Kaya Stormchild (3 page)

Kaya showed
Josh the “balancing log,” a thirty-foot-long tree trunk that had
fallen one year and wedged itself among some rocks high over the
shore. She liked to perform tricks on the log, like hopping across
on one foot.

Lastly, she
had him try out her rope swing. The swing was a thick, knotted rope
that Kelpie had salvaged, and which Kaya had suspended from a high
arbutus branch. The rope could swing across the pebbly beach and
right out over the sea. In the summer, explained Kaya, you could
let go and somersault into the water.

Josh was
entranced with everything he saw. At last, however, he glanced down
at his watch.

“
I gotta go!”
he said anxiously. “Dad’ll be worried about me. He didn’t even know
I went out in the boat. But can I come back tomorrow after
school?”

“
Sure,”
grinned Kaya. “But don’t drop your oar this time. I can’t come and
save you every day, you know!”

Josh smiled
sheepishly. “I’ll try not to.”

With a wave,
he set off in his rowboat. The sea was calm, and he made quick
progress toward Campbell Harbour. Kaya watched him until he was a
small dot on the grey surface of the water. The she turned back up
the beach, calling out to Tike to come and help her build a fire
for supper.

Chapter 2:
The Duchess

The days
passed. Spring brightened into early summer. Wisps of bright gold
broom burst into bloom on the edges of Tangle Island. The giant
maple unfurled large, luxurious leaves, which dappled the light
entering the nest through the skylight.

Kaya and Josh
met often to go exploring. She showed him all her favorite haunts
on the smaller, unpopulated islets nearby. Sometimes Josh rowed to
Moon Cove in his rowboat, other times Kaya would paddle over in the
canoe and pick him up after school at the dock in town. The dock
was located right next to J & B’s General Store, where she
traded fish.

“
Grandmother,” Kaya called out one afternoon, “I think I’ll go
to town today.”

The eagle was
resting high on her perch, a bare cedar bough next to the nest in
the maple tree. With a slow, graceful movement, she lifted into the
air and circled slowly down to the beach where Kaya was loading the
canoe.

“
Have you got
the two fish I caught this morning?” asked Grandmother.

“
They’re
right here. Jim at the store is going to be amazed. They‘re such
big ones!” Kaya hesitated a moment, then added, “Jim said he was
going to lend me some books. He said I could come and pick them up
any time.”

Josh had been
showing Kaya how to read. Ever since her first trip to town two
years earlier, when she first saw the newspapers and magazines
stacked in Jim’s store, she had been curious to know what all those
lines and squiggles stood for. Josh had been amazed when she’d
asked him to help her learn.

“
What d’you
want to know how to read for? I hate reading! They make us read so
much boring stuff for school. It’s much more fun having
adventures.”

But Kaya
persisted. After awhile Josh started to enjoy his role as teacher.
Kaya seemed to know so much more than him about everything, and was
so brave and capable, that it felt good to be able to explain
something to
her
for a change.

“
Grandmother,” Kaya said reassuringly, “I won’t be long,
OK?”

The eagle
studied Kaya intently for a long moment, her white head cocked to
one side. Her small, black eyes were keen and bright.

“
How is your
learning coming, child?” she asked finally.

“
Fast!” said
Kaya. “I can already read a whole bunch of words. I can’t wait
until I can read a real book. Jim says there are all kinds of
wonderful stories in books, and each one is like a whole new world
to explore.”

Grandmother
nodded her head slowly. “I am glad the boy can show you how.” Her
voice was very quiet, almost sad. “One day, Kaya Stormchild, you
may wish to take your place among your own kind. You will need to
know the stories of your people.”

Kaya started
at these words. She shook her head vigorously, then said, frowning,
“
You’re
my
people, Grandmother - you and Kelpie and Tike and all the others.
I’ll never leave you, even if I can read! I don‘t want to live
anywhere else than Tangle Island. Ever!”

The old eagle
smiled. She bent to pluck with her beak a stray lock of Kaya’s hair
and tuck it behind the girl’s shoulder.

“
Go ahead,
then. Go get your books. It is a fine, cloudless day. Take Tike
with you. You haven’t offered to take him to town since the storm,
and I know he’s eager to see the place for himself.”

Kaya put her
fingers to her lips and whistled. A moment later, the little otter
came scurrying along the rocks towards her. He had a partially
eaten crab, still in the shell, dangling from his mouth.

“
Hop in!”
said Kaya. “We’re going to town.“

Tike gulped
down the rest of his meal. Then he wiped his whiskers quickly with
his paws and scampered up and over the side of the
canoe.

“
Whoopee!” he
squealed. “We’re finally going! I want to see the town. I want to
see all the people, and those car things, and - and -
everything!“

The otter
chirped and whistled excitedly to himself as Kaya carefully wrapped
two large salmon in seaweed and placed them in a cedar basket in
the bottom of the boat. Kaya launched the canoe, and with a wave to
Grandmother, who had flown to her perch, they were off.

The sea was
glassy smooth, and they covered the distance in three-quarters of
an hour. Kaya tied the canoe to the side of the Campbell Harbour
Public Dock. Then she and Tike climbed the wooden stairs that led
up from the dock to the street above. Two men who were working on a
boat engine glanced curiously at them as they passed, and a young
couple who were leaning over the railing at the top of the stairs
pointed and whispered. The sight of a girl and otter arriving by
canoe was evidently not one they saw every day. Tike held his head
high and sauntered along as if he were used to such
attention.

J & B’s
General Store was the first building on the street. Long ago, it
had been a barn belonging to one of the old Campbell Harbour
homesteads, but Jim and his wife Beth had installed large windows
and skylights and painted the walls green with gold trim. Barrels
full of bright red geraniums sat on either side of the main door.
Jim was inside, behind the counter, sticking price labels on cans.
Kaya placed the cedar basket on the counter.

“
Well, Kaya!
Back so soon?” He looked up, smiling. Then he caught sight of the
salmon.

“
Wow! What
beauties! Whenever I go fishing I’m lucky if I snag a dogfish and
here you are bringing these big salmon in every week!”

Jim shook his
head, chuckling. He was a big, burly man, with a grey ponytail and
a kind, creased face that looked as if he laughed often.

“
And who have
you brought with you? Is that a dog?” Jim took off his reading
glasses and leaned over the counter to peer at the
otter.

Tike snorted
indignantly. “Dog, indeed! What do you take me for? I am an otter,
sir. And my name is Tike. I am of the Sandy Reach family of otters
and -”

“
Tike!”
interrupted Kaya in a whisper, as she bent down close to him,
pretending to scratch his ear. “He doesn’t understand anything you
say, remember? It just sounds like you are growling at
him.”

The otter
stopped, coughed awkwardly, looked at his paws, then turned and
strolled off down a nearby aisle, as if to peruse the selection of
canned beans.

Jim’s eyes
were wide. “Well, I’ll be! That’s got to be an otter, now I get a
better look at him. Does he belong to you, Kaya?”

“
Kind of,”
shrugged Kaya. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t make a mess, don’t
worry!”

Jim got down
the books he had put aside for her and put them in a paper bag.
With a wink at Kaya, he tucked one of Beth’s freshly baked lemon
loaves into the bag as well.

“
Something to
munch on while you’re reading. Share some with your friend there,”
said Jim, grinning at Tike, who had returned to Kaya’s side and was
now peering up at Jim with an offended expression.

“
How’s your
grandmother?” asked Jim. “Would she like a little present? Some
hand lotion, perhaps?”

“
Oh no -- ”
Kaya stopped. She cleared her throat and stole a quick glance at
Tike. “Actually,” she said brightly, “that would be nice.
Grandmother’s hands do get kind of scratchy sometimes.”

At this Tike
let out a loud snort, followed by a wheezy fit of otter giggles.
Kaya glared at him sternly.

Jim looked
alarmed.

“
Is he
coughing? Something must have got caught in his throat.”

“
Oh, don’t
mind him,” said Kaya. “He just likes attention.”

Jim placed the
pale pink bottle of skin lotion in Kaya’s basket. She knew that Jim
pictured her as living with a kindly, if somewhat reclusive, old
lady. When Kaya had first visited the store Jim had questioned her
about her home in a friendly, conversational way. He was impressed
with her fishing and intrigued that she and her grandmother lived
on an island out in the Strait, without electricity or
telephone.

“
Real
pioneers!” he had exclaimed.

Kaya had
answered all his questions as vaguely as she could without lying
outright. One day, she thought, I’d like to tell Jim the truth. But
what if he didn’t understand? What if he thought she should go to
school, and live in a normal house like other girls? No. No matter
how kind Jim was, Kaya couldn’t risk it. Not yet.

“
Thanks!”
said Kaya, smiling. “And thanks especially for the books. I can’t
wait to read them.”

With a wave,
she and the otter left the store and strolled up the little street
that comprised the “downtown” of Campbell Harbour. It was Saturday,
which was always a little busier than weekdays. Many of the houses
on Henby were owned by “weekenders” who worked in the big city on
the mainland during the week and came to the island for
holidays.

Kaya and Tike
passed the library and the gas station and the little row of shops.
Tike stuck close by the girl’s heels. Twice, the sound of passing
cars made him jump. When a chainsaw started up somewhere off in the
trees, the otter nearly leaped into Kaya’s arms.

“
Don’t worry
Tike, they won’t bite you. I promise. Let’s go and visit the
Duchess. She wants to meet you. You’ll like her.”

“
What’s a
Duchess?” asked Tike peevishly, as if he didn’t like the sound of
the word.

“
A Duchess is
kind of like a Queen, “ said Kaya patiently. “They’re very
important over in England. That’s the country my friend came from.
But she is not a Duchess really, not any more. She told me she used
to be married to a Duke, back when she was young. She didn’t like
living with him, though, so she ran away here, to Henby Island. Her
real name is Margaret, Margaret Kimpton. But I like to call her the
Duchess. It suits her better.”

The Duchess
ran the thrift shop at the far end of the street. Kaya had taken to
visiting the old woman on her trips to town. The Duchess often gave
Kaya clothes, and any dishes or pots the girl needed. But most of
all, Kaya liked to sit and chat with her.

The shop was
located in the front rooms of a very old house, one that dated from
the early days of Campbell Harbour. The sign on the front door
said,

Trinkets and
Treasures

Open Thursday
through Sunday, 10 – 4

They pushed
open the heavy wooden door and stepped inside. Immediately, the
scent of lavender mixed with the musty smell of old blankets
greeted them. Heavy chintz curtains hung on either side of the
large front window, and the walls were papered with a faded floral
design in pink and lilac hues. Racks of clothes, drawers and
shelves filled with china, linen, and board games as well as all
sorts of odds and ends crowded the room.