the river trail

Most traffic between villages follows the river trail, a wide path beaten smooth by generations of use. It is created, maintained, and traveled almost exclusively by migratory boys.

Construction

The trail is extended whenever a new village is founded. A preliminary trail is laid by the scouting party, who search out a path with a minimum of hills and valleys. (Because all goods must be carried on foot, it is more important for a trail to be flat than straight.) The boys leave trail signs marking trees that they intend to cut.
When a site has been chosen, the boys begin work on clearing the breadth of the marked trail. Boys do not share the same taboo against cutting down trees that women have, and are careful not to start removal until after the women have settled into the new location. Where objects are pulled out of the ground, the boys use tamping tools to flatten the disturbed soil. After about a month of this work the trail is ready for regular use.

Maintenance

The road is used most during the dry season, when the boy packs make their rounds of the villages before settling in one during the rainy months. After the rains, the path is choked with weedy growth, and inevitably some sections will have been washed out. The first several days of the traveling season are always spent restoring the trail to a usable condition.

Emergencies

The only time the trail is used during the rainy season is when a Woman Woman in one village needs to send an urgent message to another. She will send the message by a small pack or sub-pack of boys, three to five in number, who are able to travel faster than large packs. A message pack will take the trail without any repair tools, but if they see any damage that needs to be addressed, they will leave appropriate trail signs at the crossroads after they complete their errand.

View from the future

12,000 years, The Ocean
Roads are still being made in a similar way on the island of Ralcondray. In the vastland region of Valdei, cargo is carried up the river along raft ladders; in the Cluster Islands, via inter-island conduits.