"I don't suppose they had brought any food back with them," I noted.
"Oh, no." Ka'eeneh smiled thinly. "My brother made some joke about my roots having to content themselves with common fire. I replied that this fire, at least, would leave something for us to eat. He reached out and smacked me, as he had never before dared to do in my father's presence. Father did nothing, seemed not to notice. Mother scolded my brother for the blow, to which he replied loftily that he didn't have to listen to her anymore because now he was a man and the Sacred One spoke to him. I saw, though I hope Mother did not, the fleeting look of nasty pride on my father's face. In that moment, I despised him."
"So would I," I said, wondering what sort of mother this 'father' had, that she would let him grow up wit
