Universally solemn nods answered the query.
“And the planet doesn’t mind you digging hard down into itselfDiego made a savage downward thrust with his hand, then gave a mean twist to his imaginary tool as it threw its imaginary contents onto the floorand making big sores on its surface?”
There was a stunned rumble at his harsh words.
“You, young Diego, are a stranger, not of this planet. How can you pretend to know its wishes? How can you pretend to know our needs? You have no understanding of the planet, of us, or of how it is at Shannonmouth,” Miuk said sternly, shifting his legs into an aggressive stance.
“Quite possibly I don’t,” Diego said, staring back at him so unafraid that Bunny was as proud of him as she was scared. “But I have a song to sing …”
Bunny breathed a secret sigh of relief. Diego was sure catching on fast. Out of inbred courtesy, everyone in the tiny house relaxed just that little bit that showed they would be receptive to a song, but not to more words that went against their shanachie. Of all the tense faces, Bunny noticed only one, that of the light-haired boy, Krisuk, that did not wear the same defensive, half-frightened look. She had mistaken Krisuk’s expression for sullenness at first, but as Diego talked, the other boy’s face relaxed and she saw that he was angryand not at them. Diego, as if he’d been doing it all his life instead of just the past few months, lifted his head, half closed his eyes, and sang the song he had composed for the Kilcoole latchkay.
“I am new come, in storm, here.
A storm of heart and mind and soul.
I sought and found storm with Lavelle.
She saved me when the sled crashed down.
With the heat of her body she saved me.
With the wit of her mind she saved my father, too.
Saved me to see the cavern that all say I didn’t see.
“But I saw the caverns and the water and the carving
Of wind and water.
I saw the gleaming snow, like jeweled cloth.
I saw the branches waving, the water talking.
The ice answering, the snow laughing. I saw
The animals of water and earth and they were
Talking, too.
They were kind to me and answered all my
Questions
But I do not know what questions I asked.
I do not know what answers I heard.
I know the cavern, the branches, the talking water.
The speaking ice and the laughing snow. I know
That you know it, too. So hear my song
And believe me. For I have seen what you have seen.
And I am changed. Hear my song. Believe me.”
“Diego is no stranger to Petaybee. The planet has spoken to him,” Bunny said quietly in the respectful silence that followed a true song. For she could see by their reception that the Connellys could recognize the song for what it was. “The planet speaks to few,” Iva said, nodding her head.
“But here,” Miuk said in a harsh voice, “the planet speaks to Satok and none other, and it is he we must obey in the name of the planet.”
“Well spoken, Miuk.” There were gasps of astonishment as Satok stuck his head through a carefully opened window. “Well sung, young traveler.”
Iva quickly rose and opened the door. She was red with the embarrassment at the shanachie having to listen through a window to hear something going on in her house.
Immediately it occurred to Bunny that that might be how he knew so much of what went on in his village. Inside, he made straight for the bed on which Bunny and Diego sat. But Diego, acting quickly, shifted so that Satok would have to sit next to him instead of Bunny, as had been his very obvious intention.
“Then young traveler, do you think the planet says one thing for one town and something else for another?” Satok asked, his eyes glistening, his mouth set at a derisive slant.
“Your town is near mines, Kilcoole is not.”
“But Lavelle was searching for mines, was she not, when your group became lost in white out?”