by Caney, Mark
‘Come now, Sky, I have been lucky enough to have had a life that I can feel proud of. Help me celebrate it tomorrow.’
Sky gave a sad smile, ‘Certainly Jeii, and I’ll try to remember what you’ve taught me. I only hope to have some of your wisdom one day.’
Cloud Passing looked pleased. ‘Well, that is the finest compliment a teacher can have. Now I must go, I have promised to call on many clans tonight. Farewell, Sky.’
‘Farewell, Jeii. You’ll live on in my heart’.
‘Ah. And that is the very best that any of us can hope for.’
Chapter 27
“Would that we might scratch our histories upon some rock, ever there to remain. But the zetii know that nothing in Ocean lasts forever and nothing stays the same in her waters. Therefore honour the Dreamweaver and the Starwriter. Without their art we are simple creatures living the moment. All the joy and suffering of our ancestors was for nothing. The wisdom of the millennia is nothing.”
- Denebola’s Daughter (10,006 – 10,045 post Great Alluvium)
There were twenty-four Starwriters and three Dreamweavers involved in the song; as always, all of them were females. Sky had only a rudimentary knowledge of how the process worked, but knew that this must be a complex song to involve so many of them. He knew that the timing of the Gatherings was in part dictated by the astronomical events that could only be accessed by large numbers of Starwriters at once. He also knew that the Calculators used a similar technique; they would be taking advantage of the Gathering to gather together in a form of shared consciousness to process the complex data gathered by the Seekers since the last Gathering.
The Starwriters were gathering into three groups, all facing towards the setting sun. The onshore breeze had gone now and the sea was mellowing. As the sun approached the horizon Sky watched the Tonellas change to the Shade of Ndria against a background Kruma of Vraxia. A confusing reading: death overtaking youth or change? He forgot the thought as he made out Dusk amongst the Starwriters, but she was already dropping into the lower levels of consciousness and was oblivious to him. He also saw Mist, who did seem to look back in his direction, but she had a far away look in her eyes and he could not tell if she was still aware of her surroundings or deliberately ignoring him.
‘Don’t worry my dear, it’s not you that’s upset her.’ He turned to see an elderly female near him. He recognised her as being from Mist’s clan.
‘I am Touches The Sky from the Dune Coast Clan,’ he said.
‘Yes, I know. And I am Fading Current from the Western Red Mountains Clan. You do know what’s wrong with little Mist, don’t you?’
‘Well, I know about the other day of course. But I think I’ve upset her in some way, I don’t know why exactly…’
She shook her head, ‘No, you’ve done nothing wrong. What did you see at that birth?’
‘It was hard to watch. After so much work, when the baby came out and didn’t move, the mother was heartbroken. She just kept lifting it to the surface to breathe, calling to it, singing to it, but it never took one breath. She wouldn’t let it go. At dusk two Cleaners came and circled: waiting. Mist and I drove them off but they kept coming back. Eventually, late in the evening the mother told us to go; she wanted to be alone with her baby to say goodbye to it.’
The three Dreamweavers moved into position facing the three groups of Starwriters. They began a slow rhythmic chanting. The Starwriters lay on the sandy bottom in the very shallow water. The sea was calm now, and they easily lifted their bodies slightly to breathe when they needed to.
Fading Current spoke again, quietly now so as not to disturb the Dreamweavers, who were taking the Starwriters deeper into their trance-like state. ‘Yes, eventually the mother came back at dawn, after she had said her farewells.’
‘But poor Mist, she blamed herself for the baby’s death. I talked to her about it — tried to reason with her — there was nothing else that could be done and…’
‘Look my dear, when a female is upset, the last thing she needs is some male trying to “reason” with her. She just wants you to listen to her and to be supportive. Learn that simple truth and you will save yourself much heartache in life.’
The chant was growing deeper and slower now. One of the Dreamweavers started a new chant now in counterpoint to the primary song. Sky could not make out any words.
‘But why did it die?’
‘Nothing could be done. Half of the babies born these days do not survive, it seems to have become worse in my memory, something in the fish we eat I think, or some decay in the moon’s influence perhaps. But that baby had no chance. I’d scanned the mother myself a few days ago and said as much but little Mist wanted to try. And that’s what’s upset her; she thinks she failed. Maybe she’s acting strangely to you now because you saw it. Now you must just approach her and support her in her grief. She will thank you for it later.’
‘Thank you,’ said Sky, rather embarrassed. Then to change the subject he whispered, ‘Do you understand what they’re doing?’
The Starwriters were now at the surface with their eyes just above the water, their tails resting on the bottom. The sun had fallen below the horizon leaving the Moon and the planet Venus the only objects visible so far in the gradually darkening sky.
‘Yes, I know this, I used to be a Starwriter myself. They are descending through the levels of consciousness. They will spend a little time now in the fourth level: in the unconscious mind but with conscious control. Then the Dreamweavers will quickly take them through the fifth level — dreaming — and the sixth, a dreamless, deep unconsciousness. Then they will move them down into the last level, where they are unconscious but can receive thoughts at a subconscious level.’
‘Thank you for that, but I am at least familiar with the seven levels, I study at the Academy.’
‘Ah, then yes, you will be familiar. You may even leave the rest of us behind in our everyday second level and move to the first level one day.’
He wondered if she was mocking him for being pompous but she seemed genuine enough and he murmured something about hoping to achieve that one day.
Now all three of the Dreamweavers were adding different layers to the chant, merging and diverging again in strange harmonies.
‘This is a special song,’ Fading Current whispered, ‘having three Dreamweavers singing allows them to use tertian trichords to create invariance. That, and the special alignment of Saturn tonight will let them open some ancient, complex data that we can rarely access. See, the stars are becoming visible. Look by Regulus, next to the moon.’
Sky wished he had not seemed so clever about the seven levels of consciousness. She had then completely lost him in her description of the music. He focused on the great white orb of the moon. As the sky became darker he saw a bright light appear close behind it.
‘I can make out something close to the moon, but it’s hard to see yet.’
‘It’s Saturn, and the alignment is unique for this song. The moon will cover Saturn before long, and the juxtaposition of these elements is what the Dreamweavers are timing their songs for. They always have to perfectly match the delivery of the unlocking song to the movement of the stars and planets.’
The pace of the song was increasing now with a steady, pulsing beat like the heartbeat of some great beast just under the seabed. Some of the Starwriters started to make small sounds in time with the song; gradually more picked this up until they were all faintly chanting to the rhythm of the song, with their eyes all fixed on Saturn. The planet marched westwards across the sky, its pace mirrored by the following Regulas. But the huge moon followed behind Saturn at a faster pace, gradually gaining on the planet.
Slowly the bright light of Saturn was subsumed into the much larger moon. As their lights merged, the combined chanting of the Dreamweavers and Starwriters reached a crescendo and at the moment the planet finally vanished, the song abruptly stopped. Three more dolphins slowly emerged from the darkness, one going to each o
f the three groups. They too were in a form of trance.
‘Calculators,’ Fading Current explained, ‘they have come for the data from the song.’
Each group of Starwriters now clustered around its Calculator and they began murmuring in unison to them a low, constant chant of information.
‘What are they saying?’ asked Sky.
‘The song was something to do with records of the ice caps and glaciers over time. The Seekers asked for it. This song contained information dating right back to 9,500 I’m told. Look, they’re finishing.’
The Calculators were withdrawing now, still in their dream-like state, but the Starwriters were gradually coming back to full consciousness and drifting off in ones and twos. Sky looked for Dusk but she was already gone. He swam towards her group, and she alone was missing, vanished into the darkness again. Where did she go at night? He stopped in indecision, looking around, when Mist passed, her eyes slowly coming back into focus.
He called softly, ‘It is I, Touches The Sky!’
She woke a little more and turned to him, still clearly confused. ‘Sky?’
‘Yes, it’s me. If you can, I’d like to talk to you about the birth of that baby. I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I need to know how you felt about it.’
‘Really?’ She looked at him hard, focussed now at last. ‘Alright, let’s swim together awhile. It would probably be good for me to talk about it.’ Her eyes smiled. ‘You are sweet after all. I’ve already had my unconscious mind drained tonight; now perhaps you can help me empty some of these dark thoughts in my conscious mind.’
Chapter 28
“Rejoice now in a life well spent
Each day lived out to full extent
Death he easily transcends
Surrounded here by these old friends”
- Second Rainbow (8,127 -8,159 post Great Alluvium)
The Whispering Caves had been used and revered by the Ka-Tse for longer than even their histories recorded. This place had been used during spring rituals for millennia, and it was on calm days like this one that the event was most dramatic. Close to the south-facing shoreline, the seabed fell away quickly to an almost sheer wall. The steep rock face was almost totally covered in hard and soft corals except for a vertical gash in its face. Here the water shimmered in an unearthly way, looking almost oily; distorting anything that passed through it. No coral grew near the opening, as a fresh water spring issued forth from the cave. This was critical to the cave’s status, as it was the precise alignment of its opening and the inner caverns that gave it such value to the dolphins. If coral growth occluded the opening, the equinoctial sun would not be visible from the Sun Chamber within; further, the distorting qualities of the halocline — the mixing boundary between salt and fresh water — made this place famous for interpreting the Shades.
The crowd of dolphins gathered quietly in the sandy shallows, facing out towards the deeper water. In front of them was a small group of elders, one from each clan, floating at the surface above the uppermost of the cave’s three openings.
The group of elders faced the shore, all very still, many with their eyes closed as they slowed their heartbeats in readiness for the ceremony.
Silent Waters represented the Dune Coast Clan among the elders, and as they were hosting the Gathering, she was leading the ceremony. She moved towards the mass of dolphins slightly, her voice seeming tranquil, somehow made slightly remote by the mental distance she was placing between herself and her immediate surroundings.
‘Today is always a day of celebration, as Senx passes once more into this hemisphere, marking the start of his season of strength: the season of contradictions, when we traditionally find abundance and the great storms. On this day we also say goodbye to an old friend. One who has lived the Way in his every thought. And in recognition of his special place amongst the Ka-Tse, the elders wish to invite him, and any companions he would have for his Darkening Dive, to enter the Sun Chamber and see Senx pass over the equator, once more to dwell in our skies.’
There was a murmur of approval from the assembled dolphins at the announcement of this rare honour; normally only the leader of each clan would be allowed into the cave on this day.
Cloud Passing moved slowly forward, clearly moved by the gesture. ‘Thank you Prime Mother. I would be honoured to witness Senx’s passage. As for companions, I should ask for two: yourself, to represent all my old friends and all that was wonderful in my past. For the other, to represent all my hopes for the future, I would ask for one of the many here that I have tried to guide in the Way. If I have been able to influence them in some small manner for the better; if, at some time in the future they are faced with a hard choice and they think, for just a moment: “what would he have said?” then my life was worthwhile. For my second companion I choose Touches The Sky.’
Sky was stunned to be called, but, with everyone watching him, he swam forward to Cloud Passing’s side.
‘Jeii, you honour me.’ He whispered.
‘Nonsense,’ muttered the old teacher, smiling, ‘it’s just that with my old eyes I might miss the critical moment — I need you to nudge me when Senx plays his part.’
They both swam out slowly towards the group of elders. Someone called a gentle farewell to Cloud Passing; it was followed by another, then another. Soon a rising murmur of softly spoken wishes for an easy descent filled the water with sound.
He stopped and turned. He faced them all in silence for a very long moment, then bowed deeply.
‘Farewell, my very good friends. Keep to the Way. Do not think of discarding it now when our need for moral guidance is greatest. And think of me sometimes.’
He turned and Sky followed him to the group of elders.
The sun was approaching its zenith now and the group of dolphins, still at the surface, began to breathe slower and deeper, in preparation for a long submersion. Sky was stunned to find himself in such auspicious company at such a time, then suddenly realised that he was about to hold his breath for the longest time in his life. He felt panic rising and his heart beat start to race, in fear that he could ruin the ceremony.
The familiar sound of Cloud Passing’s barely audible voice came to him. ‘Now young Sky, is this what you learned in all those lessons? Count your breaths, one…two…..three…….four………five; that’s better. Now listen to your heart; slow it down, I can hear it too; yes…yes…..better. Don’t show me up now, I have always said you were my star pupil. Focus your being in your mind and your chest; you don’t need the rest of your body, shut it down for me now.’
Sky did as he was told, slipping back into the habits of his training. Starting from a state of total consciousness, aware of every part of his body, he began to withdraw into his mind. He imagined his body filled with a red light, then saw that light receding from the tip of his tail, from his fin tips, up his body, slowly gathering in his mind and heart. The light dimmed but concentrated, soon it was just there in the core of his being. He was barely aware of his body any more, just the slow, so very slow thud of his heart.
At a signal from Silent Waters, the group took a final breath and silently dived down the short distance to the upper opening of the cave. This was at the top of the steep slope and it opened towards the surface. The dolphins entered one by one, Sky last. As he dropped into the darkness his eyes became accustomed and he realised the small opening led to a vast cavern with a shelving sandy floor. This sloped downwards in the direction of the open sea, and there were two more openings in the cavern wall on that side. Opposite where the dolphins now lay on the sand was a vertical slit in the rock, the primary exit point for the spring, with the bright surface behind. But below it, pointing down to the depths, was another smaller opening, with dark blue water just visible.
Sky was beside Cloud Passing. All of the dolphins lay motionless on their bellies on the sand, their eyes fixed on the vertical slit.
Sky watched the Shades, fascinated. The dark blue water was Ndria-chon or perhap
s just Ndria: bad intentions? Obscure? No: death, he supposed. The still surface of the sea meant that the shafts of light coming through the upper opening of the cavern hardly moved, so the overall Shade was Tsim, meaning little, or of no consequence. How could that be, he wondered, this was of the greatest consequence!
He slowly became aware that the others were humming a barely audible chant; rising and falling like wavelets striking a beach, slowly increasing in pace and volume. He realised that the light was increasing at the narrow opening, the light at the surface becoming brighter and brighter, soon swallowing the feeble light rays from the upper opening.
The song lifted its pitch further, rising to a climax. Sky saw that a shaft of light from the opening before them now cast a narrow beam on the wall to their right. As he watched mesmerised, that beam eased around the wall behind them until both song and star reached their zenith together, and the dolphins were flooded by light. This was the moment they had waited for; the sun had now passed over the equator into the northern hemisphere for the first time that year.
The chant slowed and stopped. There was a faint murmur of appreciation from the dolphins in the cave. Then Cloud Passing roused himself and swam forward a short way. Silent Waters and Sky took station on each side of him. He turned back to the elders, the sunlight streaming past him in rays onto their faces. He bowed once more.
Then Sky noticed a curious thing. Although the sea surface was still calm, the sun’s rays were now coming directly through the narrow opening into the Sun Chamber as it only did in this way for the first day of spring. Now that the rays passed through the swirling waters of the halocline the rays were no longer static, they danced behind the silhouette of the old dolphin in an unearthly way. The Shades obediently changed and their meaning was totally altered: a great matter; of high import.
