Changelings
- Автор: Маккефри Энн, Скарборо Элизабет
- Серия: The Twins of Petaybee #1
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Научная фантастика
Электронная книга - «Changelings». Краткое содержание книги:
CHANGELINGS
They are Ronan Born for Water Shongili and Murel Monster Slayer Shongili. Twin brother and sister. Children of Yana and Sean. Children of Petaybee. As such, theirs is a destiny deeply intertwined with the sentient planet that is their home. For Ronan and Murel are more than human. Like their father, each can transform into a seal and converse telepathically with the planet’s creatures–such as the friendly otter whose life they save one day from a pack of ravenous wolves.
But the twins’ bravery has unforeseen results when a visiting scientist witnesses their startling metamorphosis and becomes obsessed with their capture. To protect their children, Sean and Yana send them to stay with a powerful family friend on an orbiting space station. But no one realizes that Ronan and Murel hunger to discover the origins of their shape-shifting talent–and that their search for knowledge will place them squarely in the path of peril.
Meanwhile, Petaybee is changing–and much faster than an ordinary planet’s natural evolution. It appears that portions of the sea are heating up and a landmass is suddenly rising from the depths. To investigate the startling occurrence, Sean heads out to the open water in his seal form. But the newly unstable region holds untold mysteries–and the potential for disaster.
"I had stuff I had to do," he said, his lower lip squashing into his upper one as he looked down at her to see if she bought it. There was a ghost of the old twinkle in his eye. He was still pretty tired, she guessed, and also sad. He'd miss the Honu. Maybe Marmie would let him swim in her river sometime. Maybe they'd all end up swimming in it together. She decided not to think about that.
Speeches were made, and Clodagh said there would be songs to sing about the volcano, but everyone's throat was still very sore right now, so that night no one would sing of it, except for one repeat of the chant, for those in the village who had not come.
Ke-ola laid aside the snow shirt and what was under it and obligingly sang the chant and stamped the rhythm, as did all of the others who had been there. Then it was time for the smoked salmon to get passed around and a few more speeches.
But finally Ke-ola stood up himself and said, "I want to do something before it's time to go.
This is something my people used to do all the time, and now only at special times, and with special people. These aren't what we usually use but I did what I could with them."
He lifted the shirt, under which was a mound of flowers, purple and magenta fireweed and lupine, pink wild roses, white wild daisies. Only the flowers, none of the stems. It must have taken him hours and hours, since the fireweed was a cluster flower. Lifting a few in his fingers, he brought up a long necklace made of them and put them around Clodagh's neck, kissing her on both cheeks and saying, "Aloha, Auntie."
He did the same for Marmie, Johnny, Yana, and Sean, and last for Ronan and Murel. The wild roses were for Murel, and she stroked the already wilting petals.
"These are flower leis. In old times they were made of plumeria, frangipani, and other beautiful flowers from our islands, to welcome people. But I made these to thank you for your hospitality."
"No dance tonight," Clodagh told everybody. "Meet in the communion cave in an hour."
People murmured among themselves. Some folks had traveled from as far away as Harrison's Fjord to attend this latchkay, and the amenities were being dispensed with. Everything was so hurried up these days, what with the offworlders here.
Even Clodagh seemed to be losing her feeling for the stateliness of the old ways.
Murel and Ronan grabbed Ke-ola's arms and immediately headed with him down to the hot springs. They knew he'd enjoy a nice warm swim, and they wanted to show off the beautiful waterfall and steaming pools, one falling into the other, where their parents told them they had fallen in love.
The twins dived and splashed for a while but soon fell into the same mood as Ke-ola, who floated on his back and admired the new night sky.
Before long the others began arriving and filing into the waterfall, with the cave behind its shimmering curtain.
The three of them got out, dried off, and dressed. Marmie and Johnny, Mum and Da, Clodagh, Dierdre, and Dr. Fiske were just arriving. Mum put her arm around Ronan, Da around Murel, and Johnny Green clapped Ke-ola on the shoulder. They walked straight through the outer cave and down the winding path into the innermost one.
They stepped cautiously forward as they reached the inner cave. Murel let out a sigh of relief.
Ronan said, Much better than last time, yeah?
Much. Petaybee is glad we're home. I almost feel like the planet is giving us a lei too.
Yeah, like we're being honored or something. As we should be. Really, we've been wonderful.
She batted at him. We did good, but Ke-ola was really the hero. He's such a good guy, Ro, and he's just sort of lost.
Yeah, well…
They all sat, and Murel was afraid she was going to have to explain things to Ke-ola, but when the planet began talking, he just snuggled back against the rocky cave wall with a huge grin on his face. So Murel relaxed and gave herself up to the experience.
Maybe it was just the recent volcanic activity, but Petaybee seemed more excited than usual, stimulated, happy even. The cave walls glowed with the cherry red of lava, and Murel felt the beat of her own feet on the shipboard and seemed to hear the chant resounding through the stone. A breeze blew through the cave, the scent of flowers on it-surely not the flowers Mum and the others still wore with their leis? These flowers were as heavily and sweetly perfumed as anything Murel had ever smelled before. She felt something soft under her fingers and looked down. Sky lay beside her, his head cradled on her leg, looking utterly peaceful and happy.
Paradise. Petaybee was already very good, but tonight it felt like paradise. Which, she realized, was a concept from ancient religions found mostly in old books these days. But it meant that a place was the best of all possible places, an ideal place. Tonight Petaybee showed them how it could make a place with no ice, where the water was warm and the wind was balmy.
Great round rolling waves seemed to break at her feet, which felt as if they were bare and buried in something pleasantly hot and gritty. The roar of the water was as great and as oddly comforting as Coaxtl's purr. These rhythmic swells had a completely different feeling than the fierce and frightening crescendos of water that had pounded the yacht.
Then, gradually, the sense of being beside the lovely sea faded, and the only watery roar she heard was that of the waterfall at the mouth of the communion cave. Murel caught one last fleeting impression of foamy pearls left glistening in front of her toes before the seaside sensations washed away entirely.
People began to stir and move. Clodagh was the first to rise.
She smiled beatifically. "Well, Petaybee has spoken. Did everybody get the message?"
People nodded to each other, though some a little doubtfully.
Murel wondered what the shanachie meant, since usually the communion was somewhat different from person to person. Mum
and Da, for instance, were so tightly entwined they seemed to entirely forget where they were.
Ke-ola opened his eyes, blinking, then rubbing them.
"You, young man, you understand what our world is saying?" Clodagh asked.
He shrugged. "I-I think so."
"I hope you do, because Petaybee told me that you, of all the people here, are the one who understands the need for the warm landmass and the one who wants it. You were the one to welcome it with your song. Soon Marmie's ship will be flying back into space, and before you go, Petaybee has a question. Did you get it?"
He blinked and shook his head uncertainly.
"You, Murel and Ronan, did you"