The Color of Distance (39 page)

“We avoid forming bonds with others. It impairs our ability to render judgment. It can be a difficult discipline,” Ukatonen admitted.

“What about Anito? She doesn’t seem to be very happy about the idea of becoming an enkar.”

A sad grey mist clouded Ukatonen’s skin. “It is her fate to become an enkar. I wish she could stay with her village and become the wise elder that she shows such great promise of being, but the enkar need her now.”

“Why?”

“Because of you,” he told her. “No one among us knows you as well as she does.”

“But what about you? You know me almost as well.”

“I am not enough,” Ukatonen said. “Anito isn’t enough. Even Moki, who will surely understand you better than any of us, won’t be enough. That is why we are here, among the enkar, where no villager usually comes. The enkar need to know you, Eerin. We need to know you, and through you, your people. I have seen only a few of the things that your people can do, and it is enough to make me realize your power. I watch you with your talking stone, and my blood turns to water in fear.”

“I’m sorry,” Juna said. “I don’t want you to be afraid. How can I reassure you?”

“You can’t. You shouldn’t. I need to see you as you are.”

“I want you to be my friend,” Juna told him.

“I am an enkar, Eerin. I am no one’s friend.” Ukatonen handed her a pair of water gourds. “Let’s go, we have work to do.”

Anito helped Moki unroll the mats. This amazing, fertile, ancient forest, peopled only by enkar, terrified her. It was so different from village life, cold somehow, and sterile. There were no bami, no tinka, none of the ordinary bustle and routine of village life. The forest was too well-managed, too tame. It went beyond harmony into perfection, and it grated on her. She longed for the familiar chaos of Narmolom, where they strove to keep their forests as close to the balance of the wild lands as possible while still supporting their village.

Here, with so many living so densely, useless plants and destructive animals had to be weeded out. Anito understood that, but she hated it nonetheless. If this was her future, she wasn’t sure that she wanted it. She understood now why Ilto had chosen death rather than exile.

There was a rustling and a hesitant, interrogative chirp at the door. Anito looked up. An enkar was standing outside with an armload of bedding. It was one of the four who had escorted them through the forest.

“I thought you might need some of this,” he said. “And I also brought some water, in case you were thirsty.”

“Thank you, en,” she said.

“You’re welcome. My name is Garitonen.”

“I’m Anito.”

“I know. I saw Ukatonen say that you were going to become his apprentice. I only finished my training last year.”

“Was it hard?” Anito asked, wondering how he could stand to be so far away from home.

“It was at first. I missed my village all the time, and it was frightening being here with all these enkar; but the work is interesting. Once I started learning how the enkar do things, I stopped being scared and lonely. There’s too much to learn, too much to do.”

A ripple of amusement ran over Anito’s skin as she remembered the way Ukatonen appeared to know everything about the village because he had watched it fot several days. “I think I know what you mean,” she said. “Are you lonely?”

“Sometimes,” he admitted. He looked down at the floor for a moment, his skin faintly clouded with grey. “So tell me what the new creature is like.”

“Eerin? She didn’t know much at first. She couldn’t talk and she could hardly even climb a tree. She learned quickly, though. She still can’t hunt or weave baskets, but she’s getting better.”

“I heard about the digging race at Lyanan. Is it true that she wore out two of the village’s strongest bami?”

“Yes, but she made herself sick doing it.” Anito glanced away, ashamed. “It was my fault. I got angry when the villagers made fun of her, and I said she could dig faster than they could. It wasn’t something I’m proud of.”

“But it turned out well, and you learned something, didn’t you?”

Anito flickered agreement.

“Then don’t be ashamed of it. Ukatonen thinks very highly of you, you know. He taught me more about allu-a than I thought there was to learn. He’s one of the best in the whole Three Rivers Council.”

“I thought all enkar were like that,” Anito said, recalling the smooth, subtle power of his presence.

“We are better at linking than most villagers, but Ukatonen has made it his specialty.” Garitonen held out his arms. “Link with me?”

Anito could feel Ukatonen’s influence as soon as she entered the link. Garitonen had Ukatonen’s power and his deftness of touch, though he lacked Ukatonen’s utter surety. There was a sense of contentment, of happiness, even mischievousness, that Ukatonen lacked. Feeling it, Anito realized how long Ukatonen had lived, and how lonely he felt.

“He needs you, you know,” Garitonen said when they emerged from the link. “When he came through a month and a half ago, he was less restless than I’ve ever seen him. You and the new creature you call Eerin have given him something to keep him occupied. Eerin is new and different, and you’re young and eager to learn. It’s a potent combination.”

Anito looked away, embarrassed and moved by the compliment. “Thank you,” she said at last, looking back at Garitonen. “I’ve learned a lot from Ukatonen.”

“I know,” Garitonen said. “I could feel that when we linked.”

There was a clicking sound from the corner. Moki had taken out a talking stone and was playing with it.

“What’s he doing?” Garitonen asked.

“That’s one of Eerin’s talking stones. She’s shown Moki how to play with it.”

“But what’s it/or?”

“Eerin says that she keeps her memories on it, so that she can tell her people what happened without forgetting anything.”

Garitonen squatted next to Moki.

“What are you doing?” he asked when the bami looked up.

“I’m telling the talking stone about the enkar.”

“How does it work?”

Moki tilted the talking surface so that the enkar could see what he was working on.

“What is that?” Garitonen asked, pointing at the screen.

“It’s the new creature’s skin speech.”

“I thought they couldn’t speak skin speech.”

“They don’t. They paint it on things instead, or they store it in talking stones like this one. Eerin told me that they use something like sheets of yarram, only white, to speak on.”

“What’s the point to that?” Garitonen said. “They’d only get in the way and rot.”

“Eerin says that they don’t rot, and that they tie the sheets together so they don’t get in the way. Most of their really important skin speech is put on these talking stones anyway. Also the talking stones can talk to each other over very long distances, so lots of people can see the same words.”

Garitonen ducked his chin and ran a hand over his scalp. “It seems very strange to me.”

Moki nodded, and flickered agreement. “It is, but it makes more sense when you can understand their skin speech. They have a lot of different kinds of stones: some that talk, some that move things, some that cut time up into little pieces, and some that make noises. They have different names for all of the different kinds of stones, but I don’t understand what most of the stones do. This one is called a
computer”
Moki said, using the new creature’s skin-speech term for her talking stone.

“Can you teach me the new creatures’ skin-speech?” Garitonen asked.

“Of course, en. It’s very easy. Everything’s made up of a group of the same basic shapes. Anito knows a little of it and so does Ukatonen, but I work with it every day, so I know it very well. If you ask Eerin, she will probably teach it to you herself.”

“I will, thanks,” Garitonen said.

Ukatonen and Eerin returned bearing net bags crammed with fresh leaf-bedding. “Hello, Gari,” Ukatonen said as they came in. “Garitonen was my student for a while,” he explained to Anito. “I helped him learn more about allu-a.”

“I know. He has your touch in the link, en. Even if he hadn’t told me about being your student, I would have known.”

Both Garitonen and Ukatonen glanced away, glowing with embarrassed pride. Ukatonen picked up a bundle of bedding and carried it over to the mats spread on the floor. Moki started showing Eerin how to shred the leaves. In Narmolom, the tinka usually performed this task; here, it was left to them.

The others settled down and helped shred leaves for the bedding, carefully pulling out any twigs and undesirable foreign matter. Drawn by the smell of torn leaves, a line of small insects emerged from the walls. They explored the steadily growing pile, emerging with choice bits of leaf matter and small insects, and laying down chemicals and bacteria which encouraged decomposition. They were called yerowe. They lived in every village tree, and kept the bedding fresh and free of unpleasant insects.

A couple of other enkar came in with some more food and water. The enkar took over the bedmaking while the visitors ate. Uncomfortable, Anito looked questioningly at Ukatonen.

“It’s all right, Anito. You’re our guests. We’re not as formal and worried about rank as they are in the villages. There’s no one else to do the work here except the enkar.”

The patter and hiss of the afternoon rain falling into the center of the tree could be heard as they finished making up the beds. The pressure of the falling water sent a moist, refreshing breeze through the room. The enkar began romping in the column of falling water. Ukatonen and Garitonen went outside to frolic with them. Anito stood in the doorway and watched, amazed at the sight of these dignified, ancient elders playing like bami in the rain. After a moment’s hesitation, Eerin and Moki joined them. Anito hesitated, unsure whether they were being rude, but Garitonen swung past and splashed her.

“Don’t just stand there!” he said. “Come play!”

Anito swung into the column of water, letting it wash her clean. Ukatonen leapt onto the vine that Anito was clinging to, rippling brilliant laughter. She splashed him, and he laughed again and splashed her back. Soon she forgot her dignity, her fears, and her position as an elder of Narmolom, and played the way she had as a bami.

There was a feast that evening, out on the leafy forest floor within the circle of trees. It was extremely informal; everyone brought baskets of food which were placed in a circle around the speaker’s mound. There was no rank or precedence order; the enkar and their guests served themselves and sat wherever they wanted.

Eerin and Moki were the focus of a large interested group, as were Anito and Ukatonen. Everyone was eager to learn as much as they could about Eerin and the new creatures, but to most of their questions, Anito had no answers. She didn’t know how the talking stone worked, or how the new creatures lived on their world, or even what they ate. Eerin’s altered metabolism let her digest Tendu food. She ate almost everything they did, although she disliked eating grubs and insects. Listening to their questions, Anito realized how much she still had to learn about her atwa.

The enkar finished eating and cleared away the remains of the feast. Hutatonen stood on top of the speaker’s mound and chittered to get everyone’s attention. Then he held out his arms, requesting a link.

The others joined hands. Anito turned to Eerin, ears raised inquisitively. After a moment’s hesitation, Eerin nodded, and clasped hands. Ukatonen colored in approval and encouragement, and took Anito’s other hand. Together, they plunged into the link.

It was like no allu-a Anito had ever been in. Once, as a bami, she had a pet snake. She remembered the strength of its body, coiling around her arm. The enkar reminded her of that, a sensation of immense power, held in check. The enkar’s presences nosed at her like curious fish. She opened herself to them, and their presences flowed through her like a strong wind. She wove herself into their powerful harmony, feeling her own strength grow as the others buoyed her up and carried her along.

Eerin was too frightened by the power of the link to let herself relax. Anito enfolded her, giving her a chance to adjust.

The enkar, sensing trouble, drew back. The link calmed, changing from a maelstrom of excitement to a quiet pool of immense depth and clarity. The enkar waited while Eerin relaxed and, slowly as a flower, opened herself to the link.

It was late when they emerged from the link. Eerin seemed pale and tired. Moki and Ukatonen fed her a little leftover fruit and helped her up the tree. She seemed to recover a bit as they climbed. Garitonen hovered anxiously until they reached their room.

“Is she going to be all right?” he asked Anito. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Anito shook her head. “She needs some privacy and a good night’s sleep. Linking is hard for her.”

“Good night, then,” Garitonen said.

They stayed with this group of enkar for another three or four days, then moved on to another gathering of enkar. Garitonen and Hutatonen went with them. Moki and Eerin began teaching them the new creatures’ skin speech.

They visited four enkar gatherings. Other enkar joined them as they traveled. By the tirne they headed back to Narmolom, there were over two dozen enkar traveling with them. It was like being part of a small floating village. They parted company with their escort a day outside the boundaries of Narmolom. As the last of the enkar vanished into the thick foliage of the canopy, Anito felt a pang of sadness. She would miss the enkar’s gentle humor and deep wisdom.

“Now that you’ve spent some time among us, how do you feel about becoming an enkar?” Ukatonen asked as they wove branches into a nest for the night.

“I know now that the villagers see only a small part of what it is to be an enkar. It’s very interesting, but—” Anito rippled a shrug. “If I had a choice, I would stay in Narmolom,” she said after a long, thoughtful stillness. “But it won’t be such a bad life. I like the enkar.”