Silent Dances (29 page)

seemed loathe to injure barely an hour ago.

Timidly,
Flies-Too
-
Fast stepped forw
ar
d
,
head lowe
re
d, offe
ri
ng a
silver
-
blue fingerling fish to the chick
.
Taller indicated his approval
,
and Sailor grabbed the fish. The ye
ar
ling glanced nervously at the two

Grus adults, maintaining his deferential posture
.
Shimme
ri
ng also

seemed unsure whether to stay, but the chick was too much for her to

resist
.
She peered cu
ri
ously around Flies
-
Too-Fast
,
and then they
suddenly shared eye contact
.
Embarrassed
,
the two slowly backed

away to leave, but Weaver indicated they could feed the chick
.
After all

their years together
,
Taller and Weaver rarely had to speak to sh
ar
e
the same plan
.
The two young avians began se
ar
ching the
ar
ea, st
ri
ding the water side by side.

Taller looked at his son, exposed to war and death and aliens at the tender

age of five days.
Well, it was what the shimme
ri
ngs had promised
,

wasn't it?

"Taller,"
First
-
One asked solicitously, "are your wounds se
ri
ous?"

The bloodied avian eyed her for a moment. "
My people will suppo
rt
me

now in what I wish to do
.
Are the wounds se
ri
ous? Dissension among

the people is always se
ri
ous." He tu
rn
ed to his human pa
rt
ner with a
piercing st
ar
e
. "
But it will all make for a glorious dance
,
won't it
,
Good Eyes?"

"But, Taller,"
First-One signed
, "
you'
re
bleeding so much."

Suddenly she looked old to Taller,
really old
.
She had changed since

Puff had died
,
and he realized that she was too old to make a new pa
rt

nership, that she would fo
re
ver be alone. He felt an incredible sadness

for his human friend. "Weaver will help me
,"
he signed
,
to comfo
rt
her
.

"
The wounds are minor."

"Taller,"
Relaxed interjected
, "
we've got to take Good Eyes with us to
our sky shelter."

Good Eyes let out a sound, which start
led Taller and Weaver so much
,

Taller had no chance to react to Relaxed
'
s outrageous statement
.
The
human male was igno
ri
ng Good Eyes' ang
ry
exp
re
ssion and p
ro
testing signs
.
First
-
One was chewing her lip,

142

seeming torn
between agreeing with Relaxed and fearing the intrusion

into the avian family.

Taller wondered, not for the first time, what made humans think they could

speak for someone they weren't partnered with?

"I know you have your own special medicines there," Taller signed slowly,

"however.
..
"

"I'm all right," Good Eyes protested. "I just need a few days rest. It's really just a..."

"You're
not
all right!" First-One-There argued. "You need
treatment!"

"Can't you bring your medicines here?" Taller asked.
"She needs to be
examined with special equipment that can't
be moved," Relaxed

explained.

Taller held Relaxed's gaze with his own. For the second time today, the

human didn't flinch or look downward. He was
telling the truth
,
at least

about the medical care
,
but there was something else behind his eyes,

something Taller didn't understand
. "
Take her then
,
if you must
,"
the
leader signed.

Good Eyes seemed stunned,
and the other humans gave each
other a

look that Taller didn't find the least comforting. "Return her to us by nightfall,"

Taller added. "No later." Their expressions did not change. Once they had

her aboard their shelter they could find excuses to keep her there.

"They have no intention of le
tt
ing me
re
turn
,"
Good Eyes
signed to Taller, angrily. "They're afraid, because of Puff."

"What kind of people would we be if we weren't afraid for you?" First-One

signed, her temper flaring. "You don't have the sense to be afraid for

yourself. I swear, you're just like him. Rushing in where
fools
fear to tread..."

She wound
down suddenly and hung her arms limply.

Relaxed turned to Taller. "We can't promise she'll be back by nightfall. We

don't know how badly she's been hurt."
Weaver stepped between the

arguing sides
. "
F
ri
ends!

There's been enough combat for one day. If Good Eyes can't
go to the sky

shelter and
re
tu
rn
the same day, she must stay here
. This
infant has
seen enough to scar the soul of an adult, and now you
'
ll take away his

pa
re
nt
?
He'll think she
died."

Taller turn
ed to First
-
One-There
. "
You'
re ri
ght
,
she is like Puff
,
and
like Water Dancer
,
too. They were like two eggs from the same pa
re

nts
.
They we
re
fearless and rash
,
and far

143

seeing
.
They had great hea
rt.
And they were willing to sacrifice

themselves for the good of others."

He addressed them all. "
Don't you think the White Wind people will tell

the sto
ry
of this day so that all the people of the World will know it
?

Dances will spread from one marsh to the other
,
telling about Good

Eyes
,
a land
-
bound being not-of-the
-
World who became bound to us
with her blood and pain. Isn't that why she came here
,
to become one

of us, so your people and ours could be allies? This is an impo
rt
ant

memo
ry
for Sailor
,
for all of us. Good Eyes is a pa
rt
of this family,
forever
."
He turned the full force of his gaze on the humans who

wanted to take his pa
rt
ner away, who might be reluctant to b
ri
ng her
back.

"Return
her to us by nightfall, healed," he told them, "or I will fly to the
sky shelter to get her myself."

144

"If you weren
'
t so beat up
,
I'd be really pissed at you," Thorn signed
as he checked the
re
adings on the null
-
grav couch that would protect
Tesa from the worst of the shu
tt
le's thrust.

"You
are
pissed at me," she signed. The numbing cold from the ice wraps coveri
ng her wounds only compounded her discomfo
rt
.

"Do you have any idea what I was
going
through 'watching
you get the shit
kicked out of you down the
re
?" the biologist asked
,
then gently
molded an ice wrap around her face.

"Not half what I was going through gett
ing it done!" She yanked it away
,
smacking his hand. "Am I going to have to console you because I got

hu
rt?
And I am
not
your helpless lover,
so just stop acting like a
nursemaid
."
She slapped the ice wrap back on her face too hard
,
and
saw spangles.

He lifted the wrap,
to be sure she could see his signs. "You're not
my

lover,"
he reminded her, bitterly. "You're the
partner
of a feathered
alien."

Her hands moved tire
dly
, "
You can
'
t build a relationship on jealousy
, Thorn
."

"Relationship!"
he signed
.
"
What
re
lationship
?
I've let you
144

145

know how I feel
,
but you tell me nothing
.
I'm not even su
re if we'
re
friends!"
He sat on the couch, turning away from her.

With an effort, she sat up and touched his shoulder. He gazed at her

solemnly. "Of course we're friends," she signed. "If I've been cool to you, Thorn ... it's not that I don't care
about you
...
but I
'
m not su
re
how much
I wan
t to ca
re
."

She stopped then, hesitant to say more. What was the point in worrying

about her feelings toward someone when she'd be re
tu
rn
ing to Earth in a

year? How soon befo
re
she'd
re
sent
him, resent that he'd be able to stay and work on Trinity? She thought of Mahree Burroughs and Rob Gable--

thought of how much longer their separations were than their times together.

Could any relationship be worth that?

Without answering, he touched her face gently and kissed her mouth-one of

her few unswollen places. Her eyes closed as she accepted the kiss. There

was no pressure in it, no demands-just
a ple
asan
t
, c
aring touch
,
with a
hint of passion
behind it. When Thorn pulled back, Tesa surprised herself

by
following him, sliding
an
arm around his neck
an
d kissing him
back.

They separated and Tesa sank back down, exhausted-and more confused

than before. She couldn't help but smile. "Will you try to deal with my

situation with the Grus any better?"

He smiled weakly, looking chagrined. "I'll work on it. But Meg was worried,

too, you know."

"Meg has an excuse. She's already had one friend die."

"And now I know we are, at least, friends." He laughed good-naturedly.

"Okay.
But I
won't be your biggest problem aboard the
Crane.
Just wait till
Bruce
sees you." He strode toward the front of the ship to his copilot'
s seat.

Tesa groaned inwardly, anticipating
that
reception.

When they'd docked with the
Singing Crane,
Meg watched Thorn pull off his

sound
nullifiers
. "How're you doing?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Trying to decide if I want to kiss her or kill her. Incredibly

relieved that she's here, out of danger."

Not good,
Meg thought. Thorn could see his own place at Trinity, but he still

didn't understand how critical Tesa's role was. Having gotten over the shock

of the battle, Meg knew Tesa had done what she'd had to.

"Bring that couch through here," Dr. Li's crisp, business

146

like voice came through the open airlock.
The small woman marched into

the ship and leaned over Tesa's prostrate form. "We got your

transmissions
,
Meg. Looks like you
'
ve done eve
ry
thing for her that's
in the protocol. Let's get her to the infirma
ry
."

Meg sighed.
Would Szu-yi ever address Tesa personally? Thorn had

moved over to the couch and was translating what the doctor had said
,

since Tesa
'
s Mizari voder was covered with mud.

Bru
ce g
ri
nned at Tesa while unlocking the floor bolts so the couch

could float. "Forget Sacajawea, hello Chief Joseph!" Tesa nodded
,
lip-reading the name of the Nez Perce chief

who'd known when to fight and when to retreat. "
I hope," she signed as

Meg translated, "that I
,
too, `will fight no more, forever'!"

Bru
ce made a clumsy sign to her, a G
ru
s compliment that meant
"
you
are one with the World."

Thorn'
s surp
ri
sed expression was almost comic
.
He clearly had not

expected this reaction from the meteorologist.

Peter came around the other side,
his dark face drawn with concern
.
He

and B
ru
ce floated the couch onto the station and down the long cor
ri

dor to the infirma
ry
.

"I saw you counting coup on that big female,"
B
ru
ce said to Tesa
. "
That
was quick thinking
,
girl."

"I can't believe this," Thorn
complained. "I thought you'd be
furious."

"
Who, me
?"
said B
ru
ce.

"Yeah,
you. You we
re
the one who was dead set against having
'
a
human woman living with a bunch of p
ri
mitive..."