“It still is right around the ships, and where Captain Becker and the scientists are working,” Maati said. “But I noticed as we got a little farther away, planting some of the holos, that the smell was actually kind of pretty.”
“Sexy,” Thariinye said.
-Maati put an elbow in his ribs. “Trust you to think so, even about vines!”
Aari shrugged. “I don’t see what help I can be. I’m not very psychic without my-”
Acorna had to turn to face him as he was behind her, one hand resting lightly, reassuringly on one of her shoulders. “Aari,” she said, staring, not into his eyes, but slightly above them.
The other Linyaari, including his parents, who had just arrived, panting, hefting their collection bags, followed her gaze. “Aari, what is that on your scar?” she asked, a little breathless with hope as she reached up to touch, thinking realistically that she would probably encounter a piece of a petal from one of the vine flowers. Her finger and his touched the little white protuberance at the same time.
“It’s horn!” he said. “My horn is regenerating. The graft is finally taking.”
(And I’ll bet I know why,) Thariinye whispered, laughing.
Both Acorna and Aari blushed and Maati, who also picked up the whisper, stomped hard on Thariinye’s foot.
Acorna embraced Aari and his parents and Maati touched him briefly.
Karina arrived. “I suppose we should start by everyone forming a circle!” she said brightly.
“Why?” everyone else asked, almost in unison.
“The better to commune, of course!” Karina said.
“With our species or yours maybe,” Acorna told her gently. “But I think perhaps with these beings we might need to use different methods. One thing I do feel we must do, however, is to distance ourselves from the main part of the camp. The odor given off by the vines is the most overpowering and noxious near the ships.”
Acorna led them into the vines, which parted almost politely before her and the others. They walked perhaps a half of a kilometer from the ships before Acorna stopped and inhaled.
“What do you smell?” she asked.
“It’s nice here,” Maati said. “Does that mean the plants here aren’t as upset as the ones near the ships?”
“I don’t know really,” Acorna said. “It’s just something I thought -we might try.”
“It sounds pretty silly to me,” Liriili said, though she had been unusually quiet until then. “How ever can you imagine that something can communicate with smells?”
Miin laughed. “What do you think -we do when -we’re ready to mate, Liriili? Or other species for that matter? With pheromones!”
“It’s not unheard of for species to communicate with something other than sound, after all,” Neeva said. “Many do by sight, or touch, or, as we do ourselves, by thought alone. Had you spent more time investigating the universe around you, Liriili, you would know that.”
Acorna said, “Now I remember! Ants! Little ants communicate by pheromones too-a fairly complex set of smells to give “, each other signals, indicate path-ways, that sort of thing.”
“Ye-es,” Liriili said, sounding almost pleasant, “Of course.
Paha,ntiydr