“It’s so beautiful,” Onya breathed.
“Beautiful, but also a harbinger. You know what this means?” Jun-tak replied.
“Winter is here. We’ve done everything we can. We’re as ready as we can be.”
“Thanks to you, Jun-tak,” Mung said, draping an arm around his shoulders. “Even though the Family is far to the south by now, they are not as prepared for their mild winter as we are for our harsh one. I wouldn’t trade places with any of them.”
“Neither would I.” Onya squeezed Jun-tak’s hand.
He wondered how long they would feel that way.
***
Three moon-cycles later...
“Brrrr. It feels especially cold today,” Mung said.
The friends huddled close to the fire, eating their morning ration of bread along with the last of the dates. Nobody had mentioned their dwindling food hoard, but everyone was thinking about it. The grain was more than two thirds gone; enough smoked boar and fish remained to last perhaps one more moon cycle. The fermented meat had been consumed, and the pit traps had produced no additional game since autumn. They were eating the last of the dates as their morning meal.
They could not reasonably expect the ice and snow to melt for at least two moon-cycles. They would soon be forced out into the frigid cold and treacherous weather to hunt for game. It would be an unpleasant, dangerous undertaking.
“Best not to wait until we’re completely out of food,” Jun-tak said. “We will hunt today. Onya, you should remain with the animals, and it’s not just because you’re a female. We need someone to take care of them if something happens to the other two.”
He could see her wrestling with an internal struggle. At the beginning, they had agreed to distribute the chores equally, not by traditional roles.
“I won’t fight you on this,” she replied finally. “I’m not as good with my spear as the two of you. The decision makes sense. Just promise me one thing...”
Jun-tak watched her eyes fill up with tears that didn’t quite spill over before she blinked them away.
“Anything, my friend.”
“Promise that if you don’t find game and we run out of food before the winter ends, we won’t resort to eating...” A quiet sob escaped her.
Jun-tak didn’t respond immediately, taking his time pondering his answer. When he spoke, he knew the words would not be well-received.
“We will do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen, but I cannot make the promise you desire. If the two people I love most in this world are starving, I will sacrifice these animals, which I have also grown to love. However, I do not love them more than both of you.”
Neither of his friends would meet his gaze. His was a difficult and unpopular position. It would have been easier to tell Onya what she wanted to hear and then worry about whether he could keep his promise later. But that would not be the right thing to do.
He sighed, then stood and began preparing for the hunting expedition to come. He and Mung would don every article of clothing they possessed. He hoped it would keep them from freezing. The snow and ice had been relentless. Their world of grassy meadows and gently sloping hills was transformed now into a harsh, glacial landscape. Jun-tak had fashioned footwear from thin branches and strips of leather which, when attached to their fur boots, would keep their feet from sinking into the snow. Even now it was deeper than a grown man’s height.
“We should take Smokey,” Mung said just as they were about to leave.
“Why would you do that?” Onya replied, alarm in her voice. “He might freeze out there.”
Mung laughed. “Can you hear yourself? You’re worried about a wolf going outside. A wolf, who would normally live quite comfortably in the cold, without cozy fires and bowls of food given to him by people.”
She gave him a grudging smile. “You’re right, of course. I’m being foolish.”
She rubbed Smokey behind the ears, his favorite place to be scratched. His tongue lolled out the side of his open mouth, exposing white canine fangs that could shred skin and flesh better than that of humans. And his four legs were much faster than two. Jun-tak had a sudden thought.
“Mung, perhaps we could teach him to hunt not just with us, but for us.”
“You may be onto something. He could be a tool, like a spear or a fire kit.”
“Exactly,” Jun-tak said, excited now. “He already does everything you tell him. He takes commands well, and his instinct would be to hunt for himself anyway. The trick will be to get him to bring the prey back to us rather than gobble it all up.”
“This could be fun, Jun-tak. If we don’t die a horrible death.” Mung had lost one of his front teeth during a recent fall, but to Jun-tak, his smile was no less dazzling.
“I hope you’re right about the fun part. At the very least, I hope we are successful and don’t come back with missing fingers or toes.” He gave Mung a playful punch in the arm.
Much later they had travelled far from the warmth and security of home but with nothing to show for all the arduous walking. Evidence of animals lay everywhere – scat and tracks of hares and red deer – but their game satchels were empty. Smokey had startled a flock of geese, but both Jun-tak’s and Mung’s spears missed their marks. Humans and wolf watched the honking birds fly away, wearing identical expressions of disappointment.
“Roasted goose would have tasted wonderful,” Mung said. Then to the half-grown pup, “Some mighty hunter you are.”
Smokey sneezed and shook his furry head. Suddenly, the oversized ears perked up. A low growl emanated from deep within the chest. The next moment, he was off at a full run in the direction of a small copse of trees.
By the time Jun-tak and Mung caught up to him, he was gobbling up the steaming intestines of a capra, similar to Lily but larger and with slender horns.
“Smokey, no!” Mung yelled. The wolf lifted his bloody muzzle, regarding Mung thoughtfully. He emitted another growl before returning to his meal. “Smokey, I said no,” Mung repeated, using the same stern voice as when he had taught the wolf ‘sit’ and ‘fetch.’
Smokey’s growl turned into a whimper. He backed away from the carcass.
“Good boy. You will get the liver and heart. You’ve earned them,” Mung said, squatting down next to the animal. Smokey sat patiently beside his preferred human, as Mung did the work of slicing and gutting.
Jun-tak stood back, watching in amazement, as a man and a wolf shared the job of killing and then butchering their dinner.
“What is this?” Mung muttered.
“What?”
“There’s a small gash on the throat. The type made by a knife, not the jagged mark of an animal bite.”
Jun-tak hurried over to examine the wound. “Yes, I see. What could it mean?”
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling it happened before Smokey got to this capra. Otherwise, I doubt that our little half-grown wolf could have overtaken it.”
“Yes, I see your point. So the creature was already weak from the knife wound, making it easier for Smokey to finish the job. But why wouldn’t the hunter take the meat for himself?”
“Perhaps he was injured somehow.”
“Perhaps.”
“It will be enough meat to last a few days. Onya will be so happy!” Mung left the rest of the sentiment unsaid.
“Yes,” Jun-tak replied, troubled now. He pondered the enigma during the journey back to the cave and long into the night.
***
Two more moon-cycles passed. Seven more hunting excursions ended in the same baffling manner: the wolf would scent an animal nearby, weakened from a knife wound to its throat, and then take its life. Once it was even an enormous stag – its meat fed them for many days, and its antlers would create neat furrows in the ground for seeds come spring.
He was nearly driven to distraction by the mystery of the wounded prey, but Onya was untroubled. They had made it through the winter with her beloved animals alive and well. Sunlight la
sted longer each day now, and the snow and ice soon melted.
At long last, they were able to resume their outdoor chores.
“I want to plant the date seeds over there,” Jun-tak said, shielding his eyes from the bright spring sunshine and pointing to the east. “I know it will take many earth-cycles for them to mature, but you have to begin sometime, right?”
Onya and Mung followed the direction of his outstretched hand. At the same moment, they all noticed a dark human-shaped speck moving toward them.
“That can’t be the Family this soon. I don’t expect them until the grasses are knee-high.”
Mung squinted. His was the best vision for distance. “No, not the Family. Well, only part of it. I think that’s Zorv.”
The three watched in silence as the man approached.
“Yes, definitely Zorv,” Onya said.
“You sound excited,” Jun-tak smiled.
“What? You’re imagining things,” she snapped.
Jun-tak and Mung looked at each other in surprise, then burst out laughing.
“Onya likes Zorv!” Mung said. “I bet Zorv likes her too. Remember how he complimented her on her pelt work? That man doesn’t compliment anyone. Oh, this is delightful.”
“Shut up. What would you know about feelings between a man and a woman? You only have eyes for Jun-tak.”
Jun-tak felt a sudden twisting sensation in his belly. Could it be true? He found it impossible to make eye contact with Mung.
“That was mean,” Mung said.
“I’m sorry. You just embarrassed me. Now hush. He’ll be here soon.”
The approaching figure called out, “I guess nobody starved to death, then.” When Zorv reached them, they could see how thin he was. His cheekbones jutted out sharply above his dark beard, and pelts hung on a body that seemed to have lost half its mass.
“What happened to you?” Onya said in a horrified voice.
Before Zorv had a chance to answer, Jun-tak exclaimed, “You’re wearing panther fur! Now it all makes sense!”
Zorv’s reply was only a weak smile within the wiry beard.
“And the knife wounds on the throats of the game animals? That was your work too? In addition to saving me and Onya from the panther?”
“Two panthers,” Zorv said, his focus on Onya’s pretty face.
“You’ve been close the entire time?” she whispered.
“Of course. Did you think I was going to let any of you starve? I was intrigued by the notion of training Mung’s wolf to participate on a hunt. I thought my...small interventions...would help.”
“How did you survive the cold?”
“It wasn’t easy. I almost sought the comfort of your gods-forsaken cave on more than one occasion.”
“I wish you had,” Onya said shyly.
Zorv smiled. “It was important for Jun-tak to do this on his terms, without the interference of someone such as myself. I would have fought him on every decision and probably won. Then we would not know how this great experiment would turn out.”
Jun-tak was filled with newfound admiration for his former adversary, and more than a little awe. “It takes a brave, determined man to do what you did.”
“And it takes a visionary to undertake what you have, Jun-tak. I did a lot of thinking over the winter. Even though your ideas are radical, I think you are right to pursue them. I’d like to be part of it. But I won’t live in that cave. I thought I would build a stone house underground, like you did for Onya by the river. Maybe large enough for two people...” he added with an appraising look at Onya.
The In Between
“Oh,” Jun-tak said, slowing becoming aware of his new surroundings. He pictured his face, or at least a reflection of it when occasionally seen in the river, and opened the eyelids of that face.
Memories of his past life flooded into his consciousness...mostly good, a few bad, and one that coaxed tears to flow down the ever solidifying face. He brushed at them with a hand rough from a lifetime of hard labor.
“You’re thinking about Mung,” a voice said from the void beyond.
“Is that you, Sarah? You sound strange.”
Mung appeared in front of him. “That can happen. Especially when my form is aesthetically quite different from the last version.”
“You look like him. Oh, Mung. When you died I thought I would die too.”
“But you didn’t,” Mung-Sarah replied with a loving smile. “You lived many additional years and accomplished such remarkable things.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Jun-tak felt some of his sadness slip away at thought of all that he had done in his recent life.
“You stayed there quite a while, too, yet you had learned your lessons early on.”
“I guess I must have been enjoying myself.”
“It would seem so. You and a handful of others scattered about in the late Mesolithic period introduced agriculture to humankind. I think there are few better ways to learn about leadership than that.” Mung-Sarah squeezed his shoulder.
Jun-take felt a wave of profound bliss when the angel (or whatever he-she was) touched him. He remembered that had happened before in the In Between. He wondered, not for the first time, how such a being had come about.
How long did it seem to you?” he asked. “While I was living my last lifetime? Did it feel like the forty years it took me on Earth? Or was it just a blip to you? I know time isn’t linear, but I’m curious about how that part works. Does time in the In Between move at the same pace?”
Mung-Sarah laughed, the familiar tinkling wind-chime sound but deeper now that it came from Mung’s mouth.
“Hey, your teeth are perfect again.”
“That’s because my form is a projection from you and your memories. He was quite handsome, wasn’t he?”
Jun-tak nodded. “He was the most beautiful person in the world, even after he lost his front tooth. It wasn’t so much his physical body that I loved, but his spirit. He was as kind and as good-natured as he was pleasing to the eye. I miss him so much.”
“Perhaps you will see him again.”
“Does it work that way?”
“It can.”
“Is he here somewhere now? In the In Between?”
“I am not at liberty to say.”
“Why? Is that frowned upon, too?”
“Something like that.”
Jun-tak sighed. “Fine.”
Mung-Sarah smiled. “Do you think you achieved your goal? Did you learn about Courage and Bravery? Leadership? A strong Work Ethic?”
He pondered each part of the question for quite some time before answering. “Yes, I believe so, either through direct experience or observing in another.”
“Elaborate, please.”
“I learned Leadership through imagining innovative and vastly improved methods for the human lifestyle. I put those methods into effect myself, thus proving they would work and setting the example for others. It took several years for the crops to begin producing enough to feed the entire Family, and then another few years to convince everyone to live in one place year-round.”
“Extraordinary.”
Jun-tak smiled. “You know, even at the time, I knew I was doing something...revolutionary. Now that I’m back here in the In Between, I realize how profoundly the advent of agriculture and animal domestication impacted the human race. It was a monumental turning point in our evolution. I know I wasn’t the only one engaging in it, but I was one of the first. And I worked very hard every day, going without sleep and practically killing myself physically to get it done.”
“There’s the strong Work Ethic part.”
“Exactly.”
“What about Courage and Bravery?”
“That was learned through Zorv. That first winter, when the three of us were cozy and warm in the cave, Zorv lived nearby – outside – to help feed and protect us. He exposed himself to horrific weather conditions and lethal predators in doing so. I can’t think of a better personification of Cour
age and Bravery than him.”
“It seems you have learned what you set out to.”
“Yes,” Jun-tak said with an energetic nod.
Mung-Sarah was slowly shedding the parts that looked like Mung, while the Sarah elements returned more completely now. He thought he understood what that meant: he was leaving behind his most recent life and the object of his love to embark upon a new journey.
“What’s next then?” Sarah asked.
“The one I just got through was a big one. Maybe I’ll tackle something more modest.”
“But still important, as is everything on your list.”
“Of course. How about Creativity with a Bit of Humility Thrown in.”
“You think that’s a small one? Interesting. Do you have the framework in mind in which to conduct the lesson?”
“I do,” Jun-tak’s smile widened. “I just need your help on the setting.”
Chapter 4 – Creativity with a Bit of Humility Thrown in
Italy - 1465 CE
“Julietta, where have you been? I haven’t seen you in days.” The boy who spoke was short and skinny – practically malnourished, and not because there wasn’t enough food, but because he didn’t bother to eat as often as he should. There were always more interesting things to do than to fill one’s belly with substances which will exit via the nether regions smelling much worse than when they went in.
“I just saw you yesterday, Corto. Did you forget already?” Julietta stepped through the rickety gate and into a well-tended garden.
“Don’t call me that,” the boy replied, distracted as usual, scribbling on a scrap of paper.
“Why not? You’re short. It suits you.”
“So does my actual name.”
“You haven’t grown into that yet. Perhaps in a few years.” She smiled with affection at her friend. They had both turned thirteen the past week. Having the same birthday was one of the reasons they had become friends, but it wasn’t the main reason. Three years ago, she had taken pity on the oddball local boy and decided to befriend him, even when the other children derided her for it. Much to her surprise, she discovered him to be entertaining, intelligent, and loyal. She preferred his company above that of everyone else.
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