“So the Mother Stone chooses who will be married to who?” Danni asked, fascinated. “But how does that work? Does the Mother Stone talk to them or what?”
“Oh, the Mother Stone never speaks with words—only with emotions that you feel here.” Navii put a fist to her chest, as though to indicate her heart. “During the Joining ceremony, all of the young people of the township who have come of age will stand close to the Mother Stone. And then they will feel who is meant to be their mate—they will be drawn to the right person to spend the rest of their life with.”
“And…the Mother Stone is never wrong?” Danni asked. “I mean, you never have an unhappy Joining? A failed marriage?”
“Why, no!” Navii looked shocked. “The Mother Stone is never wrong.” She spoke in a hushed, slightly scandalized whisper, as though Danni had unknowingly uttered something blasphemous. “All the couples she puts together are happy all their days!”
“I see.” Danni nodded. “Can I ask you something else about the Mother Stone?” she asked carefully. “Something that Bravik and I were wondering?”
“I suppose.” Navii nodded.
“Why does the power only flow through the houses and the fence at night?” Danni asked. “Why does it disappear during the day?”
“Because that is the way the Ancients arranged it, of course,” Navii said lightly.
“The Ancients?” Danni frowned. “Who are they?”
“Why, they are the ones who built our townships and the fences to keep us safe,” Navii said. “But they are long gone—except for the Light One—and he speaks only to Kozen.”
She spoke with pride, as though speaking to the last remaining Ancient was a great honor for her husband.
“I see.” Danni nodded. “And you don’t know why the Ancients set it up so that the Mother Stone’s power only flows at night?”
“Well…” Navii frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose it is to keep the Joined couples from becoming too attached to each other. The Mother Stone’s light brings us closer together with our mates. But if we were brought too close by being in her light for too long, it would be very difficult to leave each other and go do the tasks we must do in order to keep the township running smoothly.”
“I guess you have a point,” Danni said, remembering how hard it had been to leave Bravik. And they had only been exposed to the pink radiation for a little while the night before. What would happen when they were exposed to the pink beams more directly or for longer periods of time?
She decided it was probably better not to think of it. After all, they weren’t going to be here on Soluu Four for an extended period of time. The diagnostics she had run proved that the energy emitted by the Mother Stone wasn’t harmful and she was certain that its effects would probably reverse after they left.
But still she wondered if the real reason the “Ancients” whoever they had been, had arranged to keep the Mother Stone’s energy from flowing all the time was really just to keep the H’raken couples from getting too attached to each other. Could there be another reason it was shut off during the day?
Before she could ask Navii anymore questions, however, they arrived at the Communal Kitchen and it was time to get to work making bread.
Twenty-Five
There was indeed a dead animal lying just outside the gates when Brav and the H’raken men went to check. It looked a little like the Earth animal called an antelope, though it was as big as a cow and had thick, twisting horns as long as Brav’s arm. They dragged it back to the butchering hut and everyone took a shiny cleaver or knife from the case, which was apparently kept there for just that reason.
Butchering was dirty, messy work but the long leather apron he wore protected Brav’s new trousers from the worst of it. He’d been on plenty of hunting expeditions before and this wasn’t his first time breaking down an animal, so it didn’t bother him.
The H’raken males who were on the butchering crew appeared to have the same stoic, “get it done” mentality that Brav did, so the work went fast. In fact, they were finished before lunch with the meat chopped and stored in a cool unit, which was apparently powered by a special link to the Mother Stone, until it was time to prepare for the feast that night.
“What do we do next?” Brav asked Kozen as they washed the dark green blood off their hands and leather aprons and then hung them to dry.
“Well…” The H’raken leader squinted his eyes, as though thinking. “I dislike to do it, but we really ought to go and harvest the fruit of the tunga trees today. When I came to get you and the other half of your heart yesterday, I noticed that it was looking very ripe.”