The First Jumper (first draft version)

The First Jumper 18: First March

Crossing the river was always difficult, but this year, it was harder than usual.  

It was right at the beginning of their journey, so they carried all their supplies with them.  When they had been traveling for a few days or weeks, they would be carrying much less, but they had been camped in this area for four moons, and they had many things to carry with them.  Some of them would serve as trade goods, and some of them, such as Raccoon’s medicines, they could not find anywhere else, and so had to bring their supply with them.

Cave Bear and Tiger had no trouble crossing.  Raccoon had his heavy bag of supplies, which he did not want to get wet.  He had to swim in the swift water, holding a heavy bag up and keeping it dry.  He managed it, but it was exhausting.

Little Bear nearly drowned, before he learned how to make his body swim.  His human side knew how to do it, but he was still very clumsy, and he barely made it across before being swept into the rapids.  Once any swimmer got into the top of the rapids, they would be unlikely to get out before being bashed against rocks in the rapids, and swept over the top of the waterfall.

Willow’s job was nearly as difficult.  She was an excellent swimmer, but she was determined to bring the “rabbit god” with her, as it was still unconscious.  It woke up about halfway across, and jumped out of her arms, giving her a couple of good scratches when it did.  It swam around in a circle a couple of times, before swimming in the same direction as her, getting out just above the rapids.  Then it shook itself, and ran off into the forest to the South.

This late in the season, there was more water in the river than usual, which made the crossing harder, but the water was also very cold, making the body very stiff before the other side was reached.

They didn’t lose anyone in the crossing, this year, which was only true about half the time.  

Once everyone was out, and their loads distributed, they began running again, with the slow, loping gait that they could keep up all day.  Adults swapped burdens and infants, very small children got to spend part of the time riding, and small-to-medium children had the hardest time of all, for they were not allowed to ride at all, and they had to keep up with the adults.

Cave Bear called both halts to rest and slows, which helped.  The rest breaks were very short, but walking at a brisk pace helped allow all but the most frail to catch their breath.

Little Bear still had trouble with the running, but he was managing to keep up.  He was still very weak from his convalescence, but he could make it, although he was one of the slowest in the tribe.  Raccoon and Willow ran with him.

Little Bear had a lot to think about.  He had not understood himself, truly, as something other than human until he saw his ship.  Only then did he realize that he himself was the monster he had confronted and made a connection with.  Somehow, he was still Little Bear, but he was also Gerleesh.

As he ran, he remembered growing up in the tribe.  He remembered playing with Tiger and Camel, and he remembered his first trip to Moon Rock and the Cave of Flying, with his father.

He also remembered Tarshen, and moving with stately grace on four legs.  As he did, however, his two legs got tangled up, and he landed in a heap, nearly spearing himself with his own knife.

Willow helped him back to his feet, and he concentrated on the motion of running for a while, until he was comfortable with keeping it going, even when he was thinking about other things.  It seemed trying to think about his Tarshen memories tended to make his body want to act according to Tarshen physiology, which just didn’t work.

When he was finally to the point at which he could think while running, he started piecing together some of his experiences, from a Tarshen point of view.