Famine Revolt

In Moon Wish village, tensions have been growing between the traditionalist Moon Women and the radical women for over a generation. Moon Wish, the current Woman Woman, has kept both factions in an uneasy peace. But an end to that equilibrium is coming soon, when an imminent drought will push the radicals to demand a new Woman Woman.

The Conflict

Prelude

The conflict is the result of several situations compounding over time.

• Thirty years earlier: When the village's founding debt was repaid, the first-girl women of Moon Wish Village held a celebration for themselves without acknowledging the efforts of the wood gatherers who did all the work toward paying the debt. Feeling slighted, they began seeking respect for their worth rather than their birth.
• Fifteen years earlier: Boy pack visits to Moon Wish Village dropped off sharply due to an incident between half of Moon Wish and a small pack of boys. Not knowing the cause, the radical women blamed the traditionalists, known to have anti-boy sentiments, for keeping the packs away; the traditionalists denied any wrongdoing and still resent the accusation.
• Six years earlier: One of Moon Wish dies of food poisoning. There has been no precedent of twins in the position of Woman Woman, and some of the radical women believe that the other Moon Wish should also be considered dead and removed from her office.

On top of all this, the year-long drought and resulting famine will place unprecedented stress on the village. The villagers call on Woman Woman to trade their firewood--the only resource they have in surplus--for supplies from Star Flower Village. But no boy packs come to the village during the winter, and the women feel cut off and start to panic.

Battlefield

The initial confrontation takes place at the village's moon peak, during the moon wishing ceremony following the winter soltice. The rest of the attack occurs in the village itself.

Conditions

200 people are gathered in a large clearing on the village's highest point at sunset. After a year of drought, Woman Woman has instructed all the villagers to petition the moon for rain. The drink that Spirit-talker prepares for the ceremony induces feelings of fellowship, but before she can pour out the first serving one woman cries out to the moon to send not rain but boys. The other radical women chime in their agreement, but the traditionalists shout in disapproval. Both sides face each other in a suddenly hostile atmosphere.

The Engagement

On the peak

Woman Woman attempts to soothe over the argument, unsuccessfully. This gives courage to Great Tree, the radical women's advocate. She steps forward and issues her challenge:

"Nothing like this happened when Strong Blood was Woman Woman. Moon Wish, you are half dead. For season upon season Old Tree has not listened to you. It is time for another to be Woman Woman."

The Moon Women protest and attempt to physically push Great Tree away. Her supporters push back and a scuffle breaks out, spilling Spirit-talker's drink in the confusion. She halts the fight by calling to Old Tree to forgive their sacrilege. Speaking angrily to all involved, she declares that the ceremony has been desecrated and must be attempted again the following night while the moon is still mostly full. Everyone returns to the village, but no one is satisfied.

In the village

Sensing her loss of control, Woman Woman takes an overly broad interpretation of Spirit-talker's duty to kill those who pose a threat to the safety of the village. During the night the two of them enter houses where grown boys are known to sleep. They manage to kill three before a woman wakes and shouts an alarm. They kill that woman as well and flee the house, but are seen by some of the women who have been roused. Spirit-talker speaks a coded warning, and those Moon Women present go to wake the others. They return carrying hunting spears and dart pipes and form a defensive wall. From behind the impromptu guard, Woman Woman defends her actions as necessary to cleanse the village of the curse:

"Nothing has been right since those dead boys came into the village. Boys are the cause of the curse. They and those who keep them must be removed from the village, by death or by exile."

A woman whose house had held one of the murdered boys screams that she chooses death, and lunges at the Moon Women. Others follow suit, and the battle ends with fifteen dead women and the rest of the radicals captured by the Moon Women. Woman Woman repeats her threat, and offers the mercy of allowing all the radicals to leave peacefully. Great Tree accepts, leading her remaining supporters away by the river trail.

Conflict Type

Rebellion

Location

Moon Wish village

View from the future

12,000 years, The Ocean
Although they lost the fight, Great Tree and her women won their freedom. They made their way successfully down the river and established a settlement halfway between the women's villages and the vastland coast. The exiles never spoke of the place they came from, so their descendant cultures have no knowledge of their origins before the events recorded in the Songs of Journey.