Azaria (14 page)

"I didn't know, Daneel. I swear. Why would they care? It happens to every girl. They can't control that."

"Yeah, but, don't you remember when we first arrived and they grouped us in packs? Remember how they moved some girls from one pack to another. They must’ve been making sure the girls who had their moonflow wouldn't be anywhere near the Temple. Ohh! I feel awful! She's going to hate me when she finds out."

"Daneel, you can't tell her! She'll be so angry!" Yumineh objected.

"I know," Daneel said. "But Azaria's going to figure out that it was that drink you gave her. She's not stupid!"

"How is she going to find out? I just gave her some tea. That's all, as far as she knows."

"Well, I can't lie to her. If she asks, I’ll have to tell her," Daneel cried.

"What? Why would she ask? If she finds out, she'll be mad at me, not you."

Daneel could see her point and felt sorry for her, hearing the emotion in her voice. "You’re right. I think she's going to be angry. I’ll take the blame. I’ll tell her I did it."

Yumineh's voice cracked. "Really? Thanks Daneel, I owe you one." She reached over and hugged her, her smile hidden over Daneel's shoulder.

---

Izyl escorted Azaria to her tent and waited while she found an absorbent rag and then accompanied her down to the river and again waited for her to clean herself. When Azaria was purified and ready, she helped her find the girls who'd been assigned to hunting duties. Izyl had heard they were having trouble, and having seen Azaria's success at the Hare Hunt figured she might be of some help.

The girls Azaria was reassigned to were from Red Deer Camp - which was far north, farther north than Fox Camp. The two were working as a team hunting grouse, one flushing the plump steppe birds out of the high grass while the other launched spears at the fleeing avians with her thrower. They weren’t having much luck by themselves and were beginning to feel desperate, afraid of reporting back to Izyl with little to show for their efforts. They were able to flush the grouse out well enough, but they'd only taken one down, despite a whole morning of trying.

Azaria’s arrival was welcome. With two girls flushing the birds out, they were better able to predict the avians' escape routes, giving the girl waiting with her spearthrower a more direct shot. Azaria quickly bagged three of the fat birds and the two girls each took down another. She was finally recovering from her earlier terrible disappointment, enjoying the success they were having, when the Swan Camp girls decided six was more than was expected of them. They put away their spearthrowers, desiring to sneak down to the river for some refreshing relaxation instead.

Azaria, afraid of getting caught goofing off, but not feeling much like hunting by herself either, decided to just walk. She knew there was little chance she'd be seen so far from the Temple, but if somehow she was, she figured she could always claim she was still hunting. She didn't consciously choose a particular direction, but soon found herself on the far outskirts of the Temple, within viewing distance of the men placing the giant pillar. She stared for a moment, thinking she should probably leave, but was enthralled each time the slab slid down the smallest amount toward its final upright position.
I shouldn't be watching this,
she told herself.
But if I climbed one of these cedars, I could get a better view. No one will see me. There are too many others around for anyone to catch my scent and the men are making too much noise for anyone to hear. I'll just stay for a moment, maybe a few.

She watched as the movers removed the sand underneath the front end of the pillar and between the two dirt ramps. Although it was difficult to detect much movement, she could tell the pillar was definitely being lowered to an upright position. She thought it was kind of like trying to watch Luna move across the night sky. If you stared at her, she would never move. But if you looked away for a while and then looked back, you could see that she did. After a while she realized the work was proceeding quite quickly.
They might yet finish and then all that will be left to do is remove the ramps. But I don't mind if I miss that part.

Despite her distant observing position, Azaria's excitement grew as the pillar slid further down. It was almost as good as the close-up view she should’ve had, as she didn't have to tend the men and could concentrate on the precision procedure. Watching the tedious process of removing the sand was dull, but she was determined to see the whole thing unfold.

When the pillar finally reached a semi-vertical position the movers who had hauled it up the ramp began to pull again, except now the ropes were looped around the top end of the slab, the end sticking up between the ramps. It was a delicate maneuver, as they had to move it just enough to allow the diggers to add more dirt where space was created. Other workers also had to carefully direct the bottom end into the footing, but soon enough the slab was standing perfectly straight. From her distance, it was almost anti-climactic. The process was so expertly executed, it didn't even seem any trouble at all. Almost on its own, the slab just dropped perfectly into the footing and was suddenly standing upright.

Although she'd witnessed every step in the moving and placing of the stone, Azaria was still amazed everything had worked so well. She was unable to find a single word that sufficiently described everything she'd witnessed over the past suns. For the average Natu, there were no words which could do justice to what they were achieving. But they did know it couldn't be done without the will of the Ta'ar and the consent of the Great Earth Mother and most simply left it at that.

That evening, after the girls had eaten, cleaned and readied themselves for sleep, Azaria was ecstatic - although she kept the reason why to herself. Daneel however, fretted. She'd been dreading crawling into their shared furs, even though it was usually her favorite activity. Although her best friend appeared to be in a surprisingly good mood, given what had happened, she didn't know how to breach the subject worrying her. "Azaria..." she started.

"Yes?" Azaria responded. "What's wrong, Daneel? You've been distracted all evening."

"Yeah, well. I have to admit... Well, I have to apologize for something. And you're going to want to rip my head off when I tell you."

"Don't be silly," Azaria replied, wondering what could possibly be upsetting her best friend so much. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can't be as bad as you think."

"About your cycle coming too soon. Well... well it was my fault." Daneel held her breath, waiting for Azaria's explosion. She remained lying on her back staring up, unable to look her friend in the eye.

"What?" Azaria laughed, rolling over to face her, completely mystified by Daneel's ridiculous admission. "How could it be your fault? Izyl said I was just irregular."

"No. You weren't. It was the tea Yumineh gave you this morning. Do you remember? I told her to do it. I wanted to play a trick on you. But I swear, I didn't know they’d make you leave the Temple."

"What?" Azaria’s smile straightened, as she began to comprehend what Daneel was trying to say. "It was the tea? What are you talking about?"

"I put something in it. To make your blood come early. I'm so sorry, Azaria... I didn't know. I didn't think the joke through. I'm sorry." As she plead forgiveness, she finally gathered the courage to roll over and face Azaria's wrath.

"You did that!?" Azaria said, her temper rising. "Why? How could you
not
know they’d make me leave the Temple?"

"I... I didn't know... I didn't think about the evil spirits and all that. I'm so sorry." Daneel explained, on the verge of tears.

"But... Why??" Azaria demanded. "Daneel, it wasn't funny. I almost missed watching the placement."

"I know, Azaria... I feel so bad. I've been sick with guilt ever since they made you leave. But I had to tell- Wait! What do you mean you
almost
missed it?"

Excited to tell her story, Azaria put her anger aside for the moment. "Well... promise you won't tell anyone. But after we finished hunting, I went for a walk. And I wasn't thinking about where I was going, but maybe the Ta'ar were guiding me. I don't know. But all of a sudden, I was at the edge of the cedar grove and I could see the movers working. I climbed a tree and watched the whole thing." She finished the story with a smug smile that perfectly matched the glimmer in her eye.

"Really? You saw it!?" Daneel said, overjoyed with relief.

"Yeah! I did! But you can't tell anyone," Azaria laughed. She hadn't planned to tell anyone herself, not even her best friend, but as it usually did, the truth found its way to the surface.

"Are you kidding me?" Daneel said, dumbfounded. "Of course I won't tell anyone. I'm so relieved. I thought you’d kick me out of the tent and never talk to me again."

Azaria thought it over before she answered. Although it had all turned out well enough, it was a dirty thing to do. Daneel's jokes were never so harsh. This seemed almost mean-spirited, even if she hadn't known it would lead to her dismissal from the Temple. "Well, it was a horrible trick, but it all worked out in the end. I saw the placement and I didn't even have to work."

Now Daneel was laughing with her. "I didn't even think of that! We had to work and you got to relax. That's what I get I guess! I'm still sorry I did it and I'm sure you would’ve rather had a close-up view. But I'm so happy you at least got to see."

"It's okay, Daneel." Azaria reached out and hugged her. "Don't worry about it anymore. I can tell how bad you feel. At least I won't have to work with the movers anymore. As punishment, you'll have to work with them without me."

"Ohhh! Don't remind me! But you're right. It's the least I deserve. I promise I won't complain about the work at all anymore."

Azaria didn't quite believe the claim, but left her skepticism unsaid. The girls talked until late in the night, the intensity of their emotions keeping them up. When finally their eyes closed, they slept soundly.

---

Azaria was content the next sun to be working with the rest of her new pack hunting small game. She was even able to bag a red fox, whose luxuriant pelt would provide fine trimming on a new outfit she planned to make as a gift for Dogahn. She worried a bit she'd get scolded for wasting her efforts on a non-meat bearing catch, but no one ever mentioned it.

Daneel, despite her promise not to complain about the hardship of the Temple work, found no reason to extend her word to the other girls. She sat next to Yumineh the first chance she had and unleashed a furious verbal assault on the men who'd been ordering her around all morning. "I swear Yumineh, if they assign us to these oafs when we change packs again, I'm quitting. The Ta'araki can protest all they want, but I'll leave. Father will protect me from them. I should leave right now. Why do we keep getting assigned to these idiots, anyway?"

"I know!" Yumineh agreed. "How come we have to do all the hard work? Azaria has been assigned to the carvers, meal prep and now the hunters, while we're stuck with these fatheads."

Daneel was surprised Yumineh would mention Azaria, especially since it was her doing that put her with the hunters. "Well, she's not to blame for how they assign us. It's Fahim telling Izyl how to arrange us."

Yumineh quickly agreed. "I know. It's not Azaria's fault, of course. But they could be fairer in assigning the work packs."

"That's true," Daneel said.

"So how did it go last night anyway? Did you tell her? She didn't seem upset with you this morning at all."

"Oh, not at all!" Daneel agreed. "You're going to laugh. Azaria wasn't even
upset. I mean, she thought it was a mean joke. And I think she was kind of upset in principle, but it worked out well for her."

"What do you mean? How did it work out?" Yumineh was incredulous. She'd expected Daneel to be distraught, anticipating some damage in the relationship between the two Boar Camp girls. So far however, there was little sign of any rift. In fact, they'd come to the early meal chatting merrily as usual.

Daneel suddenly remembered she'd promised Azaria not to tell anyone of her exploits. "Uhh... she doesn't have to work with the fatheads, right? She gets to hunt now instead. And Azaria loves hunting."

"That's it?" Yumineh asked. "She's not at all upset about our trick? About missing the placing?"

"No, I guess not," Daneel looked away, hoping the line of questioning would cease. "I mean, I don't really care... I was just so scared. As long as we're still friends right?"

"Of course. I'm happy you're still friends," Yumineh said. She turned away and got up. "But I thought we were friends too. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."

Daneel could see her friend wasn't buying her denial. Fearing the Fox Camp girl was angry, she panicked. "All right, don't get upset. Azaria made me promise not to tell anyone, so you can't say anything to anyone, okay?"

"Of course..." Yumineh perked up again. "I won't tell anyone," she promised with a smile, sitting back down.

"Okay. So after Azaria was done hunting, she snuck back to the Temple and watched the placing from a tree. She didn't miss it at all! Can you believe that?"

"She watched the placing?" Yumineh asked, her smile slowly inverting.

"Yeah," Daneel laughed. "She saw the whole thing. She wasn't as close as she would’ve liked, but now she doesn't even have to work with the movers. She's so lucky."