Changelings

CHAPTER 8

ONE last surprise before the latchkay was that Marmie herself had arrived while they were gone. The tall, elegant woman with the curling dark hair and the impish smile greeted them with hugs.

"The suits fit you beautifully! I was just sure they'd be far too big," she said.

"They work a treat too," Ronan told her. "We didn't get a bit cold after we put them on."

"That was the general idea," she said, laughing.

"I think maybe even wolves can't bite through them," Murel told her, knowing that someone as important as Marmie would like to have useful information about her gift.

"Now, how did you get a chance to learn that, I shudder to wonder?" Marmie asked.

"We were saving otters," Murel said. "But then after we left they were otter-napped by some men. Da's going to make the men bring the otters back, though, probably tomorrow."

"Otter-napping? My goodness, I have missed Petaybee. I forgot how exciting it can be here.

Well, we don't have any otter-nappings where I live but I bet you'd find it exciting too."

"Do you really live on a space station, Marmie?" Murel asked.

"Yes, a very nice space station. You'd like it. I just had a lovely pool installed at my home. It runs all through and around my house, and there's a big deep part for diving. I had it all landscaped so it looks like a natural stream flowing through the woods."

"That sounds nice," Murel said politely. But she thought it was sort of odd to live on a space station and try to make it look like the woods. Why not just live in the real woods?

Ronan was thinking the same thing. "We can take you to the woods while you're here, Marmie, anytime you want."

She gave him a hug. "You are doing just that. I'm going to the latchkay with you."

"Ronan, Murel, come get dressed," their mother called. "I've things for you to carry."

I wish we could just swim to the springs and go into the latchkay in seal form, Murel said. We could bring the otter. He's probably lonely out there in the river all by himself without the hundred relatives.

He might come anyway if he sees us going. Otters are pretty curious, I think.

They dressed in the furs and fancy bead-embroidered parkas made for them by Aisling, Auntie Sinead's partner, who was the finest sewer in the entire village. The embroidery on both parkas had wiggly blue lines for water and fish of all colors-even purple ones and green ones-swimming around the cuffs, hem, front closure, and ruff of the hood. The matching mittens had fishes swimming in a circle around the wrists.

Mother's parka was blue-green with little pairs of flowers embroidered for trim. She said the pairs stood for the twins. It was a pretty parka, but that didn't mean Ronan thought he looked like a flower.

Most latchkays were held in the longhouse in the center of the village, and that was usually where the food was served, most of the speeches were made, and the dancing took place. Tonight everybody carried food and gifts with them to the hot springs cave. Usually there was a procession to the cave, but tonight everyone just came out of their houses and started walking.

I wonder why they're doing it this way? Murel said as they walked in the dark, slightly ahead of their parents. Their night vision was very good, and if it hadn't been, the cats walked right in front of them. Besides, they'd been to the latchkay cave many times and knew the path so well they could walk it backward, which Ronan decided to try.

The cats caught his thought and stopped to watch. He stepped back onto Nanook's tail. 'Nook hissed and spat, something she never did around the twins, and Ronan was so startled he slipped and fell, dropping the case he'd been carrying.

Oh boy, Mum will be mad., Murel said, and stooped to help him pick it up. The latch had been jarred open by being dropped, and she opened the lid to put back whatever was in there.

Why did she give you this case with all your stuff to carry? Murel asked.

Don't know. What's in yours?

"Hurry, children. We still have quite a ways to go."

The drums began pounding, telling them that other people had already reached the cave.

"Mum, why is Ronan carrying his clothes and schoolbooks?" Murel asked.

Mum shook her head impatiently and pointed ahead. Murel was pretty sure that whatever the answer was, they weren't going to like it.

The path to the cave was well trod by the time they slipped behind the steaming falls and found seats on the ledge.

The space behind the waterfall was not a cave exactly, because it didn't go back very far. It was more of a room up above the hot springs, and it was the closest place to Kilcoole where people could go to talk to the planet.

Usually when everyone was packed in it felt cozy and snug, with the smell of the smoked salmon and soup floating around the people who had feasted at the latchkay mingling with the sulfury smell of the hot springs. The warmth of everyone's body heated the grotto so that after a while they removed their furs.

Even in the winter when everything was iced over there was a strong sense of grasses and brambles, berries, and flowering weeds pushing up through the frigid soil, just waiting for the ice to break. Like the ghost of last summer, Murel thought, or the summers before that.

But tonight for the first time ever the twins felt restless and ill at ease in the grotto. The stalactites protruding from the ceiling seemed in danger of falling and stabbing someone, and the stone seat under their bottoms was very hard and very chilly.

Something bad is going to happen, Ronan said. And it's going to happen to us.

I feel that way too but how could it with Mum and Da here- and Clodagh, Johnny, and Marmie, besides? They'll probably give out to us for running off from everyone yesterday - well, swimming off, that's all. I wonder if Da was always getting in trouble like this when he was our age?

Young Desi Sivatkaluk was the lead drummer tonight. Desi was the same age as Aoifa, but his father, Old Desi, had been the lead drummer at the last latchkay. Old Desi and his entire team fell through the ice and drowned while out on a hunting trip only a few weeks before, so now his son played his drum. He must have been practicing a lot because he never missed a beat.

Nanook and Coaxtl stood guard at the edge of the spring, just beyond the watery veil concealing the grotto. Someone uncovered a platter piled high with strips of salty-sweet, pink smoked salmon and started passing it around. When the plate got to Da, he got up and tossed some of the strips to the cats.

When everyone had eaten, Clodagh stood and said, "We have a troubling thing to tell our world tonight. Who will sing the first song?"

Auntie Sinead stood up. She had good songs and usually sang them Irish-style, to old tunes that went with lots of other words. She was the best dog driver, hunter, fisher, and trapper in Kilcoole, and her songs were full of action and adventure. This one she started by saying,

"The tune is 'Wild Colonial Boy' and I call it"-she smiled at Ronan and Murel for the first time since their rescue-" 'The Wild Shongili Twins.' I've had only a day to find the words, and some of this I heard from others, but for those of you who did not know of my niece and nephew's recent ad-venture, I made this song."

She sang, her voice clear and strong:

"When I was young I ran my traps. My brother Sean he swam As a selkie he could swim much more than human men Now he has two children and as selkies they too swim But now Sean's moored to desk work. No more seal swimming for him.

Without their Da to roam with them, these children swam away To roam the fields of river ice with otters they did flay But wolves find otters tasty and the children almost died Still our Murel she digs a hole, 'Dive, otters, now!' she cried.

My dogs and I we heard them cry, the big cats made all speed The children now were crying, the wolves -poised to do the deed That would have broken my poor heart, Petaybee's heart as well And Sean and his brave wife would find a private bit of hell.

The cats they leapt, and me I swept the children to my sled But had we not been looking, our twins would now be dead. So I ask you, my neighbors, what will happen when again The selkie twins go swimming with no one to shepherd them?"

"It was only the once," Ronan said when she'd finished and everyone was making appreciative noises. "We were trying out the warm suits Marmie sent us."

"We didn't mean to be gone so long," Murel said, looking into the faces of her neighbors, who were regarding them as if they were the tracks of some strange animals they had never seen before.

Sing them my song, Otter said from somewhere nearby.

Otters make songs? the twins asked together.

Of course otters make songs. Otters like fun, and music is fun. The waters are music to otters, and otters sing songs to its melody. But I cannot speak to the other two-leggeds and make myself understood. I will sing to you and you sing to them.

Okay, fine. Sing.

Announce us first! the otter said.

Ronan told the other people, "Our otter friend has a song to share he wants to sing through us."

"You wouldn't be pullin' our legs now, would you, young Shongili?" Kaiaitok Carnahan asked. Kaiaitok had the short stocky build and tilted eyes of his Inuit ancestors, but his sparse beard and mustache were bright red and his eyes green. His hair was red too, but nobody saw it anymore since he always wore a stocking cap in winter, a billed cap in summer. He had taken over the com shed after Uncle Adak retired. Adak said that what with all the new machines Petaybee had now, communications was getting way too complicated for his liking.

Kaiaitok had gone offplanet to train when he was only a bit older than the twins were now.

If you were going to leave Petaybee, you had to do it when you were a kid. As you got older, your body was so adapted to Petaybee's extreme temperatures and other special properties that you could die if you were offplanet very long. Kaiaitok had left plenty young enough to survive, but he had returned much changed, folk said. He thought the rest of them backward when he first came home, and himself full of learning. All of his learning still didn't keep the machinery and electronic gizmos working when it was minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit. He had to take a snocle or a sled to give people their messages, just like Adak had done before him, only now there were more messages and people on the offworld end expected faster results. Kaiaitok got over himself pretty fast after the first couple of winters and a few latchkays. But however much he communicated with humans, he was not on social terms with four-legged, winged, or finned creatures. Ronan was hazy on whether Kaiaitok had communed with animals before he left the planet. His skepticism about Otter's song didn't seem to trouble the rest of the villagers.

Da relieved any doubts they might have had by saying, "Good. I'm glad the otter could compose on such short notice. I've not been able to do as much myself. Go on, you kids."

Otter's song did not rhyme like an Irish song and did not go with a drumbeat like the songs in the more traditional Inuit style. It had to be danced as well as sung. So the twins acted out their meeting with the otters, and the slide and the wolves and then the coming of the men and the taking of the otters. The words were sung very fast and the dance had to be done fluidly to go with the way the otter was singing it. There were some otter concepts that were difficult to put into human words, and these the twins tried to act out or skip over.

When they finished, Ronan said, "The otter who made this song is staying in the river near the village now, so he can guide us to the men who took his family. So nobody bother him, okay? He's got enough on his mind right now."

Da, Auntie Sinead, Mum, and Clodagh all exchanged looks. The twins couldn't read them, and wondered what it was all about. But they could tell the adults were impressed.

"Anyone else got any songs?" Clodagh asked. When no one spoke, she rose and walked deeper into the cavern. The rest of the village followed her until they reached the central communion room. Behind them, Ronan and Murel slapped hands and practically skipped forward.

We really showed them. We are the first -people ever to sing for otters. Or any other four-legged, I'll bet, Ronan said.

Murel could hardly disagree. Life was looking up. Ever since the suits arrived, it had been much more interesting around here. And tomorrow there would be another adventure with Da when he went to get back the otter's family.

Nobody seemed to be mad at them after all, or inclined to scold, and it was past the time when they would.

The singing and talking were over. Now Petaybee would respond. Ronan and Murel always liked this part. It was a little like dreaming, except that the dream wasn't yours exactly, it was Petaybee's. It was also a bit like the way it felt when they became seals and seemed to be part of the water.

But when they got to the entrance of the larger cavern, they were stopped.

As if giant hands were pushing them back from the communion cave, they could not go forward. Murel put a foot out and brought it back right away.

Mum and Da sat down beside Clodagh without noticing the twins weren't with them until Da looked up and called softly to them, "Aren't you coming, kids?"

"Can't," Murel said. "Something's wrong."

Ronan had big tears in his eyes already. "It's like there's a big invisible door, Da."

Clodagh was the one who answered. "There is a purpose in this that you will learn soon. Go to the outer cave but don't go into the water. We will speak again when the planet has spoken."

Bewildered, the twins retraced their steps.

It's not fair. We did good. Is it Petaybee that's mad at us and doesn't want to talk to us?

No, can't be. I mean, it can't be mad at us. We're not offworlders. We're part of the planet just like the rocks are. It can't get mad at itself, can it? Can it?

They fell silent and sat in the outer cave looking longingly at the waterfall. They had never before realized how long the communions took, but it seemed like hours passed. Any moment they expected to hear the footsteps and the very low conversation that sometimes followed communions, but there was nothing.

They're sure taking their time, Ronan said. I wish Clodagh hadn't said we're not to swim. I would like to go down to the water and talk to Otter a little more. I think we forgot to thank him for his song.

We don't have to swim to do that. Remember, otters are not afraid of seals who turn into humans. Clodagh didn't say we couldn't go to the water's edge, just that we shouldn't swim.

They started calling as they took the path out of the cave and down the hill, enveloped in the sulfury and spicy mist from the springs.

But although their new friend had seemed very near when he sang them his song, when he finally answered, it was from far away, with a muffled, Sleeping. Otters need to sleep.

Ronan sat down and felt through the snow for rocks to skip across the water, but found nothing. The longer they waited, the more worried and miserable Murel became. Something was really wrong. She knew it but she couldn't think what it was.

Hush, younglings, Nanook's voice, purring and kind, said, as she insinuated her soft furry self between them and lay down with her head cradled on her paws. No harm will come to you while we're here. We may not be the best swimmers but we are your guardians.

Sleep. One prefers you when you sleep, Coaxtl said, plopping down behind them to make a plush backrest.

These sometimes grumpy friends had been with the twins since they were babies. Their familiar presence was so comforting that the children fell asleep almost at once, Ronan leaning back against Coaxtl while Murel snuggled with Nanook, her arms around the cat's body and her hands buried in the dense fur.

They awoke to the murmur of voices and looked up from sleepy eyes to see the villagers appear from the mist. The murmurs were not the kind that normally followed a Night Chant.

Clodagh's face, and their parents' faces were very grave indeed. Only Marmion seemed to be smiling.

"Slainte," Ronan said in greeting, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

Murel stood up and tucked her hands into Clodagh's and Marmie's. Her parents still looked grim.

"So, Clodagh, why couldn't we come into the communion cave this time? Is Petaybee mad at us?"

"I don't know, pet," Clodagh told her. "I don't think so. Perhaps it just wanted to talk to grown-ups tonight.'

"Oh." Murel thought that over. "But it's always let us come before. And it is our birthday."

Over her head, Marmie exchanged glances with Mum and Da. "I have something I'd like to talk to you about, Murel, Ronan."

Ronan arose, giving Coaxtl a pat as he did, and stretched. "What, Marmie?"

"We've been discussing this for some time, your parents and I, and of course, this is only if you'd like to, but I was hoping now that you're old enough to go offworld, you might come and visit me for a while on my space station."

"You mean now?" Ronan asked. His eyes were wide open. She had his full attention.

"Yes, well, since you've got your things with you already I don't see why not. I'm sure, as you know from your biology lessons, that the older you get, the harder it will be for you to leave Petaybee for any length of time. And I just had that lovely waterway built at home, so I was so hoping you'd come. I know some other children your age I think you'd enjoy very much, and we have rather a nice school on the station."

"School!" Murel said. "How long a visit are we talking about, Marmie?"

"Well-"

"The thing is, kids, it may be your only chance to see other places," Mum said. "And frankly, your Da and I would like you to get some exposure to human culture on a more sophisticated level than we can provide here."

"Our schools are okay," Murel said.

"Yes, but Marmie's are excellent." Her mother squatted down so that her face was on a level with theirs. "And one day we're going to need your help with managing things here. I don't know how aware of it you are, but your father has been keeping tabs on some midsea volcanoes. They're building up under the sea floor, preparing a new landmass, a warm island, islands, a continent. Lots of people from offworld will want to move here, and perhaps there'll be room for a great many of them. We may need- Petaybee may need-your help sorting through them. You need to know something about the offworld universe to be able to cope."

"Right," Ronan said. That sounded good, but if Petaybee needed them to help with something, you'd think it would have let them into the communion cave one last time at least. Mum was just trying to make them feel better. He looked his father full in the face. "This is really about keeping us away from the otter rustlers, isn't it?"

"Among other things, yes, but your mother's reasons are very great concerns as well."

"But we're still going with you tomorrow to get the otters back, right?"

"Son, it's just too dangerous. I think I told you that I'm afraid it was really you those men were interested in when they took the otters. I don't want to give them any more chances to get any closer than they've been to you two already. By the time you're back from Marmie's, we'll have them sorted out and galaxies away, possibly in prison. But I promise you, we will get the otters back if at all possible, and I will send word to you when we do."

Marmie wasn't really asking us, she was telling us, Murel told her twin.

It might be fun except I really wanted to stay here and get to know the otters better, her brother replied.

I don't think we're supposed to. If those men went after the otters because of us, then we just brought them trouble. Besides, Petaybee doesn't want us here anymore. That's why we couldn't get into the communion room. Not just because we're kids.

If Petaybee doesn't want you, it makes you feel worse than that! Ronan argued. It drives the offworlders crazy and turns their hair white and stuff.

But they're offworlders. And maybe it's not mad at us, it just wants us to do this now, like Mum and Da and Marmie and Clodagh said.

That's weird. Planets don't take sides, do they?

Petaybee does. I don't think we get to pick this time, Ronan.

"Okay," Ronan said, "we'll go. But as soon as those men are gone, you'll send for us, right?

Right?"

Nobody answered, and then Da laid his hands on his son's shoulders and said, "I can't promise anything right now, but we will send for you as soon as it's time for you to return. Meanwhile, you'll probably be having so much fun with Marmie, you'll be mad at us for making you come home."