Stephanie shoved her plate away, appetite suddenly gone.
“Some birthday celebration,” she said. “Instead of what I’ve been dreaming about, I get a socialization lesson.”
Mom looked very sad. On some level, Stephanie regretted what she’d said, but she couldn’t quite apologize. Dad still looked stern, which probably meant he was angry, but keeping his temper-he had one, too-under control.
“I can see,” Dad said, “that we’re past the point of discussion. We’ll talk about both the party and learner’s permit later.”
“May I be excused?” Stephanie asked, stiffly polite. “I have studying to do.”
“Of course.”
As she pushed herself back from the table and hurried to her room, her dad’s last words haunted her. He said “learner’s permit,” not “provisional license.” I can’t get a license without their permission. Is he going to stop me, after all my hard work?
Stephanie stormed into her room, stopping just short of slamming the door behind her. Instead of going to her computer, she flung herself on her bed. What’s wrong with them? Don’t they like me anymore?
She heard the door open and the soft pad-pad as Lionheart came in, shutting the door behind him. He thumped up on the bed next to her, but made no effort to touch her mood. She found herself wishing he would, even though a few minutes before the very idea had made her furious.
What’s wrong, Stephanie thought forlornly, with me?
Still troubled by the difficulties he had experienced when he had tried to help Death Fang’s Bane earlier, when his two-leg settled into her studies and some of her emotional turmoil quieted, Climbs Quickly reached across the distance to see if he could touch the mind voice of his sister, Sings Truly.
Even before he had included cluster stalk as a routine element of his diet, Climbs Quickly had possessed a powerful mind voice for a male. Despite these advantages, he still needed the help of relays from roving hunters to send his message and receive the reply.
‹ You sound troubled, Climbs Quickly. You say Death Fang’s Bane will soon be asleep? Come and meet me near the blue point trees close to where the lace leaf grows. Twig Weaver is coming to protect me. He has not forgotten that were it not for Death Fang’s Bane he would be dead-or worse.›
With this reply, Climbs Quickly had to be content. He let Death Fang’s Bane know he was going out. She hugged him tight and made mouth sounds in which he caught “Right-Striped” and “Left-Striped.” Good, then. If she thought he was going to check on the twins, she would not worry.
Bleeking gentle reminder, he pointed toward her bed and was rewarded with a laugh-and a bright flicker in her mind-glow as well. She made more mouth sounds at him, none of which he understood, but the fussing tone was clear enough. She wanted him to go enjoy himself and not worry about her. She was fine.
The long summer nights were shortening, although the sky would hold an evening glow for a long while to come. Climbs Quickly scampered up the trunk of a nearby net-wood and worked his way through a route he had traveled many times before. Even as he kept alert for possible dangers-for although death fangs did not go up into the trees, a rotten branch could be as hazardous-he was aware of Death Fang’s Bane’s mind-glow. He knew when she stopped working and felt as she drifted off to sleep.
Eventually, Climbs Quickly came to the stand of blue point trees. Soon after, Sings Truly and Twig Weaver arrived. Both had brought carry nets with them. The seeds of the blue point tree were considered a delicacy among the People. Although it was early for many to be ripe, at this late stage the cones could be picked and stored. The seeds would continue ripening.
True-hands and hand-feet busy picking the cones, the three People fell into discussion. Twig Weaver offered to close himself from the discussion, but the siblings asked him to take part.
‹ If you do not mind, that is, › Climbs Quickly added. ‹ Your different experiences may give us some new wisdom.›
Sings Truly, who as a memory singer had access to a huge volume of the shared experiences of the People, did not contradict her brother. Climbs Quickly had noticed that since she had become the clan’s senior memory singer she had been more, rather than less, likely to invite the insights of others.
Perhaps, Climbs Quickly thought, having seen the thoughts and stored memories of so many People, memories grown faint with distance and time, she has come to value the new more, rather than less.
That was an interesting thought, and he tucked it away for further consideration. For now, he needed to get what advice he could and then return to Death Fang’s Bane. Now, of all times, he did not wish to be away from her.
It was very easy to explain to the others the source of his confusion. Although Climbs Quickly was becoming convinced that the two-legs were capable of communicating complicated ideas with their mouth sounds and the markings they made, still he pitied them. Mouth sounds must come in sequence. It had taken him some time to realize that the same sounds in a different order did not mean the same thing. He despaired of ever really understanding them.
Mind-speech, however, took many forms. Although one could “talk,” framing thoughts in sequence, when an experience needed to be shared, there was no need to resort to this cumbersome form.
Now he showed Sings Truly and Twig Weaver what he had experienced from Death Fang’s Bane that evening, presenting not only the impulses he had read from her mind-glow but the larger context of her interaction with her parents. He was even able to include his own interpretations of some of the mouth noises. These were mostly names, but he felt that even this little bit would clarify that the two-legs were intelligently communicating, not bellowing as the lake builders did when warning each other across the water.
For all the complexity, this sharing took very little time. He felt Sings Truly and Twig Weaver considering, weighing against their own experiences-and in the case of Sings Truly, against the experiences of many others.
Sings Truly said, ‹ I think that because your first meeting with Death Fang’s Bane impressed you with her intelligence…›
Twig Weaver did not so much interrupt as intersperse an image of how-despite his care-Climbs Quickly had found himself discovered by the young two-leg. Certainly, Death Fang’s Bane (although, of course, she had been given no name then) had been clever to figure out how to set a snare he could not detect although he (and others of the People) had always been able to step over and around those set by her elders…
Sings Truly’s thoughts went on, ‹ Because you have always thought her intelligent and resourceful, I think you often forget that she is very young. From what we can tell, she has not reached full maturity. Although her scent is close to that of an adult, there are differences. Indeed, when I look into the memories, I see that her scent now differs from her scent when you first met her. I think she is changing.›
The thought startled Climbs Quickly. He was no memory singer, but he could summon some of his older memories. He compared them, tasted the memories that Sings Truly offered for his and Twig Weaver’s inspection. The evidence was interesting. He offered them samples of his experiences with Death Fang’s Bane over these last few days, choosing times when he had found her mind glow particularly confusing.
Twig Weaver said, ‹ I think what is happening is clear-although I do not fault you, since those who are closest do not always notice such things. Death Fang’s Bane is changing from a child into an adult. Her scent shows that certain events-such as her encounter with Bleached Fur-makes certain scents change more wildly. Perhaps two-legs are like those creatures with seasonal breeding patterns. These often become very irrational when the need to breed is upon them.›