“I’d like to hear your version of it, though.”
“Khuushoi stole the child and took him down to her underground palace of snow and ice. Ghyakulla was beside herself with grief because she didn’t know what had happened to him. She began to search frantically. It was the middle of winter, and no one had seen the child taken. All the animals and birds were huddled in their burrows and nests keeping warm or hibernating till the spring. All the trees were asleep, except those you see here—the evergreens. Ghyakulla asked each one in turn if they’d seen her son, but they were afraid of Khuushoi and lied, saying they’d seen nothing. Save for one.”
“This one,” said Kitra, holding up a small twiglet covered in leaves that were a pale whitish green on one side and a darker green the other. “The snow tree.”
Dzaka nodded. “It’s really a bush,” he said. “It told Ghyakulla in a trembling voice what had happened and explained its fear that Winter and her frost demons would destroy it for telling her.”
Kusac came up the steps with mugs of coffee for Kitra and Carrie. “You tell it well, Dzaka. Better than I could.”
Dzaka flicked his ears in mild embarrassment. “Teaching is one of our duties.”
Kitra leaned against him. “A many-talented male, my Companion,” she murmured. Though she said it teasingly, there was an undercurrent of pride and admiration in her voice. Dzaka’s hand touched her neck affectionately.
Lijou may well have been right after all, Carrie sent privately to Kusac.
We’ll see. Time enough for both of them yet, but I wouldn’t be displeased, he replied, returning to fetch his and Dzaka’s drinks.
“What happened next?” asked Carrie.
“Ghyakulla promised the tree that it wouldn’t suffer for helping her, and as a sign of her gratitude, she turned the underside of its leaves white and showed it how to hold the pale side up to the sky, so it would be unseen by Khuushoi and her demons.”
“The tears of gratitude she shed on the bush also turned its green berries to the brightest red of any in winter,” added Kitra. “That’s why it’s called the snow bush, and its berries, the Tears of Ghyakulla.”
“Strange thing to do to a bush that wants to remain hidden,” said Carrie, taking a drink of her coffee.
“Poetic license,” said Kusac, nudging her in the ribs. “Don’t be so literal! Carry on, Dzaka.”
“Then she set off for her sister’s palace. Khuushoi, alerted by her demons, tried to hide the way to her palace by covering the world in a blanket of snow. Every step of the way, her sister sent demons to hound Ghyakulla, but the power of the land is greater than that of winter and eventually, Ghyakulla reached the palace. There she confronted her sister.”
Dzaka paused to take a drink before continuing. “Khuushoi was prepared to fight it out, but not Ghyakulla. She understood the loneliness that had prompted her sister’s act and offered a compromise.”
“So Vartra visits Khuushoi for four months of the year,” said Kitra.
“During that time, Winter, or Khuushoi, reigns and nothing will grow till Vartra is returned to his mother,” finished Dzaka.
“I like it,” said Carrie. “But you still haven’t explained the cub or the hunt.”
“Better tell her that, too, or we’ll never get any peace,” said Kusac, stretching out beside her, half-leaning on her cushion.
“Besides, it’s a nice way to spend some time together on such a cold day,” said Kitra, moving even closer to her lover.
Dzaka draped his free arm over Kitra’s shoulders. “We have to go for wood soon,” he reminded her.
“Wood?” asked Carrie.
“Several large fires are needed over the three-day celebration,” said Kusac. “Dzaka and I are organizing a collection party from here to go and help my Mother’s folk. This year the celebrations are being held at her estate for both Clans. We’re also collecting our own New Year log. It’s a section of one of the main trees cut for the central fire. Every home will get a piece to keep throughout the coming year. You and Kitra can come, too,” he offered, “but we thought you’d prefer to stay in the warm and decorate the house.”
“I’ll show you how to make the garlands,” said Kitra, “and weave your hopes and wishes for the New Year into them.”
“Sounds like a good idea. How you can go out there without anything on your feet amazes me! It’s too damned cold for me!”
“You get used to it,” said Kusac amiably, reaching an arm round her waist. “We’ve never known anything else. Couldn’t bear to not feel the ground beneath me. I like to know what I’m walking on.”
Carrie gave a mock shudder. “Rather you than me at this time of year. Now the story, if you please, Dzaka.”
“It’s not really a story. At this time we celebrate the rebirth of the sun, the lengthening of the days and the start of the new year. The festival is held over three days. On the first, we males do the final gathering of fuel for the fires, including the aromatic woods. We also collect piles of sweet grass to decorate the cavelike shelter for Ghyakulla that will sit just outside the large celebration hall that’s being erected in the grounds of your bond-mother’s home.”
“What? You put up a portable banquet hall?”
“How else can we accommodate so many people?” asked Kusac. “The whole of both our Clans will be there. It’s a time when everyone returns to their family for the celebrations.”
“It must be vast,” she murmured, trying to imagine just how large.
The size of one of the landing bays aboard the Khalossa, sent Kusac. It’s stored in panels and only used at midwinter and midsummer. We’ll have one when the estate can afford it and we’ve a large enough Clan to warrant it.
“It soon gets crowded,” said Kitra. “You’ll love it, Carrie. It’s a wonderful time of year.”
“While we’re doing the gathering, the fastest younglings, males not above eighteen years of age, will be sent out as runners to every field on both estates to plant the Clan totems. They’re posts carved with the faces of Ghyakulla’s nature spirits and animals. There are especially large ones for the four compass points on the boundaries, particularly the north where Khuushoi lives.”
“Then the young males over eighteen will start their passage into adulthood,” said Kusac. “They will have spent the night before at the shrine with Ghyan purifying themselves and will build the symbolic cave and decorate it with the sweet grass when it arrives.”
“That’s where Ghyakulla is supposed to have had her child, right?”
“That’s right. The first night is spent waiting for the new sun, or Ghyakulla’s cub, to be born, so it’s a time for the females of the tribe. All the newborns are blessed by the representative of the Green Goddess—we’re being visited by the Priestess Tokui herself,” said Kusac. “She wants to personally welcome our new cubs Kashini, Marak and Khayla, Taizia and Meral’s daughter. She’ll ask the Goddess to watch over them until they become adults.”
“She’ll also pass me over officially to Vartra’s care at the ceremony,” said Kitra. “As an adult female, until I have cubs, I’m in His protection.”
“All the rites of adulthood are held on the second night,” said Dzaka, “when young males dance to keep the frost and snow demons away from Ghyakulla’s birth cave. It really is a wonderful time, Carrie. You’ll see us as a people in a way you never have before. You’ll understand our past, our origins.”
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said, as memories of past festivals came to her from Kusac.
“Won’t you miss your Christmas?” he asked, nuzzling her ear.
She considered it for a moment. “Not really. A good way to live is what matters, and nothing I’ve seen here really disagrees with what I learned as a child. What are our archaeologists doing?”
“Some have asked to join in, some are going to the Terran quarters at the Telepath Guild where they’re celebrating their Christmas and watching the Guild festivities,” said Kusac.
“What about Kaid?”
“My Father’s remaining at Stronghold,” said Dzaka quietly. “I wish he was returning, but he says he’s so recently left …”
“He knows he’s welcome which is what matters,” said Kusac, reluctantly beginning to get to his feet. “We’d better be going, Dzaka.”
“You didn’t tell Carrie about the hunt,” said Kitra as Dzaka began to move.
“The hunt is the second day,” said Dzaka. “We males, plus those newly accepted into adulthood, go out to hunt. It’s only a token one, but we do it to remember that the Goddess’ consort, Vartra, hunted for her and the newborn cub.”
“Hang on! Wasn’t Vartra the cub? How can he be the consort, too?”
Dzaka shrugged, mouth open in a grin. “One of those things, Carrie. As his adult self, he is the Goddess’ Consort; as the child, he is the newborn son just as the Goddess is a maiden and a mother at different times of year—and the mother hunting her stolen son, as well as the pregnant mother bearing her child. It’s complicated and not a discussion for now. Ghyan is the one to really talk to about the theological side. He’s the official Priest of Vartra after all. My work is of a different nature.”
“Shall we look at what Mother’s sent over?” asked Kitra after the two males had left.
“Sure.”
Kitra pulled the box over and opened it, digging deeply in to pull out some brightly colored ridged paper shapes.
“Lanterns,” she said with pleasure, taking one by either end and pulling it open. It unfolded to produce a rectangular lantern, its sides decorated by grinning animalistic faces.
“They’re nature spirits,” she explained. “We use them around the house to frighten Khuushoi’s demons away. I wonder if Mother has included any lights for them?” She rummaged carefully in the box and came up with a smaller box which she opened. “Yes! We can have them lit, too!”
Carrie carefully reached into the bright, papery mass and pulled out another lantern. This was a round one, the face that of a hideous fish. “What’s this? It’s grotesque!”
Kitra laughed. “A demon-fish. Its ugliness frightens off Khuushoi’s demons.”
“If you’ve got things like that in the sea, I don’t think I’ll bother going swimming!”
“They’re not that common, don’t worry,” she said. “They live off the north coast of the continent, in the colder waters. You’ll see one at the front of the procession on the first night of the festival.”
They felt Taizia’s mental touch before she entered. “Hello, you two,” she said, bending to greet them with a hug and a rub from her cheek. “It’s too long since I saw my favorite bond-sister.”
Carrie returned the hug. “It’s lovely to see you. Where’s Khayla? It’s too long since I saw my favorite niece,” she added, mocking Taizia.
“At home with Mother,” she said, sitting down and settling her voluminous skirt around her. “Meral’s gone with Kusac and Dzaka.” She gave a gentle laugh, reaching out to put one hand on Carrie’s knee, the other on her sister’s. “Who’d have thought a year ago the three of us would be sitting here while our mates—all of them warriors, even Kusac!—went out to fulfill the traditional male role for the midwinter festival? And that two of us would have cubs!”
She shook her head, dispelling her moment of sentimentality. “You were talking about demon-fish. Did you know they’re one of the most poisonous fish in our oceans? They live in cracks and crevices in the northerly cliffs and have to be hunted by divers. Each year several lives are lost in trying to catch them.”
“What are they hunted for? Their taste?” asked Carrie.
“Goodness, no. They’re poisonous, as I said. They’re caught for their medicinal properties. They’re rich in oils which are used to treat a variety of conditions including frostbite. You can’t handle them safely until they’ve been dried and smoked, then you have to take the skins off carefully and scrape the oils from the inside. Now we can process the flesh to extract the oil from there too. Then we use the skin to make the ceremonial lamps.”
Carrie dropped it with an exclamation of distaste.
“Not that one, silly! That’s made of paper. They’re far too valuable to use around the house. The ceremonial one is carried in at the start of the celebrations and suspended in the banquet hall for the duration of the festival.”
“Would you like some c’shar, Taizia?” asked Kitra, suddenly remembering her self-imposed responsibilities as an assistant hostess to Carrie.
“Love one, youngling,” she said.
“Can you ask for more coffee, too, please?” asked Carrie as the younger female scrambled to her feet.
“She’s growing up fast,” observed Taizia when she’d gone. “So many changes in our family in so short a time.”
“I don’t know how your parents have coped so well,” said Carrie quietly. “First me and all the troubles I brought, including importing the Brotherhood onto your land, then you and Kitra both following in Kusac’s footsteps and breaking from tradition.”
“We’re a robust family. Besides, because both of them work in AlRel, they have a more liberal outlook. They’re dealing regularly with aliens and their very different cultures, so they realize the accepted way isn’t necessarily right, or desirable. It’s Father who’s surprised me most. He’s changed so much. We females are much more adaptable to start with. Now, while Kitra’s not here, tell me how things are between her and Dzaka. We don’t see her very often nowadays.”
“Dzaka has a suite here, mainly because of Kitra. I worry in case she’s staying here too often and it’ll upset your parents, but Kusac says to leave them to it. They seem happy in each other’s company, but they each have their own things to do as well.”
“What about Dzaka? He was such an unknown quantity for so long. My parents didn’t say anything, but they were concerned for Kitra.”
“There’s a lot of his father in him,” said Carrie slowly, thinking of Kaid, wondering how he was faring at Stronghold, and despite herself, wishing he was returning for the festival. “His feelings go deep, and once he’s begun to care, nothing will ever change that.”
“Are you talking about Kaid, or Dzaka?”
Carrie looked up to see her friend’s gentle smile. “Both, I suppose,” she admitted. “Dzaka cared very deeply for the mate and cub he lost. Now he’s beginning to care just as deeply for Kitra. As to what will come of it, your guess is as good as mine, but I would say it’s up to Kitra to choose. He would never hurt her, I can tell you that.”
Taizia sighed. “Then it looks like none of us will make a conventional marriage. Poor Father! I wonder what he’ll do when Kitra tells him she wants Dzaka.”
Carrie grinned. “You think so, too? Kusac’s noncommittal at present. He says they’ve plenty of time.”
“In a manner of speaking, yes they have, but Mother decided at not much older than Kitra that she was having Father, and did exactly what I did to get him!”
“You mean … she got herself pregnant? You’re kidding!” laughed Carrie.
“No, honestly. Father let it slip when Kusac was trying to persuade them to endorse our bonding contract. I could hardly believe it either. Several Clan Leaders had approached the Clan Lord and asked that their sons be married to her—including, believe it or not, Father Lijou’s. It looked like he’d be chosen until Mother made her announcement.”
“Where did you find all this out?”
“From Mother,” said Taizia serenely. “It wasn’t difficult to pry it out of her in the dead of night when we were sitting up with Khayla. She really loves cubs, you know.”
“Kitra’s coming back,” warned Carrie. She leaned forward, reaching out to touch Taizia’s hand, covering it with hers and giving it a comforting squeeze. “Don’t worry about yourself and Kitra. There are changes coming regarding eligible mates, and your father’s agreed to them. You’ll be able to work it out for yourself in a day or two, but I can’t say any more at the moment.”
> Carrie could feel Taizia’s joy. “Really? Vartra be praised!” she said, her face lighting up.
“Hush!” said Carrie, more aware than Taizia that Vartra indeed had a lot to do with the changes that were coming.
Esken sat and stared in disbelief at the letter he held in his hand. He had two immediate reactions. The first was to rip it to shreds, the other was to call for Sorli. Except Sorli had left. It was only to go on retreat, he’d said, but they both knew that unless the breach was healed by him, Sorli would not return.
He needed advice. Challa Kayal. He couldn’t put a face to the name, but she was from the same clan as Nnadu, his head of the priests—ex-head, he corrected himself. He didn’t know which news angered him most. That Lijou Kzaelan had been elevated to a virtual Guild Master in charge of all priests, or that he was expected to take a life-mate.
Tossing the letter onto his desk, he activated his personal comm. At least he could refuse Konis’ suggestion of a mate, and it was no more than that. Technically he was free to choose whom he wished. First he’d talk to Nnadu.
“Challa, Master Esken?” repeated Nnadu. “Yes, I remember her. She took out a ten-year contract with one of the Aldatan Clan, but he died some years back. He was an interpreter serving on a starship, I believe. There was an accident, and he was killed. Why?”
“The Clan Lord wants all senior officials to take life-mates to set an example to the clans,” growled Esken. “He says we can’t take the risk of there not being enough pure Sholan telepaths in this generation to keep the breeding program going. It comes from the Governor’s office, though.”
“Seems a reasonable point,” said Nnadu. “He’s suggested Challa, has he? From what I remember, she’s a good choice. Nice, quiet female. Has two kitlings already, so no problem of her not being able to give you cubs.”
“Thank you, Nnadu,” Esken said through clenched teeth. “But I don’t want cubs, either hers or my own!” He broke the connection abruptly.
Damn Konis and the Governor! They’d hatched this up between them! Well, he had another option. He’d see what the Consortias could offer in the way of an arranged marriage. At least a Consortia would leave him alone, and if they still insisted there should be telepathic cubs, then he’d find himself some willing Talented Companion. It shouldn’t be too difficult to persuade her to let the Consortia raise them. No different from leaving them in the Clan nursery.
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