Silent Songs (51 page)

"Good luck, Tesa," he signed. "And to you, Taller, and all your people."

"We don't need
luck,
See-Through Man," Taller told him. "The Spirits are on
our
side." Then, ostentatiously, the huge avian enveloped Tesa with his wing. Rob signed off.

There was one last raucous chorus, and then, with a great fluttering of feathers, the group dispersed, feeling, no doubt, as if they had conquered yet another formidable enemy.

"That was very courageous," Tesa told Taller.

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He preened himself as if it were a matter of little consequence. "Get some rest, Good Eyes. You seem tired."

Javier appeared at her elbow at the mention of those magic words and signed, "Good idea, Taller."

The avian leader bristled, but Weaver jostled him, and the two avians quickly left the porch. Tesa peered around. Even the cohort and Thunder had disappeared.

"You okay?" Javier asked.

"Stop asking me that," she signed abruptly.

"It's not every day that someone you care about gets drummed out of her job and nearly out of the human race," he told her. "I swear, I didn't know about that. . . ."

She stopped his hands. "You know, it might not be such a good idea for you to ... be with me."

He stared at her quizzically.

"There could be repercussions to my refusing to leave. They could try and get to me through
you."

"I can handle that, trust me."

"First-Light, you don't understand. .. ."

"Stop!"
he ordered her. "You're
not
responsible for everything. In fact, as of now, you're not responsible for
anything!
You're not even employed! No more reports. No more bureaucracy. You'll probably have to
learn
to enjoy leisure, but... I'll help you. And we've got a lot of plants to catalog."

Tesa wanted to hug him and weep all at the same time. She would always be responsible for what had happened here. No one could take that burden away. She'd made the decisions....

Javier glanced over her shoulder, so she turned to see Szuyi approaching. It still disturbed her to see how badly the doctor had changed.

"Tesa," the doctor signed, "I just heard what happened. Don't be upset. You should be glad to be rid of those fools!"

Tesa blinked, surprised at her vehemence. Then she noticed the gold balls in Szu-yi's ears. The younger woman touched one, confused.

"These? Yes, well... the doctors on one of the ships did it for me. I've made some decisions, dear. I'm ... going to be staying with Loves-the-Wind. She's lost her mate, you know, and she's taking it very badly. She needs some company ... and I... Well, don't be insulted. .. but I want to get away from humans for a while. I just... need some time alone.... Loves-the-Wind is a healer, and so am 1.1 think we can help each other.... And ... I... keep hearing
them,
you know.... So, I asked the doctors

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to fix it so I could turn my hearing
off.
When I'm with the Wind people, I can't hear anything. For now, that's better for me. We're leaving tomorrow. I wanted to say goodbye."

"You mean, 'see you soon,' " Tesa corrected, and hugged the frail woman gently. She watched her leave, wondering whether any of them would ever truly heal.

Feeling a damp hand on her shoulder, she turned to find Jib, dripping and grinning, behind her. "I hate it when you sneak up on me!" she complained good-naturedly. She tried to ignore the glazed, not-quite-there look in the young man's eyes.

"You always did, mate," he signed, tugging absently on his greenstone tiki.

"Tesa, I overheard Rob talking to you. . . ."

Jib
overheard
almost everything these days. That was hard to get used to.

"Then you know Anzia's coming?"

He blinked. "Anzia?"

Tesa felt her chest tighten.

She'd found all the letters Jib had written to the young woman in his backpack. She'd scanned them briefly, and was shocked to see that the changes Jib had undergone were clearly manifested in his writing. The early electronic letters still had his voice, his personality, which grew more and more altered as he came in contact with the Singers. The letters had gradually deteriorated into rambling, disjointed fragments, almost stream of consciousness writings about the River, and the life Jib experienced there.

The few lines he'd scrawled on the paper Tesa gave him were almost incomprehensible. She wondered if reading those letters would help Anzia understand.

"She's ... an old friend of yours, Jib," Tesa reminded him gently. "She's coming ... to talk to you and the Singers."

"That'll be great. A friend of mine, huh? Well, I came to tell you . . ." He trailed off, suddenly focusing internally. He nodded slightly, as if talking to himself.

Tesa had grown used to this; patiently, she waited. "He lied to you."

She faced him, confused. Who? Rob?

"No," he answered her unspoken question. "Sorry. I meant Atle. He never intended to negotiate in good faith. He wanted to capture you and use you as a persuader, or stall you as long as possible and make you ineffective.

He lied to you just now. It really made the Singers mad. You'd better make sure he leaves
today."
With a quick wave, he jogged back to the River and disappeared.

"What was that all about?" Javier asked.

A sob escaped Tesa, then a laugh. She leaped at her lover, wrapping her arms around him as hard as she could, nearly

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knocking them both over. He returned the embrace, writing a question mark on her back.

She released him. "Jib just gave me back my soul," she signed, confusing him further.

"I can see life with a
heyoka
promises to be very interesting," he mused.

She tilted her head. "Big plans, ethnobotanist. Think you'll be here that long?"

"Taller said I could stay. I asked
him
first. I knew
you'd
say 'no.' "

She laughed, feeling genuinely happy for the first time in days. "Ask me now, if you're so smart!"

He stared deep into her light eyes, and she met his dark gaze unflinchingly.

"I want to stay with Good Eyes of the White Wind people. I want to belong to her... forever!" He smiled broadly, as if he'd just said the strangest thing.

Tesa nodded sagely. "Of course you can stay, First-Light. You belong here.

Just like
me!"
She saw the odd expression in his eyes, but before he could get too serious, she grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the lean-to.

"Come on,
old man.
You look tired. I think you could use a
nap!"

Pretending great reluctance, he let her cajole him all the way there.

A warrior

I have been.

Now it is all over.

A hard time

I have.

Song of Sitting Bull

296

Afterword

In some ways, it seems as though I started the StarBridge series just yesterday .. . and, in others, it seems as though a century or so has gone by.

Can it be Book Five already?

I hope all of you StarBridge readers enjoyed the further adventures of Tesa on Trinity. At this point you're all probably wondering whether Tesa and Javier will live happily ever after. Or, will Rob and Mahree ever get together again? And will anyone ever go into Sorrow Sector and come out alive? Just how many intelligent species are there in the Orion Arm, anyway .. . and how many of them will be as threatening as the Anurans?

For that matter, will there be more StarBridge books to come? Well, you never know. There are always possibilities . . .

--Ann C. Crispin October 1993