After dinner on a clear autumnal night, we were sitting outside round the fire. It was warm enough for that and HoPa thought it would be the last day warm enough for it until the Twilight Days.

  Mother got up and stretched, then walked to our door. Turning back to LoPa, she said, “Get rid of the kids.”

  LoPa and HoPa turned to one another grinning like maniacs. HoPa moved me from his lap to the ground and patted my head and walked past me, following my mother inside. They giggled like children in the darkness of our home. LoPa crouched in front of us, “We’re going to be busy for a while. Don’t wander too far but don’t come inside either. We’ll, uh—we’ll come get you.” With that, he ran inside after them. He even left his lute.

  Medis said, “Gross,” and Akmuo made a face, then pretended to vomit up his food. They laughed and I did too, even though I didn’t understand what the joke was. Medis got up, patted his engorged stomach that he pushed out as far as he could. Then he belched and said, “This baby needs to go!”

  Akmuo laughed and imitated him, pushing out his own stomach and patting it, then pretended to be an old man, hobbling under the weight of his stomach.

  I pushed out my stomach too, but it was already rotund, thick with my babyfat. They ran circles round me, poking my tiny tummy. Every touch tickled and I laughed with them. We spun to the ground, collapsing. From within the home, moans entered the twilight. The suns were falling away from one another to their respective horizons.

  Medis yawned and stretched, then started walking towards the Meadow. Akmuo sighed, “I’m too full,” but followed, and I followed too.

  We took a longer way to the Meadow, avoiding Upe and Lapas. None of us spoke of what happened but we didn’t need to. I never told them of finding Lapas at the edge of the forest weeping. I don’t know why, but it seemed private. Not just for Lapas, but for me too. It was precious to me. Something that I held onto and recalled often.

  It took longer to get to the Meadow than usual, and Medis and Akmuo sang. Akmuo’s voice was high and light while Medis’ was always slightly hoarse when he tried to sing. Their voices sounded awful together, like listening to someone else file the calluses from their feet. Even so, I loved hearing them sing. They did it rarely, but I came to understand how happy they had to be in order to sing together. It was the only activity that they shared without competing to some extent. I think because Akmuo was the talented one. Medis didn’t care when Akmuo succeeded where he failed, but Akmuo hated losing to Medis, though he did it endlessly.

  They sang a nothing song about fish slapping the water while a great big baby bathed alone.

  It was an odd song, an absurd one. The lyrics were somewhat ghastly. The story of an abandoned baby finding comfort in a bath while talking fish splashed him with water. The melody, though, was infectious and percussive. Bum bum badadumbump. Bum bum badadumbump. And on and on.

  The song carried us and I tried to make my steps keep time with the rhythm. Rapid short steps and normal steps alternating to keep pace and keep time. Akmuo took notice and joined me but used his longer stride to orbit me as we walked towards the Meadow. Medis laughed through much of the sixth and eighth verses, until we were stopped short.

  “Hear the wolfwitch cubs, Zole?” A tall girl with falcon feathers in her hair appeared before us. To her left another tall, thin girl with the same falcon feathers. To their right a shorter girl with arms crossed and a scowl. Her hair was braided tight against her scalp in rows. All three of them were older than my brothers.

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  The girl to the right shifted her weight to her left foot, “Shadowboys and the wild one.”

  The two girls laughed.

  Medis’ hands were balled into fists but Akmuo held his wrist, trying to pull him away. Medis stayed where he was, his chin high, eyes hard. Like glass. His whole body caught the twilight, making his skin almost glitter blackly, and his eyes were wet and reflective, shining the suns back at themselves.

  The tall girl in the middle leaned in, pouting her lips in mockery and modulating her voice to simulate tears, “We make you grumpy, shadowboy?”

  Medis sucked in his cheeks and I knew he was chewing them, maybe even filling his mouth with blood. Akmuo’s voice warbled, “Let’s go.”

  The tall girl in the center shooed us away with her hands, “Go along, shadowboy! Run back to the wolfwitch and your demon father!”

  The girl on the left lunged forward as a threat of violence. I flinched back. So did Akmuo. But Medis threw his foot into the air in front of him, connecting with the side of the girl’s neck and ear.

  She fell screaming and the other girls were so shocked they didn’t move for a moment. I watched their expressions transform as if time dilated. From sneering laughter to astonishment to fear and anger. Which leads to violence.

  Akmuo pulled at Medis but Medis shook free and Akmuo was already running.

  The short girl on the right gave chase but the tall girl took slow, deliberate steps towards Medis as she spoke, “I’ll rip you apart and leave nothing for the Walkers or Mother—”

  Medis spit blood in her face. A lot of blood. He had chewed into his cheeks to create a weapon. The blood blinded her for a moment and her face contorted in disgust and revulsion until Medis stomped on her foot. The pain brought her head down towards the ground and Medis grabbed the back of her head and pulled it down while he threw his right knee up into her face. The impact was like a falling tree. A loud crack and then silence. Even the scream that leapt from her when Medis stepped on her foot disappeared. She fell and didn’t move. By then the girl he had kicked in the ear was up.

  “Rasa!” She shook the tall girl to no avail. Medis stood there, defiant. She stared at him and then ran back towards the Meadow, shouting.

  Through all this I was uselessly still. I don’t even remember what I was doing. Only that my fingertips were bleeding from chewing on them and my head hurt. Medis spit blood on the unconscious girl again, then took my arm and we ran.

  Akmuo was pinned under the third girl who was punching him in the face. Medis, silent as a panther, ran up behind her, jumped, and kicked her in the back. She flew forward, off Akmuo, the wind knocked out of her. Akmuo’s face was bruised and bleeding, his left eye already puffy. Medis helped him up but I was watching the girl get back up, catch her breath, and run at my brothers.

  I wanted to scream a warning, but nothing happened. Instead I watched her throw Akmuo to the ground again and kick Medis in the stomach, doubling him over. She slapped him heavily in the face, spinning him to the ground. She kicked him repeatedly as he was down, then stalked over to me. She grabbed me by the shoulders and yelled in my face, “Cunt shit demon bitch.” Then she threw me down on top of my brothers. Six more girls showed up behind her, but she turned to them, “Got this.” She approached again and stomped on Medis’ chest. The sound of his breath escaping made me scream until she slapped me to silence.

  The tall girl who Medis had kneed into unconsciousness stumbled dizzily towards us. She sounded half asleep when she said, “Go back to your demon daddy, cunt shits.”

  They stood over us, waiting, watching.

  Medis rose first, then helped Akmuo up. He put me on his shoulders and we left.

  We didn’t head home. We walked to the forest and then followed the path to the river where Medis cleaned us, wiping the blood away. The water was so cold that I shivered until my teeth chattered audibly together. He took cold stones and pressed them against the puffy bruises on Akmuo’s face and had Akmuo do the same for him.

  The suns were down when we made it back home. It stank of sweat and lovemaking inside, but it was warm and comforting. In the darkness, HoPa, LoPa, and mother couldn’t see our hurt, and in the morning Medis would tell them that he and Akmuo had had a fight that got out of hand. They were sorry and had made up.

  But when we came inside, they only curled up together and fell asleep. It took them a long time, and I listened to them cry softly together.

  Our parents didn’t hear. They were still entwined.

  I lay down with my brothers and cried with them, quiet as I could.