I got up, slipped into my boots and ton, put on my belt, and stepped outside. I did not say a word and neither did the others. The hürde was empty. The tip of a flock was just disappearing behind the mountain finger below Eser-Haja. It must have been the hendshe. Arsylang was nowhere to be seen. For the first time ever I went all the way to the rocks behind which the adults went to relieve themselves. I went there even though I knew I was allowed to pee anywhere I wanted—I could have peed walking or even skipping had I been in the mood. But my mind was not on playing now, nor on being the youngest, the only child in the ail. The horses were saddled and shone with the hoarfrost that covered their bodies. Who might ride off with Scholak Dorug?

All our horses were tame, but this one was the tamest. Even when we moved and Scholak Dorug was loaded, we could let go of his reins and drive him before us with the oxen. Now he stood there with my saddle on his back, with a piece of felt serving as a blanket beneath it that reached all the way down to his belly. Was he about to be loaded? Outside, there were two dung baskets sitting where none had sat before. The previous night, one had contained desgen roots, while the other one, empty and upside down, had been covered with Dusky’s skin, which had been put outside, frozen stiff, to dry in the cold. But now both baskets stood empty next to the stone altar for smoke offerings, diligently lined up as if after a day’s work. I also saw signs of a fourth horse. They were tracks left by small hooves, the front ones apparently having been shoed recently.

Without having to be reminded, I washed my hands and even my face. Usually I avoided washing my face in the morning by claiming that I would have to scrub it with snow many times during the day to avoid frostbite when I was out with the flock. In reality, however, I scrubbed my face very rarely—only when my cheeks or my chin, or the tip of my nose, were actually close to being frostbitten. After such a quick snow wash, at first I would briefly feel colder than before, but as soon as the skin dried, I would feel warmth or sometimes even a little rush of heat, as if a tiny animal were stirring in the pores of my skin.