Treecat Wars (41 page)

<
I will certainly speak with Sings Truly about all of this
,> Climbs Quickly said. <
And she will just as certainly insist on helping. And Death Fang’s Bane took me to examine her flying thing last night, which is how she tells me when she intends to take me to visit Bright Water. I believe she wanted me to understand that we will fly there tomorrow
.>

<
I have already spoken with Brilliant Images
,> Dirt Grubber said. <
Windswept has wanted to avoid Bleached Fur—I think she wishes to understand her own feelings better before seeing him again—so we made a long visit to my clan, and I used the opportunity to arrange matters. Now we need to see if the two-legs will take action as we expect
.>

<
If they do not,
> Climbs Quickly said with confidence, <
then we will find a way to make them take action. But I do not think we will need to go that far. I cannot speak with Death Fang’s Bane as I can with a Person, but I can taste when she is planning and plotting. Even in her grief, those sensations are present
.>

He reached for another piece of cluster stalk, expecting Death Fang’s Bane to take it from him because he had already eaten over a hand of them, but she remained intent on her conversation with Windswept. He could only hope that some of it was about starving People and not all about one young two-leg with bright hair.

* * *

“Jessica commed me,” Karl said when he picked Stephanie up for their meeting with Chief Ranger Shelton. “So you don’t have to tell me anything. She said she talked to you, too.”

“She did,” Stephanie agreed. “We had shakes at the Red Letter Café a couple of days ago. We decided not to let a guy get in the way of our friendship. I mean, she’s not to blame for Anders’ feelings changing.”

Karl sighed. “Steph, I’ve never really told you about Sumiko, have I?”

Stephanie blinked, startled by the change of subject. “Well, I know a few things. She lived with your family, right? Some things Irina’s said…I think she was your girlfriend. And she…she died in an accident.”

Karl nodded. “Those are the basics. But I’m going to tell you something no one else knows—no one, not my mom or my dad or anybody.”

From the thin trickle of emotion flowing into her through Lionheart, Stephanie could tell this was very important to Karl, so she didn’t say any of the usual things, “If you really want to” or “I don’t want to pry”—all those “kind” things people say when what they’re really saying is, “Don’t take me into your pain.”

“Go on. I’m listening.”

“Sumiko came to live with us after all her family died in the Plague. My folks legally adopted her. Sumi and I were pretty close in age. I was just a few months older. Since our families’ freeholds shared a border, we’d known each other all our lives. For a while, it was just like having another sister, but as we got older….”

He paused and made an unnecessary adjustment on the air car’s panel. Stephanie held her breath, not wanting to break the moment.

“I’m not sure who started thinking we’d get married when we got older. I think it started with adults joking around the way they do when they think kids are too young to really take them seriously. The thing is, we did take them seriously. We’d talk about it when we were alone. Whether we’d live in the house her family had built or build one of our own, stuff like that….”

Karl swallowed hard. “When I turned fifteen, Sumi started getting really serious. Maybe it’s because girls mature faster than guys or something. I don’t know. She wanted us to get engaged or at least betrothed. I wasn’t against it. I mean, marrying Sumiko was as much a part of my future life as going to Landing for college. But I did want to go to college, and I didn’t want to get married and start a family before I was done.”

“Oh…”

Karl rushed on. “On the day Sumi and I took the kids sledding, we’d been fighting. She’d been hinting that she thought I’d be giving her a betrothal ring for her fifteenth birthday. I just told her flat out I wasn’t, that I thought eighteen would be better—we’d both be legal adults then. It wouldn’t be kids’ games.

“Sumiko was furious with me, said what
she
felt wasn’t kids’ games, that she loved me, and if I didn’t love her enough to give her a stupid promise ring, then…”

Karl’s fists were clenched tight, but the words came rushing out. “Normally, we’d probably have figured out a way to go off on our own, cool off. Then we would’ve made up. But we’d promised the kids, and so, still really mad, we went out. Looking back, we probably shouldn’t have. The tree branches were heavy with snow and we weren’t too young to know conditions were dangerous. But, well, if we’d backed off, it would have been like one of us was giving ground.

“It’s probably because I was so pissed that I didn’t see that one of the branches of the crown oak my sister Larissa was sledding under was weak. Sumi did, though. She screamed a warning and ran all out, knocking Larissa out of danger…Sumiko didn’t get clear, though. The branch hit her from over a hundred meters up.”

Stephanie could see it all in her imagination, the crown oak limb tearing free, the fragile black-haired girl smashed. She knew all too well how hard things could fall in heavy gravity.

Karl went on, his voice stiff. “I hollered for someone to call for help. I ran and hauled that tree limb off, but there was nothing I could do. Sumiko’s chest had been crushed, her lungs punctured. There was blood on her lips. She said something about our having at least six kids, that she loved me, and then…she died.”

Karl was crying now, his calm, stiff tone a frightening contrast to the tears that rolled down his cheeks. “She was dead and I’d killed her. Killed her because I wouldn’t give her a stupid ring that would have made her happy.”

“Karl…you didn’t! It wasn’t your fault….”

Karl gave her a twisted grin. “Yeah. Except it felt like it. It still feels like it. There’s not a day I don’t think about it, don’t wonder how things might have worked out. When I turned eighteen, I realized this would’ve been the year I gave Sumiko her ring…And I also realized that maybe I wouldn’t have. I mean, people change a lot. Three years? Would kids’ dreams have lasted that long? I don’t know.”

Stephanie fought back tears. “Kids’ dreams? That’s why you’re telling me this? Because of Anders?”

“Some.” Karl looked directly at her. “Maybe other reasons. Maybe because I’m beginning to be ready to let go of the ghost. Look, I don’t think what you felt—feel—for Anders isn’t real, but the fact is that most people don’t end up settling down with the first person they fall in love with. Even if they do, not all those relationships work out. I’m finally accepting that even if Sumi and I had gotten married, maybe it wouldn’t have been as perfect as we dreamed.”

“And maybe,” Stephanie said slowly, “if Anders hadn’t fallen for Jessica, something else would’ve come along to break us up. Still, there have got to be easier ways to get dumped than having your guy fall for your best friend.”

Karl poked her with one long finger. “
Yours?
’ They don’t really belong just to you, you know. And you don’t belong just to them. No matter what words you use, Jess and Anders have lives beyond how they relate to you…And you wouldn’t have gotten involved with them if you hadn’t thought both of them were pretty great people, right? Imagine how you’d feel if Anders had dumped you for Trudy!”

Stephanie actually found herself giggling. “I see what you mean. Okay.” She grew suddenly somber. “And, hey, Karl…Thanks. I won’t tell anyone.”

Karl nodded his appreciation. “Actually, I’m thinking it’s time I told my family. Maybe I’ll start with Irina. She’s pretty understanding. It’s time I stopped carrying this shadow on my heart. Sumiko deserves more than to be remembered for her last few hours.”

Stephanie nodded. “I think so. I think, you know, she’d probably like that a lot.”

* * *

“So, essentially,” Chief Ranger Shelton said, “you want to move an entire clan of treecats. You’re just giving the SFS a chance to pick where.”

Stephanie felt as if this was another test—and one where a lot more than the final mark rested on her answer.

“Well, sir, it’s sort of complicated. First of all, there
is
precedent—SFS relocated the remnants of the clan the Stray came from.”

“Ah, but in that case,” Shelton said, “the treecats were endangered by human actions. In this case, the fires were completely natural.”

Karl pointed to the holo map they’d brought with them. “Sir, humans are involved here, too. Not by causing the fires, but indirectly. Look at how many possible areas are blocked by human settlement.”

“Point taken,” Shelton said. “Still, why should the SFS get involved?”

Stephanie drew in a deep breath. “Well, sir, like I said, it’s complicated. If the treecats are animals, then this particular clan is living on Crown Lands, which makes them Crown property. If we just move them, say to a space on the Harrington freehold or on Karl’s family’s lands, then we’d be stealing. We don’t want to do that.”

“I am vastly relieved. Continue.”

“If, however, as a lot of people—”

“Including some members of the Adair Foundation,” Karl inserted helpfully, with an innocence that didn’t fool anyone.

Stephanie glared at him. “
If
, as some people seem to think, the treecats are sentient, then they should have the right to move wherever they want as long as where they go doesn’t get in the way of other people’s claims. I mean, if the ’cats are people, not property, then they can’t be stolen. If, say, Chet parked his truck and a bunch of ’cats got on, and then he gave them a lift, that wouldn’t be theft, right?”

“Perhaps letting you take those law courses wasn’t a good idea after all, Ms. Harrington. You have the makings of a bedroll lawyer.” Chief Ranger Shelton steepled his fingers and peered thoughtfully at his two provisional rangers. “Still, that’s an interesting point. I’ve been reading the interim reports from both Dr. Whitaker’s expedition and Dr. Radzinsky’s team. Certainly the balance seems to be tipping in favor of ruling the tree cats as at least marginally sentient.”

Karl nodded. “We’ve been looking at those, too. I must say, sir, with all due respect, that I think the question of sentience is settled. The level, now—that’s quite different. Dr. Whitaker’s in favor of a higher ranking. Dr. Radzinsky’s arguing for a
lower
one, especially since there’s no evidence the treecats have any form of writing or even a complex spoken language.”

“I expect,” Shelton said, “the debates will continue for a long while to come. And even when the scientists have submitted their papers, the question of the treecats’ legal status will take even longer to settle.”

He sat in thoughtful silence for long enough that only Lionheart’s calming presence stopped Stephanie from fidgeting.

“Still, I think it would be all for the best if in this instance we erred on the side of protectiveness,” he said finally. “We don’t want future generations to judge us for knowingly letting an entire group of ‘people’—no matter how unsophisticated—freeze and starve through our inaction.”

He sighed. “I mean, we drop hay for near-deer and prong bucks. The only thing that makes this different is that problem of interference—”

“—with a pristine indigenous population,” Stephanie and Karl chorused, made a bit giddy by relief.

“Yes. For that reason, I think that, other than suggesting a location, it would be better if the SFS didn’t take an official role. From the images Anders and Jessica sent, this Skinny ’Cat Clan is fairly small. Could you arrange for, say, Chet’s truck and a few other vehicles to be in the area on a day to be named later? I’ll make certain neither of you are on the duty roster that particular day. In fact, it might be a good time to arrange a field trip for all our anthropologists to some distant location….”

“Yes, sir!”

“Anders won’t mention any of this to his father?”

“He hasn’t so far, sir,” Stephanie said, “and he and Jessica have known about this the longest of anyone. By the way, in case you didn’t know, they took Survivor back to his clan yesterday.”

“I’d heard. Very well, start making arrangements. These maps narrow possible relocation areas, but we’ll need to make sure prospective locations are indeed uninhabited. Recruit Jessica Pheriss and Scott MacDallan to help with that—we’ll need Fisher and Valiant to help scout, since treecats are so good at hiding from humans. I’ll be in touch. For now, you’re dismissed.”

Stephanie shot to her feet. She was halfway to the door when she turned and blurted out impulsively. “Thank you, sir. I hope I can be half as good a ranger as you.”

Chief Ranger Shelton smiled. “Go. We’ve got a job to do.”

* * *

Keen Eyes had expected the strange sense of dislocation he had felt since he had been wounded by Swimmer’s Scourge to fade once he was home again with his clan, but he found that it persisted. Even when he learned that he had not been abandoned, that his hopelessly calling mind-voice had been heard and a group had been on their way to get him when the flying thing had landed, he still felt isolated. He had spent time with the mind healers and that always helped, but when he was alone, he found himself remembering the twisted violence that had been Swimmer’s Scourge. And the violence it had evoked within him, as well.

He reassured himself that all would be well when they moved to their new territory. That the two-legs planned to help the clan was certain now. For the last few days, the clan had been visited by those People who had bonded with two-legs and their partners. Each of the People had carried with him a scout’s report of places the two-legs hoped would serve the clan’s need. Even Sour Belly’s attitude had softened when he realized how hard the two-legs were working to assure the Landless Clan would be landless no more.

The two-legs had also shown the clan images of all those places—images that moved and made sounds. Marvelous though they were, they told less than the mind pictures of the People who had also seen them, but Keen Eyes and his clan mates had realized the reason the two-legs had shown the images to them. They had tasted the question and the desire in the two-leg mind-glows and known the two-legs wanted them to choose from among all the possible ranges and indicate which they preferred.