cladeless trictra herder who was unconcerned about anything as fanciful as Pathmasters.
She weighed the little cam in her hand for a moment, then pushed the lens stalk into its socket before tucking it away in a shoulder pouch. Yes, with any luck she might have something to prove that the Uvovo did indeed have a third stage in their life cycle after Scholars and Listeners, namely the Pathmasters, who were supposedly no more than folk tales. She turned to tell Pgal to head back to the canopy but paused when she saw him looking up, eyes wide. She followed his unblinking gaze to see a larger trictra hanging several yards overhead, clinging to the tree with a large garment-swathed figure perched on its back, one hand holding a herding stave.
'Ah, Mistress-Doctor Catriona,' said the newcomer. 'A pleasant surprise to meet you here in Segrana's field of birth and decay' As he spoke he tugged aside his cowl to reveal the ageing, bony features of a male Uvovo she knew very well.
'Greetings, Listener Weynl,' she said. 'Seen any Pathmasters today?'
The Uvovo Listener's smile made his elongated face seem skull-like, but his demeanour was full of patient good humour.
'None yesterday, Mistress-Doctor, and none today. For they are only a ssu-ne-ne, a kind of myth or . . .' He frowned. 'There is another word in your Noranglic tongue - ah, yes, fable, an instructional tale, nothing more.'
'As I've heard before,' she said. 'Not least from yourself, and yet I have come across other tales that give different accounts.'
'Some of the handfolk of the Benevolent Uvovo have a more literal understanding of the ssu-ne-ne. They are often led astray by such things as that ruined stone ring, which was a very old but very ordinary meeting place and hub of a marketplace . . .'
As they conversed, the Listener urged his trictra down to ground level. Catriona prompted Pgal to follow suit, and found that there were another three trictra-mcamed Uvovo waiting below, all displaying on their beaded tunics the circular symbols of the Warrior Uvovo.
'. . . and so such imaginings should be considered with care. We of the Warrior Uvovo retain a more re ilist approach to these matters.' Then he indicated the others with his herding stave. 'Ah, these are my waykin - we were returning from a vudron contemplation when we chanced upon you here.'
Catriona nodded, not believing him for a moment. 'So you feel that I am wasting my time chasing this . . . arassu?
It was the Uvovo word for 'sad ghost', and as she said it astonishment flashed across the features of two of Weynl's companions. The Listener, however, only smiled.
'Just so,' he said. 'Now, since our destination is Starroof Upper-Way, we would be honoured to escort you back, Mistress-Doctor, if you wish.'
Part of her wanted to rebel and refuse, but common sense reminded her of the minicam in her shoulder pouch, so she graciously consented to the Listener's offer.
The journey back up the green canyons of Segrana seemed to take for ever. The weight and shape of the minicam teased her constantly as Pgal's trictra laboured from branch to vine-cluster to crossed-trunk. Listener Weynl stopped for a rest at a junction village that just happened to be the one that Catriona and Pgal had bypassed on the way down. As the Listener talked jovially with his way-kin she wondered if this was an example of Uvovo humour.
At last the light grew brighter as they neared the canopy, and when gantries, ladders and platform dwellings became frequent she knew that they were near the town of Starroof. Insects glittered in the shafts of sunlight that angled down through the foliage and wafts of cool, fresh air brought the fragrance of dayblooms.
'Our courses must part here, Mistress-Doctor Catriona,' Listener Weynl said. 'My vudron lies further above, in the Highsonglade. Please remember that if you wish to seek knowledge at the roots of Segrana, you should ask for guidance from myself or any Listener.'
'My apologies, Listener,'
She weighed the little cam in her hand for a moment, then pushed the lens stalk into its socket before tucking it away in a shoulder pouch. Yes, with any luck she might have something to prove that the Uvovo did indeed have a third stage in their life cycle after Scholars and Listeners, namely the Pathmasters, who were supposedly no more than folk tales. She turned to tell Pgal to head back to the canopy but paused when she saw him looking up, eyes wide. She followed his unblinking gaze to see a larger trictra hanging several yards overhead, clinging to the tree with a large garment-swathed figure perched on its back, one hand holding a herding stave.
'Ah, Mistress-Doctor Catriona,' said the newcomer. 'A pleasant surprise to meet you here in Segrana's field of birth and decay' As he spoke he tugged aside his cowl to reveal the ageing, bony features of a male Uvovo she knew very well.
'Greetings, Listener Weynl,' she said. 'Seen any Pathmasters today?'
The Uvovo Listener's smile made his elongated face seem skull-like, but his demeanour was full of patient good humour.
'None yesterday, Mistress-Doctor, and none today. For they are only a ssu-ne-ne, a kind of myth or . . .' He frowned. 'There is another word in your Noranglic tongue - ah, yes, fable, an instructional tale, nothing more.'
'As I've heard before,' she said. 'Not least from yourself, and yet I have come across other tales that give different accounts.'
'Some of the handfolk of the Benevolent Uvovo have a more literal understanding of the ssu-ne-ne. They are often led astray by such things as that ruined stone ring, which was a very old but very ordinary meeting place and hub of a marketplace . . .'
As they conversed, the Listener urged his trictra down to ground level. Catriona prompted Pgal to follow suit, and found that there were another three trictra-mcamed Uvovo waiting below, all displaying on their beaded tunics the circular symbols of the Warrior Uvovo.
'. . . and so such imaginings should be considered with care. We of the Warrior Uvovo retain a more re ilist approach to these matters.' Then he indicated the others with his herding stave. 'Ah, these are my waykin - we were returning from a vudron contemplation when we chanced upon you here.'
Catriona nodded, not believing him for a moment. 'So you feel that I am wasting my time chasing this . . . arassu?
It was the Uvovo word for 'sad ghost', and as she said it astonishment flashed across the features of two of Weynl's companions. The Listener, however, only smiled.
'Just so,' he said. 'Now, since our destination is Starroof Upper-Way, we would be honoured to escort you back, Mistress-Doctor, if you wish.'
Part of her wanted to rebel and refuse, but common sense reminded her of the minicam in her shoulder pouch, so she graciously consented to the Listener's offer.
The journey back up the green canyons of Segrana seemed to take for ever. The weight and shape of the minicam teased her constantly as Pgal's trictra laboured from branch to vine-cluster to crossed-trunk. Listener Weynl stopped for a rest at a junction village that just happened to be the one that Catriona and Pgal had bypassed on the way down. As the Listener talked jovially with his way-kin she wondered if this was an example of Uvovo humour.
At last the light grew brighter as they neared the canopy, and when gantries, ladders and platform dwellings became frequent she knew that they were near the town of Starroof. Insects glittered in the shafts of sunlight that angled down through the foliage and wafts of cool, fresh air brought the fragrance of dayblooms.
'Our courses must part here, Mistress-Doctor Catriona,' Listener Weynl said. 'My vudron lies further above, in the Highsonglade. Please remember that if you wish to seek knowledge at the roots of Segrana, you should ask for guidance from myself or any Listener.'
'My apologies, Listener,'
Similar Books
