Kaya Stormchild (2 page)

“
What the -?”
he began, staring wide-eyed at Kaya’s feet as they disappeared into
the canopy overhead.

“
Come on!”
she insisted, and with a shrug, the boy began to climb after
her.

Twenty feet or
more they climbed, until they came to a small, round opening in a
wall of tightly woven branches. Kaya crawled through, the boy close
behind her.

“
Cool!”
breathed the boy, pausing in the doorway. “What is this
place?”

“
This is our
nest,” said Kaya proudly.

A nest it was,
although bigger than any nest a bird would build. It was composed
of two ‘rooms’, a larger main room, and a small sleeping alcove
opening off one end. The living room was roughly circular in shape.
Its floor was carpeted with leaves and moss. The walls were a
latticework of thick branches so densely interwoven with leafy
boughs that the wind barely whistled through at all. The ceiling
was similarly formed and watertight except for an opening in the
middle that allowed light into the nest. Rain sprinkled down upon
them through the opening, so Kaya reached up and blocked it with a
piece of matting woven from long strips of cedar bark.

For a moment
it was dark inside, but then Kaya lit a candle and placed it on a
driftwood shelf built into the wall of the nest. A collection of
supplies lay on the shelf next to the candle: a bowl and cup, an
old battered thermos, a knife, matches, a few sealed tins beside a
basket of apples, a jar of peanut butter, bread. Hanging in neatly
tied bundles from the ceiling above the shelf were various herbs
and grasses, some still green, and some dried to a silver-gray.
Beneath the shelf were folded a couple of blankets. Kaya grabbed
the thickest of these and tossed it to her new friend.

“
Here,” she
said. “Curl up in this. I’m going to see if there’s any tea
left.”

While the boy
wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, Kaya took down the
thermos and unscrewed the lid. A wonderful steamy, earthy smell
filled the nest, like the scent of spring soil after
rain.

“
Good,
there’s plenty left. And it’s still warm.”

She filled a
mug and passed it to her visitor. He wrinkled his nose
doubtfully.

“
It’s
stinging nettle tea – well more of a tonic, actually, since I steep
it for ages. It’ll warm you up, and help with your cold. I drink it
all spring and I never get sick.”

The boy eyed
the mug with suspicion.

“
Go on,”
encouraged Kaya. “Drink the whole thing. You’ll feel better right
away.”

He took a deep
breath and drank.

“
Yuck!” he
announced with disgust, putting down the mug. “That’s
gross!”

Kaya laughed
merrily. Then she reached out her hand.

“
I’m Kaya, by
the way. Kaya Stormchild. What’s your name?”

“
I’m Josh,”
the boy answered, shaking her hand shyly. “This place is so
amazing, Do you - do you live here?”

Kaya didn’t
answer. Instead she turned and rummaged in the tins on her shelf,
opening first one then another. At last she found what she was
looking for.

“
Chocolate!”
she said proudly. “I’m hungry. I’ll bet you are too. Do you want a
piece?”

Josh nodded,
smiling. Kaya took the large bar and broke off two generous pieces.
She handed one to Josh and the two of them leaned back against the
soft mossy edge of the nest, munching for a moment in companionable
silence.

Kaya surveyed
the boy across from her. She liked his face. He seemed fresh and
sort of opened-up, like an oyster out of its shell. He had fair
hair and pale freckles across the bridge of his nose. And very
green eyes, like spring moss, that looked at you kind of shyly but
steadily. She thought she could trust him.

“
About that
question you asked me a minute ago,” she began slowly. “If you
found out that I
did
live here, what would you do? Would you tell anyone
else?”

“
Not if you
didn’t want me to,” said Josh. He sat up and looked at her eagerly.
“Are you a runaway or something? That’s so cool! I wish I could run
away…” he trailed off, then lowered his eyes.

“
I’m not a
runaway. I live with, well, with my Grandmother. She’s an
eagle.”

Josh
snorted.

“
You’ve got
to be kidding!” he said, shaking his head. “Come on. You’re just
pretending, aren’t you? Like this “tonic” drink you gave me, and
everything. It’s a game, right?”

Just then they
heard a squeal from the base of the Maple tree.

“
I forgot
about Tike!” said Kaya. She disappeared through the doorway, then
reappeared an instant later with the otter tucked under one arm.
Just as Kaya sat down again, Tike let out a loud sneeze. Josh
jerked his head up in surprise, banging it on a branch protruding
from the ceiling just above him.

“
How could
you leave me behind?” Tike whined. “I can’t climb trees,
remember?”

He crept into
Kaya’s lap, his dark pointed face peering warily at
Josh.

“
What’s he
doing here?” grumbled the otter. “Saving him was one thing, but
bringing him home -?!”

Kaya stroked
the otter’s head affectionately. Josh stared in wide-eyed
astonishment at the newcomer, forgetting all about the pain in the
top of his head.

“
I know we
agreed to be careful. But I think he’s all right. I get a good
feeling about him,” whispered Kaya, bending close to the otter’s
ear.

“
Is he like
you? Can he speak?” Tike asked, also in a whisper.

Kaya gave Josh
a long appraising glance.

“
You can’t
understand what he is saying, can you?” she asked the
boy.

He gulped and
shook his head. His face was flushed.

“
Can
you
?” he
asked.

Kaya scratched
Tike’s ear. Then the little otter rolled onto his back so she could
rub the silvery fur on his belly.

“
I seem to be
able to talk to just about anyone,” said Kaya. “Grandmother says I
have the Speech. Only a few people - Human people, I mean - do.
Long ago, it was different. All the Folk of the Salish Sea could
communicate freely with one another. But for many years now, says
Grandmother, humans have mostly been deaf to other creatures. No
one knows quite why. The animals still understand
them
, of course, but it
doesn’t work both ways….”

Kaya shrugged.
Josh was listening intently, an awed look on his face.

“
Most humans
are just, well,
ignorant
,” muttered Tike scornfully,
as he rolled over so Kaya could scratch his back.

“
I didn’t
know I had the Speech until I came to live here,” she said, musing.
“But it’s funny - I remember a squirrel telling me a whole long
story when I was very small, and I understood every word.
Grandmother kind of taught me how to use the Speech. Now I can
speak most of the local languages.”

Josh whistled
in amazement.

“
I can’t
believe it,” he muttered.

Just then, a
shrill, high call pierced the air from above the nest. Kaya removed
the covering over the skylight, poked her head through the opening
and called into the rain.

“
It’s
alright. Josh is in here with me. Yes, I’ll make sure he gets
warm.” She closed the cover and sat down once more. Tike returned
to her lap.

“
Was that the
eagle?” Josh asked in a hushed voice.

“
Who else
would it be?” grumbled Tike. “Kaya, when is he going to
leave?”

Kaya
laughed.

“
Let me
introduce Tike,” she said to Josh. “He’s not sure about you, about
whether you’re safe. You see, Grandmother warned me that if people
ever found out I lived here, all on my own, with just animals for
company, they would come and take me away.”

Josh sat up.
“Tell him that I promise I’ll keep your secret. I’d never give you
away. Never. Only - can I come and visit sometimes? I wish I could
live here, too. It’s so much better than…”

Josh paused,
then shrugged his shoulders.

“
Do you live
in Campbell Harbour?” asked Kaya.

“
I do now. My
Dad and I just moved there.” Josh looked across at Kaya, as if
uncertain whether to continue. But suddenly the words came tumbling
out. “I hate it. The kids at school are all mean. There’s nothing
to do except row around in the boat. We’ve got to stay here two
whole years while my dad writes his book. He’s
always
writing. He never has any
time for anything.”

“
And your
mother?”

“
She’s…she
died. She got sick… Cancer.”

They sat
silently for a moment. The rain had stopped pelting down upon the
roof of the nest. Thin slivers of wet sunlight began to penetrate
the walls. Outside, they heard the soft drip, drip of water seeping
from nearby branches.

“
Well,” said
Kaya brightly, after a pause. “You can come exploring with me. I
know all sorts of secret places we can get to by boat. I have an
extra paddle for my canoe. It would go faster with two
people.”

Josh looked at
her with shining eyes. “Sweet!” he said. “Thanks!”

A quarter of
an hour later it was as if the storm had never happened. Kaya
opened the skylight and the sun shone in warmly, sending down thick
shafts of gold, which made the mossy floor of the nest glow. Kaya
and Josh scrambled out the door, and down the maple
trunk.

“
Come on,
I’ll show you around Tangle Island before you go back,” said
Kaya.

She was proud
of her home. Tangle was small enough to be empty of summer cabins
and boat docks, but large enough for exploring. Kaya showed Josh
the marsh jungle, a large swampy patch of bulrushes, which dried up
in the summer and became perfect for games of hide and
seek.

“
Tike loves
to play,” Kaya said, laughing. “But he always gets mad in the end.
You see, I’m so much taller, I get a better view when I’m
searching.”

She showed him
the place she called “the Window.” It was a rounded rocky bluff
overlooking the sea. When you stood on the edge of the bluff,
beneath the twisting red-gold trunks of the few arbutus trees which
grew there, and looked down at the water, you felt as if you were
standing on your own small round world.

Kaya called it
her dreaming place. It was here that she sometimes came with
Grandmother, to hear the old stories, and to learn about the
special powers of each plant and animal. At the high point of the
bluff, where the earth sloped away on all sides down towards the
sea, a great, smooth stone emerged from the grass. Kaya liked to
sit on the stone while the eagle perched on a low arbutus branch
nearby. Somehow, Grandmother’s deep, windy voice was more resonant
here than anywhere, as if the window itself spoke the ancient lore
through her.

Josh leapt
excitedly up onto the stone.

“
You can see
for miles from up here,” he said, beaming. “I should bring my
binoculars next time!”

“
Your
what
?” asked
Kaya.

While Josh
explained the powers of binoculars, Kaya led him down from the
Window, to another of her favorite places, the hidden cave by the
spring. Tangle was one of the few smaller islands that had fresh
water. In the very center of the island was a steep hill, almost a
cliff, and at its base a freshwater spring filled a small pool. It
was dark and mysterious here, and Josh looked about him nervously
as he followed Kaya into shadowy trees at the base of the cliff.
The pool was rimmed with deep green moss. Kaya bent to scoop water
into her hands and drink.

“
Go on,” she
said to Josh. “It’s clean.”

Josh stooped
and tasted the water. “It’s good!” he said. “It almost tastes
sweet.”

“
It comes
from inside the hill. And look. Up there. Can you see it? There’s a
dark patch - that’s a hidden cave. I’ll show you.”

They scrambled
through the underbrush and up the rocky slope a short way until
they came to an opening in the hill. It was a wide crack in the
rock, just big enough for children their age to squeeze through.
Kaya went first, gesturing for Josh to follow her. At first it
seemed as if the crack would come to a dead end, but after a minute
or two of panting and pushing, the children found themselves in a
wider cave, which was lit by a fissure in the rock
above.

Josh whistled
to himself. “Imagine, he breathed. “What a great hiding place this
would be. If any one was ever chasing you, you could hole up in
here and they’d never find you.”

“
Yeah,” said
Kaya, nodding proudly. “You could even camp here, because this half
of the cave is dry. The rain would only come in on that
side.”

There were a
few more places to show Josh. Kaya took him to the meadow where she
gathered stinging nettle and dock leaves and oregon grape berries
to make tonics, and another one where she picked wild mint and rose
hips and blackberry leaves to steep for tea. She took him to her
driftwood beach house, with its covered stack of dry wood for
burning at the back, and its small fire pit out front. Large
strands of a seaweed called kelp had been spread out to dry on the
roof of the little house. Once it was dried, Kaya explained, she
would grind the kelp to a powder and use it for salting her
food.