The former said something Wellearn did not quite grasp, though a tantalizing hint of meaning came across. Then, touching his mandibles with one claw, he said, “Shash!”
Imitating him, the girl said, “Embery!”
Clearly those were their names. Wellearn uttered his own, followed by greetings in his native speech. Meeting no reaction, he switched to others, and as soon as he tried Ancient Forbish Embery exclaimed in amazement.
“Why, you speak what we do!” she said, her accent strange but her words recognizable.
How then could Wellearn have failed to understand before? And now again, as she said something too rapid to follow?
“The language changes,” Shash said slowly and clearly. “It has been a score-of-score years since our ancestors settled here. Use only the oldest forms. Wellearn, you comprehend?”
“Very well!”
“Do you remember your voyage hither?”
“The greater part of it.” But where was here? Wellearn looked about him, realizing for the first time that he was in a noble house. Never had he seen such magnificent bravetrees—except they weren’t exactly brave-trees—or such a marvelous array of secondary plants. Had he been hungry, which to his amazement he was not, he would at once have asked to sample the delicious-looking fruits and funqi which surrounded him.
Light slanted through gaps between the boles, which offered glimpses of what looked like a great city. The air was at high pressure and very warm, though not so oppressive as when he swam ashore, and the scents borne on it were absolutely unfamiliar. But one matter must take precedence over the curiosity that filled him.
“My companions! Did you save them too?”
“Oh, yes. They are sicker than you, but we hope to cure them soon.”
“But I had cresh…” Wellearn hesitated. In his people’s knowledge there was no remedy for that affliction. Sometimes it went away of its own accord, no one knew why; more often its victims were permanently crippled.
“No longer. You saw for yourself. Where are the marks?”
“I saw,” Wellearn agreed slowly. “But I didn’t understand.”
“Ah. Embery, show him again.”
This time he was able to make out how it happened. She held up a large disc, very shiny, which gave back his reflection. Touching it diffidently, he discerned a peculiar coolness.
“Metal?” he ventured.
“Of course. But your people understand metal and glass, surely? We found a telescope on your briq, as good as our own.”
“Captain Skilluck got it in trade,” Wellearn muttered. “I can’t say where it was made.”
“Do you not know and use fire?” Shash demanded in surprise.
“Of course, but in our country there is little fuel and it’s too precious to be used for melting rocks. Long ago the weather, they say, was warmer, but now in winter the sea freezes along our coasts, and then it’s our only means of staying alive.”
“Whiter,” Embery repeated thoughtfully. “That must be what we read about in the scriptures, the time of great cold which happens once a year and lasts many score days.”
And yearly it grows longer … Wellearn suppressed a pang of envy. What a privilege to live in latitudes where winter never came! He had heard tales about such places from boastful old seafarers, but he had never expected to wind up in one on his maiden voyage.
Yet those same travelers always claimed that they found something grand in the country of their budding, something noble and challenging about its harsh landscape. He must not think of worse and better until he knew much more.
“May I see my companions?” he requested.
“Certainly, if you’re fit enough,” Shash answered. “Can you stand?”
Wellearn concentrated on forcing himself upright. He managed it, though he could not regain his normal height. Even had he done so, he would still have been overtopped by these strangers, who must be as tall as mythical Jing—or maybe not quite, for he was said to have been taller than anybody.
“Let me help you,” Embery offered, moving to support him. Contact with her was very pleasant. He wondered what the local customs were concerning mating. The Wego themselves welcomed visitors in the hope that outcrossing would bring more and healthier children, for they were barely keeping up their numbers, and he had been told that many foreign peoples felt the same. But it was too soon to think of such matters.