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the ruler is not chosen by her bloodline but rather by her actions. Here you are equal.”
    Her gaze gained cold determination as she continued.
    “If you, Aure, become the leader, our kind will prosper at first, but people in surrounding areas will eventually come, and the Kainu shall disappear forever. If you, Vierra, are chosen, our people will suffer greatly but shall be preserved for as long as my eyes can see. In this, I have a serious decision, because if Aure comes back from here alive, she will become the leader. Those of us who have survived have always been tough and resilient, and I say now to fight until only one is left. The survivor will be the chieftain after Aure’s mother passes.”
    This cruel suggestion was left hanging in the air, and the girls stared at each other, trying to read intentions. Aure jumped up, drawing the stone blade from her belt, and approached Vierra with a grim look on her face. She wouldn’t let anything come between her and her prize, no more Vierra than the Mother’s predictions. Vierra got up nimbly and backed away from her cousin’s knife. Their eyes met briefly over the gloom of the campfires. In their stare was something new, something that hadn’t been there even in their worst quarrels. Something that could not be found in the eyes of a child.
    They started a round of a dangerous game in the blaze of the fires. There was not much space to move about: falling from the edge would mean a plunge downwards in the dark to the waiting rocks below. Vierra backed away for a while but had to finally let her cousin close for fear of falling down. They grabbed each other, weapons in hand, and were soon rolling on the rocky cliff top, wrestling for their lives. They tumbled over Vierra’s fire, spewing flames and a high spout of sparks as the burning wood moved violently. Both had wrestled almost as long as they had breathed, and they were equally matched in skill. Still, Aure’s sturdiness gave her an edge, and she managed to push her cousin’s knife hand to the ground as they struggled on the edge of the cliff. Aure’s knife was slowly approaching Vierra’s throat, inch by inch, until the jagged edge almost touched the glistening, sweaty skin. Shaking, they were both frozen to this position for a brief moment, and neither one seemed to be able to move forward.
    Vierra swooped Aure off from on top of her in one swift motion, causing Aure to fall headfirst over the cliff’s edge. Before Aure plunged down into her death, Vierra grabbed her by the arm. Aure’s stone knife slipped from her grasp and clattered onto the rocks below, as she dangled in midair, held by her cousin. The girls gazed at each other, their eyes flashing with lightning in the dark. From the background came the eerie voice of the Mother.
    “Let her go, Vierra. You will be the chieftain, and our people will live forever.”
    For a brief moment, Vierra could not reach a decision. She looked into her cousin’s eyes and remembered their friendship, the runs through the forests while the village men nodded their approval, saying to one another, “Such great women they will be, but which one will lead?” She remembered how their differences and disputes had grown when they got older. Aure had tried to bend Vierra to her will, as she had bent all the other children of the tribe. Like a small chieftain, she had given orders in their games and chores as the adults watched from the side, amused. But Vierra hadn’t approved of her rule and hadn’t given in an inch. And when the spirits had taken Vierra’s parents to them, one after another, and Aure’s mother had taken the orphan girl under her wing, the competition had risen to a completely new level. Besides the authority, they now also had a common mother from whom they both wanted admiration and attention.
    Nobody would blame Vierra if she allowed Aure to fall to her death. The Mother was outright demanding it of her. She would get everything that Aure now