Ayessa dropped her spear as the sharp rap of wood crossed her knuckles.

She shook her hand and glared at Makaro. "That stung."

Makaro ginned at her. The same grin he had had as a boy. "Good."

Annoyed, she sprang forward and grabbed for his spear. Startled, he tried to wrench it out of her hands, and stumbled off balance when she suddenly let go again. She used the opportunity to hook her foot behind his legs and sweep him off his feet.

He tumbled into the newly thawed mud, landing on his backside with a splat.

It was Ayessa's turn to grin, but she barely had time to gloat.

With a flick of his wrist, he spun the spear and brought it around behind her, knocking her of her own feet and into the mud with him. The water, having been snow only a few days past, was icy cold, and it made her gasp.

Makaro chuckled. "Not so clever now, eh, Chieftain's daughter."

She clicked her tongue and flung a glob of mud at him. He tried to fend it off with his spear, but the mud struck him right below the eye.

Tossing his spear, aside, he thrust both hands into the mud and scooped up a handful in each. Ayessa tried to roll to her feet to escape him, but he was too quick, grabbing her ankle with one hand and pulling her back down where he smeared the remaining handful on her head. Laughing, she brought up her own handful of mud and pushed it into his other cheek.

They were close now, their breath almost mingling and something in Makaro's eyes changed. They became more serious and the hand that had been grappling her, was now still, resting on her thigh. In that moment, all she could see were his eyes and all she could feel was his hand, radiating warmth up through her core and into a secret center that only came alive around him. Then he looked away and removed his hand, suddenly embarrassed. He rolled to his feet and when he turned to face her, his smile was back as it was before, as if the moment before had never happened.

Confused, Ayessa got to her own feet and tried to return the smile. It felt brittle, like ice over snow-covered fields.

It was not the first time such a moment had passed between them, but always, as quick as it came, Makaro would dust it off and send it back. She wondered what would happen if he didn't. The thought frightened her as much as it excited her. He was her closest friend, but in those moments he became something else.

"Perhaps you two would like to find a tent?" a voice interrupted.

Ayessa blushed and looked up to meet Obu's gaze, before looking away again. Obu was not without mirth, when met around the fire at night, but during the day, in the field, or on the hunt, he demanded a certain gravity. Beside her, Makaro shifted his feet.

"No?" Obu said when neither of them spoke. "Good. We will continue. But not together I think. Oyeka, come, work with Makaro. Ayessa, go to Eshemwa."

Ayessa grimaced as she bent to retrieve her spear. It would not even be a lesson with Eshemwa, it would be a drubbing. Obu knew that, that's why he was sending her to him. It was a different kind of lesson.

Eshemwa stood waiting for her, not far off, spear held almost casually in one hand, the butt grounded in the mud. He would be easy to dismiss as indolent if not for his eyes. Hard, angry eyes. He watched her approach, flicking his gaze from head to toe. She was like a rabbit who had walked into a wolf's den. She fought the urge to swallow.

Clutching the spear in her hand, she barely had time to take the first form when he struck. She only just got her spear up in time to block the blow, wood vibrating beneath her fingers from the impact. He struck again, and again, and each time, her reactions were slower until finally he clipped her on the shoulder, sending her sprawling back into the mud. He pushed the butt of his spear into her chest.

"Pay more attention here," he said, lifting the spear and lightly tapping her on the side of the head, "and less here." This time, he slapped the shaft against her hip.

His words embarrassed her, but they also made her angry. She opened her mouth to respond, but he had already turned his back, dismissing her.

"Umeke," he called out, striding away. "Take over."

Ayessa tried to scrape the mud off her skin with her fingernails. It had dried and cracked and now it itched. Up ahead, through the trees, she could see Tebia, the thick, twisted ropes of her hair pulled back over her shoulder as she knelt at the edge of the woods, her fingers searching for mushrooms beneath not yet budded trees.

Full-figured and plump where Ayessa was hard and lean, she was a flower in full bloom to Ayessa's bare winter branches.

"If I look half as bad as you, it will be a wonder if they let us back in camp at all," Makaro said, catching up to her and walking alongside.

She turned her eyes to him and looked him up and down. It was clear he had tried to wash off the mud, but it had only left streaks painted across his dark skin.

"Me, they have to let back in," she said. "You are still new, newcomer."

He laughed and plucked an early flower off a nearby shrub. "We have seen the snows turn to flower six times now. Is that not enough time to be one of you?"

"There will never be a time when you are not the newcomer, newcomer." She said it as a jest, but they both knew there was truth in it too.

He twirled the small white flower between his thumb and forefinger as he thought.

"When I am a great hunter," he started, "greater than Eshemwa-"

Ayessa snorted. "Eshemwa was the greatest hunter by his seventeenth winter. Will you beat that by winter next?"

Makaro made a noise at the back of his throat that may have been disgust. "Eshemwa does not know how to have fun-"

"That is why he is a great hunter," she interrupted him again.

He ignored her. "I will beat him, maybe not by the time the snows fall again, but one day, I will beat him."

He grinned then, and with a wink in her direction he hurried toward the edge of the wood. "And I will do it while still having fun."

Tebia gave a start as Makaro came out of the woods, but her full lips softened into a smile when he bent to give her the small flower.

He murmured something in her ear, too low for Ayessa to hear as she came out behind him, but it was enough to make Tebia blush and bury her face in the flower.

Something hot and ugly formed inside Ayessa and she struggled to push it down. Would Makaro invite Tebia to his tent? Should it matter to her if he did? Did she have that right?

Tebia smiled at her and Ayessa forced a smile back. There was an empty pit where her stomach had been.

Mumbling an excuse to Tebia, she brushed past Makaro and made her way across a small stream and towards another band of trees that blocked the view of their current camp. She brushed an angry tear from her cheek and willed the rest not to fall.

He caught up with her halfway through the copse.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" he asked.

When she didn't answer he grabbed her by the shoulder, turning her to face him.

"Are you angry with me?"

"No," she lied.

She turned her head away from him as another tear fell.

Gently, he turned her face back to his, then brushed the tear away with his thumb. He hesitated, then leaned in and brushed his lips to hers. She was so startled, she hardly had time to react before he pulled away. He let his hand drop, then without another word, strode away, leaving her standing amongst the barren trees, more confused than she had been before.