the history of our people. By the way, that’s why we’re here. In case you have any questions about Vhiliinyar as it once was.”
“Maarni is as much an expert on the unwritten stories of our people as Yiitir is on those that have been documented, or that occurred within his lifetime so that he can document them,” Maati told Acorna.
“And I’m nearly as old as Grandam was,” Yiitir said. “So that’s a great long time that I’ve been paying attention to what happens. Maarni is my child bride but she has more imagination than I, and loves a good story. That’s how I caught her, you see.”
“Bored me into a stupor with a great long saga about the interclan trade wars and took advantage of me while I was unable to defend myself,” Maarni laughed, patting her lifemate’s arm affectionately. “Now then, can we do something of the sort for you? How are you faring with this—this—oh, dear, it’s really rather a horrible tangle, isn’t it?”
“Thought you’d never notice, my dear,” Yiitir said softly.
Aari said to Yiitir gravely and with considerable respect, “This was the Vriiniia Watiir, Elder Yiitir.”
“Quite a mess they’ve made of it,” Yiitir said. “But then, I suppose that’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it? To clean up the mess? No sense standing about weeping over dried waterfalls when, with a bit of elbow grease and application of proper knowledge, we can help put everything right again, eh, my dear?”
“As you say,” Maarni said, her shrewd blue eyes under tight curls of mane grimly surveying the landscape as a general might the bloody aftermath of a battle. “Puts me in mind of when our twins were little and we returned to our pavilion after a day at work. Well, perhaps that’s giving the Khleevi too much credit. Our twins were very innovative younglings.”
Maarni and Yiitir soon dug in and made themselves useful. Far from interrupting the work, the newcomers made it go much faster, and when Acorna showed them the approximate position of the falls, the mountain, and the pool, they began recalling other well-loved features of the area and asking if she knew yet where they might be. The trained memories of the two historians brought the dream of restoring Vhiliinyar to its original state much closer to realization.
Even the smallest of their recollections was useful. It was of great help when Maarni suddenly recalled that she used to enjoy diving for agates and garnets in the lake to use in her jewelry crafting and bead-making. Acorna was able to locate deposits of the minerals usually containing those stones several yards from where she had thought the boundaries of the lake had been—just where Maarni had indicated they occurred. That reinforced everyone’s confidence in Acorna’s mapping.
After another hard day’s work, they shared an evening meal back at the flitter. They had all been so busy imagining the area as it had been before the Khleevi came that Acorna almost saw it that way now. Now she had the memories of the Linyaari Elders, very strong and vivid memories, in addition to her own recollection of how the falls had looked in Hafiz’s holo. Though that, too, echoed in her dreams.
“Do you know the story of how the Vriiniia Watiir came to be?” Maarni asked, when they had finished grazing from their hands on the sweet grass Maarni and Yiitir had brought from the hydroponics gardens on MOO. It was a bit stale already, but a welcome change from dried grasses they had with them. The problem with their usual diet was that the grasses didn’t retain flavor all that well. One could freeze or dry them, and survive on the nutrients they contained, but it simply wasn’t the same as grazing.
“The origin of the lake? I’ve heard some stories,” Aari said.
Maati said, “Wasn’t everything pretty much the way it was in the holos when the Ancestors arrived?”
But Thariinye said, “No. It wasn’t. The lake’s beginning had something to do with
“Maarni is as much an expert on the unwritten stories of our people as Yiitir is on those that have been documented, or that occurred within his lifetime so that he can document them,” Maati told Acorna.
“And I’m nearly as old as Grandam was,” Yiitir said. “So that’s a great long time that I’ve been paying attention to what happens. Maarni is my child bride but she has more imagination than I, and loves a good story. That’s how I caught her, you see.”
“Bored me into a stupor with a great long saga about the interclan trade wars and took advantage of me while I was unable to defend myself,” Maarni laughed, patting her lifemate’s arm affectionately. “Now then, can we do something of the sort for you? How are you faring with this—this—oh, dear, it’s really rather a horrible tangle, isn’t it?”
“Thought you’d never notice, my dear,” Yiitir said softly.
Aari said to Yiitir gravely and with considerable respect, “This was the Vriiniia Watiir, Elder Yiitir.”
“Quite a mess they’ve made of it,” Yiitir said. “But then, I suppose that’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it? To clean up the mess? No sense standing about weeping over dried waterfalls when, with a bit of elbow grease and application of proper knowledge, we can help put everything right again, eh, my dear?”
“As you say,” Maarni said, her shrewd blue eyes under tight curls of mane grimly surveying the landscape as a general might the bloody aftermath of a battle. “Puts me in mind of when our twins were little and we returned to our pavilion after a day at work. Well, perhaps that’s giving the Khleevi too much credit. Our twins were very innovative younglings.”
Maarni and Yiitir soon dug in and made themselves useful. Far from interrupting the work, the newcomers made it go much faster, and when Acorna showed them the approximate position of the falls, the mountain, and the pool, they began recalling other well-loved features of the area and asking if she knew yet where they might be. The trained memories of the two historians brought the dream of restoring Vhiliinyar to its original state much closer to realization.
Even the smallest of their recollections was useful. It was of great help when Maarni suddenly recalled that she used to enjoy diving for agates and garnets in the lake to use in her jewelry crafting and bead-making. Acorna was able to locate deposits of the minerals usually containing those stones several yards from where she had thought the boundaries of the lake had been—just where Maarni had indicated they occurred. That reinforced everyone’s confidence in Acorna’s mapping.
After another hard day’s work, they shared an evening meal back at the flitter. They had all been so busy imagining the area as it had been before the Khleevi came that Acorna almost saw it that way now. Now she had the memories of the Linyaari Elders, very strong and vivid memories, in addition to her own recollection of how the falls had looked in Hafiz’s holo. Though that, too, echoed in her dreams.
“Do you know the story of how the Vriiniia Watiir came to be?” Maarni asked, when they had finished grazing from their hands on the sweet grass Maarni and Yiitir had brought from the hydroponics gardens on MOO. It was a bit stale already, but a welcome change from dried grasses they had with them. The problem with their usual diet was that the grasses didn’t retain flavor all that well. One could freeze or dry them, and survive on the nutrients they contained, but it simply wasn’t the same as grazing.
“The origin of the lake? I’ve heard some stories,” Aari said.
Maati said, “Wasn’t everything pretty much the way it was in the holos when the Ancestors arrived?”
But Thariinye said, “No. It wasn’t. The lake’s beginning had something to do with
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