“I’ll be back in a few hours, Mom!” Amara said, ready to explore the area.

“Wait!” her mother called. Amara turned around and watched as her mother came to her. “Amara, please don’t go out today…I have a strange feeling…I don’t know about you wandering off like this.”

Amara tipped her head and sighed. “But Mom, Jacob got to go out!”

“Jacob is older than you, honey.”

“Ha! By a whole eleven months!” Amara stood with her hands on her hips, ready to challenge her antagonist.

Carol looked at her daughter, knowing that Amara was right. She sighed, knowing that since she had let her son go off and explore, she would not win this battle.

“Okay, but please be back before it gets dark.”

Amara grinned happily. “I love you Mom!”

Carol embraced her daughter and then held her at arms’ length. Something was nagging her. She didn’t want Amara to go out, and she had a strange feeling. She studied her daughter’s face, and then smiled. “I love you too,” she said.

Amara spun around and ran across the yard. Carol stood in the doorway and watched the happy teenager as she skipped away. She sighed, and turned around. All at once, a foreboding feeling came over her and she felt lightheaded. She was afraid—for what, she didn’t know, but she knew it had something to do with her child. Before she knew it, tears were streaming down her eyes. Her body started heaving with sobs as somehow she knew that she would never see her beloved daughter again.

She jumped up and ran outside. “Amara!” she called, over and over. She squinted in the sunlight and screamed the name, her voice shaking. Oh, why hadn’t she watched which way she went? She collapsed on the ground, burying her face in her hands. Her daughter…her Amara. She had wanted a girl so badly, and although she loved Jacob with all her might, she didn’t know how she could go on without her daughter. She composed herself just long enough to realize that she had to call John, she had to get him home. She ran into the house and frantically dialed her husband’s work number, every second seeming like eternity. When he finally answered her sobbing voice caused him to immediately cancel everything for the day, and he frantically ran through the building. Without stopping to offer an explanation, he burst through the doors and climbed in his vehicle. He knew that his wife had feelings, that she saw things. Usually he was apprehensive when she mentioned something about it, but she had always been right. If she said that they would never see Amara again, then he knew that their futile efforts would be insignificant. His tears began staining his shirt and tie and he wished he had taken just a few more minutes to kiss his children.

It had barely been a month since they had left their family, their friends, everyone they knew, because of a business opportunity in Vienna. It had taken them three years to decide, and they had all been excited. The children had hardly seen anything but the few states surrounding their native Kansas City, and they jumped at the opportunity. Finances had never presented a problem in their family, as his father had thrived in his farming. As a teenager, John Sebastian Cloud had chosen to become a banker and left the farming to his younger brother. Although he had been scared at the time that his father would disown him, he was surprised that his parents embraced the idea. He met Carol while at Purdue, and they were married as soon as they graduated. Three years later, Jacob was born, their pride and joy, and not even a year after that, Amara came into their lives. They had wanted more children, but an unfortunate car accident when Amara was three rendered Carol unable to have more children, so they doted all of their attention on the two of them. Jacob, a bustling 17-year-old, had been delighted at the move to Europe, but not quite as delighted as his 16-year-old sister. They were both outgoing, smart, and industrious, and had both already formed lasting friendships in their short time in Vienna. John and Carol were proud parents indeed, as Jacob had plans to attend Oxford in another year. Amara was a diverse young lady and had not yet decided on her future, but they all knew that she was destined to be great.

Or had been destined, he thought as he raced home, berating himself for ever leaving their home. He knew that he would get home, and they would immediately have a search party formed to look for his teenage daughter, but deep in the back of his mind, he knew she would never be found, not after what Carol had said. She had said that they would never see Amara again, and he had absolutely no hope after that. His heart sank as realization hit him, and he wanted nothing more than to scream his anger and fury at this absolution. He knew that their story had ended…whatever was to happen to his daughter was her own destiny. He wasn’t sure what Carol had been meaning when she had mentioned the strange name, but he knew that whoever this woman was, this, what was her name? This Ayla, she was the savior of mankind. His pride in his daughter’s destiny had threatened to leave, but somewhere, as much as he loved his precious daughter, he knew that her future lay somewhere else.

Danug looked out into the whirling snow. He and his friends were safe inside this cave they had stumbled across as the blizzard had started. But it didn't look to be letting up at all. This was going to be a big one, and they, for the time being were stuck here.

Latie walked up to him and said, "It sure was lucky we hunted before this storm hit."

Danug looked at her and laughed, "Yeah, it is lucky we found this cave too! The Mother must have been watching over us today. I’ve got this weird feeling, Latie, something in the air feels strange. Have you noticed it?"

She looked at him quizzically, then said, "Well, if you mean that it is snowing in summer yeah, but it is just bad weather Danug, nothing to worry about, we are safe here in this cave, and we have lots of food. It'll be fine. I had better look in on the horses." She walked over to a further corner of the cave where she found to dun horses, one young mare, and another male colt. "Hey you guys, aren't you glad we found this cave, otherwise we would be out in that yucky snow!" She grabbed a handful of grass that she had gathered just as the snow had started to fall. She knew that they were going to need hay. "Here, Jolie, eat this, you like hay. You too, Ranug, eat up!"

Danug laughed out loud. "You and your crazy horse ideas; that Ayla sure got to you. But they have been helpful, I must say. Hey Latie, let's go sit at the fire and have something to eat. I just can't shake this feeling I have. I need to distract myself."

She replied eagerly, "Yeah, let's do. I am starving! I am sure that they made a great stew with those fresh aurochs!"

They walked to the back of the cave where several people were gathered around a fire.

“Hey, we came to eat," said Danug.

"Sit down,” said a large dark haired man, "there is plenty here for all, I hope this snow lets up soon."

Danug smiled and said, "Not likely Radec, this is one of the Mother's surprises."

Amara was overjoyed…in their month at their new home; neither she nor Jacob had been allowed to explore. This was a tradition; when they had visited their grandfather’s farm in Nebraska, they had always explored. They had found treasures, or what seemed to be treasures to children, galore, and exploration had always been a staple of their childhood and adolescence. Usually they went together, inseparable as brother and sister and as best friends, but they, as all siblings, had their occasional spats, and it was usually then that they went off on their own. They had even spent nights, alone, out on the open prairie, and they both loved it. She had also learned how to kill and cook food, although sometimes it was a gross task. Her uncle had shown them everything he had learned from his father, and they had even, in silly competition, tried to make their own tools and such. None of them were at all good, barely even serviceable, but they had knocked rocks together and laughed at their antics nonetheless.

She breathed in the fresh air, and smiled at the cleanliness of the area. Quite a way from Vienna, they lived in a beautiful wilderness, causing her father to commute a good hour on good days, but he loved it. He usually carpooled, or drove into the small town near them and took a bus, but she remembered that he had driven that morning, saying that he needed to get a few things after work. She loved where they lived…it was so much cleaner and not quite as dusty as home. She missed her family and friends, but she felt that she belonged here, with the trees and hills, the beautiful Danube not far away, with both the Alps and the Carpathian Mountains in breathtaking view. She broke into a sprint, relishing in the fact that she could, that she could explore and drink in the beauty of the wilderness.

She stopped when she came to a small creek. She sat down, took her socks and shoes off, and stuck her feet in the water, marveling at how even though it was summer, the water was still cool. She looked upstream and wondered which nearby peak it originated from. Her gaze followed the path of a solitary leaf tumbling through the ripples, and she watched it as long as she could. She then mused that the stream had to be a small tributary of the mighty Danube, which reminded her of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers back home. She sighed, and drew a parallel between the river and herself…the Danube had an ultimate goal, a final place, and she knew that she had to have one, but she just simply couldn’t find it.

Her thoughts drifted to her life. She was happy, but not completely thus…rather, she was simply content. Jacob seemed to have plans and goals and dreams, whereas she could never find anything that interested her. She loved life more than anything, but she had always felt out-of-place. She was a very beautiful young lady, with blue-green eyes and wavy dark hair and had had many admirers, but she was bored with all of them. Life as a whole was rather boring…all people did was go to work or go to school; no one seemed to have a true destiny. She wanted to have a meaning to her life, to become something great, but the only thing that interested her was the past. She couldn’t recall how many times she had dreamed of being Anne of Green Gables or Laura Ingalls Wilder, back in a time when everyone was important and life was exciting, or what seemed exciting to her, at least. Her mother had laughed at her, reminding her of the convenience of living now, and teasing that teenagers back then couldn’t drive cars. She smiled to herself and tossed a stone in the stream.

“Well, am I going to explore or what?” she said to no one in particular. She looked around at the trees and other vegetation and smiled at how nice it was. What hidden things could be lurking in this forest, she wondered? First, though, she was hungry. She shrugged of her backpack and started rummaging through it.

She always went prepared when she explored. She had brought matches, kindling, plenty of food, some dishes, knife, fork, spoon, three canteens full of water, a small hatchet, a first-aid kit, a whistle, flares, a bed roll, several navigational instruments, a flashlight and batteries, anything she might possibly need, right down to her toothbrush and toothpaste and CD player. She had brought plenty of food, canned, like Army rations, but she knew that she was quite capable of surviving if she needed to. There had always been an understanding in their family…her parents knew that she and Jacob were adept at survival skills, and when the two teenagers went out “exploring”, as they so fondly called it, their parents knew that they could be gone for a couple of days. They had always given Jacob and herself plenty of freedom, knowing that they were good kids, and smart, and that they could be trusted to make the right decisions.

She stood up with a candy bar, also an essential food item, as a breeze rustled through. Goosebumps rose on her flesh and she shivered. For only an instant, she was terrified, afraid of never seeing her family again, but she shrugged off the feeling and drank in the beauty of the surroundings while she ate her snack.

After savoring the last bite, she packed her things together, donned her backpack, and started out again. She had decided that she didn’t want to follow the little creek downstream…she knew what lay in that direction. She glanced at her watch and was shocked to see the time…had she really been sitting at that stream doing nothing for three hours?? She looked up at the sky and realized that yes indeed, the sun was sinking, and berated herself for not keeping an eye on the time. She started hiking alongside the small stream, still marveling in the beauty of her surroundings, and watching for a good place to set up camp.

Just as the sun was sinking below the treetops, Amara decided to cross the stream, hoping that there might be a nice place to stop on the other bank. She took off her socks and shoes, rolled up her pants, and waded into the water, but she was distracted when she saw all the minnows around her. She laughed and started chasing them, all the while singing at the top of her voice to the music that was coming through her headphones. She tired of the game after several minutes and decided to go ahead and climb the other bank. It was steep on that side, but she easily found her footing and climbed above the stream. Her eyes filled with marvel as she saw in front of her a gorgeous green meadow, full of wildflowers. She wished she had thought to bring her camera…this was beautiful!! She threw on her footwear and again decided to run, loving the feel of the wind blowing through her hair. She stopped as she reached the other side and wondered if she shouldn’t camp there for the night, but something seemed to pull her on, so she followed the feeling into the forest again.

She frustratingly found her way through a thicket of briars, too large to try to find a way around, hoping that she could locate a nice place to stop for the night on the other side. As soon as she pushed her way through, she stopped and her mouth dropped open at the sight in front of her; yet another small meadow, and on the other side loomed a cave.

Amara debated with herself on whether or not to venture ahead, for fear that there might be animal dwellers in the cave, but her curiosity got the better of her. She quietly strode across the meadow, all senses alert, watching for any movement around her. She crept up to the side of the cave and peeked inside, scanning as far as she could see. She reached around and grabbed her two flashlights from her pack; one a hand-held, the other a makeshift miner’s hat so that she could free her hands if necessary. She turned both lights on and peeked inside again, seeing nothing.

She ventured just inside the opening, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She sniffed the air, smelling nothing but that musty cave smell she remembered smelling as a child when she went on vacations with her parents and they took cave tours. Scanning the area, she was happy to notice that there were no footprints, no animal droppings, no markings of any sort, except…what was that? She tiptoed inside a little more and delighted at what she saw—a ring of rocks and the remains of some charred wood, completely undisturbed. She felt better, realizing that someone else had used this cave, and fairly recently, too. However, knowing that even the fireplace could not promise safety, she looked up, trying to see a little further back in the cave.

Taking a few tentative steps, her heart pounding in her chest, something made her stop. She whipped around and looked at the cave opening. Her brow furrowed as her face showed the puzzlement she was feeling, and she went back outside the cave. Seeing nothing, she shrugged, and stepped back inside. She walked back as far as she could see with the dimming sunlight, and once again turned around.

Her body started shaking and thoughts raced through her head…her skin went clammy and her head started throbbing. Fear overcame her as she realized what was happening; she was getting one of those feelings, like the premonitions that her mother had. She looked deeper into the cave, and then back to the mouth, and back again. She hugged the wall with her back and unbidden tears started coming down her face. She knew that if she continued forward, she would never see her family again.

What a silly thought! There’s nothing in this cave but a cave, she thought. Unless, of course, she was sensing her death; otherwise she couldn’t understand why she should get this feeling. She took a deep breath and thought, trying to make her decision. What would happen to her? Would she fall into the depths of the cave? She shuddered at the thought of falling into a crevasse or hole, possibly breaking bones, knowing that her flashlight batteries wouldn’t last forever and she would be alone in the darkness, without enough food to sustain her, and realizing that she would slowly starve to death.

Wracked with indecision, Amara slid down the side of the wall to a sitting position. She held her head in her hands and tried to rid herself of the headache and the premonitions she was feeling. She didn’t know how long she stayed there, but when she looked up, the last few rays of twilight found their way into the cave. She looked up as a strong breeze blew through the cave, as if it were trying to bid her onward. She stood up, donned her backpack again, took a deep breath, and ever so slowly and tentatively put her left foot in front of her right one. She looked at her feet, then back up to the mouth of the cave.

“I love you, Mom, Dad, and Jacob…never forget me,” she whispered. Amazingly, she didn’t feel sad or upset. It was as if this was what she was meant to do; walk into that cave.

After one more slight hesitation and a deep breath, she started forward, ready to find her way deep into the cave.

Danug picked at his food, he just couldn't eat, he had the strangest feeling, he couldn't shake the anxiety he was feeling. Latie looked at her older brother worriedly, "Danug, what on earth is bothering you? Everyone is here in the cave, no one is hurt; we have food, warmth and company. What is wrong with you?"

"Oh, Latie, I don't know, I just have this feeling, I almost feel scared for something, like something is going to happen that is going to change everything! And I don't know what." He looked at his sister, who had grown up quite a bit in the last few years. He knew she looked up to the miraculous and mysterious Ayla, Latie even had her own horses, because of Ayla. They were now on a journey with some others of the Mamutoi. They were going to try to go to the Great Waters of the west that Jondalar had spoken of. And of course visit their dear friends, Ayla and Jondalar.

Danug hadn't wanted to take over lead of the Lodge yet, and Latie was still a bit young, even though she was a woman now. He couldn't imagine her mated, but it was bound to happen one day. In the meantime the two of them had decided that they wanted to make a Journey, and organized the whole affair, inviting other Mamutoi to go with them. There was Radec, who was a sibling of Talut, with the characteristic flaming red hair and giant stature. He was a flint knapper. His mate Callie, mostly a mother type, who enjoyed cooking and sewing, she was slender and very tall. Her long dark hair she always wore in a braid that hung down her back. Those two, even though not officially, served as headman and woman for the gang of travelers. And Healie, she was an old widow, who had longed for adventure all her life, but only when her mate had died could she pursue her dream. She was an excellent hide tanner, and enjoyed making clothes and furs as well. Panec was a bit older than Danug, very quiet and serious, but also very insightful and sensitive. He was a carver, and a skilled artist. Danug finally said, "I wish I could go for a walk. But the Mother's wrath was taking its toll, and is making snow in summer. I just don't feel relaxed right now, I need to move around."

Panec smiled and said, "It must be that we are farther south, Danug. It is not that late in the season, and up near the glacier where we live it snows much less. The glacier eats up any moisture that happens to come by there. It'll pass soon. Just have patience. Here have some more stew; Callie made a masterpiece, once again."

Latie smiled at the usually quite man, "Yeah, this stew is great! I thought we went north, but I guess we must have come back south again. That means the Mother River must be close too! I have never seen the Mother River, she must be grand!!"

"Of course she is grand, Latie, she is the Mother of all," chirped Healie. She gave a cackling laugh, though it was not evil in the least, it just showed her age.

Panec let out a hearty laugh, "Mother River, that is all you kids have talked about this whole trip, I can’t wait to get there so I don't have to hear anymore about it!” He laughed again, and the rest laughed with him.

Danug got up again, and looked out of the cave; he swore he had heard someone calling. He poked his head out of the cave, then stepped outside. He couldn't see a thing, barely could see his hand in front of him. It was completely white outside. He stepped back in the cave. "I think I am gonna try and get some sleep, I have a headache…"

"Here Danug, have some tea, it has chamomile, it should calm you down, whatever it is that is bothering you," said Callie finally contributing to the conversation. He took the cup of warm liquid and drank a few sips, then walked to the back of the cave. He rolled out his furs, and lay down. He closed his eyes but couldn't fall asleep. He lay awake wondering what could have come over him to make him so restless. This was so unlike him. When he finally feel asleep he dreamed.

He was walking alone in the snow, calling but no one heard him. He felt this overwhelming sense of loss. He was alone, no one to help him. Then he fell to the ground, and kept falling, he never hit the ground. He was falling down a hole!! He couldn't see anything, it was dark; he couldn't breathe. Then he slammed into the ground.

Danug woke with a start! He didn't know what his dream meant. He saw his sister sleeping in her furs at his side. He opened the furs and cringed at the cold that filled the cave. He walked to the fire, and stirred the coals to start a fire and warm the cave up.

Each step she took seemed lighter than the one before it; the flashlight she held in her hand and the one on her head both seemed to shine brighter with her movement. She wondered why she felt so good about making what seemed like such a small decision, and for some reason, she still didn’t feel upset about never seeing her parents again. She knew that this was what she was supposed to be doing, and she felt confident in her future, knowing that she would indeed have the destiny she had always dreamed of.

Deep in her thoughts, a change in the atmosphere of the cave caught her completely off guard. She halted in her footsteps and looked around her. The cave no longer looked familiar; it didn’t even feel like the same cave. She turned around to look at the direction from which she had come and all she saw was a wall. She spun around again and saw nothing like what she had been looking at hardly half a minute earlier. She felt lightheaded and dizzy, and she crouched near the wall. Something was not…well, it wasn’t as if it was not right, it was just different. Tears began to flow, belying her confusion and frustration. She still had her pack, the flashlights were still working well, but it was darker, and it was colder. She shivered and wondered why it was so much cooler. What had happened? She felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. She wanted to be asleep in her own warm bed, not in this place. She had never felt so…so…strange before. Something was different…definitely different, and she didn’t know what it was, which only added to her frustration.

Dizzy as she was, she stood up. “You’re not going to get anything accomplished this way, Amara,” she said aloud. Her voice sounded empty and hollow, scared and lonely. She summoned up all her courage and decided to continue forth. She felt right about something, which urged her on.

She gasped in surprise at what she saw next…there were drawings on the wall!! She realized that this cave had to have been around for centuries, no, millennia, as these paintings were the same as she had seen in her history books…like those caves found in France.

“I didn’t realize Austria had these kinds of caves, too,” she said. She smiled, realizing that she was talking to no one but herself, but it made her seem less lonely. She dared not touch them, as somewhere in her mind she thought to show them to her parents. Then she laughed, heartily at first, and then almost a whimper, when she again realized that she could never show these to her parents.

She stood in awe absorbing the pictures. Horses, and what looked like antelope, and, wait, was that a mammoth? She peered closer, and then excitement hit her. Just how many millennia old was this cave?! Another shock hit her in the face when she saw the image of a saber-tooth tiger chasing a herd of…something. She smiled again when she realized that she had seen pictures of some of these animals…what looked like the modern-day Przewalski's Horses in particular…she had seen them in a game she played with her grandfather at home. Ah, yes, a Wildlife Adventure game of some sort. She chuckled, pleased with herself for recognizing something. Her eyes scanned the drawings, and once again she felt hit in the face when she saw something else…

A drawing of a people…or what looked like people…a woman and two men, two horses, and a wolf. The woman, from what Amara could pick out, was stunning, and the tall man was no exception. Both were blonde, or so she figured from the picture, and they both seemed regal. The other man didn’t look a thing like the other two. He was shorter, but not much. Darker, hairier, and his face looked strange.

“That’s a Neandertal!” she cried. For just an instant, a memory of a school lecture pushed into her mind, and she recalled her teacher trying to explain to the students why they were ‘Neandertals’ and not ‘Neanderthals’, something about a mistake with the original name. From Germany, she mused, at least, that was where they were first found. Neander Valley, or something like that. Her excitement overflowed, realizing that this drawing had been naturally preserved better than ice-age mammoths, found encased in ice. She was puzzled by this; how could no one have ever noticed this before? She racked her brain, and not once had she heard of primitive artistry such as this. She was tempted to run her hand over the picture, to feel it with her fingertips, but discipline held her back as she realized that a scientist needed to someday find this, untouched and unchanged. She shook her head in wonder and awe at the sights she saw.

She could have stayed there for hours, but her hunger bade her keep going. She would need to eat soon, she thought, and shivered in the cool air once again. It was then that she realized that the cave she had walked into had not been cool, even far into the cave, which she found strange…caves were usually around 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but it had been as warm as the outside air, whereas now, she knew it was well below 60. She was glad she had worn jeans that morning.

She continued on, and after a short while, she thought she saw light. That’s odd, she thought, does this cave just run through the mountain? Of course! That would explain the cool air! The east side of the mountain would of course be cooler than the west side she had entered on, and especially if the wind had started blowing. She was still puzzled, however; if this cave ran all the way through the mountain, as a tunnel rather than a cave, surely someone would have discovered it already. She put the thought aside and concentrated on the sights she was seeing since the light seemed to be getting slightly brighter, rather than worrying about petty details.

Once again, she was overcome with shock when she saw the next sight. A bunch of old, well, what seemed like old fireplaces! Several of them! And holes in the walls, little niches dug out in the corners, shallow digs in the floor, and stones around each of the little fireplaces, but several feet away. How odd! She was excited about her discovery, and her heart was pounding with delight. The anthropologists would have a field day with this! She looked around, forgetting the colder air, and saw that there was another passage, with intermittent holes in the walls. For torches, perhaps? She immediately decided to follow the path, short and simple, which led back to a small room. One large fireplace in the middle, and in the corners of the room were skulls! She knelt down beside one and picked it up, slowly and carefully. It looked very much like a bear, but she couldn’t be sure. Her meager lights, although small, filled the room with light, and she could see marks on the wall, and more drawings. Looking more closely, she saw that these drawings were hunts. One had several men standing over a dead bison, and another showed the same scene but with a mammoth. All of these men looked like the pictures of Neandertals she had seen, but they looked a slight bit different. She wondered if Neandertals had had the ability to draw such scenes, and her thoughts shifted to the art she had seen earlier. That man, too, did not look quite the same as the traditional looks of Neandertals that anthropologists had assigned. Each of the hunters in the pictures looked a little bit different; some had chins, some did not; some had high foreheads, some did not; but they all looked similar. She soaked in more of the surroundings and then decided to go back out.

The place had obviously not been used recently…no one else had ever camped in here, she thought. Well, not since these prehistoric people, anyway. Again she wondered why the cave had never been discovered, but she decided to ponder about that another day.

She discovered a few other things out in the main room. There was one thing that looked somewhat like a Native American arrowhead, but not nearly as precise, and she wondered if it had even been made by a human, but as she ran her hand across the edge, she could see where pieces had been flaked off, and it showed scraping. It had to have been made by human hands. A few short sticks with pointy ends, but she located very few other artifacts.

Lost in her thoughts, a blast of frigid air brought her back to reality and reminded her of her hunger. She decided to stay the night here, vowing not to disturb anything, but she wanted to see if she recognized where she was in relation to the area she lived in. If she was on the other side of the mountain, then the Danube would be somewhere to her right, and, perhaps, she might even be able to see the lights of Vienna if she climbed up a ways. She smiled and decided she would look, but as soon as she rounded the corner, she stopped, frozen in her path, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

She could see outside, and it was nothing but whirling snow!

SNOW?!? Amara thought. Snow??? How could it be snowing?!?! It was sunny and warm outside! She sat down, again dizzy, the world whirling above her and inside her head. What was going on? She looked behind her at the main room of the cave, and decided she would take a look outside, but not until after she had eaten something.

She went back around the bend and took off her backpack. She was glad that she had brought some kindling, but there were no fire materials around. She thought about using the pointed sticks she had seen, but that though left as quickly as it came. She looked around the cave, hoping to find something, but finding nothing. At an inspiration, she went back to the smaller room she had seen, and delighted when she saw some half-burned wood in the large fireplace. She wondered as she picked it up just how long ago it had been since this wood last burned…surely wood couldn’t survive in this condition for millennia! She shook her head, perplexed, and concluded that she must have been wrong earlier…the cave, or at least this part of the cave, must have been used recently. She beamed with pride, realizing that whoever it was had not disturbed a thing in the cave, knowing that it could not have been stupid teenagers who had used it, but rather mature humane adults. Giving thanks for the wood, she made her way back to the main part of the cave and started a fire.

A dinner of healthy canned goods and dried meat, and then a snack of another candy bar filled her belly and made her content. She had wondered if she should go out and get some of the snow to drink, but she figured it would be just as easy to drink her own water and refill her canteens with snow later on. She laid down to Bach over her headphones, cuddled in her bed roll, and quickly drifted into a world of dreams, fast asleep.

It was the cold that woke her. Her fire had, of course, died over the night, and she shivered in her bed roll. She quickly started another fire and had a quick breakfast of roasted pop-tarts and some leftover canned goods from the night before. Filled once again, she decided to do a little exploring outside. Not much and most definitely not very far, as she knew that the weather outside was not friendly, and it was too strange…snowing in the middle of the summer. She undressed, shook out her clothes, and then dressed again quickly, staying close to the fire the whole time. Instead of packing her bedroll, she decided to wrap it around her for added warmth and protection from the elements. She glanced at her backpack sitting on the floor and debated whether or not to bring it.

Of course she would! There was always that ‘just in case’ scenario that could easily rear its ugly head, and she wanted to be prepared for anything that might come her way. She wrapped the blanket around her, put her arms through the straps of the backpack, fastened it tight, took another deep breath and trod out into the snow.

Amara was no stranger to heavy snow, and she giggled in delight. The first snow is always wonderful, she thought to herself, and she was excited about the new day. She looked around to memorize the landmarks, and then turned around to get a good look at the mountain in which the cave had been nested. Once more, she was completely shocked at what she saw, but instead of being shocked with awe and fascination, a look and a feeling of pure dread washed over her body.

The cave, the mountain, everything, they were no where to be seen.

Danug sat in front of the fire with a cup of steaming tea in his hands. Callie had woken up as well and made him some tea and was heating the left-over stew from the night before. He looked outside and noticed that the snow was falling a little bit lighter, but that it was drifted around the edges of the cave mouth and on the steppes outside. In places he could see the dun colored grass just dusted with snow, next to a large mound of snow several feet deep. Not only had it snowed a lot, but the wind had howled the whole night through. And the sense of foreboding he had just kept growing.

"Danug? What is wrong with you? You look like you have seen an evil spirit! Drink the tea, it will warm you up, and the stew is almost warm," Callie said sharply, she was worried about the young man, she had never seen him this way. Radec moaned and turned in his sleep.

Danug looked at Callie, "I just feel like something, I don't know, I just have this strange feeling," he said worriedly. He drank the tea in one gulp and stood up. "I have to go for a walk, I need to get out, while it isn't snowing so much," he said matter-of-factly.

"Danug, you can't. It is cold and it might start snowing again," she said, now really worried, something was bothering him terribly. Just then Radec woke up.

"Callie? Where are you, Callie?” He said in his morning confusion.

"Right here you big sleepy head! Here have some tea! I made it this morning to warm us all up. It is mighty cold outside. Danug here wants to go for a walk, can't you convince him not to go!” She said smiling to her mate as she handed him a mug of steaming tea.

"A walk! It is still snowing? That sounds like a fine idea! Why don't you just wait until I put on some furs and we'll go walk Danug!” He said rebelliously. Callie was dumbfounded, he just went ahead and totally countered her request. Well at least they wouldn't go alone, even if she couldn't stop them.

As soon as the two men were dressed and had eaten a bit of stew, they stepped outside into the winter landscape. "I can't believe it snowed!” said Danug trying to make conversation, trying to get over the feeling that wouldn't leave him in peace.

"Well. We are further south Danug. Like they said last night, the warmer wetter climate makes for more snow. We are used to those dry glacier winters of the north. I have to say it is a pleasure to see snow like this, despite the trouble and delay it has caused us," Radec said happily, he knew something was bothering the young man and he hoped to help him forget.

Amara stumbled over the stump that had been hidden in the drifts. She was so cold. It had been several hours since the mountain she was so comfortable in had “disappeared” and she felt like her life was ending. Her tears had become frozen to her face, and she couldn’t feel her feet or her fingers. The snow drove its way under every piece of clothing she had on, melting with her body heat and then re-freezing as it clung to her clothes. She couldn’t even find a tree to cower under; no shelter to be seen. Her confusion disoriented her whole body. She didn’t understand what had just happened to her…one minute she was exploring a beautiful cave hardly a mile from her home on a gorgeous summer day, and the next she had been in this strange ‘other half’ of what seemed at the time to be the same cave, but she didn’t know now how it could be. Now, somehow, she was far away from the snow-capped mountains near her home and was in the middle of a fierce blizzard. Completely confused, she couldn’t see far enough to realize that she was indeed in a valley. She couldn’t make a fire, and she couldn’t think to lie down and perhaps dig into the snow, which was her only chance of survival. She cursed everything, bitter that she had thought she was following her destiny, only to freeze to death in this godforsaken place.

She wandered around until it began getting dark again. She had no idea what time she had left the cave that morning, didn’t even know what time she had awoken; all she knew was that she was cold, colder than she had ever been. She wanted to lie down and rest…just rest, but something kept her going. She prayed constantly, barely able to think of anything, just knowing that if she stopped she would die. The sound of the wind was deafening, but she couldn’t cover hear ears for fear her fingers would freeze. She continued on in desperation, her every hope dwindling with each footstep.

After what seemed an eternity, she thought she heard a sound. She summoned all her strength and peered into the white darkness, trying to block out the sound of the driving snow and wind, which although still powerful, seemed to be letting up. Did she see something in the distance, and was the storm really letting up, or was it just her disturbed mind playing tricks on her? She called out, but it was nothing but a whisper. She stopped to catch her breath, becoming colder without her constant movement. She trod forward more, convinced that there was something…or someone…but something ahead of her. She called again, this time slightly louder, but with hardly more than a conversational voice. Plunging ahead, she knew that she was seeing figures…people! Her heart raced and hope came gushing back into her body as her head throbbed with the effort of survival. She called yet again, this time managing to hear herself over the deafening roar. Her snow-blinded eyes thought they saw a figure turn, and she felt blackness coming. With the last bit of strength she had in herself, she screamed her agony of cold, lonely, pain, and before she completely blacked out, Amara saw a face and hands reaching out to her.

Just then Danug spun around, "What was that? I swear I heard someone calling!" He said agitated.

"Calm down Danug! It was just the wind, no man in his right mind would be outside now, except for us that is!” He said laughing, but Danug didn't laugh, he was looking off into the distance.

Radec looked but didn't see anything. Then he heard it too, "Wait, I heard something too! Over that way!" Radec pointed to where Danug was already running.

"Look Radec, you see that dark spot on the ground over there, I can barely make it out, but you see it?” He said excitedly, he started running over in that direction and Radec followed him. As he approached the figure on the ground he stopped and stared.

Radec nearly ran into him from behind. "Look!" he said pointing to the small figure on the ground. It was a small woman, wrapped in a strange orange colored fur, but it wasn't a fur or hide or anything like it. But this woman was nearly dead from cold and exhaustion.

"What in the name of Mut? Danug we have to get this woman to the cave, she is probably freezing, if she is not dead already! Here take my pack, I will carry her back."

With that he picked up the small woman and they started back to the cave.

When they arrived at the cave, the snow was just beginning to fall again. Danug looked at the sky, "Looks like we made it just in time, this blizzard isn't giving in yet. I'll go tell Callie and Healie," he said seriously, but the sense of dread had lessened now that they had found the girl. He turned and looked at Radec carrying the girl, wrapped in the strange hide that she had. "Callie!!! Come quick! We found a woman nearly frozen to death on the steppes. Radec is bringing her in," he yelled into the cave looking anxiously for the woman.

Callie appeared with Healie at her side, "What did you say Danug? Frozen, where did she come from? Here bring her to the fire," she said taking charge. Her jaw dropped with amazement when Radec carried the frozen woman into the cave. She was so small, and wrapped in the strangest hide…not a hide, she couldn't tell what it was, but it was strange.

"Callie, I think we should put her in my hearth for now, there is more space and privacy there. That way we can see to her better as well. Radec follow me," Healie said softly, Callie didn't object, she was right. Callie had only thought of the moment and getting the stranger warm.

Healie walked to the section of the cave she was calling hers for the time being, and spread out her furs close to a fire ring that she had made. "Here, put her here, Radec. Callie, could you start a fire in the ring there. Danug, bring me in some water, I need to make hot tea, and some of the stew to warm her up inside," she said firmly but everyone knew she was in charge of healing this girl. She was not technically a healer, but she had a good knowledge of healing and had a natural sense of care-taking. As Radec sat the girl down on the furs, Healie removed the strange covering and saw that the girl had bare legs, her leggings were short, and the tunic she had, was, well, like nothing she had seen before. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was too strange, but she didn’t have time to ponder them, she began to remove the clothing that was wet and not useful whatsoever in retaining any warmth for the girl.

She wrapped the girl in the furs, naked, and waited while Callie started the fire, and Danug brought the water. Danug looked at the sleeping woman, hoping she would be all right. He didn't know why he had felt so terrible the night before, but he was sure it had to do with this woman. He saw Latie standing off to the side and said, "Latie can you believe this?"

She looked at him and smiled, "Well at least now you don't feel so bad. I don't know why she would have been outside in this weather, good thing we found her!" she said softly. "Here, I brought the stew Healie," she said as she put it by the fire next to the water.

"Thank you Danug, Latie, why don't you all go relax for a while. We don't want to surprise her too much when she wakes up. Thank you for your help. Callie, could you stay and help me?" she asked softly.

"Of course Healie, let me make the tea, what kind should I make?" she responded sitting down next to the fire pit.

"Whatever there is, just to warm her up, maybe alfalfa to give her strength," she responded as she studied the young woman sleeping.

She couldn’t open her eyes, she couldn’t hear, she couldn’t feel, she couldn’t move, but she knew she was conscious. Relief welled up inside her as she realized that she hadn’t frozen to death in the cold. But then her mind raced; perhaps she had frozen and now she was dead! Her sorrow just almost overwhelmed her when she realized that she was breathing…dead people didn’t breathe, did they?

It took everything in her to will her sense of touch to ignite, and when it did, she gloried in the warmth she felt. She was happy for just a split second until she began sensing the pain as well. All her extremities had greatly suffered, exposed to the frigid air, and shots of searing pain ran through her body. Without realizing it, she let out a soft moan.

In an instant she heard voices and felt hands touching her head. She gathered up her strength and opened her eyes just a crack, which seemed much easier than she thought it would be. Everything was a blur, so she struggled to open both of her eyes.

As soon as she did, she wished she had kept them closed. As soon as her eyes focused, she did indeed see people, but the likes of which she had never seen before. Opening her eyes wide in fascination, awe, and a touch of fear, she stared at the people around her, wondering where on earth they were from, and moreover, where on earth she was sitting.

They didn’t wear normal clothes; they had what seemed to be leather, or some sort of hide, haphazardly sewn together to match the shape of a body, and they wore only leather encasings over their feet instead of shoes. Their hairdos, although tidy, were very strange, and the few shaven faces of the men were so uneven she wondered how they could stand it. She glanced down at her own clothes, and then realized how strange she must look to them, as they stared back at her, obviously feeling some of the same things her mind was going through.

She looked around at the surroundings and was continually amazed. No pots, no pans, no sleeping bags, nothing of the sort. Instead, they had several baskets, and pots made out of the same material as the clothing. No grills for the fire; rather all the small fires had open flames. Her puzzlement grew as she saw that they had apparently been eating dinner, but there were no chairs, there were no plates, not a single piece of silverware. Food seemed to be heaped on platters of some sort, and there were a few sticks that could possibly be used as forks.

Her head jerked so that her line of sight was in front of her when she heard someone speak. A motherly woman was kneeling beside her, saying something. Amara shook her head, not understanding a word. Then the woman reached out and touched Amara’s head. Amara knotted her eyebrows in frustration, wishing she could comprehend the gestures of the woman.

“Callie,” the woman said, pointing to herself.

Amara felt her spirit lift as she realized that that must be the woman’s name. The woman then pointed to Amara, pointed back to herself, and repeated, “Callie.”

“Cah-lee,” Amara pronounced. The woman nodded, and pointed again to Amara. She wants to know my name, Amara thought. So, with effort, she lifted up her stiff, sore, frostbitten arm, pointed to herself, and said, “Amara.”

“Uh-mar-uh.”

Amara smiled and nodded, and her smile shone brighter when the woman smiled. The woman then gestured and said several foreign words to the small group of people gathered around them. A young man came forward, and Amara felt that this was the friendliest looking guy she had ever seen. She smiled warmly at him, hoping that she could get to know him better in the future. He joined the woman sitting beside Amara, and pointed to himself.

“Dan-ug,” he said slowly. Amara smiled and repeated the name with ease, turning his name over and over in her head. These names seem quite strange, she thought, but then a wry smile came across her face; her name had often been called strange as well. She felt a strange sort of kinship with these people already.

The woman reached over to get a cup, much more primitive than any that Amara had ever seen, and a gasp escaped Amara’s lips as she saw what was beside the cup.

A piece of flint, much like the one she had seen in other cave, and much like the ones she and Jacob had pounded at, sitting beside a small hunk of meat. She felt dizzy as realization slapped her in the face; that wasn’t just a piece of flint! That was a knife! She suddenly pieced together everything she was seeing, from the strange clothing, to the strange utensils, and finally to the knife…somehow, she didn’t understand how, but somehow she had been, well, “transported” was the best way she could think of it. Somehow she had been transported to a time before there were modern tools and clothes. Her mind raced, going back to history and biology classes. When did humans make these kinds of tools? Her mouth dropped open when she found the information, stored way back in her mind somehow.

These people existed at least 25,000 years before the era of computers. With that, the dizziness overcame her; the recognition was too much for her mind, and she passed out.

Callie called to Healie, "Healie, she woke up, come quick!" Then just as quickly as she had awoken, she was unconscious again.

"Here, give her the…oh she isn't awake," Healie said urgently, then surprised that she wasn't awake after all.

"She was awake for a moment, then she blacked out again," Callie said slightly confused, "well, I guess she will wake up again soon, I hope. Healie this tea is ready, do you think we should try to give it to her?" Callie questioned.

"Yes, let’s give it to her, maybe, here use the spoon to put it in her mouth, she should swallow it unconsciously. Danug, thank you for your help, and that stew? Is that warm yet? I am starving!" she said flashing her toothy grin to the younger folks.

"Yes Healie, I brought the stew over. Here, I'll get you a bowl of it, you too Callie and Danug, you need to eat!" said Latie happily, she was glad to be alive and well, and with her friends. She knelt on the ground to serve up the stew and she looked at the sleeping girl. Callie had abandoned her post to sit with Radec and Healie was trying to give the sleeping girl some of the warm tea. She was small, but clearly a woman. She looked like she could even be Latie's age. Latie smiled to herself hoping that maybe she could have a friend close to her age, it got tiresome when your only companions were your brother or aunt and uncle. She was the youngest member of the traveling band at 17. Then Danug her brother who was 20. Then their aunt, Callie and Uncle Radec. He was Talut's youngest brother, and it showed. They were from the Rhino camp to the north of the Lion Camp. Healie and Panec were from the Wolf camp, Panec who was 23, and Healie, 45. She had been a close friend of his mother, and when her mate died in the fall, she decided that she would go with Panec and the others on this journey. She had always wanted to journey, but mating and children had never given the opportunity. Panec had met Danug at the summer meeting, and was thrilled to make a journey to see the amazing couple that had graced their lives, however briefly it had been. That was how this odd group of travelers came to be together.

Latie studied the girl, and noticed her clothing. It was so strange, made of a blue tough material, yet it was soft, well worn, but softer than the hides she had. Those were the leggings. They were soaking wet, she decided that she would hang them near the fire to dry out, maybe she would want them later. At the top of the leggings she noticed a silvery hard nodule. She tapped it with the flint knife she had, it was as hard as rock! Even harder. And so shiny, she saw that it fit into a hole on the opposite flap of the leggings, and guessed it was to close them. But why close them like that, it was just as easy to pull on the leggings and tie them with a thong. But she didn't know where the girl came from, maybe they had different customs. She also noticed that there was a green colored bag. She had been wearing it on her back when they had brought her to the cave. She studied it, she picked it up and felt the weight inside. What would be inside the pack, Latie was tempted to open it up, but Healie gave her a disapproving look. She put the bag down, and handed a bowl of stew to her instead. "I think she has some interesting things Healie, have you seen her leggings? And this pack? They are so strange looking. I have never seen these materials before, anywhere. Where do you suppose she came from?"

"I don't know Latie, I didn't think that there were people around here, she doesn't look like she had been traveling for very long, not prepared for a winter storm. We'll have to ask her. Thank you for the stew," she replied nonchalantly.

Amara opened her eyes just a crack, hoping to deny what she was going through. Her arms and legs were sore, and her fingers, toes and ears hurt badly. She understood that she had probably been close to hypothermia and freezing to death, and sent a silent thanks that frostbite was the extent of her injuries. Other than that, and being very hungry, she felt fine, and oddly, she was at peace, whereas she had expected herself to be in a turmoil, considering her situation.

She was lying down, and she managed to push herself up into a sitting position. It was no longer cold. She could see sunlight streaming in the cave and realized that the blizzard must have been one of those freak things that happened. She knew that there had been blizzards sometimes in the summer back in the States; never where she was, but she had heard of them. She leaned back on the wall and took in her surroundings. Everything was just as she had noticed before, and she filled her eyes and mind with the wondrous sights.

A few small fireplaces were outlined with rocks, just as she had done several times herself. One of them, the largest, had a makeshift spit over it, and several baskets around it. She marveled at the design, and wondered if some of the handmade baskets today…or, well, at home, were that good. There were a few cups and bowls made of wood, but most of the dishes stacked there looked to be made of bone. She looked around at the hearth she was sitting in, and saw a knife within reaching distance. She stretched and picked it up, and then settled herself again to get a good look at it.

It was very good, and sharp, sharper than she had expected, she realized, as she saw a small trickle of blood from where she had rubbed her hand over it. There seemed to be a pattern to the flakes that had been pressured off, and she could just almost pick out a discreet design. The knife even had a handle, which surprised her; she hadn’t realized the people in the Pleistocene had the intelligence to do such intricate work. She then chided herself…of course they were intelligent! They had saved her life, somehow, and they were surviving, but they had more tools than she had ever been taught that they had. Most of them must just not survive to the present…er, 21^st Century; but that was understandable…how many millennia would pass between now and then, she wondered?

Then a thought struck her…maybe I should write this stuff down! Even if I run out of ink in my pen or run out of paper that’s in my bag, I know how to write! Imagine the things that 21^st Century scientists could discover if she could just record some of this stuff! Her mind raced with thoughts, as she knew how important this information would be to people at home. Hmm, I really need to figure out a better way to refer to “home.” I guess it is the future, but to me, it’s the past. Just yesterday, or the day before that, I was watching movies at home. Which reminds me, what day is this? She struggled to think, since her watch had obviously been taken off her wrist. Let’s see, it was Saturday when I left. I woke up in that cave on Sunday, then, so today must be Monday. Monday, August 5, 2002. I should really try to keep track of this.

Then she groaned, oh, no! She sighed, realizing that her period was due sometime next week…what on earth will I do?? Well, the women here must go through the same thing; hopefully they’ll be able to help me out. I feel dirty…I could go for a hot shower right now. She laughed at the thought. How do these people get clean?! They seem clean, though. Ugh! She laughed aloud; now I know why my mother always told me why modern conveniences were such a blessing!

Her stomach growled, reminding her of her hunger. She knew that these people must be outside; she heard voices, but she didn’t want to bother them. She looked for her backpack, and saw that it was too far away for her to reach. She grumbled with frustration, realizing that she would have to call for assistance.

“Hello? Is anyone out there?” She felt sheepish having to call like this, but hearing pattering footsteps made her feel better. A young woman came into view, and Amara thought that she was rather pretty. She looked about her own age; maybe they could become friends.

“Is there something you need?” Latie said.

Amara made a face…she couldn’t understand a word! She knew that the girl had spoken, and it sounded, huh, sort of, but not exactly, kind of like Russian. She was determined to learn their language, but she didn’t know how to start. She had taken Spanish and French in Junior High and High School, and after moving to Austria she had just begun some German lessons, but the teacher had always known English as well. She knew that this was going to be tough.

“Food,” she said, but the scowl of frustration on the other girl’s face told her that she didn’t understand, either. She looked around, and then made motions of putting stuff in her mouth, and of drinking from a cup.

Latie realized quickly that the girl wanted food, and her motions reminded her of Rydag. A soft smile came over her face and tears threatened, but she didn’t want to confuse this girl any more than she already was. She went over to the large hearth and picked up a plate that Healie had made for her earlier, in case she woke up and was hungry. She went back and handed the plate to the girl.

Amara nodded and smiled, then with effort pointed to her backpack. Latie looked over in that direction, and hopped up to get it for her. She understood the smile of gratitude she received as a thank you, and anticipated the contents of the strange bag.

Amara opened it and pulled out her fork and knife. Latie gasped at what she saw, and Amara frowned. Perhaps she shouldn’t show these people what she had; it might confuse them. But then she grinned when she saw one of her candy bars, and she pulled it out.

Latie watched in amazement as Amara unwrapped the object she was holding. She was surprised at what she saw…a long, brown, bumpy lump. She looked at Amara in confusion, as there was only one thing in the world that she knew of that looked like that brown lump.

Amara painfully broke off a small piece of her Snickers bar and handed it to Latie. Cautiously, Latie accepted the piece and sniffed it. It smelled good, and she wondered what she was supposed to do with it. Amara broke off a small piece for herself and popped it in her mouth. Latie slowly brought the object to her mouth and licked it quickly. That was all she needed; she had never tasted anything so wonderful in her life! She bit off a small piece and chewed it.

Amara laughed at the excitement in Latie’s eyes, and knew her chocolate had been a success. Her fingers hurt badly and it was a chore to break off that piece, but she was rewarded with the innocent joy she saw as Latie ate it. She pointed to herself and said, “Amara.”

Latie nodded. “Latie,” she said after she repeated Amara’s name.

Amara nodded and felt better knowing the young woman’s name. She was excited, but still frustrated at the lack of communication.

She and Latie both looked up when they heard Latie’s name called, and Amara nodded, trying to make Latie understand that she didn’t mind if she left.

Latie glanced at Amara, saw her nod, then nodded herself, and left the strange young woman to her small lunch, understanding from what Healie had said earlier that it would take her a while to eat, as her fingers had nearly frozen in the snowy weather.

Amara watched as Latie left, then painfully picked up her fork. She looked at the food, not able to tell what it was. She was apprehensive about eating anything; these people didn’t have the sanitation that they had at home, and she hoped that her body was resilient enough to be able to eat their food. She tentatively put a piece in her mouth, then smiled to herself. It was very good, and tasted like venison.

The small lunch filled her, and with her stomach satisfied, she went back to looking at the strange things around her. She laughed, realizing how strange she must look. Her jeans were draped over a rock, along with her shirt and bedroll. The fur that was wrapped around her was warm, but it was odd to be naked underneath the furs. She was uncomfortable without her clothes, but she knew that she would just have to accept it.

After she had looked around again and analyzed everything she could see, she reached in her backpack for her CD player. The effort of eating was tiring, and she was hurting. Maybe some music might relax her, she thought, and when she saw her medicine bottle she reached for it without hesitation. She was glad she had filled it before she left, and after she had taken some Advil, she laid down to the composers of the Renaissance, smirking at the irony of listening to “old guys” when she herself was in a time and a place no one could imagine.

Hearing voices woke her up again. Amara slowly sat up in her furs, happy that she was starting to feel better. Her extremities still hurt and were quite sore, but the color was coming back into her body. She reached up and pushed a lock of hair out of her face, and was disgusted to feel how greasy it was. She needed to shower; well, bathe anyway, and she needed to wash and brush her hair. How was she going to make these people understand her?

Just then, a woman came into the hearth and smiled at her. Amara smiled back, and the woman came and sat beside her.

“Healie,” she said.

Amara smiled and repeated the name, and the woman nodded. Amara then pointed to her hair and made a disgusted face, and Healie smiled and nodded.

She has beautiful hair, Healie thought as she went to get a large bowl. Amara watched as Healie sorted through several plants, and was amazed when she started pounding on one plant with a rock. Her amazement grew when she saw foam coming out of the plant. She was quite curious, and when Healie came back over to hand her the bowl and the foam sitting on a plate, Amara couldn’t help but reach out and touch it. It felt sort of like soap, but not quite as strong. She looked up at Healie, pointed to the foam, then her hair, with a questioning look. Healie nodded, and set down to help the pained girl wash her body and hair.

After the makeshift bath, Amara felt worlds better. She was happier, and the pain didn’t bother her as much. She reached in her bag and brought out her brush, and Healie gasped in amazement. Amara saw her look, and held the brush out so that Healie could touch it. Healie gently extended her fingers to touch the plastic bristles, and then Amara demonstrated how it worked by brushing her hair. After only a minute or so, her dark hair was smooth and shiny, and Healie was obviously very impressed. Amara held the brush out to Healie again, and Healie tentatively took it from her and started brushing her own hair. Her delight was apparent right away, and Amara smiled, as yet another of her commonplace items was quite a hit.

“Callie, come here! Come look at this!” Healie called. Amara grinned as the other woman came over quickly to see what the fuss was about, and she looked on in earnest and amusement as the two women excitedly conversed about her hairbrush. She couldn’t understand a word, but she could tell from their body language that they were both excited.

“Oh, my, this is wonderful,” Callie commented when she tried the brush herself.

The excitement in their voices caused Latie to come rushing over, and soon everyone in the small camp was crowded around Amara and her backpack, waiting excitedly to see what else she had.

Amara felt very self-conscious, as she was naked underneath the few furs around her, and she knew that some of her things would probably scare them. Her brush was passed between all hands, and everyone tried it. She was a little apprehensive, hoping that these people didn’t have lice or anything like that. She would have rather not have had her brush passed around, but it was obvious that their excitement won over their manners.

Questions started coming from left and right, and Amara became more frustrated with each passing second. She couldn’t understand a word of what was said, and yet these people started bombarding her with questions, and one of them even reached for her backpack. She didn’t mind them seeing her stuff, but she knew that if she saw things like her CD player, it would confuse and perhaps scare them, and so she felt possessive about her things. She clutched her backpack to her and felt tears threaten, belying her frustration and upset.

Panec had rushed in from outside with everyone else when he had heard Callie and Healie talking so excitedly, but when he saw everyone crowd around the young woman, he retreated to the other side of the cave, not wanting to contribute to her frustration, almost as if he knew how upset she was going to be. The last thing he wanted was for this beautiful stranger to be upset at him.

He watched the situation unfold from the other side of the cave, and his heart sank with the ill manners of the camp. He shook his head, trying to look between all the people, and caught a glimpse of the young woman looking around wildly, and he could see that she was close to tears, if not a breakdown. He wished with all his might for his friends to stop. He didn’t want to scare her; he wanted to talk to her, get to know her. He wouldn’t be able to do that if the only side she saw of them was this side.

Just then he heard Healie yell, “Enough!” Everything got quiet. “Why are we acting like this? Amara was just sharing one of her treasures with us, and look at how we reacted!”

Healie looked at the confused young girl and smiled. She had seen how upset Amara was, and knew that the questions had to stop.

Amara was grateful, but she just wanted to be left alone. She knew that Healie saw that, and she was even more grateful when Healie started ushering people away. She gave Amara a fleeting smile, then nodded and left herself. Amara buried herself in her furs and tried to keep the tears from squeezing out. She just wanted to sleep, and wake back up at home, in her own bed. She felt “right” here, in a way, but she was uncomfortable and self-conscious, and she couldn’t talk to anyone. She felt so alone, and scared, and in her sorrow the tears came unbidden.

She was as quiet as she could be, so she was able to hear soft footsteps coming her way. She dreaded having to look at anyone, and when the footsteps stopped right beside her furs, she wished with all her might that she would hear the footsteps going the opposite direction.

Amara could feel whoever it was standing over her was still there. She just wanted them to go away, at least for now. She was feeling so overwhelmed and sad. She had lost her mother and family, and now she understood nothing around her. She was laying on her stomach, face down buried in the furs. Maybe they would think she had gone to sleep. She jumped when she heard a deep voice say something that she didn't understand. Damn! She thought, now whoever it was knew she was awake. She took a deep breath and then felt a hand on her back. She was surprised, but it was comforting to feel the presence of another real human, in such trying circumstances. She turned her head slowly and saw the crossed legs of someone sitting on the floor. She also smelled food. She was hungry again. She turned over and sat up in the furs, and looked into a man's dark eyes. She was startled because she hadn't seen him before. He sat looking at her, waiting for some sort of response, and smiling. She smiled back at him, not sure what to say. He was so handsome, she felt herself blush when she realized she was naked under the furs around her. Then he spoke again.

"I know you don't understand me, but, well, I brought you some food. My name is Panec," he said to Amara, feeling more and more drawn by her. She seemed so innocent and weak, but he saw strength in her eyes, and even a bit of confusion.

Amara looked at the man, and liked the sound of his voice, but she didn't have the foggiest clue of what he said. When he held out a platter of food to her and smiled, she smiled back. She pointed to the food, and said, "Is that for me?" He nodded his head when she pointed at the food and gave her the platter. She looked at the food he had brought. It was more of the same meat from the meal before, and some green shoots, she didn't know what they were, but she tried them, picked one up in her fingers and tasted it. It was delicious!! She smiled to the man again, his eyes, they were shining in the firelight, and she caught her breath in her throat.

"What happened to you? How did you end up alone in that raging storm? You were almost frozen to death!" Panec said, knowing she wouldn't understand, but he wanted to talk to her, know her. She was so beautiful.

She looked at him blankly, then frowned. She got the sense that he was asking a question, and she knew probably he was asking how she got there. But she didn't even know where to begin. How to explain the freak accident that brought her back thousands of years into the middle of a snow storm. She looked at him helplessly, and shook her head. But she had to try something. He stood up, and she finally said, "Wait! Don't go, please."

Panec smiled when she talked finally. He signaled with his hand to wait. She sat impatiently, hoping he would come back. She took a bite of the meat and chewed. Panec rummaged around in his pack, he soon found what he was looking for. He came back and sat down with Amara. He noticed the skin on her arms was cold with goosebumps. He reached around to the other side of the fire and placed a fur around her shoulders, then sat next to her. He could feel his heart beating faster in his chest, he wanted to touch her, feel that she was really there. It seemed she had appeared out of no where, like a dream, and he was afraid he would wake. He had never felt this excited by a woman before.

Amara looked at him, he was so beautiful. She noticed something in his hand, and he looked at the ground. He seemed a little shy. Finally she said, "My name is Amara, what is yours?" She smiled hopefully to him. When he didn't respond right away, she sensed that he hadn't understood what she meant. She pointed to her chest again, and said, "Amara, my name is Amara," then she waited.

He smiled and said her name, "Amara, Amara, beautiful Amara…" He pointed to himself and said his name. Amara smiled, relieved that they had exchanged some sort of comprehensible dialogue, sort of.

Panec looked at his hands, then to Amara, he took her hand and placed the small white figure in her hands. She gasped! It was a beautiful ivory carving of a mother goddess, just like she had seen in her history books. She looked at Panec and said, "Panec, this is beautiful! What is it called?" She said as she pointed to the fine carving.

Panec smiled, pleased that she had liked his gift. He had been working on it for a while, and had decided to give it to her earlier when everyone was crowding around and frustrating her. He looked at her softly when she pointed to it, "It is called a ‘Muta’," he said repeating the word Muta.

She said the word, "Muta.” Then she pointed to the platter of food.

He watched as she pointed to the platter of food, but wasn't sure what she wanted to know, "Food, that is food." He pointed to the meat, and said the word for that. Then he pointed to a cup of water, he poured some out onto the ground and said, "Water." She repeated all the words back to him. He was surprised that she remembered so well, and pronounced the words well too. The went through a series of items, repeating the words for each one. Then he turned to her, "Amara, you are the most beautiful woman in the world!" he smiled, but it was clear she hadn't understood.

She had been so happy to learn words, but she realized that she still couldn't understand them when they talked to her. Her eyes filled with water. She knew she could do this. She had to do this, there was no escaping it. She looked at Panec with teary eyes, and he put his arms around her and held her for just a moment.

"I know you don't understand, Amara, I promise you will, I will help you learn Mamutoi,” he looked at her again and smiled, he had an idea. He pointed to Amara and said, "Amara, woman." Then he pointed to himself and said, "Panec, man." He smiled at her, and she smiled back but she hadn't understood. He looked at the Muta on her lap and picked it up, he said, "Muta, woman,” and pointed to the curves that represented the ample breasts of the Mother. He then pointed to Amara and said the word for woman again and then the word for man, pointing to himself.

A flicker of recognition crossed her face. She pointed to Panec and said, "Panec, man, Amara, woman, Latie, woman?" she questioned, she wanted to be sure she had it right. He nodded to her, thinking she had it right. She smiled the most beautiful smile, and he melted.

He touched her face with his hand and said, "Amara, woman, beautiful woman. Panec, man. Man and woman…" Amara felt herself sway, she was being drawn into him, completely willingly, but it was out of her control. She felt the heat and softness of his hand on her cheek, she felt warmth radiating from his body that was so close to hers, and she felt herself move closer. Panec leaned over, bringing her face closer to his. They looked into each other’s eyes.

"Panec! Where are you?" he heard Healie shout into the cave, Amara jumped surprised and blushed, he composed himself but smiled warmly to her. Healie came in and looked surprised that he was with Amara.

"What are you doing here Panec? We have been looking all over for you!" she said.

Panec said calmly, " I was talking to Amara, that is her name you know. I taught her a few words too, though a long way until she can really speak, we understand each other." He smiled smugly to Healie. She was like a second mother to him, and he was proud that he had communicated 'so well’ with Amara.

Healie smiled to them and then turned to Amara, "How do you feel Amara? Warm?" She realized she hadn't been understood when Amara looked at her frustrated, but trying to understand.

"No, not like that Healie, you have to explain while you say the words. I will show you.” He wrapped his arms around his chest and feigned to shiver, and asked Amara if she was cold. She smiled to him and shook her head no.

Healie smiled, "Well that is good, have you eaten?" she said while putting her hand to her mouth, as if she was eating.

Amara smiled at the woman, and Panec, and said, "Food, Panec…" she patted her tummy to say that it was good. She turned to him to ask for a word.

He watched her make signals to try to explain. He told her the word, "Good," while patting his tummy. It wasn't quite correct, but it would do.

Amara smiled at him and said, "Panec, food good!" she smiled at the woman again, glad to finally have made a little progress in communicating.

"Good! Here drink some tea, it will keep you warm! Oh and you must have some clothes!" She handed Amara a cup of steaming liquid, and then rummaged around her belongings. She pulled out a yellow tunic and held it up. It seemed like it would fit. She handed that to Amara as well, and signaled for her to put it on. When Amara flushed, Healie turned to Panec, "Well, maybe you should leave so she can change. I think it makes her uncomfortable to dress in front of you." She waved him out.

"But Healie, I,"

"No no Panec. You can come back later, she needs to put her clothes on.”

Panec stood up and looked at Amara. He smiled to her and told her he would be back, and waved. Amara's face fell, why had he left? She had finally started to understand someone, and he was so handsome, she regretted not being able to kiss him. She hoped that the chance wasn't completely lost. She quickly pulled the tunic over her head and sighed, it was much warmer wearing a shirt, even if it did smell funny. She smiled to the older woman as she drank her tea, and listened as she talked, not understanding a word. But Amara was content to think about Panec. She watched for him and finally fell asleep as the night wore on.

Healie was pleased at how well she had been healing. Then she noticed the Muta that was on top of the furs. She wondered where she had gotten that. But she left it alone and laid down to sleep herself.

“Amara?” Latie said. Amara looked up at the young woman walking her way. “Would you like to help us?”

“Yes, I like help,” Amara replied after some hesitation, trying to put together the words. Panec had been sitting with her constantly the past two days, going over everything he could think of. He was a good teacher, and she had been surprised that he was so patient with her. She was proud of the progress she had made, and although it had been slow, she was moving faster learning their language than with anything she had ever learned before. “What need?”

Latie smiled, also impressed at how quickly Amara had caught on. It reminded her of another stranger she had met a few years earlier who had caught on to Mamutoi quickly. I’m sure Ayla will like her, Latie thought. “Callie and Healie and I are going to mend some clothes while the men are scouting,” she replied, making sewing motions while she talked. This seemed to help Amara to understand the gist of what she was saying, and Latie was always delighted to see recognition in the other woman’s eyes.

“Not sew good,” Amara said hesitantly. Latie shrugged, smiled, and extended her hand out to help Amara stand. Amara smiled again, pleased that Latie was so patient and willing to teach her how to sew.

Amara’s health had improved drastically, and she had begun to adapt to the different way of life. It was annoying for her not to be able to wash her hands or go to the bathroom whenever she wanted, and she used her items sparingly, knowing that they would not last forever. She was disappointed that all of her candy bars were gone, but after Latie had shared her experience, the others had been so curious that she couldn’t help herself. But that’s okay, she thought, since my toothpaste will run out soon, also. She was now able to get up and walk short distances, but any extended period of exertion pained her. She gave thanks every day that these people had been there to save her, and she was immensely grateful.

Amara walked gingerly outside, steadying herself on Latie’s strong arm. She settled herself down and breathed in the warm air. It was delightful outside, not like it had been back in Kansas, and she enjoyed the mild weather. The four women sat in a small circle with articles of clothing spread about. Amara had always dreaded sewing, and now she realized how much she had taken department stores for granted. She picked up a piece of leather and tried to figure out how it went together; when she couldn’t, she extended it to Latie and shook her head.

Latie smiled, “Here, let me show you.” Amara watched eagerly as Latie demonstrated how it worked.

Using a small tool, Latie made a tiny hole in the material. Then she took a sliver of bone and a piece of sinew and held them out to Amara. “This is a thread-puller,” she explained.

Amara’s face lit up with recognition, “A needle! How inventive!” she said, before she realized she was speaking in English. She blushed and pointed to the instrument. “Needle,” she said.

Latie’s eyes opened wide. Amara seemed to know what this was, but how could she?? Ayla had just come up with the idea of a thread-puller a few years ago, and no one else had ever heard of such a thing. But Amara had? Latie shook her head. There were many things Amara had or knew of that baffled her, and she couldn’t wait until Amara learned the language, so that they might all understand all these treasures she had.

Latie held the fabric out to Amara. “Here, you try it.”

Amara nodded. She knew the basics, and she was relieved when she saw how Latie had made the few stitches just then. Her needlework wasn’t exactly 21^st Century, that was for sure, and Amara felt confident that she could do these few rudimentary things. She then chided herself, because she knew that these people, this early version of the human race, had not made such advancements yet. It was best to let them think that the way they did things was the best way possible.

Latie praised her when Amara made a few successful stitches, and then went on to show her how the pieces fit together to make a garment. Amara nodded happily, glad to be understanding. Healie and Callie watched with amusement at the exchange of information between the two young women, and were glad that Latie finally had someone her age to talk to. Well, sort of talk to; Amara’s speech was improving quickly and soon Latie would have a fast friend who understood her.

Latie handed a torn shirt to Amara, and Amara blushed when she realized it was Panec’s. Latie smiled and winked at her.

“You like Panec?” She asked.

Amara absorbed what Latie had just said and quickly translated it to herself. She grinned and nodded shyly. Latie smiled, “Good, I’m glad. Panec’s a wonderful man, and he should be settling down soon.” Motions accompanied her words as she tried to make them more clear to the newcomer.

Amara gasped; how forward! She just said that she liked him, and now Latie was hinting at marriage! Or, rather, what was it they called it? Matrimonial or something. She had only known Panec for a couple of days, and although she could easily see herself with him, she didn’t think about it in those serious of terms yet. But the thought made her smile, and Latie recognized the far away look in Amara’s eyes—she had seen that same look in eyes before.

“Amara, how did you get here?” Latie asked.

Amara looked down, not knowing how to explain herself, nor how to do so in a way that would be believable. She took a deep breath and thought the best she could so that she could explain herself.

“Walk, summer, woods,” she began, and looked at the women apprehensively for acknowledgment. When they nodded, she continued. “Cave, go inside, walk long time. See hearths, see…art. Come to…other side, see snow. Sleep, wake up, walk out in snow. Then cave gone, alone, cold, then here.” She knew that they didn’t understand what she meant and was afraid of what they’d think of her if she ever tried to explain herself fully.

Latie looked confused. “The cave disappeared?” Amara nodded. “Are you sure?” Amara nodded fervently. “Well, it must have just been hidden by the snow, right?”

Amara looked down sadly and shrugged.

“Latie, don’t ask her such questions until she can talk better! I’m sure that’s not what she meant, caves don’t disappear. Why don’t we just wait to inquire about all this?” Callie suggested.

Latie nodded in agreement, “I’m sorry Amara, but you know we’re curious.” She smiled slyly and Amara did her best to smile back. How could she ever explain to them what had happened to her?

All four women looked up when the men came excitedly back.

“Did you see anything?” Healie asked.

Danug shook his head, “No, but we saw signs of a herd.”

Radec spoke up, “We will stay until we can get in a good hunt, and for Amara to continue her recovery. We will need to be leaving before the next moon, but this gives us a good chance to restock our supplies and such.”

Healie nodded and Callie agreed, glad that they would be staying longer. She didn’t think it would be wise to have Amara travel so soon, and perhaps it would be best if they discovered more about her before they included her completely in her group. She liked the young woman quite a bit, and she saw the friendship growing between the two young women, and the fondness Panec showed for her, but she still had her reservations. She kept thinking about what Danug had said last night.

“There’s something about her, Callie, that I think we’re supposed to know. I don’t know if we’ll be able to understand or accept her just yet, but I do feel that she’s supposed to be with us.”

Callie shivered in the warm breeze. Danug, after all, had been the one who knew that something was wrong, and he had been the one to find the poor half-frozen girl. Danug had begun to get these feelings within the last couple of years and she had learned to trust him. She wondered what could be so different about this girl, aside from the obvious, that had not been dealt with before. Even Ayla, that mysterious woman, had been accepted, although she had lived with and given birth to a Flathead. So what about Amara could be so difficult to accept?

Panec, Danug and Radec had left in the early morning to scout out a herd of bison they had seen signs of yesterday. They had left the women at the cave sewing again. It was now near midday.

Danug turned to Panec, "So Panec, you seem to have been spending a lot of time with Amara, has she told you anything about how she got here?" he said with a slight bitterness. He was a little upset that after he had the premonitions about her, and then found her, Panec had stepped in.

Panec looked at him, a little surprised at his rancor. "Well, Danug, she is just starting to learn Mamutoi. She is learning quickly, but to explain abstract things is still a long way off I think."

Danug looked at Panec; he seemed to not even care that HE, Danug had been the one to find her. "It would be nice if I could talk to her once. I 'd like to hear what she has to say too."

Radec looked at Danug; he was acting especially resentful towards Panec. It was plain to everyone that Panec was attracted to the strange woman, and that she had returned his sentiments. Was Danug jealous about that? Did he have feelings for her too? "There will be plenty of time for everyone to get to know the young woman, and I am sure she will tell us where she came from as soon as she can. I sense that she wants to, but the language barrier is the main problem. Maybe she would learn faster if she spent time with everyone during meals."

Panec nodded, "You’re right Radec, but Healie said she should rest as much as possible. I just thought I could try to teach her what I can, while she is stuck in the hearth. But you are all welcome to help. I think she would like to know that you had found her Danug. She has told me that she is glad that we saved her. Maybe when we get back you can come talk to her with me?"

Danug looked at him incredulously, "Yeah, maybe I will," he said under his breath.

Panec threw a glance to Radec, as if asking what Danug's problem was. Radec after all was his uncle. Panec had sort of felt like the odd one out in this group since he joined. It seemed they all knew each other and were family. He was glad for Healie, but she was so much older than he. Amara was so friendly to him, close to his age, and so beautiful. Was it wrong for him to spend time with her? Danug had barely even talked to the girl since he found her. He didn’t think that he had wanted to. Well, he just invited him to go with him to talk to her, maybe he would feel better about that.

Just then Radec spotted the herd! "Look! Over there, across the ridge. You see the bison over there! We're gonna be able to hunt one more time after all! I was starting to worry we would find anything at all!! Let's get back to the cave and tell the girls! I know Latie and Callie will be thrilled!"

The three men started at a steady jog to cover the distance it had taken all morning to walk in a shorter time. They should go hunting in the next few days if they were going to get this herd.

By mid afternoon they approached the small cave and Radec waved enthusiastically to Callie, "We found a herd! We found one! Let's go hunting!" He threw his arms around Callie and picked her up and twirled her around.

Callie laughed, "Oh Radec, you always get so excited about hunting, you'd think it was all that you wanted to do!!"

Healie walked up and put her hand on Panec's back, "You hungry boy? Here we made some stew with what was left over. Amara and Latie will give you some. You too Danug, right over there. You look exhausted Panec!" she said.

Panec smiled to Healie, and looked to where Amara and Latie were seated, he waved to them, and watched as Danug walked to his sister and sat down. He walked over with Healie and they sat down.

As soon as Panec had settled down, Amara handed him a bowl of stew, "Eat Panec, I help make food today. Big animals?" she said a little over eager. She had missed him so much that day, even if she was making friends with Latie and the other women, she really wanted to be with Panec.

He smiled at Amara and said, "Thank you, this is delicious! We found a big herd of bison about half a days walk from here! You know bison?" He threw a glance to Danug, who was looking at him a little less than friendly.

Amara noticed the look that passed between the men, she wasn't sure what had happened. She hadn't really talked with Danug yet, but he seemed to be mad, jealous. She smiled at Danug, hoping that he wasn't upset because of her, "Not know ‘bison’, how is bison?" she asked, not recognizing the word that Panec had used.

Panec looked at Danug and Latie, "Danug, can you explain what a bison looks like?"

Danug looked surprised for a moment then started explaining to Amara, "Bison is a big animal, has long shaggy brown hair, big horns and a big hump at its shoulders." He smiled at Latie, then at Amara, but frowned when it was clear that she hadn't understood him.

"No, Danug, you have to explain with actions, and use examples, so she knows what you are talking about, like this. Amara, bison is animal with long brown hair, like me!" she pointed to her own head, and laughed, then she added, "It has big horns on its head," she put her arms up near her head to illustrate the horns.

At that Amara laughed and smiled to Danug, "Now I see, bison is horny, big, and brown!"

They all laughed at her new understanding but strange wording – it was obvious she understood what a bison was.

Amara shivered in the fading daylight. The sky had turned a dusty rose color, and the clouds were beginning to take on a steely gray color. She had been so glad to spend the day outside, but it was really cold now. She was standing at the entrance to the cave that she was learning to think of as home. She had been here for nearly a week. They were planning on hunting tomorrow. The men had spotted the heard the day before, and they were moving this way. She looked off into the distance, she couldn't see a mountain anywhere. The only area that at all resembled where she had come from, 25,000 years in the future was the very cave she was standing in. Could she have been disoriented in the whirling snow storm? Could this have been the very cave she was in 25,000 years in the future, but a week in the past? She pondered the idea, maybe she had just walked around in circles in the snow…why had she left the cave in the first place? She still couldn't fathom how she had been brought back in time to the Ice Age, to these people, this strange way of life. She fingered the yellow tunic she was wearing. It was Healie's, well made and comfortable. She was wearing her jeans, and Latie had stared at them all day. They probably were very strange considering the only thing they had to make clothes with was leather. "Maybe she would like to try them," she thought to herself. "Maybe I shouldn't wear them here." She was still weak from her brush with hypothermia, and grateful for the blessing of being saved by these people, but she missed home. She realized she would probably never get back. She had felt that when she walked into the cave, why had she done it? She wasn't sure, but she also wasn't sorry. But her whole life was going to be so different. "If only I could tell mom that I am okay, just so she would know." Amara choked back her tears, this was so hard, and so exciting at the same time. She really liked Latie, Healie was so kind to her, like a mother, and Panec. She smiled at the thought of him. She didn't know what it was but she wanted him so much. She couldn't believe the way people played around in her school. He was so sincere and handsome, and strong and …

"Amara, come inside, it is cold. Do you want to eat something?" Amara jumped at the sound and spun around, it was Danug.

"Sorry, Danug, I not hear you, give me scare. What say you?" she said in her slowly growing Mamutoi vocabulary. She didn't know what it was about him, he seemed so disturbed by her, or suspicious, but she envied the relationship that Latie had with him. It was clear that they were siblings, and they were so close. She wished that he didn't feel so bad about her being here. She smiled at him.

"I said you should come in, it is cold, you don't want to get sick again. Let's eat, I am hungry!" he said to her, pleased at her friendliness. Even if he didn't like Panec hanging around her like a child, he shouldn't be rude to her. He knew there was something strange about her, but he couldn't place it.

"Yes, I cold Danug, much cold here. I eat too! I hungry too!" she smiled as she walked into the cave at Danug's side. As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she made out the people she was now calling family sitting around the fire. She waved to Latie, who was sitting next to Healie. Callie was passing around a platter of meat and a bowl of brown mushrooms and some grain. Panec was sitting with Radec, talking about the impending hunt. He didn't notice her walk in so she sat down next to Danug, Latie, and Healie. "Callie, food is good…how say, I like, but not eat yet?" Amara shook her head, she didn't know how to ask what she wanted to know.

Callie looked at her, confused then said, "What do you mean Amara?"

Amara said, "Not know how say," she pointed to her nose, then she bent over the platter of meat and sniffed it. "How say that?"

Callie smiled with comprehension, "Oh, the food smells good! Yes, the word is 'smell', the food smells good."

Amara smiled, "Yes, food smells good, I much hungry. No eat all day, we sew much in the sun. I like go outside, now is cold," she said struggling to form the long phrase that described how she felt. She smiled to Callie as she handed her the bone platter of meat. Amara retrieved that bowl that she had been using to eat from, and placed a piece of the juicy meat in it. She licked her fingers and sighed, "Yum, is good!" She then took the bowl of grain and mushrooms and placed some in the bowl with the meat. "Callie, how say this, brown?" she said as she pointed to the mushrooms. She knew they were mushrooms, she had even collected them with her father and brother, but she didn't know how to say it in Mamutoi.

"That is a 'mushroom', I found them today growing near the river, do you like them?” Callie answered, pleased that Amara was making much progress with speaking Mamutoi.

"Yes, I like, I eat before, with father, brother. Father like find mushroom," she said the new word hesitantly. She didn’t know the Mamutoi word for “father,” so she substituted her English version.

Callie's eyes opened wide, that was the first that Amara had mentioned a family. It was good to know that there had been someone to care for her. She watched as Amara was obviously saddened when she remembered her family. Callie wondered what had happened. Had there been an accident and her family had died? Healie watched the girl as well. She wondered about her family. "Amara," she said putting her hand on her shoulder, "where is your family? Who are your people? Can you tell us?" She knew that maybe she shouldn't have asked when she saw the surprise and trace of hesitancy and sadness fill her eyes.

"Family is far, I not see family again. People is, 'American'," she said quietly. She knew that they wouldn't know what American was, it would sound like any other foreign name to them. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. How would she explain to them? She just didn't know how. How would they react? How could they even understand?

"A-mer-i-can, A-mer-i-can, I have never heard of them before," said Healie. Everyone around Amara said the word. Even the sound of the word was strange to them.

Danug looked puzzled, "Amara, where are the American people from? You must be a long way away?" he said skeptically, but just as curious as everyone else.

"America, in…place where sun sets, how say place where sun sets, Danug?" she said.

"The west, you are from the west? You are far away. How did…"

"Amara! I was wondering where you were. How are you?” Panec interrupted smiling to Amara. He hadn't realized the conversation going on between the small group. But quickly guessed when Danug gave him an icy glare. "Oh, I am sorry if I interrupted something. Could I have some of that meat and grain Healie?" he said as he found a place close to Amara to sit. He smiled warmly to her, and all her sad memories fled. She smiled back at him and placed some meat and grain in his bowl, when he held it out. He wanted to lean and kiss her smiling mouth. But he didn't think it would be appropriate, especially with Danug so upset.

Amara felt herself drawn in by the heat of Panec's body near hers, but she saw the look on Danug's face and frowned. "Danug, west is place of sun set? America is west. I come far. Lost. Cold. You take me here?" she asked. Panec had told her that Danug had been the one to find her. She smiled at him. "I glad you take here."

Danug looked at her, and smiled, he was glad that she knew HE was the one who had saved her, NOT Panec, although it was obvious she was completely enamored of him. He watched as she handed him a plate of food, and then rest her hand unconsciously on his thigh. He couldn't do anything about that, but at least would find out about where she came from. Even if it took him a while.

At that moment, Radec let loose a loud belch of satisfaction. "That was the best food I ever tasted dear Callie!"

"Oh you big oaf! That is disgusting! Here have some water!" she said shoving a cup into his hands as she deftly removed the empty plate of food from his other hand.

"Aw now, Callie, I'm still hungry," he complained.

"You have had plenty Radec! Healie, why don't you tell a story," she said changing the subject so that he would complain anymore. She loved her mate, but sometimes she had to reign him in. She looked to Healie, who had settled back against her pack cushioning her back and neck.

"Well, now what should I tell, maybe something to explain to Amara something about Mamutoi culture…" Healie said pondering.

"Why don't you tell the one about the white Mammoth, Healie," said Panec, he knew how good her stories were and thought that the white Mammoth would explain his culture to Amara. It was one of his favorite stories from his childhood. She had told him that story almost once a week around the fire at his hearth, with his mother and their mates and children. Panec had grown up with Healie's children nearly as close as siblings. Healie and his mother had been best friends, and she spent almost as much time at his mother's hearth as at her own. Their families had been so close. When Healie's mate had died, they had all been devastated. It was like his own father having died. Her children had all grown and mated, and lived at separate hearths, but they were still close. But Healie couldn't bare the pain of losing her mate, seeing Ralie, Panec's mother, happy with her mate, made the pain all the worse. When Panec had said he was leaving she jumped at the chance to go as well. Hearing her tell the story made him feel like a child again, he almost saw his mother and mate cuddling, and his siblings sleeping in front of the fire, while she spoke. When she finished he had a tear sparkling in his eye.

"Healie, that was wonderful! You told that just as well as I remember. Thank you. Did you like it Amara? It is one of my favorites," he said quietly to the beautiful woman next to him.

"Yes, I like much. I not see mammoth. White is good, no, more good, no…," she struggled again searching for the appropriate word. "How say when is good, but is more good, is most good. Oh! I not know say words!" she said frustrated with herself again.

Radec turned to her, "Amara, don't you worry, you are learning Mamutoi just fine. It will take some time, but you have made great progress. Just a week ago you couldn't say a word. Now you are making sentences and explaining your feelings to us. It is great! We'll make a Mamutoi out of you yet!" he added enthusiastically.

Healie smiled to the girl who was in her care, and she felt was becoming more and more like a daughter. "Amara, I think the word you want to say is, 'special' or 'sacred.' Special is when something is better than the rest, or especially to your liking, sacred is when something special is holy, or has the blessing of the Mother. Sometimes sacred things have powers from Mut. A Mamut is a sacred and special person, who can speak with the Mother, Mut. We call her Mut, how do your people call the Mother of all?" she asked kindly, but curious, Amara hadn't spoken too much of her people.

Amara didn't know what to say. How could she tell them that her "people" didn't know the Mother, have name for her, or even believe in her. She looked to Panec, and back to Healie. She didn't know what to say. "I, people say, 'God'. Is our sacred…I not know how say. Not know how…"

Danug turned to her and said, "Don't worry Amara, you can explain everything once you feel more comfortable with Mamutoi. Your people are very different from the Mamutoi, you are from very far away. I am very excited to learn more about your people. But don't worry too much now. Like Radec said, you are doing just fine." He smiled to Amara who was frowning, but he noticed she looked content. Especially since Panec had his arm around her shoulders. "I think I am ready to hit the furs!! I am tired, plus, we have to be rested if we are gonna go hunting tomorrow. Good night everyone!" he said as he walked towards his furs.

Panec turned to Amara and said, "Amara, would you like to, um, let's go talk for a while, I haven't talked to you all day. And I would like to spend some time with you alone. You want to come sit at my 'hearth' for a while?" he said hopefully, softly, romantically to Amara.

She felt her stomach flip, was he asking her to…? She smiled nervously to him, "We go talk?" she questioned hesitantly.

"Yeah, let's go talk Amara," he said softly as he took her hand in his and helped her to stand.

Amara didn't protest when he led her away, she was thrilled, but nervous too. "I go to hearth Panec." she said as she smiled nervously to him.

Amara was feeling wonderful; the meal had been great, she had understood most of what was said, and her vocabulary had improved tenfold, just by sitting with everyone and listening to them talk. Although it hadn’t even been a week since they found her, she already felt as if she was part of the family, comfortable around them all, easily fitting into their lives, and she was now confident in her understanding of the language. Of course she still had a lot to learn, but she could communicate well, and she was extremely surprised at how quickly she had caught on and learned.

“Amara?”

She looked up at the man she was walking with. “Yes?”

Panec smiled…he loved her accent, he loved her smile…he knew she was special, and he was dying to talk to her about things. She had learned the language so quickly, and he was very astonished. He needed to talk to her. A part of him told him to wait, to hold back, to learn more about her, but another part of him was pushing him on, and he knew that he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with her.

“On second thought, why don’t we go outside?”

“Sure,” she replied. He extended his hand to her and she took it. He looked into her eyes, then led her outside the cave.

They walked just beyond the cave they were staying at; far enough to be away from voices, but close enough that just in case something happened, they could get back quickly.

She and Panec sat down beside a large oak tree, and she couldn’t help but pluck a leaf from it. It was a white oak, Quercus alba, she thought, remembering her days of high school Biology and leaf collections. I wonder if these people know the differences between all the trees.

Panec smiled while she looked at the leaf, wondering what thoughts were going through her head. She grinned at him then sat down beside him, leaning up against the tree.

“Are you comfortable?” He asked.

Amara smiled again, “Yes, very good, comfortable.”

Panec reached out and took her hand. “Amara, do you know how beautiful you are?”

Amara blushed. “Thank you, is nice.”

Panec smiled at the structure of her sentence. It would not be long before she was fluent.

“What need talk?”

“Amara, beautiful Amara, I want to talk about us,” Panec said as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Amara could hardly believe what she was hearing. Her mind kept telling her, what us? There is no us! But her heart kept telling her that everything was right…everything with him was perfect. She looked at him just a little bit cautiously, having always been trained to take everything slow. Her eyes, however, betrayed her desire to know more.

Panec sat back, still holding her hand in his.

“Amara, I would like to tell you of my life. I don’t know if you’ll be able to understand everything I’m saying, but I would like to try.”

Amara smiled tenderly at him. “Yes, please tell me life, Panec.”

“But first I would like to ask you a question,” he said slowly.

Amara cocked her head. “Yes?”

“How old are you, Amara?”

Amara frowned. She knew her age, but only in English. Her face brightened when she thought of an idea, and she started making marks in the dirt.

“One, two, three, four…” Panec counted as she made the marks. “Sixteen years?” She nodded, and he smiled. “I’m twenty and three years,” he said, making a few more marks on the ground.

Oh, my, she thought, my parents would kill me! Then she giggled to herself, no they wouldn’t, they’ll never know. Sadness dashed across her face; not for herself, but for her parents, who would never meet this wonderful man, who would never see her children, who would never…

“Amara?” Panec asked, worry filling his face. “Are you okay?”

She looked at him and smiled, “Yes, Panec, am fine.”

He let out his breath, not realizing he had been worried about something. Then he realized what was wrong with him…somewhere, back in his mind, he was afraid she had someone else waiting for her, somewhere.

“Where do I begin?” He looked at her thoughtfully. “My mother was blessed with me the summer after her First Rites, and she was a happy woman; very happy with me, and when she found a mate soon after, she was even happier.” He smiled at the memories. “But her mate died when I was younger, in my thirteenth year. They loved each other more than anything…and I loved him too. We were so close, what I can remember of him.”

Amara saw a look of sadness go across his face, and she wondered if she should ask him her questions. These…what did he say? First Rites? What in the world were those? Her mind was racing with questions, but she decided to be patient.

“Then she met Darec, and they mated two summers after that. They are happy, and she loves him, but not like she loved her first mate.” He smiled warmly. “She went to live at his camp, and then Healie took me in. I had always liked her, and although no one could ever replace my mother, Healie means as much to me as any motherly woman could. She and my mother were always good friends, even when they were young, and I wanted to stay with the people of my camp that I knew well. Healie’s mate died just before we left to come on this Journey; that’s what made her decide to come.”

Amara smiled, glad that Healie had been there for him. She wasn’t sure exactly everything he was saying, but she caught the gist of it all, and the emotions that played across his face helped to explain everything. Each word he said, she absorbed into her vocabulary, and unknowingly began building their language in her head.

“I am glad Healie like mother, and sad mate die.” Amara knew she could have said it a lot better, but Panec understood everything she said, and the meaning of her few words.

He looked at her lovingly. “Only a few years after that, women began to notice me. In fact,” he laughed, “the first time I ever got a break from women chasing me was the summer meeting a few years ago, when a tall blonde stranger was there with the Lion Camp – that’s where Danug and Latie are from – all the women seemed to go after him.” He chuckled with the memory. “I was never much of one for women. I have participated in First Rites, and I enjoy it, but no woman has ever made me truly happy.” He looked at Amara and touched her face with his fingers. “Until you.”

Amara was flattered, but very confused. “Panec, what First Rites?”

His head shot up quickly. “First Rites? You don’t know what they are?” She shook her head. He was aghast! She didn’t know what First Rites were? Everyone knew First Rites! His brow wrinkled and he looked at her quizzically. “Amara, are you…um…are you a woman?” He asked meekly.

His question confused her more. “Woman, yes…what mean exactly?”

He blushed. “Have you, um, do you…do you bleed?”

She smiled, understanding his discomfort. “Yes.”

“But you have not had First Rites??” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

She shook her head and her brow wrinkled in confusion and frustration. “What First Rites?” she asked again.

Panec sighed. Oh, Mut, had she been opened? She was most definitely a woman, she had to have been for a few years, but no First Rites? “Amara, when a woman bleeds for the first time, that means she is ready to be blessed.”

“Blessed?”

“Have children.”

“Yes, children, bleed mean ready have children.”

He smiled, glad they agreed on something. “Before a woman can have a child, though, she must be properly opened…First Rites is a ceremony to do that.”

She looked at him closely. Was she understanding this correctly? After a girl begins her period, she’s supposed to have sex? “Panec…explain more, what happen First Rites?”

Panec blushed again; he had never really talked about it before. “Well, a woman is opened by an experienced man the summer after she begins her moon time. A woman is always present to make sure the young woman is opened properly. Once the woman is opened, then she is ready to be blessed. Sometimes if she begins her moon time right after the Summer Meeting, her camp will organize a small meeting so that she might not become blessed too soon.”

Amara laughed—how ridiculous! To prevent a woman from becoming pregnant, she has sex! This was too much, what a strange society! She then stopped; maybe these people don’t know how babies are born, she thought. “Panec, how woman get blessed?”

He looked at her, once again amazed at her naiveté. “Why, when a man’s spirit mixes with her own. Her spirit is ready as soon as she begins her moon time, but it is not good for the spirits to mix before she’s been opened.”

Amara felt foolish for laughing; this was their belief, their custom, and she had laughed at it like it was a joke! “Panec, I am…what word? Sad, I am sad for, oh!”

“Sorry?” He asked.

“Yes, I am sorry, I not understand before. I understand now.”

“Amara, have you had your First Rites?”

She looked at him. Uh oh, she thought. If I say no, which is the truth, they might want me to go through them. I can’t just have sex with some guy! But if I say yes, then he might think it’s okay to, oh, my, what a mess I’ve gotten myself into! Babies don’t come from spirits, but if that’s what these people believe, then, oh, heck, what am I going to do?

She took a breath and made a quick decision. “No,” she said firmly.

He looked at her, not wanting to ask the question he knew he would have to ask. “Amara, have you…um…have you ever…been with a man? Shared Pleasures? Have you ever been blessed?”

“What Pleasures?”

Oh, no, he thought. Well, the good thing is that if she doesn’t know what it is, then she must not have ever shared them. “A man and woman share Pleasures…” he began. Then he touched her face gingerly. “A man and woman share Pleasures with each other when they feel the way I feel about you.”

Yep, that’s what I thought they were, Amara said to herself. Ugh, how am I going to get myself out of this one? I don’t have any birth control, and if I have to go through this ‘First Rites’ then I could easily become pregnant! She sighed, knowing she was not going to win this battle. This was the way of these people, and if she was going to live with them, then she’d have to cope with their customs.

“No, Panec, not Pleasures ever.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “Amara,” Panec said quietly, “Amara, I…I love you.”

She didn’t know that word, but she knew exactly what it meant. This was too fast, way too fast, but somehow she knew in her heart that he was the right one for her. “Panec, I love too,” she said, barely a whisper.

Panec was overjoyed! He had been afraid of what she would say since he first saw her. He reached out and grasped her to him, and then he kissed her.

Oh, my, she thought. She lost herself in his lips and was sad when he backed away. She grinned slyly—he was quite a kisser!

“Amara, I am getting old, I need to settle down and raise a family. I want you to be my mate.”

Amara put her brakes on. Whoa, she thought, I’ve known this guy for just barely a week and here he is proposing! “But, Journey…” she began.

“Amara, you would have to have First Rites first. In fact, it would probably be best if you had them as soon as possible, that way in case the Mother decides to bless you, you will be properly opened. I wonder if we could have a small ceremony here, just the few of us.”

Amara was dumbfounded…what a culture! She grinned when she thought of all the friends back home who would rejoice to live in this kind of society.

“Panec,” she began. She understood pregnancy, knew all about it, and if she had sex, er, ‘First Rites,’ then she was fair game for pregnancy, which would not be a good idea on a journey. “Panec, bless, no good, journey.”

Panec nodded. “I agree, but Amara, we don’t know when the Mother will chose to mix spirits.”

She was annoyed. Sure, that was easy! No sex, no pregnancy! But if that’s not what they believed, then how in the world was she going to argue? Her body kept pushing her forward, but her mind was winning this war. If only she knew of something she could take as a form of birth control, then she wouldn’t have a problem. But it wasn’t as if she could find a pharmacy down the road.

Panec noticed the consternation in her face, and decided it would probably be a good idea if he let Amara talk to Healie and Callie. Perhaps she was just afraid of First Rites; he knew many young women who were. “Amara…will you…would you want to, um, Amara, would you, er, will you,” he stopped. How did he say this? “Amara, I want you and I to be joined. Will you agree?”

She almost laughed again. What a way to propose! She couldn’t believe this, she couldn’t believe what he had just asked her, and she couldn’t believe what she knew she was going to say. “Yes, Panec, join, you, me.”

He was overjoyed! He couldn’t believe how fast this had happened either, but it felt right—it was right.

“Panec, must wait, I have ‘First Rites,’ we talk more, but wait much time.”

Panec nodded. “Yes, of course. There’s a lot of talking to do. We need to find out more about you, where you come from, who you are, and we must arrange First Rites for you, somehow. Yes, it will be a while…all I wanted to know is that you are mine!”

Great, she thought. My destiny included getting married and possibly having children before I’m even old enough to vote! She smiled at the thought. She understood that their lifetimes here were significantly shorter, and for a moment she was afraid of being an old widowed woman, but she decided to worry about that later. Now she would have to go back, and discuss this ‘First Rites’ issue with the women, and she still needed to tell everyone about her past. She looked hesitantly at the ground, then back up to Panec’s loving eyes. She just hoped they would be able to accept the unbelievable things they would soon hear.

“Healie, we need to talk to you,” Panec said as they walked in the cave. Healie had just been about to get ready for bed when the youngsters came in, but she knew that if Panec needed her that there was something important.

She motioned for them to come over and sit by her. “Yes?”

Amara and Panec sat down, and Panec cleared his throat. “Healie, you’ve been like a mother to me for years now,” he began. Then he looked over at Amara. “Well, I might as well get it out into the open. Healie, I love Amara, and she and I have talked, and we want to eventually be joined.”

Healie’s face lit up in surprise. “Why, Panec, you’ve only known each other for a week!” she exclaimed.

Panec nodded in agreement. “Yes, Healie, but I know that she’s the one for me.”

Healie hesitated, then acquiesced to his idea. She knew that Panec had never really been interested in any particular woman, and she knew that if he was now interested, that it was serious business and that he knew what he was doing. “Well, if that’s how you feel, then I’m very happy for you, both of you.” She smiled at the man who was like a son to her, and was proud of the match they would make.

Panec cleared his throat again. “Yes, Healie, but there’s another matter we need to deal with.”

Healie’s brows furrowed. “Oh?”

“Yes, um, well, I guess we should mention this to Callie as well.”

Healie nodded and called her friend over to where the three of them were sitting. Callie was obviously annoyed at not being able to go straight to bed, but like Healie, she understood that it must be important.

“Yes?” Callie asked as she sat down with the others.

Panec held Amara’s hand. “Healie, Callie, um, Amara hasn’t, well, she hasn’t yet had her First Rites.”

Callie’s face went white, and she was relieved to see that Healie’s reaction had been the same. “What…what did you say?”

Amara hadn’t really understood the significance of these ‘First Rites,’ but seeing the ladies’ obvious reaction forced her understanding. Wow, she thought, I guess this is serious.

“She hasn’t had her First Rites,” Panec repeated.

Healie looked at him sharply. “You didn’t--” she began.

Panec shook his head quickly. “No,” he replied. Healie let out the breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding.

Callie looked at the young woman. “Amara, how old are you?” she asked.

“Sixteen years,” Amara replied.

“Sixteen! And you haven’t had your First Rites yet?? Oh, Mother! Amara, you’ve never been blessed, have you?” she cried.

Amara shook her head furiously.

Callie and Healie both breathed sighs of relief. “You are a lucky young lady, Amara,” Healie commented.

Once again, Amara was frustrated. Annoyance flashed through her mind. How can these people expect everyone to understand their beliefs? “Everyone have First Rites?” she asked.

Healie nodded. “Yes, Amara, every woman must have her First Rites. I’ve never known of a culture that did not abide by that. You’re American, did you say?”

Amara nodded, “Yes, American.”

“And you said Americans live in the west, right?” Another nod. “Do you live near the Great Waters?” Healie asked.

Amara thought quickly; the Great Waters must be the Atlantic Ocean. “Live other side Great Waters.”

Callie blanched. There was an other side? “Amara, no one lives on the other side!” she exclaimed.

Amara nodded fervently, “Many live other side. I live other side, now live this side.”

Callie and Healie looked at each other—this was unbelievable!

This was news to Panec, and he wondered what exotic place she had come from. “Healie, you remember that dark man from the Lion Camp? He came from land on the other side of the Waters to the south…perhaps there is land west of the Great Waters.”

The women thought for a moment, then visibly relaxed. “Yes, Panec, perhaps you’re right,” Healie replied. They would have to ask her more later, like how she got there.

“Well, then, Amara, we must have First Rites for you,” Callie interjected. “You should probably have them soon, too, with all these spirits everywhere, there’s no telling when or if you might become blessed.”

Amara sighed and nodded. In a way, she was anxious and excited, but then on the other hand, she was very much not looking forward to these ‘First Rites.’ She looked up again when Healie asked her a question.

“Amara, do you…do you understand everything about it?” Healie asked.

“I think…Panec say First Rites open woman…” her voice trailed off. The older women nodded; it was apparent she understood what would happen.

“Well, then, I’ll speak to Radec…I’m sure he’ll agree to have them if the hunt is successful,” Callie said.

Panec smiled, satisfied. “Good,” he said, then kissed Amara on the forehead. “I’m going to bed now…you ladies sleep well.”

Amara half-smiled at him. Callie yawned and bid them goodnight, then went back to where she and Radec were sharing their hearth.

“Amara, what’s wrong?” Healie asked, noticing Amara’s upsettedness.

Amara sighed. “Not want blessed, bad for journey,” she said.

Healie nodded. “I understand, Amara.” She looked at the young woman and saw that she was scared. She quickly made a decision. “Amara, I think I have a way to prevent you from being blessed.”

Amara’s head shot up. “Yes?”

Healie shifted around to talk a little less loudly. “Summer meeting before last, this wonderful woman, named Ayla, was staying with the Lion Camp. She left during the meeting with a man named Jondalar. In fact, they’re who we’re going to see, in addition to seeing the Great Waters.”

Amara recognized the name. Ayla, Ayla…where had she heard that before?

“Ayla was an exceptional healer, and in confidence, she told another healer, Lomie, about a tea that she made to prevent the spirits from mixing. I’m not sure how the information got out, but the healer in our camp eventually found out about it. She’s had some of the women in our camp who shouldn’t have children take it…I don’t know if it really works or not, but I don’t see how it could hurt if we have you take it.”

Amara looked at Healie cautiously. Birth control was a delicate matter; back at home there were pills and such, but she understood that there were some women who tried to use herbs as a contraceptive and ended up killing themselves inadvertently.

Healie continued, “I know it sounds strange, Amara, but I know exactly how to use it…when our healer left for a while once, she told me how to make it for the women. If you’d like, I’ll make it for you. I understand your concerns, and I agree with you.”

Amara nodded, “Yes, you know how make, I drink tea.”

“Okay,” Healie said, “I’ll make you some tea in the morning, and I’ll teach you how to make it as well, all right?”

Amara nodded again, and tried to prevent a yawn.

Healie smiled. “Yes, child, it’s late.” She leaned over as Panec had done and kissed her on the forehead. “Good night, child,” she said.

Amara smiled. “Good night, Healie.” She then shifted over to her furs and snuggled into their comfort, ready to embrace the world of dreams.

Amara opened her eyes and listened to the birds singing. She couldn’t believe how happy she was! She had found a loving family, and she had even found a fiancé! All in less than a week! Callie would have to talk to Radec about the First Rites, she thought, but she was sure he would agree. He had taken quite a liking to Amara, he had told Callie and Healie last night, and saw her almost as a child of his spirit. They had all been happy, but they knew that they had lots more talking to do before anything was decided upon; they needed to know more about Amara first, and although Healie was happy for Panec, she wished he had kept his feelings to himself a little bit longer. She loved Amara as well, but there did exist unanswered questions.

Amara stood up and stretched. It was a beautiful morning, and she was excited about seeing how they hunted; she just hoped the hunt went well! She reached for her brush and started working with her hair. She really would need another bath soon. She smiled at herself…back at home she’d be going nuts without a shower for more than a day!

Healie was sitting at the fire, stirring some liquid in a basket. “Good morning, Amara,” she said. “Here, I want you to drink this.” She poured some of the liquid into a wooden cup and handed it to the young woman.

Amara turned up her nose at the smell, but then realized it must be the birth control medicine that Healie had talked about. She downed the bitter-tasting liquid quickly and handed the cup back to Healie.

“Good, now you’ll need to drink that every morning. After we get back from the hunt and everything, I’ll show you how to make it.” Healie smiled warmly at her.

Amara was visibly relieved. She had really been stressing over the possibility of getting pregnant and was thankful that someone had known how to make a contraceptive.

“Good morning, Amara,” she heard Danug say.

Amara turned and smiled brightly at him. “Danug, morning you!”

Danug smiled and cleared his throat. “Amara, can we go talk?”

It was déjà vu, Amara thought. I just hope he doesn’t want to marry me too!

Callie looked straight at Danug, knowing exactly what he wanted to find out. She took a deep breath and nodded. If anyone might understand this orphaned girl, it would be Danug.

“Yes, Danug, we talk, here?”

“No, can we go outside?”

Amara nodded and followed him outside. For a split second she thought he was going to lead her to the same tree that Panec lead her to last night. She wondered where he and Radec were; they had not been asleep and she had not seen them in the cave.

Danug sat down by a small stream and motioned for her to sit beside him. She was a little worried about what he wanted to talk to her about, but as always, she felt right about it.

Danug turned to her and spoke. “Amara, I don’t want you to think that I’m jealous, because I’m not.”

She nodded; she understood that.

“You understand everything I’m saying? I mean, the words?” Danug, too, was surprised.

Amara nodded again. “Not speak good, but ears, no, hear is good, understand most words.”

“Good,” he replied. “Amara, again, I know that you and Panec are supposed to be together. I was upset before because he seemed to be monopolizing you, and I’ve been wanting to talk to you about some things.”

She smiled again. “I sad, no, what word, um, sorry, yes, sorry monopolize, I talk Danug.”

He nodded and continued. “Amara, I don’t want you to think that I’m nosy, but I feel that I need to know something.” She nodded for him to continue. “Amara, how did you get here?”

Amara took a deep breath. She had known that this question would come. She was afraid of answering it, but somehow she felt she could tell Danug. “Danug, how find me?”

He looked at her, judging her question. “I heard you. I heard something calling. It started the day before we found you, after the snow started. I felt you, and the day we found you, I heard calling so loud that I had to get out. Then as I went outside and walked a little bit as the snow was letting up, I could hear it getting louder. Then all of a sudden, there you were, fallen on the ground, half frozen.”

She nodded. “Okay, I tell. Strange, not know exactly, no laugh.” She was afraid of what his reaction would be.

He put his hand over hers. “Amara, I promise I will not laugh. Just please tell me the truth. I promise I will listen. I just need to know. I don’t know why, but I do.”

“Okay.” She wasn’t sure how to begin. “Warm day, summer. Tell mother I go explore. Brother and I, explore much. Old home…far away. New home, near here.”

“Okay, you lived very far away…America, right?” Amara nodded. “But then your family moved their home…journeyed…to near here. You and your brother explore a lot, and you went out on a warm summer day to go explore. By yourself?”

Amara listened carefully to what he was saying, both checking his understanding of her situation, and her understanding of the language. “Yes, myself. Explore much, always prepared. Love explore, love outside.” She looked at him and he nodded his understanding and gestured for her to continue. “Walk not far, find stream,” she motioned to the water running in front of them. He nodded again. “Sit, eat snack, see sun go down, must find night soon.”

“You sat down by a stream and had a snack, then you saw it was getting late and decided you needed to find a camp soon. Right?”

Amara nodded. “Walk up stream, then cross. Go through meadow, pretty flowers. Then bushes, thorns. Then another meadow, other side is cave. I go up to cave, see stones, fire. No animals. I feel must go cave, know why?” She shook her head and shrugged. “Old fire. See…um…path in cave. I think…follow or no, I feel must follow, so follow it. Path go back, far, far, far, and then…different. Not know why, something different. Then turn around, path gone! Just wall, no more cave from before!”

Danug looked at her carefully, wondering if what he was hearing was true. “You went into the cave, after you found there were no animals and there had been a fire. You felt compelled to walk into the cave, way back into it, and were afraid to do that. But you did, and then the atmosphere changed. You turned around, and there was nothing but a wall?”

She nodded again. She seemed to be doing that a lot today. “Just wall. Scared. Walk more, see…people on walls. Painting…see man and woman, yellow hair, horses, one, two, and, um…wolf, I think, in picture.”

Danug gasped! Amara had seen a picture of a blonde man and woman, with two horses and a wolf??? How could it be? It had to be! “Amara, you saw these things in a picture?” Amara nodded. “What color were the horses?”

She thought, then pointed to a rock. “One like that, light, other darker, like hair my head.”

Danug’s mind raced. “Ayla!” He said aloud.

Amara looked up sharply. Ayla. That name again, the one Healie had said last night, that name was familiar, where had she heard it before?

“Please go on, Amara,” Danug prodded.

“Okay, by man and woman, see other man, shorter, flat head, darker, more hair body. Like ‘Neandertal’,” she said in her own language.

“A Flathead? Er, a Clan man?” He knew Amara didn’t understand what he was saying. Wonder if it was Durc, he thought. He had a headache. “Please continue.”

“Then walk more, get cold. See many fire, many stone circles. See many things, then see light. Go to front of cave, and snow! Go sleep, wake up, go look snow.”

“You found the snow? At the mouth of the cave? But not the same cave you had gone in originally…a different cave, but the same, right?” Amara nodded fervently. Danug understood! “Then you stayed the night. You woke up the next day, walked out into the snow, and then what?”

“Cave gone!”

Danug’s head whirled. “The cave was gone?”

“Yes, poof, gone.”

His headache was getting worse. There was something else. Something else important. “Amara, is there anything else?” She looked down at the stream and tossed a rock in. “There is! Amara, please tell me! Please tell me what else there is!”

She was shocked at his pleas, and she looked straight into his eyes. “Cave go into, much later. Cave come out, much before.”

Black swelled in his vision, and he saw a young woman walking out of a large structure. There was another woman, older, standing behind some sort of large rectangle that was standing up that moved out and in. The young woman had something on her back. When the young woman turned around, he saw who it was. Amara! As the young woman ran off, the older woman suddenly collapsed and ran in the structure. His sight followed her and he was overwhelmed at the things he saw. She picked up something and put it to her head and cried in it, holding it against her ear and talking into it. Then he saw a man holding something similar, and he saw the man’s face turn white. Danug heard many words, but he understood only three. The man referred to the woman as ‘Carol.’ The woman spoke Ayla’s name, and then Amara’s.

“Danug? Danug?”

He opened his eyes and saw Amara looking at him. “Amara!” He cried as he sat up. “Your mother, your mother…Carol?”

Amara’s face went white. “Y-yes,” she stuttered.

He thought of the words she had said only seconds earlier. ‘Cave go into, much later. Cave come out, much before.’ “Amara, you came from…a…a different time?” He could hardly believe what he was saying.

Amara swallowed, her throat thickening. She nodded as tears squeezed out. “Yes,” she whispered.

“What time?” Danug asked.

“Many, many years, many cycles.” Amara picked up two handfuls of the tiny pebbles that were sitting there by the stream. “Many years, like many rocks.” She piled the pebbles together, then picked up more and added them to the pile. Then another handful, and another, and another. Then she pointed at one of the hundreds of pebbles and tried to remember what Panec had said last night. “One cycle.” Then she pointed to another rock. “Two cycle.” Then she added another handful of pebbles to the large pile. “Many, many cycles, like stars in sky.” She looked up at Danug, hoping he understood her.

He sat back, completely shocked. On an impulse, Danug asked, “Amara, what does your name mean?” Somehow, her name held it all. The clues were all there, all he needed was her name. She spoke the truth. He didn’t understand how, but somehow, somehow…her name…

“Eternal.”

It was Danug’s turn to go white. Where had she learned that word? No one had said it in Mamutoi.

“Forever, everlasting,” Amara continued. She stopped and suddenly thought the same thing. Where had she learned these Mamutoi words???

“Eternal,” Danug choked. He looked up at the sky and then into Amara’s blue-green eyes. He knew exactly where she was from, and he had a very good idea of when she was from. That explained her odd things, her odd behavior, everything.

“Eternal,” he repeated. She nodded. Realization had hit both of them at the same time, and she knew that he knew. Danug managed a half smile. “Well, Amara, I don’t know that you’re ‘eternal’ in all sense of the word, but I believe you’re the closest thing to eternal any of us will ever see.”

He grasped her hand. “We have to come up with something for you to tell the others. They can never understand this."

Amara nodded and wiped a tear away. She knew, now, too, that her past, which was ironically the future, was over. She had a life ahead of her. She was more relieved than she could imagine now that Danug knew. He saw her eyes, and they both knew that no one else would ever know. Now they just needed to invent a life for her to tell the others, as there would soon be more questions.

Danug smiled sheepishly at the young woman sitting beside him. “So, do you have any ideas?”

Amara looked up. She was so thankful that Danug understood her, and now the two of them would have a bond that she was afraid she could never have with Panec; but she knew that Panec could not understand. She was surprised that Danug had been able to do so. “I say already I American,” she began.

He nodded. “Yes, and that you came from the other side of the Great Waters.” He paused thoughtfully. “I didn’t know that there was another side.”

Amara grinned. “Yes, Earth,” she made a circle motion, “Earth is round. Very big. Water, land, Water, land, then first water, then first land.”

“I see,” he began. “There’s this land, then the Great Waters. Then there’s more land, America.” Amara nodded. “Then another Water,” another nod, “and then back to this land.” He shook his head. “How strange!” He squinted his eyes and looked at her. “What else do you know?”

She grinned at his curiosity. “Many things about time later.”

“The ‘future’,” Danug corrected.

“Future, yes, know much about future.”

He smiled, “I should hope so!”

After a moment of silence, Amara spoke up again. “We say what you say. My family journey across Great Water to here.”

Danug furrowed his brows. “Amara, um, exactly how did you get over the Great Waters?”

Again she smiled. “Like bird.”

“You flew??? People don’t fly, Amara!” Danug exclaimed.

Amara nodded fervently. “Yes, fly,” she began. Then she thought of an analogy. “You use boat, cross water. I use ‘plane’, cross air!”

Danug paused thoughtfully. True, he thought, we do use boats to cross water. Our ancestors may have thought that a boat was impossible. He nodded, but the idea of flying was still out of his reach. “Okay, I guess I see your point. ‘Plane’, eh?” She nodded again. “Well, we can’t tell the rest of them that. Why don’t we just say you crossed the Great Waters in a large boat.”

She nodded her acceptance of his theory. “My mother and…” she paused. She had never once heard them say ‘father’ here. “Danug, how say ‘father’?”

“What’s a father?”

“You have mother. Mother have mate. Mother’s mate is father.”

“I’ve never heard of that before, Amara.”

Amara was frustrated again. “Well, what you call mother’s mate?”

“Mother’s mate,” Danug said simply. “You call him father?” Amara nodded. “Well, okay then, your mother and father…well, should we say that there was an accident or something?”

Amara sighed. Might as well, she thought. “Yes. We journey from Great Waters to here, then sickness.”

“Yes, that sounds good. Your family journeyed from the Great Waters to near here, then they got sick,” he nodded at the story. “Yes, and that would explain the strange things you have…people in ‘America’ must have different customs and stuff.” He grinned. “That would also explain why you’ve never heard of First Rites. Hmm, now why did your family come across the Great Waters?” he inquired.

Amara tossed a stone in the water. “Father, mother want. Like America, but like to see ‘Europe’.”

“What’s ‘Europe’?” Danug asked.

“Europe is this…this land. America, Water, Europe, Water, America.” Danug nodded his understanding. “We call first Water ‘Atlantic Ocean,’ and second water is ‘Pacific Ocean’.”

Danug shook his head. These people must have a different understanding of the world. “Okay, your family just wanted to come. That’s understandable…our family wants to go see the Great Waters.”

Amara inhaled and exhaled deeply. At least she had an understandable story, even if it was completely made up.

Danug reached out and took her hand. “Amara, we should be going. They’ll be serving breakfast soon, and the hunt is today.”

She looked at him and smiled. “Hunt is exciting!”

He laughed, “Yes, it is!”

She looked at him closely. “Before go…you no mind me Panec?”

Danug shook his head. “No, Amara. You’re beautiful, very beautiful, but I don’t love you like Panec does.” He laughed. “I want you for your mind,” he said teasingly.

She caught the tease and winked at him. “Okay, you have mind, Panec have body!”

Danug laughed loudly and heartily. “Yes, I guess that’s the way it is. Come on, I’m hungry, let’s go eat!”

“Yes, hungry me, too.” Amara stood up. “Danug, I glad tell you true story.”

He smiled gently. “I am too, Amara. And please, if there’s anything else you want to talk about, I’ll be here. I’ll talk to you about anything, especially your life.”

She returned his warm smile and hugged him. “Thank you, Danug.”

“Not a problem, eternal Amara,” he replied as they made their way back to the cave.

Amara's face lit up with joy when she saw Panec. He was standing packing a small day pack, his tunic was tied around his waist, and he was barechested. She felt herself flush when he turned towards her and smiled warmly. She waved to him, and then turned to Callie when she offered her a bowl of grain mash from the night before. "Thank you, Callie, I much hungry." She smiled to the woman who was becoming very like a caring aunt or godmother. Healie had become most like her mother, she was the one who cared for her, and she felt close to her, she could talk to her about lots of things, except one thing. She looked up and walked towards Panec who had his arms open wide waiting for her to give her a hug.

"How is my beautiful Amara today?" He hugged her affectionately, and she felt her heart beat a little faster. He planted a firm kiss on her forehead and said, "Were you talking with Danug just now?" he questioned softly.

"Yes, we talk, good talk, he say not mad. I think for all time he be mad, he say me not mad. He no talk before, no...we no talk before. He want know who I am. You sleep good, Panec?" she said, a little uncomfortable. She didn't know how he would react to knowing that she had told her biggest secret to Danug, how could Panec ever know? She wanted to tell him, but he wouldn't understand, how had Danug even begun to fathom. She was at a loss, suddenly she felt the urge to cry.

"I am glad to hear he isn't mad or jealous or anything, I was worried about …Amara! What's wrong? Did he say something to you? Amara, what happened?" he said suddenly terrified at what might have transpired between Danug and his own mate to be.

"No, I sad for family, I not see family more, make me sad remember. Danug not do nothing bad. He be friend. I sorry Panec, I not cry more." she said as she looked into his soft eyes. He held her close to him. She could hear his heart beat, and she was suddenly overwhelmed. She felt right about all of this, this must be her destiny, but her family, her life was dead to her now. "Panec, I lose family, I no have family, is very hard..." she said wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Amara, my lovely Amara. I love you, tell me what happened to you? Your family?" he said softly, he wanted to know what had happened to her, she had suffered much, it was plain, he wanted her to tell him everything.

Amara wasn't sure what to say to him, but she needed to say something, "Panec, my family die, much sickness in home. I have to leave, I not sick. They die." She looked up to him with teary eyes.

"I know it is hard to lose your family, but now we are family. I am your family, we are going to mate, and have a family and be happy. Amara, I love you! I am here for you, forever Amara, eternally, my beautiful Amara, come here, let me hold you. I love you." He pulled her closer to him and stroked her hair, he closed his eyes and when he looked up Danug was watching him. When Danug smiled to him he felt a sense of relief, but what had spurred the change? He wondered. He smiled back to him and kissed Amara's forehead and smiled to her. He was relieved to know that there wasn't someone that might be waiting for her, someone who could take her away from him.

Healie stopped the band of travelers at a bend in the river. “Panec and Radec will be back soon, I think we should set up camp here, near the river.”

Latie turned to Amara, “Amara, can you help me? I need to start a fire, will you bring me some of the sticks lying on the ground?”

Amara smiled, “Sure, I bring. I very excited for hunt, I not hunt big animal before. Is danger?” she questioned to anyone who might answer.

It was Danug’s turn to answer. “Well, it can be dangerous, but if you work in groups it makes it much less so…”

“You’ve never hunted before Amara? How can that be?” Latie nearly shouted. “Oh sorry Danug, you were talking.”

“Don’t worry sis, it does seem strange that Amara has never hunted but, remember she comes from very far away, and her customs are very different,” he said matter-of-factly. Knowing exactly why she had never hunted, Danug tried to explain the oddity, without giving away the secret.

Amara smiled to Danug. She started collecting sticks quietly. She had a strange tired feeling all the sudden. She felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. How could she hide her secret forever? She walked back to Latie and placed all the sticks she had gathered on the ground next to the ring she was making with stones from the river. She went and sat down by the river to wait. For what she wasn’t quite sure. She was just so tired.

Radec rode into the camp first, grinning with pleasure at Callie, “Looks VERY promising out there today. I think we should get going!” he said enthusiastically. Then looking around he said, “Where is Amara?”

Healie pointed to the river bank where Amara had fallen asleep. Radec smiled warmly and got off the horse and walked towards the sleeping woman. “Amara? Hey, it is time to hunt Amara. Wake up. Amara…” he said softly until she woke up.

“Huh? Wha...? Oh Radec, I sleep? Miss hunt?” she said, terribly worried all of the sudden.

“No, we are just starting, come on. Let’s go!” he said letting his enthusiasm get the better of him. He turned to the group and said, “Okay, the plan is that Latie and Panec are going to ride the horses around behind the bison and chase them closer to us. We will be positioned just behind a large rock outcropping. When the bison approach, Panec and Latie are going to try to single out a few animals and send them running our way. From the rocks we will take aim and hope we get a few. Does that sound good everyone?”

Amara looked a bit confused, and looked to Healie, who was standing near her. “Don’t worry Amara, you’ll be way out of the way. But you will still be able to see. I am too old for hunting myself. I will keep you company. Radec, I think Amara should be ridden over to the rock outcropping, she is too tired to walk all that way.”

Radec looked at Healie and nodded, “Yes I think you are right! Let’s get started, it isn’t too far away, Latie and Amara can ride double, I’ll walk with the rest of you,” he said as he put his arm around his mate. Callie smiled to her mate. He certainly did love hunting!

Amara jumped on the horse behind Latie and watched for Panec as they started off. When they arrived at the outcropping she saw him waiting patiently on horseback, and waved. She smiled when he waved back to her. How had she ever found Panec? Well, the question really was how had she ever gotten here? But she was happy. Her life felt complete. If only she could tell her mother that she was okay, and happy.

Amara stood on the rocks with Healie, looking down with pure excitement, and pure dread. She had never seen so many animals running in the same direction before. They were all heading right for the rock outcropping. She was nervous, but she knew that she was safe on top of the rocks; the animals would go around them. She spotted the two horses galloping around the side trying to round a few bison away from the herd stampeding over the plains. “Look Healie! Bison come!! They hunt now. Oh look! They come here, Panec too! And Latie!!” she nearly shouted in her excitement.

Healie smiled at the girl, but she wondered why she seemed to be so surprised at the hunt. Hadn’t her people hunted?? “Look, Radec is going to make a kill! Over there, Amara!” she pointed to the edge of the outcropping where Danug and Radec were positioning themselves to make a kill. Amara saw Latie wheel around and chase a young male bison right towards the two men. She resisted the urge to scream when Radec threw his spear directly in the chest of the animal. She saw Latie throw a spear next, which landed squarely in the neck of another animal. As Panec rode closer he signaled to Callie to get ready, and they both launched their spears at the same time, catching the third bison on each side. Amara was dumbfounded. She had never seen anything like this in her whole life! Rabbits and squirrels were nothing compared to this! It was amazing, thrilling and disgusting at the same time. Blood squirted from wounds on the animals, and they convulsed in their death throes. She felt the urge to vomit wash over her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She couldn’t do that here, now, what would they think of her? She would just have to grin and bear it.

As the rest of the herd ran across the plains Panec jumped off his horse and ran towards a bison that was shivering in the last moments of its life. “Dear Mut, mother of all life, thank you for your gift of the bison, who gives us food and hides. Spirit of the Bison, thank you for giving of your life to feed the Mother’s children.” He slit the throat of the animal and sent the prayer up to Mut. He looked around for Amara. He saw her on top of the outcropping. She was climbing down with Radec’s help. He quickly walked around, and saw her standing awestruck. Her face was ashen as she looked at one of the dead animals. “Amara, my love? What is wrong?” he said as he approached her and put his arm around her shoulders.

Amara looked up at Panec and swallowed, “Panec, hunt is very exciting, scary, oh, what is word? Much blood, dead. Is scary for me see so much dead animals.”

“I know Amara, but Mut made the world this way. We are all Her children and Her creation, and we all go back to her, eventually. It is important to always give thanks to Mut when you kill an animal for food. And to tell the spirit of the animal thanks for giving of its life so that we can eat.” He smiled to her. He thought it was odd that she was so affected by the hunt. Had she never seen a hunt? A dead animal? It was strange, but she seemed to be okay. She smiled to him.

“Panec, I, well, I am happy. You make me happy. I glad to be with you, with Healie, everyone. I like here. Is different than home, but is home too. Panec, I love you,” she said as she leaned into him, putting her head on his chest.

“I love you too, my beautiful, mysterious Amara,” he said softly into her ear. He noticed Callie watching them and he loosened his embrace.

“Amara, can come help me out with this steer? We need to skin the animals and start back to the camp. The travois are already set up on the horses, so we can get all this meat back to our little camp,” Callie said sweetly. She wanted Amara to feel useful at least, even if she couldn’t hunt.

Amara walked over to Callie and blanched again when she cut the throat of the animal and blood spurted out onto the ground.

Amara had hunted small animals before; she and Jacob had killed, skinned, and eaten rabbits and the like, but never before had she seen such a bloody, messy scene. All she could do was stand there and watch, her face turning whiter with each move Callie made. She stared as Callie made one swift move down the underside of the bison, exposing the entrails and ribs. Callie’s strength surprised Amara as she took hold of two sides of the ribcage and pulled it apart, and Amara thought she’d lose it when she heard the sickening sound of the cracking bones. Callie then literally climbed in the dead animal and pulled out the internal organs and set them on the grass beside her. She held up a slimy mess to Amara.

“Amara, would you like a bite of the liver?” she asked.

Amara couldn’t move, afraid that she would vomit if she did. Barely shaking her head, she managed to get out a “No, thank you, Callie,” without losing her breakfast. Healie came quickly over to help Callie, and Amara glanced around at the others; Latie and Danug were struggling with a smaller bison, and Panec and Radec were managing a huge one. Amara looked back down to Callie and Healie, and her stomach lurched again when she saw Healie take a bite of the fresh, raw liver. She knew what all the parts were, thanks to her high school biology class, and although she had dissected and even butchered small animals and such…this was completely different.

Callie and Healie then started ripping the hide away from the animal, cutting membranes and blood vessels as they pulled. They heaved the large animal over and removed the skin on the opposite side, and then rolled it up tightly and Healie tied it together with a thong. It would have to be cured later; the meat needed tending to.

They then started cutting away large portions of the meat; the rump, the breast, the shoulders, every bit of it, and they commented at how wonderful this meat looked, all laced with fat. After piling the sections of meat up, they started working on the entrails, stretching them. Healie then removed the bladder, and Amara knew she could take no more when she saw Healie press her lips to it and blow in it, to expand it and keep it stretched.

Amara turned and ran to the river where she had accidentally fallen asleep earlier. She leaned over the water and vomited, coughing and holding her hair out of her face. When she was through, she sat against a tree and cried, as she had always done when she was sick. She wished her mother were there, to hold a cold wet rag against her neck, tie her hair back, and bring her warm soup and crackers.

Thinking of her mother made her crack. She fell to the ground and sobbed. Feeling more bile come up made her cry even harder, wanting nothing but to be back in her own bed, away from all this blood, this primitive society. She wanted to go to sleep and wake back up on their living room couch, having fallen asleep watching television. But she knew that could never happen. She choked up her sobs with resolve and cupped a handful of the clear water from the river to wash her face in.

“Amara?” She spun around when she heard her name.

“Oh, Danug, I not know if I can do it!” she cried, tears threatening again. She had never in her life cried so much, so often, or so hard, and she hated doing it now. She felt helpless, useless, and the last thing she wanted was pity or sorrow, but she was at her wits end, not knowing how to go on.

Danug walked down to the bank and put his hands on her shoulders. Looking her squarely in the eye, he replied, “Yes, Amara, you can do it. You have to do it.”

She nodded and wiped her eyes again. “Danug, I have hunt before, but never so much! Never so much blood, smell bad, never so big!”

Danug nodded at her. “I understand Amara, and I’m sure the others do, too. They just don’t understand that you’ve never done this before. But they will, Amara, they’ll understand eventually. You’ve done nothing wrong.” She smiled feebly at his confidence. “Now, are you all right? Do you need some more time down here? Is there something I can get you?” His concern was evident.

Amara shook her head. “No, Danug, I fine, I can go back.” She let out a small laugh and put her hand on her stomach. “Nothing left for sick!”

He smiled at her, glad she was able to at least keep her sense of humor. “Don’t worry, Amara, you’ll get used to all this. It will take a little time, but eventually, you’ll be hunting along with the rest of us, and you won’t think twice about it.”

“Yes, Danug, you are right, just time,” she replied.

He reached out his hand to her. “Come on, we’ll show you how to take care of meat now that the animals are skinned.

She smiled at him and mustered up all the confidence that she could as he helped her up.

Amara surprised herself with how much she was actually able to handle now that she had vomited up everything in her stomach. The smell was slightly nauseating, but it actually wasn’t that bad. They now had several large piles: two piles of meat, one for cooking, the other for drying and travel; two piles of skins, one of large pieces, and one with many small pieces and strips for mending; a pile of entrails that could be used later for storage; a pile of sections of fat to be saved; a pile with bones and such to be made into dishes and utensils; and a pile with strips of tendons and such to be made into sinew and thread. She was impressed with the efficiency of everything. She had always been taught that people used every portion of the animals that they hunted, but she never really sat and thought about it.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Latie questioned when they had finished.

Radec stood there beside one of the meat piles and thought. They had the two horses, and they had a travois for each of them, just as Latie said that Ayla had done. They wouldn’t be able to take everything in one load; they would need someone to stay behind and watch whatever they left, and then someone would have to stay back at the cave as others returned for the rest.

“Well, how about this,” Radec began. “Why don’t we leave Amara here with Panec. She’s been pretty busy today, and from what Healie has said, another rest would do her good, especially since she wouldn’t be able to ride one of the horses back. And if Panec stays with her, then we could be sure that she would be safe. When the rest of us get back to the cave, we’ll have Latie and Healie stay there, and Danug, Callie, and I will return to get the rest of the stuff and Amara and Panec.” He looked around for any suggestions.

“Um, Radec?” Callie said. He looked over at her with an inquisitive look. “Radec, I know Amara is older and everything, but she hasn’t had her First Rites yet. Should we really leave her alone with Panec?”

Radec furrowed his brow. He hadn’t thought of that before.

Danug stepped forward. “Callie, Amara’s people might not think the same things or in the same way. The only reason we’re going to have First Rites for her is for our own reasons, not hers—she’s obviously never been blessed, and I’m not sure what her customs are, but their beliefs are probably different from ours. I would think that she could be an exception to the rule, since it is our rule, not hers.”

Callie looked at the young man and was surprised at his insight. “Good point, Danug, you’re right,” she said. Then she looked over at Panec. “But that doesn’t mean you’re an exception, young man!” Her eyes twinkled with tease.

Panec laughed heartily. “Yes, ma’am,” he said firmly. He grinned. “Don’t worry, Callie, I promise I will not ruin her First Rites.”

Healie nodded in agreement. “Yes, I agree with Danug. Which makes me curious,” she turned to Amara, “honey, what are your people’s beliefs? Do you have anything like First Rites?”

Amara flushed at the attention. “N-no,” she stuttered. “We no have ‘First Rites.’ We no, what do you call it, oh, yeah, we no ‘Pleasure’ until after joining, mostly.”

Danug nodded his understanding. “That makes sense, Amara. But what do you do if a woman becomes blessed?” He was curious about their beliefs. He understood that ‘her people’ were much more advanced and he was eager to find out anything he could about the future of humanity.

“A woman blessed, it not bad, but people know she have Pleasure already.”

Healie’s face showed her confusion. “How would you know?”

Amara’s brow now furrowed. “Well, woman get blessed after Pleasure.”

“You, Amara, you mean that your people think that Pleasures start babies?” Callie asked.

Latie nodded, “That’s what Ayla thought; she told my mother Nezzie about her beliefs.”

There was that name again, Amara thought. Who is this Ayla? “Well, we talk later, you need get meat back?” Amara was beginning to get uncomfortable with all the questions.

“Yes, you’re right, Amara,” Radec said. He scanned the sky. “Hmm, it looks like it might rain later, so here’s what we’ll do. We’ll leave Amara and Panec here to watch some of the meat, but we’ll move it over there…” he pointed at some trees “…so that we can put the tent up in case it rains. We’ll take the skins and hides and most of the meat with us, and we’ll build a large fire here so that no animals decide to take a share of what we leave here. We’ll also leave the entrails—they’ll be fine here. Panec,” he said to the young man, “if it gets stormy and stays stormy until dark, then don’t expect us back. It would be much better for the stuff we’re leaving here to just stay stored under the tent rather than getting them all wet. If that’s the case, we’ll be back here early tomorrow morning.”

Panec nodded his understanding. “Well, then, let’s get moving!”

Within just a little while they had the tent set up and the portions of meat and such that they were leaving with Panec and Amara all stored in case of rain. They then packed up all the rest of the meat and the skins on the horses and the two travois, and after a few hugs and the like, Panec and Amara stood there watching the others leave.

Amara turned to her future mate. “What we do now?” she asked.

Panec stood there thoughtfully. “Well, why don’t we work on your language some more? We can go down and sit by the river and go over more words. I have this suspicion that the sooner you can speak better, the more happy you’ll be.”

Amara grinned at him. “Yes, Panec, I be very happy when talk better!”

“Well, then, let’s go sit down by the river.”

For quite a while they went over words and sentences, over and over and over them, and Amara picked up everything he said very quickly. He pointed to things and said the words for them, and without hesitation Amara repeated everything he said. She was excited about learning the language, and she knew that she would be fluent before long. It wasn’t really that difficult, and she found Mamutoi, oddly, much easier to learn than the French she had almost had to struggle with back in high school. With each word she learned, she was more thankful that she had learned two languages and was working on her third when all this stuff happened. Although each language was different, all languages have the same flow to them; although structured differently, they are all still structured, and the Mamutoi was relatively easy to understand.

Panec was saying the names of trees for Amara when she looked at the river. “Panec, what this?” she asked, making swimming motions with her arms.

“Swim,” he said. His eyes lit up. “Amara, would you like to go swimming? There’s a lull in the river just around the bend, I saw it earlier.”

She was ecstatic at first, but then her modesty got to her—she had no swimming suit! “But Panec, swim how?” she said, trying to get him to understand what she was meaning. He looked at her, confused. She sighed in frustration, and then pointed to her clothes. “Not want get wet, swim in what?”

“Well, usually when we swim, we just take off our clothes,” he replied.

She felt her face flush. This society was so open with everything! “Well, um, I…I guess that be okay,” she began.

Panec grinned and took off his tunic. Her face flushed even more as she looked at him, but then a blast of cold air hit her in the face.

Panec felt the cold at the same time and reached for his tunic again. “Well, maybe we won’t go swimming after all,” he said.

Amara had a strange feeling all of a sudden. She didn’t know what it was, but there was something…

“Amara? Amara, what’s wrong?” Panec asked, his concern evident in his voice.

A warm gust of air then hit her, almost knocking her over, and she recalled a time before when she had felt this weird feeling. Panic struck her. “Panec!” she cried.

He was feeling the strangeness too. He reached out to her and grabbed her hand. “Amara,” he began. Amara took his hand and ran up the bank, dragging him along with her. “Amara, what…” he stumbled his words as he tripped over a root and almost fell. He righted himself quickly and ran after her.

Amara stopped running when she got past the trees. She could see the bare ground where the bison had stripped the land clean in their frantic stampede to get away from the hungers. She then marveled at the change in landscape; the cave was in a wooded area, but here it was open and she could see for miles. She looked around her, and then stopped when she saw the source of the strange feelings she was having. She stared at it, watching its every move.

Panec’s face filled with dread. He had never seen anything like this before. In a shaky voice, he asked, “Amara, wha…what is that??”

She looked at him and sympathized with the fear she saw in his white face. She had felt that fear the first time she had seen one of these. “I have seen those in America,” she began, and then turned to watch it again. “It is called ‘tornado,’” she said quietly.

Panec didn’t say a word. Off in the distance, he saw this long finger-like thing reaching down from the base of a large, black, lowered cloud. His eyes opened wide with fear as he watched the tornado pull trees right up out of the ground and toss them like playthings. It was far enough away, he could tell, that they were in no danger from it, and fascination began to take over fear. He was glad that Radec and the others had gone the other direction to the cave they were calling home for now, and he relaxed as he watched the magnificent beast dance across the landscape.

Amara’s fear left when she realized how far away it was. She was glad; the one she had seen in Kansas hadn’t been quite so far away, and she had memories of fleeing into her grandfather’s storm shelter underground to escape it. A few days later, a friend of her father’s had taken she and Jacob up in his airplane, and they had both been in complete awe; the track that the tornado had taken was clearly obvious. And here, now, watching this tornado, she could again see the track. This one is smaller than the one I saw before, she thought, but that doesn’t make it less destructive.

The tip of the funnel bounced up and down repeatedly, dancing across the rolling land. She almost smiled with delight when the black funnel turned clear; it had moved into a lake in the distance. She heard Panec’s gasp, understanding his amazement. Just as quickly as the tornado had turned clear, it turned a reddish-brown as it hit land again, and soon it was its original black color. She couldn’t hear this tornado, but in her mind she heard the one from years ago, and was glad that it didn’t cause her troubles. Jacob had had nightmares for the longest time afterwards, but she had just taken it as ‘one of those things,’ and counted their blessings that they had come out alive.

“Amara,” Panec said, in almost a whisper, “look how it takes those trees right out of the ground! I’ve never seen anything like this!” Then, with an edge of fear, “What would happen if we were over there?”

“We would probably die. Very few people can survive through tornado; they’re very dangerous. I always told; go down if you see one, go very low, underground, then maybe you will be okay.” There really wasn’t a better way to explain the strategies behind tornado safety.

He nodded silently. He understood that; it was easy to see that if someone was hit by one of those, that they would probably not survive it.

“Have you ever been in one, Amara?” he asked.

“Yes, when I very little, young girl. We go underground, and we were safe.” She felt his arm go around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder as they watched the magnificent twister rope itself out.

“It’s very…well, I guess you could say it’s beautiful,” Panec said, “but I don’t think it would be very beautiful if we were over there.”

She shook her head in reply. Still transfixed by this display of nature, she was surprised that she was disappointed when the tornado picked up off the ground and became just a funnel again. Within moments, the entire thing had lifted back up into the rotating cloud, and the odd gusts of wind calmed down. They stood there for a little while longer, just looking at the path that it had made across the clear plain. She shuddered in the cooler breeze and was glad that they had been far enough away to be safe.

Panec held her to him. “Amara, do you think there could be another one of those?” He was genuinely concerned. He couldn’t care less about the meat, but the last thing he wanted was to face one of those ‘tornadoes,’ as she had called it, during the middle of the night.

“I not know, Panec. I hope not.”

The storm was moving north, to their left, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t more behind it. She hoped it was one of those isolated tornadoes, and not one of many, like in the outbreaks she had witnessed in Kansas.

She shivered, and then gasped, laughing. “Panec, rain come! Quick, tent!” They laughed as they ran back to the tent, ducking into the shelter just before the downpour started.

Panec looked at her, her eyes fiery and bright in her excitement, breathing hard from the short run, and he felt his throat tighten.

Before she knew it, she was in her arms and he had his lips pressed to hers. She smiled her delight and melted into his arms.

“Amara, you are so beautiful,” Panec said breathlessly.

She smiled at him and, winking in a tease, she scooted herself to the other side of the tent. “Well, what we do now?” she asked.

Panec looked at her and grinned. She is very beautiful, he thought. His chest tightened with feeling.

She smiled back at him, feeling the same tightening in her own chest, losing herself in his eyes.

Panec scooted over to where Amara was sitting on his hands and knees. He reached out to kiss her again. She giggled softly. “What is so funny Amara? Why are you laughing?” he asked her, smiling.

She laughed again. Was she nervous? They had never been alone like this before. Of course she was nervous, she had never been with a man, but he wasn’t going to do anything to her!! She hadn’t had First Rites yet.

Panec took her hand, “Amara, I am not going to hurt you, I love you.”

“I know Panec, I just feel, nervous…I,” she replied stuttering a bit.

Panec took her hand in his and caressed her the back of her head and hair. He nuzzled her a bit and said, “Amara, please don’t be afraid. Trust me, I love you.” He reached for her to kiss her again.

Amara felt herself relax as he kissed her. She felt a deep pull in her body; she had never felt this way before. She was nervous but she knew Panec didn’t want to hurt or scare her. Was this First Rites, she wondered?

Panec pulled away and lay back on the furs, he signaled to her to come lay down with him. She complied willingly. “Panec?”

“Yes Amara?” he replied softly.

“I, um, hunt today very exciting, but I not see so many animal before, so much dead, blood. Was hard. I…”

Panec interrupted her, “Why haven’t you ever hunted Amara? How do your people eat if you don’t hunt?”

What could she say? How could she explain to him? “No, I hunt before, Panec. Small animal, how say…have long ears and hop?”

“Rabbit? You have hunted before? Then why was it so hard for you today? I don’t understand. Are you not allowed to hunt?”

“Is hard, I not see much blood. People hunt, but I not before. Just rabbit, little animals is different…I not know how explain,” she looked up at him a little distresed.

“Don’ t worry, love. I will teach you how to hunt, if you’d like.” He wondered, there were some very strange things about Amara, he wished he knew the answers, but he knew he would just have to wait.

“Yes, I think I like learn hunt. Is very exciting. When ride horse too! You look very. exciting…” she smiled to him, not quite knowing the word to explain how she felt when she saw him like that, and how she saw him now.

“Good! I will teach you to hunt Amara, and on the horses too!” He wondered how she knew how to ride the horses. Her people must be very strange, he thought. But it didn’t matter, he loved her anyway. He pulled her close to him again and kissed her. He felt his desire rise when he felt her body close to his. He couldn’t do this. Not without First Rites!

Amara felt herself get lost in Panec. She wanted him like she had never wanted anyone before. She felt hot and her heart was beating faster. She couldn’t believe this was happening, she had always been so careful at home, but now she couldn’t help herself. She felt Panec touch her and kiss her and she felt herself surrender. Healie had given her the tea, it would be okay, she thought. What about the First Rites that they were so worried about? Was this it? She had thought there would be more to it. More ceremony, more of something.

Panec breathed deeply of the scent of the skin on her neck, what was he doing??? This wasn’t right. She needed First Rites, but she was such a woman. He wanted her, but suddenly he wished there was someone else around. He was losing control and there was no where to go. He stopped and listened to the rain splattering on the tent and ground outside. He had to control himself. First Rites would come soon enough. He hoped.

Amara noticed that he had stopped. His face was buried in her neck and her hair, and she felt the moistness of his breath on her skin. What was wrong? “Panec?”

He looked at her, smiled ans kissed her. “Amara, I am sorry, I shouldn’t…” he looked at the furs below them, ashamed of the way he acted. He loved her and didn’t want to mess things up for her, or him.

‘What? Why stop? What sorry for? I like it, I want too, Panec.”

He sighed with relief, “You want me too?” she nodded to him and he felt a little better. “Amara, I just, it isn’t right without First Rites, it isn’t fair to you. We can’t, not yet.”

Amara looked confused, “This not First Rite? I think we make First Rite,” she said.

Panec looked at her, “No, First Rites is more, much more. Amara, I am sorry, don’t tell anyone about this or they might, they might think badly.”

“Is okay Panec, I not say. Is our secret,” she smiled slyly to him, “Tell me how is First Rites? A woman opened, but not like here, how is it?”

“Well, I think Healie could tell you more, but there is someone to watch over, make sure everything is done right. It is special, there is a celebration, oh Amara, I love you, I just want it to be right.”

She reached out her hand and stroked his face, “No worry Panec, we do First Rite soon. You do First Rite?” she asked, suddenly panic welled up in her that it would be someone else.

He looked at her and smiled hopefully, “I think so Amara, I hope so. Come here, let’s get some sleep,” he said as he held his arms open to her.

She smiled and crawled closer to him as they covered themselves with the fur and fell asleep.