Changer of Worlds woh-3

by David Weber

  Wind of Memory’s musical mind voice was like the crystal sound of the “wind chimes” the humans had given the delighted People, and Branch Leaper flicked his ears in profoundly respectful acknowledgment. Yet even as he did so, he remembered the power and beauty of Golden Voice’s mind voice.

  he replied, including the assembled clan leaders in his response. He tasted the stir of the elders’ interest as he confirmed what they must surely already have known.

  Wind of Memory acknowledged gravely.

  It had not been necessary, of course, but it had been only courteous. Under normal circumstances, Laughs Brightly would have become a member of Sun Leaf Clan, for it was customary for the male to become a member of his mate’s clan on those rare occasions when People mated with anyone other than members of their own birth clans. But the fact that he and Golden Voice had journeyed to Bright Water Clan clearly suggested that they did not intend to follow custom in this matter—either, Branch Leaper thought dryly—and it did make a sort of sense. Laughs Brightly was bonded to Dances on Clouds, one of Death Fang’s Bane’s descendants, and Death Fang’s Bane Clan’s range bordered on Bright Water’s. Of course, human clans did not consider their “ranges” (or their clans, for that matter) exactly as the People did, but the parallels were close enough. If Golden Voice was not bonded to a human herself, it would be reasonable for her to join the clan of her mate, if it was closer to her mate’s human’s clan, and Sun Leaf Clan was distant, indeed. But if she had chosen to come among a clan strange to her, it would have been discourteous in the extreme for Branch Leaper not to accompany her here to meet her new brothers and sisters. And elders. Especially elders. And especially in this case.

  Wind of Memory went on, turning to Laughs Brightly’s new mate.

  Golden Voice replied, and Branch Leaper felt a shudder of shock ripple through the assembled elders and all the other members of Bright Water Clan who had followed them to Wind of Memory’s nest as that incredible mind voice poured through them. Wind of Memory twitched bolt upright, her ears standing fully erect, and Songstress actually hissed beside her. Not in challenge, but in disbelief, for Golden Voice’s mind voice sang in their minds with the pure, sweet power of one of the humans’ great bells. It was easily more powerful than Wind of Memory’s, yet Wind of Memory held her position as Bright Water’s senior singer precisely because her own mind voice was so strong.

  Echo of Time blurted, startled into the exclamation. Golden Voice turned bright green eyes to her, cocking her head to one side, and Echo of Time’s gaze fell, her mind glow burning with consternation. The disapproval of her mind voice could not have been greater if she had made it so on purpose, and her humiliation at her own bad manners was blazingly apparent. Yet so was the fact that she was not at all convinced that her disapproval was unmerited, and Branch Leaper tasted echoes of the same emotions from other members of the clan.

  Golden Voice replied after a long moment. Her own mind voice showed no trace of anger or resentment, only calm self-assurance and possibly just a flicker of resigned amusement, as if she were well accustomed to such reactions. Which, Branch Leaper reflected, she undoubtedly was.

  Echo of Time’s apology was sincere, but it was for her own bad manners in failing to control her reaction and not an admission that her disapproval was wrong.

  Golden Voice asked simply. she allowed herself a dry mental chuckle <—my own sire and dam were… perplexed by my choices. And as for my own clan’s memory singers—!>

  She flicked the tip of her tail as a human might have rolled her eyes, and Wind of Memory surprised them all—including herself, Branch Leaper suspected—with a bleek of laughter. All eyes turned to her, and she flicked her ears.

  the senior memory singer agreed wryly.

  Golden Voice admitted.

  Wind of Memory observed in a dust-dry mind voice, and it was Golden Voice’s turn to bleek in laughter, for she was very young. Less than half Laughs Brightly’s age, Branch Leaper estimated, though it was hard to be certain. Like all females, she was much smaller than the average male, and her dappled brown and gray pelt did not boast the tail rings which indicated a male’s age. Both of those things made estimating her age difficult, and the fact that she was so… different from any other female he had ever met only complicated matters still further.

  Golden Voice admitted, She gave another ear flick, meeting Wind of Memory’s gaze squarely.

  Songstress said, speaking up for the first time.

  A mental hush hovered at the memory singer’s forthright demand. Among humans, Branch Leaper had been told, such a query would have been considered an insult, or at least insufferably rude, but that was something he had never truly understood. Among the People, there was no real point in not asking it, or in trying to conceal the emotions which went with it, for there was no way one of the People could not know that another harbored that question or those feelings. There were questions the People simply did not ask of one another, but they were few and fell into areas which had been considered deeply private in even the oldest of memory songs. Personally, Branch Leaper had always assumed that that was because the People’s ancestors had learned the hard way that those areas—like the reasons a couple chose to mate—were the most likely to provoke conflict. A people who heard one another’s thoughts and tasted one another’s mind glows could not possibly have put all potential areas of conflict off limits, however, and outside those which had been sanctified by iron custom, the People addressed one another with a frankness which would have been devastating in any mind-blind society.

  Yet for all that, the challenge and disapproval of Bright Water’s second ranking memory singer hung before Golden Voice like a set of bared fangs. The younger female turned her calm regard on Songstress for several long breaths, then flicked the tip of her tail in acknowledgme
nt.

  she said then.

  A stab of grief ripped through her mind glow, the subtle sorrow Branch Leaper had tasted from the first exploding to the surface. It was only for an instant, yet all who tasted it flinched before it. It was a memory singer’s grief, with all the vibrant power of a memory singer’s mind behind it, and in that searing instant all within the reach of her mind voice were one with her, sharing the agony of loss and bereavement as her adopted human died and the bitter knife of death slashed the delicate binding and interweaving which had made Golden Voice and her human both individuals and one being. It was as if the very sun above them had exploded, destroying all the world—not in fire, but in freezing cold and utter desolation, and Branch Leaper cowered down on all six limbs, pressing his belly to the branch beneath him as the perfect reproduction of that moment of loss and torment took him by the throat. He tasted Golden Voice’s need to follow her person into darkness, the need to cling to his mind glow’s glory wherever it went… and the desperate need to escape the dreadful emptiness his death had left in her soul and mind.

  Yet there was more than simple despair in that shared moment. There was another mind glow, one which clung to her even more desperately than she had hungered for the peace of nonbeing. It had gripped her fiercely, refusing to release her and blazing against the darkness. It was not like her human’s mind glow had been. For all its power, it was weaker, almost muted—a subtler beauty, in more delicately blended colors, without the unbridled strength of the human mind glows. Yet also unlike the human mind glows, it engaged hers on all levels, merging with it, anchoring itself within her even as she had anchored herself within it.

  It had been Laughs Brightly, Branch Leaper realized, and turned his awed gaze upon the older male. Weaker than a human mind glow though it might have been, still the sheer, raw power of his demand for Golden Voice to live had dwarfed anything a male should have been able to produce. Yet even as that sense of awe touched him, Branch Leaper wondered why he felt it. So far as he knew, never in all the history of People and humans had both halves of a mated pair also adopted humans… and never before had a female with the mind voice and mind glow of a memory singer bonded with any human. Laughs Brightly and Golden Voice had passed into territory none of the People had ever explored. No doubt it was only natural for them to discover things there which the People had never expected.

  Songstress agreed after a moment, but if her mind voice was a bit more subdued, there was no less disapproval in it.

 

  Songstress demanded.

  Golden Voice replied calmly, Songstress glared at her for a moment, but then her tail flicked in acknowledgment. Golden Voice’s mind glow was clear and bright, and Songstress tasted her sincerity as clearly as any other person present.

  Golden Voice continued.

  Songstress retorted, but her gaze fell once more as she tasted Golden Voice’s gentle rebuke. Songstress was hands of turnings older than Golden Voice, yet in that moment Golden Voice had somehow become by far the elder, and her mind voice was chiding.

  she said almost kindly.

  Songstress began, then hesitated. The moment of hesitation stretched out, and then it became something else. The memory singer met Golden Voice’s eyes once more, her very silence an admission of the younger female’s point, for she had tasted that hunger and need in the memory songs of others. As no one but a memory singer could, she had shared it and become one with it, and as such, she knew—as no one but a memory singer could—how impossible it was not to answer.

  Wind of Memory said into the silence.
  She shook her head slowly, in a gesture the People had borrowed from their human friends, but Golden Voice looked at her serenely.

  Her prehensile tail reached out, wrapping itself gently but tightly about Laughs Brightly.

  Wind of Memory asked intently, and Golden Voice regarded her levelly for several long breaths. Branch Leaper tensed and felt the same reactions from the other members of his clan—especially Songstress and Echo of Time—as they tasted her mind glow. There was deep serenity in it, despite her youth, but also an inflexible determination, unyielding as the duralloy of the metal knives and axes the humans had given the People. It was not challenge. It went beyond that, like some irresistible natural force—like the wind that toppled even the mightiest picketwood or crown oak. He had no idea what lay behind it, yet at that moment, he felt almost sorry for the elders and memory singers of Sun Leaf Clan who must have encountered something just like it when they tried to force her to become a memory singer herself.

  Golden Voice said very quietly.

  It was not one of the memory singers, but rather Bark Master, second of Bright Water’s elders, whose mind voice shouted the instant denial. All eyes turned to him, but he d
id not retreat. he said stubbornly.

  Golden Voice said, and in that moment her mind voice held the regal assurance which echoed still in the mind songs of Sings Truly herself. She was perhaps a quarter of Bark Master’s age and the newest member of his clan, to boot, yet she faced his vehemence with neither trepidation nor personal challenge, and Branch Leaper felt a deep respect for her—and an even deeper envy of Laughs Brightly.

  Wind of Memory asked. She alone tasted almost as calm as Golden Voice, yet she watched the younger female unblinkingly, her concentrated gaze a pale reflection of the intensity with which she tasted the other’s mind glow and mind voice.

  Golden Voice told her.