27
I have become a man and, as far as I know, my father still lives. As the custom demands of a son whose father is still alive, I keep my face shorn of a beard. I would like to take a wife, but the servant girls who work in the houses avoid me. I hear them talk about my dark skin and lidded eyes and for the first time in a long time, I long for the companionship of my clan’s people.
As the snow begins to melt, Misha and Klim return from their journey. They come back weary, wounded, and short several of the men with whom they started. I suspect there has been a hard-fought battle, but it is difficult to determine who is the winner since the stories I hear in the stables and marketplace conflict.
Klim returns to his family and home, but a darkness surrounds him. Gone is the easy way in w
