Chapter 7

The next several days were strange. First of all, Merhnah was duly selected as the First Matriarch of the Council, but she appointed Shwantè, still Second of the Council, as chief negotiator with the humans. More precisely, Ambassador Rochelle Morris.

Second, and to me more perplexingly, Commander Jay Nelson would take her pinnace back up to the carrier that was Morris' flagship each morning, and come back to my campsite each evening. She would cook meat over the fire, eat it, and spend some time with my family. Then she would bed down among the six of us – five young ones and me – for the night. The next morning she would poke at the embers and get a fire going, heat some water, and pour some brown powder into a cup. The powder would disappear into the water she then added. She would blow across the top of it and then drink the concoction. I thought at the time that that was part of some religious ritual. She always took several swallows and finished with a loud "Ahhhh" sound that she made with her mouth. During this time her mind was filled with things she had on her 'calendar' for the day. I knew what a 'calendar' was to the humans, but I never saw Jay access anything that resembled a paper or electronic device that could be considered anything to keep track of days.

On the fourth repetition of this ritual, I sat up, looked at Jay's back and mentally tapped her on the shoulder.

Me: 'Jay?'

Jay: 'Yes, Grahhll?'

Me: 'I am curious about your religious ritual in the morning.'

I was flooded with an explanation from Krayshall, our male offspring, middle child at thirteen years old – nearly adult. I learned that day that he was an adult in his mind, for he was ninGrahhll – something that usually didn't blossom in youngsters until the fifteenth year. He should not have interrupted a private communication between his elders, but he did not know – yet – how to control his gift.

Krayshall: 'Dad.' I allowed all my offspring to address me as such. Informality within a family unit was widespread, and I did not wish to insist on the more formal use of my title – that would happen soon enough as they became adults. 'It is not a religious thing. She is just making coffee.' And there followed a rapid fire series of images that described what and how coffee was made, why it was drunk, and even some memories from Jay that explained when she began to drink it and why she liked it.

Me: 'Kray, how do you know all this?'

Kray: 'I downloaded from her mind two nights ago. I was just curious.'

Me: 'Kray! She is a sentient being! You must not just download from a sentient without permission. We have so little understanding how the human mind works. Without a delicate touch you could hurt her badly.'

Kray: 'But Dad... '

Jay: 'Grahhll. He had my permission. We've been in touch since that first night.'

Me: 'I am astonished that you contacted him; more I was unaware. Did you shield your thoughts?'

Jay: 'Well, I guess it is a shield of sorts. I didn't mean to leave you out. You seemed so sad just lying there ... I didn't want to intrude.'

Me: 'Yes ... well ... you're not intruding. My six-day of mourning has passed, and while I think of Meriah often, I must now move on. She will always be here and I shall always hear her words ... in my mind. She is never gone.'

Just then Sh'anfor and Meriah'na began to awaken and they needed my attention.

Me: 'Kray, you may speak with Jay whenever she is within your range, IF you have ascertained that she is not involved with some more important task, or speaking with someone else. Remember that humans speak with their mouths. Well, most humans do.' I cast a sidelong glance at Jay and she bared her teeth at me. I learned that humans called this a 'smile' and they did it when amused or pleased – or when they wanted to appear so. 'But I need to attend to the twins, now.'

Jay and Krayshall carried on their silent conversation as she packed up her 'kit' as she called it and stowed it in the pinnace. A 'kit' to a human did not in any way mean the same thing as a 'kit' to a hexapuma.

I was glad to have the distraction of the two youngest of Meriah's and my offspring. I was struck dumb at the growth of my eldest male offspring – he was ninGrahhll already! – and at Jay's handling of the shield she'd developed. As I may have already noted: it took a lot to leave me without words, but I was speechless.

One day, about a six-day later, I asked Jay why she came to my campsite and slept with us.

'Because you have a more peaceful wa. The most tranquil I have ever experienced, ' she replied.

'Wa? May I enquire?' I asked. It took me several moments of going through her mind to discover that wa is a difficult concept to understand. You cannot fathom how much information can be passed in but a few seconds of mental communication, and, as I said, I spent several hundreds of seconds examining the concept of wa. Jay, herself, had an incomplete understanding of the concept. As close as I ever came to understand it, it dealt with balance and peaceful feelings in the mind. It was a concept that was several millennia old. I grokked the fundamental meaning and did not need to go further.

Hexapuma society was grounded in wa. We were rarely out of 'balance' and almost never not at peace with each other.

I was kept up-to-date with the negotiations through G'hann'lis, who was now obviously Merhnah's favored and due to become the next Grahhll, when I 'retired.' I was going to break with the history of Grahhlls and not wait for my near-death before I handed over the title. He had already taken over most of the duties of the job. He had arranged to track all the humans in near-space, was updating the council around the world of Yerowl. These were things I just did not have the heart to do, without Meriah.

Instead of singing all the songs for him of the history of Yerowl and the history of the Grahhlls, I just downloaded as much of the songs as he could take in at one time. It took several days of near continuous communication and we were both very tired during this time.

Two days after we were finished, I tapped his mental shoulder first thing in the morning and asked, 'When should we schedule the ceremony?'

G'hann'lis: 'Two days after never, Grahhll. Two days after never.'

Me: 'But you must take over as The Grahhll, G'hann'lis. I have not the heart to do what is necessary for the people.'

G'hann'lis: 'Then you must find the heart. The people need your voice to tell them all the things that have happened on Yerowl. And they will need your voice to tell them things that have yet to happen ... There are almost 90,000 of us on Yerowl, counting kits. I have just, two days ago, received a census from all the ninGrahhlls. We need your voice. The voice that we have all grown up with. The voice of experience.'

I pondered his words for long moments.

Me: 'Has Merhnah had her ceremony to become First Matriarch of the Council?'

G'hann'lis: 'The Grahhll would sing at that event. You know that she has not.'

Me: 'Please tell her that in two days time – on the day the humans call 'Saturday' – I shall sing for her ceremony. As is the practice, I will sing a song of lamentation for Meriah and then a song of celebration for Merhnah, our new First Matriarch. As is not the practice, I ask that you – her favored ninGrahhll — join with me in singing "The Song of Spring." As you know it portends new beginnings.'

It was his turn to be silent.

G'hann'lis: 'I will be pleased to sing it with you, Grahhll.'

The ceremony was coming upon me too soon. I had not finished composing, in my mind, an adequate memorial song to my Meriah.

Jay: 'Grahhll, you know that I can hear you singing. The song for Meriah is very beautiful.'

Me: 'Thank you, Jay. It is not complete yet. I know that – somehow – you can hear all the members of my family, unless we specifically exclude you ... shield you out.'

Jay: 'You are a master musician. Please excuse my presumption, but ... well ... may I accompany you in the song for Meriah? I have a little skill with an ancient Earth instrument.'

Me: 'Accompany me? What does that mean?' And I had to scan her mind briefly to understand what she intended. It seemed that back in the early days of the second millennium E.R., several musical instruments were developed on Earth. They had only ears to hear with, you see, so they needed ways to send sound waves into the air so they could be 'heard' by others. The violin was one such, and Jay was accomplished in the playing of the violin. From her mind, I gleaned the information that she was very accomplished.

Me: 'Could you show me what you would do and how that might fit in with the song?'

She went to the aft section of her pinnace and extracted a strange looking contraption. After 'tuning' it – an unusual procedure where she tightened certain keys on the neck of the instrument until it produced a harmonic sound – she said: 'Sing Meriah's Song, Grahhll, and I will play. I have already some ideas for my part.'