Amy Thomson - The Color of Distance

Then Ninto scented a pack of taira. The large predatory lizards were also trailing the new creature. Ninto quickened her pace, bars of pale orange anxiety flaring on her back. Ani followed. The clumsy thing didn’t stand a chance against a pack of taira. Ani rather hoped that they killed it.

They heard the high-pitched yips of a taira pack on the hunt, and hurried toward the sound. The new animal was standing against a tree, bright orange with fear as it fended off several of the big lizards with a stick.

The taira were in no hurry. Half the pack lay watching as the others harried the creature. They knew they had the advantage of numbers and time.

The new creature let the end of its stick drop. Immediately, a taira charged, snarling fiercely. The new animal hit the attacking taira on the side of its head, just below its ear. The speed, force, and accuracy of the blow surprised Ani. The taira fell, and the creature hit it again. Bone crunched. The rest of the pack drew back, uncertain.

Ani looked at Ninto. “Now?” she asked.

Ninto flickered acknowledgment. The two of them turned bright red and charged from behind a tree screaming and hurling sticks, stones, rotten fruit, and anything else they could pick up off the forest floor.

The taira fled, falling over each other in their haste. Millennia of association with the Tendu had made such flight instinctive. The new creature backed between the buttresses, and stood, stick in hand, ready to defend itself.

Ani backed away and squatted so as not to threaten the creature. Ninto moved forward, grasped the tail of the wounded taira, and dragged it backward, until it was out of the new animal’s range. The new creature sat down, its stick across its knees. Ani doubted that it would attack unless they tried to capture it, but it wasn’t willing to let go of its only means of defense.

Ninto chittered to get Ani’s attention. She was crouched over the taira, hands sticky with blood.

“It’s dying, Ani. Come help me.”

Ani got up slowly, and crouched beside Ninto. The taira were a part of Ninto’s atwa, and she was responsible for their welfare. Ninto was trying to build up the population in the area so as to bring down the numbers of the puyu before they ate the bark off all the saplings in their territory.

“Can you save it?”

“I think so. It’s strong, but it needs deep work. Will you monitor me?”

Ani looked at the new creature. It was still sitting there, its stick across its knees. Could she trust it not to attack while she was monitoring Ninto? She remembered the crack of the stick as it struck the taira. Clearly the creature was capable of killing, but it hadn’t attacked her or Ilto.

Ani flickered her assent. They linked, and Ninto entered the taira. Ani monitored the balance and flow of Ninto’s body. Ninto healed torn flesh, soothed swollen tissues, and knitted the cracked skull together. The taira was strong, so Ninto was able to draw on its reserves of fat and protein to help heal it.

The healing complete, Ninto and Ani withdrew. The taira was hungry and had a noticeable dent in its head, but it would survive to sire more cubs during the rainy season. They waited until it got up and trotted off into the forest, shaking its head in irritation.

The new creature was gone, but its fresh trail was easy to follow. They caught up with it around mid-morning, sliding down out of the trees. The new creature stopped and turned orange with fear, holding its stick crossways, ready to defend itself. They squatted down out of range of the stick. Ani reached into her bag and pulled out a ripe tumbi that she had found while tracking. She rolled the fruit across the leaf litter to the creature. It picked it up and ate it. When it was finished, Ani and Ninto picked up their satchels and beckoned to the new creature to follow them. It sat down, refusing to move. Irritation forked like yellow lightning down Ani’s spine. She beckoned again, more emphatically this time. The animal sat there, shaking its head in a gesture of refusal.

“What should I do now?” Ani asked Ninto.

“I don’t know. You could sting it and carry it home, but it would be a lot of work, and it would probably run off again as soon as it got the chance.”

“I can’t just leave it here. Ilto wants it back.”

Ninto just shrugged. “You brought it back to the village once before. Try gaining its trust. Find out what it wants and see if you can help it.”

The creature picked up a small stick, and beckoned to Ani and Ninto. It cleared away the leaf litter, exposing the red clay below, and drew a stick figure.

Then it drew a second, smaller stick figure.

It pointed at the first drawing, then at itself, back and forth several times. Then it pointed at the second drawing and at the two of them.

Ani and Ninto watched, ears wide with curiosity and puzzlement. The new creature repeated the gesture over and over again.

“It’s trying to say something,” Ninto said.

Finally it picked up a green leaf, put it beside the second drawing, then put a brown one by the first drawing. It concentrated hard, and slowly began to turn brown. Then it pointed from itself to the drawing.

“I think I understand,” Ani said, “The first drawing is itself, and the second drawing is a Tendu. See, those things on either side of the head are supposed to be ears.”

“Then what’s that stuff sticking out of its head?”

“When we found it, its head was covered with long fuzz, like an ika flower.”

Concentrating hard, Ani copied the stick-figure Tendu on her skin, and then superimposed a picture of a Tendu over it. Then she did the same for the drawing of the new creature, superimposing an image of what it had looked like when they first found it. The image was hazy and indistinct, but the animal seemed to understand. It bobbed its head vigorously and made more guttural noises. It smoothed over the drawings in the dirt, and started another.

Ani recognized a group of Tendu and a group of new animals. Then the creature drew itself standing with the Tendu. It pointed to the drawing and then to itself, several times.

“Yes,” Ani said, “I understand.” She copied the picture on her own chest, superimposing a realistic image of the new creature over the stick figure inside the oval. Ani then displayed the vertical pattern of black bars of agreement on her chest. She made them very large and simple, as though she were talking to someone far away.

The animal nodded in response. It drew a line from the group of Tendu with the new creature to the other new animals.

It pointed from itself to the group of new creatures, back and forth. Ani watched, confused; then Ninto touched her on the shoulder.

“I think it wants to go back to its own kind,” Ninto said.

“We can’t do that,” Ani replied. “We have to take it back to Ilto, and we don’t know where its people are.”

“After Ilto dies we can take it back. Ask it where its people are.”

Ani touched the new animal on the shoulder to get its attention. She pointed at the two drawings, and nodded to show she understood. Then she turned an interrogative shade of purple and spread her ears to show she was asking a question. She pointed at the drawing of the new creatures, and then pointed in all directions. The animal watched attentively, but didn’t seem to understand what she was trying to ask it. Ani picked up the stick, and drew ovals full of new creatures all around the group of Tendu. Then she stood the new creature on the drawing of the Tendu and pointed at each drawing of new creatures, flushing questioningly at each one.