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end.”
    â€œWe know what the pole symbolizes,” Shannivar said.
    â€œAny man who wants her follows,” Kendira went on, grinning. “Of course, she has a whip to fend them off. So only the one
she
wants will catch her. That man must steal her hat and place it on the pole.”
    â€œOoohh,” Shannivar groaned appreciatively.
    â€œWhat if—what if she wants none of them?” Mirrimal asked.
    Kendira shrugged. “Then I suppose she must reach the pole first and place the hat there herself.”
    In the awkward silence that followed, Shannivar said, “I cannot believe a man so foolish as to live within a stone dwelling would be able to catch
any
Azkhantian woman.”
    The three friends laughed heartily at the follies of the stone-dwellers. How strange it must be, Shannivar thought, to live in only one place, a place she had not made with her own hands. The love of her friends, her kin, indeed, her whole clan would be woven into the lattice of her
jort
and the layers of felt. Wherever she went, their memories would sustain her.
    Watching Mirrimal and Kendira bind the flexible laths, lulled by the music of their voices, she felt something pull at her heart, an unexpected heaviness like the first intimation of farewell.

Chapter 6
    S HANNIVAR and her friends returned to the
dharlak
three days later with the completed lattice tied to the camel’s back. The she-camel, true to the capricious nature of her kind, turned surly the last few miles. The beast spat at the horses and tried to kick Kendira.
    Shannivar, who had been riding ahead, halted Radu and twisted in the saddle to watch. The camel lifted nose to the sky, baring long, orange-streaked teeth.
    â€œWretched beast!” Kendira snapped. The last few miles, she had been massaging her low back and leaning heavily on the saddle pommel.
    â€œGray-ears is usually sweet-tempered. For a camel, that is. Something troubles her.” Instead of beating the camel with a stick, as any man would do, Mirrimal slipped from the saddle. Rumbling noises came from the camel’s throat, though she made no attempt to either spit or bite as Mirrimal drew closer. Crooning, Mirrimal stroked the camel along its narrow, bony chest. The rumbling softened into a sigh.
    Shannivar watched in admiration. “I don’t know how you do that.”
    â€œIt’s not all that different from your way with horses.”
    â€œBetter horses than camels!”
    â€œOn the other hand,
I
prefer camels to babies.” Mirrimal cast a sidelong glance at Kendira.
    Sniffing, Kendira tucked a stray tendril of hair back under her head scarf and pretended not to notice.
    Mirrimal gave the camel a last pat and returned to her horse. Clucking encouragement, she shortened the camel’s lead line. For a moment, it looked as if the camel might resist, but the beast, although reluctant, was resigned and took one swaying step after another.
    Ahead lay the
dharlak
, peaceful and tidy. Children laughed as they splashed in the lake. Horses and sheep grazed on the slopes, unconcerned by their approach. Curls of smoke, easily recognizable as cookfires, rose here and there. In the direction of the
enaree’s jort
, however, Shannivar thought she saw a cloud like greasy smoke that refused to dissipate.
    At the edge of the encampment itself, the camel’s cooperation came to an end. The beast dug her forefeet into the dirt and whipped her head around in unmistakable threat. Mirrimal would not force the camel to go any further, so the women were obliged to unload the
jort
lattice and baggage, and carry them into the
dharlak
. Kendira protested, but not too much, when Shannivar and Mirrimal lifted the lattice between them.
    â€œYou have other duties to attend to,” Shannivar insisted, seeing that Kendira was near the end of her strength. “Go now, for if your husband is not sufficiently impatient for your return, then surely your mother-in-law must be! You