Silent Dances (13 page)

with them
,
when Meg snagged his arm.

"
And where are you going
,
Romeo?" she dem
an
ded. He blushed
furiously,
hating his fair skin.

"You're very young, Thorn," she signed, her expression kindly. "Too young, I felt, for this job when you first came here. But you're a good worker, and you

believed in Scott.
You ea
rn
ed my respect a long time ago." She

hesitated, then continued, "I know you've been alone here for

months ... I
know you don't fit in well with the
Crane
crew."

Thorn
sighed
.
It was just like Meg to talk around unpleasantness.

Lauren had become infatuated with him as soon as
he'd arrived. But

Thorn had just endured a bitter divorce and
wanted
only to bury
himself in

his
work, too.

At first he'd accepted Lauren's attentions, but it'd been a
mistake
.
He wasn
'

t ready for any kind of relationship, even the most casual
.
He'd wound

up hu
rt
ing Lauren with
an
abrupt rebuff
. Thorn
knew he could
'
ve h
an
dled the situation mo
re
tactfully
,
as Bruce
,
Lauren
'
s resident big
brother
,
had been quick to point out. As anguished as Thorn had been

by Sco
tt
's death
,
it had been a relief to spend all his time on T
ri
nity
and
not have to face Lauren's cold anger, which only- reminded
him of his

ex-wife.

Was it only yesterday that he'd gotten the news that Jane had remarried?

Glancing at Tesa, Thorn realized that his sudden interest in the newcomer

might be his psyche's way of telling
him that he
'
d finally healed.

"I didn't bring Tesa here," Meg continued, "to fall in love
with
you.
She has to fall in love with
them"--the
older woman indicated the Grus--"and she has.

Don't interfere."

Tesa was crouched at the edge of the cliff, watching the avians spiral down

into the marsh. After landing, they'd separate,
some pairs disappearing

into nest shelters, or mates relieving their pa
rt
ners from egg

incubation duties so they could
feed. Younger birds would form small

groups
and, in
secluded
areas in the
re
eds
,
sleep
,
balanced one-legged
,
in the open water
.
Tesa
'
s body slumped as though she felt
empty now that
her "first contact" was over.

The tiny "Child Sun" had disappeared, and the large
"Father Sun
,"
the
solar system
'
s yellow star
,
was half hidden by the ho
ri
zon
.
It seemed
huge
, re
d, wave
ri
ng in the thick

62

atmosphere.
The "Mother Sun," the b
ri
ght gas giant, still hovered in the
sky
,
now rampant with color.

Thorn turn
ed to Meg
. "
You're
ri
ght. It's just
...
she's got a lot of
presence
,
wouldn
'
t you say?"

"I'd say."

"Meg," Thorn signed, "
we've got to talk
,
and Tesa's not paying much
attention to us--let
'
s head for the shelter. We'll come get her when

supper
'
s ready."

The older woman nodded, an
d the two walked tow
ar
d the shelter
. Thorn

tried to decide what to tell her first, what was most impo
rt
ant
.
He'd
have to wa
rn
her of the Grus' feelings about Taller's decision to take

Tesa into his family. Even the leader
'
s most loyal followers thought it

was a mistake. There were three suns. There were three moons
.
There

were three members of the Grus family-father
,
mother
,
and child. Some
of the less loyal flock members blamed the attack that killed Scott and

Water D
an
cer on their plans
.
How else, they said, could such a

disaster st
ri
ke on a day that histo
ri
cally omened good luck?

Tesa sat at the cliff edge
,
relieved to be alone. She felt weak from

hunger
.
She hadn
'
t eaten anything since before hibernation
,
and
that
,
combined with side effects from the hiber drugs, made her feel as

if she were on a spi
ri
t fast.

Only the Mother Sun still twinkled above the hori
zon and the sky was

turning violet
.
She took a deep breath, as though the air
,
with its

smells of ea
rt
h
,
grass, and water
,
could wed her to this world ... and
make it hers.

She wanted to belong here, to become part of this beautiful, wild place.
Gl

an
cing back tow
ar
d the l
ar
ge Quonset
-
hut shelter, painted in a
camouflage pattern in T
ri
nity
'
s autumn shades, Tesa watched as Meg
and Thorn went inside.

She pulled the two eagle feathers from her hair.
How long had it been

since she'd danced
?
When she lived at home, it had been like
breathing
to her,
an integral pa
rt
of her life.

Tesa had earn
ed her feathers by acts of brave
ry.
Reaching into her

pocket
,
she pulled out the leather wrapping that protected the red

stone pipe, the
canunpa
,
her grandfather had ca
rv
ed for her. Then she
held the feathers and pipe in her open palms
an
d st
re
tched her arms
out before her. Turning to the four directions
,
she offe
re
d a prayer to
the Wakan T
an
ka, the Great Spi
ri
t, of this world.

63

"
I come with clean hands and an open hea
rt
," she signed. All living
places have what the Dakota call
wakanda,
the

Iroquois
orenda,
the Athabascan coen
-
the living
power
that perv
ades a
place. For Tesa that had been missing on StarB
ri
dge, a lifeless chunk

of shattered planet spinning in vacuum. But T
ri
nity was full of life, full

of
nagi
as Doctor Blanket had said.

Then,
putting the pipe back in her pocket
,
she took a feather in each

hand, stretched her arms like wings
,
and feeling the drumbeat in her

hea
rt,
the drumbeat that was the beating hea
rt
of this new world, Tesa
began to dance the Eagle Dance.

She watched her shadow imitating the great soari
ng birds of Ea
rt
h
.
Her
feet and legs took up the rhythm as she tu
rn
ed in circles, moving

naturally, compensating for the low gravity with an easy grace she only

felt when dancing. And as she moved, she found herself envisioning

the bronze wingtip against blue sky. Closing her eyes, she opened

herself to the image and followed the dream
-
bird
,
heedless of the

proximity of the cliff edge
.
Behind her eyelids she could see the vision

that had haunted her hibernation. A lone
,
soa
ri
ng bird, looking for ...

what?

Shudderi
ng
,
she opened her eyes to see a shadow of wings on the

ground
,
c
ri
sscrossing her own. Sta
rt
led enough to think she might
be having a true vision
, Tesa
continued to dance, turning, spinning
,

watching the new shadow
.
It was the vision she'd always feared, the

vision that would tu
rn
her into a
heyoka
,
something she didn
'
t want to
be.

The winged shadow grew larger, darker, turn
ing circles in time with her

silent drum
.
Tesa tried to regain her calm. Finally, she stopped and

looked up, her hea
rt
fearful but open to the Eagle Spi
ri
t
,
her palms
sticky with sweat
.
But the shadow wasn
'
t a spirit
...
it was an Aquila.

An
Aquila!
Her mind and her heart
went to war
.
She glanced at the

marsh
,
wonde
ri
ng if the Grus would notice the great p
re
dator and
erupt in a chorus of wa
rn
ing calls
.
But she felt no tingling vibrations
and decided the Aquila must not have violated any "bounda
ri
es." This
single hunter might have been winging westward after ranging in the

easte
rn
savannahs.

Was there any way to communicate with it?
Had anyone ever t
ri
ed
?
Or
was it just viewing
her
as nothing more than a potential meal? It was

foolish,
but she didn't feel frightened now. The Aquila was magnificent!

Scott'
s notes had warned Tesa that the Aquila was
every bit

64

as big as the long-extinct Teratomis of Earth. The larger female's wingspan

spre
ad to sixteen
feet, a foot longer than the Grus'. Her body, stretched tall, was about four feet high. The massive bird spiraled down as Tesa stared,

riveted. As she watched the Aquila, the bird also watched her. Clutching her

prayer feathers, she met the bird's gaze.

The huge avian alighted on an old, dead tree that clung to the edge of the

cliff. Tesa could see the ruby-red eyes clearly. A female, then. The males

were smaller and had golden eyes.

Meg had given Tesa Scott'
s notes
on the voyage, and the young woman

quickly realized that the older biologist had no idea how much work her

partner had done on Aquila behavior. Scott wrote that he had wanted to do

more, to even try contacting the elusive predators, but the Grus' long-

standing enmity with the creatures had made that impossible. Dutifully, Tesa

had gone through everything about the Grus, only stealing a few moments

here and there to read about the Aquila. She'd never told Meg about the

material, and kept those files separate.

As she met the Aquila's red-eyed gaze, Tesa wondered,
What would you do,

Scott?
Then, slowly, she walked toward the tree.

Clamping onto the leafless treetop with strong talons, the raptor made a

great display of flapping her wings, as though she would pull the old tree out

of the ground. She opened her wickedly hooked beak-screaming her own

calls, no doubt.

Tesa stopped ten paces from the trunk. As Taller had, the Aquila peered at

her with one brilliant red eye, then the other. Then, without warning, she

flattened her feathers and launched herself
up, gaining
altitude quickly.

Tesa looked back at the tree, watching it sway as if that could reassure her

the Aquila had actually been there. As her gaze traveled down the trunk,

something glistened on a low limb.

She scrambled a few feet up the trunk, reached for the shiny thing, and

snagged it. It was a feather from the Aquila, colored gold speckled with

bronze. Clutching it, Tesa jumped down, then spun wildly, narrowly missing

the edge of the cliff.

Scrambling backward and
grinning
, she looked to the horizon. The Mother

Sun had disappeared, and the twilight was darkening. Opening her
palms,

Tesa displayed her three prayer feathers, thanking the Great Spirit for this

gift-this
sign-on
her first day
in this
new world.

65

Then
she took the three feathers
,
and wrapped them in the protective

leather
,
and slipped them into her pocket
.
A touch on her shoulder

startled her.

"Was that an Aquila?"
Meg asked, pointing toward the distant speck that

was the avian. Her face was drawn
,
somber, totally unlike the happy

person who had helped her off the shuttle
.
Before Tesa could answer
,

the older woman shaded her eyes, pee
ri
ng
.
Tesa felt her exuberance

waning.

"Thorn says lone ones have been doing flyovers. I'll never feel comfortable if

even one of them is around."

The biologist looked at Tesa. "Thorn
says that last week a group of Aquila

attacked a flock of Grus in the west, much closer to this ter
ri
to
ry
than
they usually come. They caught the Grus just before they would
'
ve