The Participants by Brian Blose Page A

water
that the moon affects it.”
    Hess laughed. “Is that what the people told
you?”
    “No,” she said. “I reasoned it myself. The
moon pulls on water like the ground pulls on us.”
    “I never saw the moon pull the water.”
    “Because you never move somewhere new.”
    “I have been all over the world. The place
where I was born became so cold that water turned hard and fell to
the ground. No one around here has ever heard of such a thing.”
    “I've heard about snow. But it's not real.
The tides are.”
    Hess laughed. “Walk north as far as you can,
Elza. When the first snow comes, you will know that I've traveled
more than you ever claimed.”
    “And you can try finding the end of the
world,” Elza said.
    “Walk north, Elza. You lose nothing if I am
wrong.”
    She stumbled when stepping from one rock to
another and landed in the stream. Hess sighed. “We might as well
return to camp. The men will think I've gone simple-minded. First I
trade Dalana for you and now I fail at hunting.”
    Elza ignored his hand and extracted herself
from the stream. “You spend too much time learning skills. You
should be observing.”
    “Let's get you back to the tent.”
    “Your tent is too fancy. It draws attention
to you,” she said.
    “You'll wish you had a tent like mine when
you learn that snow is real.”
    They trudged through the
woods back the way they had come. The fact that Hess returned
without success did draw attention. Of
course he's the best hunter of the tribe. He probably makes the
best rope, too! The only thing he can't do right is the one thing
he should be doing.
    Before they reached their tent, one of the
men, Chase, called out to them. “Are you afraid to hurt a deer now,
Hess? I think your man parts fell off when you got your new
woman!”
    This is the first time a
man other than Kallig has insulted Hess since I've been here. Chase
is announcing his intentions. Elza glanced
to Hess, curious how he would react. Hess shook his head. “The
challenge will come today or tomorrow,” he whispered.
    Inside the tent, Elza wrapped herself in the
bedding while Hess hung her pants to dry. “Why do you care if
someone challenges Kallig?” Her question grew in volume with every
word. “That man is a monster! He deserves to die the same as his
victims!”
    “I know!” Hess turned his back to her. “I .
. . took care of Kallig for a year when he was just a child, until
his uncle took offense at an outsider raising his blood.”
    “Why ?”
    “He was a child, Elza.”
    “Children learn from the
people who raise them!” Though Hess didn't
make much of an impact on Kallig. Still, this guilt should be
exploited.
    “You know the part that bothers me? I made
things worse. Kallig murdered his uncle and became the most brutal
leader in the history of the tribe.”
    Elza collapsed back into her covers. “For a
moment there, I thought there might be hope for you.”
    He forced a laugh. “If there's one thing I
know for sure, it's that the two of us will never agree on
anything.”
    “You're not one of them. They're not even
real, Hess.”
    “Real enough.” Hess settled into his
blankets, face away from her.
    They didn't speak again until the following
morning. Elza woke hungry from missing dinner and shook him awake.
“I want breakfast,” she said.
    “My woman used to bring me breakfast. Now I
bring my woman breakfast.”
    “I'm not your woman. I'm an Observer.”
    “By the tradition of the tribe, you're my
woman.”
    “I am not your woman.”
    “I'm pretty sure you are.”
    “I want breakfast.”
    “You know where the fires are.”
    “I'm not going out there by myself.”
    Hess smiled without opening his eyes. “Never
thought you'd admit that.”
    “If I presented a convenient target now it
would be interfering,” she said.
    “Well, we can't let that happen.” Hess
rolled out of his cocoon of furs. The camp was eerily silent for
midmorning as they walked to the fires. None of the men had