Spirit Walker by David Farland Page B

that signified her maidenhood around her hips as she snuggled against him. Her hair was scented with vanilla water; she smelled fresh and desirable.
    He could not detect any beer on her breath, perhaps because it was still so strong on his own. He sat up on one elbow, and his head spun. It should not be so hard to love, he thought. Even ignorant children can do it.
    He knew by Fava’s breathing that she was still awake, so he wrapped his arm around her to see what she would do, his clamshell bracelet rattling in the dark. She squeezed his hand and placed it on her stomach, drew figure eights on the back of his hand. The figure eight, two circles forever joined. It was more than a symbol of love, it was the Pwi symbol for marriage.
    Tull did not know if it was better to leave his hand and encourage her or to pull it away and deny his attraction. Among the Pwi, marriage was sacred. When a man and woman married, they mated for life, and the kwea became so strong that when one spouse died, unless there were children, the other mate stopped eating, stopped drinking, and followed his or her beloved to the grave.
    Only a heartless man would encourage a Pwi maiden to love him if he was not willing to return that love. Tull pulled his hand away.
    This of course is what had happened with Tull’s own father. Jenks was incapable of love, and Tull’s mother had becomed so bonded to him that she could not break away, even to save her own children.
    Somehow, Tull expected better from his mother. She should have been strong enough to leave the man.
    Fava sat up, very quietly, and turned to look into Tull’s eyes. She reached forward to trace the shape of his brows with gentle fingers. Her cool lips gently brushed his jaw..
    “Now you are truly Pwi,” she whispered. “One of The People. My people. Now you will find hathna, a woman who shares her soul with yours.”
    Tull stroked her cheek for a moment, wishing he could kiss her. Then he stopped and gently pushed her away, knowing how unfair it would be to entice her further.
    When Tull was a child, he heard the word love , but by the age of twelve he realized that he no longer believed in it. Having never felt loved by others, it was hard to feel for them in return.
    To him, love was an emotion that people only pretended to feel, or perhaps it was a common delusion held by many in the world.
    But in his twelfth summer, Tull’s parents had moved to Smilodon Bay, and he’d met Ayuvah’s family—a father who felt pain for his children and cried with them when they hurt; a mother who not only spoke of love but showed it in every small deed. Zhopila took great pains to cuddle with her children, to tend to their needs, and to encourage them to be the best people they could become.
    For the first time Tull had become convinced that there really was such a thing as love in the world. Some people felt it, at least.
    Like a tender forest plant that grows in feeble light, he searched inside himself for the ability to love another. He wasn’t sure yet if he could do it.
    Until tonight, Tull had always envied Ayuvah for his parents. But now Chaa was his father, and Ayuvah was his brother.
    Fava is right, he thought. Today, for the first time, I am Pwi . I am a person. I am family. For now, that is enough.
    He knew he could take Fava to wife, but for the moment, he contented himself with the simple feeling of belonging to a real family.

    Tull awoke late that night to the soft sounds of children breathing, and a queer thought came to him. Chaa had stayed outside after the ceremony, and Tull began to worry. He should have been home hours ago.
    The Neanderthal shaman was still weak from his Spirit Walk, and Tull wondered if he had fallen along the path.
    Tull imagined that Chaa could come home already, could have stepped over all the sleeping bodies in the dark, crept back to his bedroom with Zhopila, but that seemed unlikely.
    Tull had keen ears, and the slightest noise woke him from sleep. He