Glade and Ivory Ch. 15

It was the time of the year to travel south. Everyone knew it. It was less than half a moon since Ivory's village celebrated the Autumn Equinox with traditional solemnity, but the snow had settled at night and not melted, the mammoths were restless, and the sky was thick with flying geese.

"Tomorrow!" announced Chief Cave Lion. "Today we gather what we need for the journey. Tomorrow we leave."

Ivory was as reluctant to leave as anyone in the village, but the chief had spoken and the auspices were right.

"I hate Winter!" Ivory sulked as she and Glade sorted the herbs and medicaments needed for the trek south. These they tied together by cord and stuffed in the deer-skin sacks the shaman and her apprentice would carry with them. When they were ready, Ivory and Glade accompanied everyone around what for so many months had been where the villagers gathered to feast and celebrate. They then waited as the village congregated in anticipation for the start of the long southwards trek along the path they traditionally followed in either direction once a year. Northwards in Spring. Southwards in Autumn. The southern plains were undoubtedly beautiful and Ivory was in awe of the mountains that signalled the trek's southernmost point. Unfortunately, this land was at its most inhospitable when its bounty was in most demand.

Ivory was to abandon to the mercy of wolves and lions the village that was her Summer home. She gazed longingly at the tepee she and Glade had shared for the last few moons. She would carry the most precious things that could be collected from their home in sacks strapped to her back, but what she would most miss was the humdrum daily routine and the warmth of a fire that was never extinguished. Until now, of course. When the villagers returned in the Spring, everything in the village would have been sniffed at and pissed on by wild animals. Most tepees would collapse under the weight of snow and then be trampled on by large beasts.

Chief Cave Lion eventually emerged from his tent. It was the custom that he should be the last man to leave. He scraped aside the snow and kissed the bare earth. He raised his spear on both outstretched arms above his head and strode to the head of the waiting column of villagers who despite the warmth of their thick furs were already shivering in the chill Northern wind.

There was one last ceremony to be observed before the village could at last begin its trek. This had to be performed by the shaman accompanied, naturally, by her apprentice. Glade and Ivory walked hand-in-hand together towards the sacred stones that marked the village's boundary with the shaman singing in her rich alto voice and her apprentice in a reedy soprano. The words were in the tribe's tongue—not one of Glade's choosing—and they were addressed to the spirits of Winter and Snow to guard the village and defend the spirits of their ancestors.

As her mother was one of the spirits to be protected, Ivory took this ceremony very seriously. It was imperative that her mother should rest in peace and shield the village from the evil spirits of the long night. It hurt her though to reflect that Glade attached no great significance to the ceremony. But then what could the shaman know? She hadn't been born in the Mammoth steppe and none of her family was buried in its frosty soil.

The ceremony was soon over. The sacred stones had been blessed. The village was bade farewell as tradition demanded. The Mammoth Hunters could now sleep at ease confident that everything possible had been done to guard their summer home. As long as the goodness of the spirits prevailed, the village soil would welcome them back at the Spring Equinox.

Every day of the southwards march was hard. Generally, progress was frustratingly slow. The travellers were weighed down with provisions. Fresh meat needed to be gathered each day. The travellers generally tried to keep in step with the migrating mammals such as mammoth, rhinoceros and great deer, although they were also mindful of an accompanying migration of cheetah, leopard and hyena that could no more survive the winter than their prey.

Ivory wept when she finally lost sight of the village far in the distance across the open steppe. Wolves and lions would already be tearing at the furs they had left behind and trampling over the shattered shards of earthen pots and bowls. She squeezed Glade's hand though she was careful under the watchful eye of her fellow Mammoth Hunters not to make her display of affection too obvious.

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"It must have been very pleasant to live with the Ocean People all year round and to never have to migrate," Ivory remarked, envious of the better life Glade had once known.

"Life was certainly comfortable," admitted Glade. "There was so much food in the ocean that could be harvested with the right tools for those brave enough to swim out to sea. The Ocean People never knew hunger. Every day the sea provided a bounty of fish, crab, lobster, shrimp and sometimes seal or dolphin. Even the sky had its bounty of birds that the Ocean People caught in nets they threw off the side of steep hills. There were also more familiar animals such as deer, okapi and antelope that wandered towards the sea and could be easily speared on the sand or pebbles where they were no longer so fleet of foot."

"The Ocean People must have considered themselves fortunate to have so much ready food."

"They might have done had they ever known otherwise, but they very rarely thought about it. The Ocean People put far more significance in the merits of philosophy."

"Philosophy?" wondered Ivory, who had no idea what the word meant.

"Yes," said Glade as she wearily adjusted the weight of her deer-hide sack on her back. "Philosophy is the art of debate and reason. It is what the Ocean People most enjoy doing. They gather together in small groups in the shadow of trees or under the stars and talk. They talk about the existence of spirits, the size of the world, and the nature of the moon and stars: anything and everything."

"Why's that called 'philosophy'? Isn't that just what everyone does anyway?"

"Yes, but not everyone does so methodically. And not everyone shares the outcome of these discussions with the rest of their tribe."

"What was so wonderful about that?"

"I was very impressed," said Glade who chose not to counter Ivory's scepticism. "The Ocean People made many discoveries through their debates that had a real practical bearing. You might remember, for instance, that the Ocean People maintained huge fires on top of the steep hills. Why do you think they did that?"

"To keep them warm when they camped there," said Ivory who wondered what was so special about that. "And to cook food. How can anyone survive without fire? It's as essential to life as water, food and the sun."

"They also used the smoke from the fires to communicate over long distances," said Glade. "They'd devised a language of smoke signals that they used to send messages from one village to another. That was how they knew that Knights were hunting for slaves along the sea shore and why there were never any Ocean People for them to find. Each village would warn the other villages of the Knights' precise movements."

Ivory was also impressed. "By the spirits! What a clever idea. Perhaps we could use such an art to communicate across the Mammoth steppe."

"Your villages are far too widely spread for that to be possible. And there are too few hills across the plains. It was more practical for the Ocean People as their camps are spread along the coast line. This skill of speaking over distances beyond the echo of the loudest shout was just one fruit of their philosophical debate."

"What else did they discover?" wondered Ivory who was excited at the notion of such wisdom and knowledge.

"They discovered a way to count numbers greater than the number of fingers on a man's hand. They calculated exactly how many moons there are in a year. They knew exactly on which day the sun is at its highest and when it is at its lowest. This is something your tribe can do only by measuring its elevation in the sky against the position of sacred relics. They debated the existence of spirits which, like you, they believed was the explanation for anything they didn't understand. They discussed the nature of the world which they believed was shaped like a pebble or an egg. They made decisions as to the relative value of gifts and how trade between villages should be measured. And they also debated whether a village should be led by a chief."

"It is as natural as the fact that birds fly and winters are cold that a village should have a chief," Ivory asserted.

"There was no chief for any clan of Forest People," Glade reminded her apprentice. "Nor did we have a chief when we lived by the river."

"That's because your people are ... peculiar," said Ivory as tactfully as she could. "Just as you wore no clothes and had sex all the time, so you didn't have a chief."

"Well, the Ocean People wear no clothes either," said Glade. "And they also don't have a chief. As far as I know, none of their villages have a chief and of this they are very proud."

"So how do they ever make decisions?"

"Each village has a counsel of men and women who are elected by all the villagers because they are believed to be the ones best fit to make wise decisions," said Glade. "Even though this counsel can make decisions for the whole village, there are also greater discussions where the whole village can attend in which everyone, whoever they are, can speak. It's in this way that decisions that affect the welfare of the whole village are determined."

"There must be a lot of rubbish spoken in these meetings!" exclaimed Ivory. She wondered how the Ocean People could lead anything but the most chaotic lives without the reassuring guidance of a chief.

"Indeed there is," said Glade, "but there's also a lot of good sense. When a decision is made, everyone knows why and everyone accepts it as the communal will. It works extraordinarily well. The Ocean People are enormously proud of their method of government. There had once been a time when their villages were governed by chiefs, just like yours, but such a system of government is now completely discredited."

Ivory was still far from convinced. "Were you and your companions permitted to join in these discussions?" she asked.

"Yes we were," said Glade, "but only, of course, when we'd learnt to speak their language. This was where I had an advantage over Macaque and Dignity and, indeed, all my companions. It wasn't only the Knights' language I was able to speak and understand rather better and more fluently than most other people. I was also the first to master the Ocean People's language. And I learnt it not only from discussion with the other women in the village, but also, and rather less openly, from the men who fucked me."

"Didn't the women mind?" wondered Ivory, who still found it incredible that there were women throughout the world so careless about the object of their men-folk's lust.

"Yes, they did," said Glade. "They minded very much. This was another new experience for me. Amongst my own people, there was no such thing as sexual jealousy. Amongst the Knights, there was no issue of sexual infidelity. But here, for the first time, I was living amongst and having to conform to the ways of people who, like your tribe, generally maintain stable monogamous heterosexual relationships. As someone who'd never known anything like that before, it was very peculiar for me. Consequently, although I maintained casual sexual relations with nearly every man, and many women, of the village, very few of these were publicly known. I even had to hide the carnal nature of my relationship with Macaque and Dignity with whom I shared a hut."

Ivory sniffed, though she wasn't sure whether it was because she disapproved of her lover's troilism or because she was envious. She just didn't understand why Glade couldn't be content with the love of just one good woman. Why did she need further carnal distraction with other men and women? Ivory was sure that if she wasn't bound to the chief and if Glade could just forswear the temptation of other women, they would make a perfectly content couple.

During the time she lived amongst them, Glade wondered at the Ocean People's customary predisposition towards monogamy. Now her tribe was so outnumbered, she was forced to question the liberal sexual practises she still thought were natural. Was she simply upholding a tradition of promiscuity which also gave her immeasurable pleasure? Was she wrong to seduce so many men and women who would otherwise be faithful to their wives or husbands? If it was wrong, why did it feel so very right? When had fucking ever become something to be rationed in such a mean-spirited way?

It was ironic that in a society which generally debated anything of a philosophical nature with respect to this issue Glade knew nobody other than Macaque and Dignity with whom she could discuss the differences of sexual custom. Nevertheless, although the two lovers didn't care who else Glade was fucking they were very jealous of one another. Macaque feared that Dignity might leave her for a male Knight whilst her lover feared that Macaque's promiscuity might tempt her to seek other company. Glade had become peripheral to their relationship.

"If you wish to fuck other men or women," said Dignity in the language of the Forest People which was all she ever used nowadays, "then do so. But we are guests of the Ocean People and we should respect their ways."

This was unarguable. The Ocean People had welcomed them with no preconditions. Their culture accorded great value to hospitality and as their community was blessed with such abundance of food and space it could easily absorb the additional burden of Glade and her companions. The Ocean People were happy to have the Forest People and the Knights in their midst as long as they did nothing to offend their hosts. It was useful to have extra hands to help the community maintain fires, build shelters and hunt for food in the sea or on the land.

"Why did you ever leave the Ocean People if they were so perfect?" wondered Ivory when the Mammoth Hunters' convoy drew to rest under an overhanging cliff and began piling up fallen branches to build a fire for the night.

Glade eased off the sack from the straps that had secured it around her shoulders. She smiled at her pale-skinned apprentice and shook her head sadly.

"As I said," Glade repeated. "I was welcome in the community for as long as I did nothing to offend it."

"Was it your promiscuity that offended the Ocean People in the end?"

"Indirectly," said Glade as she supported her weight on her ankles by the fire, careful not to dip her furs into the surrounding snow. Fur could very easily get damp and allow cold moisture to seep through the seams.

The Ocean People's sexual ethics weren't as precisely defined as those of Ivory's tribe. In general, men and women formed monogamous relationships from which children resulted. Before that, relationships could take any form though these were normally, but not necessarily, heterosexual and between just two people. Despite all the philosophical debate on other subjects this convention was taken so much for granted that it was never questioned. In fact, the subject about which the Ocean People felt most passionately and argued incessantly was the virtue of the democratic decision-making process that governed their society.

"From what you tell me about the Knights' society," Dolphin remarked as he rolled off Glade's body under the shadow of the coconut palm trees, "it's no wonder their society came to such a savage end. What is true of the Knights is surely also true for Lady Mimosa's people. It is the inevitable fate of hierarchical societies to be riven by discontent and rebellion."

Glade was by now quite accustomed to how easily any subject of discussion could take on a philosophical bent. Even though only a moment ago Dolphin had been fucking her, it took hardly any time for a chance comment to kindle a political debate.

"Why do you think your society is more likely to last than a hierarchical one?" Glade asked not so much because she doubted him but in the spirit of free debate.

"Because it has," said Dolphin, resorting to the 'argument by example' that was considered one of the better debating techniques. "And also because: who can rebel against a society that works to the advantage of every individual? If a society serves everyone's best interests then nobody would rebel against it. Not if they are rational, of course."

Glade didn't doubt the rationality of the idea that no one would rebel against a democratic or representative society if it was perceived to be in his or her interests, but she knew from her time as a slave that there were those who thought not in terms of the interest of the community but of themselves as individuals. Such people would ask not what they could offer society but what society could offer them. If it didn't serve their interests, they might well do something about it.

"Such people are despicable," remarked Ivory as she and Glade huddled together in the chill night air on the thick mammoth fur that lay beneath not just them but other sleeping couples.

"You're bound to think that," whispered Glade, who was mindful that others might not appreciate overhearing her conversation with her apprentice. "Especially now, at this time of the year, when the village has to work together as one body to traverse the many days of steppe and woodland towards the mountains in the south. However, not everybody regards their welfare in such honourable terms."

Ivory and Glade had some license in the dark and the exigencies of the cold to nestle as close to each other as a married or courting couple, but they were careful not to touch each other as intimately as they wished or to exchange anything other than sisterly kisses.

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In previous winters, Ivory had travelled south in the company of her mother and, in happier times still, with her father. Hierarchy and status were maintained even during these long treks. Chief Cave Lion and his family led the procession, while the shaman and the senior hunters' families followed at the rear. Everyone else was sandwiched in between. When the trek came to a halt, either to rest for the night or to hunt game and recoup energy, the tribe organised itself in much the same fashion. It was unheard of anyone who was not in the chief's family to run ahead of the procession. Nor would the village willingly allow anyone to trail behind where they were easy prey to lions or hyenas.

Ivory's status in the village had changed since the last migration and she could no longer walk with the other families. This privilege made her feel more isolated and lonely. She could chat with the hunters' wives and daughters, but mostly it was Glade who she relied on for companionship.

If there was any compensation for the adversity of the winter trek, it was that Chief Cave Lion couldn't take advantage of his young mistress. It wasn't acceptable for the chief to flaunt his infidelity towards his wife in public, especially at a time when the travellers were steeling themselves for the hardship and privation ahead in the lengthening winter nights.

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"What led to you having to leave the Ocean People?" wondered Ivory. "Was it your promiscuity? What else could it have been?"

"It wasn't me alone that offended them," said Glade.

The Ocean People were frequent visitors to each other's villages. They would announce their arrival by smoke signals that gave information such as the exact configuration of the expected company and the expected day of arrival. When they arrived, the guests brought offerings and expected the same in return when they were hosts. The long winding coast offered a scattering of various riches. On one beach there might be a wealth of chalk and flint. From another: opal or amber. From yet another: an abundance of great auk that nested far south during the bitter Northern winter and whose flesh was much desired. In all the time Glade lived with the Ocean People there was no sign of the Mountain Warriors. Perhaps Queen Mimosa had no interest in extending her empire beyond the Knights' original range. Glade was quite content with this state of affairs.