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you think something bad will happen?"
"My dreams." She ducked her head. "I have them almost every night now, and they're really awful. In the dreams I see you go away, and you never come
back."
"You are not dreaming; you are remembering what happened after we visited Oenrall." I put my arm around her. "That was when I was taken from you
and Daddy, and I didn't come back. Daddy had to find me."
"No, it's not about the time when I was a baby. It's different," she insisted. "In my dreams you're wearing your blades under your tunic, and there is a little
purple flower in your hair. You hug me and kiss me good-bye, and then I never see you again."
"Well, I know what to do about that," I said. "I promise you, I will never hug you again."
"Mama."
"Or kiss you. As for this little purple flower"--I rolled my eyes up toward my hairline--"I will slice open the first person who tries to put it on my head."
A giggle escaped her. "What if it's me or Daddy?"
"I can't gut either of you. Hmmm." I pretended to think about it. "I know. I will yell 'No' very loud, and then I will run away." I touched my forehead to hers in
Jorenian fashion. "I promise you."
"Mama, you're so silly." Sighing, Marel pulled me to my feet. "Come on, I'll show you the tide pools. That's where the best shells are."
We half ran, half skidded our way down the side of the dune, and then walked toward a cluster of flat stones that held shallow pools of dark water.
Something caught Marel's eye, and she stopped and pointed. "Who's that, Mama?"
I shaded my eyes with my hand and saw in the distance a tall, lean figure rising from the water and removing a breather. Black swimming trunks
covered the man's hips, but the rest of his body remained bare. At first I thought him a crossbreed like Nalek Kalea, until he shook himself all over to shed
the water from his dark brown pelt.
"I think that is Jylyj, a Skartesh resident who works at the medical facility." I cupped my hands over my mouth and called out his name, and then waved.
The Skartesh halted and turned toward the sound of my voice, but instead of returning my call or waving back, he waded out of the water, picked up
some gear, and disappeared behind a dune.
"Why did he go away?" Marel asked, clearly disappointed.
"I don't know." I watched for a moment longer, but Jylyj did not reappear. "Perhaps he had to report for duty. It matters not." I held out my hand. "Come."
We hunted shells for the rest of the morning, collecting a large variety from the tide pools. Although they still looked like skeletons to me, I admired each
one and helped Marel string the smallest and most colorful to make a necklace.
On our walk back to the pavilion, Reever met us halfway, and gravely ducked his head so Marel could loop the necklace of shells around his neck.
"Do you like it, Daddy?"
"I have never had such a gift. Thank you, avasa." He picked her up in his arms and gave me a pointed look. "Next time you must make one for your
mother."
"Mama says healers can't wear ornaments because of the scanners they use," Marel confided to him. "The shells would make the readings wrong."
"I could speak to the Senior Healer," Reever suggested. "Perhaps he could adjust the scanners."
"No need." I showed my husband some teeth. "I will take pleasure in seeing you wear yours."
On the way back to our quarters, Marel told her father about the tiny water creatures we had discovered in the tide pools, and how they tickled our
fingers as we searched for shells.
"There are more bigger ones that live out on the sand-bar, but Mama doesn't swim, so she said we couldn't go there without you." Marel glanced at me.
"Mama, you should ask the wolf man to teach you to swim."
"The wolf man?"
"We saw Jylyj at the other end of the shore," I explained. "He was swimming."
Reever gave me an odd look. "You must be mistaken."
"No, I'm almost sure it was him." Something occurred to me. "Unless there are other Skartesh on Joren--that might explain why he left as soon as I
called out to him."
Later that evening, after Marel had gone to sleep, Reever asked me again about seeing the Skartesh down at the shoreline. "Tell me everything you
remember."
I described how Marel had spotted Jylyj coming out of the water, how the Skartesh had removed his breather, and how quickly he had left after I had
called to him.
"It could not have been Jylyj," Reever said after I had finished. "His species cannot tolerate water."
I shook my head. "Every living thing needs some form of water to survive."
"Come here, I will show you." Reever took me to the room terminal and accessed the database for information on the Skartesh.
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