'Did you not clean her when she wetted?'

'Well...I...I...did not know I...I had to..' Kemujin stuttered. Yua was speaking calmly, but he knew she was upset. And worried. Not only had he brought a strange child into their home, but he had carried a girl through the door. A girl with foreign blood. They both knew what it meant. The elders would take it to the forest. Or maybe the river. There was simply no place for an outsider amongst all the Jeong tribes, unless it could be a warrior. That was the way it had been for as long as any one could remember. But still it never had crossed Kemujin's mind, ever since he had picked it up at the creek, that the child could be a girl. Rocking the bundle in her arms Yua was walking in circles. Kemujin knew he had to hold his tongue. He sensed that Yua was hatching a plan as she was pacing round after round. Best not to interfere with her mind.

He had hoped for a warm welcome after all this time and had imagined how she would rub his feet, while he would be munching on her succulent mutton stew. The fire site would exude a warm glow and they would settle for their bed with a full stomach and light heads. But nothing like it. He was still stuck in his boots and his mud crusted fingerswere clamped around a mug of cold water. His eyes timidly followed her steps.

'We will call her Jun!' Yua declared, stopping in her tracks.

'But...that is a boy's name!'

'Exactly!'

'You...you want to raise her as a...a...?' Kemujin stuttered incredulously. She looked at him and he was silenced. That was the way it was. Fate had given them a girl that would be a boy. Their child. Kemujin was not even beginning to grasp the scope of things, but there were no two ways about it. The path was decided. It was decided the moment he found the child some seven days before. And even if I knew – Kemujin thought to himself – that it was a girl, how could I have left it there?

'Jun?...hmmm?...it is a good name!' he mulled as he sat down on the stool next to the fire.

'But what about the elders?'

'There will be a gathering in five nights' time.'

'Why? I thought there was one last red moon?'

The girl had fallen asleep, so Yua put her onto the rug and pulled a blanket up to her chin, gently tucking her in.

'...Yes...but you know...Sanga was pregnant. She had a boy last week...'

'Oh..that's great....but why the gathering?'

Yua stood in silence for a moment, then she turned to him.

'The boy was born blind!'

A chill was running down Kemujin's spine. It was custom in his tribe, but he just could not get used to this cruel practice. No matter how often he had heard or even seen it: the thought of a new born child – even if born blind and deaf - cast away and left in the forest disgusted him. At times like this he loathed the arrogance of the elders and their old ways. He stared into the fire.

'...But...what will you do at the gathering...?'

Yua kneeled down and took Kemujin's hands.

'I will weave their fates...at least I will try!' she calmly said as she was rubbing the mud-crust off the skin.

The ritual was almost forgotten, but Kemujin had heard Yua talking about it before. It was a slim chance. Half a chance. But sometimes you pierce two fish with one arrow, he thought. And if there was one woman who could persuade the elders, it was her. Her visions held some weight in the tribe for she was one of the three moon-women. It was running in her blood. And her mother's before her.

'Weave their fates...' he brooded '...hmmm...'

But Yua swiftly stood up.

'Are you hungry?'

'...Starving!' he laughed. A sense of gratitude flushed through his veins. He was lucky, that she had chosen him. A horse-shepherd from the plains.

'Then maybe a mutton stew would be a good idea...hmm?'