| |
When Shortclaw ran ahead of the nearest not-me, she didn’t know what she expected to find among the straightweeds and mindbogglingly tall trees. Maybe there would be more of the air-swimmers, certainly more eatables in types that didn’t grow near the water. Maybe something she couldn’t even imagine. She was out of breath from the running, but didn’t care.
Then she heard the air-swimmers calling louder than before, with some of the sounds coming from the dirt level, instead of the sky. She hurried forward, dimming her colors from excited gold tones into deep greens to blend in with the trees, and she searched for the air-swimmer that must be close enough to see in detail.
Her colors flared yellow again when she saw the bizarre creature moving through the spikyweeds. It had only one color, but this was a color she had never seen before. She tried to place it, and nearly could, but no. It looked almost like the shine of light across the water, almost like the polished inside of certain shells. But that wasn’t it. This thing seemed made of light, and reflections, and — gray. Nearly gray. That was the best she could come up with. Amazed, she crept further forward.
The sound of crunching leaves behind Shortclaw told her that a not-me was catching up. She flashed bright red patterns along her tail in warning. The footsteps slowed, and she knew that she had been heard.
The not-me drew level with her, crouching down next to where she hid; it was a male she thought she had seen once before. He saw what she was watching, and flared his own swirling golds.
=What is it?= his colors asked her.
=I do not know!= she replied, brown circles chasing each other across her face in delighted confusion. =But listen to it — it sounds like the air-swimmers!=
The pair listened intently, and she had been right; the strange creature with the uncolored flesh was making the exact same sounds as the animals above. And it did so after each animal called. Like it was answering them.
=Is it ... talking?= the not-me asked in amazement. =It seems to repeat their sounds, like a Greeting of Us, only with noises!=
=I think it is!= Shortclaw said, speckling with delight. =This is amazing!=
She heard another not-me approaching, and another behind that. The sound-talker was standing on two feet, moving slowly and looking upwards. And still it called back in what must be the language of the animals above.
Something dawned on Shortclaw. =This isn’t an animal,= she said to the not-me beside her, =This is a not-us!=
=Are you sure?= he asked.
=It must be!= she replied as the others came up behind them. She directed their attention with one brightly-colored arm. =Look!=
The others understood immediately, and they shared her excitement.
=Look at its color!=
=Are all those noises coming from one creature?=
=Not just a creature,= she insisted, =A not-us!=
The others were astonished, and not sure how to proceed. They all knew how to greet a not-me, but no one had ever met a not-us.
Shortclaw stepped forward. =I will. You stay here, so we don’t scare it away.=
The others colored in muted tones of agreement, sinking back into the sheltering green fluffweeds. Shortclaw moved on alone.
The not-us was sitting on a fallen tree, still looking up at the air-swimmers and repeating back everything they said. She hoped that she wasn’t about to interrupt an important conversation.
Then something else occurred to her: she didn’t know if she could properly mimic its strange color. A botched Greeting of Us would be a horrible way to meet the only not-us she had ever seen.
Well, she’d have to do her best.
Quietly, she crept out into the open and toward the fallen tree. Only now did it occur to her that this not-us could be dangerous, and she hadn’t bothered to put on armor when she had left the river. Buckling it into place would have taken too much time.
Nothing to be done about it now.
The not-us was still looking up at the sky when she placed her hands on the tree and raised her head to its eye level.
She adopted what she sincerely hoped was a good enough approximation of the strange not-color. Then when the not-us looked down to see her, she changed her colors into the accepted greeting.
=Hello. I feel as you do. Will you be friendly?=