Silent Dances (25 page)

s plumage as she settled herself on the nest.

"Come outside and eat," Taller bid the human
, "while the food is still
fresh."

As she stepped out of the shelter into the full light of day, Tesa paused.

Every
thing about this mo
rn
ing on this alien world
,
with these alien
people
,
had seemed as normal as summer tipi camp. Now, she looked

at the marsh and felt a rush of ve
rt
igo
,
as if she were on a time

machine, hu
rt
ling so far back that she could see the Mennominees in

birchbark c
an
oes gathe
ri
ng
ri
ce in Wisconsin
,
or the Athabasca
whose name meant
"
a place of reeds
an
d grass eve
ry
where." Around
her the
re
was nothing but dist
an
t hills, marshl
an
d, tule hutches
,
and
swaying
re
eds.

Tesa could not see the lan
ding pad, the camp shelter, or the

shuttlecraft
.
She could have been the only human in the World
,
alone
with the White Wind people
.
B
re
athing deeply, she dr
an
k in the smell
of the
World,
the smell of her new home.

Holding her han
ds out
,
she prayed her th
an
ks for the beautiful
day and the healthy baby.

"A
re
you praying
?"
Taller asked
,
his head cocked to one
side. "We thought only First-One-There prayed, and only in
front of the
..."
His sign
meant
"
hard square
,
talking, signing."

Computer,
thought Tesa
.
He must've seen Meg obse
rv
ing a telecast of
a religious se
rv
ice
. "
The people of my world have

124

m
an
y diffe
re
nt beliefs
.
I like to sta
rt
my day with prayer."

"Tomorrow
,
we'll pray together, then
."
Taller was hocksi
tt
ing on the
platform
, re
moving food from mesh bags that could be carried over a

neck
an
d still permit flying. The
re
w
as
round
-
red fruit
,
hea
rt-
berries
,
large fe
rn
fiddleheads so tender they could be eaten raw
, an
d a pile of
bivalves
.
The shimme
ri
ngs we
re
eve
ry
whe
re,
thous
an
ds of them,
an
d in the sunlight they we
re
even mo
re
sta
rt
ling
.
Suddenly she
noticed
an
alien object beside Taller
.
It was silver
,
oblong
-an
d not
from
Trinity.

"
What is
that
?"
she asked
Taller,
indicating the thing.
"
This? Well, I don

'
t know. I found it where the
re
eds begin. I thought you might've

dropped it. It w
as
caught on the
re
eds by this webbed mate
ri
al
."
He
indicated the ca
rry
ing strap as he h
an
ded the object to Tesa.

"Oh," she signed,
feeling both foolish
an
d delighted,
as
she took it. "It
'
s
an
insulated container." She uncapped it
an
d found a drawing inside

the top
-
the ASL "I love you" sign. "Relaxed must have brought it this
mo
rn
ing."

At the sight of Thorn'
s name
-
sign
,
Taller's crown fla
re
d suddenly
, an
d his feathers fluffed
.
Surp
ri
sed by his
re
action, Tesa explained
, "
It's
f
re
sh
,
hot coffee
.
Won't you t
ry
some?"

The avian'
s
re
action subsided. "Yes, that would be nice." Picking up a
long
,
nar
ro
w bivalve shell, Tesa pou
re
d him a taste
.
Taller clacked
his bill
as
he savo
re
d the d
ri
nk
.
For once, he did not spray it eve
ry
whe
re. "
Interesting
,"
he decided. "It's be
tt
er each day."

"If we leave the empty
container where you found it, Relaxed might b
ri

ng us mo
re
tomorrow
."
Tesa ca
re
fully watched
Taller'
s reaction to
this suggestion.

For a moment the avian
seemed to be warring with his own feathers
,
but

finally
,
he slicked them all down. "Puff told us that humans guard their
ter
ri
to
ry,
but not against
everyone."

"
Not against
friends,"
Tesa ag
re
ed.

"I've never understood that,"
he signed bluntly,
"
but you may find it hard
to underst
an
d us." He indicated the sweep of marsh
. "
Here
,
we get
plenty of rain
an
d food
,
but it
'
s not like that eve
ry
whe
re
in the World
, an
d it isn
'
t like that here eve
ry
fruiting season
.
Because I'm the
leader
,
because I found this place to live
,
Weaver
an
d I have the best
ter
ri
to
ry.
For years, we have had no child
re
n."

125

SILENT DANCES 125 He paused
,
as if
re
membe
ri
ng
. "
All those
empty eggs we
re
hard on Weaver
.
We allowed others to share our

food
,
so they wouldn
'
t fight us for it
an
d splinter the people
'
s loyalty.

Then the hum
an
s came
.
Since then
,
we've been p
re
ssured mo
re an
d mo
re
for this place
.
I've allowed others to sha
re
it, hoping to keep
the people's loyalty
.
But once we knew our egg was fe
rt
ile
,
that we
would have a child
--
then we couldn't sha
re
anymo
re
."

His signs slowed. "
The egg ch
an
ges us," he explained carefully. "It
makes us jealous
.
Allowing you to come here was difficult, but now we

accept you as our partner. Relaxed is not our pa
rt
ner
,
and he does

not endu
rè
the look.' I'm not sure how I feel about his presence in our

ter
ri
to
ry, an
d I'm not sure how I feel about his inte
re
st in you
."
Taller
re
ached over
an
d moved a stone
. "
Are you in love with Relaxed?"

"I don'
t think so ..." Tesa felt confused, "not yet."

"You speak like a youngster being cou
rt
ed for the first time
."
That
familiarity seemed to comfo
rt
him
. "
I'll
re
tu
rn
the container where I
found it. If Relaxed comes, I'll tolerate him." He handed her
the
stone. "I
made this for you."

It was a well-crafted stone knife, made to fit her palm. "It's beautiful," Tesa signed, an
d
re
ached for a bivalve. Its tough muscle yielded easily.

Taller looked on indulgently. "
By the time the chick grows fingers you'll

be an expe
rt
," he assu
re
d her. The little one's fingers would grow out
of his wings as his feathers did.

A flash of white among the re
eds caught Tesa
'
s eye
.
Taller must
'
ve
seen it also, since he was inst
an
tly on his feet, patrolling the platform

with long, purposeful st
ri
des. Tesa could see several Grus near the

bounda
ry
of clear water.

Why are they here?
she wonde
re
d
,
conce
rn
ed.

Taller fluffed up, then dropped his head to his feet,
arching his body into

an ext
re
me bow--threatening the others to keep their distance
.
He was
fu
ri
ous
,
his crown longer and b
ri
ghter th
an
she had ever seen it. In
spite of this, a large male casually stepped out
fr
om the reeds into the

clear water.

Taller leaped into flight,
landing near the trespasser. The others took to

wing
,
but the lone male stood his ground. The two huge avians

squared off
,
eye to eye
,
then Taller rushed the str
an
ger
,
wings
outstretched
,
head extended. It was too much for the interloper
, an
d
he flew off
,
Taller following him a sho
rt
dist
an
ce before circling back
to the nest platform.

126

126 A.C.
Crispin
and Kathleen
O'Malley
T
ri
umphantly
,
the aged leader
threw his head back and called.

"Who was that?"
Tesa signed when Taller finally sat beside
her. "What did
he want?"

"That was Kills-the-Ripper," Taller signed. "
He was in the
escort yesterday, when Flies-Too-Fast was hurt."

"I remember
," Tesa
signed, recalling the avian that had been unable to
save the yearling.

"He's always wanted this territory,
and
the leadership of the White Wind

people. He hates your people." Taller paused, looking warily over the marsh.

"Last year, a Tree Ripper
destroyed his nest shelter and t
ri
ed to eat his
egg."

Tesa looked alarmed,
but Taller reassured her. "It happens to those who

nest too close to the trees. The Ripper is a formidable neighbor
,

usually tolerant of us, but if he has the urge to eat egg, it's usually safer

to let him have it and lay another. But Ripper
'
s egg was talking and he

could not bear to see his son devoured
.
He rushed the huge animal

and pierced him through the eye,
ri
ght into his brain, killing him. And

he has been ve
ry
hard to live with ever since."

I guess so,
Tesa thought,
amazed.

"The people were swayed by that," Taller signed, "but,
yesterday
,
when he
couldn
'
t catch the chick, he lost some of his name
's glory
. He may t
ry
to gain it back some other way."

"As your pa
rt
ner
,
what should I do
?"
she
as
ked.

"Protect our son," Taller told her. "Now, enjoy your breakfast while it's still fre
sh."

The rest of the day seemed,
if anything
,
a lazy vacation filled with food
, re
st, and the care of a caref
re
e infant
.
This was the most relaxing time
Tesa had had since the day she had been passed over for her tapping.

She learn
ed the sto
ri
es on the shelter
'
s walls, though she still couldn

'
t see their image
ry,
and fed the sleepy chick whenever he demanded
.

Tesa couldn't b
ri
ng herself to kill the lovely shimme
ri
ngs
,
so instead
she offered
other things
.
He needs a
balanced diet
,
she told herself.

As the suns dipped close to the hori
zon
,
Tesa pulled her star quilt out of

her backpack to incorporate it into her bed. When Weaver saw it, she

became as inte
re
sted as Taller had been when he'd seen it in the

Quonset hut.

"May I have time to study this?" Weaver as
ked, pee
ri
ng at the quilt
,
first
with one eye
,
then the other.

"
Of course
,"
Tesa ag
re
ed.

127

SILENT DANCES 127 "This design is giving me ideas ..." Weaver signed,

"but I'll need time to think about it."

Once darkness crept through the shelter, Taller went to stand one-legged in

the marsh, to guard his family through the night. It was too early for Tesa to

even think of sleep, so she slipped outside. This would be a good time to

look at Scott's electronic markers.