Chapter 5

John relaxed and let the strange ghostly music, with its breathy quality float him in a trance. It spoke of rare rains, sudden flowering of wasteland, rainbows and dew. It was incredible that such a small instrument, like a stick with two strings on it jammed into a tiny round drum, could produce such ethereal and dulcet waftings. Zithrusa gently drew the horsetail bow back and forth slowly as she lightly touched the strings, just firmly enough to shorten their chords. There was only traditional style, and no composition was ever the same as any other- the music was fleeting and transient, just like the beauty of nature.

The children sat in a semi-circle in front of John, listening excitedly and yet frozen in place to his story of oceans of water, freezing temperatures, snow and waves, whales and fish and boats and coastal towns. It was all so exotic and amazing. The adults also listened to his stories, just as entranced and quiet as the children, yet managing to continue their small busy tasks of making rope by hand, weaving, matting felt, and cobbling leather boots. For much of the year everyone went barefoot, but at certain times, or for treking, boots were worn.

Soon it would be time to move again, there was a multi-clan gathering, and everyone was making their best clothing and finery, also crafts to trade. It was half carnival and half family reunion, deaths to be learned of and morned, marriages to be celebrated, births announced, and engagements proposed. Also, it was half olympics and half county fair, with cooking and weaving contests, and athletic feats and challanges. It was a time for everyone to show off, and gain recognition if they could. Zithrusa told John that he would be participating in all the athletic challanges except for sling, and that there would be large bets on him to win knife throwing and Kaber tossing. He should try to win any other events he could, but just for the prestige.

The breakdown of the camp was just as efficient as the setup had been, and John watched closely so he would be of more help next time. His efforts were not very effective, but he did what he could. These people had been doing this many times a year for their entire lives. Soon all the animals were loaded up, and everyone had their boots on, ad they set off for the gathering grounds. It was the rainy season, so there was plenty of forage for the animals, a crucial ingredient when planning a gathering. After walking for over a week, John spotted dust in the air in two different places.

"Yes" said the Headman, "We are getting close, and it looks like we are early enough to get a prime camp." The camping was first come, first served, but what was the best spot two weeks earlier was not so great after two weeks of camping, so it didn't do to get here too early either. They could hear the sound of a crowd in the distance, shouts, laughter, dogs barking- it was all very strange after the silences of the wilds. The silence had been ignored like ringinng in the ears, and now that there was noise to hear, it left an after impression of deafness. John felt his excitement rising, and sensed it mirrored in the family about him, building higher the nearer they got, bubbling up in a frisson that left them reeling and panting.

Seeing so many people in one place after the empty lands and only the family was a shock to John, and he wondered at what becomes acustomary. Any good sized fishing town was easily ten times the population of the gathering, yet the masses of happy people oppressed him. Most of them knew each other, having been to a gathering a year for their lives. Some clans were not arrived yet, so the crowds would only swell greater. John asked his way to the games Marshal, and was given tokens to enter in the games he chose, which was everything except for the slinging. John asked to go last in the Kaber toss, and was allowed, when he explained he had a secret method he didn't want others to copy this year.

John wandered about the trading grounds, looking at the goods. He had nothing to barter with, he thought sadly, so he just window shopped, although there was no window to look through, everything was displayed on blankets on the ground. He lusted after a pair of matched and beautifully balanced throwing knives, a hefty nine inches long overall with five inch blades and a weighted pommel. It was when he saw the horn bow that he thought of his gloves. He went to find Zithrusa, and asked her about trading the gloves for the knives and bow. She coached him for about fifteen minutes, and then went with him to signal him through the barter.

With her help, John got the two knives, sheaths, and a leather belt for one glove, and the horn bow, a quiver of forty arrows, extra strings, and a plain looking staff for the other glove. When they left, the two proud owners of the gloves were each trying to bargain the other glove away from each other. While they had gotten a good bargain, it reminded John that something was worth what a person valued it to be. For him, he had gotten value.

John had a day to become familiar with his new knives. He set up the man-shaped straw target, and was astonished at what a good pair of knives could do. He was even better than he had realized, and the knives seemed to go where he willed them. John had started throwing knives and axes as a teenager, and had relaxed after a hard days wood splitting by throwing at a target pinned to a stump. He was good enough with a double bladed axe to enter in logging contests if he wanted to, but it had always seemed too much bother to him. It wasn't his personality to seek attention, but in this culture, one needed recognition and status to further oneself. In the course of testing himself and his knives, John threw from every distance, not just the standard gaming distance. He tried some throws as he moved, and as he rolled, and he was still hitting good marks. He challenged himself to get both knives in the target as quickly as possible, and had the second knife tumbling downrange before the first one hit, and scored with both. All of his throws sank hilt deep in the tightly bundled straw.