The Elder Gods (3 page)

The female dolphins were taking turns feeding the infant, and Zelana noticed that the child seemed to be very affectionate. The dolphins were a bit startled by kisses at first, but after a while they even enjoyed being kissed by the grateful child, and sometimes there were even arguments about whose turn it was to nurse. The arguments broke off abruptly when the child sprouted teeth and began chewing on whatever was handy, though. Her diet changed at that point, and the dolphins offered her fish instead of milk. She still kissed them by way of thanks, so everything seemed all right again.

Since the child had always been fed in the shallow pool at the grotto’s mouth, she was swimming even before she began to grow teeth, but she started walking—and running—not long after her diet changed, and she was soon toddling about the grotto, squeaking dolphin words as she went. She returned to the water whenever she grew hungry, however. The dolphins were careful to keep her more or less confined to the water at the mouth of the grotto, but they took to chasing fish in from the deeper waters of Mother Sea to give the child some experience in the business of catching her own food.

When the summer of the child’s third year arrived, she ventured out of the grotto to join the younger dolphins in their forays along the coast of the Isle of Thurn. She spent her days now frolicking with the young dolphins and eating the bounty of Mother Sea.

Zelana approved of that. The child’s independence freed her mistress at last so that she could return to poetry and music.

The young dolphins called the child “Beeweeabee,” but Zelana didn’t really think that was appropriate, since it approximately translated into “Short-Fin-With-No-Tail.” Despite her habits and her companions, the little girl was still a land animal, so Zelana unleashed her poetic talents and ultimately arrived at “Eleria.” It had a nice musical sound to it, and it rhymed with several very pleasant words.

The little girl didn’t really seem to care for the name, but after a while she
would
answer to it when Zelana called her, so the name more or less did what it was supposed to.

The seasons continued to turn, but Zelana had long since realized that they could do that on their own, so she didn’t have to prompt them.

Then, in the autumn of Eleria’s fifth year, Dahlaine came by again. “How are things progressing with your child, dear sister?” he asked Zelana.

“It’s a bit hard to say,” Zelana replied. “I haven’t had any contact with the man-creatures for more than ten eons, and I’m sure they’ve changed in that many years. I can’t really be sure what’s normal for them at Eleria’s age. She spends most of her time in the water, though, so she doesn’t stink the way most of her kind did when I turned my back on them.”

“Where is she?” Dahlaine asked, looking around the grotto.

“Probably out playing with her friends,” Zelana said, “most likely somewhere along the coast of the Isle.”

“She has friends?” Dahlaine seemed a bit surprised. “I didn’t know there were any people here on the Isle.”

“There aren’t, and even if there were, I wouldn’t permit her to associate with them.”

“You’re going to have to get over that, sister. Eventually she
will
be required to have dealings with her own kind.”

“What for?”

“She’ll have to tell them what they’re supposed to do, Zelana. If her playmates aren’t people, what exactly are they?”

“Dolphins, of course. She and the young dolphins get along very well.”

“I didn’t know that dolphins can move around on dry land.”

“They can’t. Eleria swims with them.”

“Are you mad?” Dahlaine almost screamed. “She’s only five years old! You can’t just turn her loose in Mother Sea like that!”

“Stop worrying so much, Dahlaine. She swims almost as well as her playmates do, and she finds most of her food out there in deep water. It saves me all sorts of time. She feeds herself, so I don’t have to bother. She
does
seem to like berries—when they’re in season—but most of the time she eats fish.”

“How does she cook them if she’s out there in the water?”

“What is ‘cook’?” Zelana asked curiously.

“Just a custom, really,” Dahlaine replied evasively. “You ought to try to keep her out of deep water, though.”

“Why? She swims mostly along the surface, so what difference does it make how much water’s down below her?”

Dahlaine gave up. There was just no talking with Zelana.

2

T
hough Zelana would not have admitted it even to herself, her life was much more pleasant now that she had Eleria to love and to care for. Since Eleria was able to find her own food and she had playmates enough to keep her occupied, her presence in the grotto in the evenings was hardly any inconvenience at all. Zelana was still able to create poetry and compose music, and Eleria served as a ready-made audience. She loved to have Zelana sing to her, and she seemed to enjoy listening to the recitation of Zelana’s poems—even though she didn’t understand a single word. She was now well into her sixth year, but she continued to speak exclusively in the squeaky, piping language of the dolphins.

Zelana considered that. It wasn’t really all that much of a problem, since she herself was also fluent in that language. She decided, though, that perhaps one of these days she might teach the young one the rudiments of the language she spoke and shared with her sister and her brothers. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Zelana had discovered that Eleria was very quick.

As it turned out, however, Eleria was about two jumps ahead of her. Zelana had been reciting poetry to the child since Eleria’s infancy, and one day in the early autumn of Eleria’s sixth year Zelana happened to overhear the child reciting one of the poems to her playmates, translating each line into their own language as she went along. Zelana’s poetry took on whole new dimensions when delivered in the squeaks and burbles of the dolphin language. Zelana was fairly sure that the young dolphins weren’t really all that interested in poetry, but Eleria’s habit of rewarding their attention with kisses and embraces kept them obediently in place. Zelana was very fond of dolphins herself, but the notion of kissing them had never occurred to her. Eleria, however, seemed to have discovered early in her life that dolphins would do almost
anything
for kisses.

Zelana decided at that point that it might not be a bad idea to start paying closer attention to the progress of the young child. Lately it seemed that every time she turned around, Eleria had a new surprise for her.

“Eleria,” she said a bit later, when the two of them were alone in the grotto.

Eleria responded with a squeaky little dolphin sound.

“Speak in words, child,” Zelana commanded.

Eleria stared at her in astonishment. “It is not proper that I should, Beloved,” she replied quite formally. “
Thy
speech is not to be used for mundane purposes or ordinary times. It is reserved for stately utterances. I would not for all this world profane it by reducing its stature to the commonplace.”

Zelana immediately realized where she had blundered. In a peculiar sort of way she’d treated Eleria in much the same way the child was now treating her dolphin playmates. Eleria had been something on the order of a captive audience—but not quite completely captive. The child had drawn her own conclusions. There was a certain logic behind Eleria’s conviction that Zelana’s language was reserved for poetry alone, since the only times when Zelana had spoken that language to her had been during those recitations. Ordinary conversations between them had been in the language of the dolphins.

“Come here, child,” Zelana said. “I think it’s time for us to get to know each other a bit better.”

Eleria seemed apprehensive. “Have I done something wrong, Beloved?” she asked. “Are you angry with me because I told your poems to the finned ones? You didn’t want me to do that, did you? Your poems were love, and they were for me alone. Now I have spoiled them.” Eleria’s eyes filled with tears. “Please don’t make me go away, Beloved!” she wailed. “I promise that I won’t do it again!”

A wave of emotion swept over Zelana, and she felt her own eyes clouding over. She held out her arms to the child. “Come to me,” she said.

Eleria rushed to her, and they clung to each other. Both of them were weeping now, yet they were filled with a kind of joy.

Zelana and Eleria spent all of their time together in the grotto after that. The dolphins brought fish for Eleria to eat, and the trickling spring provided water, so there was no real need for the child to go out into Mother Sea. Her playmates were a bit sulky at first, but that soon passed.

Zelana spent many happy hours teaching Eleria how to create poetry and how to sing. Zelana’s poetry was stately and formal, and her songs were complex. Eleria’s poetry was still of a more ancient form, but much more passionate, and her songs were simple and pure. Zelana was painfully aware that the child’s voice, clear and reaching upward without effort, was more beautiful than her own.

Eleria eventually came to realize that the language she had come to know as the language of poetry had a more colloquial form which they could use for everyday communication. She still insisted on calling Zelana “Beloved,” however.

It was in the autumn of Eleria’s seventh year when the child went out to play with her pink friends again. Zelana had suggested that Eleria had been neglecting them of late, and it was not really polite to do that.

Late that day Eleria returned to the grotto with a strange glowing object.

“What
is
that pretty thing, child?” Zelana asked.

“It’s called a ‘pearl,’ Beloved,” Eleria replied, “and a very old friend of the dolphins gave it to me—well, she didn’t exactly give it to me. She showed me where it was, though.”

“I didn’t know that pearls could grow so large,” Zelana marveled. “It must have been an enormous oyster.”

“It was huge, Beloved.”

“Who is this friend of the dolphins?”

“A whale,” Eleria replied. “She’s very old, and she lives near that islet off the south coast. She joined us this morning and told me that she wanted to show me something. Then she led me to the islet and took me down to where this enormous oyster was attached to a reef. The oyster’s shell was almost as wide across as I am tall.”

“How did you pry it open if it was that big?”

“I didn’t have to, Beloved. The old whale touched the shell with her fin, and the oyster opened itself for us.”

“How very peculiar,” Zelana said.

“The old whale told me that the oyster wanted me to have the pearl, so I took it. I
did
thank the oyster, but I’m not sure it could understand me. It was a little hard to swim and hold my pearl at the same time, but the old whale offered to carry me back home.”

“Carry?”

“Well, not exactly. I rode on her back. That is
so
much fun.” Eleria held the pearl up. “See how it glows pink, Beloved? It’s even prettier than the ceiling of our grotto.” She nestled her pearl, which was about the size of an apple, against her cheek. “I
love
it!” she declared.

“Did you eat today?” Zelana asked.

“I had plenty earlier today, Beloved. My friends and I found a school of herring and ate our fill.”

“Did the whale have a name, by any chance?”

“The dolphins just called her ‘mother.’ She isn’t really their mother, of course. I think it’s more like a way to let her know that they love her.”

“She speaks the same language as the dolphins?”

“Sort of. Her voice isn’t as squeaky, though.” Eleria crossed to her bed of moss. “I’m very tired, Beloved,” she said, sinking down onto her bed. “It was a long swim out to the islet, and mother whale swims faster than I do, so even though she slowed down, I had trouble keeping up with her.”

“Why don’t you go to sleep, then, Eleria? I’m sure you’ll feel much better in the morning.”

“That sounds like a terribly good idea, Beloved,” Eleria said. “I’m really having trouble keeping my eyes open.” She lay back on her bed of moss with the glowing pink pearl cradled to her heart.

Zelana was puzzled, and just a trifle concerned. It wasn’t really natural for whales and dolphins to associate with each other in the way Eleria had just described, and Zelana was almost positive that they wouldn’t be able to speak to each other and be understood. Something very peculiar had happened today.

Eleria appeared to be sound asleep now, and her limbs had relaxed. Then, to Zelana’s astonishment, the glowing pink pearl rose up into the air above the sleeping child. Its pink glow grew steadily stronger, and the glow seemed to enclose Eleria.

“Don’t interfere, Zelana,” a very familiar voice echoed in Zelana’s mind. “This is necessary, and I don’t need any help from you.”

Eleria awoke somewhat later than usual the following morning, and she had a somewhat puzzled look on her face as she sat cross-legged on her bed of moss with her pearl in her hand. “Why do we sleep, Beloved?” she asked.

“I don’t,” Zelana replied, “and I’m not sure exactly why other creatures seem to need to sleep every so often.”

“I thought you and I were of the same kind,” Eleria said. “We
look
very much alike—except that your hair is dark and glossy and mine is sort of yellow.”

“I’ve wondered about that myself. Maybe I’ve just outgrown the need for sleep. I
am
quite a bit older than you are, after all.” It was a simplified answer, but Zelana was quite certain that Eleria wasn’t quite ready for the real one just yet.

“Since you don’t sleep, you wouldn’t know about the strange things I seem to see happening while I’m asleep, would you?”

“They’re called ‘dreams,’ Eleria,” Zelana told her, “and I don’t think any other creature has the same kind of dreams you do. My brother Dahlaine told me that your dreams would be very special, and much more important than the dreams of the ordinaries. Did you have a dream last night that frightened you?”

“It didn’t particularly frighten me, Beloved. It just seemed very strange, for some reason.”

“Why don’t you tell me about it?” Zelana suggested.