Juna stepped off the boat and onto the beach, not waiting for the rest of the onshore team. Moki ran to greet her. She picked him up and held him to her.
“It’s good to see you,” she said, in human speech. She hoped he understood her.
“I missed you,” Moki replied in Standard. He took her hand and led her up the path from the beach. “Ukatonen and Anitonen are waiting,” he added in Tendu.
Juna sneezed. Her eyes and nose itched as though she were suffering an attack of hay fever. Anitonen had told her that she would react to the alien proteins of the planet, but that they wouldn’t kill her. They’d just make me wish I was dead, she thought wryly. The doctors had issued her an emergency injector kit just in case, though Juna would rather rely on the Tendu if she had any problems. She hurried up the hill behind her bami, sneezing. At last they were in the jungle.
Anitonen and Ukatonen were waiting for her. Juna held out her arms, asking for a link. She sneezed again. Amused ripples of laughter ran over Anitonen’s body.
“You wouldn’t think it was so funny if it was happening to you,” Juna muttered.
Ukatonen took her arm and led her over to a nearby tree. They sat down, and Ukatonen motioned Moki over. “I will show Moki how to ease your discomfort. That way, he can help when it bothers you.”
They linked. Juna felt the itching in her nose and eyes subside as Ukatonen showed Moki how to stop her allergic reaction. When that was done, Moki enfolded her. She was nearly swamped by the intensity of his emotions—wild happiness at seeing her again, and deep grief at her transformation. Without her spurs and allu, she was helpless to block him out. Ukatonen moved to shield her until Moki regained control of himself. As Moki merged with her, Juna felt his relief at linking with her again. She had missed him so much. They spiraled tightly into happiness until Ukatonen broke the link.
Anitonen and the others left to let Lyanan know that the humans had arrived. Realizing that she wasn’t ready to deal with the Survey team just yet, Juna wandered into the sunbreak where Bruce had held her while she cried. The glorious bromeliads that had covered the fallen tree were dying. None of them had set seed. Whatever pollinator it was that fertilized these plants couldn’t find them so close to the ground. Juna felt saddened by the sight. Glancing at her wrist chrono, she saw that she had been keeping the Survey team waiting. She headed back to the top of the cliff path where the others would be waiting for her.
Today she was guiding half a dozen Alien Contact specialists on a visit to the village of Lyanan. It was the first time that any human, except for Juna, had been to Lyanan’s village tree. She led the Survey team along the familiar path, pointing out interesting sights along the way. Her voice sounded very loud in the forest. Birds exploded out of trees, insects and small animals went silent as they passed. All around her she heard the pattering of falling leaves as arboreal animals moved into hiding. It made her feel like an intruder in a once-familiar house.
At last they reached the village tree. Juna smiled at the other humans’ murmurs of astonishment when they saw the massive trunk rising into the canopy. She sat down to wait for the villagers to arrive. The long walk had been hard on her shrinking feet; they throbbed painfully.
As Lalito and several of the elders on the village council climbed down to greet them, Juna rose, activating the computer interface that allowed her to communicate with the Tendu.
“Welcome to Lyanan,” Lalito said in formal patterns. “Please let us escort you inside.”
Juna fumbled with the clumsy interface. “Thank you,” she finally managed to say. “We brought a ladder to help us climb into the village.”
She motioned to the others, and they unpacked the long rope ladder.
Juna smiled as she saw Lalito’s ears lift at the sight of the rope ladder. It was a handsome gift. Not only was it intrinsically valuable, but it also saved the Tendu considerable effort in getting the awkward humans up the tree and into the village.
Lalito thanked Juna with gracious formality, then motioned to some of the bami to hoist the ladder into the canopy. A vine rope was lowered from the branch above them and tied to the rope ladder. In less than ten minutes, the ladder was up and secure.
Juna wadded up the computer and put it back into her pack. “Follow me,” she told the Survey team. “And don’t look down.”
Patricia Tanquay came up behind her, followed by the other A-C specialists. It was a long, painful climb. Juna’s hands and feet pulsated with pain by the time she reached the branch. She limped to the bowl of the crotch and sat down, tucking her hands into her armpits, letting the warmth of her body ease the ache. There was a touch on her shoulder. It was Moki. He held out his arms to link with her. Juna hesitated, but the pain in her hands and feet was too much to bear. They clasped hands. Instantly the pain receded. She felt Moki moving through her, soothing the pain, healing the tiny cuts, blisters, and abrasions she had acquired on the walk to the village. Behind it, held tightly under control, she sensed his anguish. Juna was relieved when Moki broke the link, his work done, hating herself both for the relief that she felt and for the guilt that arose each time she felt his grief at her transformation.
“Thank you, Moki. I feel much better,” she said aloud, hoping he would understand her. She hated using her translator to communicate with her bami.
“It was good to help,” Moki said, touching her shoulder. “We should go now. The others are waiting.”
She followed Moki down into the heart of the tree. The Survey team was seated in the doorway of Lalito’s room, watching the villagers watch them.
“You lived in a village like this?” one of the A-C specialists asked Juna.
“I mostly lived at Narmolom, which is farther inland, but I spent two months every year here at Lyanan.”
“I’m amazed that you didn’t break your neck. I get vertigo just looking out the door.”
“It was hard at first, but I got used to it. I didn’t have much choice,” Juna said. She was tired of explaining things over and over again.
Juna and Lalito escorted the scientists slowly down the inside of the trunk, showing them storerooms, living quarters, and even the hives of the tilan bees. The Survey team took samples of everything they could: bits of food, dead tilan bees, honey, even pieces of fiber left over from basket-weaving. They measured the rooms they visited, the height and diameter of the trunk, and the size of the doorways and balconies. The villagers crowded around, watching everything the humans did. Juna felt like a stranger again as she fumbled with the computer, asking questions and translating answers. The Survey team’s invasive curiosity made her feel deeply ashamed. Finally, unable to take it any longer, she shut down her translator and handed it to Patricia.
“I’m going up for a breath of fresh air,” she said. “You take over for a while.”
Juna emerged from the tree with a sigh of relief. The humid air was cool and restless as the afternoon storm approached. She climbed into the middle of the tree’s canopy and settled herself in a comfortable crotch. Closing her eyes, she breathed in the sweet, green-scented air of the forest, letting the gentle swaying of the tree soothe her.
The branch she was on vibrated with the motion of an approaching climber. It was Anitonen. Juna shifted to make room on the branch for her. They stared at each other; then Anitonen held out her arms for a link. Juna hesitated, then clasped the enkar’s arms.