Shiver on the Sky
Page 6
Chapter Four
(Sometime—The People)
The People were restless. They were always restless, according to their larger, slower-moving Cousins. But this time they had a difficult choice to make, and had no time to wait for the wisdom of the Cousins.
The schooling Cold Ones were swirling, shifting for position. They were even more bad-tempered than usual, biting at each other, coming closer together.
The People’s memory didn’t go back as far as the Cousins’, but even they knew that when the Cold Ones gathered close in their dominance games it might mean they were about to lash out. All at once. Even the People kept their distance from that sort of threat.
Some of them had found a way to approach the Great Cold One and ask him to intervene, but of course he would not. He never had before, and he probably never would. Even so, some of the People liked playing with him, because he was irritable but had never actually harmed them. So they asked, even though he was not the sort of Cold One that swam in a school. It passed the time, and it was fun.
The People lived in tidal waters, and the Cousins swam out in the Deep. Still, the Cousins sang of greater tides, or Tides, that came and went in spans of time vaster than any the People could comprehend. The People listened to the Cousins, though at times they did not understand what they heard, because it made a good game.
Lately the Cousins had begun Singing that the time had come to repair what had been broken, that the People Above and the People Below would come together again.
The People hadn’t ventured Above into the dry world beyond for so long that they had almost forgotten they could. Many of the People had died Above their shimmering Sky, and the few who had survived had lost the Songs that made it possible to cross. Just recently, though, some of the younger ones among the People had begun to remember their ancient Songs…with the help of the Cousins.
But some of the Cold Ones were Above as well, which none of the People remembered having happened before, though they barely remembered going Above at all, so just maybe it was not a new thing after all. Still, if the People were killed and driven back Below before, possibly without Cold Ones about, what would happen now?
One of the People was already involved in Cold One business, and the rest were afraid. The People shivered in their fear, enjoying the thrill it gave them, and Sang for the Cousins even though they knew events Above would probably unfold before the Cousins could respond.
And they played, of course, defining themselves in their timeless way.
They did that.
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