Elvene

by P. P. Mealing

  To his total amazement, he was answered by a very authoritative male voice.

  ‘Who is calling?’

  For a moment Myka was dumbstruck and he looked at the ship closely but could see no signs of life. ‘Who are you?’ he asked.

  ‘This is Centaur, Space Corps vessel. Who are you?’

  ‘I am Myka, friend of Elvene.’ Myka couldn’t believe that he was talking to a disembodied voice.

  ‘I have seen you before,’ the voice said.

  ‘Where is Elvene?’ Myka asked.

  ‘Elvene has gone to make a spear,’ was the reply.

  ‘What?’ Myka couldn’t believe this. ‘When did she leave?’

  ‘Nineteen hours, 23 minutes and 34 seconds ago, ship-time.’

  This meant nothing to Myka. ‘Do you know where she is?’

  ‘She is 23 degrees west of north, 512.6 metres radius.’

  ‘Can you speak Kiri?’ Myka asked, not expecting an answer.

  ‘I can talk a little,’ he replied in Myka’s own tongue.

  This flabbergasted him. ‘How far walking?’ he asked.

  ‘Depending on terrain, fifteen minutes approximately.’

  This told Myka very little. Why can’t this magical ‘ship’ of hers just point? So he asked the most stupid question so far in their conversation. ‘Can you point to where she is?’

  Out of the top of the hull, a thin stream of water shot right over his head that made him turn completely around to his left in order to follow it. It looked for all the world as if the vessel was peeing onto the shore. Myka was stunned. ‘Why didn’t you show me that in the first place?’

  ‘You didn’t ask,’ came the logical reply.

  Myka didn’t wait any longer; he jumped into his canoe and paddled furiously back to the beach from whence he’d come. He ran all the way back to the caves.

  People were just starting to move about. Myka ran to his father, who was surprised to see him so agitated.

  Sefta knew straightaway that something was wrong. ‘What is it Myka?’

  ‘The Ocean Woman. She is trapped in a night render’s hole and I know where she is.’

  ‘How do you know this? Have you seen her?’

  ‘No, I had a dream. And her ship pointed me to where she is.’

  Sefta couldn’t hide his surprise or his disbelief. The dream he could accept, but her ship pointing to where she was stretched his credulity too far.

  ‘I will show you,’ Myka said. ‘We must get the Elders.’

  Sefta could see that Myka was genuine in his earnestness. He said, ‘Wait here.’

  In a short time he returned with a group of five men, all carrying spears.

  ‘We will need something to pull her out,’ Myka said.

  ‘Assuming there is anything to pull out,’ his father said. ‘It’s all right, we have come prepared. Takes us to her ship.’

  Myka took them all to the ship in their canoes, then he called out, ‘Show me where Elvene is.’

  To everyone’s awe and astonishment, the ship repeated its peeing trick. The Kiri had an excellent sense of direction and it was all they needed.

  Sefta’s mind was full of questions: What was she doing on this part of the island alone? Why hadn’t she told anyone? But he remained silent; it was not important when the major consideration was whether she was alive or dead. They arrived at the pit in very short time.

  At first, all they could see was the dead render, which was an astounding sight in itself. No one had ever seen a dead night render in its own pit. Then Myka saw her pale face beneath it and he pointed. ‘Look’. His first thought was that she was dead.

  The Kiri had ropes made from vines and sinews and skins, and with great difficulty they pulled the render out of its hole. There was no sign as to what had caused its death. Elvene was still unconscious, but Myka thought he saw her move her head. When they went down the hole to retrieve her, they could see that her leg was broken. They set the leg in a splint with materials that they had at hand, then two people returned to get a canoe so that they could drag her out of the hole. She briefly gained consciousness during this process, but to her it was all like a dream. She saw Myka’s worried face and willed a smile but the muscles in her face wouldn’t respond. They carried her back to their village and there she was treated by another group of Elders, only these were bossed about by an elderly woman.

  Over the next few days, the Kiri nursed her back to life, though it would be a good while before she could walk, even with a crutch. The whole ordeal changed her relationship with the tribe forever. As far as the Kiri were concerned, the fact that she had killed a night render in its own pit ensured her a mythic status that could never be revoked. As far as Elvene was concerned, she was indebted to them for her life; for as long as she remained on the island, she would never again be able to consider herself as a person apart.

  5. Elvene and Myka

  ELVENE HAD PLENTY OF TIME TO REASSESS EVERYTHING during her long convalescence. She knew she was lucky she hadn’t lost her leg and her major concern was that the bone knitted back correctly. Within a couple of days she had gained enough health to be moved. She asked the Kiri to take her back to her ship, where she could treat the injury herself. They concurred reluctantly, but they took her there in a canoe, and then they had to transfer her to a pallet to get her inside.

  When they finally saw the interior of her vessel, they found it as strange and as alien as its exterior. They looked about and there was not a single item that they could call familiar. It was not exactly spacious, but it was basically a series of chambers. She allowed them into the second chamber where they laid her on a bed that was more like a table to them. What astounded them more than anything else was that she appeared to talk to thin air in her own tongue and a disembodied male voice would respond.

  After she was laid on the table, she gave instructions to Alfa, and the lower half of her body became covered by a shield that seemed to rise out of the table alongside her and wrap itself around her legs. She then thanked everyone in the Kiri tongue and told them that they could go now, but she asked Myka if he would stay. She had little doubt that he had been instrumental in her rescue.

  Myka looked around and could see very little but bare walls. The ship was just as stark on the inside as it was on the outside, only in this room everything was washed in a soft white light.

  ‘How did you find me?’ Elvene asked.

  ‘I had a dream of you trapped in the render’s pit.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And I asked your ship, Centaur, where you were and he showed me.’

  ‘My ship is called Alfa, but he’s very security conscious with strangers.’

  Myka didn’t know what she was talking about, but he didn’t ask. To Elvene, he appeared quite sad.

  ‘Do you often have dreams like that?’

  ‘No, but I had a dream about your ship the night before it arrived.’

  ‘Really?’ Elvene couldn’t hide her surprise, but it suddenly explained a lot about the boy’s behaviour. ‘Tell me, why are you so sad?’

  ‘Because you nearly died, and all because I wouldn’t take you fishing.’

  Elvene suddenly felt tears well in her eyes, and she couldn’t stop them. It was the first time since the rescue that her emotional guard had failed her.

  The boy was startled. ‘Why are you crying?’

  ‘Oh Myka, you don’t understand women very well, do you?’ and she tried to laugh.

  She grabbed his hand. ‘I owe you my life,’ she said, and to his amazement, she grabbed him to her and shed tears uninhibitedly.

  After she had regained her composure, he simply sat with her in silence and waited till she fell asleep. Then he stood up and looked around. There was no obvious door, so he asked the ship if he could leave.

  ‘Certainly, sir,’ and doors slid open before him and closed behind him till he was outside again. It was late in the day with long shadows being cast onto the beach. Myka reflected on Elvene’
s burst of emotion, and had to admit that she was right, he really didn’t understand her. But he knew that her gratitude to him was genuine and heartfelt. He knew that their relationship had changed somehow, but he couldn’t explain it, and neither could he say what the consequences would be.

  While she remained invalided in her ship, he visited her every day, and so did a number of people from the tribe, including women as well as Elders, who often brought her food. Elvene was often overwhelmed by this show of generosity and friendship, and she never refused anyone entry into her ship during her entire convalescence.

  Eventually Elvene was able to get around, and she started swimming in the mornings, as she felt that this was the best exercise she could give her leg without putting weight on it. Myka would often join her, and she noticed that the boy was a very good swimmer indeed. She found the exercise was very good therapy for her, both physically and psychologically.

  As she became more mobile, Elvene spent more time at the Kiri camp and made a point of eating with them in the evenings. As well as allowing her an opportunity to improve her communication skills, it gave her a place within their social structure that seemed to be compatible with the needs and wishes of everyone.

  When she was finally able to walk without assistance, Myka took her and showed her how to make a spear, which brought her full circle to where the whole ordeal had begun. Elvene still felt remorse and stupidity at her own arrogance and stubbornness that had taken her to within an inch of losing her life. Going with Myka and learning to make a spear for herself was the last act in a long healing process for her, whatever it might have meant for him.

  From Myka’s point of view, if he had done this for her in the first place, Elvene would never have suffered her fate with the night render. He often thought that if she had lost her life he would never have been able to live with it. Somehow the woman was blessed and by association he too felt blessed. She had survived by a miracle and he had been a part of it. To Myka, destiny was at work here, and it was important not to go against it. That was the personal lesson that he took from the whole episode.

  The making of the spear was a ritual: finding the right sapling, trimming it and hardening it in a fire; and they did it together. For Elvene, it gave an insight into the Kiri culture; it was not just making a tool, as she perceived it, but a religious experience. For the Kiri, a spear determined whether they lived or died. It was how they got their food as well as their main protection against predators. Elvene noticed that Myka muttered prayers or mantras through the whole process and she didn’t interfere. Nevertheless, he made sure she played her part in it, as the spear was hers, and it was her life it had to guard.

  Elvene was even more conscious than Myka that their relationship had changed. She understood that the boy’s dreams had special significance for him. They had a potency for him that went beyond telepathy or premonition, although from Elvene’s point of view that made them potent enough. Elvene, though, had enough insight to understand that for Myka, his dreams were a connection to the metaphysical. They were the reason he was so attracted to her from the start and why he felt that she and he were connected.

  Elvene still felt guilt at the way she had treated him, particularly in light of what eventually happened. She realised that she could not lead the boy on the way she had, and that any friendship they now had, needed to be treated with care and respect. Likewise she noted that Myka was more reserved, and that the boy had developed a maturity that had not been there before. They had both been changed by the experience and they were both treading carefully.

  If anything she spent more time with him now than she had before, but she also spent time with other members of the Kiri, including his family. She was aware that Myka’s mother, Lenya, was naturally enough wary of her but very polite. The Kiri were such open people that duplicity was almost impossible for them. They wore their hearts on the outside because they had never had reason to do otherwise.

  Now that she had a spear, Myka was able to take her fishing. The Kiri fished with nets, but also with spears because it was a particular skill that they took pride in. Myka laughed at her early efforts because the refraction caused by the water fooled the eye, but she persevered and eventually she made a catch. It was a shared joy and despite her lack of success for the remainder of the day, it was one of her more memorable times. They stayed out on the water till very late in the day, when the island’s shadows were cast out over the bay. For Elvene it was magical and it gave her a sense of freedom and innocence that she hadn’t experienced since childhood.

  When they returned to the beach they made a fire there instead of going back to the village, and cooked the fish on the spot. It was the perfect way to end the day. There was a slight breeze from the sea, the sound of waves beyond the light and smoke of the fire. A mixture of salt air, fish and smoke; eating with their fingers, the fruits of the sea.

  One of the things that Elvene noticed about the Kiri was that they didn’t ask obvious questions; instead they allowed you to volunteer. That is why it did not surprise her that it took so long for Myka to ask the most obvious question of all.

  ‘Where are you from?’

  ‘You never asked me that before.’ She teased him with a smile.

  ‘I know. It didn’t seem important.’

  ‘And now it is?’

  ‘One day you will leave here; I know that. I would like to know more about you.’

  Elvene reached out and touched his face. Myka felt an electricity but more than that he saw a softness in her face that she rarely revealed.

  ‘That is true,’ she said. She felt an urge to kiss him, but the Kiri, as far as she could tell, didn’t kiss. Even so, she pulled his head to her and kissed him full on the mouth.

  At first Myka was just surprised, then she pushed her tongue into his mouth, the caress of it creating an urge deep within him, and then, just as abruptly, she withdrew. She had the same soft smile and he realised that his strongest desire now was to lie with her, but he knew equally, that he could not initiate it. He knew instinctively that it would be up to her and simultaneously he realised that was the way he wanted it to be.

  Elvene still had her hand against his face as if she could make the moment linger, then she reluctantly took it away.

  ‘I don’t know how to explain where I come from,’ she finally said, as if the kiss had merely been part of the conversation. ‘I come from out there,’ and she pointed at the stars in the night sky. ‘I am not from this world.’

  The boy nodded his head. He was still stunned by what had just happened between them.

  ‘Others will come looking for me,’ she said. ‘Until then I will stay.’

  ‘You are lost?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes I am lost.’ But in truth she felt far from lost at this very moment. She had the strongest desire to take the boy, but felt it would not be right to do it so spontaneously. Nevertheless, to use the Kiri euphemism, she felt that it was now inevitable that she would lie with him.

  ‘Does your family wonder where you are?’ she asked.

  ‘They know I am with you.’

  ‘And that is okay?’

  He smiled at her for the first time in the conversation. ‘Yes, of course it is okay.’

  ‘Then come with me.’

  She took him back to her ship. Once inside, she sat with him on her bed and kissed him once again. She could feel that the boy’s excitement was overwhelming. She pulled down the straps of her bodysuit and let it fall to her waist.

  To Myka, her breasts appeared softly curved with an upward lilt ending in small buds of sheer desire. He tentatively cupped a hand around one, then the other.

  Elvene waited a moment, then put an arm around him and leant back, pulling him with her as she went. As she did so, he buried his face against her breasts, and she could tell straightaway that he had already spent his seed.

  ‘Lie still,’ she said, and for a while she just held him.

  Then she sat up and carefully
undressed him, herself as well. She pulled him back down to her and they lay together in silence. She gently caressed his back until she felt him becoming aroused again. This time she drew him into her, kissed him and held him close by the hips. She kept him to an unhurried rhythm, feeling him slowly build, then his spasm, when she smiled and rose to meet him. She kissed him on the forehead and waited for the whole of his body’s tension to drain away.

  She gently fingered the muscles along his spine, then pulled his head against her face so she could whisper in his ear. ‘Thank you,’ she said, and then she pulled him closer to her still, as if she feared he would just float away.

  After a time they both fell asleep, and in the morning he simply left. Even though she was awake she let him go alone. For good or for bad, things between them could never be the same again.

  Everyone knew that they had slept together, yet nothing was said about it at all; it was simply understood. In a strange way, that she never would have anticipated, it gave her an even stronger bond with the whole tribe.

  It was only a matter of time before Myka stayed with Elvene virtually every night, though it never quite became a permanent arrangement. For a start, Elvene’s ship had its own voice and personality, which made him feel like an intruder when she wasn’t there. And Myka could never envisage Elvene’s ship as his permanent home; the environment was simply too alien. For Myka, all the ship’s sophistication could not replace the spiritual ambience of his cave. Without Elvene he would never have stayed there longer than a heartbeat.

  At first Elvene tried to set limits on their relationship, but she knew that after letting him into her life in the most intimate way possible, she could no longer refuse him without creating confusion. Also, if she was honest with herself, she didn’t really want to. They both knew that this could not last and perhaps that is why she was so willing to be his lover. Elvene was still unsure where this liaison was going to lead but she was more aware than he was of its temporary nature.

  Myka asked his father if he could take Elvene hunting, just the two of them, and Sefta told him that he thought it would be a good idea, but he should ask the Elders. It was most unusual, but Elvene had already shown that she was a most unusual woman and no one objected. They already saw her as a warrior woman as well as the Ocean Woman, and like Myka, they also believed that the two of them shared a common destiny. After all, it was only because of Myka’s dream that she had been rescued and brought back from death.