The Honu gave a frustrated hiss. That is true. But it is also true that change is usually more difficult than not changing. It is true as well that changing often takes help. Our change has served its purpose. We have survived a long time.
Ah, so the story had a moral, Murel thought. Overall, the Honu's tale was a bit like a Petaybean song.
After the story, all of the other Honus had things to say. Basically you have it straight, young one, but the way I heard it, we started on the land and then went to the sea, one said.
Yes, and I distinctly remember, said one whose mental voice was old and creaky, that some of the ones who stayed in the sea turned into something else-warthogs, was it? Octopuses? Let me think now. Maybe it was jellyfish.
It's been a long trip, Grandfather, said another turtle, just as big but sounding much younger. Let's give it a rest now, shall we? The youngster got it mostly right.
No, no, not octopuses or jellyfish, the older turtle continued, correcting himself.
Could have been clams, though. Or lobsters or crabs. Shells, you know. Our sort will always have an affinity for shells.
Sky swam up with a dozen or more sea otters. Are you going to the volcano, river seals? Otters like to go there for the giant white clams.
Ronan said, I guess with no deep sea otters there to object, the sea otter cousins can have all the clams they want.
Deep sea otters do not care how many clams sea otters take, one of the sea otters replied. Deep sea otters give clams to sea otters.
How can that be? Murel asked. The deep sea otters' den was buried by the volcano. We threw clamshell leis down to them, remember?
The sea otter somersaulted in the water and came right side up facing her. That may be, but there are still deep sea otters living out there. Maybe all of them did not live in the strange den. Maybe some swam away.
Maybe so, Murel replied, feeling a bit excited but also a little worried. The deep sea otters' "den" had resembled an odd human city, or the ruins of one. A very unotter-like presence sent thoughts from within, and the city had seemed impenetrable to Ronan and her. Still, the deep sea otters, or whatever they were, had saved her da when he was injured. That made them good, didn't it?
Ronan caught her line of thinking. Unless they were the ones who hurt him to begin with, he said.
Yeah, she said. There is that.
How big is the volcano now? Ronan asked the otters.
Big. Bigger than before, was the answer. But quiet now.
Perhaps it's done, Murel mused. Perhaps it made the island and settled down so Ke-ola's people can move there soon.
It should be safe to swim out there now.
Yes, but we promised Mother we wouldn't.
I know, but if the deep sea otters are still alive, someone should warn them about the Manos. We won't be able to swim out there safely once they're let loose, so we'd better do it now.
You don't think we'll be safe around the Manos? They did promise not to harm us.
You trust them?
Not really.
Me neither. So on the whole, what do you think Mum or Da would do in our position, if they knew all the facts? Would they just leave these deep sea otters or whatever they were who saved Da to face the sharks without warning?
Otters could warn them, Sky said.
Only if otters remembered to warn them while they were harvesting clams, Murel replied. In some ways she didn't trust otters either, Sky being an exception. She and Ronan liked to play, but compared to otters, they were party poopers. Sky might have been the only one among them who was a sky otter, but they were all a bit flighty.
It's not like there's time to go back and ask permission, even if we could, Ronan rationalized. We promised to keep them secret, after all.
Just a quick trip, then, she agreed. The volcanic flow had covered so much of the ocean floor that the closest approach to where the "den" of the deep sea otters had been was nearer than before. They had discovered this when they went to pay their respects to the presumably dead denizens with clamshell leis, as Ke-ola had showed them.
The Honus, usually patient creatures, were chilled by the wintry waters close to the polar shore.
We wish to go to the new home, one of them told the seals, otters, and the brothers.
Ke-ola and Keoki, back on shore, looked unhappy. We want to go too but we can't, they said.
If you are too weak to swim all that way, grandsons, you may hold onto our shells and we will tow you, the Honus offered.
We can't, the boys said. It's too cold. We'd freeze if we swam in that very long.
Ronan and Murel agreed that the only way they could all go together was to find the brothers a boat. Murel and Sky turned north and swam along the coastline, while Ronan and some of the sea otters turned south. But they discovered that the entire length of the shoreline was abandoned. Where normally there might be boats and nets and small villages or camps, now the sea was bounded only by rocks, drowned trees, and sheer cliffs. The water was higher than at any time in Petaybee's history.
I know the volcano made high water and waves, but I can't believe people moved so far from the sea, Murel called to her brother. They make their livelihoods from it! Surely they can't be far. Maybe we should change and walk inland a bit and see if we can spot anybody. Of course, if we do find a boat, we'd have to carry it back to the shore. I guess Ke-ola and Keoki should help us search. If we're not around to guide them they could get lost.
And we couldn't? Ronan asked. We should have asked Mum and Da about this sort of thing. They'd know.
So will Sky's hundreds of relatives. So, race you back to the river. Last one there's an otter's uncle.
The twins raced through the icy waves, enjoying the freedom of the sea as they had the rivers. The Honus waited for them near the river mouth. They were not pleased with the new plan.
It is too cold to wait here. We must swim to the new warm water. You have fur and no shells to shatter in the frozen tide. We must go now.
We'll not be long, she told the turtles. We'll just change and get into the dry suits and- She stopped talking to the Honus and said to Ronan, That's it! The dry suits!
We can let Ke-ola and Keoki wear them. They keep out the wet, but they keep out the cold and the wind too.
The suits had hoods, mittens, and booties that could be attached as firmly as a space suit's boots, gauntlets, and helmet. They were also expandable to fit the twins as they grew.
Honu, if you would tell Ke-ola to take the packs from the harnesses strapped to our backs, Ronan said, he and Keoki can wear our dry suits to keep warm and dry on the trip out to the volcano. Since Murel and I are in seal form, we'll not be needing them till we return from the volcano.
Ke-ola and Keoki did as the Honus instructed and removed the twins' packets from their harnesses. The two boys, though older and larger than either twin, easily skinned into the suits.
Then, booties, gloves, and hoods secured, they waded into the water. The largest of the Honus waited for them where the river became the sea. Each boy grabbed the top of a Honu shell and was carried away as easily as driftwood.
With the Honus in the lead, Ke-ola and Keoki trailing in their wake, and Ronan and Murel following, they set off for the volcano. The sea otters did not go. Sky did not want to go either, at night and in salt water, which was not what a former river otter preferred, but he could not bear to be left behind, so in the end he too hitched a ride on the shell of a Honu.
"Their" Honu, the small one, was a little slow since he didn't have as much paddle power as the larger ones. Before long Ronan surged ahead of him. Shortly thereafter, he amused himself by letting off a continual stream of the snore-fart noises he used for sonar.