[50024 Years Ago/ The Lake]
Heba found Dugg far down the western shore. He stood upon one of the tilted granite slabs and was ripping up stalks of reeds and throwing them out into the water as he spoke to himself with great anger.
Heba couldn't hear what he was saying as she came up the trail, but she could guess.
"What do you do so far from the village?" she said from the reeds. She leaned out so Dugg could see her in the moonlight.
He was surprised by Heba's appearance but then his features became penitent. "I just needed to get away."
Heba came to stand on a granite slab nearby. "You can leave the village," she said, "but I don't think you can get away from what's bothering you."
Dugg looked at Heba as if he were hanging from a cliff and seeing someone there to save him. He covered this look and said, "I'm fine."
"Then why are you tearing up reeds in the dark, rather than sitting at the fire with your friends?"
Dugg tore up another reed but held it, looking at it.
"What happened out there, Dugg?"
Dugg stared at the reed.
"Did Mike make a mistake like Pult said?"
Dugg didn't move.
Heba turned to look at Mike's yurt, just visible in the firelight. "Mike has already forgiven you," she said.
Dugg gasped out and dropped the reed.
Heba could see he was crying, though trying to keep from making any sound. Heba watched and waited.
"Do you really think he has?" Dugg said, at last.
"Yes, I do. And I'm a seer, so I know. And you know how Mike is. He's not one to hold a grudge even for something like this." Heba smiled realizing she was beginning to understand Mike and his strange ways.
"But he should hold a grudge," Dugg said. "He should be angry with all of us."
"I'm angry at all of you," Heba said. "You claimed Mike was dead and that his foolishness caused his death, and then when he comes back, you hunters have nothing to say but jokes. Jokes? That's what Mike deserves?"
"No, he doesn't deserve that."
"You're right. He deserves the truth. What's the truth, Dugg?"
Dugg looked at Heba. He breathed in deeply, then breathed out, and then he began to tell what really happened out on the plain.
When Dugg had finished, Heba didn't know what to say. She stood on the rock and looked to the Lake and blinked at tears. She was incredibly angry, but the tears were the only sign of her anger.
She looked to Dugg who had stood waiting for her to say something—anything—in response to his story.
"No one tried to help Mike after he saved you all?" Heba said.
"Pult said we shouldn't. That other lion was out there."
"The one he said would be so easy to kill."
Dugg looked down and nodded.
"Then you didn't even have the decency to say that Mike saved your lives. You let him deal with that lion alone and then you made him out to be a fool."
Dugg nodded again.
Heba wanted so much to go back to the bonfire and tell everyone the true story. She wanted so much to wag her finger in Pult's face and tell him exactly what she thought of him. But then she thought of Mike and what he would want her to do.
"Do you want an end to your guilt?" she said.
"Yes," Dugg said, "but if I tell the real story, then Pult won't let me be a hunter."
"It's worse than that. My guess is if you tell the truth, then Pult and his friends will feel so ashamed that they'll leave the tribe and go find another to join."
"Would they?"
"Yes, but only after they killed you."
Dugg saw the truth in this. "What should I do?" he said.
"You must do what Mike would want. He'd want you to keep that story to yourself."
"Why would he want that?"
"Because we need Pult and the other young hunters. Our tribe can't survive without them. Mike would never put his own concerns over those of the tribe, and you can't either."
"He wouldn't, I know that," Dugg said, "but to make it up to him, I'll stop being a hunter." He chuckled. "Maybe Mike can teach me to become a fisherman with his funny stick."
"No," Heba said. "He'll need you to be a hunter. He'll need you to become the best hunter you can be."
"Why?"
"I don't know." Heba set a hand on her abdomen, "but I have a feeling you may save his life one day, as he saved yours. Twice. So, you will learn how to hunt from Pult. He's a jerk and a liar, but he's also our best hunter. He'll train you well and so will the others."
"I'll have to pretend like I'm one of them," Dugg said, showing his distaste.
"Just pretend," Heba said. "And if you do that, and become a great hunter, then you may be given the chance to help Mike when he needs it most, and you'll have the skill to help him. Then your guilt can be assuaged."
Dugg looked to Heba and smiled wide. "I'll do it," he said. "And when Mike needs me, I'll be ready.