Chapter 32

Half an hour later they were back in Gabbaitch.

“Wait!” cried Jos. “Osprey, can you stay the night? You, too, Wallaby. I assume Masked Owl, Frogmouth and Boobook can remain. And Bunjil lives here.” They all acquiesced. “I want to hold a meeting. The questions of growth must be answered by the whole. All of you! Spread the word. We will gather at the flat space near the spring in three hours.”

“Wallaby, Frogmouth and Boobook will be able to get to their homes tonight, unless we rattle on for too long,” Sam said. “Masked Owl will stay with his ladies. Osprey, may I guest you?”

“Only if it is late, Bunjil. I can drive to Wyndham in under two hours. But I am honored by the invitation.”

“Come with me until our meeting,” Sam said, leading him to where Tessa and Lily stood, each with a twin in her arms. Sam introduced them.

“I greet you, Waa, little raven, and the flower from afar. These are special infants of one birth. Baiami smiles upon them.” Tessa gasped.

“Osprey honors us.”

Lily remained silent. She was the youngest as the twins didn’t count yet. Yet Osprey enquired: “How did you get here?”

“I ran away from a school in Broome. A dream took me to Boobook. He phoned Bunjil.”

“Yes. I can see why. Why do I see a white snake?”

“I can explain,” Sam said. “The Japanese Benzaiten wears a white snake. Lily’s heritage shows in that aura.”

“Yes. That is possible. You have an interesting family.”

“The boy is Koordop; I am uncertain as to the girl. Tessa is Waa or Wodak, she is from the southeast. But there are no little ravens in Western Australia. I dreamt that Bunjil told me she would be Burralga [the crane]. I am not sure. It may be that our Margaret will be Corvus perplexus, the Western raven, rather than Antigone rubicunda, the crane.”

“In a few years, we will all know.”

“Will you eat with us?” Tessa asked.

“Yes, thank you. Despite the whitefella ornithologists, I am not a total piscivore. Nor, in fact is my avatar, as ospreys eat small lizards, frogs and even mice as well as fish.”

“We have catfish, tomatoes and bushfruit.”

“That will suffice.”

Tessa withdrew to feed Rob and Marge and Lily served the two men.

After Tessa had eaten, Lily offered to stay with the twins while the others went to the meeting.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked. “You may want to say something.”

“I have been here too briefly to say anything worthwhile.”

“That may be true,” said Osprey, “But you should not undervalue your abilities.”

Later in the afternoon, Sam and Tessa abandoned the sleeping twins with Lily and took Osprey to the meeting place. As they walked, others joined in, so that it appeared as though they were leading a procession of four dozen or so. Even Tela joined in, along with several others under ten. Masked Owl, Deb and Ruth were already there, together with Zeke, Joel, Tawab and Farzana, and a number of others. Within a few minutes, another cohort arrived; and then Josiah with Wallaby and the two other owls.