Culture Shock: Part Two
Skywise sat up to his waist in warm salt water. The family was relaxing on Pip’s Beach, a gentle cove protected from high waves by natural rock jetties – the perfect place for a cub’s introduction to the water. And his lifemate was determined that their infant daughter be properly indoctrinated in the ways of the Bay pirates.
Savin sat a little further out. She cradled the three-month-old Quicksilver in her arms, keeping the baby’s mouth and nose just above the surface. Quicksilver giggled and cooed at the gentle lapping of the waves. Savin rocked her onto her back and held her floating on the water. Quicksilver flashed her mother a toothless grin. Savin gently lowered Quicksilver under the waves, just for a moment, then brought her up again. Quicksilver coughed and hiccupped, then laughed again.
“Be careful!” Skywise exclaimed.
“I’m not going to drown her!” Savin sighed, mildly infuriated. “She has to get used to the water. See, she’s fine. Didn’t swallow a drop, did you, pip?” she kissed Quicksilver’s cheek. “She’s a natural, aren’t you, 'Silver?”
Skywise got to his feet and moved to join her. He took Quicksilver in his arms and held her up. “Oh, look, her eyes are all red. How are you doing, little lass?” But Quicksilver, red eyes and all, was groping wildly for the thong that held the lodestone about her father’s neck. She made a frustrated noise as she could not reach her favorite pacifier.
**Fahr...** Savin sent with a measured firmness. **You agreed she’d be raised as much a pirate as a Wolfrider.**
“She’s just so little. I’m all for taking her south away from the white-cold, but do you have to dunk her before she can even hold her head up?”
Savin held out her hands and Skywise reluctantly parted with his daughter. “You have to get them used to water when they’re young, before they learn how to fear. Don’t you Wolfriders teach your babies to swim – in case they fall into a river or something?”
“Of course. But we wait until they’re at least a few turns old.”
Savin snorted. “By then they’ll be terrified to stick their heads in.”
Skywise blinked repeatedly, then raised his hand to rub his eyes. “Don’t – you’ll just get more salt in them,” Savin cautioned. “Don’t worry, your eyes will get used to it. So will hers. The younger we start, the better she’ll be at it.”
“Papa, Papa!” a little girl called from the beach. Skywise turned to see three-year-old Yun barrelling towards them. She threw herself into the water and did a frantic dog-paddle out to meet them. When she stood up, the water just came up to her chin, and she bobbed to keep her mouth clear of the swells.
“Oh, look at you, Yun,” Savin beamed. “You’re a great swimmer already!”
Yun giggled, almost swallowing a gulp of water. Skywise picked her up and set her on his hip. He glanced back at the beach, and saw Eyes High and Shale emerge from the shadows cast by the palms. Savin’s mother Gullwing appeared a moment later. If he craned his neck, he thought he could just make out the silhouette of Mardu as she lay in the shade.
Mardu hated the heat, hated the open water. But she was cautious by nature, and didn’t want her daughter at the Bay without her. Under other circumstances, Skywise might have considered it a lack of faith in him. But he was the first to admit he was a novice at parenting, and now with two daughters in tow he needed all the help he could get.
If he didn’t know her better, he would have wondered if she was not a little suspicious of Savin’s interest in her child. But jealousy was not in Mardu’s blood, nor was protectiveness. Like all Go-Backs, she saw her child as belonging to the entire tribe, and considered Savin’s desire to mother Yun perfectly natural. She just didn’t trust the land of burning sun and endless salty water.
“I just gave Quicksilver her first swimming lesson,” Savin reported. Yun giggled.
“Did she like it?”
“A whole lot more than you did.”
Yun crinkled her nose at the memory. “I got water up my nose.”
“And that why’s you have to remember not to breathe in, little pip,” Savin said. “Oh, look at you – the sun’s already turning your hair lighter. You’ll have a mane as white as your papa’s before long.”
Yun hugged Skywise’s ribs tightly, delighted beyond words at the notion of looking even more like her father. Then she flung herself back into the water and clumsily swam back to shore.
“She loves it down here,” Skywise said. “I don’t know how much she’ll want to go back to the Frozen Mountains after getting a taste of island life.”
“You all need to move south,” Savin said matter-of-factly.
“We aren’t made for the sea.”
“Then how about the mainland? Come on, you’ve seen the rainforests along the Green River. Now that’s a ‘green-growing place’ to put your Thorny Mountain to shame.”
“I don’t think the heat’s for everyone. Some of us love the snow too much.”
“I can’t imagine why.”
“Just as some of us can’t imagine why you’d teach a baby to swim before it can walk,” Skywise teased. “Your way of life is just as... strange to the Wolfriders as our way is to you.”
“Mmh,” Savin said neutrally. Skywise slipped an arm around her shoulder.
“Hey, don’t worry. You’ll get used to our way. And eventually I’ll get used to yours. Swift and Rayek took years to reach a real meeting of the minds – they were still squabbling a few days before the twins were born. Tyldak and Dewshine used to spend half their time screaming at each other and the other half ‘apologizing.’ They’ve always loved each other, of course – but they’re only now starting to actually like each other. Compared to the other two-tribe lifemates, I don’t think we’re doing too badly.”
Savin hiked back to the beach, Quicksilver cradled in her arms. Skywise followed. He collapsed in the shade next to the grandparents, and Savin set Quicksilver in the little hammock arranged between two trees. The baby fussed in the hammock for a moment, before the gentle rocking her struggles provoked lulled her into a peaceful sleep.
Savin gave her hair a quick comb, then sat down next to her mother. Yun was bouncing in Shale’s lap, trying to coax her grandfather into the ocean for a swim. Eyes High stretched out on her stomach, then twisted to readjust the scanty cloth wrap about her hips. “Mmm, I love this sun,” she murmured. “I loved it in Sorrow’s End and I love it here.” She lay her head on her folded arms, revealing a crop of freckles appearing on her bare shoulders.
“You have to come down to this part of the world,” Gullwing said. “Really, I can’t imagine why you would choose to live in a place where it’s so cold the water actually turns rock hard and the rain is frozen solid.”
“Only half of the year,” Shale protested. “And it’s not like we’re not used to it. Our wolves grow nice thick coats to keep warm, and we bundle up inside our dens and wait for the new-green.”
“Your... trees,” Gullwing murmured.
“And go hungry sometimes,” Savin pointed out.
“Well... in the past,” Shale nodded. “But Swift’s mother taught us the wisdom of smoking and storing meat for the winter. It doesn’t taste particularly good, but–”
“Well, then it’s settled,” Gullwing said. “You need to move to a place where there is no ‘white-cold’ and no famines, and no need to stockpile food. You Wolfriders seem to like exploring – why, from what you’ve told me you’ve been in cold forest, desert, and mountains at the very end of the world.”
“Not by choice,” Shale said. “Circumstances... forced us a little. Our hearts have always longed for the forests of our youth.”
“Mm... this sun makes you so sleepy,” Eyes High sighed.
“We should probably be getting back to the tribe,” Shale said.
“It’s too cold for Quicksilver,” Savin said coolly. “She’s just a baby.”
“She’s right, Shale,” Eyes High said dreamily. “Let’s give it another month or so, hmmm? Cubs born in death-sleep always have such a hard time their first white-cold.”
Yun was poking Shale now, trying to get him up. Shale caught her in his arms. “You were born in the white-cold, weren’t you? It’s always the white-cold in the Frozen Mountains. You did all right, didn’t you?”
Yun giggled as he gave her a merciless tickling.
Mardu struggled up from her resting place. She shuffled over to the others and sat down on the sand. The scraps of leather she worn about her lanky frame revealed badly surnburned flesh. A blotchy heat-rash had overtaken her face. “Nh... I can’t stand this wet heat much longer,” she moaned. “I’m going back to Thorny Mountain, even if you’re not.”
“Noooo...” Yun moaned. “I wanna stay here, Mama.”
“You’re a Go-Back, not a fish, Yun.”
“But I love swimming. And I love all the yummy fruit. We don’t have bananas and mangoes and star-fruit and spine-apples at Thorny Mountain! We don’t have anything at Thorny Mountain now! Just snow!”
“Just snow? From a Go-Back? You’re getting soft down here with these fish, Yun.”
“Papa!” Yun wailed. “Gran’pa! I wanna stay!”
“Oh, she’s got a set of lungs,” Mardu sighed. “And she knows how to twist a lad around her finger.”
“We’ll see what we can do, Yun,” Skywise said. “It’s up to your mother in the end. But maybe we can work something out.”
Yun’s aborted tantrum had woken Quicksilver, who began to struggle in the hammock and make the half-choking sounds Savin recognized as the prelude to a hungry yowl. “Someone needs a little snack, I think,” Savin said, getting to her feet.
She turned her face from the others quickly so they would not see the frustration and brooding sadness in her eyes. There was a current of impatience to leave in Shale and Mardu’s voices. She could tell Skywise was starting to think wistfully of the north himself. It would not be long before he too would start talking about returning to the land where the water froze in the creeks and the forest died every year.
* * *
Savin stood opposite Swift, her arms defiantly crossed over the modest swell of her abdomen. It was early autumn, and Savin was almost a year into her pregnancy. The leaves were slowly turning golden and red on the trees surrounding Thorny Mountain Holt.
“We spent the better part of a day looking for you! What on earth possessed you to go wandering off?” Swift demanded.
“I wasn’t wandering!” Savin retorted. “I was tracking.”
“All alone. On the forest floor. In your condition.”
“What condition? You make it sound like I’m sick.”
“You could have crossed paths with a bear, or a boarwolf... or a human!”
Savin rolled her eyes. “I’ve been here a whole year, and I’ve never even seen one of your boar-dogs or your humans! I’m not a child, Swift. I know how to take care of myself. I hiked all the way up here from the Great Spur myself.”
“You carry the next generation of the Wolfriders–”
Savin raised a finger threateningly. “Don’t. Just don’t. Don’t make me out to be the lifebearer of your whole tribe. This isn’t a Wolfrider cub and I’m not a Wolfrider breeder. This is my child, and my responsibility, not yours!”
Swift’s brow darkened. “A child belongs to the whole tribe.”
“I’ll be damned if she does!” Savin’s freckles blended together in an angry red flush. “This is my child, and Skywise’s. She belongs to us, and no one else. And I belong to myself and to Skywise, and no one else! And I’m not a little pip who needs to prove her own instincts. And I’ll act as my heart tells me and no other way!”
Swift glared at her, trying to stare her down. Savin glared back, her gaze unwavering.
“Are you challenging?” Swift growled, showing a hint of her pointed canines.
“No, I’m not pokin’ challenging! I’m mad, is what I am! Can’t anyone in this damned tribe get mad without challenging everyone else?”
“A wolf pack can only thrive if–”
“I AM NOT A WOLF!”
* * *
Savin looked down at her nursing daughter and fought back a sob of frustration. How much simpler every had seemed in those first few days after their Recognition. There had been nothing but joy and anticipation of the child to come.
“I’m not a wolf,” she whispered softly.
But Skywise wasn’t a pirate.
Savin took Quicksilver back to their hut to rest as the heat of the afternoon beat down on Green Moon Bay. Mardu retreated into her hut to sleep off her sunstroke. Shale and Eyes High took Yun for a walk. And Skywise was left alone with his thoughts.
He missed the snow too, though he’d never admit it to Savin. Everytime he had tried to broach the subject of returning to Thorny Mountain, the same response came. “She’s too little.”
She would always been too little, Skywise suspected.
He had to admit, the heat wasn’t too hard to stomach, though. The sun had burned his eyes at first, but he was getting used to it now. The cool water everywhere was so refreshing, as were the breezes that drifted in at dusk. And the moonlight set the bay glowing like an emerald at midnight. Skywise could see why the Islander ancestors had chosen to settle here in the crescent-shaped bay.
The stars were different here: new shapes to learn and name passed over his head every night.
But he missed the forest. Beach and scrubland trees and the little crescent of rainforest in the middle of the narrow island couldn’t compare with the wonder of a true green-growing place. He missed the wolves. He missed his family; the close camaraderie of his tribe. The Islander tribe was so vast, sprawling over so wide a territory, that their way of life seemed the most alien of all tribes they had yet encountered.
Twelve years ago, we thought there were no more than twenty-two elves in the world, Skywise thought to himself. Four years ago we never imagined humans and elves could live side-by-side. And a few months ago we never thought that there were hundreds of elves we’d never met, elves who live in a land where winter is summer – elves who learned to get along with both humans and trolls ages ago.
Elves who were so numerous they had spread themselves over so many holts, given themselves other names and other customs.
“Aren’t you all one tribe?” Skywise had asked Savin’s brother Loosestrife.
“Tribe?” the pirate captain had chuckled. “You Wolfriders have such queer sayings. ‘Tribes’ are for humans.”
Skywise had ignored the passing taunt. “But you’re all one folk, aren’t you? Islanders, and seafarers, cove-folk and pirates?”
“Of course not! Anyone can live on the Islands and call themselves an Islander! And that’s all some want to be. The cove folk – paugh! Kelp farmers, and all a bit bubbly in the head if you ask me. And the lot from Greywake and Eastward Isle – seafarers, sure, but not pirates. They couldn’t handle a three-masted tall ship like the Mura. You have to come from Green Moon Bay to be a real pirate!”
Skywise had only frowned at him, completely baffled. “So you’re three or four different tribes?”
“Well, no. I mean, Evergreen could travel to Farthest Isle and snap them to attention. So could I, you know! Bloody hell, Green Moon Bay is Mura’s Line. Even fin-wrists respect that. We’re all Islanders. But we’re not... ‘one tribe’! Not like your lot.”
Your lot. Skywise could hear the contempt rich in Loosestrife’s voice.
“Bloody sightseers,” he had overheard Loosestrife moaning when they arrived at Green Moon Bay for their visit.
Skywise paced down the slope overlooking Big Beach. Out over the jewel-green waters lay Race Rock, a veritable fortress of rockshaped homes and tunnels. Skywise squinted out over the quarter-mile distance. The docks were filled with outriggers – the fishers had already returned from their morning hunt for silversails.
He reached the outskirts of the settlement, passed the smaller huts that guarded the edges of the jungle. Old Whistler was fast asleep in his hammock, rather than up at his lookout atop the palm tree. His conch shell lay idle in the sand. Skywise chuckled. He imagined if Loosestrife or Evergreen passed by, they would box Whistler’s ears. But Skywise couldn’t understand the need for someone to keep eyes high for something as harmless as a thunderstorm.
The town was bustling, even in the middle of the afternoon when many elves were holed up in their huts to avoid the noon sun. Skywise caught sight of a few familiar faces – Sandpiper, Derris, Skelter, Ray. But he also saw other elves, faces he couldn’t place. Some smiled at him. Some glanced his way with barely concealed suspicion. Others simply looked right through him.
He felt like he was in middle of a human nest. So many faces. Somehow, in Sorrow’s End and the Go-Back lodge, he had been able to accept the greater number of elves. Forty elves, while a mob to his reckoning, could still be named and remembered. In Blue Mountain, the Gliders were all so soulless that they blended together, more like living decorations than elves. But here – here was endless noise and a confusion of scents, and over a hundred elves who lived and worked and shouted together on one small island no bigger than their hunting territory at Thorny Mountain. No wonder the blooded Wolfriders seldom came to Green Moon Bay. The sensory overload must be terribly painful.
Several pips were racing crabs in the sand as Skywise crossed the flat plain to the center of town and the tavern. He passed a pair of the small dun-coloured near-wolves the Islanders kept as guard animals and mousers. The near-wolves were fighting over a bone, but instead of leaving them to their quarrel, one of the pips ran up to take the bone away. The larger near-wolf nipped the other, provoking a whimper and yip. The child shouted a warning and rapped the larger near-wolf on the head. The near-wolves backed down and immediately resumed their playful games.
“Why did you do that?” Skywise asked.
“What?” the boy asked.
“Why did you break up the fight?”
“They could have hurt each other.”
The boy would probably have thought him insane if he had explained the Way of wild wolves. But then the child had no interest in learning Skywise’s ways, and the boy returned to his game without a backward glance.
They were an intensely private people, Skywise had learned. Even more so than the Sun Folk. Many matters were off-limits in public conversation, sending rather than speaking was seen as impolite, and lovematings were often the result of a complicated courtship.
They were more than private, he decided. They were remarkably self-sufficient and independent. For the life of him, he couldn’t decide what Savin’s half-sister Evergreen did as leader, besides settle the occasional trade dispute. Everyone knew their duty, everyone did what suited their means. Save for the disciplined crew on the Lady Mura, there was little interdependency. The oft-heard phrase directed at the visiting Wolfriders was “That’s none of your concern,” and it applied to most areas of life.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the great three-masted sailing ship, the Lady Mura, tethered at its wooden dock. The wood was not treeshaped, but cut and shaped by metal tools. Little was done with magic, Skywise realized. Healing was accomplished with herbs and common sense. Rocks were shaped with muscle and patience. And in striking contrast to Sorrow’s End, the few magic-users at Green Moon Bay were not held up as role models and heroes, but were viewed simply as tribemates like any other.
He caught sight of the long building at the center of town, and he made directly for it.
The tavern was deserted, the chairs pulled up to the tables. But Corbie was behind the storage-counter, polishing her green glasses. She smiled warmly at Skywise. Corbie was the perfect drink-maiden, armed with a gentle voice, a patient ear, and a voluptuous figure that Skywise would have found very entrancing before his Recognition to Savin.
“Hey, wolf-boy,” she greeted. “Rum?”
“Mm, a large one.”
“You look a little down, silver hair. It’s a little too early to get drunk... and a little too late to be chasing a hangover.”
“I need... to sort out my thoughts.”
“Aw, rum won’t do that. It’ll just mess you up more. How about a little something to open your eyes. A Shipwreck, maybe? Or how’s about a Scarlet Revenge.”
“Wait... what’s that?” Skywise pointed to a bottle of bright green liqueur.
“Ah... Lime Lantern.” Corbie reached down into the drum of wet sand that kept the drinks cool and hauled out a bottle of clear liquid. She filled a glass halfway, then added a generous splash of the bright green liqueur. Skywise took a sip and his eyes widened at the tart taste and the smooth texture.
“Don’t let it fool you, though–” Corbie began. But Skywise had already drained the glass in three long draughts.
“Another.”
Corbie shrugged as she refilled the glass. “It’s your grave you’re digging, my friend.”
* * *
Savin sat on the bed, gently rocking the infant Quicksilver. The crystal wall of the Palace was semi-transparent, showing the whirling blizzard outside. Though inside the Palace it was warm as a spring afternoon, Savin drew the sleepfur over her shoulders at the sight of the blizzard.
“Come on outside,” Skywise begged. “We’re going for a hunt.”
“No, I’d rather not.”
“Father can watch the cub, don’t worry. Come on, you’ve hardly set foot outside the Palace since it started snowing. And Moonshade made Quicksilver a nice little bundle suit to wear outside.”
“I’m not going out in that weather.” Savin hugged Quicksilver to her breast. “And neither is Quicksilver. I want to stay in here.”
“The blizzard’s not that bad–”
“I said no, Fahr.”
Skywise sat down on the edge of the bed. “I know you’ve been feeling tired since the baby came–”
“I don’t like the cold. You know that.”
“It’s natural to feel out of sorts. But you’ve got to get back up and–”
“I’m not a Wolfrider.”
“I never said you have to be. But the tribe misses you. And Swift’s getting worried–”
“I’m not a Wolfrider!”
There were tears in her eyes. She was fighting sobs as she looked back at her daughter.
Skywise crept closer. “What’s wrong, Nimh? What is it?”
“I’m not happy here.”
The words struck him like a dagger to the heart. He fumbled for the words. “Let... let me help you. How... how can I make you happy, Nimh?”
“I want to go home...”
“This is our home. The Palace. The... the mountain. I thought we decided–”
“We never decided... it just... happened.” Savin closed her eyes against the tears. “I want to go home,” she repeated. “I want see my mother... my sisters, my brother.”
Skywise rubbed her back. “Well, sure. Sure, we can go to Green Moon Bay for a while. You’ll... you’ll feel better when we get away from the cold for a bit. And when Quicksilver gets a bit older and we can both get a little more sleep... you’ll feel better.”
Savin continued to weep silently, and Skywise could only hold her. He didn’t know what else to say.
* * *
A drenching of cold water woke him up from his dulled memories. He looked up. He was still seated at the bar counter. Loosestrife stood at his side, holding the empty water glass over his head.
“Wake up, little brother,” Loosestrife teased.
His headpiece hung askew on his head, and Skywise glowered up through his bangs at his tormentor. Loosestrife was easily identifiable as Savin’s brother by his blue eyes, dancing with mischief, tousled auburn hair and wicked smile.
“That’s better,” Loosestrife sat down on the stool next to him as Skywise sputtered and wiped his face. “You Wolfriders can’t hold your medicine, can you?”
“I only ever had dreamberry wine to contend with before this,” Skywise murmured. “Didn’t know you could make other drinks like that.”
“Paugh. You can turn anything into drink if you put your mind to it.”
“Where’s... where’s Corbie?”
“Ah, I sent her away. Thought we could have a little chat, just the two of us, you know. About Savin.”
“What about Savin?”
“Don’t sound so suspicious, little brother. I’m only looking out for my girl, you know that.” He locked eyes with Skywise. “She’s not happy up in that cold north of yours. Everyone knows it.”
“Everyone does, does he?” Skywise felt his hackles rise.
“So... what are you going to do about it?”
“You don’t like me, do you, ’Strife?”
“Oh, I like you fine. You’re a good sort. And I know you love my sister, and she loves you. But let’s get one thing straight. We weren’t sitting around weeping that we were the only elves in the world before you lot showed up. We were quite happy, you know. And don’t think that anything is going to change just because you’re here, bouncing the Palace of the High Ones around like some island-hopping ferry. And I’ll be deep in the cold sea before I see my baby sister freezing her freckles off and riding those shaggy dogs of yours. She’s going to stay here in Green Moon Bay and bring her pip up properly.”
“And where do I fit in?”
“Well, I guess that’s up to you.”
Skywise grit his teeth. “This is between me and Savin, ’Strife.”
Loosestrife leaned forward, his expression frigid. “Don’t try to take my family from me, Wolfrider. It’ll get ugly, I promise you.”
Skywise got to his feet, his fist unconsciously balling. Just then Goldcinder burst into the tavern. “Loosestrife,” he called. Loosestrife continued to glare at Skywise, and Goldcinder called louder. “Oy, Captain! We’ve got something.”
Loosestrife abandoned Skywise and walked over to his lifemate. “What’s up, Cinder?”
“The sea. Big breakers off Shoal Point. You’d better come see.”
“I haven’t heard the alert.”
“That’s cause Whistler’s been asleep at his post. Come see.”
“What’s going on?” Skywise asked.
“Come and see for yourself,” Loosestrife shot back.
He did. He followed them out over the sand towards the northernmost point of the island. The rolling waves were coming in with great intensity, at Shoal Point, battering against the barrier reef that lay a quarter-mile out. The sky to the east looked ominous. Heavy gray stormclouds hung low on the horizon, and the crack and rumble of intermittent thunder was steadily approaching. Shale, Eyes High and Yun were standing on the rocks, watching the sea froth with foam. Yun was giggling, wide-eyed with delight. Shale and Eyes High looked uncomfortable.
“Listen to that roar...” Eyes High breathed. “Is it always like this?”
“No...” Goldcinder said. “This is storm sea.”
“Papa!” Yun turned to Skywise. “Papa, look at the sea!”
“Mmm, I see it,” Skywise nodded. “It looks like my stomach out there,” he added under his breath.
“What’s that sound?” Eyes High asked.
“What sound?” Loosestrife asked.
“That sound. A low note... like a... a tusk-hog moaning.”
“You’ll have to do better than that–” Loosestrife began. But then he heard it too. A deep bellow, loud and piercing on a clear day, but now almost drowned out by the sound of the rollers.
A single long blast of the conch shell. A hurricane alert from Eastward Isle.
A few moments later they heard the answering bellow from Green Moon Bay – three short calls from Whistler as he scrambled atop his lookout tower. A call for confirmation.
The long bellow returned, clearer now that they all strained to here it.
“Storm’s coming,” Loosestrife said.
“The wind’s blowing from the northeast,” Goldcinder said.
“It’ll be here by evening. Let’s go.”
“What’s happening?” Eyes High asked.
“The lookout on Eastward Isle’s spotted a hurricane.” Goldcinder pointed to the dark island on the eastern horizon. “If the wind holds it’ll be on us before nightfall. We’ve got to get the island ready.”
“What does that mean?”
“Lash up the boats and lock down the shutters on the huts,” Loosestrife said. “If it’s a baby, we hunker down for the night and hope the roofs don’t get too torn up. If it’s a bad one, we make for the caves and ask the wind not to take too many of our huts.”
The storm reached Green Moon Bay as the sun was beginning to set. First relatively innocuous rainclouds rolled overhead as everyone hastened to drag the outrigger canoes ashore and secure the rigging on the Lady Mura. Then the wind picked up as the warm rain began to fall. Suddenly rain was sheeting down like a waterfall, and the wind drove the sea into a frothing mass of whitecaps.
The shutters on the windows of the wooden shacks rattled angrily in the gale. Leaves and even small branches tore from the trees and flew out over the Bay. Everyone but the scouts remained indoors, listening to the storm’s fury. A handful of elves ran across the sand, flaming torches in hand, eyes fixed to the clouds.
“Shouldn’t we make for the caves?” Skywise shouted over the roar of the wind.
“Are you mad, lander?” Loosestrife laughed. “This is nothing!”
Skywise turned to Savin, her head cast back, her face tipped to the pouring rain. She was laughing.
“Savin!”
“Isn’t this great, Skywise?” she shouted back. “And you said you have rain at your Thorny Mountain. This is rain!”
“This is a bad dreamberry is what it is! You should be inside with the cub.”
“Come on, is this all you’ve got!” Savin taunted the storm.
Suddenly the rain stopped. The wind died. Everything became eeriely calm.
“What’s happening now?” Skywise asked.
“The eye of the storm,” Loosestrife called. “We’re halfway through already. Bloody hell – they sounded the alert for this? It’s hardly more than a squall!”
Savin was laughing hysterically now. She seemed to be shivering, but when Skywise rushed to her side to comfort her, she staggered away. “By Mura, I’ve missed this!” she shouted at the stormy sky. “It’s good to be home!”
Skywise looked down at the wet sand, struck by her words. He sensed a pair of eyes on him, and he glanced up. Loosestrife was smirking in the dim light.
Savin tripped and landed in the wet sand. Her torch went out, and she laughed again. “Well, come on, no point in standing around here. Let’s get inside before the other side catches up with us.”
“Sounds good,” Loosestrife said, his gaze still fixed on Skywise triumphantly.
* * *
“What’s wrong with the trees?” Savin asked Skywise as they stood overlooking the valley below. Savin had come to Thorny Mountain less than an eight-of-days before, and Skywise was still showing her around his home.
“Wrong with them? Nothing. Nothing that I know of.”
“Why are they all dying? Is the forest sick?”
“It’s death-sleep season. All the trees – except the spiny evergreen ones – all of them lose their leaves. Then white-cold comes, and snow falls everywhere. And then in the new-green, the trees grow their leaves back.”
“Snow...” Savin breathed. “I don’t think I’ll like snow. I know I don’t like the frost.”
“Oh, snow’s nothing like frost. It’s... it’s so beautiful. It coats the world in white... everything is so... so crisp and clean. And so quiet and peaceful.”
Savin nodded. “This forest is so quiet already. Nothing like the rainforests back home. Where are the sounds of birdsong and running water?”
“Can’t you hear the creek from here?”
“Oh, that’s not running water, Skywise.” She took his head. “When we go down to Green Moon Bay, you’ll see what I mean. Everything is alive and moving. And everything is warm. You’ll love it down there.”
“I’m sure I will, Nimh,” he smiled. “How could I not love the land that made you?”
* * *
The next day was clear and bright, and the Islanders spent the morning and afternoon clearing the wreckage from the storm. There was little damage, save to a few trees and an old storage shack that needed to be torn down anyway. A clear and starry night was falling when Savin turned up at the door of her sister’s hut. Evergreen grinned as she opened the door on its metal hinges. “Savin! Where’s my little niece?”
“Fast asleep, back with Skywise. I told him I needed a little time alone with my big sister.”
“Something in your face says that’s not the whole of the truth.”
“Never could fool you. Can I come in?”
“Do you need to ask?” Evergreen ushered her into the hut. A little metal pan was sitting over the central hearth, and the scent of spices hung in the air. Several chairs made of driftwood sat around the long wooden table. A young elf lad slouched in one chair, his boots braced up against the edge of the table.
“Hello, Skelter,” Savin said, giving his dark auburn hair a fluff. As she expected, Skelter’s scowled deepened. A storm cloud had hung over his head since he turned ten. Eight years later it showed no sign of lifting.
“Gale!” Evergreen stuck her head into the adjacent room and shouted. “Savin’s here. Come out and visit.”
A moment later Gale appeared, a similar stormcloud hanging over his face, and Savin guessed he had once again been deep in transcribing an ancient saga onto fresh paper.
He gave Savin a courteous nod. The two were old friends – had been a little more than friends once, when Evergreen’s first lifemate had lived. It seemed so long ago now.
“I’m frying some cuttlefish. You wanna stay for dinner?” Evergreen turned back to the fire.
“Ooh, yes, please,” Savin perked up.
Evergreen threw some fresh strips of cuttlefish into the pan, then added some oil from a glass flask and a handful of spices from a jar. She stirred the mixture over the fire, then stepped back. “Pull up a chair, Savin. Want a rum – oh, no, of course not, where’s my head? Here, Skelter, go down to the cellar and bring up something for Savin to drink.”
Skelter sulked in his chair. His mother called him again and he grudgingly rose. He disappeared behind a curtain and Savin could hear him trudging downstairs, his boots clomping out a loud protest with each step.
“Still as charming as ever,” Savin chuckled.
**I think he hoped he’d hit a late growth spurt,** Evergreen sent. **It’s starting to sink in that he’ll never be a tall lad.**
**Mm, he blames me for that sometimes, I think,** Gale sent wryly.
Savin chuckled. Skelter’s older half-brother Treefrog was long-limbed and graceful, like his own father. Skelter, however, had inherited the “short blood” of the family, and was even shorter than his compact uncle Loosestrife.
“I saw Mardu today,” Evergreen said as she stirred the cuttlefish in the pan. She moved to a shelf and uncapped a jar of yellow powder, then sprinkled a pinch over the frying meat. “She looked like death.”
“She’s ready to pack it in,” Savin confirmed. “The storm was the breaking point, I think – I don’t know why – it’s a lot more pleasant than those blizzards they have up north. But she and Skywise are arguing whether Yun goes with her or stays with us.”
“Your lifemate! He has a knack for making complications, doesn’t he?”
“It’s not his fault. Go-Backs breed like... well, I don’t want to be cruel. But they practically get caught every time they sneeze. I don’t think there’s been a Recognition in that tribe for a thousand years. You know Yun is Mardu’s tenth child. Tenth!”
Gale whistled. “I hope they were spaced out.”
“Oh, High Ones, yes. Mardu’s eldest died long ago, but her great-granddaughter is a mother herself. And I think three or four of those ten died before they were old enough to walk.” She shuddered. “They’ve made their home where life can barely survive – and they breed accordingly.”
“Mardu ought to be glad to be here,” Evergreen said.
“No, she’s not. She likes the north and the danger behind every rock! It’s home to her.”
“And Skywise’s home is danger behind every tree,” Evergreen sighed. “And yours is the Bay. That’s one hell of a trick to pull off.”
“Tell me about it. I mean... Skywise could just let Mardu take Yun back to the Frozen Mountains... Mardu wouldn’t find it strange, Go-Back fathers don’t really do much to raise their children – but she’s his child and he doesn’t want to lose her. And Mardu could let Skywise raise Yun... I think the Go-Backs all sort of raise their children together as the ‘tribe’s’ after they’re off the breast... but she’s not ready to let Yun go. Still, they could have just about worked something out... and then I came along, and now Skywise and I have a daughter, and we have to figure out where to live. But I can’t just tell him that Quicksilver and I take priority over Yun!”
“But you do,” Gale replied. “I mean... he and Mardu are finished, aren’t they? You two are Recognized. You’re lifemates. That takes priority.” His eyes drifted to Evergreen, and Savin knew he was remembering their stormy courtship. Skelter had been three years old before Evergreen had finally accepted him as her lifemate.
“But I don’t want to say that. We have enough trouble figuring each other out without my making myself a monster. You know the Wolfriders don’t teach their pips to swim until they’re nearly five? You know it never occurred to them to use a wheel? Even though they’ve seen trolls making wheels for years – and a few humans too. It just never occurred to them to try it themselves. Nothing ever occurs to them. They’re all so locked in that damned ‘Way’ of theirs that never lets them think outside the fence! You know when Swift started saying ‘Let’s find other elves, let’s see if there are other ways to live’ they all thought she had gone mad. It never occurred to them!”
Evergreen held her tongue diplomatically.
“A way of life that celebrates ignorance!” Savin grumbled, sinking into a chair.
A tense silence filled the room. Skelter returned with a bottle of fruit juice and hesitantly set it down, then retreated to a far corner of the table.
At length Savin sighed. “Skywise is different. He sees things the others don’t – wants things the others don’t. They say he ‘hears the starsong’. I say he’s just damned sensible.”
Gale leaned across the table. “So, Savin, when are you going to give up this mucking in the wilderness and come home for good? We’ve all missed you here.”
“Ohh, you’re as bad as Loosestrife. It’s not that simple–”
“Of course it is. Tell him you want live here.”
“What – make him choose between me and his tribe?”
“It seems like an easy choice to me!”
Savin laughed. “Oh, you and Rayek would get along. But the Wolfriders... you can’t figure them out. And they’re Skywise’s family. If I take a stand against the tribe... well... it’s not going to be pretty. He’ll take it personally.”
“You’re not telling him to shove his friends off a cliff – just that you want to live here.”
“They're not like Islanders, Gale. They’ve lived so long in one tiny tribe, thinking they’re the only elves in the world... the tribe is everything to them. Everything! They can’t seem to be apart for more than a day or two without getting depressed.”
“How smothering,” Skelter quipped.
“You have no idea. Everyone lives on top of everyone else packed into these tree-dens. They have no concept of privacy. Everyone’s business is right out in the open – I can’t count the times I’ve stumbled over an elf strutting about without any clothes on! I swear, they can’t even go take a piss without someone coming along to keep them company!”
Skelter burst out laughing. Evergreen turned to her son. “Skelter... would you mind... going over to Calico’s to eat tonight? I think your aunt needs some time alone with me.”
Skelter sulked. “I’m not a pip – you can’t just shoo me out from underfoot.”
Savin nudged his elbow. “You go tell Calico how awful we treat you, play for sympathy. Maidens love that. Just don’t sulk too much. But you play your game right and you might just thank us for kicking you out, eh?”
Skelter flashed Savin something approximating a smile and dutifully slipped out the front door.
“Look, Savin,” Gale poured her a glass of fruit juice. “This is your choice, after all is said and done. But you also have to consider what’s best for your pip.”
Savin sighed glumly.
“Well, the cuttlefish is almost ready,” Evergreen said. “Sit down, and we’ll have a nice dinner, and then we’ll figure this out, all right?”
Evergreen divided the fried cuttlefish into three portions and tipped them out onto plates. They were just starting in on their food when another knock came at their door. Savin got up to check, and found their brother Loosestrife standing in the doorway.
“Well, what have we here?” Loosestrife smirked. “I smell some fried cuttlefish...”
Evergreen sighed. “In you come, you glutton. Yes, you can join us, but you have to wait until I fry up some more.”
“Thankee...” Loosestrife glided in through the door and dragged an extra chair up to the table. He helped himself to a gulp of Savin’s fruit juice, then snagged a fried curl of cuttlefish from her plate.
“Mmmhm! No one can fry one like you, sis.”
“Mother’s own recipe,” Evergreen said. “Now paws off Savin’s plate. I’ll make you some more, little brother. Leave a nursing mother to eat in peace.”
Loosestrife obligingly snatched a piece from Gale’s plate, and ignored the scribe’s searing glare.
“What’s up, Freckles?” he asked Savin. “You look a bit down. Quicksilver howling all night?”
“No, she’s been a good little pip today. No... Shale and Eyes High were talking about going home to Thorny Mountain... and I know Skywise will start thinking about it too.”
“Oh, for the love of Mura!” Loosestrife planted a booted foot on the table.
“’Strife, please don’t start again.”
“You’re not bringing up my niece in that... that... hellhole they call a forest. Where the trees all die every autumn from that red blight and they eat raw meat fresh out of the jaws of their wolves. And where they live in… holes in trees! In trees and caves, and every day they’re almost getting killed by dog-boars or bears or ancient magic or humans. And they like it? Bloody savages!”
“Oh, ’Strife...” Evergreen sighed. “Can you... just...”
“No! Look, enough’s enough. You tell that silver-hair of yours that you and Quicksilver are staying here, and if he’d rather play ‘forest spirits’ with his tribe that’s his problem!”
“Would you say that to Goldcinder?” Savin countered.
“Goldcinder’s Goldcinder! Hell, he’s been my lad forever! You and Skywise barely know each other. And don’t say it’s Recognition, Freckles! I’m sick of hearing about how damned terrific Recognition is!”
“It’s not... just Recognition. I love him.”
“Good for you. But the fact is, you’re a pirate, and Quicksilver is a pirate, and neither of you belong with a pack of wild dogs.”
“You know, he’s right,” Evergreen said gently. “The wilderness is no place to raise a child.”
“I still don’t know why they don’t just move down here,” Gale muttered.
“They’re bubble-headed, that’s what!” Loosestrife exclaimed.
“’Strife,” Evergreen bent over the pan to stir his share of cuttlefish. “Enough.”
“I don’t know what to do!” Savin exclaimed helplessly. “When he asked me if we were going to be lifemates two years ago I didn’t hesitate. He means everything to me! But I don’t want to have to give you up.”
“Why should you have to?” Gale demanded.
“But... I can’t ask Skywise to give up his way of life... oh, what am I going to do?”
“Maybe you should be talking to him,” Evergreen said.
Savin sighed. She picked at her food miserably. “I suppose so...”
Loosestrife snatched up an extra piece of cuttlefish from her plate. Savin hardly noticed.
When dinner was over, Loosestrife walked Savin back to her hut. “You’re still my girl, aren’t you?” he asked, giving her shoulder a hug. “That silver-haired lander’s not taking you away from me, is he?”
Savin smiled wanly. “Don’t worry, ’Strife. I’ll always be your girl.”
Little Yun greeted them at the door of the hut. “Savin!” she chirped. “Lass-strife!”
“Loosestrife,” he corrected gently.
“Uh-huh! Lass-strife,” she repeated in her child’s lisp. Loosestrife chuckled and fluffed her hair. He gave Savin a pinch to her hip and a kiss on the cheek.
“Take care of yourself, huh?” he said as he left her in the doorway.
Savin closed the door behind her and followed Yun inside, around the central hearth and beyond the cotton screen that separated bedroom from hearth-room. Skywise was sitting on the bed, playing with his infant daughter. He dangled the lodestone over her head as she lay on her back, and Quicksilver cooed and mumbled, trying to grasp the spinning stone. Every now and then Skywise would lower it enough for Quicksilver to seize in her hands and twist it around on its thong. Then she would release it and giggle as it spun back to align on a north-south line.
“There you are,” Skywise whispered, careful not to disturb Quicksilver. “I didn’t know if you were having a meal at your sister’s or not, so I saved you a piece of seared silversail. It’s wrapped up on the table – I can heat it up over the fire again if you want.”
“Actually, that would be lovely,” Savin said. ’Strife had ended up eating most of her cuttlefish curls, and now her stomach was protesting.
Quicksilver gurgled and fussed when Skywise abandoned her, but Savin scooped her up in her arms and rocked her gently. “You hungry, little one?”
“She might be – she was howling like a human until I got out the lodestone,” Skywise called from the other room. “You take the leaves off before you lay it on the... the metal plate, right?”
“That’s right,” Savin called back. “And sprinkle some oil on there. Otherwise you’ll just burn it.”
“And here I thought we had learned ‘cooking’ from the Sun Folk.”
Savin sniffed. “Bloody landers,” she muttered softly, as she nursed Quicksilver. Usually there was a hint of affection in her voice, but not this time.
Yun flopped down on the bed next to Savin. “Momma’s goin’ back home,” she announced. “But I can stay.”
“That’s wonderful, Yun,” Savin said. But there was little cheer in her voice.
“Savin?”
“Just tired, Yun, that’s all. It’s hard work, having a little baby around.”
Yun bounded away to check on her father at the fire. Savin settled back on the pillows, shifting Quicksilver slightly in her arms.
At length Quicksilver had nursed her fill and drifted off to sleep. Savin set her back in her hammock, then laced up her bodice and crossed over into the hearth-room. Skywise was just lifting the smoldering fish from the pan. “Ooh, hot!” he exclaimed. “No, you go back to bed. I’ll bring it in to you.”
Savin returned to the bed. In truth she needed a little pampering, today of all days. Skywise joined her a few moments later, her fish on a wooden plate.
“Here we are,” he announced. Savin attacked her food with gusto, hunger winning out over restraint. The fish was a little dry – Skywise had once again left it in too long. But she ate it gladly.
“Not too hungry,” Skywise quipped.
“The pip takes it out of me. Bloody parasite. You know, it was one thing for her to suck the life out of me when she was still inside me, but there’s now that you can see her there... I feel like I’m being drained by a blood-bat.”
Skywise chuckled. Savin swatted him.
He took the empty plate back to the table. Savin heard him call Yun over to wash them, and Yun gladly rushed over to the table.
“Now you two are going to have a nice bath and be all clean and fresh,” she chirped, in imitation of Savin’s cooing to baby Quicksilver. Skywise joined Savin on the bed again, eminently pleased with his parenting skills.
“Stop gloating,” Savin teased. “Let’s see you get to her to do that so willingly in another year or two. Not... that there are any dishes to wash in Thorny Mountain,” she added.
Skywise didn’t seem to hear the sadness in her voice. He wrapped his arms about her waist and hugged her tightly. “Mardu’s packing up,” he said. “She can’t take the heat any longer.”
“I heard.”
“But she says we can hang onto Yun for a while. You know... I was thinking... Mardu really loves the snow. And she’s an important part of the tribe – it’s not really fair to the Go-Backs for her to be away in winter. They need everyone’s help then.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And... I was thinking – Thorny Mountain in summer is a real nice place to be. Warm long-sun days, plenty of game. Maybe it would be better for Yun to come and stay with us in the summer, not the winter. Our summer and winter, I mean. Our winter isn’t really that different from the Frozen Mountains, when you think about it. Except for the forests. And Yun really should get to see all the different seasons.”
Savin nodded. “Makes sense.”
“And... Quicksilver is an awfully small little cub. The white-colds in Thorny Mountain are much colder than the ones in the Old Land. And I remember it was hard enough to get through some of those winters when I was little. It doesn’t seem really right to put Quicksilver through that.”
Suddenly he caught her interest. **Fahr? What are you saying?**
“Well... I was thinking. I said we’re not all that different from Swift and Rayek or Dewshine and Tyldak. But we are different. See... when Swift and Rayek Recognized and had the twins the Wolfriders were living at Sorrow’s End so they both had their families nearby. And when we left Sorrow’s End – well, Rayek was never really close to his family to begin with. And when Tyldak gave up Blue Mountain for Dewshine, he wasn’t leaving all that much behind. But I see how close you and your family are. And it’s not very fair for you to have to leave them to live at Thorny Mountain with me. And now that Rayek and I are learning to fly the Palace without nearly crashing into mountaintops... anyway, so... I was thinking we could spend the summers – my summers, your winters – up at Thorny Mountain. It almost gets this hot up there – drier heat, but hey – less bugs. And Yun can join us for the summers. And when it starts to get cold in Thorny Mountain we can come down here. And in a few more years, when Yun’s a little older, maybe she’ll decide to spend all her time with us.”
Savin twisted about in his grasp to face him. “You mean it? You’d give up the Wolfriders half the year to come and stay here?”
He summoned a cocky smile. “Hey, if you can give up your family half the year for me, it’s the least I can do for you. Who knows, maybe we can get some of my tribe to come down for a visit with us. Mother’s getting real fond of this place.”
Savin grinned. **Oh, Fahr, you have no idea what this means to me.**
“And hey, maybe a few of your kin might want to visit Thorny Mountain in the–”
“Don’t count on it.”
He laughed. “No, probably not.”
She wound her arms about his neck. “You really mean it?”
He touched his forehead to hers. **You’re my lifemate, Nimh. I’d do anything for you and Quicksilver.**
She kissed him lingeringly on the lips. When they parted she ran her hands through his unruly puff of white hair, pressing her forehead to his. “Oh... thank you, lifemate. I know... I know how hard it’s been for you the last few years... trying to juggle two pips, and old flame and me.”
“Old flame,” he chuckled fondly. “What funny sayings you Islanders come up with.”
“No stranger than you calling summer ‘long-sun!’”
“Well it is, isn’t it?”
“Not here, it’s not!”
They laughed together. Savin shifted in his arms and he cradled her against his chest, his cheek against the crown of her head. “You know...” he whispered. “If it weren’t for Madcoil and the Fire and everything that happened since, I’d probably still be at Father Tree, treeing with Foxfur, enjoying all the pleasures of lovemating... none of the troubles. I’d never think of actually touching the stars! Never think of being a father to a little brood of cubs and actually enjoying it. Never think Recognition could ever be anything but a pain in the tail. Maybe it’s not much what I would have planned – all right, it’s nothing like what I would have planned! I know your tribe thinks we Wolfriders are a little... backward.”
Savin kept a diplomatic silence.
“And well... most of my tribe think you’re all a little... odd.”
“Only a little?”
“Odder than trolls,” Skywise corrected. “And some of them can’t stand all the changes. They just want to go back to the good old days of Father Tree before everything was turned on its head. But I couldn’t go back. Not now.” He nuzzled the top of her head. “So forward... no matter how uncertain the path is, until we find our own way.”
**Fahr...** Savin sent. She hugged his arms around her. “You know.... this isn’t going to be as easy as it sounds.”
“Nothing worth having ever is.”
“You have to talk to that sister of yours. She’s been unbearable since I got heavy with Quicksilver.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“I’m not a pip. And I’m not the bottom wolf. I think I can be trusted not to run right into a boar-dog’s den without having a guard on me at all times.”
“Swift gets... a little too protective. I’ll talk to her, don’t worry.”
“Quicksilver gets raised both ways. Wolfrider and pirate. She can decide which one she wants when she’s older.”
“Of course.”
“And Swift could protect her tribe a lot better if you all moved out of that cold!”
Skywise smiled softly. “Can’t promise anything, you know that. But... but now that we’ve got the Palace, there’s no reason why we can’t found holts all over this land.” He kissed her forehead. “We’ll figure it out. Just bear with me, lifemate. We’ll figure it out.”
Savin closed her eyes and let him rock her gently. She knew there would be more tears in the future, more frustration. But she knew Skywise wouldn’t stop until they found a way to live together happily. And that was what made it more than just Recognition.
Elfquest copyright 2014 Warp Graphics, Inc. Elfquest, its logos, characters, situations, all related indicia, and their distinctive likenesses are trademarks of Warp Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved. Some dialogue taken from Elfquest comics. All such dialogue copyright 2014 Warp Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved. Alternaverse characters and insanity copyright 2014 Jane Senese and Erin Roberts