[50024 Years Ago/ Early Next Morning/ The Lake]
Heba had searched for Mike for hours in the moonlight but had seen no sign of him near or far from the Lake. When the moon had set at midnight and the land had been lost to darkness, she'd found her way back to the village using the dying embers of the bonfire as a guide. She'd grudgingly gone to her yurt but hadn't slept.
Now with the sun shining on the Lake and the village coming to life, she came out of her yurt and went quickly down to Stump Rock where Mike was the most likely to be, but again, she didn't find him.
"Where is he?" she said as she tried to sort out the feelings she was feeling for this man. She wanted to apologize to him, to explain things to him, to hug him though such a thing was forbidden. She also wanted to slap him silly for being so foolish as to believe she would ever marry Pult.
She yawned, then sat down in the shade of the rock, and said, "Where is he?"
Conn came racing by and despite her mood Heba laughed at the quick-moving and happy boy.
Dora soon came walking after him. She saw Heba sitting against Stump Rock. "Good morning, Heba," she said.
"Good morning, Dora. Do you know where Mike is?"
Dora frowned and said, "He's gone hunting."
"Hunting?" Heba said. "Mike doesn't hunt."
"He does now. He went to hunt a lion with Pult and his friends."
"But why?"
"To impress you."
"What?"
Dora shrugged. "It's just a guess, but Mike believes that you like hunters, so he's going to hunt."
"But I don't like hunters," Heba said, "I mean, at least I don't like Pult."
Dora laughed and clapped. "Yes, you made that very obvious. I loved it. Anything to take that smug smile off Pult's face is always welcome."
"I didn't mean to do that," Heba said. "I just couldn't believe he'd tricked me like that."
"So you really didn't know what the red necklace was for?"
"No, we didn't have that in my tribe. If a man asked a woman to marry, we made a garland of sycamore leaves for her if the answer was yes."
"I see. But I don't think Mike knows what you did. I saw him run off before you threw the necklace in the fire. I doubt any of the hunters will tell him when they're out on the plain."
"When did he leave?"
"At dawn. He's too far away for you to reach him, I'm afraid."
Conn gave a cry and Dora waved to him and began moving on. "Once he gets back, you should talk to him."
"I will," Heba said, "if he'll let me."
Heba yawned again and despite her concerns exhaustion overtook her. She settled back against the rock and soon she fell asleep.