Gossip by the Tree

04/26/2004
      "You missed the celebration," Ekkuli says to me later.
      "Celebration?" I ask, distracted.
      "Yes... we noted that our story was chosen as a special clay by one of your folk," Ekkuli says, perplexed. "World-walker, didn't you notice?"
      "Oh! Yes," I say; it must be talking about "Unspeakable" being chosen for the Best of Strange Horizons 2003 anthology. "I'm just distracted with a new story, that's all."
      "A new story!" Ekkuli says. "Excellent. Continue."
      I would eye it askance, but I'm busy. Kediil's made her second foray into the world in the pages of Oceans of the Mind... and I have work to do.

08/13/2003
      "Kediil," I say, partway through the brushing, "for now?"
      She laughs. "Well, right now you are making shell for us. There may come a time where you make no shell for us! You will still be our earner in this world, but certainly not our best earner."
      I start laughing.

08/13/2003
      The wind in my hair is a caress. I am cradling a very large cup of decaf cafe breve, an indulgence as extreme as the block of solid bittersweet chocolate I've just finished eating.
      I love the cheldzan, even though the Jokka have been markedly absent lately to allow me to rest. I love having a place to rest in between their stories. They have made this a pleasant place, gentle to the skin and ears and eyes.
      Fingers smooth over my knees and I clear my gaze of veiled dreams to look and find Kediil across from me. Her hands are spare and lean, but still an anadi's, with their short, blunt fingers. But she's lovely with her messily braided sunlight hair and the moonlight glow on her skin.
      "You look happier," she says.
      "Of course," I say. "Aren't you? In springtime, you'll be skating the paths with the help of Oceans of the Mind. And Serel will be introduced to everyone, too."
      "I am very pleased," Kediil says, "though I have hopes that this is the least of what will come to you before the year's failing."
      I laugh and taking her hands, rubbing her fingers between mine. "One can hope."
      She wiggles her fingers free and grins at me. "And now, your reward!"
      "My reward?" I asked, bemused, but she's already on her feet and moving. I hear her drop down behind me, and then a few chimes and tinkles sound, metal on rock. The weight of my hair, wet and held out of my way in a heavy bun, unravels and falls. A brush sinks its bristles into the black curls and my neck stiffens to resist the pull.
      "Of course," Kediil says. "You're eperu, whatever your body says, World-walker. And eperu decorate their hair in braids." A pause, then she adds, pleased, "You have good hair for it. Whatever I put in it is going to stay in it."
      I laugh at this, but quiet quickly when a hand fumbles at my earlobe, and I suddenly acquire a single golden hoop on the right side. I touch it when her fingers withdraw, my languor and my ease gone as suddenly as it had swept in. "Kediil?"
      "Well, for now you are our family's best earner in this world," Kediil said. "We thought you should have one. Unless you don't like it?"
      "No, no," I say quickly. "No, if you think I've earned it, I am proud to wear it."
      "Good," she says, and resumes her work on my curls. As she braids, I can feel her working the rings and chains of beads between the tresses, and with care I sip my coffee between tugs.
      I have always been the Jokka's conduit to this world. Now I am their ringed best among eperu. Such responsibility. I shall not fail them, if it is within my power.

     These are only the most recent of the talks I've had when venturing into the cheldzan. You can read more of them if you wander to the Old Conversations by the Fire.