by Caney, Mark
- From the 938th Congress of the Aligners.
‘What strange currents have carried us here? Are there not perils enough on Ocean that we must now kill our own kind?’
Cloud Passing closed his eyes and was quiet for a long time, deep in thought. Sky waited alongside him patiently. He had gone to find the old dolphin directly after his encounter in the bay, and had explained why he had gone there and what had happened. His mentor had listened in silence for the most part, but his pale eyes showed grave concern. At last he opened his eyes again.
‘I am so glad that you are safe, young Sky. But I fear that I may have brought this upon you. Born Into Summer was my designate to take on my role as Aligner of the Way. She died suddenly, and it now looks as though she was killed. Then I appoint you, and now you are almost killed in the same way. This seems more than a coincidence.’
‘But what about Wakes, Jeii? She was not an Aligner, was she?’
‘No, she was not. So perhaps there are other factors here. But I am very concerned for your safety.’
‘Should I tell the Council about this then, Jeii?’
‘No…no, I think not yet. We have the Gathering starting here shortly and there will be a secret meeting of Aligners then. Let us wait until I can find out what they have heard before we decide what to do. I do not want to draw any more attention to you than necessary for now.’
‘And can I tell my friends?’
‘For now, tell no one. I am sorry, that will be hard on you, but I am not sure who to trust at present, and it is best if no idle stories are spread. Hardly anyone knew that you were my new designate, I had sent a message to another Aligner and told just a few key members of the Council.’
‘So you think I was attacked because I am to become an Aligner, Jeii? And do you think that they were Guardians?’
‘I think they must have been Guardians. And it is possible that they just learned of you from this Sand youth, but that hardly seems a reason to kill someone. So yes, I am concerned that they are targeting the Aligners.’
They both surfaced to breathe then glided back down and continued their slow swim. Sky tried to absorb the enormity of this. The Guardians actually did condone zeta killing zeta. And they were trying to harm the Aligners. And now he was a target for them, but he had no idea what the reason was.
‘The Guardians, Jeii — why would they care about the Aligners?’
‘Ah. Well, it seems that the Guardians have a new leader. He is taking this perverse philosophy of theirs further than ever before. You know that they have always believed that the Ka-Tse are somehow superior to other zetii?’
‘I understood something like that, Jeii. Based on the teachings of that Stone Eyes, right?’
‘Yes, their “seer”. Well, now we think they are trying to create conflict between the zeta species. And they know that many are dissatisfied with how the Way seems to be less and less relevant to modern Ocean. That suits their plans. If the Aligners are successful in adapting the Way to the changes we are seeing, then much of the discontent they need to feed on may go.’
‘But if that’s true, aren’t you at risk yourself, Jeii?’
Passing Cloud smiled. ‘Perhaps. But they probably know that I am not long for life under Senx anyway. So why bother killing off an ancient who is going to be making his last dive soon?’
Sky winced at that reminder — the dolphin who had been most like a father to him was going to make his Darkening Dive soon.
‘Jeii, there will be less kindness and wisdom in these waters when you are gone. I shall miss you so. You will not be forgotten.’
The older dolphin’s misty eyes smiled back at him.
‘And I shall miss you too. But to live well and memorably we must recognise the importance of not only what we do but when we do it. We must know the proper and best times to do things. When to speak; when to keep silent. When to take action; when to wait patiently. When to create; when to disassemble. When to live; when to die. I am approaching such a time, that is all.’
‘But, Jeii, you can’t go now,’ Sky pleaded. ‘What about my becoming an Aligner? Won’t you wait for that at least?’
‘I have thought about that, of course, but the answer is no. When I meet the others at the Gathering I am going to make arrangements for someone to continue your training, you will just have to be a little patient. But there is one small lesson I should like to give you now. Just in case anything should happen to me, I want to teach you something that will allow other Aligners to identify you.’
Passing Cloud rose slowly to the surface, indicating that Sky should follow. There, they lifted their heads above the gentle swells and the old dolphin looked towards the nearby land. A pelican was perched on a rock studying the water below it. Then it stretched out its grey-brown wings and flapped up into the sky, its pale head pulled back to better balance the weight of its large bill. It circled above them ponderously, studying the clear water below.
‘Sky, occasionally you will meet another zeta who may seem in some way unusual; remarkable, let us say. Most may not notice this, but you have unusual powers of perception, which is why I have chosen you. Look for a sharpness of mind, for thought behind the words, for layers of meanings. When you meet such a zeta you should use this recognition protocol. There are many such coded tricks that we Aligners use to recognise one another, but this is one you can easily apply.’
‘Yes, Jeii.’
The pelican quickly turned in its flight and fell towards the water, its wings drawn back behind it, its bill knifing into the water ahead of it. After a moment, it resurfaced, flicking its head upwards to better position its catch. A flash of silver in the bright sunlight and its bill snapped shut.
The older dolphin turned to Sky. ‘Can the hunted trust the hunter?’
‘Jeii? I don’t know…’
‘That is alright, Sky. I want you to ask me that question.’
‘Oh, I see. Uh…can the hunted trust the hunter?’
‘The hunted can trust that the hunter will kill.’
Cloud Passing lay at the surface watching the pelican, as it flapped awkwardly upwards from the water and started its circling again.
‘If someone answers you with exactly those words, you will know they are one of us and that you can trust them. Now, you have a lesson to conduct I think. The little ones will be waiting for you. Go swiftly, and take care! The Guardians may try to find you again. Be watchful, and do not leave the clan on your own!’
Chapter 14
“For nothing surprises Ocean
She has brushed eternity and seen all, felt all.
Look to her depths to see the waters of life flow
Where you are carried now
Where you may be carried tomorrow”
- Dust On The Wind. (4,560-4,586 post Great Alluvium)
As Sky headed for the coral head where the third echelon class should be waiting for him, he passed a large turtle lying in the seagrass. With an effort it twisted its head and pulled up a mouthful, sending up a cloud of silty sand that drifted away gently in the slight current. The turtle turned the food slowly in its mouth and swallowed with a stoical expression. Its eyes did not follow Sky. Their lenses looked crystalline, white. Sky thought it probably blind. Although turtles could live to an immense age, Sky guessed that this one was near the end of its life. It reminded him of Cloud Passing, who also had that look about him now, the look of one who is ready to depart. He thought about their recent conversation; his teacher had spoken of a “deep dive down to the dark waters.” Sky remembered yesterday’s ceremony, how they had let Wakes Softly’s broken little body fall down, down, down into the cold depths. What must Cloud Passing have thought seeing that? He would make his own Darkening Dive. And soon. He tried to imagine what that must be like. Last night he had been close to death. But that had been sudden, unexpected and he had been desperate to escape, to live — to survive at all costs. But one day he might make his own Darkening Dive. Swimming out over the blue,
over the great fall, nothing to see or hear below. What would you think about?
About what you had done.
About what you wished you had done.
About what you had done and wished you had not.
Then his thoughts were broken by the sound of his class ahead of him. As he approached, he could make out the five young dolphins and he made his signature call: ‘It is I, Touches The Sky!’
‘Greetings, Touches The Sky-Jeii,’ came the response from his class.
Sky nodded, slightly, he was still not used to being referred to as a teacher and the ‘Jeii’ honorific continued to thrill and alarm him slightly.
‘Greetings, class. Are your minds open today?’ Sky concentrated on keeping his voice calm, trying to keep a sense of normality in spite of the madness of the last day and night.
‘Yes, Touches The Sky-Jeii.’
Formalities over, Sky went on to explain the lesson: ‘Today I’ll try to teach you more about the Shades of Blue. Who can tell me why we study them?’
Lost In Moonlight, a small, pretty young dolphin, and one of his brightest students, answered him; her voice full of enthusiasm for the subject. ‘The Shades are aids to meditation and the discovery of truth. They are also used to divine the future!’
‘Very good, Moonlight. They certainly are fine aids to concentration and encourage oneness with Ocean. However, while many believe that the Shades of Blue can foretell events, a Seeker would probably dispute that there is hard evidence that they can.’
‘Oh, but I believe they can, Jeii, and my mother does too. She says a friend of hers foresaw the death of the last Prime Mother with the Shades.’
Sky was taken aback at her conviction and wondered how Cloud Passing would handle this situation. Eventually he said, ‘Well, you’ll each have to make up your own mind about that. Let’s consider the theory for now.’
Sky paused, then, trying to impart some of the gravitas of his own teacher, said: ‘Swim with me.’
His class fell into synchronisation with him. He kept them near the surface as he led them away from the shore, towards the depths. His mind wandered, still playing out a Darkening Dive in his head.
You would take a last look at the cliffs, the dunes, the grass; the harsh strangeness of the land…
He forced himself back into the moment and spoke to his class: ‘The colours of the waters are divided into three major groupings. These were probably originally derived from the effects of weather and environment. In fact, some of the Shades are not blue at all of course, but greens, browns or even reds.’ Sky looked at the young dolphins’ keen faces, and turned to one of the two he and Muddy had last met by the shipwreck with the Guardian youth, Sand. The same youth who had apparently betrayed him last night. ‘Tell me, Bellatrix, why would the water be green?’
‘Because of the tiny plants growing in it, Jeii?
‘That’s right,’ Sky agreed, ‘And when would we find water with a brown Shade?’
‘When we are close to the land,’ another answered confidently.
‘Correct. Water carries soil and other matter from the land in rivers and darkens the sea. The third type is the clear, blue water of the deep sea. Beautiful to look at, but not much lives in it. Incidentally, that is probably where the saying “In death there is clarity” originally comes from.’
Again, the intrusive voice in his head.
And in that clarity we’ll seek Death.
‘Today we obviously have that kind of water, and in the reading of the Shades it is said to imply Risk or Decay. Now, these three environmentally derived categories are known as the Krumas, and in the art of reading the waters they primarily indicate situation, background, or history.’
The class appeared to listen attentively as Sky spoke. He hoped his charges were noticing the subtle alterations in the hues around them as they moved over the deeper water. He continued his explanation of how each of the Krumas was subdivided into nine divisions representing the varying hues of the Krumas: the Tonellas. These were interpreted as representing direction, location, or sequencing of events. Then he explained how the quality, direction and intensity of light were defined into seven categories that indicate the degree, volume, or speed of events. He paused to see if he may be boring his class, but they seemed absorbed by his words.
‘At this stage I don’t want you to concern yourself with trying to read the waters, nor even trying to identify the exact definition of a particular Shade. It will be enough for now if you can learn to be receptive to the Shades, and can be aware of the change from one Shade to the next.’
Sky brought them to the surface to breathe. ‘Now, we’ll make a deep dive and then slowly ascend. Let’s dive in silence. In these surface conditions we should see shafts of light that will reveal several of the subtler Shades. As we descend, I want each of you to close down the peripheries of your minds and bodies as you’ve been taught. We’re aiming for the fourth level of consciousness now, but you must still be receptive to what your eyes tell your mind. Now prepare yourselves for a long dive.’
The students stilled themselves at the surface, breathing deeply, calming their bodies’ need for oxygen. Sky watched them for a while but then found himself looking down; down into the depths.
There would be no bottom. At least none any living zeta could reach. How long would you prepare yourself for? How many breaths to take? How long would you want it to last?
Then he realised they were watching him expectantly. He cursed himself. They would have passed the peak of preparedness to dive — lost their concentration. He led the students in a hurried dive — messy — wasteful. The wound in his belly gave him a jolt of pain. He descended with his students just behind him.
You would start like any other dive. A dive to hunt, a dive to chase a lover in play.
As they fell, Sky softly intoned the names of the Shades as he recognised them, and listed the traditional meaning associated with each. The students swam silently alongside him. From the corner of his eye he noticed Lost In Moonlight looking especially concentrated. He began: ‘This is Ndria-axi, meaning Joining, Reunion or Reconciliation. Now, see this change, this means Towards The Familiar or Regressing. Look, another change here,’ Sky murmured, indicating the shafts of light that now wavered around them, ‘this would suggest Something of High Import or Great in Scope.’
A good Shade for a Darkening Dive.
At a little over fifty metres depth he levelled out. There was no sign of the seabed, which was still far below them. He looked at each of the class in turn, trying to assess their mental state. They looked good: calm, slightly withdrawn, yet with their eyes still alert. He signalled for them to stop swimming. He wanted them to pay attention now; this was a depth these young ones rarely visited, for many of them it might be their first time. The water was a deep indigo around them, falling away to blackness below.
It’s not frightening down there seen from here. Inviting, really. Like the welcome cool of the air on your back, when you lay at the surface on a summer night after a long day.
Far above them a cloud covered the sun, diffusing the light.
‘The south facing light shafts prevail now, meaning Unexpected or Feared, and look what happens as that cloud begins to cover Senx: this would be read as being Towards The Unknown or Extending. Lastly, see this subtle change in the depths here: it would usually be read as Separation or Dispute.’
Separation. That would be an appropriate Shade. But wouldn’t you hope for the Joining Shade now? How much further would you be able to go? Maybe there are more Shades to see down there, that the living have no names for.
No. There is only one kind of light down there: the colour of the Void. Utter blackness. The colour of nothingness. The colour Born sees now. The colour Wakes sees.
‘Jeii! Jeii!’
He snapped back into the moment. Lost In Moonlight was calling him. He suddenly realised that since he had told them to stop swimming they had been sinking. He did not know how deep
they were now, only that it was deep — too deep! He looked in the direction she was gesturing and saw that Bellatrix was losing consciousness, her young body tilting sideways, her eyes glazing.
‘Alright, everyone! We’re going up! Take your time, stay calm, follow your training.’
He put his head under Bellatrix and lifted her, bringing the class up as fast as he dared. If he made them swim too fast they would burn up their remaining oxygen and pass out. Too slow and it would run out anyway.
‘Jeii, is Bellatrix going to die?’
Is Bellatrix going to die?’
‘Hush now. Stay relaxed. Just swim.’
It seemed an age to the surface. And Sky tortured himself with guilt the whole way. These young ones were in his care. Their parents had trusted in him. They had trusted in him. He had been obsessed with thoughts of death and now here death was, swimming amongst them!
Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die. Please don’t die.
The water grew lighter, the surface nearer, nearer, then the light cracked open and they were there in the full sunlight.
He shouted at her and prodded her harshly. ‘Bellatrix, wake up! Breathe, Bellatrix! Breathe, now! Bellatrix, breathe!’
For an eternity there was nothing. Then she shuddered violently and took a gasping breath. Slowly, she came back to consciousness. She looked at her classmates then at Sky. ‘I’m sorry, Jeii, I missed some of what you said at the bottom of the dive.’
He almost laughed in relief. ‘Don’t worry. I’m just glad you’re alright. We’re going back to the shallows now.’
Soon the students were chattering away happily. None of them seemed to realise how close catastrophe had been, including Bellatrix herself. They all acted as though this was normal. Sky was still in shock. On the swim back Lost In Moonlight spoke to him earnestly. ‘Touches The Sky-Jeii, you said at the beginning of the dive that because of the clear blue water here this Kruma means Risk or Decay, doesn’t it?’
‘Well, those are two possible meanings of this Kruma, yes.’
