After the ceremony and before the evening feast, the main occupation of the day was trading livestock. Herders knew the dangers of inbreeding and were always keen to introduce fresh blood. They acquired new livestock at every Rite, especially bulls, rams and male pigs, generally exchanging them for their existing stock one for one. Herders from far away would go home with males from the Great Plain to improve their own stock.

Ani walked around with two other elders, Keff and Scagga, watching for signs of discord. Bargaining was normally good-natured, but it could turn nasty, and the elders had the job of keeping the peace.

Elders were loosely defined, and people joined and left the group without ceremony. Keff was recognised as a leader and called Keeper of the Flints, because he was in charge of the herder folk’s reserve of wealth, a stash of part-finished flints in a guarded building in the centre of Riverbend. Scagga belonged because he was the head of a large family and had a forceful personality – sometimes too forceful, for Ani’s taste. Ani herself was generally regarded as wise, though she would have described herself as sensible. She had siblings and cousins, all younger, kinfolk who might serve as elders when she died.

The elders ruled the herder community with a light touch. They had no means of enforcement, except that a person who defied the elders would suffer widespread disapproval, and that could be hard to live with. So their decisions were usually accepted.

Ani believed that the happiness of her children, and of potential grandchildren, depended on the prosperity and smooth running of the community, so her work as an elder was part of her duty to her family.

She had already been pregnant with Han when her fearless man, Olin, had been trampled to death by a cow, leaving her to raise three children alone. People had assumed she would find another man to share her burden and her bed: she had been still young, quite nice-looking, and well-liked all over the Great Plain. There were always plenty of single middle-aged men, because many women died in childbirth, but Ani had rejected all her suitors. After Olin, she could not love again. She pictured him now, striding across the plain, with his bushy blond beard, and the vision brought a tear to her eye. “I’m a one-man woman,” she sometimes said, “for me there is only one true love.”

She was pleased about Neen and Seft. He seemed a decent boy, kind-hearted, rough around the edges but smart enough to learn fast. And he was terribly good-looking, with high cheekbones and dark eyes and straight hair, almost black. I’ll be very glad if those two give me a grandchild, she thought.

She was not so easy in her mind about Joia. On the surface, Joia was happy with her family and friends, and amiable to others, but underneath she was restless and dissatisfied. She seemed to be searching for something without knowing what it was. Perhaps that was just adolescence.

Han was a cheerful boy, especially now that he had a dog. He liked Pia, but of course they were too young for romance. Childhood friendships did sometimes turn into adult love affairs, but not often, and Ani hoped it would not happen in this case: Pia was a farmer girl, and romance between farmers and herders often caused trouble.

Looking around, she again noticed the lack of farmer men with tattooed necks. Why had they stayed at home? What were they up to? She had asked several of the farmer women, casually, as if making small talk, but they seemed not to know.

Other than livestock, the goods traded were food, flint tools, leather, pottery, rope, and bows and arrows.

The herders benefited as hosts. Everyone else had to transport their goods, often over long distances. In recognition of this privilege, the herders provided a feast at the end of the day.

She spotted little Pia offering goat’s cheese, the soft new kind and the hard long-lasting type. Next to Pia was a woman who was probably her mother. Ani greeted Pia and said to the woman: “I’m Ani, Han’s mother. May the Sun God smile on you.”

“And on you,” said the woman. “I’m Yana. Thank you for feeding Pia and Stam yesterday.”

“Han enjoyed playing with Pia.” Ani did not mention sulky Stam.

“Pia loves Han.”

Pia looked embarrassed and said: “Mamma! I don’t love Han. I’m too young for love.”

“Of course,” said Yana.

Ani smiled.

Yana said: “Taste my cheese. No obligation.” She offered Ani a piece of soft white cheese on a leaf.

“Thank you.” The people of the Great Plain did not milk their cows because cows’ milk made them ill. But the farmers knew how to turn goat’s milk into cheese, and it was a delicacy. Ani ate it and said: “Very good. Would you like two pieces of leather big enough to make shoes?”

“Yes. You can have a large measure of cheese for that.”

“I’ll send someone with the leather.”

“Good.”

A boy messenger appeared and summoned the three elders to a dispute. He led them to where a potter was offering his wares. A disgruntled man was holding a large pot with water dripping from the bottom.

When the potter saw the three elders he immediately said: “He made a trade – he can’t go back on it!”

The man said: “The pot leaks!”

“It’s perfectly fine for keeping grain or wild turnips. I never said it was for water.”

Ani said to the potter: “What did you get for the pot?”

“Three arrows.” The potter showed her three arrows with sharp flint flakes embedded in their points.

The arrow-maker said: “They’re perfect.”

Ani noticed that the potter was a short, round man and the arrow-maker was tall and thin. They resembled the things they made. She had to suppress a smile.

She turned to the potter. “Did you tell him that the pot would not hold water?”

The potter looked guilty. “I might have. I don’t remember.”

The arrow-maker said: “You never told me. If you’d said it, I wouldn’t have given you three good arrows.”

Ani took Keff and Scagga aside for a consultation.

Scagga said: “That potter is a cheat. He was trying to get rid of a flawed piece of work. He’s dishonest.”

Keff said: “It’s bad for our reputation if people get away with trading second-rate goods.”

Ani agreed.

She turned to the potter and said: “You have to give back the arrows, and he’ll return the pot to you.”

“What if I refuse?”

“Then you might as well pack up your goods and go home, because no one will trade with you if you defy our ruling. People would think you were dishonest.”

Scagga put in: “And they’d be right!”

“Oh, all right,” said the potter. He handed back the arrows and accepted the pot.

Ani said: “If you want to trade that pot, tell people it’s not for fluids, and for that reason they can get it cheap.”

The potter grunted reluctant assent.

Ani was surprised to see Joia appear, looking ruffled. “Mother, you have to come,” she said. “And Keff and Scagga. Follow me, please – it’s urgent.”

Excerpted with permission from Circle of Days, Ken Follett, Quercus.

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