Dreamsnake by Vonda D. McIntyre

nothing but fused glass and fool’s
gold.”
    “Have you showed her your job?”
    “Of course. We can each do a little of the other’s work. But we each have a
talent. She’s better at my job than I am at hers and I’m better at hers than
either of us is at Alex’s, but people don’t understand her designs. They’re too
strange. They’re beautiful.“ Merideth sighed, holding out a bracelet for Snake
to see, the only ornament Merideth wore. It was silver, without stones,
geometric and multilayered without being bulky. Merideth was right: it was
beautiful, but it was strange. ”No one will buy them. She knows that. I’d do
anything. I’d lie to her, if it would help. But she’d know. Healer—“ Merideth
flung the waterskin to the sand. ”Isn’t there anything you can do?“
    “I can deal with infections and diseases and tumors. I can even do surgery
that isn’t beyond my tools. But I can’t force the body to heal itself.”
    “Can anyone?”
    “Not … not anyone that I know of, on this earth.”
    “You’re not a mystic,” Merideth said. “You don’t mean some spirit might cause
a miracle. You mean off the earth the people might be able to help.”
    “They might,” Snake said slowly, sorry she had spoken as she had. She had not
expected Merideth to sense her resentment, though she should have. The city
affected all the people around it; it was like the center of a whirlpool,
mysterious and fascinating. And it was the place the offworlders sometimes
landed. Because of Jesse, Merideth probably knew more about them and the city
than Snake did. Snake had always had to take the stories about Center on faith
alone; the idea of offworlders was hard to accept for someone who lived in a
land where the stars were seldom visible.
    “They might even be able to heal her in the city,” Snake said. “How should I
know? The people who live there won’t talk to us. They keep us cut off out
here—and as for offworlders, I’ve never even met anyone who claims to have seen
one.”
    “Jesse has.”
    “Would they help her?”
    “Her family is powerful. They might be able to make the offworlders take her
where she could be healed.”
    “The Center people and the offworlders are jealous of their knowledge,
Merideth,“ Snake said. ”At least they’ve never offered to share any of it.“
    Merideth scowled and turned away.
    “I’m not saying we shouldn’t try. It could give her hope—”
    “And if they refuse, her hope is broken again.”
    “She needs the time.”
    Merideth thought, and finally replied. “And you’ll come, to help us?”
    It was Snake who hesitated now. She had already set herself to return to the
healers’ station and accept the verdict of her teachers when she told them of
her errors. She had prepared herself to go to the valley. But she put her mind
to a different journey, and realized what a difficult task Merideth proposed.
They would badly need someone who knew what care Jesse required.
    “Healer?”
    “All right. I’ll come.”
    “Then let’s ask Jesse.”
    They returned to the tent. Snake was surprised to find herself feeling
optimistic; she was smiling, truly encouraged, for what seemed the first time in
a long while.
    Inside, Alex sat beside Jesse. He glared at Snake when she entered.
    “Jesse,” Merideth said, “we have a plan.”
    They had turned her again, carefully following Snake’s orders. Jesse looked
up tiredly, aged by deep lines in her forehead and around her mouth.
    Merideth explained with excited gestures. Jesse listened impassively. Alex’s
expression hardened into disbelief.
    “You’re out of your mind,” he said when Merideth had finished.
    “I’m not! Why do you say that when it’s a chance?”
    Snake looked at Jesse. “Are we?”
    “I think so,” Jesse said, but she spoke very slowly, very thoughtfully.
    “If we got you to Center,” Snake said, “could your people help you?”
    Jesse hesitated. “My cousins