least a day.?
I laughed, remembering its touch, realizing that I was eager to touch it, too, and understand exactly how it had changed. We would not be the same?Human-born and Oankali-born. Examining it would teach me more about myself by similarity and by contrast. And it would want even more urgently to know where I had found Jesusa and TomAs. If its own sense of smell had not recognized them as young and fertile?as mine had not when I met them?Nikanj would have let it know.
?I?ll tell you everything,? I said. ?But put us somewhere dry, first, and feed us.? I meant, and all three of them knew it, that TomAs and Jesusa should be given a dry place and food.
Nikanj rested a sensory arm on Aaor?s shoulders and some of the straining eagerness went out of Aaor.
?What are you called?? Nikanj asked TomAs. It spoke very softly, yet that soft voice carried so well. Did I sound that way?
TomAs leaned forward, responding to the voice, then was barely able to keep himself from drawing back. He had never seen an Oankali before, and Nikanj, an adult ooloi, was especially startling. He stared, and then was ashamed and looked away. Then he stared again.
?What are you called?? Nikanj repeated.
?TomAs,? he answered finally. ?TomAs Serrano y MartIn.? He had not told me that much. He paused, then said, ?This is Jesusa, my sister.? He touched her hair the way my Human parents sometimes touched one another?s hair. ?She was shot.?
Nikanj focused sharply on me.
?She?s all right,? I said. ?She?s exhausted because she hasn?t been eating well for a while?and you know how hard I had to make her body work.? I turned and shook her. ?Jesusa,? I whispered. ?You?re all right. Wake up. We?ve reached my family.? I kept my hand on her shoulder, shook her again gently, wishing I could give her the kind of comfort I would have been able to give only a few days before. But I had had all I could do to save her life.
She opened her eyes, looked around, and saw Nikanj. She turned her face from it and whimpered?a sound I had not heard from her before.
?You?re safe,? I told her. ?These people are here to help us. You?re all right. No one will harm you.?
She realized finally what I was saying. She fell silent and became almost still. She could not stop her trembling, but she looked at me, then at Lilith, Aaor, and Nikanj. She made herself look longest at Nikanj.
?Excuse me,? she said after a moment. ?I
haven?t seen anyone like you before.?
Nikanj?s many sensory tentacles flattened smooth as its body. ?I haven?t seen anyone like you for a century,? it said.
At the sound of its voice, she looked startled. She turned to look at me, then looked back at Nikanj. I introduced it along with Lilith and Aaor.
?I?m pleased to meet you,? Jesusa lied politely. She watched Nikanj, fascinated, not knowing that it held its position of amusement, of smoothness, extra long for her benefit. I went smooth every time I laughed, but my few sensory tentacles were not that visible even when they were not flattened. And I did laugh. Nikanj did not.
?I?m amazed and pleased,? Nikanj said. And to me in Oankali, it said, ?Where are they from??
?Later,? I said.
?Will they stay, Oeka??
?Yes.?
It focused on me, seemed to expect me to say more. I kept quiet.
Aaor broke the silence. ?You can?t walk, can you?? it said in Spanish. ?We?ll have to carry you.?
TomAs stood up quickly. ?If you?ll show me the way,? he said, ?I?ll carry Jodahs.? He hesitated for a moment beside Jesusa. ?Sister, can you walk??
?Yes.? She stood up slowly, holding her ragged bloody clothing together. She took a tentative step. ?I feel all right,? she said, ?but
so much blood.?
Aaor had turned to lead the way back to the cabin. TomAs lifted me, and Jesusa walked close to him. I spoke to her from his arms. ?You?ll have good food to eat here,? I told her. ?You?ll probably be a little hungrier than usual for a while because you?re still regrowing part of yourself. Aside from that, you?re well.?
She took my dangling hand and kissed it.
TomAs smiled. ?If you really feel well, Jesusa, give it one more for me. You don?t know what it brought you back from.?
She looked ahead at Nikanj. ?I don?t know what it?s brought me back to,? she whispered.
?No one will hurt you here,? I told her again. ?No one will touch you or even come near you. No one will keep you from coming to me when you want to.?
?Will they let me go?? she asked.
I turned my head so that I could look at her with my eyes. ?Don?t leave me,? I said very softly.
?I?m afraid. I don?t see how I can stay here with your
family.?
?Stay with me.?
