sister, looked embarrassed. Twice Keff ordered him to be polite.

The discussion took its expected course. Kae backed Ani, Jara unenthusiastically backed Scagga, and everyone looked to Keff.

Keff said the elders should approve Joia’s plan.

Scagga erupted. “You people never listen to me!” he raged. “Everything I say here is contradicted or ignored. I’m sick of it.”

None of this was true. Ani’s wishes had often been frustrated by Scagga in these meetings. But he was not rational now.

Jara, his sister, said: “Scagga, please—”

Scagga was not listening. He pointed an accusing finger at Keff. “You want Ani to be the next Keeper of the Flints. I know, people have told me. You do everything she wants. You must be her lover.”

Kae, sitting next to Ani, gasped.

Keff stood up. “I will not permit such talk,” he said.

“Don’t worry! No need to forbid it. You won’t see me at any more meetings. I’m off, and I’m not coming back. Get yourself another pet dog.”

He stood up and walked away.

We won, Ani thought.

Joia said to her mother: “I miss Dee so much.”

“I can tell,” said Ani. She did not like to see her children sad, but this was a different sadness. It was the kind that could easily turn into joy.

Joia had been caught in a summer shower and had taken shelter in her mother’s house. Through the doorway they could see the rain. Joia said: “I wonder if she’ll come to the Autumn Rite.”

Ani shook her head. “She won’t have anything to trade in the autumn.

No one wants lambs, they’re too liable to die in their first year.

Everyone with any sense trades for hoggets.

At one year old they’ve survived a winter and proved they’re sturdy.

We won’t see Dee or any other shepherds until the next Midsummer Rite. ”

Joia nodded. “Dee said she’d be here for that.”

“Then that’s what she’ll do. She seems like a person who does what she promises.”

“I’m afraid she might change her mind.”

“It’s possible, but I’d be very surprised.”

“I love her.”

“I guessed.”

“Do you think she loves me?”

“I can’t see inside her heart, but yes, I think she adores you.”

“Adores?”

“That’s what I think.”

“Why me? She must have so many people in love with her. When she’s laughing, with her mouth wide and her hair shaking like a tree in leaf, anyone would fall in love with her.”

“She’s very alluring.”

“I haven’t felt like this before, Mamma. I thought there was something peculiar about me because I couldn’t understand why girls talked all the time about kissing and sex. I’ve never loved anyone like this. Now I know why people get obsessed about it.”

Ani smiled. “You’ve taken an awfully long time to get to this place.”

“Was it like this for you with Dadda?”

“Exactly like this.”

“Do you think she’s the one for me?”

“Yes. I’m not in any doubt. She’s the one.”

The rain stopped. Joia looked out through the door, as if Dee might be there. “I hope she comes back,” she said. “I do hope so.”