More shocking than the idea of one father having so many females, was the idea of females hunting to feed their family and the jokes were mostly slanted by that element, not so much by sexual innuendo.
“Golden asked, ‘What happened, did he kill his family?’
That evening, he thought it was the worst of his life, but the death of his father brought neighbours to the house and they found him among the dead, lost in his terror and grief. Golden, not one recalled that he was only a recent youngling! They cursed him and declared him a monster and he was forced to flee, for not only was he without family, he was also youngling of the most vile killer ever known and nobody wanted him around to remind them of what any of us are capable of doing.’
Golden softly said, ‘If it pains you, you don’t have to tell me anymore.’
Arissi was surprised. ‘When our mothers speak of his pain, it is not real for me. Now that I speak of it for you, it is real, as if I were there with him. Golden, telling you steals the sun from me’.
She spoke as if her words were true and profound, so Arissi did not question what she told him next, but when he told me of his dream, he felt ashamed of not arguing against what she said, as any decent youngling would have. Her words were difficult to understand, but perhaps our elders will understand better than I do. She said, ‘Arissi, what you are feeling is good, it means you are learning to feel the pain of others as if it were yours and that means you will grow up to be very wise’.
Arissi knew, as we do in dreams, that she wanted to hear the rest of the story of our father, so he continued, ‘His second claw was not more than a tiny bud and his first feathers had not fallen out yet. My father, Irasbit, could not hunt and the chill of night would kill him if he did not find shelter. His home had been reduced to rubble by the neighbours who could not bear the memory of his family existing among them. That first night he does not recall, but he must have walked from home to home, from light and warmth to light and warmth and angry words of hatred chased him on until his mind was numb and he painfully walked away from the lights that now represented terrifying and inexplicable anger and hatred for something he did not recall doing. It took many days and a wing covering him as he shivered and trembled before he began to heal and his mind blocked his memories of that fateful night for many years.
Irasbit had walked away from the nests of our people and reaching the place of boulders, he sheltered within an opening between them. Later on he recalled the scents of small prey, but he does not remember seeing or hearing them. I think they probably waited until he was asleep. Some prey are very cunning Golden.’
Golden nodded so that her golden head-feathers, that hung down like slender strands of gold, waved in the air, arresting his eyes so that he would not have seen a prey had it stood up before him. She said, mystifying him, ‘I admit I am puzzled. Logically it would make more sense for prey to become sapient, not the hunter. Arissi, would you prefer to fly as we talk?’
‘You have no wings…’ His voice died away as she rose to float just above him. She laughed. ‘How did you think I came from my world to yours?’ Arissi had given it some thought and tentatively asked, ‘Did you jump? I am told the air is too thin for flying for most of the way.’ Suddenly she landed by him. ‘Jump, what do you mean jump?’ The eagerness of her question frightened him and he stood silent as he thought. He gave a small hop. ‘Like this?’
Arissi was not mollified by her apologies when she stopped laughing. He soon forgot his hurt pride when they rose to fly and she was able to follow him to the maximum height he could fly without moving any part of her body. Although it was unheard of, he came to the conclusion that there could only be one answer. ‘Do you use a power of the mind for flying?’ ‘For flying and for jumping from my world to yours’ They flew in silence while he mulled over what he had learnt. She asked, ‘Will you tell me the rest of the story of your father?’
‘Does it shame you that he did?’ she asked. ‘No. I do not know why I weep Golden, I am too old for weeping’ In apparent earnestness she asked, ‘Arissi, I am over a hundred years old, nearly two hundred, and I still weep. Are you then older than I am?’ She did not give him enough time for him to find an answer, for she continued, ‘It is not how old you are that decides whether you may weep or not. It is how dead your heart is. If you are a warm and caring person when your feathers have all turned golden, Arissi, you may still weep for the pain of others.’”
Sovia dramatically bowed his head for a moment and then he turned to address his father. “Father, she is right, I too can feel the tears I hold for that child you were. How I wish I could return in time to hold it and tell it that it will be greatly loved one day.”
An elder callously called out, “Is the story ended?”
“Fathers, I have not finished, but telling what I have has made it too real for me and I am too tired to find the words to continue. May I do so tomorrow evening?”
Another called out, “And will tomorrow evening see the story ended or will it continue?” Everyone laughed, for it was unheard of, having a story told over more than one evening. But then, most stories are about hunting, the accidents that happened and the courage shown. Sovia did not need to ask, all would return to hear the rest of his story and the dream of Arissi - even though some of them were angered by what was said.
Irasbit warned the family, especially Mesitta, mother of Sovia and Hiddessi, mother of Arissi, that neither are to be questioned, that they must all wait for the next evening. When Irasbit saw Sovia fly out to perch on a rock high above their home, he ignored his own restrictions and flew to sit by him.
“You will never shame me, so I do not ask that. Son, are you preparing to make me feel…like prey?”
“Father!” Sovia exclaimed, and then fell silent for a long time. “Yes, for we wish for all to know how we honour you.”
“I knew it! I better fill myself with miric berries before you start.” Sovia took hold of his father’s second claw with his primary claw, just as if he were still a small child, his body slightly leaning in as if for warmth, and Irasbit did not pull away or remonstrate as he should have. Instead, his eyes seemed lost in thoughts that were flying somewhere beyond the orange skirt of the horizon.
As the crowd gathered, they did not hide the fact that they were staring, their keen hunter eyes searching for clues as to the reason why all the Agwissaït family were either distressed or highly excited, as if at the climax of a hunt. They wondered whether Sovia would manage to speak, for he too seemed to tremble. They saw the doll was gone but that six seats had been marked and one of the females of the family was diffidently asking the elders not to sit on them. The last had barely taken their seats when Sovia began speaking.
“Thank you for coming. These two nights, last night and tonight, are both important evenings for my family. It is time that all learnt of what needed to be endured and sacrificed for our family to become a part of the greater nest. I may sound presumptuous when I tell you that tonight will also be the most important evening for all our people. I will explain later, after we’ve finished with the story of my father. I will be briefer than I had intended as my mind cannot concentrate on all the details I wanted to speak of.
Irasbit had suffered the heat of the sun without shelter or ample fluids and the cold of night without covering or a fire for eight days. That he still lived was remarkable and the female who brooded over his skeletal body as he slept and slowly recovered, told everyone afterwards that she had resigned herself to finding the youngling cold and still in the morning. Instead, he opened his eyes and asked for his mother. She soothed him and fed him pre-digested food as if he were but days old, instead of the age he was. Her instincts were right and slowly he grew stronger and his body filled out.
“The one who took the place of his father was named Feifoa. He did not have a family, lived alone and wandered the plains for many days at a time, but he was not shunned by his people. Irasbit has tried explaining, but I admit I do not understand why it is that more of them choose to be males, despite the smaller likelihood of them becoming fathers. He did not alter his pattern of living, but when he was at home, he spent much of his time teaching Irasbit. He did not make himself popular with his people when he insisted that Irasbit must continue to speak as his people do. He also insisted on Irasbit learning to fly and then spending hours every day practising so that he grows stronger and can hunt as good as any of our people. Feifoa often carried a sack of grain and ran on the ground as prey so that Irasbit could hunt him. For the hunt to be considered a success, he had to return with the sack of grain and the sack had to be whole, without the tiniest puncture. It took Irasbit a very long time to achieve such fine skills and when he did, Feifoa started to swing the sack, twisting and turning it in the air above him, but then swinging it down under and between his legs. Any tear in the sack was a loss of food as the grain would pour out, so Irasbit had to learn as fast as possible, for many muttered about the waste.
By the time Irasbit was the same age as Arissi, Feifoa took him for a walk away from the homes of his people and once they were out of earshot, he settled on a rock and talked. He told Irasbit that his own people, the hunters, consider any person, male or female, who is alone as being a non-person. Irasbit told him he would be happy to stay where he is and be like Feifoa when he is an adult. He was hurt when Feifoa showed anger and told him bluntly that he would not be welcomed by his present family and friends once he is an adult. His place, he told him, is among his own people, with his own fofor family. Irasbit was horrified by the expectations of his father and told him that there is no way in which he can convince fifteen females to join him, especially fifteen females who will think of him as not being one of their group of nests. Feifoa showed, by his lack of response, that he had guessed Irasbit was determined to be a hunter, but he did not try to convince him otherwise, seeing that it would be necessary if Irasbit was to survive and succeed in achieving the dreams he had for him.
Irasbit was lucky that his father Feifoa was not a soft and gentle father. He was hard and rarely showed emotion, but he also was difficult to anger. If Irasbit did succeed in angering him, he knew that he would be regretting his action for a long time. Feifoa demanded that he excel at everything he did, but especially at those lessons that would affect his life once he returns to his people.
To return to that talk among the rocks. Feifoa told him something that Irasbit had not suspected. ‘This is an old world Irasbit. Many generations ago, it was rare for anyone to hunt, for we farmed.’ Irasbit knew about farming for grain and fruits, but he listened with wonder as he was taught that our ancestors used to have farms with prey. By organising their food supply, less time was needed for hunting and our people learnt many things about our world and even about the space around our world. He was told, ‘The world was split into those who did the work and therefore controlled the supplies of food and those who clung to the pride of our past and refused to work, spending their lives soaring in the skies as hunters used to do. The two groups found it difficult to communicate and finally there was anger and fighting between us. It does not matter who was right and who was wrong, for all we had built was destroyed and of course, the hunters were more successful at surviving in what was left of our world.’ He stared at the grass and insects. ‘Irasbit, there were no winners, only losers. These little creatures and those that our brothers call prey, they shall soon be all that is left of life on this world. Our myths tell us that we were created to fly and by doing so carry the love of our world towards the sun, but we did not do so and we did not learn how to live on the planet with love for it; we have been condemned for all generations to ache for both, but achieve a place of our own in neither. That is why we bear less and less children, for it seems our time is fast coming to an end.’ Irasbit asked whether those of the cliffs knew this, but Feifoa could not answer him with any certitude.
‘What I can tell you is this: what is not used is lost. Look at yourself, you have powerful wings but your legs are shorter than ours and of an awkward shape for walking on the ground. Our wings are not strong enough to lift us off the ground for long distances or to any great height, but our legs can carry us comfortably over uneven ground. Our second claw drifted upwards and the shape of the claws altered so that we can use them for manipulating and creating things. If you were to attack one of us, we could not fight you because we do not have the claws for ripping flesh as you do. These changes came over a great amount of time but even now, a child is born amongst us at rare intervals with a body like yours. They would not be easily accepted among your people so they remain with us and sometimes even have a family. However, they are never really happy here, for they belong to the sky, not to the ground as we do. There are two such children at this time, one slightly older than you and the other years younger. They have been told about you and have expressed their willingness to become females when they are adults, should they find your company pleasant. If they are to become your family, then they must know from now so that they are taught to think like your people do, not as we do.’
While they were still males, they both learnt to fly and though they could not reach the heights needed, Irasbit took them on a few hunts so that they would have the memories to enjoy. What he did may have not been acceptable to our society but, once you ostracised him and forced him to live among strangers with other rules, you may not hold him accountable for anything he did that offends you - it would be more honest of you to blame yourselves.” Sovia had gone too far, in the opinion of many and some of the audience left.
Almost in desperation, he called out, “Before any more of you leave, I ask that you stay to greet the visitors who will be arriving soon.”
A male, bigger than most, stood up with every line of him speaking of his arrogance. “You want us to stay to meet those animals, those prey that brought up your father as one of them? I would prefer to leave you and your family on your own to greet them, since their ways suit you so well.” His words swayed many who had found it difficult to be so outright rude to an entire fofor family.
Sovia realised they were justified in thinking as they did because of his allowing his anger to lead him into accusing them for what his father suffered. Desperately he looked up, hoping that it had not only been a dream. “Golden, please come before they all leave.”
They all looked up as he called and those with the sharpest eyes saw that a star was moving and then they called out in a mixture of wonder and fear as they realised it was sinking towards them. As it brightened into a sphere of light and grew in size they all saw it and even some of those who had launched themselves into the air to return home, saw and waited.
Take over! Just like that he dumps an entirely new species on us in the middle of a crisis and then tells me to ‘handle it’! Grr, now that I’ve got that out of the way, I might as well jump back to the morning after he told us he wants to write. We did not peek at the diary, but when Goldi started dreaming, Dommi sensed her, checked and called all of us to share. For the entire night, only Goldi slept, but by morning she was more tired than we were since both dreams you mentioned she had to experience within one night. She is over the moon that you chose her and, such a happy Goldi means it is impossible for anyone else to not be happy.
While we had been sharing Goldi’s dream, none of us had sensed Freddie move. We returned to awareness puzzled by the timing - Arthur showed us as having already arrived, but as far as we knew we did not have a clue as to where their planet is, not even which galaxy it is in…never mind which reality. We had a small leeway as our arrival was not part of Goldi’s dream, just the writing by Arthur. When Freddie announced that we are at the planet of the bird-like species, Robbie firmly told us that we must first have breakfast.
When we saw Campbell, we thought he would be upset at being away from his tourists, but as we explained, he exclaimed at how lucky it was for him that he’d decided to sleep in Freddie.
“Arthur wrote that six seats were reserved for us so that limits the first group. Goldi, you have to come with, so do you Claudia.” He gave a startled look. “His assuming made it possible for Goldi and Arissi to understand each other?” He returned to his thoughts on who should accompany him. “This time I want Cherine and Dommi with. That leaves one seat, hmmm, I wonder…”
I called out, knowing he was trying to tease me, “Why don’t you take Arthur with?”
He hid his dismay and smiled as he asked, “Not our friend of aliens?”
They left in the platform and though we shared with the five of our family, we also watched the screens of Freddie. I asked, “Freddie, did we change realities and, if so, do you know in which reality we are? Are we in our galaxy?”
“We have returned to the prime reality and the galaxy is not ours. I’m projecting a star map with our galaxy ringed in blue and the galaxy we are in, ringed in orange.” He kept the star map up just long enough for us to see, as the platform was landing. There was a stir of interest from everyone, as this must be the smallest galaxy we’ve seen till now; probably it was part of a galaxy and split off as some very large suns seem to be at its center. We know that no white stars should be of such a gigantic size so we anticipate the scientists asking for us to take a detour by those suns on our way home.
As the platform seemed to sink into the ground, Robbie altered the energy so that it stopped glowing and became translucent, allowing those gathered around them to see the strange species which had arrived. They all drew away from us, even Sovia, but Goldi beamed with pleasure when Arissi took a few steps forward.
I thought so! This must be the most awkward avian species I’ve ever seen. If they decide to sue Arthur for sheer negligence and shoddy workmanship when he gets here, I’m willing to take the case for them. I bet he thought of them like giant eagles or roc, with funny legs. First of all, to give you an idea of just how alien they are, they have four eyes. Birds that hunt have eyes to the side of their head, but it seems their ‘nature’ decided they also need eyes to watch ahead, as with our species. The eyes to the side do resemble those of eagles, but the ones ahead bulge and remind me of the eyes of bulldogs or Pekinese dogs. When they communicate and socialise among their own species, they concentrate on using the front eyes and I must say that those can show emotions the eagle eyes can’t. The top of the mouth does resemble a beak and it is sharp enough to impale. The lower part resembles a fat and creased lip. Most birds of our world have one joint someplace close to halfway out on their wings. This species have three joints, the last one acting like a wrist when they are not flying so that they can manipulate matter. At the tips, they have the bones for three fingers but the flesh is not separated. Our healers has not noticed any differences between the muscles in their wings (and legs), which suggests they are completely ambidextrous. Because their legs are placed further back, they are able to raise the front part of their body - which looks really strange to us. They do not wear clothes, but they do wear belts - utilitarian and decorative. The females also wear small belts on their legs and some have their beaks decorated with delicate spidery designs. Apart from the decorations and the deportment, there is very little that obviously shows differences between males and females. Since they change into females so late in their growth cycle, I guess the body could not alter much more than the sexual organs. Internally their reproductive organs are only variations of each other but specialised for opposite functions - which is not that different from us.
The physical but also mental and emotional differences in deportment and personality must be more crucial to them than to our species, since their males cannot respond to breasts and the sexual organs are hidden. Scent is also an important arousal factor, making females act more subservient while provoking the protective instincts among males for both the females and children. We are not certain that the scent of children has that much effect on males, but it does very obviously affect females. I’m still trying to understand the way both males and females treat/react to pre-adult males. It would make sense to me that there is a more neutral attitude otherwise it could enable adult males to react to them with the same arrogance and potential violence seen among adult males. On the other hand, what about those who will become females? Don’t their emotional balances get thrown askew when they are treated as males? Surely they recall all that happened before becoming-being identified as females? My loves pointed out to me that the way children of our species are treated by adults fades into the background of our memories as we mature - perhaps, when such memories do not fade, those adults remain childish?
“As friends, may all our words be kinder.”
He floundered for a few breaths. “You are welcome to share my sky.”
By this time Irasbit had arrived before Goldi. Arissi spoke softly, “Father, this is the visitor of my dreams, the one I told your story to. She has come as our friend.”
“And those with her?” He whispered back.
“I do not know - I think they are her family.”
“Arissi, you have honoured me by sharing your sky with me. This is the father you spoke of?” Shyly he brought his father closer and introduced them. “Have your people understood what your family name signifies?”
“Our fofor family name? I have not spoken of it.”
Sovia said, “I intended making it clear that our father was honouring both families whose history affected him and brought us into existence.”
Goldi laughed, a tinkling sound of pure pleasure and all the aliens present shivered as her emoting affected them. “Arissi, you flattered me by naming me Golden. Your elders are truly beautiful, the gold of their years a visible reminder of how much wisdom they have stored over a lifetime.” The elders, and many other, relaxed and even preened at her words. Their leader, recovering from his shock, came forth to greet her as the ambassador of a different people who have shown their intentions are friendly. Those protocols were all he could lean on and they were suitable. Not one person departed, even though the exchanges were quite boring, but as the people grew bolder, a timid susurrant sound filled the air as families softly exchanged impressions. The family of Sovia and Arissi had recovered from their shock and were the only ones, from youngest child to senior female, who struck an arrogant pose as their male and two sons spoke with the strangers. Their standing among their people had sky-rocketed, so I guess their pride was understandable - especially if we keep in mind all the slights they have suffered over the years.
“Elder Elletia, may I present my family? Our male is named Robert…” Up in Freddie, we all grinned at her introduction. Cherine was not pleased when she was introduced as our senior or elder female, but Dommi was tickled by it and let Cherine sense her amusement. I guess someone will be throwing pillows at Dommi later on. Campbell looked and felt as if he were about to melt when Goldi described him as a very dear friend of our family. All the Fofor aliens were badly puzzled by the introductions. For a female to speak on behalf of a male was unheard of. But then, we learnt later, it was also unheard of for a male to dare express an opinion about how a female reared her child. He would have to ask another female of his fofor family to intercede and, that would only happen if she agreed with him. To observe the forms, she would refuse him in either case and then, the idea and opinion being hers now, she could interfere.
There was almost a sigh of relief when Robbie took over and spoke like a politician for a while. Once he felt they were relaxing with him, he told them the main reason we had come. He started obliquely, as he likes to do. “Your history and instincts make you hunters. There are many species from different worlds who are also hunters, but few of them could be compared to your people. Others tend to be fierce and hunting is not only for securing the food they require, but is also indulged for the pleasure of killing. Perhaps, what is even worse, they derive more pleasure from hunting and killing those of their own species who differ from them physically in small ways or just in their customs.
You have your temptations, but you not only did not yield to them, but it seems you never even thought of them. Those of your people who chose to live on the land do not live in fear of you, for you do not hunt them. You shun them and avoid meeting them when you can, but you do not treat them like prey. You do not like what you see, the changes that have stolen their ability to fly and dance with the winds, but you only pity them. Even on my world, our people used to hate those who were so different and they would consider it their duty to kill them, every male, female and down to the smallest child. It took many generations for us to grow wiser and see that the universe has enough space for all and that having others who differ from us only makes our universe and our lives more interesting. You never took the wrong path we did, it seems you were wiser than us in that way.
Some were angered at being forced to listen to the truth, but some were brave enough to have confronted these thoughts on their own. One of them said, “We have seen the skies empty of hunters and worried, but saw no solution. More and more of our females are not capable of having children and there is no herb to heal that problem.”
Dommi answered him, “There is great sorrow among those females.” He gestured his agreement. “We can help so that your next generation doubles, but we cannot stay to help beyond that, you must work with us to find a solution that permanently solves your problems.” Campbell kept quiet, but he wondered what Robbie and Dommi were doing or planning, as he knew that once our healers have healed them, the problem will have been healed for future generations also. I sent to him that he should extrapolate one step further and he awoke to the dangers. If each female has two children, how long before they have the opposite problem? How long before the two branches of their species go to war?
Other males spoke, angrily denying they needed help and that if there is a problem they will solve it on their own. As has been mentioned, they can be pretty arrogant at times.
By the time our group returned to Freddie, nearly all the locals had sided with those who did not want our help. They were nervous about defying us as we are an unknown species that could feel slighted and destroy them, but their pride demanded they refuse our help. I think we had all thought of Irasbit and his family as being the good guys, progressive and willing to break with tradition, but Irasbit sided with those who were against us, so Sovia also did. Arissi was considered too young to have to express an opinion, but we felt he was feeling ambivalent, not certain that his people should dismiss our help that quickly and yet, angry with us. Goldi decided to visit his dreams again so as to find out what he felt we should do.
Arissi pretended he did not notice Goldi flying close to him and kept his hunter eyes on the ground far below. In real life he could not fly this high yet and he had been enjoying himself until she put in an appearance.
“You shame your family.”
Goldi tilted her head in thought like Robbie does. “How have I done so?”
“I am not an adult. To seek to use me because the adults of my people refused you shows that they were right and my doubts were wrong.”
“I have no wish to use you Arissi, even if I convinced you we are right, how would that help? We know you cannot make your voice heard amongst adults. I had thought we were becoming friends and that was why I came. I was worried about what happened and wanted to know if the outcome has affected you or your family in any way.”
It was obvious he was not totally convinced and there was an element of bitterness as he spoke. “All that Sovia tried to accomplish for our father, it nearly came true. As they heard of his life, some began to make gestures of respect, showing that he was becoming accepted. Sovia was earning a place for himself and his fofor family-to-be with high honour. Then you spoke of our shame and treated us like prey, offering to save our species and now our father is blamed for what Sovia and I did and our family has lost nearly all the respect we had before you first came to me.”
Goldi mulled over what he’d told her. “Arissi, do you visit other families and keep company with their children?” He said he did. “Have you noticed that their family has some customs that are different from your family, even if only in small ways?” Again he agreed it was so, but now he emoted some surprise as he had never given it any thought.
“Imagine your friend from that family starts or joins another fofor family and they, with a few other families, move far away where none of you can meet them for a long time. Their children grow up, join into new families and they move on for a great distance where they live with only a few new families that went with. They in turn have children who grow up and do the same. Many generations later, from the opposite direction the family of your friend took, a family appears and you learn they are the descendants of your friend. You spend time with them in their home - now tell me Arissi, how different will their customs be from those of your friend, if each family grows in slightly different directions in their customs?”
Goldi laughed as she felt him and then she sobered. “Arissi, not that long ago, your people did live all around your world. May I touch you so that we can fly faster, I want to show you that I am not only speaking words, there are ruins of homes and farms that you can still see.”
By the time they were back at their starting point, Arissi was feeling very subdued. Surprisingly he did not forget Goldi’s question. “If each generation changes slightly from the previous, then over such a long time they would be very strange to me - and to my friend who started their family.”
“I wanted you to think about it. Arissi, if customs and tradition are changed that easily, why is it that they sometimes become more important than life. How can anything be more important to the adults than the lives of their children and the continuity of their family and species? Do not argue our case, we will return to do it. I only wanted you to understand from before so that I don’t lose your friendship.”
Goldi woke up and without emoting or speaking, she stared at us as we stared at her. None of us had realised that Arissi had come to mean this much to her. Could it be that he is so important because he finds her ugly and still likes her?
Robbie gently curled a strand of her golden hair around his finger and gave her a reassuring smile. “Arthur would not have written of them and used you unless he was certain they can be saved. We won’t let you down my love.”
It was easier said than done. We failed in all our attempts to get the families to gather to listen to us. If we flew to speak to them while they hunted, they grew angry with us and would not listen. We could not enter their homes, despite them not having doors and windows, just openings. Females and children seemed to blank their minds as they politely stood, waiting for us to finish speaking. Even the family of Sovia and Arissi would not listen to us. We kept away from Arissi as we did not want to place him in a difficult spot and he is a minor.
Being stubborn would only waste our time, we have to find an alternate way for changing their minds. Our friends joined us at the taverna that evening so that we could have input from anyone who has a workable idea. Mostly we talked about what we had tried and a few did their best to exhaust our supplies of alcoholic drinks. The only obvious opening still left to us were the families of the non-flying group. We had hesitated approaching them as we knew that if we did, there would then be zero chance of talking to the flying group. Despite our awareness of the problems it would cause, Goldi suggested we try to find Feifoa, the father who adopted Irasbit - if he is still alive. This also posed another problem. We could not go looking for him as aliens, but Goldi was determined not to manipulate them, so it would not be right to pose as one of their species. She insisted that to start off our relationship with deceit would be condemning the relationship from the start. Goldi told us she will speak to Arissi during her dreams that night.
Arissi still showed goodwill and listened to Goldi with great care, asking questions when he did not understand a turn of phrase or when a concept was too alien to make sense. They had been flying close to the maximum height he usually flew at, but as Goldi finished, he suddenly soared another three hundred metres higher. Goldi did not follow, sensing he needed solitude to work out what he should do. I should mention that we can sense that Arissi has not grown closer emotionally to Goldi, his early openness is not as evident any longer, but something new is taking over. We suspect that during his hours of being awake he has used his imagination to weave stories of fantasy as he tries to understand how it is we could travel from our world to his and he is fascinated, perhaps the word is ‘charmed’, by Goldi. I’d love to share from his mind how he sees her, to feel a mind feeling what everyone feels because of her beauty and emoting but to know that it comes from the personality perceived and the strangeness of her being an alien, that would be interesting. Arissi sank back to Goldi and this time he faced her with his forward eyes. Goldi blinked, the only show of bright pleasure as her mind flared when he answered her.
Arissi was up and out of his home before the others awoke so as to prevent the mothers of elder brothers from assigning him a job that would keep him busy that day. Their families do not exercise controls over their children nor do they expect a report of where they went or what they did during their absence, so Arissi was not acting furtively, he just walked out and launching himself he stayed at the level that was meant for those of his age. When the cliff curved away and sank he took the direct path between the cliffs and the town of the farmers, perhaps comforted by the knowledge that no hunter would cover that area. As he slowly flew not far above the surface, Goldi could sense his amazement as he imagined his father walking through that torn and inhospitable land. He was almost convinced that despite him being so much older, he could not walk through that land and survive. His hunter eyes can see to a great distance and he realised it was a miracle his father had stumbled upon the small town, for there was no sign of it until he was almost upon it. He knew that their own dwellings fade into the cliffs from a distance because they are built out of the same rock, but he’d believed the town would stand out since the land is flat and the buildings rise above it. There was nothing wrong with his logic, but he had not realised that the town would actually look like a collection of boulders. As he drew close he saw wisps of smoke and drifted downwards, but prudently stayed out of range of weapons that are thrown.
When Arissi saw that those below were aware of him, he glided lower and called out, “I am not a hunter and ask permission to land.”
One of them called, making the others laugh, “Not a hunter?! We thought you are prey.” Having secured the laughter he wanted, he called, “Come rest your feet on the ground…perhaps you’ll like it and become a farmer.” Goldi pulled a face, sensing that according to his people, Arissi had been insulted. His blood was pounding and his immature talons stretched out, eager to rip flesh. Once Goldi sensed him control himself and circle to land by the small crowd, without warning, impulsively, she jumped from Freddie. The Unation ship quickly launched more cameras as the area was under cloud and we saw Goldi had taken the form of a hunter. Only as she drew close to Arissi and the village, did we realise she had projected herself as three times larger than the biggest hunter. Shooting past Arissi, she landed in a cloud of dust right in front of the male who’d insulted Arissi. Some ran away and some had pride and held their ground - but none stayed close to the male who’d made Goldi angry. Arissi landed by her, his side eye focussed on her.
“Golden?”
“Yes.”
Before she could speak, he tensed, turning to face her with his forward eyes, his back claws rigidly digging into the earth beneath him, so that it looked as if he were about to attack her. “Why!”
“He made me angry. You have shown far more courage than he has by coming to speak to them, he would not dare walk into your nesting area, yet he dares to insult you because you are a youngling.”
“He is a mudwalker, his words are less than the squeals of prey - it is you who has insulted me. I can no longer speak for you.” Thrusting himself into a powerful short run, he launched himself into the air. For a few seconds Goldi stared at him and then, taking her own form, she swiftly rose to fly by his side.
“Arissi, even according to my own customs, I have wronged you. Please do not carry your anger all the way home, stop to let me apologise.”
Arissi tried to ignore her, but as they drew close to the cliff he realised she would follow him to his home, causing him further embarrassment. Angrily he alighted upon a boulder and Goldi landed close by.
His voice was raspy with emotion, “I do not wish to talk to you.”
“I know and I don’t blame you. Arissi, I did not plan to interfere, I just acted without thinking because I got angry. It feels so unfair, your family has suffered so much and yet all of you are good people while those who made you suffer, sneer and insult you - and nobody speaks out to stop them! That is what I don’t understand. Explain to me so that I know how to handle the situation according to your needs and customs.”
He turned away so that none of his eyes could see her. Goldi’s question had not been fair to him because he wasn’t mature enough to have an answer. Maybe even Sovia would not have had an answer. Now that I think of it, our family has been in the same situation and I doubt any of us have an answer even now. Add to that the fact that her question reflects our Terran instincts and customs and Arissi was left stymied as he tried to understand her. At least he was still trying.
Goldi kept him stable until he’d recovered and was in control of his body again. It was now that we saw he truly is still a child, for he forgot his problems and anger and enthused and was excited just like a child of most species would be. Because he was with Goldi and because they had shared a hunting flight (a mock one and in his dream, but to him very real) he still trusted her, so there was almost no fear or anxiety and his sharp eyes saw far more detail from the air than most species can, so he had a stream of questions. What impressed him more than anything else was the size of prey in our little world. He’d seen the Elipians, our horse and cattle herds and thought they were all prey for us to eat. Robbie gave Goldi top marks when she explained that the Elipians are sentient beings and are not prey but did not make the same claim for the other herds. She did explain that horses are more often used for riding, but she went on to tell him that the cattle are for eating. She directed their flight so that they hovered over the cattle and she pointed out to him the advantages of taming them and thus having a steady supply of meat available. It was just as well that he could not sense her, for she could not help imagining the cattle she was looking at being killed and cut into steaks. To avoid the spectacle of bloody meat being served, she told him that it is a strong custom with us - that we prefer to eat our meat cooked. He tried to imagine the prey his father brought home being charred in a fire and found the idea unpleasant. Jade sent an idea to Goldi and she grinned.
“Arissi, you come from a species that live the most important parts of your lives in the air. I come from a species that walks on the ground, but I have tried being of your species. I would like for you to try being one of my species for a short time. Think of it as being an interesting experience no other of your species has ever had. I promise you will be changed back to exactly the way you are right now whenever you ask.” It took a lot of explaining, for his anxiety was not due to fear, but due to dislike of being like us. When he agreed, Goldi told us that Arissi will be a young man of about eighteen. We saw she hoped that by choosing for him to be a male he would be influenced when he matures, or, to put it in another way, the influence of having been a randy male reacting to females will affect his fofor family so that he is chosen to be the male (and hunter). Who knows, it may work out as she hopes. I am puzzled and worried by one aspect; females do not hunt but they do fly, and if they see a small creature, beneath the dignity of their male to hunt, they’ll swoop down and grab it for the family dinner. It can become embarrassing for the male when the females, as a group or family, have provided more for the family - especially if the females also have young to look after. Why am I worried? For the male-female relationship to change so that the ego of the male does not have to be constantly stroked and pampered, not only the females and the males will have to change - their family structure will. As an example, we only have to look at the branching off of those who became farmers; they have more than one male per fofor family and there are less females, which means they do not have the structure of four groups of four females per unit as should be within the totality of the fofor family. At an extreme, they may even have one male per unit of four females with a constant jockeying among the males for the alpha position of their fofor family. Even worse is the fact that among the hunter fofor families, it is unknown for any individual to be alone (therefore the reactions of horror when they realised that Irasbit was without family), whereas the farmer town has a number of individuals who do not belong to a family - such as the male Feifoa who adopted the young Irasbit. As I grow to like Arissi, I find myself troubled by the changes we are likely to bring to them - will he ever be truly happy? Just because something is necessary for the survival of the species, it does not mean it will also bring happiness to the individuals.
I sensed that Goldi was visiting his mind directly during the hours they were together and that she was trying to learn how it is structured and experimentally making small adjustments that opened new sparkling pathways in his brain. She did not keep it a secret that she was not looking to increase his intelligence, that she did not want to; what she did want to do is help expand his ability to cope with new and alien ways of thinking so that he will not be as the rest of his people who cannot adjust and so new ideas only slide off without touching their minds. If she succeeds, it means he will be deeper than the rest of his people and less of a slave to tradition and instincts, but it also means he will not accept the simple life his people live and he will always be unhappy. Since Goldi knows all the advantages and disadvantages, I can only presume she has a plan of her own that she feels outweighs all the points that trouble me. Arissi knows what she is doing and gave his permission, but in a way it is as if he did not, for how can he anticipate and know of the changes he will have to live with forever?
