Laughing, Deck answered,“Oh, that means other people – not me.”
“That attitude isprecisely how you and Con get yourselves into this kind oftrouble.”
“Nah, it’s just the natureof our job.”
“I believe the root causeis multifactorial.”
“Oh, you’ve dazzled anddefeated me with your fancy science-talk.” Naiche was glad she’dbeen able to make Aqila laugh, as well as reassure her, and Lateefsigned off in much better frame of mind than she’d started outwith.
As she shut the handscanner off, Decker noticed Kayatennae was resting his chin on thebed, watching Con sleep. She reached over to scratch the dog’shead, saying, “He’s gonna be okay, buddy.”
“Does he understand whatyou’re saying?”
Decker looked up to findMoira standing in the doorway. “I think so. Probably not all of thewords – but the reassurance, yeah, he gets that.” She gave a smallsnort of laughter. “When this is all over, maybe we’ll get him oneof these….” Naiche pointed at the Silver Tongue on her shoulder.“…and see what it can do for his word comprehension.” Deck hadhoped for at least a smile but Finnegan continued to frown down atKennedy’s sleeping figure, so she asked, “Is somethingwrong?”
“This is all myfault.”
“Unless you’re somehowchanneling Prince Croker, that is in no way true.”
“If it wasn’t for me,you’d have been with him the whole time.” Moira plopped down in thechair next to Decker. “You even said that I endangered people.” AtNaiche’s questioning look, she explained, “I looked up the word‘histrionics’.”
Deck closed her eyes infrustration at her past self, before explaining, “Okay, that wasnot a nice thing for me to say. I’m sorry – sometimes my tempergets the better of me.”
“Perhaps…but that doesn’tmean it wasn’t true.”
Deck swiveled her body soshe was facing Finnegan. “Remember what I said about not holdingchildren to the same standards as adults? That goes foryou, too. You can’t bemore than what? Eighteen?”
“I have completed overfour age-cycles.”
“Okay, I have no idea whatthat means but I’d bet my next paycheck that you’re well undertwenty.” Naiche leaned forward, declaring, “I don’t blame you.Honestly.”
Since Moira simply nodded,Decker was about to offer additional assurance but was side-trackedby the girl asking, “What’s a paycheck?”
“That’s how we get oursalaries – the money that the UDC pays us for doing ourjobs.”
“You still havethat?”
“What – checks? No, ofcourse not. The word ‘paycheck’ is just an artifactfrom—”
“No, what I was sayingis…you still have money?”
“Ohh.” Another layer ofthe cocoon these people had been reared in was suddenly revealed.“Uh, yeah, we certainly do.”
Anything further she wantedto say on the subject was interrupted by Ekno Formay, the Feataywho’d supplied the medicine for Con’s leg, and whose house theywere in, asking them to partake in the evening meal.
***
They went down to find thatEkno had gathered the village leader and elders to eat with them.Deck knew this was undoubtedly a significant honor and she thankedthem lavishly for their kindness. Also present was the child,Outra, whom Decker had helped. At the sight of the humans enteringthe room, Outra’s pointed, floppy ears twitched wildly. Decker wascoming to realize this mannerism was a Featay greeting ofhappiness, pretty much equivalent to a human’s smile, which she inturn gave the child.
The long trestle table,covered with a homespun cloth, was spread with appetizing plattersof roasted meat and stewed vegetables. After sitting down to eat,Deck saw Ekno watching closely as Moira hesitated to accept aserving of the meat. She rushed to tell Ekno, “She’s used to onlysynthetic meat. She’s never seen a cooked animal before.” Naicheurged Moira, “Go ahead and try it, I bet you’ll really likeit.”
Ekno’s ears drooped whileemitting some chirps that had no translation. Finally, the healersaid to Decker, “She holds fear of meat from tales marking Featayas Tolutay-flesh-eaters. From Maykure such tales have spread. It isso?”
“Moira really has nevereaten actual meat before.” Deciding anything less than the truthwould be disrespectful, Decker reluctantly agreed, “But, yes,we did hearsomething like that from the Maykure.”
Radiating resigneddisappointment, Ekno answered, “Maykure keep belief of such tales,wrong and bitter – so will spread them on.”
“Why do they believe it?What happened between the Featay and the Maykure?”
Over dinner, the Featayleader, Ixnea Rijal, shared their history. Before the gamma rayincident, the Featay, Maykure, and Intabet had all lived as onepeople – the Tolutay. Even after the retreat undercover because ofthe gamma ray burst, they stayed in contact and helped each otherwhere they could.
Ixnea said, “A sicknessfoul attacked Featay. For help we cry out but no help is shared atwe. Maykure share only their backs at Featay, their once-kin, sofear great they hold of disease attacking them. Death beyondmeasure came to Featay, together so close we dwell in our city,Featah. Death as same came to our food-animals, and our under-roofgardens held rot. What Featay lived, cry out in hunger great.Knowing still that peerazu hold danger, we leave Featah to huntforest and field for food. Never return did we to the under-roofgreat. Maykure keep belief that those living out gladly wherepeerazu fly hold no sense. We hold memories of suffering graverthan peerazu.”
“But where did thecannibal story come from?”
“So many generationspassing by make tales malformed.” Ixnea hesitated before admitting,“At the season of hunger great, some Featay ate of the dead.” Therewas an air of challenge to the next question. “Would you share notthis practice, if hunger attacked your offspring?”
Quietly, Deck admitted, “Idon’t know. I hope I never have to find out. But I can’t condemnthose who made that choice.” After considering the tragic story fora moment she asked, “What about the Intabet? Did they turn theirbacks, too? Do they condemn your ways like the Maykuredo?”
Ekno answered, “Intabet areconsumed by homage of peerazu, leaving no scope to share help atFeatay.”
Having heard that throughthe Silver Tongue on Deck’s shoulder, Moira exclaimed, “Homage?What does that mean? They worship those monsters?”
“It is so,” Ixnea said.“Of peerazu, they hold knowing all-embracing, keep traditions ofpeerazu soothing, so suffer not attacks yet live they in themountain realm. Tales are kept that such knowing Intabet sharenot.”
Decker said, “Have youasked them recently? Maybe they would help if they understood howbad things are for you. You said yourself, you
