David Eddings: The Elder Gods

It was a bit awkward at first, but between them Zelana and Meeleamee managed to feed the infant. Zelana felt a real sense of accomplishment – which lasted for nearly four hours.

Then they had to feed the child again. It seemed that there was great deal of inconvenience involved in caring for infants.

The seasons turned, as seasons always do, and summer drifted on into autumn, and winter followed shortly after. Zelana had never really paid much attention to the seasons. Heat or cold had little meaning for her, and she could create light whenever she grew hungry.

The female dolphins were taking turns feeding the infant, and Zelana noticed that the child seemed to be very affectionate. The dolphins were a bit startled by kisses at first, but after a while they enjoyed being kissed by the grateful child, and sometimes there were even arguments about whose turn it was to nurse. The arguments broke off abruptly when the child sprouted teeth and began chewing on whatever was handy, though. Her diet changed at that point, and the dolphins offered her fish instead of milk. She still kissed them by way of thanks, so everything seemed all right again.

Since the child had always been fed in the shallow pool at the grotto’s mouth, she was swimming even before she began to grow teeth, but she started walking – and running – not long after her diet changed, and she was soon toddling about the grotto, squeaking dolphin words as she went. She returned to the water whenever she grew hungry, however. The dolphins were careful to keep her more or less confined to the water at the mouth of the grotto, but they took to chasing fish in from the deeper waters of Mother Sea to give the child some experience in the business of catching her own food.

When the summer of the child’s third year arrived, she ventured out of the grotto to join the younger dolphins in their forays along the coast of the Isle of Thurn. She spent her days now frolicking with the young dolphins and eating the bounty of Mother Sea.

Zelana approved of that. The child’s independence freed her mistress at last so that she could return to poetry and music.

The young dolphins called the child ‘Beeweeabee,’ but Zelana didn’t really think that was appropriate, since it approximately translated into ‘Short-Fin-With-No-Tail.’ Despite her habits and her companions, the little girl was still a land animal, so Zelana unleashed her poetic talents and ultimately arrived at ‘Eleria.’ It had a nice musical sound to it, and it rhymed with several very pleasant words.

The little girl didn’t seem to care for the name, but after a while she would answer to it when Zelana called her, so the name more or less did what it was supposed to.

The seasons continued to turn, but Zelana had long since realized that they could do that on their own, so she didn’t have to prompt them.

Then in the autumn of Eleria’s fifth year, Dahlaine came by again. ‘How are things progressing with your child, dear sister?’ he asked Zelana.

‘It’s a bit hard to say,’ Zelana replied. ‘I haven’t had any contact with the man-creatures for more than ten eons, and I’m sure they’ve changed in that many years. I can’t really be sure what’s normal for them at Eleria’s age. She spends most of her time in the water, though, so she doesn’t stink the way most of her kind did when I turned my back on them.’

‘Where is she?’ Dahlaine asked, looking around the grotto.

‘Probably out playing with her friends,’ Zelana said, ‘most likely somewhere along the coast of the Isle.’

‘She has friends?’ Dahlaine seemed a bit surprised. ‘I didn’t know there were any people here on the Isle.’

‘There aren’t, and even if there were, I wouldn’t permit her to associate with them.’

‘You’re going to have to get over that, sister. Eventually she will be required to have dealings with her own kind.’

‘What for?’

‘She’ll have to tell them what they’re supposed to do, Zelana. If her playmates aren’t people, what exactly are they?’

‘Dolphins, of course. She and the young dolphins get along very well.’

‘I didn’t know that dolphins can move around on dry land.’

‘They can’t. Eleria swims with them.’

‘Are you mad?’ Dahlaine almost screamed. ‘She’s only five years old! You can’t just turn her loose in Mother Sea like that!’

‘Stop worrying so much, Dahlaine. She swims almost as well as her playmates do, and she finds most of her food out there in deep water. It saves me all sorts of time. She feeds herself, so I don’t have to bother. She does seem to like berries – when they’re in season – but most of the time she eats fish.’

‘How does she cook them if she’s out there in the water?’

‘What is “cook”?’ Zelana asked curiously.

‘Just a custom, really,’ Dahlaine replied evasively. ‘You ought to try to keep her out of deep water, though.’

‘Why? She swims mostly along the surface, so what difference does it make how much water’s down below her?’

Dahlaine gave up. There was just no talking with Zelana.

Though Zelana would not have admitted it even to herself, her life was much more pleasant now that she had Eleria to love and to care for. Since Eleria was able to find her own food and she had playmates enough to keep her occupied, her presence in the grotto in the evenings was hardly any inconvenience at all. Zelana was still able to create poetry and compose music, and Eleria served as a ready-made audience. She loved to have Zelana sing to her, and she seemed to enjoy listening to the recitation of Zelana’s poems – even though she didn’t understand a single word. She was now well into her sixth year, but she continued to speak exclusively in the squeaky, piping language of the dolphins.

Zelana considered that. It wasn’t really all that much of a problem, since she herself was also fluent in that language. She decided, though, that perhaps one of these days she might teach the young one the rudiments of the language she spoke and shared with her sister and her brothers. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Zelana had discovered that Eleria was very quick.

As it turned out, however, Eleria was about two jumps ahead of her. Zelana had been reciting poetry to the child since Eleria’s infancy, and one day in the early autumn of Eleria’s sixth year Zelana happened to overhear the child reciting one of the poems to her playmates, translating each line into their own language as she went along. Zelana’s poetry took on whole new dimensions when delivered in the squeaks and burbles of the dolphin language. Zelana was fairly sure that the young dolphins weren’t really all that interested in poetry, but Eleria’s habit of rewarding their attention with kisses and embraces kept them obediently in place. Zelana was very fond of dolphins herself, but the notion of kissing them had never occurred to her. Eleria, however, seemed to have discovered early in her life that dolphins would do almost anything for kisses.

Zelana decided at that point that it might not be a bad idea to start paying closer attention to the progress of the young child. Lately it seemed that every time she turned around, Eleria had a new surprise for her.

‘Eleria,’ she said a bit later when the two of them were alone in the grotto.

Eleria responded with a squeaky little dolphin sound.

‘Speak in words, child,’ Zelana commanded.

Eleria stared at her in astonishment. ‘It is not proper that I should, Beloved,’ she replied quite formally. ‘ Thy speech is not to be used for mundane purposes or ordinary times. It is reserved for stately utterances. I would not for all this world profane it by reducing its stature to the commonplace.’