Silent Dances (20 page)

Thorn caught her attention. "
We'll wait for you here."

"Standing in the water
?"
she asked, surp
ri
sed.

"We've got warmers on," he assured her. "We'll be fine."

"Good luck,
Tesa
,"
Meg signed
.
Tesa took a deep breath, then strode
across the clea
ri
ng
.
The ground gradually sloped up, until the water
lapped shallowly at the stilt's ankles while the fabric of her StarB
ri
dge

clothes drained and d
ri
ed rapidly.

The Gru
s Tesa had decided was Weaver faced Taller. "You were
ri
ght

about her eyes, my f
ri
end!"

"Friend"
was only a loose translation
.
Like most sign language
,
meaning was often relayed in spatial terms
-
how close to or far from

the body a sign was performed, how fast or slow. In Weaver
'
s hands

that sign became a lovely endearment.

Taller dipped his head,
flaring his wings. "It's good you've a
rr
ived to
see the egg while the light is still strong." He swiveled his head around
,
pee
ri
ng at Thorn and Meg almost suspiciously
. "
I'm sor
ry
they can
'
t
join you. It must
'
ve been hard to leave them at the bounda
ry
."

Tesa was grateful for his sensitivity to her feelings. Hurriedly Weaver walked

up the almost vert
ical platform. "The chick has been tapping all day,"

she signed from a nearly invisible slit in the shelter
'
s wall. "Come

speak with him, Good Eyes
,
so he
'
ll know you."

Tesa had no idea what she was expected to do. How could

100

she sign to the chick in the egg?
She looked back at Meg and Thorn
,
but

Taller was already walking up the platform and she couldn
'
t afford to

miss the subtle indentations where he was placing his feet
.
She asked

the stilts to collapse
,
and of course, they refused
.
When they finally
obeyed, they folded so fast she was thrown forward
,
nearly fell, and

barely recovered in time to step off onto the platform.

"Are you all ri
ght
,
Good Eyes?" Taller asked as he and Weaver pee
re
d
down from the top of the platform.

Tesa glanced over at Meg and Thorn,
both of them t
ry
ing
to swallow

worry
and amusement
. "
I'm fine
. Really."

"
Puff never did well on those things," Taller signed. "He

thought they were alive and had a grudge against him." Tesa gri
nned
,

hugely
re
lieved
. "
I must
'
ve got his pair." She sta
rt
ed up, le
tt
ing her
buoyancy steady her
,
ca
re
fully placing each foot before lifting the
next. The reeds we
re
slick and one wrong move would send her sliding

into the marsh
.
Finally, Tesa followed Weaver and Taller through the

narrow slit that was the shelter's entrance.

The first thing that caught her attention was Terran.
Hanging randomly f
ro

m the steeply angled roof were a dozen different sets of glass wind

chimes. Long rays of sunlight slanted through the
re
ed walls and

glinted off gleaming c
ry
stals, casting dancing rainbows eve
ry
where.

When Rob Gable had told her about them
,
her
re
action had been

negative
,
but now her feelings changed
.
These were a
rt
istically
created, perfect c
ry
stals handcut by masters. She imagined they were

perfectly tuned as well.

Each one had a legend writt
en on it
.
The closest was in Gaelic and

English
,
with drawings of Grus signs beneath. It
re
ad, "To our f
ri
ends,
the people
of Trinity
. In gratitude for your magnificent gift, your f
ri
ends
across space
,
the people of
Waterford,
Ireland, send a token of

appreciation
.
May the skies
ri
se up to meet you and the wind be ever
at your back."

Pulling her attention away,
Tesa su
rv
eyed the rest of the shelter
.
The
atmosphere was warm and humid, but the air smelled sweet
,
like cut

grass
.
A pa
rt
ially finished cloak w
as
rolled against one wall
,
its warp
and woof fibers trailing into a
ro
ugh ball
.
Flat woven containers and
mats were stacked neatly by it. Bundles of long feathers hung from the

walls, as did sheafs of colorful grasses
,
and a mesh bag of woven

grass filled with sho
rt,
fluffy feathers and down.

101

SILENT DANCES 101 Tesa was dazzled by crisscrossed shafts of light and

bouncing

colors. She squinted, focusing on the walls that were almost obscured by the

dancing rainbows, realizing that some of the patterns weren't moving.

Moving closer to the wall, she suddenly saw that it was alive with vibrantly

colored designs, so intricate they incorporated sunbeams and even the wind

chimes' rainbows into their imagery. The outside had looked haphazard

because it was the wrong side of a woven picture.

I'm the first human who's ever seen this,
she thought excitedly, glancing at

the forgotten voder on her wrist. It was faithfully recording, cramming

everything she was seeing into billions of bits of information she could

analyze later.
Wait'll you
see
this
,
"Uncle Bruce"!

"Who made this?" she asked Taller, touching the walls. "It's my design,

executed by Weaver. We think it's our best-but at our age, we should have

some proficiency."

Tesa stared at the designs avidly. "It's
wonderful!"

"
I'm glad you like our story-walls."

"
Story-walls?"
Tesa asked.

"These images teach the chick about the beauty of the World and its

dangers, too." He pointed to something above her head. "For example,

here's the story of the Beautiful But Deadly Fish. It's easier to see in the

morning, because it relies on the first light to bring out the sparkling water

and the gleaming fish."

Tesa peered at the spot. "Show me the fish."

"Here," he pointed. "And this is the sickly chick who hasn't heeded his

parents' advice and eaten the deadly fish."

Tesa could barely make out what might be a drooping neck and two legs,

but most of the picture eluded her, and she was damned if she could see any

fish. Well, the symbolism of a Two Gray Hills rug could be obscure unless

you knew what to look for.

"Good Eyes," Taller signed, "come into the nest, please." She looked where he indicated, at the center of the shelter. The heart of this structure was a

large nest, wide and almost flat, with a glittering, woven cloak heaped at the

bottom of its gentle bowl shape. The centralized nest reminded her of the

Sepapu or Earth Navel, the holy place in Pueblo kivas.

Weaver was hock-sitting on the rim, staring at the cloak. Taller stepped into

the bowl, positioning his huge feet with utmost care on either side of the

cloak, then settled carefully

102

onto his hocks. "Puff said that he and Meg were
like family," Taller signed
.

"
Humans make families easily?"

"
I guess we do
,"
Tesa admi
tt
ed.

Taller looked at Weaver. "
In all the World there's nothing as impo
rt
ant
as the family
,
but our families are always the same
.
Two pa
re
nts
focus all our ca
re
and love on a single child until it
'
s grown and gone
its way into the World
.
Then it's no longer our child
,
but a f
ri
end
,
so
we can focus on the next child."

He and Weaver locked eyes,
though he signed to Tesa. "In all the histo
ri

es of the White Wind people
,
the Gray Wind, or our cousins across the

World
,
there have never been more than two parents to raise one

child
.
Now, all that changes."

Tesa paid rapt attention as the avian turn
ed to her.

"We're too old,
Weaver and I, to be having children
,"
Taller signed
. "
In
truth
,
I'm too old to lead my people
...
however, I do still lead them
.

Some of them feel this child was sent by the Moon Family
,
as

reparation for losing Water Dancer."

"It's just the kind of reparation the Moon Family would send,"
Weaver

signed bitterly.

"Gifts from the moons,"
Taller told Tesa
, "
are mixed blessings. Children
make you see the World anew
,
the way they see it
.
But, the child of an
aging leader with no mature male offsp
ri
ng in his territo
ry
is not just
any child
.
I'd devoted the last twenty years of my life to teaching Water

Dancer to be the leader I am, a leader as my own father was. Will I have

another twen
ty
years to give to the child in this egg?"

The white avian gave Tesa the full force of his stare. "If this child is a gift fro
m the Moons, then it's possible we may not live to see his matu
ri
ty
.
If
that happens
,
it will be up to you to see him safely through to

adulthood."

ME?
Tesa'
s mind reeled
.
This was going far beyond anything she'd lea
rn
ed at StarB
ri
dge
.
Calm down
,
she scolded herself.
Scott would
agree in a second
.
Can you let him down?

"You see,
the Moon Family can't affect you," Taller told her conspirato
ri
ally
, "
because you
'
re not of the World."

"
I understand
,"
Tesa signed
,
mo
re
confidently than she felt. "I know
that you can
'
t hear
,"
Taller signed, after a brief pause
, "
but, tell me
,
can you make sounds?"

Tesa hesitated. "
Not like you
'
re used to hearing." Taller
'
s gesture
seemed like a shrug
. "
All the sounds humans

103

SILENT DANCES 103 make are unlike those I'm used to hea
ri
ng
.
Can

you lea
rn
new sounds?"

This was her weakest area. "
What kind?"

"The brood sound the parent makes to the chick.
You must speak to him

now, so that he'll know you when he hatches."
So, you really do
speak
to
the chick
. "
I'll need your help.

I can use this"--
Tesa indicated the voder-
-"
to show me how to match
the pitch
,
but I'll still have tòfeel
'
it in your throat." She tapped a code
into the voder and the screen came to life with flicke
ri
ng patte
rn
s.

"That
'
s
an
image of the wind chimes' noise." She tuned them out
.

"Okay,
I'm ready."

Taller took her hand in his feathered one. Tesa was fascinated by his

incredibly long, flat digits
. They looked
more like jointed feathers than

useful fingers, and the tiny, fine black feathers cove
ri
ng them we
re

like stiff, wi
ry
hairs.

Casually,
he drew her h
an
d to his chest, pulling it under his soft
,
white
feathers as he pressed her fingers against his keel. "Feel the sound

here
,"
he signed
.
He placed her other hand where his throat met his
bill
. "
And here."

His skin was hot to the touch,
and so thin she could feel his
ri
gid
, ri
bbed
tr
achea
.
On his keel, the feathers beneath the long surface ones were

sho
rt an
d fluffy
,
trapping the incredible heat that radiated through his
thin skin. His brood call rumbled against Tesa
'
s finge
rt
ips like a
combination of Bast
'
s purr and a dog
'
s low growl
.
It was oddly comfo
rt
ing.

Tesa looked at the sound patt
e
rn
s she'd have to match to imitate that