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Clanluna
Chapter 29: Arriving at the Clan Gathering
Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling
Earth’s Children is owned by Jean Auel
Luna’s Clan List
Deceased members:
Iga – mother of Ebra and Uka
Uba – mother of Creb, Brun and Iza
---Creb (37) – former Mog-Ur, 1st Weez-Ur (Roe Deer/Ursus totem),
---Iza (28) – Uba’s mother, adopted mother of Ayla
---Ebra (41) – Brun’s mate, Broud’s mother
---------Broud (21) – former Leader (Wooly Rhinoceros totem)
----------- Oga (20) – Clan, Crug’s 2nd mate, Broud’s widow (hamster totem)
Dorv
Zoug (43) – second in command to the leader before Brun
Living Members:
Thonlan (17) – Other, Woodworker, Jondolar’s brother, 14th Ranked male Hunter (Cave Lion totem)
---Luna (23) – Other, Leader, 1st Weech, Creb’s widow, Thonlan’s mate, (Snorkack totem)
-------Zeen – (4) ½ Clan, son of Luna, Goov’s Acolyte, 2nd Weez-Ur (Ursus Totem)
-------Mara – (0) Other, Luna’s Daughter, Weech
---------Ansalong (12) - Owl
---------Winter Sleeper (3) – Cave Bear
------------Bop (0) – Cave Bear cub
Zar (23) ½ Clan, 1st Ranked male hunter, Goov’s Acolyte, Clanluna’s Acolyte, (Ursus Totem)
---Ayla (17) – Other, Clan’s 1st Ranked Medicine Woman, 2nd Weech, 2nd Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts, Zar’s Mate, (Cave Lion totem)
--------Durc (6) – ½ Clan, Ayla’s son, (Gray Wolf totem)
--------Iza (4) – ¼ Clan, Ayla’s daughter, 3rd Weech (Unicorn Totem)
--------Mariza (0) Other, Ayla’s daughter, Weech
Vorn (16) – Clan, 2nd Ranked male hunter
---Uba (11) – Clan, Medicine Woman, Vorn’s mate
------Uma (2) – Clan, Uba’s daughter
------Vuba (0) – ½ Clan, Uba’s daughter
Goov (23) – Clan, mog-ur, 11th Ranked male hunter, (Aurochs totem/Ursus totem)
---Ovra (21) – Clan, Goov’s mate, (Beaver totem)
------Oogra (2) – Clan, Ovra’s daughter
Groog (28) – 1/8 Clan, 3rd Ranked male hunter (megaceros totem)
---Iga (24) - Other, (formerly: Andromedanaea of the Sungaea) 3rd Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts, red-foot, Clanluna (one-who-serves-the-Mother) Groog’s Mate
------Griga (2) – 1/16 Clan, Iga’s daughter
------Wilmar (0) – Other, Iga’s Son
Broog (22) – ½ Clan, 4th Ranked male hunter
---Ena (21) – ½ Clan, 4th Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts
------Boov (7) – ½ Clan son of Ena
------Brena (0) – ½ Clan daughter of Ena
Vorv (20) – ½ Clan, 5th Ranked male hunter
---Uva (18) – ½ Clan, mate of Vorv
------Broov (7) – ½ Clan son of Uva (looks full Clan)
------Ugra (6) – ½ Clan daughter of Uva (looks full Others) training to become Woman-Who-Hunts
------Vorva (2) – ½ Clan daughter of Uva
------Zoug (0) – ¼ Clan son of Uva
Crug (25) – Clan, 6th Ranked male hunter (wolf totem)
---Ika (23) – Clan, Crug’s mate
------Crik (2) – Clan, Ika’s son
------Grev (7) – Clan, Oga’s 2nd son, 15th Ranked male Hunter
------Dorv (2) Clan, Oga’s 3rd son
------Corg (0) ½ Clan, Oga’s 4th Son
Borg (12) – Clan, 7th Ranked male hunter, (Boar totem)
---Ona (12) – Clan, Borg’s mate (Owl totem)
------Bona (2) Clan, Ona’s daughter
------Orga (0) ½ Clan, Ona’s daughter
Brac (11) – Clan, Oga’s 1st son, 8th Ranked hunter (Bison totem)
---Igra (9) – Clan, Ika’s daughter, Brac’s Mate
------Broud (0) ½ Clan, Igra’s Daughter.
Groob (9) – Clan, Aga’s son, 9th Ranked male Hunter
---Eva (10) – ½ Clan daughter of Ena, 5th Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts
Brun (36) – Clan, former leader, 10th Ranked male hunter (Bison totem)
---Aba (38) (ground squirrel totem) Brun’s mate
Grod (32) – Clan, son of the mate of Zoug, 12th Ranked male hunter (Brown Bear totem)
---Uka (28) – Clan, Ebra’s sister, Grod’s Mate
Droog (34) – Clan, toolmaker, Aga’s mate, 13th Ranked male hunter
---Aga (27) – Clan, Droog’s mate
Guest Hearth
---Ody (Odyseusarpedon of the Smilodon Camp, formerly of the Megaceros Camp the Sungaea) (17) – Other, Ayla’s cousin
------Aris (Ariadneris of the Smilodon Camp of the Sungaea) (26) – Other, Iga’s sister.
Ekwus (3) – Leader of the Centaur Herd
--- 5 Unicorns – Ekwus’ Mates.
------3 Unicorns (1)
------2 Centaurs (1)
------3 Unicorn foals (0)
------2 Centaur foals (0)
Ekwus brought his herd to the Cave to show off their newest foals.
‘’They’re so cute!’’ exclaimed Aris, in Sungaean, as she petted the back of a Centaur foal.
‘’Yes, they are,’’ agreed Ayla. ‘’And the centaurs are growing up so fast!’’
‘’Mamma!’’ protested a year-old centaur as Ayla ruffled his hair. His human half, had the physical, emotional and intellectual maturity of a 7-year-old boy.
While her mother was distracted, Iza held out a wild carrot to lead a year-old unicorn over to a fallen tree. Once she’d gotten it over there, she let the unicorn have the carrot and gently climbed onto its’ back while the unicorn munched. Now that she was settled on the unicorn’s back, Iza wanted to ride it as she has seen her mother ride Ekwus. Sensing the girl’s desire, the Unicorn began trotting around.
‘’Wheee! Look at me! Look at me, Mamma!’’ squealed Iza, in Sungaean.
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‘’Brun, what are we going to do about the Clan gathering?’’ asked Goov.
‘’Yes, look how much we’ve changed since the last Clan Gathering!’’ pointed out Grod. ‘’Are we even Clan anymore?’’
‘’This man knows what you mean,’’ agreed Brun. ‘’It seemed so simple at first. Ayla was like a lucky sign from out totems. And because she was restricted, we didn’t have to face the issue of having a Woman-Who-Hunts in front of the other Clans. Now we have several Women-Who-Hunt, and none of them are banded from hunting! And how are the other Clans going to react to a female Leader? This man wouldn’t even be making the journey to the Clan Gathering, if he hadn’t promised Gurc that he would take Ura to be Durc’s mate. This man hope’s he can persuade Luna to keep his word. This man does wonder if Gurc is still leading his Clan, or if he has passed the Leadership down to Gurg. If so, will Gurg still want us to take the girl?’’
‘’It’s not just the women,’’ protested Grod. ‘’What about the animals. How will the other Clans react to animals that can’t be hunted? What happens it a member of another Clan kills a Snorkack or Unicorn or even an ordinary horse? And what will Luna do about it? She’s already defeated all the men in our Clan at once. Can she defeat all the men in every Clan?
And what about all these Others and deformed people in our Clan? Last time, We just barely retained our status as the 1st Ranked Clan, in spite of having a woman of the Others with a deformed baby! Now we have many Others and even more many deformed people!’’
‘’Grod is right,’’ agreed Goov. ‘’Last time, we had Creb The Mog-Ur, as our mog-ur to convince the other Clans to accept our strangeness. This Man is not The Mog-Ur that Creb was. This man will be lucky to retain his status as the 1st Ranked mog-ur. He would certainly lose it if the other mog-urs learn to the rituals that Iga has brought to us!’’
‘’Calm down, both of you,’’ admonished Brun. ‘’While it’s true there have been some changes, they haven’t been that great a change. The other Clans will adapt, as we did.’’
‘’Wheee! Look at me! Look at me, Mamma!’’ squealed Iza, in Sungaean, as she rode past them on the back of a unicorn.
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‘’This mog-ur would speak with the Leader,’’ signed Goov.
‘’Zeen, leave Wintersleeper alone! She has a cub to take care of now!’’ admonished Luna, in English, before turning back to Goov. ‘’What did you want to say to this Leader?’’
‘’Those of us who are older are concerned about how we will be received by the other Clans,’’ signed Goov. ‘’We do too many un-Clan things!’’
‘’Are you referring to the heliopaths?’’ asked Luna. ‘’Because, this Leader is fairly certain that the Mother Festival keeps them away.’’
‘’The what? Never mind,’’ signed Goov. ‘’The problem is the animals. None of the other Clans live with animals. For them, animals are meat, waiting to be killed. This mog-ur fears that they would kill the Snorkacks or Unicorns on sight.’’
‘’Yes . . .This Leader sees what you mean,’’ signed Luna. ‘’But doesn’t the host Clan keep a Cave bear?’’
‘’Yes, for the Cave Bear Ceremony,’’ pointed out Goov.
‘’This Leader sees what you mean,’’ agreed Luna. ‘’Still, someone will have to milk the Snorkacks while we’re gone. This Woman knows! She’ll get Ekwus to take care of them for us! They can stay here and take care of our cave while we’re gone.’’
‘’There is another problem,’’ announced Goov. ‘’Clan women don’t hunt. Ayla was granted special status as the woman-who-hunts because she has a male totem and it told her to hunt. That privilege was extended to you because you used you Weech stick to make bows and baby spears. Then Ena, Iga, and now even Eva have started hunting with the women’s weapons. But to the rest of the Clan, women are not even allowed to touch a weapon. You will face opposition from the other Clans especially because you are a woman and Weech of the Others. You have brought much change on us very slowly. It will be very sudden to them. They may not accept your Leadership of our Clan.’’
‘’Well, this Leader will have to help them overcome their ignorance,’’ signed Luna, with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
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‘’Well, this man guesses that this is where we part ways,’’ signed Ody.
His and Aris’ packs were heavily laden with Clan furs and firestones to trade at the Sungaea Summer meeting. The couple had been traveling with the Clan for a couple of days but now their paths diverged.
‘’Goodbye my sister!’’ signed Aris, before hugging Iga. ‘’This woman is very happy for you and is glad you found your way to serve the Mother.’’
‘’May Luna bless you,’’ signed Iga, when her sister released her, with tears streaming down her face.
‘’We’ll be back next fall with Sungaean goods to trade, cousin,’’ signed Ody as he kissed Ayla goodbye.
Once, the Sungaean couple had started out, Luna’s Clan got back in formation. Luna led with Zar close behind. Vorn, as the 2nd ranked Hunter, guarded the rear, with Brun, Grod and Droog. The other men guarded the sides of the women. The women, other than Luna, marched in order of Rank with Ayla first, Iga second, Uba third and the others behind them. All of the women appeared to be carrying nothing, because Luna had shrunk their supplies so they could tuck them into the folds of their wraps. This greatly increased the speed at which the Clan could walk.
Luna hadn’t wanted to walk that far. She would much rather someone showed her how to get there so she could make a portkey for the whole Clan to get there in an instant. But none of the Clan men who knew where it was located, were willing to ride on the back of Luna’s broom to the site. And none of the Clan men could even understand the concept of a map, much less make one for her.
So they walked for a fortnight.
When they finally arrived at the Clan gathering, everyone was rudely staring at them. Who could blame them for forgetting their manners at the sight of the 1st Ranked Clan, approaching with a woman of the Others walking in front as if she were their Leader! To Ayla and Iga, Luna seemed oblivious to the strange looks they were getting.
Gurg, leader of the host Clan strode forward. He knew this had to be a mistake. The woman just didn’t know her place. He’d talk to her mate about it. The tall deformed man must be the real Leader.
‘’This Leader Greets the Leader of the 1st Ranked Clan,’’ signed Gurg as he looked up at the towering figure of Zar. ‘’This Leader does not see Broud here. He expected that by now, Broud would be your Leader. How did a deformed man like you become their Leader?’’
‘’Actually, this Weech is Leader of this Clan,’’ signed Luna.
At this revelation, the hands started flying in discussion. How could a woman be a Leader?
‘’Weech? What is Weech?’’ asked Gurg.
‘’A Weech is someone who can do this!’’ signed Luna, as she pulled her wand from behind her ear and waved it. Gurg was instantly transformed into an alpaca.
The members of the other Clans were frozen in shock as the strange, long-necked animal looked around with panic in its’ eyes.
‘’When this woman left the previous Clan Gathering, the mog-urs has said that she was a Spirit,’’ signed Luna as the members of the Clans’ eyes starting glazing over and they tried to pretend they weren’t seeing a Spirit. ‘’But once this woman learned to speak properly, she told the Mog-Ur that she wasn’t a Spirit. This Woman can do these things because she is a Weech.’’
Luna waved her wand and transformed Gurg back. He stared at her for a second in fear before nodding.
‘’Now, Where can we set up our tents?’’ asked Luna.
‘’Oda will show you where,’’ signed Gurg as he indicated his woman. The Leader of the host Clan then, tried to wander as quickly as possible, without appearing to hurry back to his mog-ur to ask his advice about this strange turn of events.
After Oda showed them the spot, the women began pulling their supplies out of the folds of their wraps. Luna went to each woman and enlarged the huge amount each had been carrying in shrunken form. Then, they began setting up the teepees.
The strange tents only caused more of the members of the other Clans to stare at them. In preparation of this event, Luna had made enough of them out of mammoth hides that only 3-4 families needed to share a teepee. But it was quickly discovered that they had brought too many supplies to fit in the teepees. Luna had to shrink most of it back down for later.
Once they had set up camp, a middle aged man walked up to Goov.
‘’mog-ur, the other mog-urs would like to speak with you,’’ signed the man.
Goov, mog-ur of the 1st Ranked Clan, followed the mog-ur of the 6th Ranked Clan to the cave. Their final destination was the chamber where the mog-urs were sitting in an informal meeting. Goov took his place in the circle of middle-aged to old Clan men.
‘’Why does your Clan have a female Leader?’’ asked the mog-ug of the 2nd Ranked Clan.
He was young and brash, for a mog-ur. Like Goov, he had been an acolyte at the last Clan Gathering.
‘’At the last Clan Gathering, the mog-urs declared that Creb, The Mog-Ur, had conjured a Spirit who was to live amongst our Clan,’’ began Goov, as some of the older mog-urs, the ones who had been present at Luna’s appearance, nodded. ‘’Our first night of travel, The Mog-Ur, whom this man had never seen give The Signal to a woman before, started giving it to Luna, whom we had been told was a spirit. Soon, she was mated to him!
She soon declared that she was not a Spirit at all, but a Weech. She began doing strange magic that even the most powerful of mog-urs, cannot. She could bring back those who have gone to the Spirit World, Fly through the air, and make things that this mog-ur had never seen before. She pronounced The Mog-Ur, a Weez-Ur and our 1st Ranked Medicine Woman a Weech, and started teaching them her magic.
When Creb decided to step down as The Mog-ur, so that he could concentrate full time on his Weez-Ur magic, Brun also stepped down as Leader of our Clan. The new Leader was Broud, the son of his mate. Broud immediately announced he was going to defy the combined will of the mog-urs and demanded that was stop acknowledging Luna, because she was a Spirit! Then, he ordered me to Death Curse the 1st Ranked Medicine Woman of all the Clans!
First, the Totems expressed their displeasure with an earthquake that destroyed our cave, then, Luna used her Weech magic to kill Broud and declared herself Leader. The men of our Clan were not willing to accept a female leader and all attacked her at once, even her mate, Creb, The Mog-Ur. She defeated us all with her magic!
Once she was acknowledged as Leader, Luna began making many changes. We had refrained from telling the other Clans at the last Clan Gathering, but we already had a woman-who-hunts in Ayla, the 1st Ranked Medicine Woman. She has a male totem, the Cave lion. Her totem told her to hunt with a sling. She was discovered, when she used her sling to kill a hyena and save the life of a child of the Clan. As punishment, she was Death Cursed and sent to the Spirit World for a month. Somehow, she was able to return from the Spirit world after a month. Creb, The Mog-Ur, had seen in the distant memories that in the past women had hunted. Ayla was given the title Woman-Who-Hunts and allowed to hunt with the sling, only. After Luna had joined our Clan, she used her magic to make a big bow that could be used to throw baby sized spears. Brun decided that Luna and Ayla would be allowed to use the baby spears and sling to hunt. After Luna became Leader, she announced that all women would be allowed to become Women-Who-Hunt. None of the Clan women wanted to hunt, but as we were looking for a new cave, we acquired another woman of the Others and several deformed people. The woman of the Others, Iga, and two of the deformed women, Ena and her daughter, Eva, also hunt. Although, Luna is our Leader, the Women-Who-Hunt, never hunt with the men. So, although being Leader, makes Luna 1st Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts, the 1st Ranked male Hunter is Ayla’s mate, the deformed man, Zar. He leads the men when they hunt.
There have been many other changes, but those are the most important ones. This mog-ur has Spoken’’
When Goov finished, the other mog-urs stared at him in shock.
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Having finished with setting up the Teepee she shared with Ena and Uvra’s families, Iga began walking around to explore the Clan Gathering. Since she wasn’t Redfooting for anyone this summer, she was dressed in a Clan-style wrap that was loosely tied over her breasts. Her baby son, Wilmar was under her wrap, snuggled up to her breasts so he could nurse when he wanted to. By the end of the day, this arrangement would give her a sore back, but it did leave her hands free. In her belt, she had an Other’s style knife with a sheath that Groob had made for her and her sling.
She hadn’t gotten far when she saw an angry young Clan man stomping towards her. As soon as she got within reach, he tried to cuff tall red-haired woman of the Others, but missed.
‘’What in Luna’s name is wrong with you?’’ demanded Iga, defiantly.
‘’What are you doing with a sling?’’ waved the young man, angrily, as he yanked it off her belt and held up the offending weapon.
‘’This Woman is allowed to use a sling,’’ defended Iga, as she snatched back her sling. ‘’She is a Woman-Who-Hunts!’’
‘’Women don’t hunt!’’ gestured the young man, as he pushed Iga, so hard, she fell down. ‘’Any women who even touches a weapon must be punished! As this man is going to punish you!’’
The sudden fall made her baby son, Wilmar start to cry.
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‘’Now that we’ve gotten the teepees up, let’s do something with these berries,’’ signed Luna.
Ayla had wondered why their Leader had insisted that they gather so many berries along the way and why she wouldn’t let the Clan eat them.
‘’What are we going to do with them?’’ asked Ayla.
‘’We’ll mash them up in this bowl and pour a little bit of the juice into cups,’’ explained Luna. ‘’We’ll need a stick for each cup. Iza, gather a bunch of stick and peal the bark off them. Each one should be twice as long as your finger.’’
Once they’d mashed up the berries and pour a little juice into each cup, Luna took one of the sticks that Ayla’s daughter had prepared and stuck it in a cup. She pulled her wand from behind her ear, pointed it at the cup and a blue ray shot out freezing the juice in the cup. Luna carefully pulled the frozen juice out of the cup using the stick that was frozen into the juice. She then set to work transfiguring the shape of the frozen juice so it stuck to even more of the stick in a long shape. After that, she applied a stasis charm that would keep the juice frozen until someone licked it.
A sudden movement made both the women turn in time to see Iga pushed down! Luna stood and strode over to the man who had pushed Iga. Just like Iga, she and Ayla wore their wraps so they held their babies to their breast with a knife and sling on their belts.
‘’Would you like a popsicle?’’ asked Luna, dreamily, as she held it out to him.
Chapter 29: Arriving at the Clan Gathering
Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling
Earth’s Children is owned by Jean Auel
Luna’s Clan List
Deceased members:
Iga – mother of Ebra and Uka
Uba – mother of Creb, Brun and Iza
---Creb (37) – former Mog-Ur, 1st Weez-Ur (Roe Deer/Ursus totem),
---Iza (28) – Uba’s mother, adopted mother of Ayla
---Ebra (41) – Brun’s mate, Broud’s mother
---------Broud (21) – former Leader (Wooly Rhinoceros totem)
----------- Oga (20) – Clan, Crug’s 2nd mate, Broud’s widow (hamster totem)
Dorv
Zoug (43) – second in command to the leader before Brun
Living Members:
Thonlan (17) – Other, Woodworker, Jondolar’s brother, 14th Ranked male Hunter (Cave Lion totem)
---Luna (23) – Other, Leader, 1st Weech, Creb’s widow, Thonlan’s mate, (Snorkack totem)
-------Zeen – (4) ½ Clan, son of Luna, Goov’s Acolyte, 2nd Weez-Ur (Ursus Totem)
-------Mara – (0) Other, Luna’s Daughter, Weech
---------Ansalong (12) - Owl
---------Winter Sleeper (3) – Cave Bear
------------Bop (0) – Cave Bear cub
Zar (23) ½ Clan, 1st Ranked male hunter, Goov’s Acolyte, Clanluna’s Acolyte, (Ursus Totem)
---Ayla (17) – Other, Clan’s 1st Ranked Medicine Woman, 2nd Weech, 2nd Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts, Zar’s Mate, (Cave Lion totem)
--------Durc (6) – ½ Clan, Ayla’s son, (Gray Wolf totem)
--------Iza (4) – ¼ Clan, Ayla’s daughter, 3rd Weech (Unicorn Totem)
--------Mariza (0) Other, Ayla’s daughter, Weech
Vorn (16) – Clan, 2nd Ranked male hunter
---Uba (11) – Clan, Medicine Woman, Vorn’s mate
------Uma (2) – Clan, Uba’s daughter
------Vuba (0) – ½ Clan, Uba’s daughter
Goov (23) – Clan, mog-ur, 11th Ranked male hunter, (Aurochs totem/Ursus totem)
---Ovra (21) – Clan, Goov’s mate, (Beaver totem)
------Oogra (2) – Clan, Ovra’s daughter
Groog (28) – 1/8 Clan, 3rd Ranked male hunter (megaceros totem)
---Iga (24) - Other, (formerly: Andromedanaea of the Sungaea) 3rd Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts, red-foot, Clanluna (one-who-serves-the-Mother) Groog’s Mate
------Griga (2) – 1/16 Clan, Iga’s daughter
------Wilmar (0) – Other, Iga’s Son
Broog (22) – ½ Clan, 4th Ranked male hunter
---Ena (21) – ½ Clan, 4th Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts
------Boov (7) – ½ Clan son of Ena
------Brena (0) – ½ Clan daughter of Ena
Vorv (20) – ½ Clan, 5th Ranked male hunter
---Uva (18) – ½ Clan, mate of Vorv
------Broov (7) – ½ Clan son of Uva (looks full Clan)
------Ugra (6) – ½ Clan daughter of Uva (looks full Others) training to become Woman-Who-Hunts
------Vorva (2) – ½ Clan daughter of Uva
------Zoug (0) – ¼ Clan son of Uva
Crug (25) – Clan, 6th Ranked male hunter (wolf totem)
---Ika (23) – Clan, Crug’s mate
------Crik (2) – Clan, Ika’s son
------Grev (7) – Clan, Oga’s 2nd son, 15th Ranked male Hunter
------Dorv (2) Clan, Oga’s 3rd son
------Corg (0) ½ Clan, Oga’s 4th Son
Borg (12) – Clan, 7th Ranked male hunter, (Boar totem)
---Ona (12) – Clan, Borg’s mate (Owl totem)
------Bona (2) Clan, Ona’s daughter
------Orga (0) ½ Clan, Ona’s daughter
Brac (11) – Clan, Oga’s 1st son, 8th Ranked hunter (Bison totem)
---Igra (9) – Clan, Ika’s daughter, Brac’s Mate
------Broud (0) ½ Clan, Igra’s Daughter.
Groob (9) – Clan, Aga’s son, 9th Ranked male Hunter
---Eva (10) – ½ Clan daughter of Ena, 5th Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts
Brun (36) – Clan, former leader, 10th Ranked male hunter (Bison totem)
---Aba (38) (ground squirrel totem) Brun’s mate
Grod (32) – Clan, son of the mate of Zoug, 12th Ranked male hunter (Brown Bear totem)
---Uka (28) – Clan, Ebra’s sister, Grod’s Mate
Droog (34) – Clan, toolmaker, Aga’s mate, 13th Ranked male hunter
---Aga (27) – Clan, Droog’s mate
Guest Hearth
---Ody (Odyseusarpedon of the Smilodon Camp, formerly of the Megaceros Camp the Sungaea) (17) – Other, Ayla’s cousin
------Aris (Ariadneris of the Smilodon Camp of the Sungaea) (26) – Other, Iga’s sister.
Ekwus (3) – Leader of the Centaur Herd
--- 5 Unicorns – Ekwus’ Mates.
------3 Unicorns (1)
------2 Centaurs (1)
------3 Unicorn foals (0)
------2 Centaur foals (0)
Ekwus brought his herd to the Cave to show off their newest foals.
‘’They’re so cute!’’ exclaimed Aris, in Sungaean, as she petted the back of a Centaur foal.
‘’Yes, they are,’’ agreed Ayla. ‘’And the centaurs are growing up so fast!’’
‘’Mamma!’’ protested a year-old centaur as Ayla ruffled his hair. His human half, had the physical, emotional and intellectual maturity of a 7-year-old boy.
While her mother was distracted, Iza held out a wild carrot to lead a year-old unicorn over to a fallen tree. Once she’d gotten it over there, she let the unicorn have the carrot and gently climbed onto its’ back while the unicorn munched. Now that she was settled on the unicorn’s back, Iza wanted to ride it as she has seen her mother ride Ekwus. Sensing the girl’s desire, the Unicorn began trotting around.
‘’Wheee! Look at me! Look at me, Mamma!’’ squealed Iza, in Sungaean.
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‘’Brun, what are we going to do about the Clan gathering?’’ asked Goov.
‘’Yes, look how much we’ve changed since the last Clan Gathering!’’ pointed out Grod. ‘’Are we even Clan anymore?’’
‘’This man knows what you mean,’’ agreed Brun. ‘’It seemed so simple at first. Ayla was like a lucky sign from out totems. And because she was restricted, we didn’t have to face the issue of having a Woman-Who-Hunts in front of the other Clans. Now we have several Women-Who-Hunt, and none of them are banded from hunting! And how are the other Clans going to react to a female Leader? This man wouldn’t even be making the journey to the Clan Gathering, if he hadn’t promised Gurc that he would take Ura to be Durc’s mate. This man hope’s he can persuade Luna to keep his word. This man does wonder if Gurc is still leading his Clan, or if he has passed the Leadership down to Gurg. If so, will Gurg still want us to take the girl?’’
‘’It’s not just the women,’’ protested Grod. ‘’What about the animals. How will the other Clans react to animals that can’t be hunted? What happens it a member of another Clan kills a Snorkack or Unicorn or even an ordinary horse? And what will Luna do about it? She’s already defeated all the men in our Clan at once. Can she defeat all the men in every Clan?
And what about all these Others and deformed people in our Clan? Last time, We just barely retained our status as the 1st Ranked Clan, in spite of having a woman of the Others with a deformed baby! Now we have many Others and even more many deformed people!’’
‘’Grod is right,’’ agreed Goov. ‘’Last time, we had Creb The Mog-Ur, as our mog-ur to convince the other Clans to accept our strangeness. This Man is not The Mog-Ur that Creb was. This man will be lucky to retain his status as the 1st Ranked mog-ur. He would certainly lose it if the other mog-urs learn to the rituals that Iga has brought to us!’’
‘’Calm down, both of you,’’ admonished Brun. ‘’While it’s true there have been some changes, they haven’t been that great a change. The other Clans will adapt, as we did.’’
‘’Wheee! Look at me! Look at me, Mamma!’’ squealed Iza, in Sungaean, as she rode past them on the back of a unicorn.
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‘’This mog-ur would speak with the Leader,’’ signed Goov.
‘’Zeen, leave Wintersleeper alone! She has a cub to take care of now!’’ admonished Luna, in English, before turning back to Goov. ‘’What did you want to say to this Leader?’’
‘’Those of us who are older are concerned about how we will be received by the other Clans,’’ signed Goov. ‘’We do too many un-Clan things!’’
‘’Are you referring to the heliopaths?’’ asked Luna. ‘’Because, this Leader is fairly certain that the Mother Festival keeps them away.’’
‘’The what? Never mind,’’ signed Goov. ‘’The problem is the animals. None of the other Clans live with animals. For them, animals are meat, waiting to be killed. This mog-ur fears that they would kill the Snorkacks or Unicorns on sight.’’
‘’Yes . . .This Leader sees what you mean,’’ signed Luna. ‘’But doesn’t the host Clan keep a Cave bear?’’
‘’Yes, for the Cave Bear Ceremony,’’ pointed out Goov.
‘’This Leader sees what you mean,’’ agreed Luna. ‘’Still, someone will have to milk the Snorkacks while we’re gone. This Woman knows! She’ll get Ekwus to take care of them for us! They can stay here and take care of our cave while we’re gone.’’
‘’There is another problem,’’ announced Goov. ‘’Clan women don’t hunt. Ayla was granted special status as the woman-who-hunts because she has a male totem and it told her to hunt. That privilege was extended to you because you used you Weech stick to make bows and baby spears. Then Ena, Iga, and now even Eva have started hunting with the women’s weapons. But to the rest of the Clan, women are not even allowed to touch a weapon. You will face opposition from the other Clans especially because you are a woman and Weech of the Others. You have brought much change on us very slowly. It will be very sudden to them. They may not accept your Leadership of our Clan.’’
‘’Well, this Leader will have to help them overcome their ignorance,’’ signed Luna, with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.
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‘’Well, this man guesses that this is where we part ways,’’ signed Ody.
His and Aris’ packs were heavily laden with Clan furs and firestones to trade at the Sungaea Summer meeting. The couple had been traveling with the Clan for a couple of days but now their paths diverged.
‘’Goodbye my sister!’’ signed Aris, before hugging Iga. ‘’This woman is very happy for you and is glad you found your way to serve the Mother.’’
‘’May Luna bless you,’’ signed Iga, when her sister released her, with tears streaming down her face.
‘’We’ll be back next fall with Sungaean goods to trade, cousin,’’ signed Ody as he kissed Ayla goodbye.
Once, the Sungaean couple had started out, Luna’s Clan got back in formation. Luna led with Zar close behind. Vorn, as the 2nd ranked Hunter, guarded the rear, with Brun, Grod and Droog. The other men guarded the sides of the women. The women, other than Luna, marched in order of Rank with Ayla first, Iga second, Uba third and the others behind them. All of the women appeared to be carrying nothing, because Luna had shrunk their supplies so they could tuck them into the folds of their wraps. This greatly increased the speed at which the Clan could walk.
Luna hadn’t wanted to walk that far. She would much rather someone showed her how to get there so she could make a portkey for the whole Clan to get there in an instant. But none of the Clan men who knew where it was located, were willing to ride on the back of Luna’s broom to the site. And none of the Clan men could even understand the concept of a map, much less make one for her.
So they walked for a fortnight.
When they finally arrived at the Clan gathering, everyone was rudely staring at them. Who could blame them for forgetting their manners at the sight of the 1st Ranked Clan, approaching with a woman of the Others walking in front as if she were their Leader! To Ayla and Iga, Luna seemed oblivious to the strange looks they were getting.
Gurg, leader of the host Clan strode forward. He knew this had to be a mistake. The woman just didn’t know her place. He’d talk to her mate about it. The tall deformed man must be the real Leader.
‘’This Leader Greets the Leader of the 1st Ranked Clan,’’ signed Gurg as he looked up at the towering figure of Zar. ‘’This Leader does not see Broud here. He expected that by now, Broud would be your Leader. How did a deformed man like you become their Leader?’’
‘’Actually, this Weech is Leader of this Clan,’’ signed Luna.
At this revelation, the hands started flying in discussion. How could a woman be a Leader?
‘’Weech? What is Weech?’’ asked Gurg.
‘’A Weech is someone who can do this!’’ signed Luna, as she pulled her wand from behind her ear and waved it. Gurg was instantly transformed into an alpaca.
The members of the other Clans were frozen in shock as the strange, long-necked animal looked around with panic in its’ eyes.
‘’When this woman left the previous Clan Gathering, the mog-urs has said that she was a Spirit,’’ signed Luna as the members of the Clans’ eyes starting glazing over and they tried to pretend they weren’t seeing a Spirit. ‘’But once this woman learned to speak properly, she told the Mog-Ur that she wasn’t a Spirit. This Woman can do these things because she is a Weech.’’
Luna waved her wand and transformed Gurg back. He stared at her for a second in fear before nodding.
‘’Now, Where can we set up our tents?’’ asked Luna.
‘’Oda will show you where,’’ signed Gurg as he indicated his woman. The Leader of the host Clan then, tried to wander as quickly as possible, without appearing to hurry back to his mog-ur to ask his advice about this strange turn of events.
After Oda showed them the spot, the women began pulling their supplies out of the folds of their wraps. Luna went to each woman and enlarged the huge amount each had been carrying in shrunken form. Then, they began setting up the teepees.
The strange tents only caused more of the members of the other Clans to stare at them. In preparation of this event, Luna had made enough of them out of mammoth hides that only 3-4 families needed to share a teepee. But it was quickly discovered that they had brought too many supplies to fit in the teepees. Luna had to shrink most of it back down for later.
Once they had set up camp, a middle aged man walked up to Goov.
‘’mog-ur, the other mog-urs would like to speak with you,’’ signed the man.
Goov, mog-ur of the 1st Ranked Clan, followed the mog-ur of the 6th Ranked Clan to the cave. Their final destination was the chamber where the mog-urs were sitting in an informal meeting. Goov took his place in the circle of middle-aged to old Clan men.
‘’Why does your Clan have a female Leader?’’ asked the mog-ug of the 2nd Ranked Clan.
He was young and brash, for a mog-ur. Like Goov, he had been an acolyte at the last Clan Gathering.
‘’At the last Clan Gathering, the mog-urs declared that Creb, The Mog-Ur, had conjured a Spirit who was to live amongst our Clan,’’ began Goov, as some of the older mog-urs, the ones who had been present at Luna’s appearance, nodded. ‘’Our first night of travel, The Mog-Ur, whom this man had never seen give The Signal to a woman before, started giving it to Luna, whom we had been told was a spirit. Soon, she was mated to him!
She soon declared that she was not a Spirit at all, but a Weech. She began doing strange magic that even the most powerful of mog-urs, cannot. She could bring back those who have gone to the Spirit World, Fly through the air, and make things that this mog-ur had never seen before. She pronounced The Mog-Ur, a Weez-Ur and our 1st Ranked Medicine Woman a Weech, and started teaching them her magic.
When Creb decided to step down as The Mog-ur, so that he could concentrate full time on his Weez-Ur magic, Brun also stepped down as Leader of our Clan. The new Leader was Broud, the son of his mate. Broud immediately announced he was going to defy the combined will of the mog-urs and demanded that was stop acknowledging Luna, because she was a Spirit! Then, he ordered me to Death Curse the 1st Ranked Medicine Woman of all the Clans!
First, the Totems expressed their displeasure with an earthquake that destroyed our cave, then, Luna used her Weech magic to kill Broud and declared herself Leader. The men of our Clan were not willing to accept a female leader and all attacked her at once, even her mate, Creb, The Mog-Ur. She defeated us all with her magic!
Once she was acknowledged as Leader, Luna began making many changes. We had refrained from telling the other Clans at the last Clan Gathering, but we already had a woman-who-hunts in Ayla, the 1st Ranked Medicine Woman. She has a male totem, the Cave lion. Her totem told her to hunt with a sling. She was discovered, when she used her sling to kill a hyena and save the life of a child of the Clan. As punishment, she was Death Cursed and sent to the Spirit World for a month. Somehow, she was able to return from the Spirit world after a month. Creb, The Mog-Ur, had seen in the distant memories that in the past women had hunted. Ayla was given the title Woman-Who-Hunts and allowed to hunt with the sling, only. After Luna had joined our Clan, she used her magic to make a big bow that could be used to throw baby sized spears. Brun decided that Luna and Ayla would be allowed to use the baby spears and sling to hunt. After Luna became Leader, she announced that all women would be allowed to become Women-Who-Hunt. None of the Clan women wanted to hunt, but as we were looking for a new cave, we acquired another woman of the Others and several deformed people. The woman of the Others, Iga, and two of the deformed women, Ena and her daughter, Eva, also hunt. Although, Luna is our Leader, the Women-Who-Hunt, never hunt with the men. So, although being Leader, makes Luna 1st Ranked Woman-Who-Hunts, the 1st Ranked male Hunter is Ayla’s mate, the deformed man, Zar. He leads the men when they hunt.
There have been many other changes, but those are the most important ones. This mog-ur has Spoken’’
When Goov finished, the other mog-urs stared at him in shock.
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Having finished with setting up the Teepee she shared with Ena and Uvra’s families, Iga began walking around to explore the Clan Gathering. Since she wasn’t Redfooting for anyone this summer, she was dressed in a Clan-style wrap that was loosely tied over her breasts. Her baby son, Wilmar was under her wrap, snuggled up to her breasts so he could nurse when he wanted to. By the end of the day, this arrangement would give her a sore back, but it did leave her hands free. In her belt, she had an Other’s style knife with a sheath that Groob had made for her and her sling.
She hadn’t gotten far when she saw an angry young Clan man stomping towards her. As soon as she got within reach, he tried to cuff tall red-haired woman of the Others, but missed.
‘’What in Luna’s name is wrong with you?’’ demanded Iga, defiantly.
‘’What are you doing with a sling?’’ waved the young man, angrily, as he yanked it off her belt and held up the offending weapon.
‘’This Woman is allowed to use a sling,’’ defended Iga, as she snatched back her sling. ‘’She is a Woman-Who-Hunts!’’
‘’Women don’t hunt!’’ gestured the young man, as he pushed Iga, so hard, she fell down. ‘’Any women who even touches a weapon must be punished! As this man is going to punish you!’’
The sudden fall made her baby son, Wilmar start to cry.
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‘’Now that we’ve gotten the teepees up, let’s do something with these berries,’’ signed Luna.
Ayla had wondered why their Leader had insisted that they gather so many berries along the way and why she wouldn’t let the Clan eat them.
‘’What are we going to do with them?’’ asked Ayla.
‘’We’ll mash them up in this bowl and pour a little bit of the juice into cups,’’ explained Luna. ‘’We’ll need a stick for each cup. Iza, gather a bunch of stick and peal the bark off them. Each one should be twice as long as your finger.’’
Once they’d mashed up the berries and pour a little juice into each cup, Luna took one of the sticks that Ayla’s daughter had prepared and stuck it in a cup. She pulled her wand from behind her ear, pointed it at the cup and a blue ray shot out freezing the juice in the cup. Luna carefully pulled the frozen juice out of the cup using the stick that was frozen into the juice. She then set to work transfiguring the shape of the frozen juice so it stuck to even more of the stick in a long shape. After that, she applied a stasis charm that would keep the juice frozen until someone licked it.
A sudden movement made both the women turn in time to see Iga pushed down! Luna stood and strode over to the man who had pushed Iga. Just like Iga, she and Ayla wore their wraps so they held their babies to their breast with a knife and sling on their belts.
‘’Would you like a popsicle?’’ asked Luna, dreamily, as she held it out to him.
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