Her full Human name was Margita Iyapo Domonkos Kaalnikanjlo. Margit. She had all four of his living parents in common with him. Her Human father, though, was Vidor Domonkos, not the dead Joseph. Vidor?some people called him Victor?had moved to a village several miles upriver when he and Lilith tired of one another. He came back two or three times a year to see Margit. He did not like the way she looked, yet he loved her. She had seen that he did, and Akin was certain she had read his emotion correctly. He had never met Vidor himself. He had been too young for contact with strangers during the man?s last visit.
?Will you tell Vidor to let me touch him when he comes to see you again?? Akin asked.
?Father? Why??
?I want to find you in him.?
She laughed. ?He and I have a lot in common. He doesn?t like having anyone explore him, though. Says he doesn?t need anything burrowing through his skin.? She hesitated. ?He means that. He only let me do it once. Just talk to him if you meet him, Akin. In some ways he can be just as dangerous as any other Human.?
?Your father??
?Akin
All of them! Haven?t you explored any of them? Can?t you feel it?? She gave him a complex image. He understood it only because he had explored a few Humans himself. Humans were a compelling, seductive, deadly contradiction. He felt drawn to them, yet warned against them. To touch a Human deeply?to taste one?was to feel this.
?I know,? he said. ?But I don?t understand.?
?Talk to Ooan. It knows and understands. Talk to Mother, too. She knows more than she likes to admit.?
?She?s Human. You don?t think she?s dangerous, too, do you??
?Not to us.? She stood up with him. ?You?re getting heavier. I?ll be glad when you learn to walk.?
?Me, too. How old were you when you walked??
?Just over a year. You?re almost there.?
?Nine months.?
?Yes. It?s too bad you couldn?t learn walking as easily as you learned talking.? She returned him to Lilith, who fed him and promised to take him into the forest with her.
Lilith gave him bits of solid food now, but he still took great comfort in nursing. It frightened him to realize that someday she would not let him nurse. He did not want to grow that old.
4
Lilith put him on her back in a cloth sack and took him co one of the village gardens. This particular garden was some distance upriver from the village, and Akin enjoyed the long walk through the forest. There were new sounds, smells, and sights on each trip. Lilith would often stop to let him touch or taste new things or to let him view and memorize deadly things. He had discovered that his fingers were sensitive enough to taste which plants were harmful?if his sense of smell did not warn him before he touched.
?That?s a good talent,? Lilith said when he told her. ?At least you?re not likely to poison yourself. Be careful how you touch things, though. Some plants do damage on contact.?
?Show me those,? Akin said.
?I will. We clear them out of the area when we see them, but they always find their way back. I?ll take you with me next time we decide to cull them.?
?Does cull mean the same as clear??
?Cull means to clear selectively. We only take out the plants with contact poisons.?
?I see.? He paused, trying to understand the new scent he had detected. ?There?s someone between us and the river,? he whispered suddenly.
?All right.? They had reached the garden. She bent over a cassava plant and pretended to find it hard to pull up so that she could move casually around to face the river. They could not see the water from where they were. There was plenty of ground between themselves and the river?and plenty of cover.
?I can?t see them,? she said. ?Can you?? She had only her eyes to look with, but her senses were sharper than those of other Humans?somewhere between Human and construct.
?It?s a man,? Akin said. ?He?s hidden. He?s Human and a stranger.? Akin breathed in the adrenaline bite of the man?s scent. ?He?s excited. Maybe afraid.?
?Not afraid,? she said softly. ?Not of a woman pulling cassavas and carrying a baby. I hear him now, moving around near the big Brazil nut tree.?
?Yes, I hear!? Akin said excitedly.
?Keep quiet! And hold on. I might have to move fast.?
The man had stopped moving. Suddenly, he stepped into view, and Akin saw that he had something in his hands.
?Shit!? Lilith whispered. ?Bow and arrow. He?s a resister.?
?You mean those sticks he?s holding??
?Yes. They?re weapons.?
?Don?t turn that way. I can?t see him?
?And he can?t see you. Keep your head down!?
