When Zoug opened his eyes, he found himself standing some paces away from the cave. It was a sunny day, but there was nobody in the free space before the entrance, and Zoug could not look into the cave itself, which was pitch-black.

Confused, he wondered what had happened and how he had got here – the last thing he remembered was going to sleep on the day of his mating – when something moved in the darkness of the entrance. Two shapes slowly came into the light, a large bison just past its prime, from Zoug's estimation, and a grouse. The grouse was walking along slightly behind the bison, and when the larger animal stopped not ten steps from Zoug, it stopped as well and sat at its feet.

If he had been in his right mind, Zoug would have retreated behind the trees, or at least to the tree line. He was alone, and a bison was a large and dangerous animal. But he was simply too confused consider it, and also, there was a strange sense of safety flowing through him. It was as if he knew, however that was possible, that no harm could come to him here.

He watched in growing bewilderment as the Bison snorted and nodded its head to the right, and the grouse took off into the indicated direction, disappearing between the trees. Not long after, it returned with a beakful of large, dry twigs and put them down at the Bison's feet. This was repeated several times until, as Zoug thought, one could have built a small fire with the twigs the grouse had collected.

When there seemed to be enough wood, the bison gently nosed the grouse in a way that if Zoug had to describe it, he could only have called "affectionate". It was a strange thing to witness, and Zoug wondered again what was happening, and what he was doing here.

Before he could wonder more, however, the bison turned and walked towards the treeline, leaving the grouse behind with the heap of twigs. The bird was obviously nervous alone and remained so until the bison returned a short while later. Zoug frowned when it reappeared between the trees: it was carrying a small fallow deer on its back that was dead, bleeding from what could only be a spear wound through the heart. Zoug had seen too many of them to be mistaken.

The bison let the dead deer fall to the ground beside the twigs and, with another snort and nod, sent off the grouse once again – that the bird was following its orders, Zoug by now had no doubt. Quickly, the grouse left and returned with a twig that was hanging full of hazelnuts, then went back to gather some green herbs.

It was disturbing to see animals like this, behaving so unnaturally, almost like . . . like humans, Zoug realised. Like Clan! The bison ordering the grouse like a man would a woman and providing meat, the grouse obeying like a woman would, gathering firewood and plants for food . . . They could be any mated couple from his Clan. In fact, did not Brun have the Bison for a totem, and Ebra the Grouse?

That was it! These were no normal animals, Zoug understood, no, these must be totem spirits representing Brun and Ebra – or if not them specifically, then at least a Clan couple. He, Zoug, must be having a vision or a dream sent by the spirits. How else could he have suddenly found himself here, and how else could this strange behaviour of the animals be explained? But why? And what did it mean?

Zoug had never concerned himself with the spirits overly much. He had always done his duty as a hunter and as second-in-command to Brog, the leader before Brun, and had left the spirits for Mog-ur to figure out. Never except for when Mog-ur led them in ceremonies had he had any visions or direct contact with the spirit world. He was not as afraid of it as some, but he preferred the solid physical world over the abstract world of spirits that was just too hard to comprehend for anybody who was not Mog-ur. Now, though, it seemed the spirits had taken an interest in him, and Zoug wasn't sure that he liked it.

As he had been thinking, the totem animals had busied themselves at what he now realised must represent a hearth, but when he paid them attention once more - he supposed there was a message for him, something to understand or learn - they turned and left, walking back into the cave, and the twigs, the dead deer and other food disappeared.

Instead, two other animals approached from inside the cave, a woolly rhinoceros and a hare. Now Zoug was convinced that he was watching the totems of his own Clan's people, since again, they corresponded with a couple he knew: Broud's totem animal was the Woolly Rhino, and his mate Oga's the Hare. Also, the animals behaved in a way that made him think of Oga and Broud, the rhino roughly pushing the hare with its snout and snorting impatiently at it, while the hare was twitching nervously, cowering at the rhino's feet.

Though they did essentially the same things, their interaction was very much unlike the first couple's - nothing the hare did seemed good enough for the rhino, and it kept pushing and shoving it, urging it to be quicker, or simply taking its anger out on the smaller animal. There were no tender gestures like from the bison towards the grouse, and unlike the grouse, the hare was always nervous in the rhino's presence.

Yes, Zoug thought, the rhino was definitely Broud. He shook his head at the distasteful scene - how could Broud not see that his mate was afraid of him? But no, that was not right. He saw it but didn't care, like he had not cared that Ayla had abhorred relieving his needs, had even revelled in it. It was the same with Oga now, and that seemed even worse to Zoug. An ignorant man could be educated, but a cruel one - what could change a cruel man to make him take another path? What did it take to change a man?

It was then that the scene before him faded away and Zoug awoke in his furs to a new morning. Vaguely, he was aware that Ayla was up already and preparing the morning meal, but the dream lingered in his thoughts, and so he stayed in his furs for a while longer, thinking.

Why had he been given this dream? If it was to emphasise how to be a good mate and what not to do - well, it was an impressive demonstration, but he didn't really need it, did he? He had never been like Broud with Uva, and he didn't plan on starting now, with Ayla. Surely, the spirits must know that? If any man in their Clan needed to be reminded of the proper way of how to treat a woman, it was Broud. He was the one who needed to change his cruel behaviour, not Zoug. And yet, the dream had come to Zoug.

Was there anything that he needed to do, other than treating Ayla the way a good mate would? Zoug couldn't think of anything, and it frustrated him. Nothing of it was making sense to him, and he couldn't even ask Mog-ur, not until their isolation was over.

Also, why would Ayla be important enough to the spirits to send him such a dream? He had never heard of anything like it.

Sighing, Zoug sat up in his furs. There would be no answers for him today, he was certain. He would think about the matter further, since it wouldn't do to dismiss this message from the spirits - if it was indeed from them - and he would speak with Mog-ur once he was free to leave his hearth again. For now, he would let Ayla serve him the morning meal.

The next few days were as quiet as the first. They ate, they worked on their respective project, and they didn't speak much. With Uva, companionable silence had been one of the things Zoug had enjoyed about their mating, but they had also had times when their conversations were deeper than what he suspected some of the other men had with their women - although he suspected that maybe couples like Brun and Ebra, or Goov and Ovra were enjoying similar intimacy.

With Ayla, the silence was somewhat tense, and Zoug hoped that it was just because they were newly mated, not because she truly feared him. It simply didn't fit with the picture he'd had of Ayla until now. If it didn't change in the next few days, he resolved he would speak with her about it, but for now, he would give her time to get used to her new situation.

When, some days after his initial dream, he found himself waking once again in front of the dark entrance of the cave, Zoug was more than surprised, and he had to admit to himself that he was frightened as well. What else could the spirits want to show him?

As he watched the entrance of the cave, like the first time, he saw Brun's Bison and Ebra's Grouse totem appear, and after them, Broud's Woolly Rhino and Oga's Hare. They behaved just the same as they had in the previous dream. If he were a man like Broud, it would have made sense, Zoug assumed: the spirits would be trying to show him how to behave, telling him to change his ways, and stubborn as Broud was, he would need repetition - but as it was, what could he take away from the dream?

This time, he didn't wake after the Rhino and Hare totems had vanished, though, but instead he saw a brown bear slowly ambling over from the entrance of the cave, followed by a tiny scurrying vole. Zoug had no doubts whom they represented: the Brown Bear was his own totem – shared by Uva's son Grod – and the Vole had been Uva's.

He was gratified to watch them together; like Brun's bison, the brown bear was firm but also affectionate, and the vole seemed eager and reassured by its mate's presence, never cowering in nervous fear like the hare had done while still displaying deep respect. Zoug had always tried to do his best, and it seemed to him right now that the spirits knew and approved. So why . . .

Zoug's eyebrows rose as the vole faded from vision and from the cave, a huge cave lioness approached the brown bear. Ayla's totem. But weren't totem spirits supposed to always be male? This was clearly a female! He shook his head and scrunched his eyes close, then opened them again - no. It was a lioness, there was no doubt about it. But could it be? Could Ayla's totem spirit truly be female?

Although he was still incredulous, Zoug knew that this part of the dream must be the most important one: the totem spirits that represented him and Ayla. Resigned, he turned his full attention back to the animals, who were involved in the same domestic tasks as the other couples before them. Watching them, he couldn't help but think that although it was how it should be by Clan tradition, it looked strange how the lioness deferred to the bear - sitting at its feet with its head respectfully lowered, waiting for commands to be issued. The animals were almost equally tall and certainly equally strong and dangerous. And moreover, Zoug thought with a prickle of discomfort as he watched the lioness approach with a twig hanging full of berries in its maw, wasn't the cave lion the one of the two who was entirely carnivorous and the more accomplished hunter of larger animals, while the brown bear primarily consumed plants, only supplementing its diet with fish and small animals?

He sighed unhappily, wishing that he would have thought a bit longer about taking Ayla for a mate and what it might entail. But it wasn't as if he - or anybody, really - could have foreseen anything so exceedingly strange as this.

No matter how much he might wish this weren't happening, Zoug knew that it mattered little to the spirits. He'd got these vision dreams from them for a reason, and he would have to figure it out. With that thought, he awoke to a new day.