Almost without thinking about it she let loose the branch and looked at one hand. Very long, thin fingers of tough skin covered with light reddish-brown fur. Moving the hand up and over generated other movement, and she felt a slight drag on her right side. She twisted her head and saw that there were tremendous folds of skin starting at her wrist and down the length of her body. She couldn’t imagine what the skin was for, but some flexing showed that it was tough and also covered in the reddish-brown fur yet stretchable, almost like rubber.
She risked movement on the branch and realized almost immediately that she had a tail. Trying to keep a good hold on the branch she twisted around to see it. Broad, flat, and squared off at the end, it was not one tail but a series of bones that, fanlike, she could open or close, to widen or narrow the tail. Between was the same rubbery membranous skin.
She was still staring, trying to figure out what to do next, when she heard a sudden tremendous noise and the tree shook. Frightened, she tightened her grip with all four hands.
“You there! Just what the hell do you think you’re doing in my tree?” snapped an odd, high nasal voice just above her.
She started and looked up to see who was speaking. It was easy to see him—but a shock as well, for she knew instantly that she now looked much like the creature who stared at her angrily.
His head was small and flat, almost like a dog’s except for the mouth, which resembled the bill of a duck. A long neck led to a rodent’s body, soft and lithe, looking as if it were capable of bending in any several directions all at once. He too had the flat fanlike tail and the long, thin, powerful-looking arms and legs. The thing was also almost a quarter larger than she, and its fur was a mottled gray.
“I’m sorry, but I’m new here. I came in at Zone and was sent through the Gate and woke up here as this. I’m afraid I don’t know where I am or what I am. I don’t even know how to get down from here.”
The creature’s feline eyes widened slightly in surprise. “So you’re an Entry, huh? You must be, otherwise you’d never make crazy statements like that. Get
“Well, I have to get
“You can’t stay here, that’s for sure,” the creature snorted. “Hell, I have too many mouths to feed now.”
“But I don’t know where to go,” she said. “I just woke up here on this branch. If you’ll just tell me
He seemed to be considering things. “Don’t have time to dawdle over your problems,” he told her. “Right now you just get off my tree and that’ll be the end of
“I don’t think you’re being very friendly at all,” she huffed. “And, besides, I’d love to get off this diseased old tree if only I knew how.”
“Diseased!I’ll have you know that this tree is one of the best in all Awbri! Why, alone, all year it supports twenty-two people! Now what do you think of
“To be honest,” she said truthfully, “I couldn’t care less. I’m sorry I called your tree diseased, but I would very much like to know how to get off it and where to go from there. Don’t you have some sort of government here, some kind of authority?”
He cocked his head slightly, as if thinking about something. “Well, I suppose you can go to the local Council. We don’t need much here in Awbri; no big government or things like that. The Council’s the biggest thing about here, so that’s where you should go. The cowbrey bush in the center of the glade yonder, maybe half a kilometer that way.” He pointed with a foot, idly, index finger outstretched. Truly there were no differences between hands and feet on these people.
She looked in the indicated direction but could see nothing but trees and undergrowth.
“How do I get there?” she asked him. “Walk along the branches from tree to tree?”
He gave a sound that sounded like spitting. “If you want to, sure. But you can fly through a lot easier. The way’s been cut, as you can see.”
She stared. It was true. Openings had been cut, trimmed through the lush growth like roadways in the air. But—fly?
“I—I don’t know how to fly,” she told him.
He made that sound again. “Damn! Well, I don’t have time to teach you. Crawl along, then; you’ll get there sooner or later.”
And suddenly he was off, before she could say another word, shaking the tree again as he leaped into the air, spreading hands and feet and opening his fan tail, sailing off down one of those avenues.
She sighed and started to make her way along the branches in the direction he’d indicated. She couldn’t say much for the manners of these people but there were some possibilities here that were exciting. Never had she felt so keen a sense of balance nor fantastic depth perception! To fly, like that—man?—had flown!
She would learn, she told herself. She would soar effortlessly through space with confidence someday. She could hardly wait.
The journey was not without its problems. The branches were often several meters apart and she was a long time getting the confidence to jump from one to another over such a wide gap. She always made it, though, with unerring accuracy.
She met other—people—too. Most ignored her or looked at her strangely but none bothered to stop and talk. They jumped from every limb of every tree and they flew all over the place, mostly going to and fro on errands that were unclear to her. A few were more obvious; they scampered up and down thick trunks and off onto limbs great and small, spraying and cutting and pruning their trees. Clearly these trees were life in them, they ate their leaves and fruit, they lived symbiotically.
Here and there she came across spots clear to the sun above or to the forest floor below. She immediately understood why the man had wondered at her request to go down; it was an ugly swamp down there, covered with sticky mud, stagnant water, and the occasional growth. Occasionally she spotted great, nasty-looking reptiles, all teeth, lying in mud holes or sliding through the bogs. Not the kind of creatures she really wanted to meet on their own ground. Fortunately, none looked capable of climbing trees.
She finally reached the glade, a nobby knoll of high ground atop which grew the largest tree she’d ever seen, a great green ball that towered above the other trees and masked the sky that should have been visible. It was a good hundred meters or more from the end of her tree to the beginning of the great one.
The muddy swamp was still below her, then the knoll rose, covered with sharp grass stalks leading up to the tree. A large number of Awbrians flitted back and forth effortlessly above the swamp, but she was hesitant. A hundred meters was a long way and she couldn’t possibly manage that kind of jump.
She called out to passing Awbrians but they ignored her pleas and went on about their business, only an occasional passing glance showing that she was being ignored, not overlooked.
She sighed. The light was growing dim; darkness was something she would not like to face here without some kind of refuge. She cursed Obie if he had indeed made her this, and she cursed the Awbrians who ignored her. She was a High Priestess, damn it all! She was used to making an utterance and having it instantly carried out. Never before had she felt so ignored and helpless.
Never before had she felt so alone.
She heard a rustle and an Awbrian landed near her, vibrating the tree. She was used to it by now.
“You look like you’re in trouble,” the creature remarked. “Are you hurt?”
She turned anxiously, relieved to find a friendly voice, relieved that somebody had acknowledged her existence.
“No, I’m not hurt, thanks,” she responded. “I’m just new. I’m—well, I was a different kind of creature until I woke up here a few hours ago. I’m confused and alone and scared.”
The Awbrian, a female, clicked her bill in sympathy. “An Entry, huh? And I guess somebody sent you to the Elders.”
She nodded. “I guess so. These—Elders. They’re the same as the village Council?”
The other made a head motion that also seemed to be a nod. “Yes, sort of. I guess they are the ones to handle you.” She turned, facing the tree. “There’s only one way to get there. It’s easy.”
“You mean—fly?” Yua was more than hesitant.
