As we prepare to leave the forest cabin to return to our world, we sit down for tea two separate times, honoring the Nenets tradition. Added to the usual early morning chai and bread is meat from a partridge that Oleg had shot a few days before. Once the sleds are loaded up with the gear and hitched to the patient deer, we have another cup of tea. As we sit, Valya tries one last time to get me to stay. I promise to try to come back to visit, but add that my family and friends are waiting for me back in Moscow.
Deer meat has virtually no fat, and the thigh is a choice cut and, indeed, delicious.
Over the river We set off on sleds driven by Oleg and Ded. The sled jostles to and fro as I try to stay wedged between my bags and Oleg, who sits sideways holding the reins. I take a quick glimpse back at the homey cabin as we pull out across the yard. Several of the hunting dogs are yapping from beside the stakes where they are tied up, as if to bid goodbye, too. Soon we're zipping along through the trees, the only sound the clicking of deer tendons and the swish of sled runners on snow.