Mesmerized by the flying colors, she didn't see the seals approaching until they ringed the iceberg.
Stopped for a snack, did you? The seal facing her raised himself on his flippers to peer over her ledge at Sky. Can we have a bite? We've swum a long way to tell you what you want to know and that looks delicious.
That's not a snack. It's my friend, Murel replied. He got too tired and we had to rest. And he's not delicious. He's a freshwater otter and everyone knows they're poisonous.
What's a friend?
Sky had come up with a good definition for his fellow otters, "a family member who is not an otter." Da had overheard it and repeated it, awed at the cultural development of otter-kind, he said.
A friend is a family member who is not a seal, she said, changing the species to fit the situation.
Not all seals are family members, the hungry seal replied. Part-time seals are not family members so their friends aren't family members either. He may be poisonous to part-time seals but he smells delicious to me. We found what you wanted. We spoke to your sibling. We'll take you there if you share your friend.
He's not to eat, she repeated. He's not dead. He's just resting.
We are resting too, the seal said, making himself comfortable, finding another lower ledge to rest his lower half against. The other seals barked in agreement. And we don't care that it's not dead. We like live food best. But we can wait. We'll be right here until you get hungry. You will get hungry, you know. If you don't want to eat him, you will need to get back in the water and catch something you can eat soon. Then we'll eat him and then we'll take you to your brother.
Murel looked into the big brown eyes, the cute whiskers, the face like her own and her brother's and her father's. The seal was threatening her. He wanted to eat Sky and he meant to do it. A silly phrase popped into her mind, as silliness was apt to do at inappropriate moments. She wanted to call out to Ro, "Help, I'm under sealge." But she didn't know how to reach Ro and they did. The Perfect Fjord herd's demand was completely out of the question, of course. They were evil seals.
Who would have thought there were evil seals?
I've already had lots to eat, she lied. You'll get tired of this pretty soon. Go catch some fish and leave us alone.
Don't you want to know where your sibling is?
Sure, but I'll find him myself if that's the way you're going to be. Friends don't eat friends or let anybody else eat them either. Unbidden, the image of Jeel's blood rising around the ring of sharks came back to her. Not if they can help it, she added guiltily.
Maybe you can't help it, the seal said menacingly. Maybe you won't be able to stay on the iceberg. Maybe the iceberg won't stay under you.
What do you mean?
You're new to these parts, aren't you? The stories about you say you're used to freshwater, not the sea. But you have to know about ice.
Of course I do. What about it?
The seal slid up to her ledge, barely touching it with his nose and front claws, but pulling himself up and back. At his bark, three others along the ledge began doing the same thing.
The reassuring sheen of water beneath her and Sky slid out from under them and joined the sea.
It melts, the lead seal said. That's what.
THE COPTER SET down on the shore closest to the iceberg. "Sure you don't want to go on to the fjord?" Rick asked. "It's not far now."
Sean said, "No, we need to see why she's on the iceberg, if that's her."
"I'm about out of fuel or I'd wait," Rick said.
"That's okay. You may be needed there anyway." Sean turned to Yana. "You may as well go back with him, love."
"They're my kids, Sean, and I'm not some wimpy little housewife, you know."
"We don't actually have any of those on Petaybee," Sinead said thoughtfully. "But you are the co-governor, Yana, and the newcomers are going to be pretty upset, having the so-called authorities flying off with their kids. Not to mention Marmie."
Yana wanted to mutter something about the shape-shifting Shongilis sticking together and ganging up on her, but that was juvenile and Sinead was right. "Very well. You natives sort it out while Ke-ola and I go and try to sort the rest of it out."
"I should stay, missus," Ke-ola told her. "The warden." He nodded at Sinead.
"She's good in the woods but maybe not so good in the water, and she's strong but she's not as big as me. Dr. Shongili can't lift stuff while he's a seal. He can use a big fella like me to help if Ro and Murel need to get hauled into a boat or something. Besides, the warden almost drowned today. I'm fine."
Yana was surprised when Sinead said, "Thanks, Ke-ola. Right on all counts. I'd best go back to Kilcoole with Yana and see what I can do to help. Besides, Aisling will need to fuss over me a bit and make sure I'm okay."
So the survival gear-enough for Ke-ola as well as for Sean and the kids in human form-was dropped off with the menfolk. As the copter lifted up again, Sean was stripping down and Ke-ola setting up the boat. Night fell while they weren't looking, and a dazzling aurora accompanied them all the way back to Kilcoole.
CHAPTER 24
VERY WELL, THEY'RE gone now, Kushtaka, are you happy? Ronan couldn't keep the resentment out of his thoughts.
She ignored him, talking to others of her own species, whatever it was, in their own tongue. He didn't understand all of it-part of it seemed to be technical jargon of some sort, but the gist of it was that it was safe now and they could go.
The water around the dome filled with deep sea otters bearing something unidentifiable in their paws. They scattered, some remaining in sight, others disappearing among the fish and seaweed, the smoking black volcanic chimneys, and rocks. Some dived toward the bottom.
Setting the sursurvus, Kushtaka explained. We've recalibrated them to cover a broader area. We want to be prepared if the sharks return.
That won't be your only large predator this far north, he told her.
Somewhere beneath us lies what is left of the second greatest city of our civilization, she told him. I've visited the ruins many times.
She didn't like him knowing more about the place than she did. He didn't want to get Puk and Mraka in trouble by letting on that they'd told him something of their species' history on Petaybee.
Oh, then you know about the bears, he replied in an offhand way.
Bears?
You know, big white jobs, dive like us, swim like us, but faster, meaner, and eat anything.
Bears live on land, she said, as if he was trying to fool her. We've seen them when we venture close to shore.
Normal bears do, he answered. Black bears, brown bears, grizz. None of them mind a bit of a swim, usually in freshwater, but the white bears are almost as at home in the water as seals like me or otters like you folks. Or the regular kind of sea otters anyway.
It sounds most improbable, she said.
I thought the same when the sea otters told me about your people, he replied, and yet, here you are. The bears are real too. Keep watching and you'll see one before long I imagine.
Is this something else your people have put into these waters to endanger us? she demanded.
That was so unfair it made Ronan forget his manners. That's bollocks, he told her.
I'm sorry for your loss. My sister and I were the only ones who even knew you were here, you've been that secretive, so how could anyone else know the sharks endangered you? Even though we tried to warn you about them, you're blaming us for trying to help you. I would think instead of blaming children no older than your own, Kushtaka, that you as leader of these folk would be thinking more along the lines of telling them what was dangerous to them and planning ways for them to fight or escape it.