Startled, I glanced up. There were two of them standing in the cave entrance. 'And I told him so, too.' The figures moved in, quiet inches above the crunch of the mine floor. 'Remember me, Debbie? It's Valancy. Maybe you've forgotten-' 'Forgotten? Oh, Valancy!' And we were hugging each other tightly. There was a lovely, warm intermingling of thoughts among the three of us, and all sorts of explanations-Jemmy had had no idea Child Within was so nearly ready to be born-and apologies-'If I'd had any idea, but when you-' and acceptances and reasons why and such things as Necessary Patterns-'Since you had the situation in hand I went to see if someone else-' until finally, chastened and relaxed, I watched Valancy cuddling my child. How could I ever have forgotten Jemmy and Valancy-the glamorous Grown-ups-the Old Ones of the Group of my People in Cougar Canyon, when the Canyon was still habitable. We had all waved them good-by when our ship left for the Home so long ago. 'You can look,' said Valancy to Jemmy. 'But don't touch.' Then she contradicted herself by putting the sleeping bundle into his arms. She snapped her fingers and a small bundle floated in from the mine entrance. 'I brought some clothes,' she said. 'Though it looks as if Glory has things well in hand. But here are some of Our Child's clothes. She grew so fast that she hardly got to use some of them. If we don't tell him, Thann-too will never know he had to wear girl-type clothes.' She unfolded the torn blanket square from around the baby. 'And there's the gown,' she said, smiling, fingering the hem of it, now regrettably damp. 'There's the gown,' I said. 'Oh, Valancy, wasn't I the luckiest person in the whole world to have Glory with me? I didn't deserve it a bit! What a mess I was!' 'The Glorys of this world have to put up with a lot of messes,' said Valancy, deftly changing my child from the skin out, and returning him, still blissfully sleeping, to my arms. She folded the wet clothes and bundled them up. 'We're taking you and the child back with us,' said Jemmy. 'We'd better wake Glory and tell her.' 'Glory!' I called softly and audibly. Instantly she was awake and out of bed, blinking in the dimness. 'Glory, my People have come,' I said. ''They want to take me and Thann-too back with them. But I'll be back, just as soon as I can.' Valancy surrendered the baby into Glory's waiting arms. She held him close. 'I reckon you do have to go,' she said, her voice muffled against his blanket. 'He's going to be needing diapers by the dozen pretty darn soon. It'd keep us hopping, washing out what we have.' 'We brought some supplies for you,' said Jemmy. 'They're from the disaster unit. We're working all around this area helping people who got flooded out.' 'Is Jicker all right?' Seth's voice came huskily. 'Jicker?' Jemmy did some fast scanning-'Oh, yes,' chuckled Jemmy. 'I remember him. We fished him off the roof of his cabin. Never heard such cussing in all my life. Ten minutes solid without repeating himself once!' 'That's Jicker,' grinned Seth and settled back down. 'I'm glad the old cuss is okay.' Jemmy was looking around the shadowy room. 'This is the Skagmore, isn't it?' he said. 'I thought she was played out a long time ago.' 'She was-a couple of times,' said Seth. 'But we managed to find a few more pockets. Enough to keep us going for a while, but I reckon she's about done for now, with all this water and stuff.' 'We had a mine on the other side of Baldy,' said Jemmy. 'When we moved on up into the hills we didn't think there was enough left to make it worthwhile to leave a crew behind. I think there's pretty good pickin's there for a couple of willing workers. A sort of shack's there, too, where the fellows bunked when it was their shift. I think we piped the spring into the kitchen the last summer. It's not bad. As soon as we get Debbie settled at home, we'll come back and take you there. You can look the setup over and see if you'd like to take a whack at it.' 'Thanks,' said Glory huskily. 'We'll give her a look. We're kinda wiped out here. This is it.' She gestured at the few possessions huddled around the glowing wheel. 'And only the clothes they stand in,' I added. 'And Glory's treasure box.' I lifted the shoe box from the edge of Seth's bed and floated it to Glory's hands. 'Glory,' I said on sudden impulse, 'do you have your mirror in there?' 'The pieces.' Glory's face reddened slightly. 'Silly, keeping useless things.' 'Show it to them,' I asked. 'They know I broke it.' Slowly Glory took the lid off the box and carefully lifted out the mirror. She had fitted all the broken pieces together and they caught and cut into pieces what little light there was in the cave. I took the mirror from her and looked into it at my shattered, shamed face. 'Jemmy,' I said, holding it out to him. 'I broke it. I ruined something I can't make right. Can you help me?' Jemmy took the mirror and stared down into it, his face tight with concentration. After long seconds, there was a sudden liquid flow of light and the broken pieces of glass melted into one another and glazed across. He gave the mirror back to me and I saw myself mended and whole again. 'Here, Glory,' I said, putting it into her hands. 'It's only a part of all the apologies and makings-up for what I owe you.' She ran her finger across the mended glass, her face tender with memories. 'Thanks,' she said. 'I appreciate it.' Jemmy was bringing in a carrycase for me so I wouldn't have to exert myself at all on the return trip. Glory held Thann-too while Valancy and Jemmy got me settled. She fingered the soft warmth of the baby blanket and burrowed in to uncover one of the tiny pink hands. She tucked it back gently, folding the cuff of the gown around it first. 'Where's the other stuff?' she asked. 'No sense taking makeshifts back with you.' 'No,' I said. 'You can't have the gown back, even if you do want to keep it. That's Thann-too's very first gown, and might have been his only gown if things hadn't worked out as they did. It's staying in our family, every thoughtful stitch of it, and Thann-too's first child will wear it-' I broke off, overwhelmed by a sudden thought. 'Oh, Valancy! I'm a mother! And when Thann-too grows up, I'll be a grandmother/' They all laughed at my shocked astonishment. And the emotional temperature of our parting eased. When Jemmy and Valancy were ready to transport me out into a sky aglow with moonlight and puffy leftover clouds, Glory knelt to surrender my baby into my arms. I reached up and hugged her fiercely to me. 'You're Thann- too's grandma, and don't you forget it,' I whispered. 'I'll be back. We'll both be back, and make everything as right as we can after such a horrible beginning. Honestly, all the People aren't as bad as I make them seem. Don't judge them by me.' 'Your folks seem to be mighty nice.' Glory was ignoring the tears that stood in her eyes. 'I-I never minded you too much. Kids will be kids and then there was Child Within-' Her finger touched his sleeping cheek and she stood up abruptly. 'Lordee! Here I am in my nightclothes in front of ever'body!' And she retreated into the shadows to find her slicker to use for a robe. I waved good-by once as we launched out over the waters. Glory's arm went up in brief salute and she turned back into the darkness without waiting to see us gone. 'You certainly lucked out there, didn't you?' said Jemmy from behind me. 'Didn't I?' I murmured drowsily. 'I didn't expect an angel in jeans and plaid shirt. That's not an excuse. It's an explanation.' Jemmy chuckled and in silence we streaked across the sky. I closed my eyes against the brightness of the moon. Swallowing sorrow and hugging my child close against me, I whispered, 'Oh, Thann-oh, Thann-oh, Thann!' And felt him very near. 'Chee!' Meris's breath came out in a long sigh. 'Hmm,' said Mark, unfolding his long legs to attend again to the fire. 'Not exactly-' He broke off, absorbed in poking the coals. Debbie laughed. 'Not exactly the behavior you would expect from one of the People?' she said. 'Well, I guess that's it.' He reached for another length of wood. 'Don't think it wasn't a big blow to me, too, when I finally stepped back for a good look.' Debbie sobered, the flaring fire lighting her face. 'Of course the People are far from perfect, but it was terribly humbling to me to realize that I was a big, fat part of the clay on the feet thereof and an excellent object lesson to the rising generation. Believe me, I've learned to check myself often against a standard more reliable than my own egocentric
