Oops: TGR Chapter 50
I need to pay more attention.
Chapter 50.
Stars
By nightfall everyone was glad to stop. They had passed the road to Bara and were now on the road to Sho. Mignette assured everyone that there was a wonderful Rose just another day’s travel to the north. The rose grew, she said, beside a lake, which Yre seemed to think was the Tavu Lake, Tavu being a very large chiyaha city. When asked if he had ever visited it, Yre only shrugged.
The moment they had stopped, Yre dislodged all his lenses from his rump feathers and began to set up to study the stars.
He didn’t get very far. With the setting of the sun the hannu became active and swarmed over everyone in the group. Yre found himself being climbed on by at least six of them. They helped themselves to his lenses and setting-sticks, and one of them grabbed Tsf by the tail and got swatted.
After only a very few minutes, Yre gave up trying to do anything astronomical and set to watching the hannu at play. They tussled and fought like young chiyaha, even though they could not yet do more than crawl. But the fact that they could crawl, and so young...
Yre sat down and let the hannu satisfy their curiosity about him, and yank on his feathers and stare right into his eyes. And then he heard it.
Or, he thought he did. A yell, perhaps? Or a cry? A shimeyu sound. They were on the road and therefore guaranteed passage but “speaking” shimeyu were not the only kind out there.
Yre stood up and looked around. The horses had heard it too; Owán stood in front of his mares, ears back, nose held high, sniffing. Yre walked up to where Rumau, Mignette and Emma were working on a fire. “There is something out there,” he said, very quietly.
“What is out there?” Mignette said, motioning to Cookie.
“No! Don’t!” Yre held his head high and sniffed, and listened. “Runners! We have to get off the road!”
“Off the-”
“We don’t want them to know where we are!” Yre began rounding up the hannu, putting some of them on his back and some of them in carts. “We especially don’t want them to know we have the hannu! They’ll tell everyone they see and word will get back to Dar! Get off the road! Now!”
Rumau, Emma and Mignette jumped up. Aurrigne, still in much pain from his injured leg, looked up with some excitement; but was soon almost cowering under the glare of Mignette’s gaze.
Mignette made a trilling noise and all the hannu seemed to snap to attention. She pointed at the carts and hissed, and the hannu began crawling toward them. Everyone either grabbed hannu in their arms, piled them on horseback or tossed them into the carts. They ran to the west as quickly as they could go.
They finally slowed again when they reached a small stream, which Yre seemed to think was far enough away from the road so that passing runners, returning to their own towns, could not pick up their scent.
But an interesting thing happened when they did: those hannu who had been placed on horseback would not come down.
By the light of the stars, the adults could see on the hannu faces looks of the most astonished bliss.
Owán shook mightily, and most of his hannu fell off. But they played and slept under his legs that night, and when he lay down to sleep himself, many more cuddled up against him.
... b ...
Very early the next morning, Mignette and Cookie went out in search of a new route to the next Rose.
The hannu, very much to Rumau’s surprise, had ingratiated themselves with not only Gadrin and Owán, but with the western foals. The mares were more suspicious of them, but none of the mares moved to keep the hannu from their offspring.
As the sun rose higher, the hannu fell asleep one by one, and Rumau and Emma were able to place them in their carts, reassemble the train, harness Gadrin and Owán, and gather a little bit to eat.
Rumau watched the little things sleeping.
They were no longer quite so little. And no long silent, when they were awake.
When Mignette and Cookie returned, they all began northward. They couldn’t go at more than a brisk trot, since Emma had taken her role as cart horse very seriously and would not allow Yre, who could keep up with the horses at a gallop (if only for a short way) to take her place. But the road was smooth, for the most part, and only a few wheels fell off and had to be replaced (and one unravelled so badly that one cart had to be abandoned). By late afternoon they saw, in the distance, a sparkling lake, and an enormous Rose.
Rumau and Yre, and all the horses, stopped where they were. The Rose was almost the size of a city, having its roots deep in the lake, no doubt. It was in full bloom and surrounded by clouds of wasps and birds.
Mignette looked about to scold; but after a moment’s thought she shook her head and changed her mind. She unhitched the trains from Owán, Gadrin and Emma, and tied them all together into one very long one. Then she patted Rumau on the arm and said, “We will make it safe,” shot a stinging glance at Aurrigne, and carefully pulled the whole long train behind her toward the Rose, minus the two carts which held Rumau’s possessions.
... b ...
They had stopped so far from the Rose that it was about half an hour before Mignette and her children disappeared inside it.
Rumau made a fire, and the others gathered around. Emma stretched blankets into a tent.
Yre pulled out his lenses and set them up, delighted that the hannu were not around. He then lay on the ground, peering through the lenses, every now and then giving them an adjustment with just the lightest flick of his finger.
“You should look, Rumau! And you also, Emma and Aurrigne, you should look. What there is to see is just amazing. Look at this star! See how red it is! I never knew stars were red, but look at this!”
Rumau lay on the ground beside him. “That must be a very close star, then,” she said.
“Must it be?”
“Well, it’s what you said about fire, remember? The red drops out first, then the yellow...”
“Stars are not all ... just ... there?” came Aurrigne’s voice.
Yre explained again his ideas about stars being fire, and fires looking more yellow and then more white the further one went from them.
“Then they cannot be very far away,” Aurrigne said.
“Why do you say that?” Yre said, almost distractedly.
Aurrigne didn’t take it that way. He lowered his head and looked away.
Rumau gave him a hearty pat that made him jump. “Aurrigne, all members of the White Rock Dike are not only encouraged, but required, to give their opinions whenever they have them.” She thought for a moment and added, “to any other White Rock Dike member who wants to hear them at the time and is awake.”
Aurrigne ruffled his feathers. “If they were very far away you wouldn’t be able to see them at all.”
“Good point,” Rumau said. She leaned over and tried to look through Yre’s lenses.
Whatever it was he was seeing, Rumau could see only very fleetingly, and only when she leaned just... so. Shimeyu eyes, though, were much keener than madhai eyes. “Yre, why don’t you draw what you see through those lenses? I can’t see it.”
Yre snorted. “I can’t draw.”
“When was the last time you tried?”
Yre hissed and moved his lenses.
Rumau lay down beside him with her head on his back.
(c) 2008 Fara Shimbo
To Be Continued...
Chapter 50.
Stars
By nightfall everyone was glad to stop. They had passed the road to Bara and were now on the road to Sho. Mignette assured everyone that there was a wonderful Rose just another day’s travel to the north. The rose grew, she said, beside a lake, which Yre seemed to think was the Tavu Lake, Tavu being a very large chiyaha city. When asked if he had ever visited it, Yre only shrugged.
The moment they had stopped, Yre dislodged all his lenses from his rump feathers and began to set up to study the stars.
He didn’t get very far. With the setting of the sun the hannu became active and swarmed over everyone in the group. Yre found himself being climbed on by at least six of them. They helped themselves to his lenses and setting-sticks, and one of them grabbed Tsf by the tail and got swatted.
After only a very few minutes, Yre gave up trying to do anything astronomical and set to watching the hannu at play. They tussled and fought like young chiyaha, even though they could not yet do more than crawl. But the fact that they could crawl, and so young...
Yre sat down and let the hannu satisfy their curiosity about him, and yank on his feathers and stare right into his eyes. And then he heard it.
Or, he thought he did. A yell, perhaps? Or a cry? A shimeyu sound. They were on the road and therefore guaranteed passage but “speaking” shimeyu were not the only kind out there.
Yre stood up and looked around. The horses had heard it too; Owán stood in front of his mares, ears back, nose held high, sniffing. Yre walked up to where Rumau, Mignette and Emma were working on a fire. “There is something out there,” he said, very quietly.
“What is out there?” Mignette said, motioning to Cookie.
“No! Don’t!” Yre held his head high and sniffed, and listened. “Runners! We have to get off the road!”
“Off the-”
“We don’t want them to know where we are!” Yre began rounding up the hannu, putting some of them on his back and some of them in carts. “We especially don’t want them to know we have the hannu! They’ll tell everyone they see and word will get back to Dar! Get off the road! Now!”
Rumau, Emma and Mignette jumped up. Aurrigne, still in much pain from his injured leg, looked up with some excitement; but was soon almost cowering under the glare of Mignette’s gaze.
Mignette made a trilling noise and all the hannu seemed to snap to attention. She pointed at the carts and hissed, and the hannu began crawling toward them. Everyone either grabbed hannu in their arms, piled them on horseback or tossed them into the carts. They ran to the west as quickly as they could go.
They finally slowed again when they reached a small stream, which Yre seemed to think was far enough away from the road so that passing runners, returning to their own towns, could not pick up their scent.
But an interesting thing happened when they did: those hannu who had been placed on horseback would not come down.
By the light of the stars, the adults could see on the hannu faces looks of the most astonished bliss.
Owán shook mightily, and most of his hannu fell off. But they played and slept under his legs that night, and when he lay down to sleep himself, many more cuddled up against him.
... b ...
Very early the next morning, Mignette and Cookie went out in search of a new route to the next Rose.
The hannu, very much to Rumau’s surprise, had ingratiated themselves with not only Gadrin and Owán, but with the western foals. The mares were more suspicious of them, but none of the mares moved to keep the hannu from their offspring.
As the sun rose higher, the hannu fell asleep one by one, and Rumau and Emma were able to place them in their carts, reassemble the train, harness Gadrin and Owán, and gather a little bit to eat.
Rumau watched the little things sleeping.
They were no longer quite so little. And no long silent, when they were awake.
When Mignette and Cookie returned, they all began northward. They couldn’t go at more than a brisk trot, since Emma had taken her role as cart horse very seriously and would not allow Yre, who could keep up with the horses at a gallop (if only for a short way) to take her place. But the road was smooth, for the most part, and only a few wheels fell off and had to be replaced (and one unravelled so badly that one cart had to be abandoned). By late afternoon they saw, in the distance, a sparkling lake, and an enormous Rose.
Rumau and Yre, and all the horses, stopped where they were. The Rose was almost the size of a city, having its roots deep in the lake, no doubt. It was in full bloom and surrounded by clouds of wasps and birds.
Mignette looked about to scold; but after a moment’s thought she shook her head and changed her mind. She unhitched the trains from Owán, Gadrin and Emma, and tied them all together into one very long one. Then she patted Rumau on the arm and said, “We will make it safe,” shot a stinging glance at Aurrigne, and carefully pulled the whole long train behind her toward the Rose, minus the two carts which held Rumau’s possessions.
... b ...
They had stopped so far from the Rose that it was about half an hour before Mignette and her children disappeared inside it.
Rumau made a fire, and the others gathered around. Emma stretched blankets into a tent.
Yre pulled out his lenses and set them up, delighted that the hannu were not around. He then lay on the ground, peering through the lenses, every now and then giving them an adjustment with just the lightest flick of his finger.
“You should look, Rumau! And you also, Emma and Aurrigne, you should look. What there is to see is just amazing. Look at this star! See how red it is! I never knew stars were red, but look at this!”
Rumau lay on the ground beside him. “That must be a very close star, then,” she said.
“Must it be?”
“Well, it’s what you said about fire, remember? The red drops out first, then the yellow...”
“Stars are not all ... just ... there?” came Aurrigne’s voice.
Yre explained again his ideas about stars being fire, and fires looking more yellow and then more white the further one went from them.
“Then they cannot be very far away,” Aurrigne said.
“Why do you say that?” Yre said, almost distractedly.
Aurrigne didn’t take it that way. He lowered his head and looked away.
Rumau gave him a hearty pat that made him jump. “Aurrigne, all members of the White Rock Dike are not only encouraged, but required, to give their opinions whenever they have them.” She thought for a moment and added, “to any other White Rock Dike member who wants to hear them at the time and is awake.”
Aurrigne ruffled his feathers. “If they were very far away you wouldn’t be able to see them at all.”
“Good point,” Rumau said. She leaned over and tried to look through Yre’s lenses.
Whatever it was he was seeing, Rumau could see only very fleetingly, and only when she leaned just... so. Shimeyu eyes, though, were much keener than madhai eyes. “Yre, why don’t you draw what you see through those lenses? I can’t see it.”
Yre snorted. “I can’t draw.”
“When was the last time you tried?”
Yre hissed and moved his lenses.
Rumau lay down beside him with her head on his back.
(c) 2008 Fara Shimbo
To Be Continued...