Chapter 10: 13 Years After the War

"This girl has ever been the mentor and teacher of younger or slower children, as well as caring for infants...as you all know.", Medicine Woman proclaimed to the Tribe (to smiles, and some laughter).

"So we name her, 'Little Mother'!"

She embraced her daughter, as the audience made respectful sounds of approval.

Little Mother glowed, and saw the love and satisfaction in Sees More's eyes--

"The gods approve this naming!", I Hear announced.

Little Mother, like many others, was shocked by this unprecedented intrusion on a simple naming ceremony.

Sees More glared and stepped towards the young man, and Medicine Woman snapped back:

"Your ‘gods’ are the same fictions the Enemy invented to justify the atrocoties they committed! They don’t exist!”

I Hear stepped back, and showed his upraised palms, placating, but remained calm.

Smiling, he said “The gods have told me, some would not believe, for they have granted us free will. I am chosen to speak for them, and welcome you to their family."

Sees More glanced around at the faces of the surrounding people. Many of the children, and a few of their parents, appeared to support I Hear. He met Spinner's eyes. They each nodded.  It was as they had predicted 13 years ago.

I Hear had been perhaps five years old when the allied tribes had freed him from the slavers. His father, a slaver himself, had been killed, and his mother had died bearing him.

The mother had been related to two families among the Wolf People, and they had adopted him.

He had been a quiet, shy boy at first, but soon began telling the other children stories of the gods, and how they had created people, and watched over those who believed in them.

The Leaders knew that he had learned the core of these stories at the feet of the Slavers Priest. These stories were fascinating, and Squirrel had a gift for speech.

The Wolf People, like other tribes, had used certain plants and fungi to alter the mind for as long as anyone remembered. Thoughts grew deeper, and some felt that they actually saw visions of other worlds; the disembodied spirits of the dead, and such.

Different people believed different things, and the Wolf People were far closed-minded about what might lie beyond the physical realm they inhabited, but only I Hear claimed that the Sun and Moon were gods, and spoke to him.

Most of the parents told their children that these were only stories. Sees More and Medicine Woman (who were partners now; the parents of Little Mother and two younger boys, as well as Sees More's daughter Discovers Things) told their children that there might be some entity or force which created life, but that I Hear's stories were invented by the slaver priest and his predecessors to manipulate and control their people.

Other parents were different, and the Leaders couldn't interfere.

As children become young adults, they have a strong instinct to rebel against their parents, and by the age of 15, I Hear had actually established a religeon full of rebellious youths his own age and younger.

I Hear preached love (even for the "unbelievers"), and had thus far never openly challenged the leaders, but it was plain to all of them that he was gathering power.

Now, he was telling the Wolf People that the naming of a young man or woman required the approval of "the gods", and too many of the listeners seemed to accept this.

"We will name our children as we will, and it's none of your business!" Medicine Woman hissed into I Hear's maddeningly calm face.

To Spinner's and Sees More's alarm, some young men, and even a few adults, moved toward the two, as if to side with I Hear against Medicine Woman.

Oh he loves this! Sees More thought in frustration, as he, Discovers Things, and her husband Sees Far moved to back Medicine Woman.

"STOP!" Spinner shouted. The two giant brothers, sons of the previous Chief, flanked him. Log Pusher and Finds Tracks looked grim, and gripped their heavy spears low on their shafts in an unmistakable threat posture.

Everyone obeyed.

"I Hear, you are not welcome here. Leave this area, and do not presume to interfere with namings ever again!"

I Hear tried to hide his shock, but it showed. He had expected an argument; an opportunity to address the Tribe at large, as he debated the leaders.

"I will do--"

"SHUT UP! No more of your pretentious oral diahrreah! You are DONE! Go away!" Medicine Woman shouted in his face.

"NOW!" shouted Log Pusher, slamming the clubbed butt of his spear into the ground with a heavy thud, and leaning forward. He had killed at least five enemies himself with both ends of that unique weapon.

I Hear turned and walked away. The leaders watched carefully, to see which of his followers hesitated, etc. 

I Hear had lost face and followers here, but of course, he would be back, like any other tumor not cut out. Log Pusher would have driven him out, or even killed him long ago. 

Sees More and Medicine Woman had even agreed, but Spinner didn't want to lose those who would leave with him.

The argument had damaged their relationship, and now Sees More stared at Spinner in anger. The tumor had grown, and rooted itself in the youngest children.

Medicine Woman turned back to embrace the newly named Little Mother, who burst into tears.

Every child dreamt of their naming day, and hers had been ruined.

No happy memories here., Medicine Woman thought bitterly, as her daughter sobbed into her breast.

Sees More died of an unknown illness two years hence.  Spinner suffered some other disease which crippled his legs after that, and conceded his post as Chief to a younger man.

His own son, Thinks Deep, was very intelligent, but not strong or assertive enough. Like his father, he sought to settle differences through compromise when possible, but unlike him, he would not exert force when neccessary.

Log Pusher would call Thinks Deep weak. Spinner called him too kind-hearted.

Spinner wanted to name Discovers Things as his successor, but knew that she might well lose out, simply because she was a woman, and that the ensuing power struggle could end badly.

He didn't name Discovers Things, or even his second choice Studies Things as his successor, for political reasons. Spinner had to choose a young successor who would be accepted by at least half the Wolf People in order to avoid chaos and conflict.

Sadly, I Hear and his followers influenced this, and was the main reason why he couldn't safely name Dicovers Things or Studies Things.

Log Pusher and others had urged Spinner to banish I Hear and all of his followers at spearpoint, but (until he'd died), Sees More had told him that this would tear families apart, and do more harm than good (and so said Medicine Woman to date).

"It's too late for that now.", Sees More had stated bitterly, with Log Pusher safely out of hearing. "The tumor is too deeply rooted. Every family is corrupted...now."

In the end, Spinner had nominated I Say as his successor.

I Say was the son of the young woman who had said "What took you so long?" after she had been rescued, and had subsequently bore the son of the slavers' War Chief.

While his mother's influence on I Say was strong, and he despised his dead father and the religeon of the slaver priest, his adoptive father, Finds Tracks, had advised him not to openly oppose I Hear...

For this very reason: I Hear endorsed I Say because he was the War Chief's son, and felt he could manipulate him.

I Say was a superior hunter and warrior. He was very intelligent, and a born leader. He was strong, but not cruel.

Spinner knew that the Tribe would accept I Say as the new Chief, and that he would be competent.

But Discovers Things was wiser. Studies Things was smarter. Both were more compassionate. And I Say was not unlike Log Pusher in his youth: predisposed to form his own opinion first, and then defend it against his council.

But I Hear fought hard for I Say, and I Say became the new Chief.

Spinner lived only a few years longer, until Medicine Woman poisoned him at his request.

Of the Leaders who had won The War, only Medicine Woman, Log Pusher, and Finds Tracks remained.

The Wolf People found the Others gone at the northern terminus of their annual migration soon after the crippled Spinner had ended his life...