Sean knelt beside Bunny, one arm around her as his other hand reached out to touch the boot; he ran his fingers along the sole and what could be seen of the ankle. The leather had long since frozen to the hardness of stone.
Finally, distressed by his silent grieving, Yana touched his shoulder. He looked up at her, tears running down his cheeks.
“We could dig …” she began.
Sean shook his head and rose, his arms hanging down by his sides. “He already rests in the planet.”
“Which killed him,” Diego blurted out, and then stepped backward from the look on Sean’s face.
Sean sighed deeply, his expression repentant as he stepped forward to touch Diego’s arm. “No, it is not a question of ‘kill’ here.”
Bunny rose then, rubbing her wet cheeks against her arms. Diego immediately went to hold her in a close embrace. She relaxed against him, her body still shaken with sobs.
“I do know that,” Diego said over her bent head to Sean. “Bunny’s showed me that even though Petaybee can be a hard planet, it s fair. I understand, Bunny, I really do,” he said to the top of her head. “When you hear my song, you’ll know.”
“And mine,” Sean said softly.
Diego’s eyes widened in respect. “I’d like to hear you sing, sir.” Almost absently, he smoothed Bunny’s disheveled hair back from her face in a way that touched Yana deeply. Sean didn’t miss it, either.
“Uncle,” Bunny asked in a very tentative voice, “does that mean … my mother …”
Sean looked to the big cat, who scratched around the site, sniffing, then brushed hard against Sean’s leg and hand.
“Nanook says no,” Sean said finally and the track-cat emphasized that with a clear no and a sneeze.
Yana held her arms wide in helplessness. “So what do we do now?”
“Well, I,” Sean said, “go on. It’s possible for me. You three go back.” He clasped Diego’s shoulder firmly when the boy would have argued. “You three can help spread the word of what happened at McGee’s Pass. We can’t have that happening anywhere else. Or, if it has”Sean’s expression turned even bleaker than it had when he accepted the death of his brother-in-law“keep the problem from spreading. Yana, could you find out what dissolves Petraseal? Something has to. We’ve got to clean up McGee’s Pass’s cave system.”
“I’ll find someone who knows how, but” Yana caught back the thought at first, until Sean’s querying eyes made her continue. “What if Luzon finds out what Petraseal can do to the planet?”
“All the more reason for us to know how to clean it up, but the people, especially those who are with us already, must be warned so they can protect their places. With their lives, if necessary.”
“You can count on us, Uncle Sean,” Bunny said, standing upright in Diego’s embrace, her face stern with resolve.
“I know that. Now, let’s eat and get some rest,” he said, adroitly guiding everyone away from the ice mausoleum.
Sometime during an uneasy sleep that night, Yana felt Sean’s lips on her cheek and forehead, his hands stroking her, pausing on her gravid belly. When she woke the next morning, his clothing, empty of his body, was arranged against her as if he still occupied it.
When the others woke, Yana had had time to bundle up Sean’s things so that Diego wouldn’t ask unanswerable questions. The boy was appalled enough to think that Sean Shongili had gone on all by himself.
“He’s mad. How could he possibly survive in an arctic ocean? I don’t understand you, Bunny. How can you just sit there eating breakfast as if this was just another day, when your own uncle”
“My own uncle has ways not possible for us,” she said equably.
“What’d he do? Call a tube whale for a ride?” Diego asked sarcastically.
Yana and Bunny exchanged glances.
“Something like that,” Bunny said, gnawing on her jerky meat.
“I’ve seen him do it,” Yana said, seeing that Diego was working himself up into quite a state. “You know he’s got a way with animals.”
“Yes, but he’s left Nanook here.”
Nanook gave Diego a long and measuring look and a soft soothing sound started deep in the track-cat’s belly, half purr, half reassurance.