Oasis
Part Eight: Rebirth
“It’s almost over, Spar.”
Spar groaned, shifting against her lifemate. Heavy beads of sweat dotted her brow and flattened her bangs to her skin. “This is a lot harder than Mother made it seem!” she ground out between clenched teeth.
“Bear down,” Chani commanded calmly. “Come on, Spar.”
Spar gripped Door’s hands tightly in hers and summoned her strength for one last push. In a moment it was all over, and Chani held the tiny baby in her hands.
“You’ve given me nothing to do,” Leetah laughed from where she sat, a respectful distance away. “Well done, Spar.”
Door held Spar tightly, whispering something in her ear.
“The first elf born at our new mountain,” Chani said proudly as she wrapped the little boy up and handed him to his mother. “Have a name for him?”
Spar clasped the baby tight, mesmorized by his tiny hands and the little whorls of red hair against his scalp. She glanced over her shoulder at Door and was encouraged by his smile.
“Um... Klipspringer,” she announced, grinning. “I – I imagine he’ll be scaling the cliffs like the little deer before long.”
Door reached around to touch his son’s hand, and the tiny four fingers wrapped about one of his tightly.
“You always said you wanted to create something new,” Spar murmured contentedly, snuggled back against Door’s chest.
Three months after the disastrous flight from Sorrow’s End, the new community at Oasis was slowly taking shape. Many of the Jackwolf Riders and the members of the ruling council took up residence in the many rockshaped caves of the central spire, while the farmers and crafters preferred to set up a village similar to Sorrow’s End in the plateau valley. Several small huts, not unlike those of Sorrow’s End, were already in place, and work progressed on several more. Sun Folk swam in the oasis itself, some fishing for the little minnows that hid among the reeds, others simply enjoying the new experience of abundant cool water in the desert heat.
“Everything is progressing well, I think,” Swift remarked as Grayling led her on a tour about his new home.
“As well as can be expected, I suppose.” Grayling shrugged. “We have everything we had in Sorrow’s End, and more. But at what price? If I had taken matters into my hands sooner... Savah, Shushen and Dodia would be here to enjoy it.”
“They can still see.” Swift touched his shoulder. “You did everything right, Grayling. You know that.”
“I know. Venka’s told me enough times. But...”
“But the ‘what-ifs’ weigh you down. Maybe we should have inherited more of Bearclaw’s wolf-thought, hmm?”
“I don’t think the wolf-thought was meant to encompass this,” Grayling looked up at the spire that dominated the head of the oasis. “Not a place like this... nor an alliance like this.” He could just see Haken’s silhouette standing on one of the many terraces decorating the rockshaped mountains. “The father of Winnowill herself now the father-chief of all of us... Sun Folk and Wolfriders and Gliders – and a Go-Back too, at least until the wanderlust takes Sust and Coppersky somewhere else. I hope they’ll decide to put down roots here. I’ve missed Coppersky in the Hunt.”
“It’s a new world, no denying it,” Swift patted his shoulder. “And it will change again in another year’s time, hmm?”
Grayling smiled. “My son will only know Oasis, only know the peace we’ll make here. Spar’s little Klipspringer won’t have to learn about humans for many years. That’s worth all we’ve endured.”
“The Palace will return for us tomorrow,” Swift said at length.
“Already?”
“Timmain and Weatherbird are anxious to return home. So is Tass, I think. She’s had enough adventure for now. But I’ll come back. Venka can act as chief in my stead, and we can spend some time together, brother and sister, as we used to. And I’d like to get to know Haken and Chani properly.”
Grayling scanned the walls of rock around them. “I could see this becoming home...” he decided at length. But sadness lingered in his voice.
Dawn came late to Oasis and dusk came early. The sun dipped behind the rock wall and cast long shadows around the growing village. Grayling carried out his customary perimeter patrol before retiring. It was one of the few rituals he managed to carry with to Oasis, and it comforted him during the awkward adjustment to Oasis. Slowly but surely he was beginning to learn all the contours of the landscape.
He found Ahdri sitting by the entrance to the long winding canyon that formed the door to Oasis. She was contemplating the rock wall, one hand on the stone.
“Ahdri?”
Ahdri smiled softly. “She’s here, Grayling...”
“Savah will always be with us...”
“No!” Ahdri’s eyes were alight with joy. “No, she’s here, Grayling! In the rock. I can feel her presence. She and Yurek are here... a part of the mountains. Their spirits followed us down here. I can feel her!” She grinned. “I can’t quite send to her... but I know she’s here... and she’s... she’s so full of strength and joy again. She’s... more alive than she’s been in years.”
Grayling touched the rock. At first he sensed nothing. But gradually he became aware of a warmth in the stone, something more than residual heat from the afternoon sun. Warmth... and a faint pulsing vibration, like a heartbeat.
“Savah...?”
Ahdri smiled.
Grayling hiked back to the den he shared with Hansha. It was half a cave, half a hut, built into the side of the mountain overlooking the valley. One terrace below them stood Alekah and Jari’s den. Three wide steps connected the two terraces. Jari hoped to plant a garden across the adjoining terraces. Alekah was out on the terrace, dozing in the little chair Jari and Hansha had built for her. Nearly a year into her pregnancy, her abdomen was swollen under her loose gown, and a renewed flush came to her cheeks. Grayling decided not to disturb her, but quietly ascended the steps up to the doorway to his den.
Hansha was working on a delicate gold necklace, carefully twisting and braiding thin wires into the shape of a bird.
“For Spar,” he explained when he saw Grayling watching him intently. “Door asked me for it.”
Grayling’s eyes scanned their home. Windows let in the fading sunlight. A single tapestry, freshly woven on Alekah’s loom, covered the floor in the main room. Hansha’s new projects – little clay masks representing cats, wolves, and desert birds – sat out to dry under the windows. Grayling walked over to look at them. Two were very crude, clearly simple templates for future metalworking. Two more were careful craftered, the eagle mask featuring etching to simulate feathers about the eye holes, the child-sized fox’s-head mask painstakingly smoothed and polished with a light glaze.
“Kel?” Hansha asked. “You all right?”
Grayling smiled. “I’m all right, green-eyes.” He glanced out the window. A few candles were already lit inside several huts below. Scouter and a few of the Jackwolf Riders had lit their nightly bonfire, and a dozen Sun Folk had gathered about the fire to sing and share stories. Above the peaks that guarded them, the first stars were beginning to come out.
If he concentrated on the shifting shadows cast by the fire, he could almost imagine two new elf children running about on the sand, one a gangly boy with lightly tanned skin and auburn hair, the other a younger lad, his skin darker, his dark brown hair topped by a clay mask in the shape of a fox’s head.
“I’m all right,” Grayling repeated.
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