and Acorna’s team and the other Linyaari teams responded with both verbal descriptions and uploads from their toporecorders if they had the information requested.
That afternoon, Acorna heard in thought-talk that Aarkiiyi’s flitter had been caught in one of the whirlwinds, then dropped and smashed many miles away. This was not a good day to be airborne.
They waited anxiously for a report from the Linyaari survey team nearest the crash site, hoping that despite the crash, Aarkiiyi and his team would be all right. It was the first crew loss they’d suffered on this mission, other than Liriili, and there was some question as to whether that was a loss or merely desertion. No one had seen any sign of Liriili at all, even though all crews had been instructed to keep an eye out for her.
Acorna wondered if the former viizaar had somehow escaped the base camp undetected that first night, and was now lost in the wilderness of this harsh planet in the storm. As she and her team retired for the evening back at their little camp, Acorna could not escape the feeling that something was wrong. She shivered in her blanket as she dreamed of Liriili calling for her people to find her. Awakened by the image, she listened intently, but heard nothing. She snuggled closer to the shelter of Aari’s body for comfort and fell asleep again.
Three
D uring the second week of the mission, Acorna’s survey party had visitors.
A flitter set down a short distance from their own and two Linyaari elders stepped out. Acorna didn’t recognize either of them, but Maati did.
“Maarni, Yiitir!” she squealed, and ran back through the partially destroyed shrubbery to join them. “ You came!”
“Ah. Yes. Yes, we did,” said the male, whose mane was a bit less luxuriant between the ears than average, and whose stray chin whiskers were forming a long thin beard that bespoke considerable age. “Us and an entire great herd of others, all whinnying and complaining and thinking so loudly we couldn’t hear ourselves think.” His grumbling was completely belied by the twinkle in his eyes and his wide grin as he held out his arms and said, “Young Maati, my goodness, child, what a treat to see you again! And in such illustrious company. And I don’t mean you, Thariinye, you scamp. But the most talked-of couple in Linyaari current events as well, Khornya and Aari. You young people must tell me the real stories of your lives, you know. You owe it to posterity.”
Acorna must have looked puzzled, because the female of the pair gave her mate a swat on the bicep and said, “You should introduce yourself, Yiitir, or they’ll think you’re nothing but a nosy old blowhard.”
“But, my dear, as you well know, I am a nosey old blowhard,” he protested.
“Yes, but you are a very distinguished and eminent nosey old blowhard, entrusted with the task of being chief keeper of the stories of our people.”
“She means I teach history at the academy, my dears,” Yiitir told the others.
“He’s a great teacher, too,” Maati said. “Everyone says he’s brilliant. Grandam always said if the Council had paid heed to Yiitir when the Khleevi were first spotted in Vhiliinyar’s vicinity, we’d have had a defense ready. He knows all about great space battles and things.”
“Quite bloodthirsty for a member of the gentle sex of a pacifist people, isn’t she?” Yiitir said, looking down beneath his scraggly brows at Maati. “Always did say she was a splendid child.” He turned to Maarni. “Put that down in the biography along with my other deathless utterances, will you, m’dear? Yiitir always said that Maati was a splendid child. That way perhaps the Council will remember and consult her before appointing an idiot like Liriili as viizaar again.”
Maarni shook her head and rolled her eyes. “It’s completely gone to his head that the Council has suggested he write his own memoirs as well as the volumes he’s already written on
That afternoon, Acorna heard in thought-talk that Aarkiiyi’s flitter had been caught in one of the whirlwinds, then dropped and smashed many miles away. This was not a good day to be airborne.
They waited anxiously for a report from the Linyaari survey team nearest the crash site, hoping that despite the crash, Aarkiiyi and his team would be all right. It was the first crew loss they’d suffered on this mission, other than Liriili, and there was some question as to whether that was a loss or merely desertion. No one had seen any sign of Liriili at all, even though all crews had been instructed to keep an eye out for her.
Acorna wondered if the former viizaar had somehow escaped the base camp undetected that first night, and was now lost in the wilderness of this harsh planet in the storm. As she and her team retired for the evening back at their little camp, Acorna could not escape the feeling that something was wrong. She shivered in her blanket as she dreamed of Liriili calling for her people to find her. Awakened by the image, she listened intently, but heard nothing. She snuggled closer to the shelter of Aari’s body for comfort and fell asleep again.
Three
D uring the second week of the mission, Acorna’s survey party had visitors.
A flitter set down a short distance from their own and two Linyaari elders stepped out. Acorna didn’t recognize either of them, but Maati did.
“Maarni, Yiitir!” she squealed, and ran back through the partially destroyed shrubbery to join them. “ You came!”
“Ah. Yes. Yes, we did,” said the male, whose mane was a bit less luxuriant between the ears than average, and whose stray chin whiskers were forming a long thin beard that bespoke considerable age. “Us and an entire great herd of others, all whinnying and complaining and thinking so loudly we couldn’t hear ourselves think.” His grumbling was completely belied by the twinkle in his eyes and his wide grin as he held out his arms and said, “Young Maati, my goodness, child, what a treat to see you again! And in such illustrious company. And I don’t mean you, Thariinye, you scamp. But the most talked-of couple in Linyaari current events as well, Khornya and Aari. You young people must tell me the real stories of your lives, you know. You owe it to posterity.”
Acorna must have looked puzzled, because the female of the pair gave her mate a swat on the bicep and said, “You should introduce yourself, Yiitir, or they’ll think you’re nothing but a nosy old blowhard.”
“But, my dear, as you well know, I am a nosey old blowhard,” he protested.
“Yes, but you are a very distinguished and eminent nosey old blowhard, entrusted with the task of being chief keeper of the stories of our people.”
“She means I teach history at the academy, my dears,” Yiitir told the others.
“He’s a great teacher, too,” Maati said. “Everyone says he’s brilliant. Grandam always said if the Council had paid heed to Yiitir when the Khleevi were first spotted in Vhiliinyar’s vicinity, we’d have had a defense ready. He knows all about great space battles and things.”
“Quite bloodthirsty for a member of the gentle sex of a pacifist people, isn’t she?” Yiitir said, looking down beneath his scraggly brows at Maati. “Always did say she was a splendid child.” He turned to Maarni. “Put that down in the biography along with my other deathless utterances, will you, m’dear? Yiitir always said that Maati was a splendid child. That way perhaps the Council will remember and consult her before appointing an idiot like Liriili as viizaar again.”
Maarni shook her head and rolled her eyes. “It’s completely gone to his head that the Council has suggested he write his own memoirs as well as the volumes he’s already written on