by Caney, Mark
The next day Una-Pi was strutting about in her new shell, when the great, terrible voice of Senx came to her through the waters, calling her name. High above her she could see the bright face of Senx looking down to find her. She guessed at once what Senx must want and desperately sought to hide the lovely shell. She found a hole under a large rock. It was just large enough that she could back the shell into that hole and there she stayed, her head and legs out of the hole, with the shell stuck well inside.
Then Senx spoke directly to her. ‘Una-Pi, do you have Eightarms’ shell?’
‘No, I do not, O Great Senx. Most certainly not.’
‘Come out of that hole so I can see you better.’
‘I would prefer to stay here if I may.’
‘Why do you not come out of that hole, Una-Pi?’
‘I merely seek shelter from the great warmth of your face, O Senx.’
‘Indeed. And you do not have Eightarms’ shell?’
‘No, no, but I know who does. It was that Ned-Lah. He took it because he is ashamed of his smooth white skin. He wanted to hide from the world.’
‘Are you quite certain of this, Una-Pi?’
‘Absolutely certain, O Senx. Now may I be left in peace in my hole?’
‘You may stay in that hole as long as you wish, Una-Pi.’
At that, Senx turned his gaze elsewhere. Una-Pi felt so pleased with herself that she had fooled Senx. Pleased that is, until she tried to move. To her horror she found that the great rock had somehow shifted slightly and now it rested heavily on the lovely shell. Try as she might she could not move it. She finally realised the only way she could go to find food would be to come out with her naked soft body exposed into the dangerous world.
Of course that was Senx’s punishment for her. And that was not all. Una-Pi never found her old crab armour again. From that day forth she had to always find the empty shells of other creatures to live in. On the very same day Senx made another change. In case Una-Pi might feel spiteful towards Ned-Lah, Senx gave him a fine covering of black spines so that he would never have trouble from the likes of that crab again.’
Bellatrix interrupted with a hushed voice: ‘And what about Eightarms?’
‘I’m glad you asked me that. Well he was very angry at first that his shell had been stolen. But instead Senx gave him great intelligence and cunning, and a means to squirt out a black disguise if he were threatened. More than that though, he gave him the greatest appetite for Una-Pi and her kind, and from that day onwards he hunted her whenever he could.’
The Narrator swung his rostrum in a curve to the seabed in the traditional gesture indicating the end of a performance. Dusk smiled at him as the children clamoured about him with questions about what happened to various other creatures, but he pulled away.
‘No more, no more. I have other clans to visit, other children to tell stories. Be good now and remember what happened to that naughty Una-Pi.’
With a nod to Dusk he was gone, swimming away from the bay alone.
Lost in Moonlight came over to Dusk.
‘Fades Into Dusk-Jeii, did you know that story?’
‘No, I did not, but it was a good one, wasn’t it?’
‘That Una-Pi was horrible to her friend Ned-Lah. Why would someone do that?’
‘Perhaps she didn’t think out what would happen properly.’
‘No, Jeii, I think she was just mean. You wouldn’t let someone else take the blame for something you’d done wrong would you?’
Dusk looked into the trusting eyes of the young dolphin and wondered what to say. She looked past her into the distance for a moment then answered carefully.
‘It would be wrong to do that of course, Moonlight. Only a really selfish zeta would do such a thing.’
Chapter 40
“Should I give you knowledge or show you how to find it?”
- Snow On Blue Mountains to the assembled Novices at the 11,617 Gathering
Sky soon caught up with “One Eye” as he had now named the old dolphin to himself. One Eye was hanging vertically, head down, next to a protruding ledge that jutted from one of the larger coral outcrops. Sky was impressed at the way he was able to stay suspended like that with no apparent movement.
Sky drew closer to him, then realised that once again he had approached him from his blind side. He resolved to make an effort not to do that again, it was like sneaking up on someone. In any case, there was little he could do about it this time as the old dolphin had his good eye directed under the ledge, so he would not see him whichever direction he approached from. Perhaps next time he should also make a point of using echolocation as he approached as well.
‘What do you want now, boy?’
Sky tried not to show his surprise. The old dolphin had not moved and could not have possibly seen him; he had made no sound and he had not heard One Eye using sonar. How had he known Sky was there?
Sky drew closer. ‘I was wondering if you would mind me staying around this island for a day or two?’
‘Thank you for asking. Yes, i would.’
‘Oh.’ Sky peered under the ledge. ‘Can I ask what you are looking at?’
‘Them.’ One Eye did not move but Sky followed his gaze. A brown moray eel, covered in bright yellow spots was under the ledge. Its jaws were held open, revealing rows of sharp, translucent, white teeth. Its gills moved gently back and forth as it breathed. Sky was looking for the rest of “them” when he realised that there was another creature: a tiny, spindly shrimp; white, with orange bands on its legs and body. The shrimp was in the mouth of the moray, stepping neatly between the rows of vicious looking teeth, brushing everything with delicate, long, white antennae. From time to time it would detect some morsel between the teeth and would then deftly remove it with one of its pincers and pass it into its own mouth.
‘Now,’ One Eye observed, ‘that little fellow should taste pretty delicious if he resembles some of his cousins. So why doesn’t the big chap eat him?’
‘It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement of course; they’ve been doing it for millions of years. The larger creatures get cleaned of debris and parasites; the shrimp gets a meal.’
‘So everybody wins.’
‘Well, yes. It’s a bit like the relationship zetii have with their prey: we take what we need, maintaining the fitness of the shoals, always leaving enough of them so that they can prosper and find enough food.’
‘I see. So what happens if one day the morays find that there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of these shrimps?’
‘Well, there’d be competition between the morays to get to the remaining shrimps’ cleaning stations I suppose. Many of them wouldn’t get cleaned, so they’d be more prone to disease. The morays would certainly suffer as a result.’
‘Indeed. Perhaps some of the morays might be inclined to band together and give themselves some fine title. Proclaim that they had the right to have first choice to be cleaned say?’
Sky could not imagine creatures as apparently dim-witted as moray eels being so well organised but he went along with it. ‘Alright, suppose they did: what would happen to that group of morays?’
One Eye’s body fell gently through the water; his head remaining at the same level, his tail swinging gracefully downwards in an arc until he was once again vertical in the water, but this time with his tail flukes just off the sand. It was done effortlessly: Sky did not see how he had initiated the manoeuvre. He noticed that every movement One Eye made had a complete economy of effort and a careless grace. Throughout the turn, his view of the industrious shrimp had been constant, as though he had tilted around an invisible pivot point in the centre of his eye.
‘I should imagine that they would do rather well. As an organised group like that, they could easily ensure that they dominated the cleaning stations, excluding the other, individual morays.’
‘But that would be wrong, one group forcing the individuals to suffer just because they did not belong.’
&nb
sp; Sky saw One Eye turn slightly to look at him, his gaze quizzical, and, Sky thought, perhaps slightly amused. ‘Wrong? What does that mean?’
‘It would not be right…it would be…against the Way.’
‘So you need the Way to tell you what is “right” and “wrong” then?’
Sky shook his head; swam quickly to the surface to take a breath and to think for a moment. What did make something wrong? He rolled his head downwards, tilting his tail into the air; letting the weight of it drive him gently back downwards to join the old dolphin. ‘Isn’t that what the Way is for; to show us what is right and wrong, the correct way to behave?’
‘Why not let everyone just decide for themselves? i decide for myself.’
‘It would be too hard for most zetii, they don’t want to have to work out if each thing is right or wrong. And anyway, some might decide a particular thing is right, others that it was wrong.’
‘Would that be a problem?’
‘Well yes…I don’t know. Why do we have the Way then, if everyone could just decide for themselves?’
‘Ah,’ One Eye tilted his head slightly, looking at Sky through his half closed eye, ‘Well, you just said that most zetii would not want the bother of working everything out; they like their philosophy ready made. And it would be chaos if everyone had different interpretations of a particular situation; society couldn’t function.’
‘So you’re saying that’s all the Way is: a means of making society work?’
‘Essentially, yes. There is no special magic to the doctrines of the Way. Perhaps some time in the past a few zetii like you and i were out for a little hunt amongst the seagrass. Then they had a good idea, and over a snack they came up with some guidelines that would work for most clans in most situations.’
Sky screwed up his eyes. Everything he had learned since he could remember said that the Way had been compiled by the wisest of the ancients and that it had almost mystical powers; that its teachings were absolute and all-knowing. The idea that it was thrown together by a few ordinary zetii over their midday meal was impossible. ‘No,’ he protested, ‘it couldn’t be that simple.’
‘What else then? Do you prefer those stories that in the distant past, creatures came from another star and gave the zetii all their knowledge? Couldn’t our ancestors have just worked it out for themselves?’
‘But zetii society is based on everyone following the Way; we say that someone is a “good” zeta if they follow it. And yet you’re saying anyone could make it up themselves.’
‘I did not actually say that at all. But let’s say there are two zetii. They both are separately faced with identical difficult moral decisions in their lives. One follows the Way absolutely, he makes each choice based on its teachings. The other one has somehow never heard of the Way. She makes each choice based on her own evaluation of each situation. It so happens they both make the same decisions in every case. Which is the better zeta?’
‘Most would say the one that followed the teachings of the Way.’
One Eye shook his head slowly. ‘But the second zeta not only made the same choices each time, she agonised over each dilemma herself. She made her choices based on her own beliefs, not because she felt the need to comply with society’s demands.’
Sky considered this, confused by such radical thinking. He took a moment to surface for air. One Eye remained on the bottom. Did he ever breathe? Sky returned to his side. ‘Yes, I suppose I can see what you mean. She would’ve had to have actually thought everything through for herself. But most clans wouldn’t be very tolerant of her, even though she was making the same choices each time.’
‘Ha!’ One Eye exclaimed, ‘The boy’s not such a fool after all. Now tell me: you’ve been through some hard times of late haven’t you?’
‘Well, yes…I was...exiled from my clan for…’
‘Don’t bother — it doesn’t matter to me. And you have a certain look that is familiar to me. You’ve looked the Cold One in the eye recently, I think.’
With a shock Sky remembered his dive out in the deep sea; how close he had been to dying that day.
‘Yes. I went looking for Her.’
‘But you decided not to stay down there.’
‘No.’
‘Why? What made you come back into the light?’
‘The Shades hinted at something. Something about duty. I felt I might have things to do.’
‘Duty eh? Well, that’s just possible.’
One Eye was very still for a while. He seemed to Sky to be looking inside himself; in some other place. Then he was back, focusing slowly on Sky again. ‘You remind me of someone. Perhaps this needs more thought. You can stay for a day or two. Welcome to Forlorn Island!’
Chapter 41
“With my first love I flew the skies
With my next love I saw Senx rise
My third, made me a little wise
My fourth, more so with all his lies.”
- Children’s jumping song
Fades Into Dusk swam away from her clan, following the direction of the strong westerly wind which had kicked up steep, breaking waves. On another day she might have enjoyed launching herself from the wave faces but now she just made low leaps as needed to take air or look ahead. This was a familiar route for her but she had not swum it in the many days since Sky’s exile. It seemed very different this time though; in part because she was making the journey in daylight. Her classes had finished early as one of the teachers had been unwell; some kind of stomach upset. The clan Healer had prescribed regular, small quantities of a particular red algae, otherwise fasting and a day of rest. The Novices were therefore unexpectedly free and she had managed to slip away. The other reason the journey seemed strange was that this time she had a different purpose for making it.
Sky’s exile, and the way in which it happened, had deeply affected her and her mind was in turmoil. At first she had been excited by the Guardians and their new ideas, but her last experience with them had been shocking, and she had begun to realise that she had only really wanted to believe in them because of her attraction to Storm Before Darkness. Now she could not help comparing Storm and Sky, and Storm fared badly in the comparison. She found herself respecting Sky more and more. Yes, he wanted to keep to the old ways, but when she thought back, he never argued compliance out of simple obedience to the Way. He always seemed to have thought about the issues and he had genuine compassion for others. ‘Storm was passionate about his beliefs too — very passionate, but he did not care if others were hurt in achieving them. He had often talked about “necessary sacrifices”. She had assumed that this was partly rhetoric but the punishment ceremony she had witnessed had opened her eyes to the reality of just how serious he was. She had always believed that it was what you did that mattered, not what you said you would do. And Storm acted violently. And Sky…well, Sky had followed her to the Guardian ceremony. Why? Not to betray her — he had his chance to do that. More than that, he had sacrificed himself for her. She had thought about it so many times now and there was no other explanation. He could have used her as an excuse for being with the Guardians and he might have been let off such severe punishment. She, however, would have been exiled, and deservedly so — she had to admit that now. Sky must have followed her that night because he cared about her. And to accept exile instead of her — she could not have imagined anyone doing that before.
She considered confessing what had happened but she admitted to herself that she was too afraid. She did not think she could survive the loneliness of exile; it was the worse form of punishment for any dolphin: social contact and the clan was everything. She could not bring Sky back now, but she could do something to atone for what she had done: she would end her relationship with Storm. At first she had intended to simply never go there again but she needed some kind of closure. And out of respect to Sky she wanted to tell Storm that what the Guardians believed was wrong and that she wanted no part of it. That would feel good at least, and then
she would never see him again.
She swam along the section of shallow, fringing reef. Something large swam by just on the edge of visibility, going the opposite way. It paid her no heed and she in turn ignored it. Probably a big Cleaner of some kind she supposed. No threat to a healthy adult like her, but if it carried on towards the clan it might be a concern for the young or sick. She would mention it to the scouts later; she would just have to pretend she had seen it nearer the bay. Suddenly there was a voice ahead of her: ‘It is I, Venus in Mist, of the Western Red Mountains Clan!’
Dusk responded instinctively as the other appeared out of the blue ahead of her. It was a young female with an unusual metallic blue-grey skin and dark, deep eyes. She spoke confidently to Dusk: ‘I’m glad to finally meet you, Fades Into Dusk.’
‘How do you know me?’
‘I’ve heard about you from your clan. I came to know Touches The Sky, and when zetii talk about him, your name is often mentioned.’
‘I can’t think why, we’re just friends.’
‘Really? Are you sure? Listen, I met Sky and I like him. I mean, like him. I was supposed to meet him after the Gathering but something happened — he didn’t show up and I thought that was it. I thought it might be something to do with you in fact. I left with my clan. But later we came across a hunting party from your clan and they told us a story of how he had been exiled for contact with the Guardians. Then I realised why he’d missed our meeting. Then I came back here to look for you.’
‘Why do you want to see me?’
‘It’s simple. Do you want him? Have you got some kind of hold over him?’
Dusk was shocked at this female’s directness but tried to think. Did she want Sky? ‘I don’t really know, I haven’t thought about it that way. There’s nothing between us now, but could there be sometime? I don’t know.’