Silent Songs (49 page)

Bruce and his crew brought the aliens from the Hedford Shelter back to Florida, so operations could be centralized. The weatherman would've remembered to bring back coffee.

Tesa sipped it carefully. It was wonderfully fragrant, and so reminiscent of the coffee she'd grown up with she almost wept.

"You all right?" Javier signed.

She'd always been emotional, but lately it'd been worse. She was tired all the time, and sometimes burst into sobs for no reason. She wondered how long Javier would put up with it; she was getting on her
own
nerves.

"Fine. I'm fine," she reassured him, enjoying the coffee.

Lightning was hock-sitting beside her, and she offered him a sip. He had a hard time getting any out of the cup, but took such pleasure in the taste he did get, she had to smile. He handed her her woven Grus shirt. "I've preened it for you. I thought you'd want to look your best for the Irenic Captain."

"Thanks." Taking the lovely garment from him, Tesa slipped it over her camisole. Was Lightning giving her a subtle hint that she hadn't been taking very good care of herself lately? She found her hairbrush and pulled it through her knotted mop. "Has the Captain been down long?"

"About an hour," Javier signed. "Bruce has kept her occupied, showing her the Anurans' barracks."

282

Tesa nodded. They'd destroyed three barracks, but two had been

untouched. That's where they held the Chosen survivors.

She finished the coffee, tossed her brush in the corner, and crawled out. The small shelter had been built under a copse of trees, next to a pile of massive felled logs that lay strewn everywhere like a giant child's pickup sticks. The lean-to faced- the River, and now, the first thing she saw every morning was utter destruction. Crushed and fire-ravaged buildings were everywhere, as were broken trees and foliage. Damaged feathers littered the landscape.

It had taken them a whole day to remove the corpse of the Quaker who'd passed out in the River and drowned, trapping Jib and Taniwha. Tesa had lost count of the a-grav units they'd had to use to lift her. Fortunately, that old matriarch was the only mortality. The other collapsed behemoths had recovered and wandered off. However, because humans had attempted to stampede them, the giant animals held them responsible for their loss. At the first sight of Terrans now, they would attack.

And how long had it taken to remove all the dead Wind people, all the dead Hunters? Tesa remembered holding the body of Frost Moon and sobbing .. .

his large body had weighed so little with the life gone out of it. When they'd found Snowberry's shattered corpse, she could not make her voice carry his spirit to the Suns, she could only weep.

Thunder's mother, Rain, had suffered a broken wing, and they weren't sure if it would heal well enough for her to fly again. The Grus healer in Taller's tribe, Loves-the-Wind, had lost her mate and was so grief-stricken they didn't know if she'd recover. Four Singers had drowned before they'd learned their enemies' secret.

At least Jib had been able to convince the Grus and Aquila that the River Spirits were now their allies, that they would never hold their loved ones'

souls again. That had been the only relief the grieving avians would have from their war.

Javier squeezed her shoulder, and she returned to the present. He'd been busy since the day of the fight, helping the Grus healers, grafting feathers, assisting Szu-yi. And keeping Tesa together. She patted his hand and turned to see Thunder, who was perched on top of the lean-to.

"Good morning, Good Eyes," the raptor greeted her. "Did you sleep well?".

"Very well, my friend," she signed honestly. She hadn't dreamed in two weeks. "And you?"

283

"I never opened my eyes once the Suns set. I'm still catching up from all the sleep I missed these last weeks."

Tesa smiled. "Have you eaten yet?"

The avian stretched a wing. "Not yet. I'll wait a little while .. . maybe take another nap."

"I'll bet we can get someone else to find some food for you," Tesa assured her. The colony was ringed with Hunters, the trees laden with them. They would not leave until the last Anuran had left the World.

She followed Javier to meet the Captain, as Lightning, FliesTooFast, and the remnants of her cohort trailed along. Even Thunder hopped off her perch to join them. They'd become obsessively protective of her, since the war.

Many of the Grus had already left the colony for their own territories, except for a core of leaders, their mates, and cohorts who'd also vowed to remain until the last Anuran was gone. A group of young Gray Winds scouted breeding territory along the River. The Singers welcomed them and the Hunters, now.

Javier brought the group to a large building that had been some sort of science station. The humans had turned it into their center of operations. It was the building K'heera had been brought to when she'd been captured.

Tesa had never been inside it. She didn't intend to enter it now.

First-Light anticipated that, and went into the building without her and brought the Captain out. Bruce came with her, as well as a Heeyoon male who was her assistant.

The aged female was heavily scarred. Those marks indicated challenges in the Arena-of-Honor and were badges of glory her people considered attractive. J'karthha, obviously, had long ago earned the experience to be in charge of a troop of peacekeeping soldiers. Like most Simiu, the Captain wore nothing but an armband indicating her rank and station. The salmon-colored female's vivid purple eyes twinkled when she saw Tesa and she gave her, first, the Simiu greeting gesture, then followed it with a deep Mizari honor bow. Her assistant copied her gestures regally.

Tesa started to reciprocate, but the matriarch stopped her with a hand. When her mouth moved, Tesa remembered to turn her voder on, something she'd gotten out of the habit of doing.

".. . to greet you is
my
privilege, Honored Interrelator," the Captain was saying. "I am J'karthha, and this is my aide, SwiftPace. You're well? You suffered no injuries?"

Tesa thought of Snowberry and Frost Moon. She thought of Rain. Of Szu-yi.

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine, really."

284

"A terrible thing, what you endured, and all your people," the Captain said, after reading Tesa's answer. Sound nullifiers were perched prominently in her ears. She stepped down from the building, moved beside the Interrelator, and started walking. Everyone followed them. "You know, I've been in the Irenics for many years. It's been an exciting life. Lots of travel. I've dealt with colony skirmishes. A few small civil wars. A lot of diplomatic missions. But none of us has ever had to deal with a full-scale invasion. As you humans would say, we're treading water, trying to figure out what to do."

But Tesa had trod water harder than everyone else.

"Have you heard the
good
news?" J'karthha asked, glancing at Javier. He shook his head.

She stared at him. He had
good
news, and hadn't told her?

"Two Mizari vessels with a squadron of Irenics and some specially trained diplomats have overtaken the
Brolga."

That
was
good news, and she was heartened by it.

"The Captain and crew were all alive, if a little the worse for wear. It took a few hours to get the Anurans to surrender, but they finally did. Captain Stepp and her people were offered transport to the nearest space station, but they refused. They insisted on bringing the
Brolga
back here, so that's what they're doing. Additional crew from the Mizari vessels have joined them so they can have medical care and rest."

"Martin and his crew will be happy to hear that," Tesa signed to Javier.

"Yes, he will. . . but, you know ... I don't think they'll be going back with their ship," he told her.

"You mean, they want to stay here?"

'That's what I've heard," the Simiu reported. "You've got a lot to do to repair this damage. You'll need extra hands."

How odd,
Tesa thought. She'd expected them to take the first ship out of here. She looked up, saw a familiar building, and halted abruptly. "Where are you taking me?"

Javier glanced at her guiltily.

"Take it easy, darlin'," Bruce suggested.

The Simiu touched Tesa's arm gently. "We'll be transferring the Anurans onto our vessels today. We thought... as the Interrelator.. . you should speak to their leader before ... he leaves."

She felt manipulated and shot an angry glance at her lover, then at Bruce.

The cohort, including Thunder, read her body language and clustered around her protectively.

285

"Good Eyes," Javier signed pleadingly, "you need to face him. This one time. If you don't..."

She wouldn't heal, he'd told her. He insisted she had Posttraumatic Stress Syndrome. Szu-yi agreed with him. Even
she
had recommended her confronting the alien leader. Tesa had never actually refused, she'd just kept putting it off.

The Captain and her aide glanced at each other uneasily.

Javier moved closer to her. "You can put this behind you," he signed to her privately. "But first you've got to
finish
it. You need to do this, for yourself ...

for
us.
So we can
begin. ..."

Tears filled Tesa's eyes, and when she tried to blink them away, they fell in a small flood down her face. She didn't want him to be right, but he was. She swallowed hard, wiped her face, and nodded, then glared halfheartedly at Bruce. "Don't think I haven't noticed the way you two are always scheming against me."

"Who,
us?"
Bruce protested with feigned innocence.

When she turned back to the Simiu, the Captain acted as if she hadn't witnessed her sudden bout of emotion. "Okay. Let's do it." Taking a deep breath, she started up the walkway. Only then did she notice Old Bear, Nadine, and Meg. She stopped to greet them.

Her grandfather pressed something into her hand. She gazed at it. It was a medicine bundle. "I had a dream," he signed, "so I made this. Nadine and Meg helped me put it together."

The bag was woven from the ruddy-colored reeds, and tied with the long stems of blood-of-the-World. It smelled like oranges and mint. "What's in it?"

Tesa asked, not wanting to unwrap it in front of the others.

"A charred piece of wood that was struck by a falling sled," he signed. "A sliver of Rain's bone they had to remove. A small bone from a Singer. A few hairs from a Quaker. One of Lightning's cinnamon feathers. A bit of Thunder's down. ... Some of Snowberry's and Frost Moon's blood."

Clutching the bag in her hand, Tesa felt the power of the sacred things inside it. "Thank you, Grandfather." They kissed, then Meg and Nadine hugged her and they walked away.

K'heera stood by the door of the First's house and opened it as they approached. She greeted the Interrelator formally, the Grus, the Aquila, Javier, then finally Captain J'karthha and her aide. Lastly, she greeted Bruce.

"My honored uncle," she signed.

He returned the Simiu greeting perfectly, then grinned.

The visitors returned the Simiu's greeting with the same honor they'd given Tesa. If it meant anything to K'heera, she kept it to

286

herself. When they were done, Tesa dropped to one knee and hugged her friend, and K'heera returned the embrace with as much hearty enthusiasm as she'd shown when they'd first been reunited.

"K'heera," Tesa signed, "I want you to talk to the Captain about how quickly we can get your hearing restored. Javier said that there were doctors on one of the luxury transports who have the facilities and the equipment and were willing to operate."

The young Simiu glanced at the Captain, then at Tesa. She ran a hand distractedly through her short mane. Szu-yi had been able to eliminate the pain from her teeth, but they were still blunted. "I don't think there will be time for that. .. ."

"Why not? What have we got
but
time?"

"Honored Interrelator," the Captain interjected, "we want the Honored K'heera to join us as we transport the Anurans to their Home. She has so much experience dealing with them. . . ."

"No!" Tesa signed sharply. The Captain stepped back, startled. "She's been through
enough]
She's
not
a diplomat; she's just an innocent person caught up in this mess. I'm not going to let her
endure
another day of dealing with these. .."

K'heera stopped her with a gentle hand. "Good Eyes, my most honorable friend, please listen. This was
my
idea. I
lived
with these people, with the First himself. I
know
them. I even came to care for some of them. I wasn't at StarBridge for long, but I
did
pay attention while I was there. I can help."

Tesa felt stricken. "But, K'heera, just because you're female doesn't mean you
have
to take on this responsibility. We could use your technical skills here, and on the
Singing Crane."
Gazing at the Simiu, Tesa realized that K'heera had made up her mind. Shamelessly, the human resorted to a personal plea. "I don't
want
you to go."

K'heera was visibly touched. "And I don't want to leave my uncle, or you, or my silent shadow, Thunder. But I must do this. It would be dishonorable for me not to."

"The Honored K'heera could never bring dishonor on herself ... or her
honored
family," the Captain stated firmly.

K'heera gestured her appreciation.

"Did you both know about this?" Tesa asked Javier and Bruce. Their blank expressions didn't hide their knowledge.

"Good Eyes," K'heera signed, "they only did what I asked. Now, come speak to the First. He is eager to meet you."

I'll
bet!
she thought, and stepped inside the building with K'heera, leaving her entourage outside.

287

Inside the first room, squatting by a low table, were four of the red and blue aliens. Three were obviously females, one a much larger male. Tesa recognized one of the females as an Industrious. She bustled out with platters of food and fussed over the two elders. The food was dried, not fresh, but attractively presented and came from the Anuran ship's seemingly inexhaustible supply. The third female helped serve the elders. She was plainly expecting a birth before long.