The enraged tiger, with the spear still embedded in its eye, lunged forward and chased after the two children. Kyma slid skillfully across the icy ground, pulling Befal behind her. Bewildered and motionless, like a leaf severed from a tree, Befal was tossed in every direction with each of Kyma’s movements. In its pursuit, the tiger reached the edge of the frozen sea. Seeing no other way out,Kyma leaped onto a drifting piece of melting ice and pushed away from the shore with her spear. The tiger roared from a distance and retreated toward the village. The cries of the Anarikaians and the tiger’s roar echoed through the silence of the plain.

  The sun had reached its lowest pointand the two children sat upon the ice floe. The melting ice filled Kyma with anxiety. She turned to Befal, who lay motionless on his side, watching the last rays of sunlight shimmering on the water, and said: "By the moons… get up! We are about to become food for the Hisham. Find something we can use to reach the shore!" Befal remained still and did not answer. The girl screamed: "Am I not talking to you?! What a waste that Atnabecame the tiger’s meal for a weak creature like you. If she hadn't asked me, I would have let those two boys finish you off, let alone save you from the tiger's jaws!"

  Befal rose in anger and shouted: "What business was it of yours? Icould have saved Atna! Why did you stop me?!" Kyma looked at him in disbelief, sneered, and said: "You? You can’t even stop yourself from being beaten. The tiger? Saving her? You were a weak child from the start. If it wasn't for Atna’s pointless pity, they would have fed you to the Hisham in your first year, you wretch!" These words enraged Befalso much that he lunged at Kyma. The struggle broke the balance of the ice, and both tumbled into the water. As powerful and agile as Anarikaians were on land, they were like finless fish in the water, their thick fur dragging them down like a heavy blanket. The two children thrashed about, but the more they struggled, the deeper they sank. Just as despair took hold of Kyma and she surrendered to her fate, Befal thrust a piece of wood toward her and pulled her onto a piece of ice he had reached during the struggle. Now both lay on their backs on the ice, breathing a sigh of relief. Shortly after, Befal spotted a shore nearby, and using the wood he had found, they moved toward it, finally reaching the land of Anarika—though kilometers away from their tribe and home. In the whiteness of the plain and the blackness of the wheat, a vast, empty expanse stretched as far as the eye could see, with black cranes perched quietly on the tall stalks of wheat. Kyma and Befal looked at each other; both knew this was the beginning of a great adventure.

  A gentle breeze touched the buds, and the swaying dance of the wheat was like the movements of a playful woman in a meadow. The two children lay on their backs among the wheat, facing the sky, sinking their wet bodies deeper into the lush grass. Kyma stood up and said: "This won’t do… we will freeze soon. We’ll get colder before the sun rises. Get up… we must find shelter." The boy, exhausted and frail from the cold, pleaded: "Let’s stay just a few more breaths!" The girl shouted: "Until we die? We must look for a place. Hurry!" She set off. The boy followed, limping behind. The dim sun moved toward the middle of the sky from the east, exactly opposite where it had set in the west minutes before—a promise of a new day. A new day in the icy land of Anarika! In the distance, the circular huts of the Anarikaians appeared. Kyma shouted: "Befal, we are saved! The village is right there, hurry!" She ran nimbly toward the village, crying out: "Atna… Ayma… we have returned! By the moons, we have returned!"

  Befal followed, stumbling after her, when suddenly Kyma froze in her tracks. Befal shouted in confusion: "Why did you stop? Hurry! My heart aches for home…" He had barely taken a few steps forward when he realized. This was not the village they knew. The doors of the huts were closed, and large gashes were torn into their roofs. Befal looked at Kyma in shock and asked: "Where is this? What happened to them?" Kyma walked slowly toward one of the huts. The door was still closed, but the roof had been ripped open by sharp claws. Kyma whispered: "The bears…" Befal asked: "What do you mean? What did the bears do?" Kyma continued: "They tore the huts before the awakening… these are bear claw marks. I heard of this from Ayma… there is a race between our awakening and the bears; whoever wakes first feeds on the other." Befal looked at the huts in horror; every single one was destroyed and torn. If one looked closely, blood spatters could be seen on the huts. Both children avoided looking at each other, fearing their eyes would betray their terror. Kyma said: "Let’s find a hut that is less damaged; we need to rest." After searching, they found a hut with a smaller gap in the roof and decided to open the door. With great effort, they managed to move the door, and it opened with a thunderous sound. As they entered, both children stopped in their tracks. Mangled corpses, severed limbs, and blood splattered everywhere filled the hut. Kyma said: "Do you smell it, Befal? This is the smell of death. The Moon of Death has visited this place. Help me gather the bodies and take them outside." It took several hours to clean and empty the hut. Seeing all those slaughtered bodies and the corpses of infants crushed Befal’s small heart. But Kyma seemed calm. Befal asked: "What shall we do with the bodies?" Kyma replied: "We will hold a Saman for them so they can return to the moons." Befal thought for a moment and asked: "What about the other huts?" Kyma said firmly: "We will go to them too, but not now… we better rest." They returned to the hut. Kyma and Befal had wiped away the traces of blood and flesh as best they could. Inside the walls, the heat-giving fireflies still lived, warming the interior. Both children leaned against the walls to absorb the warmth and drifted into a quiet sleep.

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  Gathering the corpses and cleaning the huts was no easy task; it lasted ten days. The blood and flesh of Anarikaians were sacred, crafted from the dust of the moons. The two children gathered the remains and placed them by the sea. They smeared mud and clay over the bloody walls so the sacred blood would return to the earth. On the eleventh day, Kyma performed the Saman. From what she had learned, she gathered a few heat-giving fireflies and sang the farewell song with Befal. Each took a piece of a canine tooth. But she found no ice floe. They looked at the massive pile of corpses stacked upon one another. Befal said: "We cannot throw them into the water one by one! There are too many." Kyma replied: "Let’s dig around them so the water surrounds the bodies. Perhaps the Hisham will come to take them himself." They dug around the corpses and returned to the hut, exhausted and hungry. Kyma leaned against the wall and whispered: "We must think of food. Maybe I can hunt a few cranes." Befal, lying on the floor staring at the ceiling, said: "I wish Atna were here; she always knew what to do." Kyma did not answer, staring at the torn roof and the moons. Befal asked hesitantly: "Do you think anyone in our tribe…" He swallowed his words. Kyma replied: "They are alive. Atna and Ayma won’t abandon us. They must be looking for us." Befal said: "What if they are like this tribe…" Kyma shouted: "They are alive!" and a sob shook her throat. It was Befal who broke the silence: "Why did you say Atna asked you to protect me?" Kyma said: "Do you remember the day you went to see Jozma? Your legs were shaking. I laughed and told Atna, 'Shouldn't we just feed him to the Hisham?' That was when she asked me to watch over you. My dear Atna was the greatest protector. Oh, it hurts my throat to remember her." Silence fell between them again, both drowned in their thoughts, when the howl and roar of a tiger was heard. Befal jumped up in terror. Kyma rushed to the half-open door and peered out. The sound came from the shore. The two children crept on their fingertips to the back of a hut near the beach and shivered at what they saw. The scent of the piled flesh and blood had drawn three large tigers—a mother and her two cubs—who were dragging the corpses away. Kyma made a move to defend the bodies, but Befal grabbed her hand and said: "There is nothing we can do. Remember what Jozma used to say… one must not fight the Moon of Fate. We must go; the tigers will find us soon." Kyma looked at Befal with hesitation. Befal pleaded: "We must return to the tribe; they are waiting for us there." Both children turned their backs on the tigers and moved in the opposite direction across the plain.

  When the roar of the tigers could no longer be heard, it meant they could rest for a moment. Kyma and Befal sat on the grass and, for the first time, looked around. There was only a vast plain of grass and ice—no black wheat, no cranes. As far as the eye could reach, there were only frozen grasses and half-melted snow. Befal said: "Where are we?" Kyma replied: "It doesn't matter where we are; what matters is how we find food and shelter." She stood up and looked around carefully. Then she said: "For now, we go in the opposite direction of the tigers until we find a place, and maybe something to eat." Exhausted and hungry, Befal followed her. Two days of walking across the plains had left them utterly weakened when the plains ended and they saw a white mountain before them. Kyma said in terror: "But the mountains are so far from us… Befal, we are so far from the village." She collapsed to the ground. Befal, stunned and confused, said: "Kyma, we are going to die… we will never see the Atnas and Aymas again." Both leaned against a rock, and Befal quietly rested his head on Kyma’s shoulder. The heaviness of their eyes signaled the failure of their strength. Kyma rested her head on Befal’s and said: "Forgive me, my dear Atna… I could not protect Befal. The Moon of Fate has shone upon me, and I can do nothing but surrender."

  When Befal opened his eyes, he found himself in a hut. He thought to himself that all these events must have been a nightmare, and a large smile spread across his face. He jumped up and stumbled toward the door, shouting: "Atna! My dear Atna, I had a bad dream!" A young man answered: "What dream did you have, my dear child?" Befal was taken aback by the sight of the man and said: "Who are you? Where is Atna?" Kyma approached Befal from behind the man and said: "Oh, you’re finally awake! We were so worried." Befal asked: "What happened? Where is this? Who are these people?" Kyma replied: "When we lost consciousness, this tribe found us and brought us here. They gave us fresh blood and meat, but you were very weak and have been asleep for more than seven days." Befal looked around and saw a massive mountain to his right. A woman approached him and leaned down to look at his face closely. Befal angrily pushed the woman back and moved away from her. Kyma shouted: "What are you doing? Why do you treat Ayma like this?" Befal said: "But she is not our Ayma… we must go back to our own tribe." The sound of Befal’s shouting drew others toward them. A hand rested on Befal’s shoulder. He turned at the weight of the hand and saw an elderly, powerful man. The man said with authority: "Do not shout, boy… this is your tribe. All children of Anarika belong to the tribe. Look at the faces of the Atnas and Aymas… see how you frightened your brothers and sisters? Are you not an Anarikaian?" Kyma pulled Befal’s hand and said: "Father Jozma, forgive him; he has just woken up." She dragged Befal away with her to one side.