Keepers

by Brenda Cooper

  Alondra came and sat beside her, looking up with the first smile Lou had seen on the girl’s face since they had arrived back here. “Which horse?”

  “Sugar or Spice?”

  “Spice.”

  “You shall have her.”

  Alondra leaned into her, and Lou slid an arm over her slender shoulders.

  After the festivities wore down, Valeria came over to Lou. “Come outside with me?”

  Lou set her empty wine glass down and assessed her ability to get up. “Sure.”

  The two of them walked out into the night, Valeria still wearing black lace under a colorful blanket that Felipe had draped over her shoulders. Lou wore her black coat and black boots. Valeria did not turn on a light, and Lou felt no need to. The nearly full moon illuminated frost and bits of snow that paved the ground with white, and showed them where to walk well enough. “Will you stay?” Valeria asked.

  “Of course we will. There are quite a few more conversations that I need to have with Akita.”

  “I’m grateful,” Valeria said. She poked Lou in the ribs. “Do you think Shuska will help us guard the saloon doors for a few more Saturdays?”

  Lou smiled faintly, trying for levity. “To ward off all of the old people left in town?”

  “No. To guard against the Keepers who will come here. To help make sure the young men won’t be causing any trouble.”

  Lou shook her head. Valeria was nothing if not insistent on her view of the world. “I don’t know if that will happen or not. It’s too early to tell. We might have an answer in the spring.” She had said this before, but maybe Valeria had been so preoccupied with her grief she hadn’t heard.

  “It will happen,” Valeria said. “It’s the only way.”

  If the world was fair, it would. That, of course, was a big question. Maybe it was the wine talking, but Lou asked, “Do you think there’s really any justice?”

  “Justice for who?” Valeria mused. “Was it justice when the boys who went off to kill the city died?” A tear glistened in her eye but she ignored it. Eventually it streaked down her cheek. “Was it justice that poor Paulette saved your sister and gave you the information that killed her own brother, but also, maybe, saved her soul at the same time? Was it justice that my husband disappeared? That we’ve killed most of the wild things?”

  Lou was sure Valeria didn’t expect an answer to any of the questions. She, too, had been drinking wine. The questions hurt, each one of them. But they didn’t have answers.

  Moonlight made Valeria look like she could be any woman, any age. Maybe it even made her look like a goddess. At least, like a warrior. Her losses showed, but more than that, her strength. She fell quiet for a bit, but then she told Lou, “We can add some justice to the world. Maybe that’s all anyone can do.”

  “You are a stubborn woman,” Lou told her. “But I’m glad my sister directed us to your farm.”

  “Me too.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  There are always so many people to thank. I appreciate every reader. I want to extend particular thanks to all of you who have reviewed my work or sent me notes about it, or come to me at conventions to talk about it. The prequel to this book, Wilders, has generated more conversation than any of my other books, and I’ve loved every chance that’s given me to interact with readers.

  Thanks to my agent, Eleanor Wood, and to my editor, Rene Sears. More thanks to the ever-patient Sheila Stewart, who has copyedited many of my books. My father, David Cooper; Nancy Kress; Darragh Metzger; and John Pitts all read an early draft and provided fabulous feedback.

  I wrote Keepers while I was a student in the Stonecoast MFA program through the University of Southern Maine. It was truly a peak experience for me, a place where I had fun and learned a lot. Special thanks to Justin Tussing, Robin Talbot, and Matt Jones. The first part of this book formed my thesis, and I want to thank Nancy Holder and James Patrick Kelly for helping to shape the work.

  Some of the work in this book is inspired by Forterra, a nonprofit in the Seattle area that has protected great swaths of land and that is also working to provide affordable housing and increased livability in the city. The two are linked. Healthy cities can help protect and preserve wildness. It was also inspired by E. O. Wilson’s brilliant book Half Earth. I read many books on wolves, and got to use very little of what I read. Still, I learned a lot and loved the research. In particular, I enjoyed Of Wolves and Men, by Barry Lopez, The Hidden Life of Wolves, by Jim Dutcher, and American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, by Nate Blakeslee. I probably need to write an entire book about wolves, although I’m not sure how to make that science fiction.

  And last, but never ever less than the most of all, I thank my family. Toni Cramer has put up with many weekends away, many evenings when I stop to write on my way home, and other times when I am merely lost in my head. The dogs have also had to put up with nights they miss walks because I’ve stopped at a coffee shop to write.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Photo by Toni Cramer

  Brenda Cooper is the author of Wilders, the Glittering Edge duology (Edge of Dark and Spear of Light), the Ruby’s Song duology (The Creative Fire and The Diamond Deep), and the Silver Ship series. The Silver Ship and the Sea was selected by Booklist as one of the top ten 2007 adult books for youth to read and won an Endeavour award. The other books in that series are Reading the Wind and Wings of Creation. Edge of Dark was a finalist for the P. K. Dick Award and won the Endeavour Award. Brenda is also the author of Mayan December and POST and has collaborated with Larry Niven (Building Harlequin’s Moon).

  Brenda is a working futurist and a technology professional with a passionate interest in the environment.