I froze, taken by surprise. For a long time, I had no idea how to react in such a situation. Ursi was watching me calmly, at least as far as I could tell in the darkness. In a way, it was obvious she would be woken up with the noise we made as I sent Mom to the skies.
For some reason, neither of us avoided the other’s gaze, and we stared at one another for a long moment. Eventually, she turned around, closing her eyes to go back to sleep. She didn’t say anything, no scolding, no approving, no nothing, and I had zero idea of what was going on in her mind, which was nothing new. As far as I could remember, she had always watched me serenely like this, her thought process opaque to me.
Left without any choice, I could only try to get some more sleep too. But first, I needed to calm my heart, which was beating so fast I could hear it through my skin.
In the morning, I woke up feeling very warm and noticed my mother had hugged me again at some point. Sensing my movements, she stirred too, and soon opened her eyes, meeting mine at close range. Just like my sister did the previous night, she stared at me for a long while. Finally, she smiled, kissing me again on the forehead.
“It’s time to get up, Keon.”
There was no discussion about what happened during the night. My sister was already awake, and she too didn’t say anything. Just like that, we prepared ourselves as if nothing had happened, which gave me a weird feeling together with some relief.
I thought today’s schedule would be the same as the previous day, but I was wrong. Physical and combat training stayed, as well as girls being trained in women’s tasks, but oral teachings and shamanic lessons didn’t happen. I soon understood what was happening.
The elders didn’t want to overload the simple brains of cave children with too much information. The plan was to only have those lessons every ten days, to keep them spaced enough. Another reason was that there simply wasn’t that much to teach. There was no reading, no writing, no mathematics, no science, no philosophy. The total amount of knowledge to share wasn’t that much in this era. It was the best place for those who hated going to school.
As for magic training, it was because it could be done alone, at any time. Using magic, for those who had the “talent”, was something very natural. Many just used it in their daily lives, and if they had questions, they could simply wait for the next lesson to ask them.
Physical and combat training were different, though. As warrior Kalam said, one day without training was the same as losing one week of effort. This simple sentence pushed the naïve boys to be diligent during the training, working its effect wonderfully.
Girls also had a lot to learn. They needed to know how to cook the different kinds of meat and plants from around the tribe’s location, prepare pelts and fur so they lasted for a long time, and were even responsible for crafting stone spears. It now made sense why warrior Kalam had broken his spear so carelessly on the first day as a demonstration. He wasn’t the one who crafted it, after all!
But that wasn’t all. At any point, a woman could get grabbed by a man for mating purposes. If the man was very terrible at it, she could get hurt enough that it impaired her work, which didn’t help with going through her assigned tasks.
Back to the topic, all of this meant that children had some empty time in their schedule. It was generally considered free time, with the kids being allowed to do whatever they wanted. Some made groups and played together, some would continue training, while some girls would go to their mother and work together.
For us, the new batch of children, there was another new aspect too. We were allowed to go outside the cave system during our free time. Older boys were even permitted to join warriors when they went out on a hunt, to learn the work from real-life situations. They generally stayed at the back, away from prey, since the beasts were extremely dangerous, but even that was an invaluable experience.
I took the chance of my free time to go outside for the first time in my life. Many other boys did the same but since I was shunned, I couldn’t join any of their groups. Dyla was a bit scared but decided to join me instead, her eyes widened at the completely fresh scenery.
The grotto only had a single, large entrance, which was always guarded by warriors. After that, a large meadow extended at the front. The grass was tall, while the wind caressed our skin without any interference. Looking behind, the cave was against a sort of rocky structure, like a small hill. Far away on both sides were forests, with trees as far as the eye could see.
“Woah…”
“So beautiful…”
The girls marveled at the view innocently. The boys tried to stay stoic, but it was clear they were feeling the same, their eyes wide open, darting in all directions. I was no different, appreciating such a natural view as I should. I was originally a city person, far removed from such raw scenes, except for pictures on TV or computers.
Far away, a large and weird roar resounded, startling all of us. It sounded like nothing from Earth, and I could only imagine what sort of creature could produce such a sound.
“That’s a chiwe.”
As if precisely understanding what we were feeling, one of the guards told us the name of the howling animal. We still hadn’t learned about all the beasts so I wasn’t sure what a chiwe was, and frankly, didn’t feel like having any close contact with it any time soon.