Fire Season-eARC (10 page)

Anders saved the day. “No problem. I read about how Stephanie used her handgun to deal with the hexapuma that went after Bolgeo. I’ve never fired one. Maybe you could teach me, Karl. You were the one who taught Stephanie, right?”

Karl nodded. “Me and Frank Lethbridge. How about we have that picnic first? You haven’t seen how mean Stephanie gets when she misses a meal.”

Karl grinned at her and she had to fight an urge to stick out her tongue.
That
certainly wouldn’t impress Anders.

Karl went on. “After we eat and hike for a bit, then we could go to the shooting range we’ve set up here. That way Steph won’t skip her lessons. Dr. Marjorie says she’s gotten more and more undisciplined since she met Lionheart. She actually got an A-minus last term.”

“Hey!” Stephanie protested. “That was in advanced spatial calculus.”

The two boys laughed, but it wasn’t an unfriendly sound. Stephanie found herself coloring, but she didn’t feel bad at all.

*
 
*
 
*

Climbs Quickly understood the utility of the thunder barkers with which Death Fang’s Bane and Shadowed Sunlight regularly practiced, but that didn’t mean he had to like them. Not only were they loud—even with the sound-blockers Death Fang’s Bane carefully inserted into his ears—but they smelled bad.

Therefore, when there were signs that another such session was about to happen, Climbs Quickly absented himself and scampered over to the gazebo, where he found Left-Striped poking at Right-Striped’s feet.

<
I tell you,
> Right-Striped protested indignantly, <
my feet feel fine. I am not hiding anything from you.
>

<
Healer does seem to have done a very good job,
> Left-Striped agreed.

Taking advantage of his brother’s relative helplessness, he tickled his fingers along where the new skin remained tender and uncalloused. Right-Striped wriggled free, snorting with laughter, then pounced on his twin. The two wrestled for a few minutes, then sat up and gave Climbs Quickly their full attention.

<
I think you will be leaving soon,
> Climbs Quickly said. He carefully hid his disappointment. He was very happy living with Death Fang’s Bane and her family, but he had very much enjoyed having other People nearby these last several days.

<
Yes. We think the time has come,
> Right-Striped agreed. <
My over-protective brother is finally convinced that I can walk on my own six feet again. It is a long journey, but with the supplies you have so kindly given us, we will be able to stay up in the trees and avoid the death fangs.
>

<
We are very grateful,
> Left-Striped added.

Climbs Quickly knew that by the standards of the two-legs, the twins were departing with hardly anything. However, each had a carry-net in which was wrapped some light, nourishing food—including sun-dried meat. In addition, they each had a few long pieces of cluster stalk. Despite the drought, there was ample water in the direction in which they were headed.

<
The Damp Ground clan needs us,
> Left-Striped said. <
There is always so much to do when a clan relocates. With the recent fire cutting us off from one area of hunting, the more hunters and scouts, the better.
>

Climbs Quickly could not disagree. Although he was sorry to see his new friends leave, he encouraged their intention, going with them for a ways, turning back only when he might otherwise be late for dinner. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t feed himself, or that Death Fang’s Bane didn’t know through their shared link that he was well, but he knew she would worry until he was back home.

He arrived to find that both Shadowed Sunlight and the new human—Bleached Fur, as he thought of him, not knowing his qualities well enough to give him a real name—had departed. Death Fang’s Bane’s mind-glow held a curious swirl of conflicting impulses. On the one hand, Climbs Quickly sensed a sorrow bordering on despondency. Mingled with this were contradictory spurts and sparks of what felt like joy or excitement. To further confuse the matter, outwardly, Death Fang’s Bane was much her usual self.

That is, until Healer said something and Death Fang’s Bane’s wild emotional state exploded into something one step short of fury.

*
 
*
 
*

Despite invitations to stay for dinner, both Karl and Anders said they had to get back home. Karl offered to drop Anders off. Since this meant Karl would have a longer trip home, the two boys left earlier than they otherwise might have done.

As Stephanie watched Karl’s air car becoming a vanishing dot, she found herself wishing she was going with them. Well, not really with
them
. She wished she was going off with Anders.

If I had my provisional license,
she thought as she trailed despondently in to do some of the lessons she’d let slide,
then I could have taken Anders to Twin Forks. We could have talked some more. Given how Karl kept snapping at him, I wonder if Anders will even want to hang out with me again. He might want to avoid any chance of seeing Karl.

The thought made Stephanie so miserable that she actually messed up a couple of steps in a complicated calculus problem she was working on and had to go back and re-do them.

Of course, Karl was right,
Stephanie thought, trying to be fair.
Anders was handling that gun unsafely—even if he had just seen it unloaded. I’ve never forgotten the story about that guy who shot a hole in his own wall while cleaning a gun he was sure was completely unloaded. Still…Karl was pretty harsh.

Thankfully, Mom called Stephanie down to dinner soon after. Stephanie hurried down, determined that at least one of her obsessions would finally be addressed. Since she wasn’t ready to talk about Anders, that meant asking her folks to schedule her for her provisional license test.

Climbs Quickly had returned and was waiting on his stool by the table, eagerly eyeing the platter of roast that Mom had just set down. Since the gazebo had been empty of treecats on her return from the firing range, Stephanie had a pretty good idea where he had been. She thought he looked a little down, so she gave him an extra large helping of the roast, taking it from the rare center.

As Stephanie spooned a very large helping of mashed potatoes onto her plate and topped them with a sea of gravy, she waited impatiently for her parents to stop discussing some bit of local politics. Interrupting was not permitted in the Harrington household, maybe because Richard Harrington’s job provided interruptions enough.

“And how was your day, Stephanie?” Mom asked. “It sounds as if it was rather busy.”

Stephanie heard the subtext.
Don’t forget. You promised when we let you sign up as a provisional ranger you wouldn’t let your studies slide.

She ignored this by answering the actual question.

“It was great! Anders Whittaker turned out to be the only one of the visiting anthropological team free, but he came out and saw the mirror twins. They left today, by the way.”

Both her parents nodded and Stephanie went on. “I was thinking, my birthday is next week. To celebrate, I’d really love to go into town and get my provisional air car license.”

Unsaid was that while learner’s permits could be acquired over the net, provisional licenses required a hands-on test. The provisional license only allowed for flying only in visually safe conditions, but that was better than a learner’s permit that required a licensed pilot in the vehicle.

Dad grinned. “Can’t wait to get a bit more freedom, I see. As if hang gliding isn’t enough. Well, you’ll have to wait an extra day.”

Mom nodded, also smiling. “Your dad is right. We’ve planned a birthday party for you. We were going to bring it up after dinner. We’ve already invited Scot, Irina, and, of course, Karl. Frank Lethbridge and Ainsley Jedrusinski are also going to drop by if they can. It’s fire season, so they may not be able to get free. And we thought it would be nice if you invited some friends closer to your own age.”

They waited a moment, as if expecting Stephanie to say something. When she didn’t, Dad took over.

“The hang-gliding club meets tomorrow, so you can invite a few of the kids from that you like best. You don’t have to invite all of them, but if you choose not to, be polite about how you do issue invitations.”

“Maybe you could invite the boy who was here today,” Mom added. “Andre, was it?”

“Anders!” Stephanie corrected.

She knew she sounded too severe, but she couldn’t believe what she was hearing—and that they sounded so happy.

How could they be smiling like they’d just told her they were giving her a big treat, when they’d just told her that she couldn’t get her provisional license on her birthday? Even if they didn’t know about her jaunts with Karl, they had to know she’d been spending lots of simulator time to get ready.

Did this mean they weren’t going to agree to the provisional license after all? Both of them thought she was spending too little time on her studies lately anyhow, never mind that she still got straight A’s. Okay. An A minus. So her standing in the chess club had dropped a little, but did that matter when she was doing stuff so much more important than playing games?

Lionheart looked up from where he’d been messily devouring his slice of roast and “bleeked” very softly. Both Mom and Dad were staring at her. Stephanie strove to keep her temper.

“Anders,” she said carefully, “probably wouldn’t be able to come. He told me and Karl that his dad had set up some field tours over the next week or so.”

In her head her thoughts swirled like things of their own:
That’s right. Plan a party without telling me. Make me invite a bunch of blackholes when the one person I’d really like to be there is going to be off with a bunch of grown up scientists. His dad understands that Anders is nearly grown-up. Why are you suddenly treating me like a kid?

She didn’t say any of this, but maybe something of it showed in her eyes or the set of her chin. She felt Lionheart trying to get her to calm down, but while she usually welcomed his help, this time she found herself resenting it. Here was another person trying to keep her from having her own goals and opinions!

Mom said very gently. “Well, I’m sorry Anders won’t be able to come, but there are still other people your age you could ask. We’d really like you to do this.”

Dad added. “Stephanie, you know we know you’re a remarkable young lady, but—and I admit it’s partially our fault for bringing you to Sphinx just when you were ready to get involved with group programs back on Meyerdahl—since we’ve been here, other than Karl, you don’t seem to have made any friends your own age.”

“Even Karl’s over a year older,” Mom added. “And that’s only the difference in years. Emotionally, what Karl has been through has made him much older.”

Normally, Stephanie would have jumped on this opportunity to learn more about Karl’s background, but right now she just couldn’t seem to care.

“I don’t,” she said, spacing the words so each came out like a slap, “like people my own age. They’re boring. It’s okay when we have something to do, like hang gliding, but having them over here would be horrible. Standing around talking would be hopeless. You don’t expect us to play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey do you?”

Dad looked at Stephanie sternly. “Stephanie, don’t you see? You’re making our point for us. You’re going to need to learn to get along with people—not only of your own age, but people you find boring or annoying or whatever. You can’t go and be a hermit in the forest, not if you expect to do any good for anyone.”

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.
>