HUBBLE THURSDAY

(The "Colorful Moon" composite, explanation below. Click on image to enlarge.)

Every Thursday, I post a very large photograph of some corner of space. Usually these photos are captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and available online from the picture album at HubbleSite. Today, however, the image above is from Astronomy Picture of the Day, authored and edited by Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA).

The explanation of this photograph is "The crazy, patchwork appearance of the false-color image makes this almost full view of the Moon's familiar near side look very strange. The Sea of Tranquillity (Mare Tranquillitatis) is the bright blue area at right, the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum) is the extensive blue and orange area on the left, and white lines radiate from the crater Tycho at bottom center. Recorded in 1992 by the Galileo spacecraft en route to Jupiter, the picture is a mosaic of 15 images taken through three color filters. The image data were combined in an exaggerated color scheme to emphasize composition differences - blue hues reveal titanium rich areas while orange and purple colors show regions relatively poor in titanium and iron. Multicolor images exploring the Moon's global surface composition were made in 1994 by the Clementine spacecraft."

THE VOYAGE OF THE MOON

(by Donovan. When I was 13, I was wild about Donovan and even wrote him a fan letter. This song of his was on a Mary Hopkin album that I played constantly throughout my adolescence. Mary Hopkin sang this song on television just hours before Neil Armstrong took the first human-on-the-man step.)

The moon is like a boat, my love,
Of lemon peel afloat, my love,
And with a sail of gauze, my love,
She seems to slightly pause
Upon her silent way,
while on her silent way.

I see her pearly decks, my love,
Set in with diamond specks, my love,
I see her pearly mast, my love
Far from her seashell past
And gently does she sway
While on her starry way.

Of silk they have been spun, my love,
Her ropes that limply run, my love
Down to her carved prow, my love,
Down to her mermaid prow
And gently does she sway
while on her starry way.

She seems to linger long, my love,
As if spelled by a song, my love
But not, she tarries not, my love
Her journey unforgot
She makes her starry way,
She makes her starry way

All in the Sea of Sky, my love,
The moonships sail and fly, my love,
Though many are their kind, my love,
Though all need but one wind
To make their starry ways,
To make their starry ways.

And there will come a time, my love,
O may it be in mine, my love,
When men will proudly rise, my love,
And board to sail the skies
Moonships from all the spheres
Moonships from all the spheres.

The men be bathed in light, my love,
The women clothed in white, my love,
All in that wondrous fleet, my love,
As each the other meet
Will smile and softly sing,
Will smile and softly sing.

And on some distant sand, my love,
The ships will gently land, my love.
Fair folk will meet them there, my love,
With golden flowing hair
And great will be their joy,
And great will be their joy.

The moon is like a boat, my love,
Of lemon peel afloat, my love,
And with a sail of gauze, my love,
She seems to slightly pause...

Mary Hopkin singing this song as it is on my album -- stills, no live video.

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LOLCATS WEEKLY ROUND-UP, 1 SEPTEMBER 2009

Here's the weekly best of what I've gleaned from I Can Has Cheezburger efforts. There are some really creative folks out there. As usual, those from little gator lead the pack.

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PYA: CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

(Shoyu bottles outside Shikoku, painting by Jana Donoho-Strong)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dodd announced the band was taking a break, then jumped off the platform and headed their way, fiddle tucked under her arm, and grabbed Pyosz in a tight hug. "You light up this whole corner of the room" she whispered. She grabbed the chair next to Qoj and allowed herself to be plied with food and drink as she cooled off. Pyosz found it interesting that Dodd sweated as much from playing as the more energetic dancers did.

After 20 minutes, Dodd excused herself briefly, went to the mic and said "We'll be resuming in five minutes. Five minutes." Pyosz felt a sudden expectancy in the room, heightened by someone flashing all the overhead lights several times. A minute later, teenagers began appearing at the edges of the room, those who had braved the weather to hunker under trees with sweethearts or hopeful sweethearts. First and second-graders clotted the stairwells at either end of the room, noisy and scuffling with each other, but Pyosz had the sense they were also waiting.


Dodd downed a last gulp of cold tea, winked at Qoj, and climbed back on stage, joined by the rest of the band. As soon as they were all standing in front of mics, the lights went out. The darkness was not total -- there was a geolight on the schoolground, and another small beacon by the row of privies out back, giving a hint of illumination through the rain. But it was inky enough that Pyosz felt suddenly unmoored, then instantly moored again by the sound of wet wind against the wide windows and, eerily, an entire community breathing almost in unison. Until even the breathing stopped.

Pyosz sensed someone moving to stand behind her chair, and she smelled lemon. Two familiar hands rested on her shoulders, and she leaned her head back lightly against Maar's belly.

From where Dodd had been standing, the last time Pyosz could see her, came the mournful call of a bird Pyosz heard every morning as she was waking up, a pre-dawn lament she had been unable to identify yet to a particular bird. Pyosz realized Dodd was creating this somehow on her violin. After one cry and repeat, a second set of song joined it, this from a bird Pyosz thought was a qale. She decided it was the mandolin player somehow making the double trill and whistle. The trumpet brought forth txikadiis, the lower keys of the accordion did a creditable jae, and as the dawn chorus gathered strength, a single thrum from the bodhrán brought abrupt silence to the room again. The bodhrán repeated its percussive cough, and Dodd knew instinctively it was an owl. She felt Maar squeeze her shoulders briefly.

But the light from outside seemed to gather, somehow, a reminder that the sun cannot be stopped in its path, and defiantly the songbirds began their chorus again, joined by various members of the audience who were skilled at this or that call. Pyosz felt thrill after thrill travel down her spine. Skene has no idea what they're missing she thought.

The concert kept growing in strength and variety, until suddenly there was the er-er-er-aroo of a chanticleer asserting that she, too, was a bird. Pyosz giggled as hens began clucking around the room. From clots of teenagers came pig grunts and turkey gobbles; small voices from the stairwells adding quacks and baas, choked with giggles. Pyosz didn't think before she gave forth a long cascade of bleats, mimicking WhiteEye who was the first goat start talking each day and the last to shut up. She felt Maar's belly shaking against the back of her head.

Then, cutting through it all, came a baby's fretting cry that swiftly turned into a high wail. It was so realistic that emmas nearby shifted in their seats instinctively, and a couple of actual babies began crying in empathy. There was no more sleep to be had: Morning had arrived on Pya. With that, someone threw back on the overhead lights and they all blinked at each other before roaring with joyous laughter. Maar returned to her chair, and Uli leaned over to say "Excellent goat."

The band swung into a jig, and older children scrambled back upstairs. Crying babies were carried around the room by comforting emmas. One of them passed in front of Pyosz, and she was still so caught by the aftereffects of the dawn chorus, she didn't immediately recognize the woman in front of her as Poth. The ejida worker who had trained her, after a fashion, her first day on Saya.

Pyosz waved politely and Poth motioned her head urgently, insisting Pyosz follow her. With vast reluctance, Pyosz excused herself and followed Poth to a table crowded with other ejida workers. Poth's infant, less than six months old, had calmed again, and Poth handed her to her partner as she introduced Pyosz around the table.

Pyosz was surprised at the wide smiles she was getting, and even more so when Poth said "I gave her the shittiest reception possible -- the baby was very ill that week, you remember,and all I wanted to do was stay home instead of running back and forth to a place one step away from total ruin. I was sure you wouldn't last five days." She said to her friends "Had never laid so much as a fingertip on a goat, and look at what she's done with Saya." They applauded her with callused hands, and she found herself speechless.

The baby was watching her with sober intensity, and Pyosz finally said "Is she all right, now? Your little one, I mean."

"Like nothing ever happened to her, you know how they can bounce back" said Poth reverently. Her partner Thava passed the baby back, and Pyosz realized this was Poth's real world, this cocoon of love. A first-grader appeared to make a plaintive complaint of Thava, who made a suggestion the child didn't like. The child eyed Poth, who said "I'm with Thava" but offered a quarter slice of apple as a sweetener against emma solidarity. The child took it and vanished back up the stairs.

"We've got one starting fourth grade next year as well" said Poth. "They're spread out, but that way I've gotten to spend more time with each one."

Thava leaned forward and said "We knew there was a problem with excessive bucklings in your herd, unconscionable, really, and Poth was going to address it once our personal crisis was over. But before we could arrange for one of us to come out, here you are sending us the bucklings for slaughter. How did you figure that out so fast?"

"Complete credit goes to my cousin Vants" said Pyosz.

"From Yagi? Vants the capriste there?" said Poth, looking impressed. Pyosz forgave her everything in that instant, as she nodded.

"So how's it going now out there?" asked Thava. They talked goats, tillage, orchards, and other ejida topics at that table through two songs. Pyosz was lightheaded with happiness. Eventually the baby found its way to her lap, and Pyosz kept sniffing of her newborn frizz with long inhaled breaths.

Finally she said "I need to return to my family, but listen, I have free hours during the day -- well, some days -- that I'd like to use seeing other parts of Pya. I remember helping with the rice harvest a few years ago. I'd like to be on a roster as fill-in help for other harvests as they come along this summer -- whatever I can mesh with my Saya demands, of course."

"You sure?" said Thava. "Because a quick learner and strong body like yours, we'll jump at the chance to call you."

"No scut work, okay?" grinned Pyosz. "I get enough shit shoveling on Saya."

Poth laughed. "I'll make sure it's interesting and that the crews you're on are good folks. Frankly, I'll put you in with my crew."

"Good" said Pyosz, reluctantly handing back the baby with a little wave. At her table, Pank said "Poth is one of our best, I'm glad you got a chance to meet that bunch." The music started again, and Pank added "Oh, it's a line dance, come on, cousin."

Pyosz was dragged to the floor by Tu and Pank, who positioned her in line between them. Probably the steps and pivots were elemental, but Pyosz was hopelessly lost and out of sync with the rest of the room by the second turn. Nobody was watching her, however, they were all focused on the person next to them, laughing non-stop with the exuberance of collective motion. Tu and Pank knew all sorts of embellishments and furbelows to the basic routine, so when Pyosz found herself facing left as everybody else faced right, one of her cousins would do a quick do-si-do around her and comically get her back in rhythm.

If I'd gone to dances as a child and young teenager, this is how I would have learned she thought. But Prl had also avoided dances, and Pyosz realized for the first time how odd that was. Unrequited love and dancing, a tough mix, she thought.

Back at the table, Pyosz decided to go get them another pitcher of cold tea and more snacks, since they had run out. Uli stood to accompany her. In line at the drink stand, Uli said "So, are you about ready to share a dance with me?"

"I'll be honest, Uli, I'm woefully unskilled and I won't enjoy it. I mean, the line dance was an exception" said Pyosz. "How about if we find a quiet place to visit for a bit?"

"Accepted" said Uli. "However, I don't want to emulate teenagers out under the trees..." She looked out the window in the direction of Koldok and her own Manage.

"My s'bemma's office is on the third floor, we can go up there" improvised Pyosz. They dropped off refreshments at the family table currently emptied onto the dance floor and snaked around the edges to the nearest stairs.

Dodd's office resembled Yoj's so much, Pyosz felt a little homesick. She sat down behind Dodd's desk, grinning at the battered ancient fountain pen Dodd wouldn't give up and the bottle of green ink she always used. Uli pulled around another chair to sit within reach, turning off the overhead in favor of Dodd's desk lamp.

"So" began Uli. "Do you have ambitions to become a gakusha like your abba Yoj or Yerush before her? Or will you seek a more practical application for your mathematics degree?"

Pyosz was stumped. "I haven't considered my degree in weeks. Not a gakusha, no. I didn't know how suited I was to outdoor life until I got here." Where did I pick that up? she asked herself, and immediately answered The tillages. Small scale compared to Saya, but growing and cooking was always where I was happiest.

"You could join forces with the physicists who are working on creating yet another sort of aircraft power source for the Lofthall" suggested Uli. "The rest of the planet will remain a mystery until we can fly vastly longer distances than our current capacity."

"It's an idea" agreed Pyosz. "But -- a jigong is not outdoors enough, I don't think. I guess it's all on hold until I return to Skene." But my life doesn't feel on hold, it feels like it's just taking off.

"Perhaps you'd like to run for office, that's certainly in your family's repetoire" said Uli. "Ethicists travel between islands daily, touring ejidas and docks, and you have a gift for pleasing people. You could begin by assisting your abba in her re-election campaign this time around, since there's a threat on the horizon."

"What threat?" Pyosz had heard nothing about this, and her hackles rose.

"The manager of rice production on Beras has filed intent to run against Nan Bux" said Uli somberly. "She has no real public office experience, but her sib and cousin network is very influential and sprawls across Skene. The editor of the newspaper is her sibiya, and she's having a quiet affair with the Sheng Zhang of Rahat."

"Is she competent?" asked Pyosz.

"Hard to quantify, especially when compared to the experience of Nan Bux" said Uli. Almost against her will, Pyosz waded into an intense discussion of Skene politics. She was frequently surprised at Uli's acumen, even more so at her unofficial sources of information. This was the other side of her upbringing, the kind of talk that would dominate family meals once the tillage was harvested and food cooked. Time passed without her keeping track. Uli's dark eyes in the lamplight sparkled with intelligence and interest, and the perspiration-dampened silk on Pyosz's back and inner thighs dried completely in the warm room.

Suddenly the door swung open, and Maar stood there, a furrow between her eyes that Pyosz had not noticed before.

"Oh. Excuse me for intruding, I'm really sorry, I just -- we didn't know where you had gone. Abbo said you must have returned to Saya, but..." Maar's face was going deep red, except for the paler indendation of the furrow. "I'll leave you alone."

"No, Maar, hang on, lev, look at how long I've been gone" said Pyosz, standing. Uli rose fluidly beside her and returned her chair to its place on the other side of the desk. "Is my family worried?"

"Not worried, no" said Maar, moving two feet away on the landing to completely clear the doorway for Uli's passage.

"Thanks for looking for me" said Pyosz. Uli offered her arm as they descended the stairs, and Pyosz accepted with a light hand. She sensed Maar deliberately lagging behind in following them downstairs. In the main room, Uli said "That was a fascinating conversation, I hope we can continue it soon."

"It's a lot to think about" agreed Pyosz. Uli hugged her, waved at Maar, and went toward her own family's table. Pyosz turned to Maar and hooked her arm through the crook of Maar's arm. "I really am sorry about spacing out like that. And for the record, I would never go back to Saya without telling you."

"That's what I said." The furrow on Maar's forehead was lessened, though not completely gone. They found a path through the melee to their own table, where Abbo said "Let me guess. Holed up with Uli, right?"

Pyosz was fairly certain Oby kicked Abbo under the table. She said to Briel "Please tell Dodd that the stains on her desktop ought to come out with lemon juice." After a moment, her family exploded into laughter and when Pyosz looked at Maar, the furrow was gone.

The music changed again, to an extremely slow serenade, and Pyosz said to Maar "I'm willing to punish you further on the dance floor, if you're game."

They joined the counter-clockwise glide and drifted toward the center front, where gentle swaying seemed to be acceptable motion. Pyosz whispered "She told me there's someone planning to run against my abba Bux in the next election. I don't think emma, at least, knows about it or else it would have come up. Where does Uli get her information?"

"She splits open moonsnails and reads their entrails" said Maar. Pyosz laughed so hard she had to stop even swaying for a minute.

"I wish we could talk freely about Uli" she said to Maar.

"We can't" replied Maar. "Not yet." Her solid jaw pointed past Pyosz's cheek, but her body was relaxed and for the next minute, Pyosz felt like she might understand the appeal of dancing. The trumpet gave a flourish, the beat changed abruptly, and in an instant, the tempo changed to a polka. Everyone around them seemed to know this was coming, immediately breaking into a rollicking stomp, pairs swinging wildly in each other's arms.

"Just follow my lead, and step high" said Maar, plunging them into the mix. Pyosz sucked in a breath and gave it her best. Two twirls later, right in front of the bandstand, she somehow hooked the heel of one oto around Maar's ankle and pulled her entire leg out from under her partner. Maar crashed face-first to the floor, Pyosz tumbling after and landing on her back.

Pyosz rebounded in horror, getting to her feet with alacrity. But the spectacular crash had thrown off the band's focus, and their playing trickled to a stop. The entire room was in a second of suspended animation, staring at Pyosz and Maar, until Maar rolled onto one elbow with her widest grin and loudly sang the first line of Pya's anthem:

I embrace this good green earth

She kissed the dance floor with exaggerated fervor, and during the ensuing hullaballoo, she accepted the help of guffawing bystanders in getting upright again. She gave an apologetic bow to Pyosz, who was mute with gratitude. Hands clapped Maar on the back in good humor as she took Pyosz's arm and they strolled back to their table, Maar limping slightly. Dodd counted the band back into rhythm and the polka resumed.

Even Abbo was focused on Maar, gleefully yelling "Great save, babe!" and enveloping her in a hug. Pyosz, finally finding her voice, rubbed Maar's knee gently and asked if she needed first aid.

"Just a Molars-style bruise" dismissed Maar, but she gave Pyosz a quick wink nobody else saw. Pyosz sat at the table for two more songs, watching Maar lead Qoj through an elegant waltz after a quick recovery. Then, during a lull, she said "I hate to bring it up, but -- "

"Goats at dawn" finished Maar for her.

"Exactly. I love you all, this has been the best dance of my life, and at least I get to see you all tomorrow" said Pyosz, gathering hugs and kisses. She stopped by the bandstand to wave at Dodd and gave a farewell hand-squeeze to Uli on her way out in Maar's wake. They ran for the jichang, giggling, and instead of a straight shot to Saya, Maar looped them over Puaa Woods, Pirinc, Shu, and back the length of Teppe before setting them down "home", as Pyosz thought of it. Torrents of water kept them from seeing much, but it was still exhilirating to Pyosz.

"Do you want some tea?" offered Pyosz.

"Better not, I owe the last dance to Abbo and you need your sleep" said Maar. "I'm almost dead on my feet, myself."

"No, I'm the one with dead feet, remember?" quipped Pyosz, giving her a hug. But a tiny shimmer of the glory she had been feeling faded with the memory that Maar would be going home with Abbo, climbing into a bunk with Abbo. She stood with her face to the rain until Maar's lighter was out of sight before mucking down the trail to her privy. Once on the seat, she turned on her flash to look for spiders. She didn't much like spiders. There was a web in the upper corner, and she examined it carefully, trying to find its inhabitant, without success. She really hoped it wasn't one of the furry ones, she liked those least of all.

When she turned on the light in her kitchen, she noticed her peppermill was overturned. She could find no other signs of visitation, but the wind wasn't strong enough to have toppled that squat heavy base. She hoped it was an owl rather than a shu. She decided against tea, after all, and went into her cabin. She hung her silks lovingly, though they'd have to be washed before she could wear them again, and rubbed her hair with a towel, smiling at all the glitter that cascaded down to her green and blue rug. Curds kept meowing, probably upset at her long absence on a stormy night. She said "It really was the best dance of my life, Curds" as she crawled under her blankets, Ember giving up the windowsill to join her.

She picked up her adventure book and tried to get back into it. After a few minutes, she traded it for the rice paddy workers novel, which was now falling open to the second chapter. Her hands were cold but warmed up quickly.

The next morning, Pyosz started a sponge before stirring rice porridge for breakfast, adding warm milk fresh from her does. During the second rise, she made pies and jam tarts. It was going to be a hot clear day, and under the kitchen canopy, it was airless. Curd and Ember had taken to claiming the chairs with cushions in them for their own, which was fine with Pyosz -- I have my own built-in padding she thought.

After putting in the bread to bake, she stemmed three dozen figs and cut them in half. She drizzled them with a thick glaze of honey, butter, and lime zest, adding a bare sprinkle of salt at the end. With her lamb and mint jelly, she decided this was enough and no pie was necessary today. She set out for Arta as soon as her bread was cool enough to bag and store in the larder away from txikadiis.

Tu, Pank, Nk, and Frahe were already at Arta. Tu was starting charcoal in a chimney and Pank was slicing perfectly ripe melons. Nk and Frahe had brought short ribs with a hot dipping sauce, and Tu's famous upside-down apple cake sat on the buffet table. Pyosz discussed cooking times and temperature for her lamb and figs with Tu before heading to the pond for a swim. After a few minutes, Dodd, Briel and Qoj joined her. Qoj said "Emma made a stuffed turkey! An entire turkey."

"We put in your lamb with it already" added Dodd. "They should take about the same time." Mill and Oby came to swim, and Api shooed Tu away from the grill, so Tu and Pank paddled around briefly before sitting on a rocky lip with their feet in the water.

"Was this pond here when you moved to Arta?" Pyosz asked Mill.

"Yes, but not nearly so wide or deep. And it was a shu haven" said Mill. "It was Oby who said our children would need a place to swim."

"It was you who moved us out of Pertama" countered Oby. To Pyosz she said "Relocating the Lofthall offices from Pertama to Koldok caused an uproar. Especially from Skene, who wanted another Riesig to deal with, even if it was a town instead of an island."

"They want a Riesig except they won't give us what we need for our own hospital" said Briel bitterly. "Or authorization for a second university" added Dodd.

Pyosz saw a sinner land at the Arta jichang and realized she had been watching for it. A couple of minutes later, Abbo and Maar appeared, Abbo already unlacing her gilet. Maar waved a handful of envelopes, saying "Mail for those who didn't get it yet!" Pyosz got out of the pond as Abbo dove in, going to hug Maar despite her dripping state before taking her mail. "You have two more crates by the front door, but this time they aren't impossibly heavy" said Maar.

"No Seda wine?" called out Tu.

"Something else from Seda" grinned Maar, starting to unbuckled her ku. Tu and Pank looked at each other, and Pank said "I'll go."

Pyosz sat down cross-legged on the grass and looked through her mail. There was one flat envelope in a child's handwriting, and she looked up to see Maar watching her as she pulled off her maillot. Inside was a sheet of school paper with a drawing of a stick-child running toward a kickball. The stick-child had tomato red hair. At the bottom was written "FOR PYOZS FROM THLEEN I LOVE YOU SEE YOU I HOPE SOON". She hugged it to her chest and got up to go put her mail on her crates, away from water splashes.

She returned to the pond area and sat cross-legged on the grass, declining Tu's offer of baicang. Briel was crunching away happily, and Qoj tried one, saying "Not bad. But I'll wait for turkey." When Api and Ollow also joined the baicang feast, Pyosz began to wonder if it was a Western Tendril preference.

Maar swam back and forth across the pond with hard, strong strokes a few times, then got out again to plop down between Pyosz and Qoj. She dried herself and redressed in gauzy ku and shati.

"Aren't you at least going to roll up your sleeves?" asked Pyosz. "It's blistering today."

"That's what I'll do if I sit out in this uncovered, blister" said Maar.

"What do you mean?"

"My skin burns from too much sun exposure" said Maar. Pyosz had never heard of such a thing. Maar pulled a small tub from her carryall and smeared her large nose with a bright white paste.

Pyosz said "I notice every time you get your hair wet, afterward you part it in the middle and comb it down to the sides. But after it dries, it just sticks back up straight."

"I want to look like the latest fashion. My hair, however, has a mind of its own" said Maar. Tu, strands of baicang in her teeth, said "That middle part thing is in fashion again? My emma wore hers that way when I was little, eons again. I guess everything comes back around."

Qoj had half-turned toward Maar and now asked "Why are you and Abbo the huolon pilots? Is that reserved for the best fliers?" There was a hint of flirtation in her voice. Pyosz stared at her and did a quick calculation: Qoj and Maar were within sui. Lev.

Abbo, who had drifted to the edge of the pond closest to them, snorted at Qoj's question. "Hardly. I mean, it's deadly boring. The upside is you accumulate acres of flight hours. But it's not skilled flying, you just point and go." Pyosz could see Mill's frown even at a distance.

"Well, unless something goes wrong" said Pank. Mill's frown deepened. "Then you're up a limbless tree without bark or rope."

"Exactly" said Maar calmly. She leaned back on her elbows and crossed her ankles, her head facing Qoj. "We can ask Pyosz to do the math, but more flight hours means higher odds that the statistically exceptional will occur, isn't that right?"

If you're asking me a question, you might look my way thought Pyosz. "Not exactly" she said crisply. "The causes of ocean crashes are linked to equipment and pilot error, not how many times you fly." Maar's head turned her direction when the words "pilot error" came out of her mouth with a particular emphasis.

"When was that huolon crash?" Pank asked Tu. Maar answered "'64." Dodd looked at her quizzically and said "You must have still been a baby, have you studied it, then, to know the date so fast?"

"Some of passengers were from Chloddia, lived on our lane, coming back from visiting kin in Pya" replied Pyosz. "Folks talked about it for years. Plus, yes, I've studied it. For obvious reasons."

"Was it pilot error in that instance?" said Qoj. Pyosz cast a glance at her to see if Qoj was trying to turn her words back on her, but Qoj wasn't that kind of coquette.

"Nope" said Abbo. "Lightning hit the tail and shorted out every electrical system except radio. The pilots talked for ten minutes before it went silent."

Nobody spoke for a minute. Maar said softly "I've listened to the tape of that transmission. There's a baby crying in the background. That memory wakes me up at night sometimes." She lay all the way back on the grass and closed her eyes, putting her clasped hands on her belly.

"Well, but that was then. We've got all sorts of safeguards now" said Abbo, fidgeting in the pond. "We've got much shorter transit times, and better radio, and if all else fails, we've got life rafts and the mezi. Plus the mezi symbol is painted on the bottom of the rafts."

When Halling had brought about what Yoj named the Pax Piscata, ending leviathan attacks on humans, she used a laser gun to convince the leviathans instant death would be the reward for any assault. It had taken centuries to figure out how to kill levs efficiently, and decades more to oversome Skene antipathy to warfare so that a pilot could use the laser as a weapon. Counting on leviathan sentience, communication, and ability to learn, Halling had a lightning bolt painted on the underside of all aircraft carrying the laser, and she had been right: The levs would not attack if the symbol was on display. At least, not adult leviathans who had impulse control.

It was Bux who had come up with the term mezi, which was an old but still-used Skene term for balance, as a euphemism for what was essentially a gun. Referring to it as assisting the leviathans in their shared quest for balance with humans was a means of circumventing Skene reaction to armed pilots.

Pyosz wondered how many people were actually fooled by the terminology. Yoj had coined the phrase Pax Piscata in irony, and was dismayed when it caught on as an earnest description.

Maar, her eyes still closed, said up to the cloudless sky "You place much more faith in mezi than I do, Abbo. It's a choice on the part of levs whether to concern themselves with consequences, a choice they can undo at any moment. And it was the Sheng Zhang who taught Skene that levs are problem-solvers."

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Abbo. Maar sat up on one elbow to answer. "Well, if I was a leviathan and I saw above me a thin plastic raft that was the only barrier between me and several mouthfuls of creatures I loathe, you know what I'd do? I'd circle around until I found the part of the raft where the person holding the mezi laser was sitting. I'd come up under her from the deep, take one chomp to put her out of action, and have the rest of those left in a sinking raft for dessert."

Abbo was outraged. "You never said anything like that to me before, what are you trying to do, scare me shitless? Who told you that idea?"

"I don't have anything to do for seven hours each way but think about things" said Maar flatly. "Seems like a logical place for the mind to go, it came to me a long time ago. Anyhow", she said, lying back down and closing her eyes, "I'm the one who's supposed to carry the mezi laser in the raft, remember?"

Abbo flung herself backward into the pond, beginning to swim laps. Mill said sententiously "I hope it goes without saying that none of this speculation is to be repeated out there in the general public, we don't want to create fear." She was looking in Qoj's direction, which earned her a glare from Dodd.

"Of course, Sheng Zhang" said Maar equably. Only Pyosz, and maybe Qoj, were close enough to hear her add sotto voce "Although fear of leviathans is, I think, a very smart idea."

"I have news to share" continued Mill. "We've had a firm request for migration from a large, well-skilled family with several children and more to come. They are asking for a Pea Pod, and given their numbers and abilities, they qualify for one of the largest land masses among the Pods."

Tu and Pank leaned forward in interest. "Which means what island, exactly?" asked Tu.

"Either Kacang, right here on our ferry route, in line of sight between Saya and Arta, or Bupkis, which we could link by ferry to Dodor" said Mill. "Technically, Gisantes is the largest of the Pods, but its nearest land mass is Hamsa and they don't want to be that isolated." Pyosz noticed Tu and Pank had looked at each other with a little relief.

"If they choose Kacang" said Dodd, "It will be an easy commute for the children to school."

"Yes, but they have ambitious land use plans, and some of it will depend on the geography of the island themselves" said Api. "They're looking over soil tests and other surveys, and will let us know this week."

"What kind of land use?" asked Pank, the tension returning to her and Tu.

"Well, a small vineyard, for one" said Oby. "A winery with their own label. A paddock for sheep with black fleece. A soybean field from which they intend to produce tempeh and fermented paste. And -- what was the other one?"

"Saffron" answered Api. "If the climate permits."

"Pricy stuff" said Tu. "And labor-intensive."

"They've got the numbers" repeated Mill. "Children to do basic picking and chores, ejida-trained abbas to perform technical tasks, and there's three emmas. None of them are over 50. I liked them all when they came here to check out their options. Well, I didn't actually meet the children, they left them on Skene. Anyhow, if its Kacang, we're going to see some serious construction beginning soon."

Briel asked their names but Mill declined to pass that on until their arrival. "We like to let people control their own migration information" said Mill. Pyosz noticed Tu and Pank were relaxed again. What was that about?

"Speaking of construction" said Pyosz, "I was wondering if I could convert an unused wall in the barn's toolroom into bins and shelves for storing some of the stuff I'm canning. My larder is inadequate."

"Pyosz the producer" teased Maar.

"Shouldn't be a problem" said Api. "I'll review it with you when I come for my inspection."

Pank said "We could help you, maybe, when we come to cut those trees."

"What trees?" said Pyosz. "You mean the ones you flagged in the woods?"

"They need to come down this week" said Tu. "There's a magnificant old maple whose roots are so shallow, really the only thing holding it up is a too-close walnut that's also dying from crowding. One major storm, and they'll both fall in ways that could be very damaging."

"I'll need your signature before you leave today" Api said to Pyosz. "Pank already filled out the forestry forms, and arranged for transport of the equipment."

"We was thinking San afternoon if the weather's clear" Tu said to Pyosz. "We could come in the morning and do other things."

"Sounds good to me" said Pyosz. "I'll feed you lunch. This will be very interesting to watch."

"You'll need to feed the work crew that comes with the equipment, too" said Api. "Two of them. Lunch and possibly dinner, depending on how long it takes."

"I was going to be killing more chickens this week anyhow" grinned Pyosz.

Pank said to Nk "You remember that Manage you built in Talaba with the upstairs porch, and how you made wooden blinds to go around it on all sides that could be shut when it stormed? I had the idea of getting something like that made for Pyosz's kitchen, when it comes winter again. That sound feasible to you?"

"Absolutely" said Nk. "You know how to take measurements, get me those and a basic floor plan, and we'll come up with a design."

"And permits" added Api. "Though I agree, it sounds like a great idea."

I won't be here in the winter, have you forgotten? thought Pyosz. But she didn't want to say it out loud. The smell of roasting meat hit her nostrils, and she said "I'm going to baste my lamb, shall I do yours, too?" to Dodd.

"I'll come with you" said Dodd, standing and brushing off her bottom. At the grill, Dodd said "Seeing you so happy and successful here is having a positive effect on Qoj. We've got our fingers crossed about her coming back home."

Nk appeared on the trail and came to turn her pork ribs. "Time to put on my figs, I think" said Pyosz.

"Then let's find room for all the veggies Oby has arrayed on this platter, too" said Dodd. After the lid was replaced, they set out more ice and arranged the buffet table while Nk went to tell everyone food would be served in 10-15 minutes.

"Emma sent me more sheet music" Dodd told Pyosz.

"Oh, can we have a preview after we eat?" begged Pyosz.

"I'll see, it's pretty thick going."

"The dawn chorus, s'bemma -- was that your idea?"

Dodd grinned shyly. "Yeah, but it evolved from a few bird calls into the amazing collaboration you saw last night. We always wind up with real babies crying. We haven't had goats before, however."

"When I woke up this morning, I got shivers listening to what was going on around me in a brand new way" said Pyosz.

(to be continued)


© 2009 Maggie Jochild.

Read More...

Summary only...

PYA: CHAPTER SIXTEEN

To begin reading this sci-fi novel or for background information, go to my Chapter One post here. To read about the background of the first novel, read my post here, which will also direct you to appendices.

For more detailed information, posted elsewhere on this blog are:

Pya Dictionary from Skenish to English (complete up to present chapter), with some cultural notes included
Pya Cast of Characters (complete up to present chapter)
Map of Pya with Description of Each Island
Map of Skene (but not Pya)
Map of Saya Island and Environs When Pyosz First Arrived
Skene Character Lineage at Start of Pya Novel
Skene, Chapter One (With Cultural Notes in Links)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The following day, Qala walked in to the Genist Manage kitchen where Lawa and Prl were sitting down to afternoon tea holding a crate with a bundle of letters on top. "Mail from Pya!" she declared. They unwrapped the string-sealed envelopes and read in silence for a few minutes.

Lawa said "She writes that Tu was there when she opened the hoe and remembered it was the first one I ever bought for myself. She says it made her cry; that's a good kind of crying, right?"

"Best kind" said Qala. "She says here that Dodd is giving her chicks descended from the double-yolk line at the Manage down the hill, she plans to reinvigorate the chicken flock on Saya. She also says she's set up a killing field near a cliff where blood can drain into the ocean." She looked askance at Lawa, who replied "Makes sense to me."


"I've got photos" said Prl, trumping them both. She'd been through them twice already, not reading her letter yet. She handed them over to Lawa and Qala, going to her office and returning with a thick sheet of chart parchment which she pinned to the wall next to the table. Once Lawa and Qala had pored over the pictures as well, Prl sorted them into clusters and began pinning them to the parchment. The one of Pyosz in her kitchen drew a simultaneous exclamation from Qala and Lawa, who got up to come look at it closely.

"That's her, that's her down to essence" said Qala.

"Who's she looking at behind the camera?" asked Lawa. Prl pointed to the photo of Maar and Pyosz together. "The pilot whom she's been asking me questions about" said Prl with disapproval in her voice. Beside that snap, she'd put the photo of Pyosz and Uli together. "And this is the mapmaker who went to University here on Riesig."

"Looks to me like we got a competition under way" said Qala. "Oh, look at the one of Pyosz and Dodd together, that's beautiful!"

"And here's the pilot frolicking naked with Abbo" continued Prl, her jaw tight.

"Doesn't she have a name?" asked Lawa.

"Maar" said Prl tersely. She could see Lawa trying to work out where she'd heard it before. However, what Lawa said was "Sounds like you've made your mind up about which one she should choose. Because University means smart, and pilot who helps her on Saya means stupid, right?" She stalked out of the kitchen into the large larder.

"Don't I get to have an opinion about my child's life choices?" complained Prl to Qala.

"No" came from the larder. "You totally fell for Sey, you used up all your barter credit."

Prl glared at the larder door, waiting for Lawa to return. Qala pointed to the photo of Pyosz with Dodd again and said "Look at her arm muscles, those are new." Lawa emerged and came to peer through her bifocals.

"Stars" said Lawa. "She looks like a Jiang Giant."

There was an old and endlessly expanded-upon children's story about Jiang Giants who lived beneath Skene's crust, massive beings made of sizzling rock, swimming in magma which was also their sustenance. Every now and then, lava would find a fissure to the surface and erupt into the open air, where it died. This would enrage the Jiang Giants, and they would stomp around, throw boulders, and rage in stony roars. This is what children were told caused earthquakes.

Qala laughed. "That's a great description."

Prl said to Lawa, in a challenging but kind tone, "Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"Act like if some reference is made to intelligence or education, that what's being hinted at is that you are stupid" said Prl. "Lawa, I've never ever heard anybody question your smarts. I've leaned on your mind for decades now. So why do you have that tender spot?"

Qala was exulting inside at someone else confronting Lawa about this, and doing a nice job of it.

Lawa pursed her lips and thought for a minute. "I don't know." And that was one of Lawa's most golden attributes, when she was asked a hard or painful question by someone she loved, she never showed resentment. After another minute, she said "I'll think on it."

Prl hugged her lightly and said "Thank you. I guess I've got some thinking of my own to do, huh." She refilled the teapot with hot water from the aga and sat down at the table. Lawa was now peering at the photos of Tu.

Qala sat down across from Prl and poured herself a cup of tea. "Aren't you going to open the crate? I imagine it's a duplicate of what Yoj's Manage received."

Prl opened the latch and began pulling out bags of dried fruit. Lawa came to her side and examined the label closely. "She's been there two weeks, and look at all this" she marveled. Prl opened the honey jar and put a teaspoon of it into her tea, taking a long sip.

"Mill certainly knew who to ask to come help" she said not quite neutrally.

"I think Mill lucked out" said Qala. "She asked Vants, I know that for a fact, and Vants turned her down. Let's give Pyosz all the credit here and leave it at that. Hand me those apricots, will you?"

She and Lawa began sampling each bag of fruit.

"Speaking of stupid...." began Prl, her voice soft. "I have no wisdom or experience at all in the ream of romance, lovers, dating, whatever you want to call it. It's hard for me to acknowledge. I don't have anything to offer my child. Maybe that's why I'm herding hard in a direction where it looks like I can have a rational judgment." She laid her head on her arms.

Lawa looked around at her. "You're her emma. We don't take questions like that to our emmas. I mean, Ng was an open door, but I never once told her who I was sweet on."

"Who did you talk with?" asked Qala, feeling an old flicker of jealousy that there had been lovers before her.

"Mostly nobody. Sometimes Tu or Halling" said Lawa.

Qala grinned. "And Halling is who told you I had feelings for you."

"I didn't need to be told twice" said Lawa with an answering grin. "I actually ran down the hill that night toward the Lofthall."

Qala saw that Prl's eyes were closed, and signaled silently to Lawa that they could reminisce another time. Qala said "You know, Prl, I can imagine Pyosz actually bringing some of her questions to you. They'd be indirectly phrased, and she'd float a windsock kite first, to see if you were going to be all lecture-y. But you and she have been closer than any other emma and child I know."

Prl's eyes opened. "The odds are, I'll piss her off right away."

"Mebbe not" said Lawa. "You're already thinking on it, that's a sign."

Prl sat up. "You realize we're spending as much time dealing with her as our youngest, despite her being half a world away, as we often did when she lived here?"

Lawa chuckled. "Remember that time when she was four and you discovered she was getting up in the middle of the night to cook stuff?"

"Oh, lev" said Prl, her face losing a little color. "I walked into this kitchen and she was standing on a chair right there, the aga door open, trying to stir burning oatmeal with the sharpest cleaver I owned, and the hem of her little shati was so hot it was about to burst into flames."

"Well, you got to let her stir this pot now with whatever she's got to hand" said Lawa.

"Or you could mail a bunch of eks to the pilot and see if you could buy her off" said Qala, deadpan. After a long moment, Prl and Lawa both burst into laughter. Prl looked at the clock and said, "Crap, I have to go tell a couple of 19-year-olds they're not suitable to add a child to their mix." She carried her cup to the sink. She almost never talked about her duties, and Qala stared after her.

"How do you tell someone that?" asked Qala.

"Well, in their case I'll simply suggest they wait a year, until they're 20, making it sound biological rather than emotional" said Prl. "They won't be together in a year. One of them is cheating on the other with her partner's siba. Or so rumor has it. If I'm wrong, they'll come back in a year and I'll take another look."

"How do you hear all this gossip?" demanded Lawa, part of her mind trying to figure out who Prl might be talking about and the other part of her mind insisting she leave it alone.

Prl turned to grin at them a little wickedly, and lowered her voice to say "I go to Market every week, right? And it's well known that I duck under a canopy and take forever looking over selections before I actually barter."

"You're a reverie kind of shopper, that's true" said Qala.

"No, I make up my mind right away. But if I stay quiet, I can hear the conversations going on five and six stalls away. People are appallingly indiscreet about what they discuss in public. I store it all away in my memory, and if a rumor persists, I find some subtle way to refer to it with emma. Bux, that is. She's like Qen, she knows what everybody is doing." Prl kissed Qala's cheek and said "I don't actually like that part of my job, not like emma does, but everybody lies when it comes to their children, real or hoped for." She kissed Lawa's cheek as well and went to her office to retrieve her carryall.

Lawa sat down close to Qala to say "If it's not the University thing, then she's heard something about the pilot. But she don't have no dirt on the mapmaker."

"See, you just put that together lickety-split" whispered Qala. "Let's go next door, Yoj is deep in the stacks and the Manage is empty."

On Pya, Saya Island had been sunny and bustling since goats were released to pasture. Pyosz finished adding soil to her new raised beds, using leftover planks to make sequested areas for aggressive plants like mint and fennel. She built trellises for future beans, at the opposite end of her tillage from the onion/garlic/shallot bed. She also built trellises for cucumbers, next to the beans but well away from potatoes, and capers in the area most protected from the northwest prevailing wind. She made hills for an entire field of corn, enough to make her abbas crow, and buried a core of enriched dung at the base of each hill.

Until soil testing was completed, however, she couldn't rearrange her tillage according to her new chart or put in new seeds. Instead, she planted starts in the special trays her abbas had sent and put them in the sun on top of her grill cover. She folded tiny envelopes for half of each seed type, labeling them and adding a small drawing, to pass on to Tu and Pank. She felt the txikadiis watching her avidly from the rafters as she poured seeds from one envelope to another.

She cleared the table, scrubbed it down along with her hands, and brought the latest batch of dried fruit from the drying room to bag and label. She made a marinade for her lamb of mashed peaches and juice, lime juice, honey, vinegar, and a dash of allspice. Before she rubbed it over the carcass, she cut slits into the meat and inserted slivers of garlic, then returned it to the coldbox. She called Arta to make sure there would be room in the aga for roasting, and Api told her they were planning to build a fire in their massive outdoor covered grill, despite the hot weather, because Dodd was also bringing a dish for roasting. "We're planning to grill asparagus, onions, squash, whole heads of garlic, and onions" said Api. "Plus potatoes."

"I'm hungry already" said Pyosz. "I can't wait until the corn harvest comes in."

"Best time of year" agreed Api. "It's not too late for you to get in a crop before fall, you know."

"I'lm planning on it" said Pyosz.

"I need to come inspect your renovations, by the way" said Api. "Maybe this week."

"Any time after 9:00 most days" said Pyosz. When she clicked off, she made lunch with warm-yolked eggs for her wilted escarole salad. She gathered her orchard gear, plus scrub, towel, and clean clothes, and trundled her wain through the kissing gate.

Halfway across her pasture, she heard the distant drone of aircraft approaching. She looked around at the nearest goats and grabbed Yams, a large yellow-brown doe who was easy-going to the point of near somnolence. She whipped off her red cap and tied it over Yams head, which brought all the kids in for a hopeful nibble. She lifted Yams into the wain, jumped in after her, and lifted Yams as high in the air as she could. Yams decided this was really too much and began struggling, and it was all Pyosz could do to hang onto her as the lighter zipped overhead. It made an instant banking curve and swing back around for a second look. She was laughing wildly, goats running in all directions, and she wished there was a camera in the lighter to photograph her, but it was unlikely. After a waggle of flaps, the lighter went on and Pyosz set Yams down in the wain. Yams promptly urinated, narrowly missing the pot holding towel and scrub, before leaving the wain with a complaining bleat at every step.

She took a long soak and washed her hair, scrubbed every inch of her body, and then laundered her red cap in the pot with shampoo, setting it on a wain upright to dry. She missed Maar's company during the rinsing process and also during the fruit picking. Back in her kitchen, she sorted dutifully for allotment, preparing half for drying or sale as is, the other half for jams and preserves. At one point she heard the jae calling repeatedly. She walked out to spot it, and discovered it was sitting atop her red cap still drying on the wain, trying to remove the fluffy red ball at the peak of the cap. She ran toward her wain yelling "Stop! You there!" The jae waited until she was only a yard away before taking wing. She carried her cap back to dry in her kitchen.

It began raining before she was finished milking. She had hung her silks earlier to air, but as she ate dinner, she began to feel dread about the impending dance. She wondered if the downpour was enough to excuse her absence. Chewing, she picked up her radio and dialed the Genist Manage.

"This early, I knew it must be you" said Prl happily. Pyosz thought she could hear the cast-iron lid on the aga cistern being lifted for tea water in the background. "We have a wall covered with your photos here, and I've eaten so much of your cheese I'm going to need some of Lawa's stewed prunes to unbind me."

"Emma, I went out to eat at a fancy restaurant in Pertama with Uli last night" began Pyosz. "But I told her it wasn't a date, and I realized as I said it that dating is simply not something I can handle right now. I mean, I'd already said something similar to Maar, but this made it official."

Prl sat down abruptly. Listen, just listen she reminded herself. "How does it feel, a day later?" she asked with light interest.

"Good. I had a good day. Curds and Ember found a nest of baby shu and killed them all, and I lavished praise on them, though I suspect the shu were easy pickings because its emma was hunted by an owl this week. I can't imagine shu being emmas, but I guess they are" said Pyosz, off on a tangent.

"Well, reproduction and emmadom are not necessarily the same thing" said Prl.

"You oughta know. I mean because of your career, not you personally" added Pyosz hastily. Prl laughed and said "Clarification not necessary." Qala came in the back door with a basket of eggs, and Prl wrote hastily on the kitchen pad: "Pyosz. I was right, pilot and mapmaker both chasing her. She said no. Brought it up with me!"

Qala gave her a thumbs' up, whispered "Give her my love" and left again.

"Emma, why do you think Ngall and Abbo were treated so differently? Ngall has always lived up to expectations, at least until she scratched dirt in her emmas' faces to go marry Ehuy, but Abbo still got treated like she was the favored child" said Pyosz. "Makes me really glad I didn't have sibs."

"I don't think Oby treated Ngall differently than Abbo, I think that's mostly Mill's doing" said Prl. "And isn't it obvious why? Look at Abbo."

"What about her?"

"She's an almost exact duplicate of Oby" said Prl. "Physically, I mean. Especially if you knew Oby as a teenager, which of course you didn't. Mill and Oby fell in love by the time they were 13 or 14, and had known each other all their lives, so I'm fairly sure when Mill looks at Abbo, she sees the young Oby who's had her heart nearly forever. And Oby doesn't interrupt that because ego is human nature, after all."

"Do you think Abbo is good looking?" asked Pyosz. There was a note in her voice that caught Prl's attention.

"Yes, I do" said Prl honestly. "She's every bit the looker Oby was. But I don't think she's really at all like Oby in other ways. Oby was raised by two emmas who are profoundly service-oriented and on the conservative side, in an intelligent way. She pursued adventure only in realms where it enhanced public good. At heart, she's not self-absorbed." Prl didn't need to make the comparison. She suddenly realized this was on a public frequency. Before she could ask if that were so, Pyosz changed direction again.

"Emma, have you ever been in love?"

There was a long silence. Pyosz said "I'm sorry, I'm prying -- "

"No, it's a good question. But will you call me back on a private frequency?"

"Oh. Yeah, right away."

Prl got down a sip of honey-laced tea before the radio buzzed again.

"All right. Yes, I've been in love. Only once, but for a long time." Prl felt dizzy. She'd never told anybody, not even Dodd or Yoj although she suspected they both knew.

Pyosz was stunned. Even the request to change frequencies hadn't altered her expectation that Prl would say no. "Wow. I guess I can't ask you who."

"I'd rather not say" admitted Prl.

"Which means it's probably someone I know" said Pyosz. Prl closed her eyes. "Did she know how you felt, emma?"

"We didn't speak of it...directly. But yes, I think she did. She chose someone else" said Prl.

Which means it must have been before you became Genist thought Pyosz, this time not saying it out loud. "Do you still have heartache?"

"For her specifically? Not really. I think my love for her was, shall we say, misplaced. You know what I mean" Prl dared. "But I wish I'd had a lover. I'm not sorry to be Genist, and I certainly pushed the boundary lived by any other Genist on Skene, but I'd like to have had a partner. Or partners."

"Wow" said Pyosz again. "I can hardly wrap my mind around this. I don't think I would have liked sharing you with someone else."

"She would have been your emma, she would have given you double what I could" said Prl.

"I can't imagine that" repeated Pyosz. "You could retire, emma, and go find love again."

Prl was close to crying. "I have more work to do, Pyosz. At least one big piece, one problem yet to resolve, before I can feel okay about turning it over to the dullard." She whispered the last phrase so softly Pyosz only understood it because she'd heard it so often from Prl.

"I really thought I was in love with Sey, emma. I think I wanted to be in love, I wanted to be like everybody else. You know, even if I don't fall in love again, I mean to have a Manage and children. Several children. You showed me I can do that no matter what" said Pyosz.

"That may be the finest thing you've ever told me" said Prl softly. "We're all so proud here of what you're doing, how you're leading your life, we can hardly contain ourselves."

"We're going to run out of time. There's a dance tonight in Koldok and I really don't want to go, but the rest of the family is expecting me. I guess I'll write you all about it" said Pyosz.

"Thank you so -- " Static cut in. Prl lay down the radio very gently before bursting into tears.

Pyosz sat for a long time, staring into the slanting quicksilver of nighttime rain. Finally she went into her cabin and lay her gold commencement outfit on her bed. She stripped down and wiped off her otos before changing into clean underwear, then donning the silk, which felt luxurious in a new way against her skin -- it had been over two weeks since she'd worn silk. As she was lacing the jirekinu, she heard Maar's voice from outside calling "Hello? Are you still here?"

"Getting dressed, I'll be there in a minute" she called back. She pulled a small pot of gold glitter from her cupboard and dropped a sprinkle onto her damp hair. She put back on her otos, tucking her calças legs into the tops to keep them dry, then donned her burzaka and red cap. She found Maar sitting at the table, drinking fresh tea. Maar said "I thought you'd appreciate a ride in this weather."

"And how" said Pyosz. "Are you hungry, I could -- "

"No. Hard as it is to pass up your cooking, I'm full enough and don't want to try dancing after the kind of gorging I do with your food" said Maar. Pyosz grabbed her flash and they splashed their way to Maar's lighter. Two minutes later, Maar was tying down the craft at the Lofthall jichang, shouting into the rain "Go on ahead, I'll meet you there."

Pyosz ran for the schoolhouse, entering through the mudroom and finally locating a free hook to hang her burzaka. The buzz of voices from the adjoining assembly hall was louder than the rain. She stuffed her hat into the burzaka pocket. As she turned around, Maar was coming in the door. Maar froze and gaped at Pyosz.

"Thunder me down, but don't you clean up well" she said. She bent closer to look at the glitter in Pyosz's hair.

"Oh, dear, I'm not overdressed, am I?" worried Pyosz.

"No, folks deck out for dances. But I've lost the crease in my kalsongers, and, well, you look dazzling, that's all" said Maar. She held out the crook of her arm and Pyosz took it gladly, suddenly shy to walk into the next room alone.

There were appreciative looks cast their way as they entered, and Pyosz could see people whispering "Who is that?" Before the gauntlet got too embarrassing, however, Tu was waving them down from a table crammed with family. Pyosz hugged them all exuberantly, even Abbo who said "You'll have to save me a dance, cousin, you're going to sparkle on that floor out there." Dodd and her band were already on the small stage, but Dodd waved at her. Pyosz sat down next to Qoj and they started talking excitedly. Nk went to get her a glass of cold tea, and before she returned, the music began, a swinging two-step.

Oby asked Pyosz to dance, and Pyosz said "Thank you so much, S'bemma, but I need to just sit for a while and take it in. The idea of not moving my body is most attractive at the moment."

Oby turned to Mill and they swept onto the floor, along with Abbo and Maar, Tu and Pank, Briel and Api, Frahe and Qoj. Nk returned with her drink, and they listened to the band for a while. In addition to Dodd on the fiddle, there was a mandolin, a bodhrán, an accordian, and a small silver trumpet. Nk said the squeezebox player would switch on and off to the piano there in the schoolroom, as melody required.

Pyosz managed to avoid the dance floor for a few more songs, either by engaging herself in conversation which it would be rude to interrupt or going to get drinks herself. Her family was dance-happy, and there was an even number at the table plus Maar, which meant Pyosz sitting it out didn't keep someone else from taking a turn. Finally, however, thankfully during a relative sedate number, Maar said "All right, it's time for you to let Pya see you on your feet", grabbing her hand and tugging her upright. As they reached a clear spot and Maar pulled her closer, Pyosz whispered "I'm a terrible dancer, Maar. I truly am."

"You haven't had me as a partner" said Maar gallantly. She smelled of rain and juniper, Pyosz noticed. Their hands were almost exactly the same size, clasped together, and their matching height helped Pyosz relax a little as they began moving slowly in unison. Every muscle in Pyosz's body was trying to guess where Maar was going to direct them next, and almost half the time, it was a wrong guess. Maar demonstrated no impatience, however. Her grin was wide and Pyosz had fleeting seconds of enjoyment between the times when she stepped on Maar's feet or brought them to a brief halt because she had jerked them in the wrong direction.

When they reached the end, Pyosz was sweating hard. Maar stood beside as they applauded the band and said "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"You tell me" said Pyosz.

Maar bent to her ear to whisper "I'll keep Abbo off your back, okay?" Pyosz felt a flush of something move through her, and she was grinning when they returned to the table. "Save one for me" said Tu as she was heading onto the floor with Nk. Abbo grabbed Maar before she could sit down, and Pyosz sank into her chair gratefully.

A few seconds later, she recognized the song Dodd was beginning. It had been written by Yoj not long after she, Halling and Bux had partnered. She'd once told Pyosz it was about a weekend they'd spent on Pomar, surrounded by orchards and nature without other people nearby. The verses were about trees, about unobstructed views toward a distant coast, and about falling in love with a new place. The music had long chord stretches with high, sweet notes.

As she listened now, however, Pyosz realized it applied much more forcefully to Pya than to Pomar. At the end of the first verse, Dodd stopped playing to sing the chorus, and most of the dancers halted as well to sing with her, Dodd's clear tenor almost piercing with emotion:

I embrace this good green earth
Rising safe I am this hour
Above the ocean's salty scour
Rising safe for each new birth
This is my home above the sea
This is my home, embracing me

Pyosz felt tears sting her eyes, looking around the room. This is a kind of anthem for them here she thought. She wished the abbas could see this, could see how Yoj's words had been claimed by the new world. She resolved to find a way to describe it in a letter.

At the end, the dancers again stopped moving to repeat the final verse. They all then flung their arms into the air and shouted "To Pya!" Pyosz came to her feet belatedly, and remained standing as her family returned to the table. In their wake was Uli, who hugged her and said "Can I join you for a while?"

"Of course" said Pyosz. Maar had sat down on the other side of the table, next to Abbo, and Uli took her chair. Tu and Pank returned immediately to the dance floor.

"That last song was amazing!" Pyosz said to Briel. "Does Yoj know what it's become here?"

"I don't think so" said Briel. She said to Abbo and Maar's questioning faces "Dodd's emma wrote that."

"I never knew that" said Abbo, looking shocked. "We sung it every day in school, I just thought it was some old piece from before I was born."

"Well, it was" said Mill, mussing her hair. "Seems like half the popular music on Skene was composed by emma."

Uli leaned toward Pyosz and said "Those hanshan and jirekinu are gorgeous. And clearly Skene-made. Which shop do you use?" Pyosz told her, and Uli pointed to her own dubikun, saying "They made these, too."

Api and Ollow went to the snack bar and returned with a platter of ikan, salted tomatoes, rice balls, and assorted fruit, along with a pitcher of cold tea. The dancers ate lustily, talking at volume over the hubbub around them. People kept stopping by to visit, and they were all introduced to Pyosz, who quickly lost track of names but found she was happy to gaze into interesting faces, press hands in her own, and accept the welcome being extended her. Uli showed no signs of wanting to return to her own family table. She was charming the sokken off Qoj, Pyosz could tell, and very deferential to all the older women, but hardly engaged with Maar at all.

Two songs later, Dodd stood in front of the mic with her fiddle lowered and said "I have a new song for you all tonight. It's from ancient Yrth, lyrics translated by my emma Yoj, music hopefully translated correctly by me. The band has worked all week to learn the words, but before we sing it, I'll play you the melody. We're calling it 'Oak Grove'." A murmur went around the room. Pank said to Pyosz "Good name change."

The room had gone silent by the end of the second bar, except for thuds from children playing on the second floor above them. When Dodd lowered her fiddle again and the band broke into the lilting ache of the first line, Pyosz realized she was going to cry all out, no stopping it. Uli held her hand as Pyosz stifled her sobs enough to hear the beautiful words. Dodd was smiling at her. After the last chorus, Dodd played the melody again, and there was a thunderous roar of applause.

The band began a clogging melody, and Uli said to Pyosz "Care to take a turn with me?"

"Oh, lev, not right this minute" said Pyosz, wiping her face with her palm. Uli turned to Qoj and they melted onto the floor, adding to a cacophony of leather on wood. Half a minute later, Maar was in Qoj's chair, leaning toward her to say in her ear "What did that song make you think of? Missing Skene?"

"Um, I guess some. But more, about those poor people who were stranded here against their will, never to see anything familiar again. I mean, I'd have gone crazy too. Memory is linked to the soil, you know? I'm so attached to Saya already, it's a little frightening." Pyosz was close enough to Maar's face that she had an impulse to touch her forefinger to the dimple in Maar's chin.

"I know what you mean" said Maar. "My third week here, I was flying over Zold and even though a cloud had covered the hot springs, I could see the beetle green of its color in my mind as if it were clearly visible. And I said out loud 'Zold, you're quite the beauty.' Unfortunately, my radio was on and Jiips heard me."

Pyosz giggled. "You know, I realized while I was biking precariously to Pertama with Uli, I haven't gone beyond Koldok since I got here. One of my intentions this summer was to explore Pya as an adult. I need to start venturing out on the weekends, instead of work, work, work."

"I concur" said Maar emphatically. The song ended, and Maar stood to grab another chair for Qoj before returning to sit beside Pyosz again. Abbo leaned across the table to say "You're the talk of the Lofthall, cousin. There's a raging debate about how many points are awarded for a redcap sighting on a goat with a two-person lift in a wain." Pyosz and Maar erupted into laughter, and Abbo explained to the others.

"Whatever possessed you?" asked Qoj.

"Oh, public scrutiny is something you have to not take seriously" said Pyosz. "I learned that early. My next plan is to find a way to put my cap on an owl." Maar and Pank roared, and Tu said "Take a photograph this time, before it removes your kidneys for you."

When the band resumed, Tu said "My turn with the capriste" and extended her arm to Pyosz. Tu's frame was very much like that of her sib Halling, with the long bones that Pyosz herself had, but elegant and light. Pyosz hoped to do better with her cousin than she had with Maar. Tu seemed to sense her limitations immediately and moved them into the center of the dance floor, where elders and small children traveled at a slower pace. This plus Tu's decades of practice kept Pyosx from repeatedly crushing Tu's feet beneath her otos. Pyosz was again breathless at the end of the dance, mostly from strain, while Tu had not even a flush. As they returned to their chairs, Pyosz said "It's so crowded, I'm beginning to think the entire population is here." Tu replied "Folks on Pya never miss a dance. It's our main form of community gathering. Even the Owl People are here."

"The Owl People?" said Pyosz. "I thought that was some yarn Mill spun us when we were kids."

The older folks at the table sat out the next dance in order to talk with Pyosz about the Owl People. When Pya had first been explored, not every island had resident owls, though most did. In particular, the medium-sized island of Chwet, choked with a mixed forest of oak, beech, hickory, chestnut, and pine, seemed to have great numbers of owls.

There were two different owl species which the original colonists had apparently introduced as their form of shu control, one which preferred to live in rocky burrows and one which required large trees as a habitat. Any island which had a respectable forest would have the latter, and over time, these owls had become the massive creatures which struck terror into those back on Skene who heard the reports: Flat-faced birds with wing spans averaging eight feet and often up to 10 or 12 feet from tip to tip, a height of 3 feet, and talons like elongated razors. The rock-dwelling owls had wing spans under five feet, and were a buffy-grey instead of the dark brown plumage on the tree owls.

Despite the extreme efficacy of owls as shu-hunters, Skene had adamantly refused to allow this species a foothold on their own set of islands. So great was their fear, that only a single specimen was allowed to be kept by the botanist. It was aversion which determined this vote, but in practical terms, it also made sense: Katts on Skene prowled at night, and to an owl, a katt was as good a meal as shu. So were lambs, kids, chickens and other fowl. Those who immigrated to Pya learned to keep all small stocks and pets indoors once darkness fell. Skene was unwilling to make that change.

Early on, a set of three families from Bosco had migrated to Pya together. They had expertise with forestry and farming wild pigs, and they were offered their choice of the wooded islands as their home. After a stay in Pertama to get acclimated, they had surprised Api by asking to settle on Chwet.

Api explained to them that Chwet, like Pabo, had been set aside by Skene law as primarily inhabited by a now-native species, and therefore human development would be limited to activities which would not substantially threaten the habitat of the owls on Chwet or the turkeys on Pabo. This partial observance of environmental law, in place since the Troubles 500 years earlier, was being circumvented on Pabo by the decision to build a small community on the coast, adjacent to meadows avoided by turkeys (likely because of human proximity). A small group of wild turkeys were caught and "observed" for a couple of years, during which time they hatched many young who were declared by the people on Pabo to be "no longer wild" and therefore available for breeding and farming. Thus, early on Pya had earned a steady income from importing turkey meat to Skene, who had no environmental qualms about consuming vast quantities of the protected animal.

In the case of Chwet, Api said, there could only be cutting of trees which were clearly impeding the growth of other nearby trees, or which were already dead or dying. The wild pigs of the forests could be hunted and eaten, because Skene did not recognize the rights of wild pigs on Pya any more than they recognized the rights of wild pigs on Bosco in Skene. But hunting and consumption had to not threaten the ongoing numbers of pigs on Chwet. Further, there was no ferry to Chwet and none planned for the coming decade, because it was never going to be a high population or industry center. And, of course, Chwet was simply crawling with owls. Wouldn't the new immigrants prefer to settle on Mti or Nec, instead?

No, they said, they wanted to live in a wilderness and they rather liked the idea of the owls. They were dropped off with an allotment, their belongings, and a set of tools, plus the little metal cabins used by the first Skene arrivals on Pya, identical to Pyosz's on Saya. Oby returned after three days to check on them, and discovered they had begun building houses made of entire logs, not boards. They were observing the tree-cutting guidelines, and were employing an ingenious method of notching the logs at either end so they would stack without much gap. When Oby asked where they had come up with this technology, one of them produced a translation of ancient, pre-Skene texts written by Yoj.

It turned out, they had read Yoj's translations extensively, and were keen to reproduce life as it might have been on the planet before Skene.

One of them had a nasty gash in her leg from a wild boar attack, and said boar was roasting on a spit. Oby stayed to eat with them, discovering they also had located in one of Yoj's translations a means of leeching the tannins from ground acorn meal so it was edible. She said the acorn mush she had was appetizing and filling. They requested a few more basic items -- wire mesh to build pig-proof fences around their small settlement, tin roofing for their cabins, and red lenses to place over their flash so the light would not disturb nocturnal creatures. Owls, it was presumed.

Over the next year, they dug wells, set up solar panels for electricity, and fed themselves well from their tillage, a pen of chickens, and the allotment. One member of each family went to work as a forester on other islands, hitching rides to and from Chwet on the school sinner. Their children proved to be above-average students and voracious readers. On Market day, one individual from Chwet arrived with a load to barter. What little income they earned was often spent on ordering more books. Otherwise, they all stayed on their island. They accepted one radio for emergencies, which was used primarily to call in a comadrona as their numbers increased.

After a few years, one of the Chwet foresters working on Mti was part of a crew which unwittingly disturbed a tree whose trunk was the home of a large owl. The owl emerged, making an angry cry and flying around their heads. Most of the crew scattered in stark terror, but there was one who remained and served as witness to the Chwet woman holding up her arms and beginning to answer the owl in its own language. The owl settled down quickly, the Chwet woman led everyone away, and despite repeated questions, she refused to pass on what she might have said or how she had learned to speak owl. That was when those on Chwet began to be called the Owl People.

After ten years, a ferry to Chwet was constructed. Visitors were not treated badly but they weren't especially welcomed, either. Teenagers now grown to adulthood took jobs elsewhere on Pya long enough to stash a nest egg of eks and, occasionally, to find sweethearts who would move back to Chwet with them. New cabins were built, and rumor had it that the Owl People were extraordinarily good lovers.

At the next annual tasting and Vote, all of the residents of Chwet showed up, listening to arguments on issues, asking intelligent questions, and relishing the food at the tasting. Two of them approached the botanist and strongly requested that the following year, she regenerate an ancient species called squirrels. The Owl People said squirrels were endemic to forest environments, made a tasty stew, and had highly desirable pelts.

Intrigued, the botanist complied with their request. Six squirrels were brought into being and allowed to breed in number sufficient to provide meat for the tasting on both Skene and Pya. Skins were cured and on display. Everyone on both locations agreed the meat was all right, though not plentiful given the animal's small size. The botanist, however, was alarmed by the rapid reproductive capacity of squirrels and their utter lack of domestication: Finding them for slaughter would mean endless hunting through woods with snares and traps. Some members of the population found them a little too much like small katts to view them as food. The decision was near unanimous to leave squirrels out of Skene and Pya's animal roster.

Six squirrels remained alive at the Pya ejida. While the botanist was trying to decide what to do with them, two nights after the Vote a heretofore unnoticed break appeared in the enclosure which held the squirrels, and they escaped. A panicked search was made throughout wooded areas on Dvareka, and Skene demanded a thorough search of all crates and imports from Pya. The squirrels were never found. That is, until the pilot flying the school sinner noticed two long-tailed red-furred creatures racing up and down a tree trunk near the jichang on Chwet. Api and Mill talked it over, and finally decided if the Owl People wanted squirrels badly enough to steal them, they could have them. There was no guarantee they could now be removed from the forests on Chwet, anyhow, and spread from the island to the rest of Pya was unlikely.

Two years later, Chwet children were seen coming to school wearing coats and hats of luxurious dark red fur. Again, no action was taken. Mill said quietly to Oby that she bet owls liked the taste of squirrel as much as the Owl People did.

At last year's Vote, the contingent from Chwet had another request, this time for return of a herbivore called deer who lived primarily in forests, again reportedly had excellent-flavored flesh and large skins which made superior leather. The botanist had researched this organism extensively and had decided they would appear on the menu and in pens at the Midwinter tasting. Api said "This time we'll keep a close guard on them."

Pank said with a grin "You'll never hear the Owl People at night, though; they fly in on massive silent wings."

During lulls in the music, those at the table had lowered their voices so as not to be overhead. Pyosz now whispered "So they're here, at this dance? They've started coming to dances?"

"All but the infirm" said Briel. "And no, I'm not going to point them out to you, that would be extremely rude."


© 2009 Maggie Jochld.

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