Meta Watershed

LOLCATS WEEKLY ROUNDUP 22 DECEMBER 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:05:00 +0000

Here's the weekly best of what I've gleaned from I Can Has Cheezburger efforts. There are some really creative folks out there.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:11:00 +0000

To begin reading this sci-fi novel or for background information, go to my Chapter One post here. To read about the background of the first novel, read my post here, which will also direct you to appendices.

For more detailed information, posted elsewhere on this blog are:

Pya Dictionary from Skenish to English (complete up to present chapter), with some cultural notes included
Pya Cast of Characters (complete up to present chapter)
Map of Pya with Description of Each Island
Map of Skene (but not Pya)
Map of Saya Island and Environs When Pyosz First Arrived
Skene Character Lineage at Start of Pya Novel
Skene, Chapter One (With Cultural Notes in Links)

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

When Prl was done with her consultation, having handed a stick of peppermint candy to the child once it would be eaten elsewhere, she returned to the kitchen where Qala and Lawa were flanking Pyosz as they all pored over the Saya map. "This looks from the surface like a solid rock shelf" she said, pointing to the killing field, "but two feet below is a large cavern, according to Uli's notation which I trust, she know how to read underground stratigraphy. So although that's my first choice for a Manage, at the eastern point with great views all around, the best foundation is to be found over here. Which means the first story rear windows will face the escarpment."

"And your studio will be in shade, with construction very close to the Owl Tree, will that drive it away?" asked Qala.

"I'll ask Pank, or get her to bring in one of the Owl People for consultation" said Pyosz.

Prl jumped in. "But this placement gives you superior protection from storms" she pointed out, "and didn't you get an offset for your geothermal shed because the rock harvested from its subfloor gave you a credit? Seems to me like even with some of the rock being used for your foundation and hearth, you'll still benefit from building here where it's solid stone to be excavated."

Pyosz looked at her, impressed. "You're quite right."

"Listen, my apprentice is taking the rest of my duties for today, what do you need to do with your time while you're here? Are you leaving day after tomorrow, as usual?" asked Prl.

"Yes. I thought we could all have dinner with the abbas, I suppose at their Manage, and I've already invited Maar. That's all I had planned out" said Pyosz.

"Well, you need to get your drawings, clear as they are, redone into a building plan suitable for timmers. There's a firm downtown -- " began Prl.

"No, I want that done on Pya, they'll be more familiar with the regulations there and I think it will take more than a day, I want to be available for in-person input" said Pyosz. "I seem to remember tnat one of Uli's friends does this for a living."

"You'll be directing serious business her way, I hope she lives up to it" said Prl. "We need to go to my bank as well, I'm having a letter of credit drawn up for you. I'm not willing to send this kind of coin on a huolon."

"I don't have a bank account on Pya" said Pyosz.

"You'll need one, not just for this but also because you will be listed as a business owner on next year's taxes -- more than one business, in fact, not merely an ejida employee. Which reminds me, at the point you apply for citizenship transfer, Skene demands you pay all taxes due for that year. Do you have records that will enable you to do so?" Prl's crispness, Pyosz knew, was cover for how painful this topic was.

"I kept no records while I was at the U and living here" said Pyosz ruefully. "But my first week on Pya, I started keeping track." She opened her notebook and turned to a section filled with neat columns and figures. Qala leaned over for a look and whistled. "She's much more on top of it than you are" she said to Prl.

Prl grinned. "If it weren't for you, Qala, it's true I'd be a mess with finances. Other records I keep immaculate, but money..." This was new information for Pyosz, even though she knew Qala had done the Genist's taxes for her each year. "At least I write down on a slip of paper everything that comes in or goes out, which is better than my emmas' household did."

"Lev, I know" remembered Qala. "That big jar on the sideboard was the only source of coin, no records except for savings accounts at the bank. Veida would be on a rampage as taxes came due, trying to figure out actual coin income as opposed to barter, and relying only on the memories of that distracted bunch. And then, as you kids got into your teens, I know some of you were pilfering the household pot for small amounts."

"Mill and Ndege did, but Dodd refused and I followed her example, I was always trying to emulate Dodd" said Prl.

"Well, and you both knew all you had to do was approach Yoj on her own and she'd empty her pockets for you" replied Qala. To Pyosz she said "You won't owe taxes to Skene if you file a statement that you were a student whose only income was from your emma. For Pya, however, you'll owe not just for wages from the allotment system but also, all this barter you've turned into items that you can sell? The jams and oils, for instance? You'll have to pay the flat 10% on that as income, unfortunately."

"The rate on Pya is 8%" said Pyosz. "And I'm still making extra by doing it this way."

"Oh no doubt about it, you're earning your coin in a smart way" agreed Qala. "8%, I didn't know that."

Prl said "I'd like to bathe and put on fresh clothes. Pyosz, I suggest you go next door and tell Yoj you're here, invite yourself to dinner tonight, and break your news to her early. I suspect she'll want do go talk with Bux and Halling on their own. When you come back, we can go downtown. Unless you need to nap now?"

"No..." Pyosz was dreading breaking Yoj's heart, she needed to get it over with.

Yoj's astonished delight at Pyosz appearing in her office soon gave way to a grey tinge in the deep lines of her kind face. "I can't say I'm surprised. How is Prl taking it?"

"Bravely" said Pyosz. "She's excited about the Manage, I think she's distracting herself with that."

"Pyosz Manage, I suppose it will be?" mused Yoj.

"No -- I think Owl Manage. She's who look out over it all" grinned Pyosz. "Oh, emma, I'm torn to bits about this, what I really want is for you all to come live with me, I'm building with that in mind."

"Bux could never give up her family Manage" said Yoj. "I do ask that you not become like Mill and Dodd, returning only once a year for midwinter break, especially if you have children."

"I promise" said Pyosz. "I suppose lack of contact with you helps explain Abbo's distance."

Yoj looked out the window. "I think not -- after all, Ngall isn't like that. And we have little contact with Ndege's grown children right here in Skene. No, it's personality differences, where a grown child focuses -- plus, Abbo threw terrible tantrums as a toddler and honestly we all hated how it was handled. Mill felt ganged up on, I know, particularly after that incident with you."

"What incident with me?"

"That scar on the back of your hand, there -- don't you remember?" asked Yoj. Pyosz held up her hand to view the faint line crossing it diagonally.

"Emma said it was an accident with a knife, when I was only four years" said Pyosz.

"I suppose she was being diplomatic" said Yoj. "Something she couldn't achieve at the time. We were eating lunch, Mill and Oby were visiting, and you and Ngall were having a blast with each other. You were taking turns feeding each other like you were babies, giggling up a storm, and you kept refusing to include Abbo in the game. Mill was on the radio, dealing with something on Pya, and we were trying to distract Abbo with other treats but she wanted you to be forced to make her part of what you were doing. All of a sudden, she grabbed the knife on the ham platter and lunged at you. It was a terrible looking wound, opened a vein, but thank all that's good, Dodd and Briel were visitng as well. Briel got pressure on it right away, hustled you off to the hospital where she did the repair herself. When you all got back to the house, Prl screamed at Mill that Abbo was being ruined, she was a menace to others and you were not going to be exposed to her again. Mill and Oby went to stay at the hostel. Eventually they made up, enough for you to go visit Pya again, obviously, but Prl said she didn't want to punish you and Ngall by keeping you apart, and she also asked Dodd to keep a close watch on you. We all tried not to treat Abbo differently after that, but I'm not sure now we were successful."

"I have a vague memory of being at the hospital, of somebody giving me a shot and emma holding my head still so I couldn't watch something -- the stitches, I suppose. Nothing more. But I do remember the summer I was five, inventing a game with Ngall where we'd pretend to whisper and laugh while looking at Abbo, just to push her over the edge" said Pyosz.

"Well, your children will be growing up with Abbo's now, you'll have to do better than Prl and Mill have" said Yoj. Pyosz could not imagine Abbo ever having children. Yoj began pushing herself upright, saying "Give me a hug before I go home. We'll see you all around 5:00?"

Pyosz got an hour's nap while a pork shoulder was roasting that afternoon. She shredded it with caramelized onions, roasted garlic, and bixi sauce, carrying it in past the cao door proudly. Maar was already there, peeling large shrimp. Pyosz lingered in her abbas' hugs. After handing over her rabbit pot of bixi past, Herne bacon smoked on Saya honey, and prym, she asked Maar "No Thleen?"

"Yeah, there's a kickball game and I bribed my older sibus to take her. I thought this might need to be more of an adult evening. But all three are coming to lunch tomorrow, at their request" said Maar.

"Good, because I want to see Thleen's face when she opens that little bicycle. Oh, and I felt bad about her always getting toys from me when the other two are too old for them, so I got them presents today as well, want you to okay them first. We found this pocket comb of Chloddia silver that folds into this beautiful leather case, it made me think of Adon, you know how she's always adjusting her hair?" said Pyosz.

"She'd be mortified to hear anyone's noticed that, but yes, she'll love this" said Maar, trying to get her own hair to lie down with one palm.

"And then I was looking in a case at clasp knives, because all of you on Pya seem to carry one, but I finally decided to get help buying one there. However, I saw this for Su -- it's got a decent blade plus an adorable set of tools in the bone handle, a little screwdriver, pliers, I guess this is an awl -- your emmas won't think I'm arming her, will they?"

"No, the tools make it all right and she's going to flip over this" said Maar.

"Well, they're from me and emma both" said Pyosz. Maar thanked Prl, noting the fatigue in her face. A few minutes later, Pyosz asked Maar to help her pull cabbage from the tillage, and they had a couple of minutes for Pyosz to tell her how things had gone so far.

Once the meal had been eaten and cleared, what Pyosz thought of as the interrogation began in earnest. Yoj put on her glasses to look over Pyosz's plans, Halling was noticeably short-tempered, and Bux kept glaring at Maar as if she were the real cause of Pyosz's defection. Lawa kept arguing for the advantages of Pya until Halling snapped at her "Stop pretending you're simply thinking of Pyosz!", which sent Lawa into wounded silence. Finally Prl said "How about if we leave the map and plans here with you tonight and we can talk more tomorrow? Pyosz is exhausted and I want to get home for sleep." It was a graceful out.

On the walk up the lane, Pyosz slipped her arm through Maar's and slowed them both down so they lagged behind the other three. "That was tense in ways I don't quite understand" she whispered.

"Well, think about what you've heard already: Prl says Lawa and Qala will follow you, so Halling is facing losing not just you but also her sib and oldest friend. And Yoj said it was Bux who'd never leave that Manage, not her and Halling, a revealing way to put it. Which I'm guessing Bux knows and is feeling conflicted about. You're jostling some of their unexamined bedrock" said Maar. "And I bet they all hate me, because I'm the one who'll get to see you every day from now on."

"Speaking of which, don't pretend you're simply walking us home, you're staying over in my room tonight" said Pyosz.

"Thank you for such a gracious invitation" grinned Maar. "I have to be gone early, though, to fly the school sinner."

At the Manage, Pyosz pulled her emma into the hall and whispered "I asked Maar to stay over, that all right with you?"

"I assumed you would. But I meant it about you going to sleep soon. And I'll join you, I want all the time alone with you I can get" said Prl.

"She has to get up early" temporized Pyosz. "Actually, emma...I was thinking about sleeping with her tonight, in my bed."

"What?"

"It's not what you think, it's just as friends, we did it once before when I was sick and she stayed with me -- "

"No, Pyosz. Whatever the truth is, this is the Genist Manage and I have to maintain the utmost propriety here. I hope you haven't asked her already, I'll explain it to her -- "

"I didn't ask, it was just an idea." She'd probably say no anyhow. "Forget I brought it up." But Prl's expression said Fat chance.

Prl insisted on fresh sheets, despite Pyosz having only napped on them, and once that was squared away, she excused herself and went to her own bedroom. Qala and Lawa left soon afterward. Maar drank the cup of warm milk Pyosz handed her and said "You certainly put a change in the works in record time. I was afraid you were coming home to tell everyone you couldn't be capriste any more, not with the prospect of another slaughter in late spring."

"It doesn't feel like record time to me" said Pyosz. "How do you think Mill will react?"

"You're kidding, right? I'm sure she and Oby are already celebrating" said Maar.

"Did you tell Abbo, then?"

Maar snorted. "Not likely. But she'll have found out, Lofthalls are seething whirlpools of gossip."

"Is that the source of Mill's information, you think? The Lofthall?" Pyosz was trying to figure out how Mill might have learned about the purloined contributions from Yagi.

"Mm, partly. But she's an enormously influential person, far beyond her offical sphere, more than Api really. If you want something done in Pya, you need genial Mill on your side. So a lot of folks funnel information her way, as barter for future favors or whatever" said Maar.

This was a fascinating take on Mill. Maar stood, however, and went to rinse her cup. "Speaking of powerful women, your emma is waiting on you. I'll see you at breakfast.' She leaned over and whispered "Best sleep I ever get is in your bed."

Pyosz was smug as she changed into her schmatta. Prl was reading a file, her glasses low on her nose. Pyosz asked "How much of a decrease have you seen in demand for your services over the years?

"Not as much as I expected" said Prl, putting away her file. "People still have to register a birth with a blood sample, and that plus most comadronas recommending a genetic profile to anticipate possible problems has even emmas who are using their own eggs coming in for a visit. I'm popular, unlike most prior Genists, and it's become something of a cachet to say your pregnancy was approved by the Genist, however it occurred."

"Of course you're popular" said Pyosz, snuggling into the quilts. "I kept wishing you were there when I was getting my goats pregnant -- not that you have expertise in the mechanics of it, per se, but ut was so odd, Poth and I kept laughing at the whole process. But then I thought about you, all alone, putting your eggs together with a wild hope...you know, you've never told me the actual technique of it, how did you pull it off by yourself?"

Prl had gone very still. "I can understand your natural wish to know, but it's not really a topic for going to sleep by. Are you planning to read?"

"No, emma" said Pyosz quietly.

"Then sweet dreams." Prl turned off the lamp and slid down into tne bed.

After five minutes, Pyosz whispered "Are you still awake?"

Prl sighed. "Yes."

"You had help, didn't you? You must have, to harvest eggs. Why hasn't anyone else ever figured that out?" said Prl, sitting up.

"I'm sure they have, but for various reasons didn't want to make it public" said Prl. "I've been very lucky. And I would never have divulged the identity of my -- colleague, I always maintained I had sufficient training to do it on my own."

"It was Briel, wasn't it?" breathed Pyosz.

"Dodd found the perfect partner" said Prl. "Now can we go to sleep?"

"I owe her a lot" said Pyosz, curling into her emma. "Thank you for having me against all odds."

"Smartest thing I ever did" said Prl.

Pyosz woke shortly after dawn and put on pantulfas to go to the privy. She gathered eggs and dug some potatoes by growing rosy light. She steamed the potatoes, then lined a casserole with alternating layers of them, thinly sliced onion, chopped dill, and crumbled sausage. She poured a mix of beaten egg and cheese over it all and set it to bake in the aga.

She took a quick bath and dressed, returning to the kitchen to make cinnamon toast. Maar was up and dressed, brewing tea. "Smells great in here" she whispered.

"All your favorite ingredients" answered Pyosz. They set the table and sat down to eat in comfortable silence. Maar started doing dishes, saying "I'm not going to have time to stop by the fish docks before lunch."

"We have plenty of leftovers, and Qala is roasting a lamb for tonight, don't worry about it."

"See you later." After Maar left, Pyosz went into her bedroom where the bed was neatly made. A few boxes had been stacked against the far wall, Prl had been clearing the hall cupboard, she said. When Pyosz opened her armoire, she was surprised to see it full of clothes. After a glance, she realized a lot of them were Prl's summer garments, no doubt stashed in here to make room for heavier woolens in her own closet. It made Pyosz feel desolate for a moment, even though technically she was giving up future claim to this room and, indeed, to Skene citizenship.

She sorted through to find what was left of her own things -- mostly just the winter items, which she began lying on her bed: Might as well take them back to Pya. She also looked through the zaoxue and pantuflas, taking only two pair because she simply didn't spend much time indoors. She looked down at her otos and realized she was overdue for new ones, but decided to have them made on Pya -- Maar could tell her where the pilots went for theirs.

She picked up the three wooden boxes in the bottom of her armoire and sat on the bed to go through them, starting with the bottom one which held jewelry, hair clips, and ribbons going all the way back to her babyhood. She decided to take the whole box with her, feeling nostalgic. The box above it was wide and flat, and she remembered it held mostly paper mementoes. She feared there might be notes from Sey on the top, and she decided not to open it, just carry it back to Pya as well.

The third box was of hand-rubbed mulberry wood from Seda, and she couldn't quite place it. On top, tucked under the lid, were several family photos, though not her favorites and not representing everyone in their family. Puzzled, she looked deeper and found a folded piece of paper with PYOZ written in a large crayon scrawl. She remembered it was the first time she'd been able to write her name, and realized this must be Prl's mementoes. She was going to close the lid, but then she saw one of her baby curls tied with silk, and a tiny tooth, and she kept on, delighted with evidence she had been an adored child.

Underneath a couple of decidedly untalented drawings she'd done in first grade, she came across a few pages which had been torn from a bound journal. These were in a round childish script. definitely not Prl's elegant writing, and Pyosz had the fear that Prl for some reason had removed these from one of the diaries Pyosz kept all her life. The first words she read proved they were not from Pyosz -- not from any child, in fact -- but there was no way she could stop reading until she'd consumed it in horrified facination.

This must be from Raisa's journal, Raisa the rogue Genist who had played such a secret role in shaping her family. And obviously as nasty as they come.

She jerked when Prl opened her bedroom door and the pages scattered on the floor. "I've been calling you, didn't you -- what are you doing with that?" said Prl, her voice going from high to a gutteral hiss.

"I thought it was my box, I'm so sorry, emma" said Pyosz, scrambling to pick up the pages. Prl stalked over and snatched them from her hands.

"Did you read this?" demanded Prl. Pyosz nodded, and Prl said venomously "Then you knew it wasn't yours. How dare you invade my privacy this way!"

"Emma, please let me explain." Fumbling for words, Pyosz began trying to tell Prl the sequence of events. Prl stood stony until Pyosz said "But then that first line, the crudity of language, and there was Yerush's name, my habibi -- oh lev, emma, this is the woman who trained you? Did she ever -- was she after you, too?"

Pyosz's revulsion and concern got through to Prl. She sat down at the end of the bed. then leaned over to click the door shut. "She didn't have time before she died but I think she would have eventually, she was always commenting on how I was the very image of Yerush."

Pyosz swallowed the bile in her throat. "And she actually traded -- ginny -- for giving your emma the Contributions she wanted? She and Yerush had that exchange?"

"It appears so" said Prl. "Pyosz, you can never tell anyone about this, not ever, no matter how much you love and trust them." Her voice was desperate.

"You removed these from her journal?" Pyosz was still putting pieces together.

"How levving mad she was, to write this in the offical Genist diary, that automatically goes into the Archives upon a Genist's death? She wanted it to come out -- she claimed to have loved Yerush all her life, but I think she hated her too. Yes, I ripped them out, thank the stars I read it, looking for more guidance, if you can believe that. And if Yoj noticed the gap, she never said a word. But I think she knew a lot more about Yerush than she's let on." Prl's adrenaline had all dissipated, and she slumped back against the wall. "This is a heavy burden and you'll have to carry it until your last breath."

"Well obviously, emma, I'm not going to ever reveal your actions. And I understand it -- our family would have been tarnished forever, you did the right thing" said Pyosz.

Prl stared at her. "It wasn't that. I mean, yes, I can't deny self-interest as a motivation. And Qen and Veida were both still alive, and I couldn't bear to have what must have been a long ordeal they lived with go public -- they had no reason to feel shame but they would have. The main thing, though -- do the math, child. Or, I guess you don't know birth years. Yerush and Raisa were out of sui. And here where Raisa lists Yerush's other affairs or whatever you want to call them, half of these people were out of sui as well. Yerush had no boundaries sexually. Once that came out, with all the people she had angered over the years, plus those who resented our family's influence: There would have been a petition filed to remove all the young children from our family. You weren't born yet, but all my sibiyas, Dodd and Mill and Ndege's children, they would have been fostered out with such evidence of this strain of documented sexual deviance in our immediate environment. It would have killed those emmas. So I did what had to be done, and I watched them all carefully, my sibs, for signs that Yerush's presence in our household had contaminated them. I examined myself rigorously for years. And I finally decided Yerush was an aberration that the others, my emmas and Qen and Veida, had set a positive example against."

If it had come out, or if you had decided the taint was there, I wouldn't be here thought Pyosz.

"Again, emma, I am so sorry I broke your trust, especially with all the talking we've been doing, how closer than ever I feel to you. But I'm not sorry to share your burden, I'm glad to be who you can tell what you've lived through with this." Pyosz held out the box to Prl, who scooted over to sit close as she took it from her.

"You should burn those pages in the aga" said Pyosz.

"I know, but I'm Yoj's child, destroying official records is anathema to me."

"I'll do it, then" said Pyosz. Prl looked her in the eyes for a long minute, then handed her the paper. Pyosz stood decisively, adding "And what kind of stupid were you, leaving that particular box in my room? Seems like you were begging for it to be found." She was already out the door and didn't see the expression of shocked self-realization on Prl's face.

Five minutes later, Lawa came into the kitchen, sniffed, and said "Something's burning."

"Not any more" declared Poysz, then she and Prl collapsed into giggles. Lawa ignored them.

Lunch with the abbas was bittersweet but no longer fractious. Having Thleen there helped. Afterward, Prl accompanied Pyosz to Pomar, where Ehall ran to Pyosz yelling "Did you bring me sumfing?" They had new winter clothes for baby Omill and of course Pyosz's news to talk over, which made Ngall both sad for herself and excited for Pyosz.

Back at the Genist Manage, the four of them made dinner together with affectionate chatter before walking down the hill for a last meal with the abbas. That night, Pyosz slept with Prl again, this time in her own bed where she could smell lemon faintly on her pillow. Lawa and Qala got up the next morning to walk Pyosz through the dark to the jichang, carrying her crate between them while Pyosz took the hamper and Prl claimed her bag.

"I'll be back for midwinter, if not before" she promised. "And I'll send you weekly updates on the Manage construction, with lots of photos."

"You'll always have a room in my house" said Prl, fighting tears.

"Likewise" said Pyosz, trying to grin. It was the hardest parting yet. Skene glittered gold and crimson in the morning light, a gorgeous jewel of tightly-bound humanity in a cold watery world. She wondered how Maar could bear to come and go each week.

Copyright 2009 Maggie Jochild

CHAPTER FORTY

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:11:00 +0000

(Pregnant Goat, painting by Brian Simons)

To begin reading this sci-fi novel or for background information, go to my Chapter One post here. To read about the background of the first novel, read my post here, which will also direct you to appendices.

For more detailed information, posted elsewhere on this blog are:

Pya Dictionary from Skenish to English (complete up to present chapter), with some cultural notes included
Pya Cast of Characters (complete up to present chapter)
Map of Pya with Description of Each Island
Map of Skene (but not Pya)
Map of Saya Island and Environs When Pyosz First Arrived
Skene Character Lineage at Start of Pya Novel
Skene, Chapter One (With Cultural Notes in Links)

CHAPTER FORTY

At the dance in Koldok a week later, Pyosz couldn't bring herself to do Echo's funny bleat during the dawn chorus. She did make a persimmon-colored platter with Echo in the middle eating green plums from a low-hanging branch.

The night she spent with Maar was the best sleep she could ever remember having. She found herself daydreaming about outlandish scenarios where they would have to share a bed again. She longed to ask Maar if it had been good for her, but that was forbidden conversational territory.

She made three trips to Pertama to hole up in Nioma's office with Vants' data, planning her breeding program. The last visit, they called Prl on a private line, waking her up, to get her take on the final strategy. Pyosz watched Nioma become like a schoolchild while talking and laughing with Prl. She wished for a speaker like Halling's so she could hear the tone of Prl's replies.

They agreed on 36 does to breed, 9 of whom would be first-timers. The others had been dried off and Pyosz had nursed two cases of mastitis. One of the does was Molars, who had been bred last year but failed to become pregnant. She was only 10, however, and her lineage blended perfectly with one of the new contributions, so they determined to try her again. Echo's offspring Stutter was given a chance at using a premier contribution from Yagi.

"You're likely to be producing kids with new coat colors, body conformation, ear shapes" said Nioma. "Poth may notice, but I doubt anyone else will."

"And you said the milk may alter" said Pyosz.

"For the better, but since it all gets blended, it will be hard for Kolm to tell" said Nioma.

"I'm not so sure about that. But she doesn't gossip, not about things that matter. She and her partners know all there is to know in Koldok, and they never hurt others with that knowledge" said Pyosz.

"I've often wished our Manage was in Koldok instead of Talaba" said Nioma. "For one thing, my grandchildren could walk to school, and take music lessons with Dodd. But my child's inlaws all have work in the north Dvareka area, so..."

"Do you still miss your partner?" Pyosz dared.

"Every day, though it's been three years. But not acutely any more, not most of the time. She was my grand passion, I was never in love with anyone else, and I have good memories. I wonder if our does miss not getting to choose partners and have grand passions?" grinned Nioma.

"Some of them do, some of them form extra-kinship attachments that all the others respect. As do I. One of those pairs died together in the slaughter, I won't separate such a pair" said Pyosz. It was the first time she'd mentioned the slaughter since what she thought of as Fever Day.

"Good for you" said Nioma softly. "And, you had our sympathies in the aftermath. Poth told us all how responsible you were without ever becoming cold, a hard line to walk. She fell apart after her first slaughter, you know. Missed two days of work, she said, with a migraine."

It helped to hear. And it was interesting to learn that if Nioma had been Prl's one-time heartthrob, Prl's feelings had not been returned. Pyosz felt another pang of empathy for her emma.

Mill paid Pyosz her summer wages, 5 eks, which Pyosz immediately sent to Lawa and Qala along with the rest of what she owed them from her savings. She went on a month to month contract for Saya. Mill diffidently asked if Pyosz wanted to barter some of her goat meat in the freezer at the allotment center for another ejida product, maybe lamb or turkey. Pyosz gave her a flat look and said "All right. But don't ever bring it in a dish to a family meal."

Does began going into heat, creating unusual displays of behavior in the barn. The entire herd got jumpy, and Pyosz had a hard time being sure the "to-be-bred" does were actually in estrus. Once they all were, she called Poth whom she had requested for this training as well. Nioma sorted out the contributions, labeled by numbers which matched Pyosz's innocuous for-public-view chart, and sent them via Poth in dry ice. Keeping in 36 does from the pasture on a clear morning caused a near riot in the herd. Pyosz finally sequestered each individually and dragged her on a tether to the outside pen. Boulder was furious and Molars quietly dangerous.

"We do that biter last" declared Poth.

"I'd agree with you except the sooner we get her out of our vicinity, the better" said Pyosz. So she learned a slightly unpleasant invasive procedure on Molars, who was tied in all four directions with Poth keeping an almost throttling grip on her head. When Pyosz released Molars, she said "Now you got every reason in the world to hate me. But you do love your babies, you just remember that."

They were done before noon. Poth decided to delay calling in and stay for lunch instead. Over their meal, the two of them hatched a scheme for Pyosz to invite both Dekkan and Poth's eldest Pava to Schmona dinner.

"In fact" said Pyosz, "if it won't stop your heart, Dekkan could pick her up in a sinner big enough to carry the little sailboat you just got Pava. There's an inlet off Herne where they could safely putter about, we'll tie them to shore with a long lead. Pank and Tu are talking about getting a boat themselves, Pava could be the expert."

"And Maar would be there, if rescue was needed?" said Poth, the veins prominent on her hands. Pyosz noticed it was Maar she mentioned, not Abbo the hero of their local paper.

Poth left reminding her "Some of them does won't have took; when they come back into heat, call me right away, we got a narrow window to try again. And you can't tell if they're pregnant by looking, and even if they do start heat again, they could still be pregnant. We'll do blood tests on the doubtful cases."

Maar came for dinner and thus was there to hear Pyosz wake up her emma with a radio call announcing "I got three dozen goats pregnant today!" Pyosz couldn't tell which of them laughed harder.

Molars didn't "take", as Poth put it, and was one of five who required a repeat visit from Poth. "We'll give 'em a month before we draw blood" she said. She left detailed prenatal care instructions with Pyosz.

Who was having increasing time to throw pots, with the orchard slowing down, milking taking less than half the time it once did, and her tillage reduced to a third. She dumped all the compost she could into the fallow beds and offered the rest of her pile to Tu, who asked Dekkan to deliver a groaning pallet of it by sinner. Pyosz noticed ejida bags stacked inside the sinner labeled "bloodmeal." She now knew where that blood came from, and looked away.

The "sailboat Shmonah" experiment was a great success. Being pilot of her own craft in an uncertain medium turned Pava into Dekkan's equal again. Having two teenagers around was energizing for everyone else.

Dodd turned to Uli at one point and said "Qoj write you about the eclipse?"

"Yes" answered Uli carefully. Dodd explained to the others "There's a double lunar eclipse in two weeks, the first in 32 years. Qoj pointed out to her superiors that shipping astronomical equipment to Pya, along with her, would give them twice the coverage and data. So she's coming for a week's stay." Shw turned back to Uli. "She'll have a private room this time, and I'm very busy with school."

"That's what she said" replied Uli with a wry smile. Dodd barked out a laugh.

The following Shmonah they gathered at Arta and stood around a blaze in the outdoor pit. Pava and Dekkan were the only ones who dared a swim in the chilly pond, and Uli had warm blankets for them when they raced back to the fire, lips blue and voices loud. They ate outside but gave up even the pergala when rain started, carrying everything indoors to grab floor space by the hearth, After half an hour, Mill motioned to Pyosz and led her upstairs to the claustrophobic office.

"I wanted to let you know -- there's nothing definite yet, but someone has expressed an interest in taking over Saya Island, becoming the capriste and caretaker there" said Mill.

Pyosz had to sit down. She cleared her throat to ask "Who?"

"You don't know them, it's a young couple who've only recently partnered. They live on Chwet and have a small savings, not enough to reimburse you for all the improvements you've made but they're trying to borrow the rest. They'll live in your cabin for a year or two until they can pay off the loan, then move out another cabin so the sib of one of them can join them. With the three of them working on Saya plus part-time jobs in the area, they anticipate having enough to build a Manage within five years and start having children." Mill's tone was slightly apologetic, but there was some other unreadable emotion in there.

Pyosz was having a little trouble sorting through this information. "They're Owl People?"

"Not exactly. But they are very interested in Saya's owl, protecting her. They have excellent forestry and orchard skills. All the capriste end of things they'll have to learn from scratch, but so did you and that worked out well. Listen, Pyosz, we're not going to boot you out right away, or at all if you male a commitment to stay. But we need a permanent commitment, with contracts undergoing revision next year, every aspect of Pyan economy and production has to be predictable. I think you can understand that. So mull it over and get back to me in, say, a couple of weeks, okay?" Mill patted her on the back and led the way back downstairs. Pyosz moved like a sleepwalker. Inside she was shouting "They're MY goats, not Pya's, and there's three dozen more on the way who are even more mine, if you only knew!"

Maar looked at her questioningly and Pyosz shook her head briefly. She resumed singing, sitting close to Dodd and looking around the faces of her family as if it was her first night here. When Pank and Tu stood an hour later, saying they had to go unload their smokehouse and feed pigs, Pyosz rose also to go with them. She murmured to Maar in the kitchen "When do you leave tomorrow for Skene?"

"Ten a.m. this time, I get to sleep in because of a front. What's up?"

"I'll talk to you in the morning before you go" whispered Pyosz.

Once she and her cousins were in the ferry, she said "I have to ask you for another favor. I need to go to Skene and talk with my emma, my abbas. Will you look after Saya while I'm gone?"

Tu stared at her. "This connected to whatever Mill had to talk over with you?"

"Yes, but that's all I can say right now, I have to talk with emma first." Pyosz felt like the ferry was creeping.

"Of course we'll tend Saya for you" said Pank. "I'll bring you some bacon to take the folks back home."

"I'll come back after milk delivery but I need to go to the jichang around 9. Don't tell anyone about this trip, it's a surprise visit" said Pyosz.

She was up til midnight, making bread and pastries for Gitta, packing a single bag, and whenever she could, sitting at her table to draw and write in her notebook. She packed a hamper, adding bixi paste for her family in screw-top ceramic pots she'd made with rabbits on the sides. She added the two miniature bicycles to give to Thleen and Ehall. When she finally fell into bed, she moved her alarm up to 6:00, buying more sleep time.

But the goats and her trying-to-crow chanticleer got her up at the regular time. She wearily went through her routine, picking up rounds of fudgy prym cheese from Kolm to take home. Back on Saya, she washed a load of milk rags and hung them in the drying room, then changed the sheets on her bed and swept her cabin. At the last minute, she unpinned her map of Saya from the wall and put it in a carrying tube to take with her.

Maar met her at the wharf because she had searched Koldok for Pyosz and was about to ferry over. "What's all this?" she said.

"I'm going to Skene with you" said Pyosz.

"Mill didn't say a word to me -- " began Maar as she lifted the hamper.

"She doesn't know, I just decided. If you'll stow that for me, I'll go talk to her now."

Pyosz repeated to Mill "I need to talk with emma before discussing things with anyone else. Please don't tell her I'm coming." Mill didn't like it but she gave Pyosz releases to sign and wished her morrie vaseo. Pyosz wrapped her manteau around her in the second seat, made a nest with one of her blankets and pillow, and stayed awake only long enough to see Mti vanish behind them.

She woke up to feed them from her hamper, avoiding Abbo's questions and Maar's silent curiosity. Maar let her keep the second seat, saying "You look done in", and Pyosz went back to sleep. It was 6:30 in the morning when they landed, and Skene was awake. Pyosz said to Maar "Come for dinner tonight? With your sibs if you have them. I'll tell you everything then." She couldn't bear the furrow on Maar's brow and gave her cheek a light kiss to erase it. She stretched her back before shouldering her load for the trek up the lane. She didn't knock before entering the Genist Manage. Prl was standing at the aga in her schmatta, her hair uncombed. She whirled around and stared at Pyosz in disbelief.

Pyosz set down her hamper and said "Hello, emma. I've come to talk with you about our future."

After a long breath, Prl said "Where did you come from?"

"Funny you of all people should ask that." Pyosz's giggle made her real, and Prl flew into her arms.

"Come here to the table, into the light -- you look worn, child, are you hungry?"

"Worn is a good word for it. Just tea for the moment." Pyosz let Prl wait on her. She knew sooner or later her opening sentence would work its way back to the front of her emma's keen mind. Prl made toast, she couldn't stop herself, and then while that was in the aga she dropped eggs into butter . Soon two plates were before them, and Prl fried eggs exactly the way Pyosz preferred them, the blackberry preserves were from Pya, the bread had been made by Yoj, who could resist?

Prl stood to get the green glass milk pitcher from the coldbox, but stopped herself and asked "Are you drinking milk again? Dodd told me -- "

"I am but it would be better for me to have juice, cherry or grape if you have it."

Prl said "Only orange."

"That's fine. Emma, come sit down, I'm here to have time alone with you, I didn't tell anyone I was coming but Abbo will blab it soon enough."

Prl slid in next to her, handing her orange juice and looking at her minutely. "What's wrong? You said -- our future -- "

"You know all of what's happened with me this month, I'm all right. Except for one piece of news." She repeated what Mill had told her, and felt weight lift from her instantly.

Prl's eyes were blue ice. "You won't want to hear this, but she's playing you."

"For once, emma, I think you're right. I mean, I'm sure the Chwet couple are real enough -- in fact, I suspect one of them is the child abba Bux sent to Pya when I was eight, isn't that ironic? But I think Mill is giving me a shove with regard to the timeline." Pyosz poured a second glass of orange juice and drank half of it before adding "There's something else I need to tell you in absolute confidence, nothing to the abbas." She shared the truth of how Pya had come by its goat contributions.

Prl said softly "She knows. Mill -- somehow she found out. And she either wants you in place to take the blame when it blows up, or maybe she wants you back on Skene for the same but they'll still have the herd you've launched."

"I don't agree with you that she wants me to be a target, emma, but yes, I think she knows. She's as ambitious as anyone in our family -- "

Prl burst in "Except she's clumsy at it!"

"I disagree, I think she's been wildly successful on behalf of Pya, it's all for Pya, and she expects the same of me" said Pyosz. "And she's not off the mark, only for me it's all for Saya. It's as if I was born to partner with Saya, in a way. Whatever Mill's manipulation is in all this, I realized I cannot leave Saya, I cannot turn over my herd to someone else, I even feel maternal about my owl." She put both her hands over Prl's.

With welling eyes, Prl said "This is it, then."

"It is, and soon as I knew, I came straight to you. Emma, I mean to claim Saya for my legacy, I mean to fill it with my children and their children, I intend to build a massive Manage visible for miles around, and I want you there with me. You first, and then somehow all my abbas."

Prl turned her hands upward to meet Pyosz's with a tight grip. "You already have Qala and Lawa, they'll move as soon as you have a place for them."

"They told you that?"

"No, and they may not have told one another. But I know them, what feeds their soul." Prl began crying softly. "I can't go, child, I have one more piece of work to do and I can't see how to do it, but the future of all Skene depends on me figuring it out."

Now Pyosz's grip was tight. "What is it, emma, trust me and I'll help you think it through."

"I long to, Pyosz. But -- it would be breaking a serious law and put you at risk of prosecution or perjury if I were to confide in you. I can't do that to you."

"Oh emma." She pulled Prl's face onto her wide shoulder and they wept together. "Retirement, then, when you retire you'll come spoil my children and make house pets of each new generation of kids" murmured Pyosz. Prl did not reply, instead going to the sink to wash her face. When she returned to the table, she said brightly "So, a massive Manage? Two stories?"

"Plus an attic. Long porch facing Koldok Kuono, separate keramiker studio -- I've drawn plans, would you like to see?"

They were still at it, the table covered with sketches and lists, when Lawa and Qala walked in. Qala almost dropped the eggs she had cradled in her shati, and after a few seconds, Lawa rounded on Prl with "Why didn't you tell us she was coming?!!"

Prl grinned at her, but before answering she said to Pyosz urgently "I'm the one loaning you the money for construction, me alone, promise?"

"Construction of what?" asked Qala.

"A glorious Manage and various other buildings on Saya Island, where Pyosz is to become a permanent resident!" said Prl with brittle pride.

"Whoa." Lawa sat down, picking up a drawing and gaping at it. Qala delicately transferred eggs to the bowl in the coldbox, looking around when Lawa said "Maar must be over the moons."

"She doesn't know yet" said Pyosz, knowing that would quietly thrill Prl. "Emma was the first, and now you two are the second."

"Well fill us in" said Qala, kissing Pyosz's forehead before sitting next to Lawa. Ten minutes later a knock came at the front door, and Prl looked at the clock in horror. "Oh no, that's a consultation, and look at me!"

"I'll go see them in to your office" said Qala. "I'll make tea and take in, how many of them?" asked Lawa.

"Three adults and a two-year-old" said Prl, scurrying to her bedroom. Pyosz poured another glass of juice before reaching for the radio. Lawa looked around as Pyosz said "Hi, Rark, it's Pyosz...Great, actually, how are you and yours?...I'm calling to see if Sinner Maar is there...I know, and usually I would never interrupt her sleep, but she'll really want to hear from me, could you ask someone to fetch her to the radio? Thanks a bunch."

Copyright 2009 Maggie Jochild.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:00:00 +0000

PYA: CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:11:00 +0000

HUBBLE THURSDAY 17 DECEMBER 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:27:00 +0000

Every Thursday, I post a very large photograph of some corner of space captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and available online from the picture album at HubbleSite, followed by poetry after the jump.

AFTER PSALM 137

by Anne Porter

We're still in Babylon but
We do not weep
Why should we weep?
We have forgotten
How to weep

We've sold our harps
And bought ourselves machines
That do our singing for us
And who remembers now
The songs we sang in Zion?

We have got used to exile
We hardly notice
Our captivity
For some of us
There are such comforts here
Such luxuries

Even a guard
To keep the beggars
From annoying us

Jerusalem
We have forgotten you.

PYA: CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:49:00 +0000

To begin reading this sci-fi novel or for background information, go to my Chapter One post here. To read about the background of the first novel, read my post here, which will also direct you to appendices.

For more detailed information, posted elsewhere on this blog are:

Pya Dictionary from Skenish to English (complete up to present chapter), with some cultural notes included
Pya Cast of Characters (complete up to present chapter)
Map of Pya with Description of Each Island
Map of Skene (but not Pya)
Map of Saya Island and Environs When Pyosz First Arrived
Skene Character Lineage at Start of Pya Novel
Skene, Chapter One (With Cultural Notes in Links)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Two days later was Halling's birthday. Pyosz called in the morning as soon as she had rushed back from Koldok.

"Abba, it aches to not be there for your birthday, are you having a lovely dinner?"

"It's moved on from dinner into party. Here, let me try out what Prl got me -- this radio turns into a speaker sort of device so everyone in the room can hear -- are you still there, child? Shit and thunderation, I've disconnected her "

Speranz's voice said "No, you haven't, just push this button here -- move your hand, emma -"

In the background, Pyosz heard Ehall proclaim in piercing tones "Habibi said a bad word!" and then Thleen urging "What bad word, I didn't hear a bad word." Simultaneously Maar said "Thleen, knock it off" as Ehall whispered loudly "Shit and funderation." Through laughter, Pyosz kept repeating "I'm here abba, I can hear you all" until finally Halling said "There you are, okay, I've got it now, Speranz. Pyosz, I'm astounded by this map of Pya you sent me, where did you get it?"

"A friend of mine here, Uli, drew it, it hasn't been published anywhere yet" said Pyosz. "But the Lofthall here has a copy." She heard Maar pointing out fish migration symbols in an undertone to somebody. Yoj said plaintively "If you'll let me copy it, I wouldn't have to ask to borrow it", which Halling seemed to be ignoring. Instead, Qala's voice came through, "Say hello to Uli for me when you see her, and Dekkan, too."

"Hey, I have an interesting tidbit for you" said Pyosz. "The rabbit has gone missing!" She heard Maar burst into laughter, and Ehall, who had been repeating "Emma, wat is funderation? Wat's funderation, emma?" now switched to "Wat is wabbit?" She heard Lawa start an explanation as Qala asked "Did an owl get it?"

"No, it was in an indoor run when last seen" said Pyosz. "Suspicion fell initially on Brek, but she has hotly denied rescuing it, as she puts it, and has offered her Manage up for a search, which has shifted public opinion away from her as a thief." She heard peals of laughter coming from both Ehall and Thleen, and knew, irresistibly, that Lawa must have fingers stuck up like ears beside her head and be hopping across the floor.

"I bet it's the Owl People!" called out Maar, giggling.

"Well, except it has been neutered, and the Owl People are focused on creating a habitat on Chwet, not pets per se. The speculation here is everyone's chief form of entertainment right now, gladly replacing that of -- " Pyosz stopped herself. The murder.

Suddenly somber, Halling said quietly "The woman in the hospital gave a deposition to Bux today. The trial is tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh abba, I'm so sorry." Pyosz hoped Bux knew this was aimed at her. Bux replied "I wish you were here. I might as well tell you, the newspaper has it: She testified against her partner and requested she be exiled." Bux's voice was almost unrecognizable, gravelly and flat. Ehall was still chortling in the background, but Pyosz bet Thleen was now listening to the adults near the radio.

With an obvious effort, Bux said "That card you made for Halling was a work of art, Pyosz. When are we going to see ceramics flowing from your hand?"

"Soon" promised Pyosz. Thleen broke in: "I made Nan Halling a card too, s'bem -- I mean, Pyosz -- it's a sinner killing a leviathan. I used up all my red paint on it."

Pyosz made a mental note to send Thleen more paints even as she exulting over that slip, being called sibemma. Halling, always ready to be a killjoy when it came to matters in her expertise, said "You know, lev blood isn't actually red."

"Thunderation!" burst out Thleen, and as Maar began an intervention, Pyosz said "This kind of radio is a marvelous device, abba, what a perfect gift for you." Prl jumped in with "Do you want me to send you one as well?"

"Oh, no, I make my calls alone, I wouldn't use it, emma." Pyosz was willing to bet Prl wouldn't get one either, citing Genist need for confidentiality but the real reason is that Prl wouldn't want to share her calls like this.

Pyosz meant to call the following morning, when it would be just past dinnertime in Skene, her abbas home from the horrors of the trial, but a violent thunderstorm which lasted until noon made her leery of all electronics, especially in a metal cabin or under the kitchen's tin roof. It was just as well.

When Bux, Yoj, and Halling got home from the trial, held in the main hall at the University, Halling was in deep pain from the walk uphill that she was trying to deny in order to comfort Bux. They walked into a warm Manage redolent with the smells of a seafood chowder and fresh rolls Tlunu had made -- she wasn't a creative cook but she made delectable basics. Halling sat in the nearest chair and Bux returned from their bedroom with a jar of liniment, pulling a footstool beside the chair.

"You don't have to do that" began Halling.

"Hush. It will soothe me as well" said Bux, warming a puddle of ointment between her palms while Yoj, with grunts, removed Halling's otos and sokken. As Bux began rubbing to Halling's groans, Yoj hung up their wet burzakas and went to the kitchen to wash her hands.

"How did it go?" asked Speranz in a low voice, dressing steamed carrots and greens with some of Pyosz's garlic oil.

"Bux exiled her" said Yoj. She looked at Tlunu. "I'm sure Danaan will tap you as part of the group who will fly her out to Peisuo tomorrow."

"I've never actually landed there" said Tlunu.

"It's forsaken. I wish it had never appeared above the surface of the ocean" said Yoj, but not loud enough for Bux to hear. She added milk and honey to two mugs of tea and carried them to her partners, holding Bux's to her lips so Bux could keep rubbing Halling's ankles. Tlunu set the table and called in "Come while it's hot."

Halling was already walking easier as she and Bux went to wash their hands. Bux sat at the end next to the sideboard, flanked by Bux and Halling. In habit from when this table was more occupied but would now strike a visitor as odd, Speranz sat far away at the other end with Tlunu to her left.

After a bite, Bux said "Look at all the crab in this stew!"

"Yeah, I traded a nice dogefish for it from a Bohaira crabber at the docks" said Tlunu, pleased with herself. "There's more dogefish in the coldbox for tomorrow."

"I'm taking the day off tomorrow -- after escorting the Peisuo contingent to their departure, I mean" said Bux. She looked at Halling. "I'll roll the filets in nut meal and fry them in bacon fat for your lunch, you love that."

"I'll stay home, too" offered Yoj. "After going with you" she said to Bux. A concession perhaps only the three of them could appreciate.

After another minute of eating, Yoj added "I'll make a crate of books and spices to send along with the allotment to Peisuo." Which was extralegal but she knew Bux would agree with it.

Halling buttered a second roll and was about to speak when Bux said "I told her, when we met after sentencing -- I explained we wouldn't call for a week or answer her calls unless she said it was an emergency. And if she lied about her need, the silence would get worse. I said we'd bring chickens and katts when we go to check on her after a week." She had stopping eating and was playing with kelp in her chowder.

"I can find a kitten for her, as well as a grown hunter" offered Yoj. "Lawa will have a line on chickens -- "

"She won't be alive in a week" said Bux tonelessly. "She'll simply lie down and die." Everyone looked at her. She dropped her spoon into her bowl and leaned her face into her hands. "She died a month ago, her body just hasn't caught up."

Yoj waited for Bux to cry. Speranz said, "What do you mean, a month ago? The murder was only -- "

"When they ended the meaning of her existence, the definition she'd built on her entire adult life!" burst out Bux. "The two people she trusted most said 'Yeah, we've realized you're not so special to us anymore, no hard feelings but could you stand a little farther away, you smell a little.' She died then. I can absolutely imagine what happened to her inside."

After a moment, Halling said "You can imagine that happening to you?"

Bux wheeled on her "Don't be stupid, Halling. I don't mean I'd ever think you and Yoj could feel that way about me, I got over my shit decades ago." Speranz and Tlunu glanced as each other as they kept eating. "But I can still imagine what it would be like, can't you?"

Yoj said "Yes" quietly. "She couldn't see any way to start over, not living at the edge of the world and left behind by her children, and now her partners. I think her advocate should have argued for insanity."

"I agree, and I urged her to" said Bux, her voice thick. "That poor woman kept telling me her partners were only temporarily gone, they'd come back for her any minute now. Clearly she's not competent. I'd still have to exile her, but she needs a caregiver. Her family refused to go in that direction, however. When the surviving partner is well enough, she's migrating to Pya with her daughter, Wyspa Fling will come to new tenants."

"Ay, what sort of desperate family will take it?" wondered Yoj out loud. Halling looked at her, communicating without words.

"They've dumped her like molded paper, and she probably won't eat a bite of whatever we send to Peisuo with her" said Bux, finally giving in to her suppressed grief. "I could have exonerated her, I seriously considered it, let the new Ethicist deal with a retrial if community outrage demanded it. But without a family, where could she go?" Halling pulled Bux toward her. Before leaning her face against Halling's shoulder, Bux ripped the dark green collar and medallion of office from her throat and flung it on the floor. One of Yoj's elderly katts actually roused itself from near-perpetual slumber and tottered over to investigate.

The next day, Yoj recounted Bux's anguish privately to Prl, who passed it on unedited to Pyosz. Bux's prediction about the exile proved accurate, with an odd twist: After the sinner had departed, the exile had shoved all her allotment supplies off the kitchen table onto the floor and laid on the table to die, never even turning on the hearth.

"Why the table?" mused Qala. "Why not the bed?"

"It's the first place I look for family when I get home" answered Lawa. "She still thought they were going to come for her."

That week, while a dead woman lay on a forsaken table waiting to be discovered by Tlunu, Pyosz was spending her afternoons experimenting with pot glazes. She was buying the time for it by doing her orchard processing after dinner, meaning a string of late nights that were beginning to show on her face. Maar made her meals a couple of times, but there was no mistaking Pyosz's fever to be translating the visions in her mind to bowls and plates. For once, Pyosz had no letters to send home to her family. Or to Thleen, which finally intruded on Pyosz's obsession.

She loaded what she had finished into her kiln and turned it on, grateful that day was cold enough to hint at the onset of winter in a month. She wished Maar were in town to invite for dinner, but she had returned to Skene, remarking the exile's remaining family would be flying back on the huolon. Pyosz focused on roasting pistachios, arriving on her trees in abundance, and made a warm mash for her goats before she called them in for milking.

After dinner, while quince jelly bubbled on the aga, she sliced apples into a lemon-water bath and called her abbas. Bux told her about the exile's death and they cried together. Yoj was making the funeral arrangements because the family had declined. "I hope I never have to associate with them when they get back to Pya" remarked Pyosz. "I don't understand murder but I don't understand how they're being about it, either."

Which roused mixed emotions in Yoj: Gratitude at her grandchild's innate compassion, and worry at the implication that Pyosz's residence on Pya might become permanent.

Right after Pyosz clicked off the radio, it buzzed again. This time it was Maar, saying "Can you spare a minute to talk, I need to tell you something."

"I've finally turned over my pots to firing, and I already know the news, I just talked to my abbas" said Pyosz.

"Uh...they don't know yet, so -- what are you talking about?" said Maar. After hearing Pyosz's update, Maar said, "No, I wanted to tell you I'll be here in Skene an extra day, at least. A wicked weather system is socked in over the ocean and I don't think we can climb high enough to avoid a risky run. The good news is that I'll be with my sibs for the New Year, which has made Thleen very happy because school starts up again the following day, you know. We're going to dip Pomar apples from Ngall in honey from Saya. The bad news is, well, obviously I won't be there for New Year."

Pyosz was taken off guard by how disappointed she was. "I'll really miss you. I guess I'll go to Herne, or Dodd's. But I'm happy for Thleen" she said.

"This last year was the best of my life, and I have high hopes for the one about to commence" said Maar softly.

"Me too" said Pyosz.

The next morning Pyosz went on to Pertama to meet with Nioma. She found their discussion invigorating, partly because she was trying to decide if a teenaged Prl could have carried a torch for a teenaged Nioma. She found this exercise a little too difficult in the end. Maybe I can ask Dodd she thought.

Going to sleep that night, she kept remembering one remark Nioma had made. She had expressed sympathy for how the recent trial and outcome must have upset Pyosz's abbas, which in someone else would have been an attempt at extracting gossip, but Pyosz thought was not so with Nioma. She had then said "Skene loves to imagine it prioritizes balance. We especially believe we have evolved beyond the savagery of those on the original planet, whose ways we had to abandon in order to survive. But at times like this, our imbalance and savagery are clearly retained. And I'm not referring to the murderer."

After she left the ejida office, Pyosz's eye was caught by a Pertama storefront showing children's toys, including a plush representation of a rabbit. She went right in and discovered there were only two of these, both delivered that morning. "What fur is this?" she wondered, running her fingers through the odd-looking creature's covering.

"Squirrel" answered the shopkeeper. "It's been dyed." The source was almost as startling as if it had been rabbit. Pyosz looked at her and said "Do you have relations, then, among the -- among those from Chwet?"

"By partnership, yes" the woman answered with a flinty grin. Pyosz asked how much the toy cost and sucked in her breath at the answer. But these will never make their way to Skene she thought. And if she's kin, the folks on Chwet are making some coin from this. She looked over the rest of the woman's stock and walked out with both plush rabbits, plus a small carved version to send Qala and Lawa; two perfectly functional miniature bicycles; a pair of toy sheep whose fleece snapped on and off; and two squirrel tails, one for her katts and one for Yoj's. She had no money left to buy a lentil patty but her gift-giving for Ehall and Thleen was taken care of for months.

Pank ambled up to the Saya kitchen as Pyosz was finishing lunch, accepting a cup of barley soup and settling into a chair. "We need apples and honey for the new year" she said.

"Take all you want from my larder" said Pyosz. She showed her new toys to Pank, who marveled at the bicycles. Then Pank said "I was thinking you might want to do your honey harvest early. My elbows says it's gonna be a fierce winter."

"Your elbows are good enough for me" said Pyosz.

"Anyhow, I'm free this afternoon, be glad to help you" said Pank. "Tu is planting and being disagreeable."

Pyosz wondered what that looked like. She said "Well, it's cold and dry, it would be a good day for keeping bees calm. Sure. I'll get my gear together." When she returned rumbling the wain behind her, she saw Ember leap six feet into the air trying to catch the squirrel tail Pank was dangling over her own head. Still laughing, she called the allotment center and asked to rent the extractor and hot knife again.

"Everybody wants that equipment right now" said the snarky clerk. "There's one coming back in at 5:00 today but it has to be somewhere else by noon tomorrow, and then nothing will be available for over a week."

"I'll take what you got for overnight. I'll call the Lofthall and arrange delivery myself" said Pyosz, resigning herself to another scanty night of sleep.

Pank picked the orchard while Pyosz pulled supers. Pank stuck around back at the kitchen, shelling nuts and telling Pyosz about the play someone in her troupe was writing. Pyosz sat at the table with her, cutting nectarines for drying and apples for applesauce. Once these items were in the second stage of processing, Pyosz went to her kiln and felt its lid.

"Completely cool" she said. "You want to see my first run?"

Pank stood and cleared the table swiftly. She turned out to be an ideal person to view the results with: Pyosz wanted to pore over detail of what had worked and what had not, and Pank had infinite patience coupled with curiosity. Pyosz lost all track of time. When she heard the sinner overhead, she said "Oh, stars, the extractor delivery" and ran for her wain.

Whoever was lowering the pallet was not at all skilled in it. It took her four tries, nearly decapitating Pyosz until she got well away from the jichang, and the sinner landed afterward with a sickening lurch. Pyosz wasn't surprised when it was Dekkan, cheeks flaming, who emerged from the hatch. She held out a paper-wrapped bundle and said "I, uh, brought some cauca from the fish docks."

Oh, lev thought Pyosz and she heard Pank's chuckle from the trail.

Dekkan helped her muscle the equipment from the pallet into her wain, and Pyosz of course had to invite her to dinner, adding "I have more work to do than I can quite handle, you'll have to help. What can you cook?"

"Uh..." But Dekkan's gaze had gone to one of the new plates on the table. and she reached out to pick it up. "Don't" said Pyosz sharply. She removed her pottery to a cupboard as Pank set up the extractor.

"I can make risotto" said Dekkan, not meeting Pyosz's eyes. "And, uh, I'm pretty good with salads."

Pyosz took pity on her. "Excellent. Go to the tillage and pull for a salad plus one veggie to mince into the risotto, all right?" Dekkan strode into the dusk.

"Your strainer in the barn?" called out Pank.

"Yes, and buckets that will seal afterward" answered Pyosz. Lowering her voice she said "Cauca is my least favorite seafood, it's so bland and falls apart easily. I'll have to make a marinade that will flavor it without starting the cooking process." Pank was giggling again.

Pyosz set a pan on the stove and added chicken stock to heat for the risotto. Dekkan returned with an armload of produce just as Tu came around the barn. Tu stopped a few feet away from Pank and said "I'm sorry I threw that trowel at you."

"I'm sorry I laughed when your pants split open. Although it was lovely to see your buttery ass" said Pank.

Dekkan had frozen, her eyes showing a lot of white.

"Will you come home now?" asked Tu.

No no no begged Pyosz with her eyes, the two of you have to stay here and eat with us. But Pank laughed and said "I was about to head that way. I'll be back tomorrow, Pyosz. We're going to need at least 20 pounds of honey, we're going to use it to glaze hams this winter. But wait til you see what I have to give you in exchange." Pank picked up the bucket of fruit cores for her pigs, handed a bag of apples to Tu, and they ambled off. A chorus of bleats arose from the kissing gate when they reached it, and Pyosz said to Dekkan "I have to go milk, I set you up to get started on the risotto, please leave the fish to me."

By the time she returned, Dekkan had removed her gilet and rolled up the sleeves of her shati. Pyosz thought irritably I just turned 21, doesn't she realize that means we're out of sui? But Dekkan was visibly sweating as she grinned hopefully at Pyosz. "You, uh, got a radio call, they told me to take a message,"

Oh LEV. "Who was it?" Pyosz was rapidly beating a raw egg into her katts' crumbled fisk as they yowled at her feet.

"Uh, your abba."

"Which one?" Pyosz jerked open her cabin door and turned on the light so she didn't trip over the katts.

"She didn't give me her name. But she asked you to send her her own map and for her birthday she wants a historical record nobody has ever seen."

Pyosz was now back in the kitchen, pushing in next to Dekkan to put fish under the broiler. "Oh, that was Yoj" she said, laughing.

"The Archivist? She asked me a lot of questions about who I was" Dekkan said hoarsely. The risotto looked done and Pyosz turned the burner off under the pot. Clapping Dekkan on her shoulder, Pyosz said "I have to run feed the chickens. Set the table and I'll be right back." She felt pity again at the look of gratitude Dekkan gave her.

The fish was dry, the salad gritty, but the risotto actually good. Pyosz served them sponge cake covered with fresh applesauce for dessert, by which time Dekkan was no long starting every sentence with "Uh" and had even made Pyosz laugh hard with a story from flight school.

"Well, I'm a dreadful host tonight, Dekkan, but I can't linger at the table any longer, I have to unseal those supers over there and let the honey strain overnight" said Pyosz.

"I can help, I don't have to get the sinner back" said Dekkan eagerly. But when they reached the supers, a few doomed bees were sitting sluggishly on the wood.

"Uh -- I swell up enormous when I get bit" said Dekkan, backing away.

"Tell you what, go do the dishes and I'll call you if I need help lifting" said Pyosz. But she was done before Dekkan was. She covered it all with a tarp and returned to the kitchen for half an hour's mercy over tea before walking Dekkan firmly to the jichang.

"You were a big help, lovely company, and I'll eat your risotto any time" she said from a safe distance. "Give my regards to your family." She backed away to the chicken house as the engine turned over, and there was a shower of sparks when the pallet's chains were jerked awkwardly into the air. She suddenly wished she had been on Pya during Maar's first year as a pilot. Except she was just as unavailable then and you had a lot yet to learn she thought.

She was bleary the next morning and longed to go back to bed after milk delivery. Uli caught up with her as she began loading her ferry, handing her cans and saying "I've had a talk with Dekkan, she won't be barging in on you again."

"Oh, Uli, it wasn't that bad" came out of Pyosz's mouth before she could stop herself. She and Uli stared at each other briefly, then they both roared. Pyosz leaned against the gearhouse in the stern, and Uli sat at the edge of the wharf, her feet dangling. With the wisps of fog burned off, the day was already warm and still, the water unusually smooth -- what Skene called sentimental summer.

"I do like having company for dinner, as long as they don't expect to be served or have a kiss afterward" said Pyosz. "I can't speak to the latter, but she did more than her share of cooking."

"She acts like she's too mature to hang out with her buddies who are still in high school, and the ones her age are either at the U in Skene or apprenticing elsewhere on Pya. And my friends don't welcome her tagging along" said Uli. "Plus those damn pilots, the ones who cluster around Abbo, all they talk about is, well, ginny. But what I think what Dekkan really wants is a friend."

"She's got potential" said Pyosz. "Listen, I'm going to Herne Island tonight for the new year, why don't both of you drop in? If you're both invited, it's not a date and your emmas have to let you disappear for a while, right?"

Uli laughed appreciatively. Pyosz dared "But no Sey tagging along with you." Uli's smile vanished.

"Look, I've wanted to explain that to you -- " she began.

"You don't have to. I won't socialize with her, but I'm not asking that of my friends here" said Pyosz. Except Maar would never consider it she thought.

"She -- she and Cremen have been seeing each other" said Uli.

"Ah, well, I had a better opinion of Cremen's judgment than that, but whatever" said Pyosz with a grin. Uli roared again, and said "That's why I haven't invited you back to Gong Tong, it's been bugging me."

Pyosz heard someone calling her name distantly. She looked around and spotted Pank standing on the Saya dock, waving at her. Pyosz waved back and said to Uli "Any time this evening, don't bring food, we'll be up to our ears in it. And Uli? Tell Qoj how you really feel, that's my advice. See you later." She pushed the lever into gear.

Tu was at her tillage and stopped her, saying "There's a monster storm due in after midnight, we need to harvest anything that'll get pulled to bits."

"I was thinking I'd get those rose starts from Isola Fling in the ground today, because it's so warm" said Pyosz in dismay. "I'm not sure what to do with them now."

"Plant 'em" advised Tu. "Stake 'em good and cover them with clear plastic, once the storm's over they'll have a chance to take hold before we get any freeze. I'll do your tillage."

Pank had started her honey through a second strain and was crunching on comb. A sextet of small minute chops lay on the table. Pyosz peppered them heavily, dropped them into a pan with butter, reheated leftover risotto and sliced some of the tomatoes Tu was rescuing to grill in the chop fond with a dash of cream. Pank and Tu joined her for a second breakfast before they all resumed their work. Pank pruned trees on the eastern end of Saya while Pyosz planted the largest of the roses on the other side of the kissing gate. She put two more in front of her kitchen and one in a sheltered dip along the trail to her dock.

Tu moved on to rake out the chicken house and lay down fresh straw. Pyosz transferred her rented equipment to beside the jichang for pickup and turned some of the tillage harvest into dishes for the family meal that evening. Then she and her cousins returned the cleaned supers to her hives, setting out a feed of sugar water against the impending weather the next day. They stripped the orchard of anything likely to fall in wind. Pank said "We need to go work on our place now." Pyosz said "I'll be over within the hour to help."

She rolled her loaded wain straight to her dock, deciding people would want the harvest as is right now. She saved out two bushels of apples and another of chestnuts from what she hauled to the allotment center, taking them instead to Gitta, who crowed when she saw Pyosz coming in the door. "I'm almost out of apples!" she said.

"I have honey, too" said Pyosz. "Do you have any goose or lamb?"

"All gone. But I have a large duck left."

"I'll take it" said Pyosz. She stopped at Koldok's only food stall for a portable lunch, adding extra for her cousins, before heading home. She put plum sauce in the bag with her duck and walked to Herne, deciding to start her bird roasting there before she dashed back to milk.

She cleaned their chicken house and pig barn, hauled pruned limbs to the woodpile, and swept their first floor before goats beckoned. As she was finishing milking, Mill, Oby, Api and Ollow appeared in her barn, carrying bowls and platters. "I have to change, I'll be there soon" she waved them on. She secured her chickens, fed her katts, washed at her sink and loaded a crate with vegetable dishes before strolling to Herne with a sense of accomplished anticipation.

The twilight was dead calm, a stunning night to eat on the porch. Pyosz jarred half her duck fat to take home -- it was so good for frying potatoes -- and gladly hugged Uli and Dekkan when they arrived. Uli had two bottles of sparkling apple wine which were immediately opened and poured. Dekkan was dressed in stylish ordinaries and carried a velvet bag containing a set of silver pennywhistles. She confided in Pyosz "Uli's friends, and Abbo plus some of the pilots, are all going to a big party in Dudor, but we decided to come here instead."

"I'm so glad" said Pyosz, feeding Dekkan a slice of honey-dipped apple and allowing herself to be fed in return.

The radio buzzed three times. Frank called from what she said was a tediously slow labor on Inish Fling. After they clicked off, Nk said to Frahe "Homesick" and Frahe nodded. Halling used her new radio speaker to call from what sounded like a riotous brunch at her Manage. Prl kept shouting in the background "These apples were picked by my baby's hands, a toast to Pyosz!" Yoj whispered "She's been drinking brandy for an hour." Pyosz giggled "She'll have a migraine to start the new year."

The third call was from Maar at her family's manage, sounding utterly happy. Thleen announced "There's a kickball game tonight and then I get to stay up an hour late, even though there's school in the morning!"

"Who is Chloddia playing?" asked Pyosz.

"Abfall and they stink. Adon is on second string because she's not old enough yet but she says they'll get far enough ahead of stinky Abfall that she'll get put in during the second half" said Thleen. "Maar made apple pancakes for breakfast and we put your honey on them, she said we can eat treats from Saya all day."

"We're doing exactly the same here" said Pyosz.

When Dodd began tuning her fiddle using Dekkan's pitch pipe, she said quietly to Dekkan "Pava really misses you." Dekkan looked at her hands. Pyosz knew that Pava was Poth's oldest child, 15, and guessed she had been Dekkan's best friend at school. After a minute of adjusting strings, Dodd said "I was thinking that once the term gets under way, maybe on your day off you could come have lunch at the school and then speak to the fourth graders about what it means to choose the Lofthall as a career." Dekkan's face lit up and she looked at Dodd, nodding.

Frahe brought out her massive copper drum and music commenced, bouncing through the hushed dark to cliffside rocks and back. Once during a lull between songs, they heard a faint snatch of leviathan song, which made them all laugh hysterically for reasons Pyosz couldn't explain. Briel, who was wiry and slight, came to sit in front of Pyosz and lean back against her, dispelling any trace of Pyosz missing her Skene family.

Shortly past 10:00, Pyosz felt a breeze blow through a gap at the back of her untucked shati. A shower of leaves from the hickory nearest the porch made Oby turn her head and look at her watch. "I think maybe it's early" she said. Five minutes later, a distant flash of lightning stopped Dodd mid-song.

"I don't want to ride ferries during a storm" said Briel, an unfamiliar anxiety on her face.

"I know" said Dodd, putting away her fiddle. By the time they got to Pyosz's kitchen, the rain had arrived and the wind was already alarming. "Don't walk us to the dock" commanded Mill, "we've got each other. Get indoors and stay there."

Pyosz felt a wave of gratitude for her radiator and the wood paneling of her tiny metal box. She used her chamberpot and invited the katts under her blanket before turning out her lamp. "Happy new year" she whispered to the owl, wherever she passed a night like this.

Copyright 2009 Maggie Jochild.

LOLCATS WEEKLY ROUNDUP 15 DECEMBER 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:05:00 +0000

Here's the weekly best of what I've gleaned from I Can Has Cheezburger efforts. There are some really creative folks out there. This week we'll begin with a LolCat created by the author of Blue Ox blog -- keep turning 'em out, Blue!

PYA: CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:07:00 +0000

To begin reading this sci-fi novel or for background information, go to my Chapter One post here. To read about the background of the first novel, read my post here, which will also direct you to appendices.

For more detailed information, posted elsewhere on this blog are:

Pya Dictionary from Skenish to English (complete up to present chapter), with some cultural notes included
Pya Cast of Characters (complete up to present chapter)
Map of Pya with Description of Each Island
Map of Skene (but not Pya)
Map of Saya Island and Environs When Pyosz First Arrived
Skene Character Lineage at Start of Pya Novel
Skene, Chapter One (With Cultural Notes in Links)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

The tongue-in-groove paneling used to line the interior of Pyosz's cabin had been milled from the poplar felled in her woods by Tu and Pank. Frahe had told her it would take paint or stain very well, but her first morning waking up with its light grain holding her snug, she couldn't imagine ever wanting to cover it. The movable shutters for her kitchen were not yet completed, being fitted together by Nk and Frahe on Herne, though the framing for it was in place. They had assured her it would be easy to install and would be finished by Lawa and Qala's arrival.

Pyosz had returned from Koldok and was making a list of what she wanted to get done in the next five days when the radio buzzed. It was Api, telling her that an electronics factory had found a use for her clay and they needed another 200 lb., preferably already washed and ready for shaping. Pyosz laughed a little bitterly and informed Api how labor intensive prepping clay was, the factory was on their own with that.

"I don't have scales to weigh large amounts. I can guess it fairly closely and go over to be sure, but I'll want it weighed impartially, like at the Lofthall, before it gets delivered to them" said Pyosz. "And I want a craft to come pick it up, but I need a delivery of more feed and hay anyhow, we can make it one trip." She arranged for the exchange in two days, called the ejida to place her order, and then, almost as an afterthought, asked to be connected with Nioma.

She told Nioma about the work she and Vants had done and the conclusions reached. Nioma said "I'm fascinated, I'd love to go over the chart with you. And I can verify what Vants said, the Guild on Skene has never released any contribution or goat which offers a substantial alteration from the initial herd Pya received."

"Now which Guild is this?" asked Pyosz.

"Well, actually there are three who have to sign off on contracts between the Skene botaniste and any entity on Pya regarding goats in particular. One of course is the Capriste Guild, which Vants is a member of" said Nioma.

"Could I apply for membership? Was Ferk in it?"

Nioma laughed gaily in reply. "Second is the Nudzaak Guild, which is chaired by the Sheng Zhang of Tanyan and interfaces between all farm products and the Allotment Ministry, theoretically insuring that basic nutritional needs are always met on Skene. And third is the Meragi Guild, which is peopled by the djostikers, kaasyastes, tofu and tempeh makers, and for some odd reason, those who produce rice syrup -- no other rice products, just the syrup. Must go back to some reason early in Skene history."

Pyosz reminded herself to ask Yoj or Buz about Guild origins. "So what you're saying is, Vant's vote is only one among many and her influence won't extend to guilds that don't even know her" she said.

"That would be my guess. But I remember Vants as being extremely well-spoken and powerful in a quiet way, even in grade school. Plus contracts are up for renegotiation in a year -- less than a year, now -- and I'd expect smart folks to want to create good will as a replacement for legislated coercion" said Nioma.

"Smart folks don't populate bureacracies" said Pyosz. Nioma laughed again and replied "That sounded exactly like something Prl would say. Or the Ethicist -- is it true that Bux is retiring, just when the redistribution of power is going to become extremely interesting?"

"The spice of power is something abba was schooled herself to imbibe in limited amounts, I think" said Pyosz.

"Ah, well, with Yerush -- never mind, I'm speaking out of turn" said Nioma. Pyosz realized this woman might be very knowledgeable about her family. Before she could ask more, Nioma said "Too bad we can't enlist Prl somehow in the breeding question."

Pyosz had meant to tell no one of Prl's hand in the goat chart and plan, but she decided to trust Nioma and confided in her. Nioma said earnestly "I'd have given a week of Shmonahs to be privy to that discussion the three of you had."

"Emma said to give you her regards, by the way, and to definitely enlist you as an ally in our effort" added Pyosz. Nioma giggled with pleasure like a schoolchild, and Pyosz suddenly wondered if this was who her emma had been in love with long ago. She found the idea so arresting she had trouble following the conversation for a minute.

"So stop by after the Tasting, we're rather crunched until then" Nioma was saying. "Bring your plan and we'll scout out the forms that we'll have to submit." After Pyosz clicked off, she recalled Nioma's face in her artist's mind, her hazel eyes under a wide forehead and long black and silver hair: Very attractive for an old person she thought.

She dug the clay that afternoon, using her muscle memory of milk cans to estimate 200 lbs. She wrapped it in wet burlap and kelp plastic, making a careful notation in her logbook. She had planned to check her orchard, but couldn't resist the lure of potting. She scooped two palmfuls from her own bucket and had no difficulty in forming a shallow soup bowl with a flared lip. She lightly etched the outline of a bunteen chasing a buzzbeetle in its bottom, knowing exactly how she wanted to glaze it. She set it in her cupboard next to the Moko plate with a cry of satisfaction.

She only had time after that to make a rapid harvest of her orchard before milking. She'd have to process the fruit and nuts after dinner. As she milked, she daydreamed about an entire set of bowls featuring the songbirds of Pya -- salad plates and cups too, maybe. Of course, the bunteen will have to go to Thleen.

Going to sleep that night, she revised her intention to have Saya in perfect condition by the time Qala and Lawa arrived. For one thing, perfection was out of balance. For another, her abbas were not the sort to sit around drinking tea for very long, and especially on Saya, they were both going to want to dig in, literally.

She was right about that. The huolon landed late afternoon on Ot, and with Pyosz at the jichang were Pank, Tu, Dodd, Mill, and Oby. Mill and Dodd competed with offers of tea before the visitors settled in at Herne, but when Pyosz said "I'll catch up with you all later, I have to go get ready for milking", Qala said firmly "We're going with you" as Lawa pulled a pair of work gloves from her pocket. They did allow time to drop their bags at Herne and take a brief tour before returning to the goat barn.

Lawa sat in a squat, watching Pyosz's technique intently, while Qala leaned against a stall laughing at the kids, at least until Molars sneaked behind her and got in a chomp. They departed at dusk for chicken and katt duty. When Pyosz emerged into twilight, the table had a basket of produce and Qala was back in the tillage, bent over a row of radicchio. Lawa had a long stick she was using to knock fruit from the upper limbs of the old fig tree. Pyosz called out to her "Stay on the east side of that trunk, abba, the oak just to your west is the great owl nest and she'll be waking up right about now." Lawa stopped for a wide-eyed minute, then continued cautiously.

Pyosz went to her generous new coldbox, delivered that week, and rashly stood with the door open, considering menu in addition to the fat capon she'd roasted earlier and whatever Qala had pulled. Simultaneously the Herne Island cousins arrived with sausage-stuffed squash, apricot cake, and a mushroom gratin as Maar appeared on the trail carrying an ice bowl. "Mill and Oby are close behind with cold beer" she called out. "and Dodd is meeting Briel at the clinic to come with her, she made planked kahe with dill and potatoes."

Lawa and Qala converged on the kitchen, Lawa's gilet full of figs and one in her mouth. Qala lifted the towel over Maar's bowl and said "Thunder me down, that's ehr!" It was, dark green roe in a huge mound. Maar put it in the cold box and began making toast points without needing Pyosz's instructions.

"You eat like this every night?" Qala asked Pyosz, joking. But Pyosz answered "Often", and Qala exchanged a glance with Lawa that Pyosz didn't miss. She was giddy with happiness, and carried a teaspoon of ehr into her cabin to split between the katts.

After dinner, they built a fire in the pit and Dodd pulled out her fiddle. She had a harmonica stashed in the case and handed it to Qala with the remark "I don't think it's completely full of my spit." During the first song, Pyosz heard a persistent familiar bleat from the barn and went to carry out Killer. The goatling of course wanted to graze on the nearby flower beds, but Pyosz kept a supply of raw green beans at hand and Killer eventually dozed off, on her neatly folded legs in the warm sand beside Pyosz. Briel took photos with Pyosz's camera.

It was a late night, and Pyosz was glad Maar had the next day off, from the looks of her weary face. As they were saying goodbyes, Dodd invited them all to breakfast at her place the next morning after Pyosz's delivery. Most of the rest said they had work conflicts, and Qala said "We were going to come over and make Pyosz something to eat before milking -- "

"But they'll want to see your place, and investigate Koldok after, I think it's a great idea" said Pyosz.

"What time do you get up?" Lawa asked Pyosz, who had the satisfaction of seeing Lawa's shock at her reply. "We'll be here" said Lawa after a few missed beats.

Mill said "Tomorrow afternoon I have a large sinner on standby to fly you around Pya, give you the grand tour." Nk added "Dinner is part of the Tasting, we should be at the fairgrounds in Pertama early", and they all nodded. Maar said "But it's not a full meal, I suggest we also get lentil patties from Pyosz's favorite stall."

It rained in patches all day, but Pyosz remembered it as golden. Having Qala and Lawa in her immediate orbit was utterly normal, relaxing and energizing at the same time. The only negatives were how much she missed Prl, and the near absence of Abbo from all family gatherings. Not that I'm sorry Abbo isn't here, but I know Qala and Lawa must wonder she thought.

Maar volunteered to fly the sinner around Pya so Mill could narrate and direct her. They stopped on Nec to venture into the gargantuan forests, and at Qala's request, Maar was also able to set them down on Gul with its glowing yellow hot springs, toxic and breathtakingly beautiful. Maar offered to ferry Pyosz home for milking while she ran to pick up the stall food, then return her to the fairgrounds' jichang while the others met up with Herne Island folks at the edge of Pertama.

At the initial offering of the Tasting, they all concurred that stewed rabbit with peppers was delicious and that the soft-eyed sole survivor held close to Brek's chest was not an animal they could kill. Pyosz was more excited by a new green globule covered with sticky leaves which had to be peeled away. Cooked, it made an enticing sauce in which she saw much possibility -- they were calling it tanim, which meant gift as in the small wrapped presents given to children at midwinter candle-lighting, and she thought that was an apt name. Qala begged for seeds as soon as Pyosz could acquire them.

Tu and Pank went into a subdued fervor over the seeds of a shrub which made a claret-red liquid or paste and held a subtle flavor like nothing else they'd ever tasted. The Botaniste extolled its virtues as a food coloring as well, but mentioned it was a tropical, meaning it could only be grown in greenhouses. Tu wrote down the name -- bixi -- and said in a low voice "Limitless potential for export." Pank excused herself to go talk with an ejida official. "You'll keep us supplied?" Lawa asked Tu, and her sib nodded.

There were new varieties of rice, a small loose-skinned orange called kahel which was also a tropical, and, the Botaniste being who she was, five proposed species of butterfly. There was harsh questioning regarding the habits of these insects during the larval and caterpillar stages, and the Botaniste was near tears by the end as it became clear the consensus was going to vote down her beloved butterflies again: The reward of floating scenery counted for nothing among those who grew crops for a living.

Dessert was cake and ice cream made from yet another tropical, shaped like a massive pine cone with a top knot, that was land-consuming but gloriously acidic. "Lev" Pank swore to Nk, "We'll have to choose between this or bananas."

"This" said Nk, her mouth full. "Chakka, they said, right? And at least one of those kahel trees."

"We'll have to be sure to attend the seminar tomorrow" Tu said to Pank. "It has a unique photosynthesis, have to figure out what that might do in a greenhouse."

The second day of Tasting was given over to nuts-and-bolts demonstrations on how each new crop was grown. On Shmonah morning, those which the ejida agreed to leave on the ballot would be voted on by each Pyan, but part of the vote was a commitment to grow the new item for personal use or sale, as well as agreeing to export. Cottage industry was critical to Pya's economy. Qala and Lawa expressed an interest in attending some of these trainings, and Pyosz waved them on.

They ran into Uli with her family and they were absorbed into their group. Dekkan seemed to be struck dumb both by proximity to Pyosz and to Qala, the famous Lofthall dispatcher and second-in-charge during its most illustrious era. Uli, however, was voluble and charming as always, and the abbas chatted her up.

"There's a rumor that our local distiller in Koldok is thinking about relocating" she said with a wink at Pyosz. "I've heard she's complaining she's not getting enough raw materials locally to justify remaining in town."

"Is that so?" said Oby challengingly, while Api made a face. Uli's emma Licoro replied "She's asking after an unused building in the sugar mill complex, with an attached Manage. It's on the river, easy transport and more central, plus she's hoping to negotiate a discount on bulk sugar from the mill."

"That means hard liquor" pointed out Mill, looking at Api.

"Well, I'd be happy to lose their custom as my near neighbor" said Dodd. "And I daresay the aftermath of kickball games might alter without spirits immediately at hand,"

"She has a good but underused tillage" Briel said, looking at Dodd. They're thinking about Qoj or Mruch guessed Pyosz. As if to confirm this, Dodd glanced at Uli speculatively, something Uli missed but her aggie did not.

Qala startled them all by suddenly rising to her feet and crying "It can't be!" She plunged into the crowd, where they saw her embrace a woman around her age at another table. Lawa excused herself and went to join them. When they returned, Qala was radiant. "That's my cousin, we grew up together on Exploit!" she burbled. "I had no idea she'd migrated. She runs the resin distillery on Hayashi. Wish we had time to go visit, I was closer to her than my own sibs."

Pyosz felt a foot nudge hers under the table and knew it was Maar without looking.

As they were leaving, they saw Abbo across the room at a table with a few other pilots and friends her age. Qala was quiet a moment, then said to Mill "It must be very hard for Ngall to be raising her little ones away from the plenty here." Mill flushed and said "Thanks."

The next morning after breakfast at Dodd's again, Lawa and Qala left with Pank and Tu while Pyosz returned to Saya, feeling suddenly alone. When the radio buzzed and she heard Prl's voice, she said "I'm so glad you called!"

Prl said, not quite lightly, "I thought maybe since you had your abbas there, you'd forgotten me." Pyosz snorted, and Prl let herself laugh.

"Actually, I have a specific reason to call, I have news from Skene which will probably reach there tomorrow" said Prl. "There's been a murder here. Well, an alleged murder I guess I should say."

"That's dreadful, emma" said Pyosz, sitting down with a thump. "Anyone we know?"

"Not really" said Prl, who of course knew something about every person on Skene. "Though Briel might, the deceased is from Wyspa Fling in the Western Tendril."

"The remotest of those flings" remembered Pyosz. "Who killed her?"

"Her partner" said Prl. Pyosz felt a second shock travel through her, and she thought to ask "Is this a private line?"

"Of course. And I'm not going to tempt you by telling you information that might have come from my aggie, only what's generally known and you can share" said Prl.

The dead woman had been in a three-way partnership with two others since right after high school. They'd raised three children who had all left home -- one was on Pya -- and showed no interest in inheriting Wyspa, which was foggy year-round and an onerous commute to most places. The women were in their 60s and the last of their emmas had died, leaving them alone on the fling.

Over the last few years, the dead woman and her other partner had decided they no longer wanted to have an intimate emotional or sexual relationship with the third partner. The drift had been gradual and not talked about at first, but eventually a confrontation occurred and rejection was openly expressed. The two explained to the one that they still loved her, wanted to live with her and considered her family, but their desire had altered and they preferred to sleep alone from now on.

That had been a month ago. No one else had been confided in. Then, that afternoon, the rejected one had come upon her partners kissing outside the chicken run. Without a word, she'd grabbed the nearby axe and flown at them in a frenzy. One had eventually gotten away, severely injured, and ran for the ferry though it was not morrie vaseo. "And she was gushing blood" Prl added grimly. Somehow she had escaped leviathan notice and reached a neighboring fling, where her wounds were staunched and help was called.

"By the time Danaan and Bux reached Wyspa, the murderer had gotten rid of the body and burned her bloody clothing" said Prl. "She denied the entire incident and said she had no idea where her partners were."

"What do you mean, gotten rid of the body?" asked Pyosz in horror.

"There was a drag trail to a high cliff over the Western Wasa" said Prl. Pyosz found this as bad as the murder itself.

"They have her locked in a cubicle at the University, sedated on a cot" Prl continued. "They didn't want to take her to the hospital because her surviving partner is there undergoing surgery. The trial will be delayed until she's recovered enough to at least state whether she wants to testify."

"Oh emma, can you imagine what she's facing? She's lost her entire world" said Pyosz. "Does she send her only partner left into exile?"

"Whether she testifies or not, the murderer is going to Peisuo" said Prl. "In my opinion, that is."

"How eerie, that we were just discussing something like this a few days ago" said Pyosz. "How is abba doing? She'll have to sit in judgment on this, just as she's ready to retire."

"She's not able to talk about her feelings freely, not yet" said Prl. "Plus, exile is a sore topic between her and Yoj, and I'm pretty sure she's worried about how you will react."

"Because of what happened when I was 8, you mean?" asked Pyosz.

That year, another murder had occurred. A woman had killed her sib-in-law but claimed justifiable circumstances because she had just learned the sib-in-law was molesting her 4-year-old child. Details of the incident had been kept from Pyosz; children on Skene were virtually never at risk from adult sexual predation and it was believed passing on information might create an unhealthy interest.

But Pyosz knew the child in question, who had suddenly stopped attending school and whose emma was in custody, facing trial by her own abba. Some adult had voiced their opinion, in Pyosz's hearing, that the murderer had "every right to defend their child", and that night at dinner with her abbas, Pyosz began demanding to know the whole story and would not back down.

Bux tried to explain that while in fact the child had been harmed, the emma's duty was to seek community justice, not act violently from emotion. She added that the emma's reaction was not entirely altruistic: Under Skene law, children "hurt in a particular way" were removed from their families and sent to be raised elsewhere. This child would be fostered on Pya, and the emma knew that would happen no matter how she reacted.

"Why?" Pyosz kept shouting. Bux said "Because certain behavior does not occur naturally, it's always learned, and where you learn what's right and wrong is in your family. So if certain behavior arises in a family, that entire family is tainted and must be kept from access to children for a generation or two until the pattern is broken. Otherwise it will be handed on and our entire culture will be infected."

This had only bewildered Pyosz further. She screamed at Bux "I think you're mean and bad, to make her lose her whole family, and if you send her emma to Peisuo I'll never stop hating you! I'll move to Pya myself to get away from you!"

Bux had blanched, and Yoj was on her feet instantly, jerking her head at Pyosz and saying "Outside" in a tone Pyosz seldom heard. In the dark tillage behind the house, Pyosz said defiantly "I'm not going to apologize."

"That's up to you" said Yoj. "But you're hurting your abba's feelings unfairly -- wait -- and I think it's maybe because you don't understand all of what has happened. I'm willing to tell you the whole story, but it will upset you a great deal and it will change how you see the world forever, not entirely in a good way. You'll lose a piece of your childhood. So you get to choose. If you'd rather not know, I want you to try to remember that grownups sometimes have to do things that are extremely hard and to have compassion for us."

It had stopped Pyosz's tantrum. She remembered how scared she'd been, and she had to consider that decision. In the end, she opted for disclosure, and so in a damp dark smelling of tomato vines and new onions, staring up at stars, she had shivered her way into adult knowledge.

Still, it had taken over a week, after the emma had committed suicide the night before exile and the child with her siblings had vanished into the new world, before Pyosz went to Bux and told her she loved her.

"I'm not that righteously indignant any more" Pyosz now said to Prl. Prl smiled to herself, "I'll call abba when we hang up and tell her I believe in her, express my empathy and support."

"That would be good" said Prl.

Before dialing her abbas' Manage, Pyosz wondered briefly where that child had found a home on Pya. The question arose again during dinner that night on Herne, when talk of the murder dominated conversation. Api said tersely "They live on Chwet."

"The Owl People took them?" asked Maar, raising her eyebrows.

"They're very contented, they belong, and we don't gossip about them" said Api.

"But they can never have children of their own, and may never be chosen as a partner" mused Pyosz. Api, her eyes glinting, said "The oldest sib has already partnered. And yes, no rearing of children, but wounds can be knit and fecundity takes many forms."

Qala intervened, saying "We haven't made it to your hot springs yet, Pyosz, could we go partake of it now? There's no clouds in the sky."

Later in the springs, Ptosz drifted close to Maar and whispered "Do you know them, on Chwet, I mean?"

"I found myself trying to guess and then I stopped myself" Maar whispered back. "We all have the right to leave our past behind, if we so choose." Pyosz squeezed her hand under the water.

The following day at the afternoon dance, Pyosz made sure she was in a position to see her abbas' face when they heard Yoj's anthem performed by Cawl Ffa. She wept all over again at their expressions, even as she shoved her fist in the air and yelled "To Pya!" She could not watch them during the dawn chorus because the room was dark, but Qala kept breaking into delighted laughter the rest of the evening, making a small bleat or cluck.

They ferried to Arta en mass at dusk, carrying pails of lobster and cartons of late-season raspberries. Pyosz joined them after rushing through her Saya chores, and got to swim in the pond by moonlight while watching Qala and Lawa pretend like they hung around with family naked all the time. The presence of Dodd, Oby, and Frahe meant Qala's ginny was commonplace.

Pyosz had trouble sleeping that night. She didn't want them to leave. They met her for milking, their bags in the kitchen, a steady rain falling, and silently helped her with observant proficiency. At Kolm's, she packed extra cheese and prym to send home with them. They already had a hamper of leftovers from the night before, plus a jar of diced golden chakka Pank had somehow acquired.

Another pasenger was waiting at the Lofthall, talking sporadically with Api. Her ashen face and clinging sweetheart or partner made Pyosz suddenly realize this must be the grown child of the woman who had been murdered -- and of the murderer. Going home for a trial and a funeral thought Pyosz with heart-choking empathy. Despite Qala's connection to Bux, Pyosz guessed she would find a way to make conversation with this woman on the long flight and offer consolation, Qala was gifted at that. Her own sadness at separation was quickly ratcheted into perspective.

Lawa's face was streaming as she hugged Pyosz goodbye. Qala simply said "See you soon" and pulled her lime green cap down over her eyes. Pyosz watched them disappear west, with a last wing-waggle from Maar, then went to load her clanking empty milk cans into her ferry.

Copyright 2009 Maggie Jochild.

PYA: CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:25:00 +0000

HUBBLE THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:05:00 +0000

(Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel)

Every Thursday, I post a very large photograph of some corner of space captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and available online from the picture album at HubbleSite, followed by poetry after the jump.

STARLINGS IN WINTER

by Mary Oliver

Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly

they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,

dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,

then closes again;
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can't imagine

how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,

this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,

even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;

I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard, I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:08:00 +0000

LOLCATS WEEKLY ROUNDUP 8 DECEMBER 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:05:00 +0000

Here's the weekly best of what I've gleaned from I Can Has Cheezburger efforts. There are some really creative folks out there. As usual, those from little gator lead the pack.

Also, have to brag a bit: One of my LolMaggies from last week made the front page at LolCats for voting! Thanks to little gator for letting me know about it. Here it is again:

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:19:00 +0000

PYA: CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:21:00 +0000

HUBBLE THURSDAY 3 DECEMBER 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:05:00 +0000

(Nearby Galaxy Centaurus A)

Every Thursday, I post a very large photograph of some corner of space captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and available online from the picture album at HubbleSite, followed by poetry after the jump.

This reminds me a joke popular among my friends in the 70s:
Q: What's white and streaks across the sky?
A: The coming of the Lord.

DIAGNOSIS

by Sharon Olds

By the time I was six months old, she knew something
was wrong with me. I got looks on my face
she had not seen on any child
in the family, or the extended family,
or the neighborhood. My mother took me in
to the pediatrician with the kind hands,
a doctor with a name like a suit size for a wheel:
Hub Long. My mom did not tell him
what she thought in truth, that I was Possessed.
It was just these strange looks on my face—
he held me, and conversed with me,
chatting as one does with a baby, and my mother
said, She’s doing it now! Look!
She’s doing it now! and the doctor said,
What your daughter has
is called a sense
of humor. Ohhh, she said, and took me
back to the house where that sense would be tested
and found to be incurable.

PYA: CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:06:00 +0000

PYA: CHAPTER THIRTY

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:15:00 +0000

To begin reading this sci-fi novel or for background information, go to my Chapter One post here. To read about the background of the first novel, read my post here, which will also direct you to appendices.

For more detailed information, posted elsewhere on this blog are:

Pya Dictionary from Skenish to English (complete up to present chapter), with some cultural notes included
Pya Cast of Characters (complete up to present chapter)
Map of Pya with Description of Each Island
Map of Skene (but not Pya)
Map of Saya Island and Environs When Pyosz First Arrived
Skene Character Lineage at Start of Pya Novel
Skene, Chapter One (With Cultural Notes in Links)

CHAPTER THIRTY

Pyosz wrote hasty notes to go with the packets of photographs she sent home. Uli and Dodd were both at the jichang, and Pyosz persuaded Dodd to make her goodbyes early, leaving the new lovers a few minutes of privacy before parting. Qoj's eyes were puffy and bloodshot.

"C'mon, s'bemma, take me to breakfast at the cafe and help me put these stacks of pictures into a good order for my album." Uli and Qoj both hugged her gratefully, and Maar whispered "Save next Roke after dinner for me."

Over their eggs and rice in onion broth, Dodd asked Pyosz "Is she in love? Can you tell?"

"I cannot, s'bemma, and likely they aren't sure either, which makes it all the harder, I guess" said Pyosz. "If they are, wouldn't that be good news? Wouldn't that mean Qoj moving back home?"

"She needs to finish her education and pursue the best options for her career wherever that is" said Dodd a little primly. She sprinkled vis into her bowl, then added "Truthfully, I'm just not sure Uli will stand by her, not in the long run. You know what I mean, you sized her up and decided you could do better."

Pyosz was going to protest this as an unfair comparison, but Dodd went on in a softer tone. "Briel thinks Qoj may be as fickle as Uli, says I can't see it. I'm feeling pressure from a lot of angles and probably squeezing Qoj without meaning to. I'm ready for grandchildren, I'd like to cut back on my job so I could write music more, and I feel guilty every day about not living close enough to my emmas to look after them. It's going to fall too much on Prl, especially when you add in Lawa and Qala. I should clean up my own conflict, I suppose, before I demand anything similar of Qoj."

Pyosz felt instantly stricken, as if she too were letting down her abbas and emma. She took note of the fact that Dodd wasn't factoring in her own twin or Speranz, who lived with the abbas, as real support for their elder years. Dodd glanced at her acutely and said "Well, I suppose we should have Uli over to dinner one night this week. You're starting renovations on Saya, right? Tomorrow?"

"This afternoon" corrected Pyosz. "We have to be ready for the geothermal installer who'll be returning with the huolon on San. Which means Tu and Pank will be busier than spring beetles as well this week."

"And the first big rice harvest is next week. You should see if Klosa can set aside some good waders for you right now, by the time of harvest all that's left are stinky or leaky pairs" advised Dodd.

After they ate, Dodd walked with Pyosz to Klosa's, where they rented bib waders, Pyosz bought two more kitchen chairs and finalized delivery of her new aga on Ot. Klosa told her she had a line on a kiln that had been used for enameling in an engine factory. "'Thing is, it's large, maybe bigger than you need" she said. They talked it over, calling in Mrebbe from her shop nexy door to discuss dimensions, and Pyosz decided to take the kiln. She added it to the Ot delivery.

She made trips to the allotment center and Gitta's before heading home to make enough food to keep Mrebbe happy. When she found out that two members of Mrebbe's timmer crew were building the short bridge between Saya and Herne plus Tu and Pank's geothermal shed, she offered to feed all of them as well, saving the commute to Koldok's cafe. In exchange. Pank supplied sausage and ham for meals, Tu did dishes, and they paid for construction of a high goat-proof gate on Saya's end of the bridge. Extra hands were easily available when needed, and although Pyosz never had a free moment, she paced herself by her elderly cousins and enjoyed every hour of labor.

During dinner on Iki, with folks still at her table making short work of pies, Pyosz answered the radio to hear Thleen say loudly "Will you send me some of your jam that won a ribbon? And lemon curd? But not the hot sauce, it's too hot for me." They talked about Mchele Fair until a stern voice in the background -- must be one of the emmas -- told her it was bedtime, get off the radio. Thleen handed it off to Maar, whom Pyosz thought sounded a little tense.

"Listen, buddy, I wanted to let you know there's going to be another passenger on the flight home" she said in a lowered voice.

"You mean beside the geothermal installer? Oh, the folks who are moving to Kacang -- "

"No" Maar interrupted. "Sey. With all her wordly possessions."

Pyosz wasn't sure what to say. She didn't seem to care much. "I guess that'll be an uncomfortable seven hours for you, huh."

"Yeah, well the trip here was pretty grim, with Qoj weeping in the back seat" said Maar. "Anyhow, I wanted to give you a heads-up, in case you were coming to meet the flight or something."

Which I don't usually do thought Pyosz, puzzled. "Okay. Well, morrie vaseo, I should go, I have dinner guests."

"Who? Is it Uli?"

"No, Tu and Pank, Mrebbe --"

"Oh, right, how's the renovation going?"

"Great, you won't believe how good it looks. Are you sleeping at your family's Manage?"

"Haven't been asked. Well, I'll let you go, say hi to everybody for me, see you soon."

After she clicked off, Tu looked at her quizzically. Pyosz synopsized "Thleen requests jam and Maar wanted to warn me Sey is coming back on this flight to move here." She saw Mrebbe's eyes flash interest. Well, all Koldok is going to gossip about it anyhow she thought. "I guess Sey got the job. Woulda been nice if Mill or Ollow had told me,"

Pank said "She won't come near you." Pyosz thought she could detect a vague menace in her tone and was touched.

"I agree, but I'm not worried, actually. Is that milk jug empty? I'll go refill it."

Late San afternoon, Pyosz heard the deep rumble of the huolon overhead and stopped to look, squinting into the sun, but it was at an angle where the pilots could not see her so she did not wave: she certainly didn't want Sey to think she was welcoming her. She was trying hard to finish the last of the trenches she'd been digging all day, snaking from the newly finished geothermal shed to her barn, cabin, kitchen, well house, and chicken coop. In the trenches would go power lines from the new geo-powered generator -- unlimited power, no matter what weather they had -- plus for the aga a direct pipe carrying volcanic heat.

Her about-to-be-retired stove currently baked bread and cinnamon rolls for tomorrow, a rolled pork roast and zucchini/tomato casserole for tonight, simmering chicken and vegetables for the pot pies she'd offer for lunch tomorrow while she was between stove and aga, and steaming maxas for tomorrow's breakfast. Plus one pot of apple butter, because the apples couldn't wait another day. She'd been digging, cooking, or responding to Mrebbe's calls for help all day without a break, and after milking and a final shared meal, she'd still have a late night of last minute work. She longed for a soak in the hot springs, but there was no way to squeeze it in. At least they'd had three days of full sun and her solar power had held up against the extra demands on it. Maybe there'll be enough hot water for a quick shower before bed she thought.

Mrebbe was currently on her back under that bed, framing the hole they'd cut in the side of her cabin earlier to insert the vent and feed for her new radiator which would ensure warm nights from here on. Mrebbe had remarked even with the unlimited radiator, she could use some interior walls with insulation, but Pyosz said her budget didn't extend to that right now.

Pank and Tu ambled into view, trailed by the two timmers who had completed the bridge, built three sheds, and helped level ground for the massive greenhouse to be started next week. Pyosz looked at the setting sun and gave up on completing the final ten feet of trench right now. She stretched her back and said "Dinner's ready, as is everything else for tomorrow. If you'll pull it all out and set the table, I'll join you when I can."

Pank, already at the stove, said "These rolls for tonight?"

"One each. But the main dessert is rice pudding with currants, chilled in the coldbox." She scrubbed her hands and face at the sink in the barn before prepping for milking and going to meet her goats.

When she returned to the kitchen with a fresh pitcher of milk, the chickens and katts had been fed and put indoors, the last stretch of trench had been dug, and Maar was at the table. "Mail and packages from the abbas are on your bed" she grinned.

Pyosz's fatigue melted away. "How are the abbas?" she asked, accepting the plate Tu handed her.

"Thleen and I went for dinner there last night, along with your emma, and the five elders got into an argument about which cabbage was best to plant for the coming winter that became acrimonious. I thought Nan Bux was going to cry. I have no idea why they were so worked up" said Maar.

Tu leaned forward. "Which variety was Lawa advocating? And Halling?" she asked urgently.

"Don't tell her" advised Pank. Tu stuck her tongue out at her.

"Other big news which hasn't reached the papers yet is that someone had submitted a proposal for the next vote that Isola Fling be converted back from cropland into Manages for at least two families. With Pya wheat yields ever increasing, Skene thinks it needs room for population expansion more than the grain field." Maar looked very pleased to be passing on this development, and was gratified by Mrebbe's long whistle.

Pyosz said "I hate missing what my family had to say about this. Especially Yoj."

"Yeah, it was pretty interesting, all about how some problematic values still had not shifted, and the unspoken drive to try to keep more votes in Skene than in Pya, balance of power, that sort of thing" said Maar easily. Pyosz guessed that was as much detail as Maar would divulge in front of non-family.

Changing the subject, Maar said "Sey had booked in advance the only spare room at Koldok bucky, so Schlih the geothermal expert is having to bunk for the night in the Lofthall dorm. She's dour on a good day, but when I left, she was seething."

All the timmers laughed loudly. "She's good at what she does, but not as special as she thinks she is" said Mrebbe.

"What about the family taking Kacang?" asked Tu.

"Only two of the emmas came, Aleri and Nezi, to do a week's work and return to Skene until the whole family moves after midwinter. They have cousins in Dudor and will commute from there" said Maar.

"I'm meeting them on Kacang tomorrow" said Mrebbe. "They pay well but I'll miss the food here more." The other timmers rumbled agreement.

Maar stayed behind when the others left after dinner, saying "I have the day off tomorrow, I want to spend it helping on Saya and Herne. Right now, my aching bones could use your hot springs, you up for that?"

Pyosz raced through her mental list. "I have to roll dough and bake the pies, that can't wait. And I was going to do a cold water laundry, because I'm that low on clean milk rags, but -- "

"I'll do the laundry, you fill the pies, and we can go to the springs while they bake" suggested Maar.

It wasn't until Pyosz was in bed, muscles rejuvenated, body clean, that she realized she hadn't once thought to ask what Sey had been like; nor had Maar offered the information.

The following morning, a quartet appeared on the trail from Pyosz's dock: Maar, Pank, Tu. and a short, scowling woman who looked at the outdoor kitchen with disbelief. Her outrage at the skinflint barbarism of these Pya clients persisted, barely in check, until her first bite of hot, flaky cinnamon roll. When she had downed a crab-and-cheese maxa, interspersed with bites of apple-butter-glazed Mti bacon, she ventured a rusty smile and said "You manage all this without an aga?"

"Wait'll you see what's for lunch" said Maar. "Listen, can I look at the configuration you've got on that rock laser in your toolbox?"

Schlih's face slid into deep suspicion. She said coldly "Why should a pilot be interested in that?"

Pyosz bristled, but Maar answered easily "I'm the pilot who's in charge of our mezi ray as well as doing most of our rock excavating. It's part of my job description."

Pank set another cinnamon roll on Schlih's plate, though Pyosz wanted to drive her from the table at the moment. Schlih took a bite before answering "You can come with me into the hole, if you want. See how I do it." Which even Pyosz had to admit was a major concession.

Tu said "We don't want to be pushy, but we figure you ought to start on Herne. Because the owl will be less rousable earlier in the day."

"Owl?" said Schlih, her voice going high. Pyosz hid her smile.

"Yeah, that huge walnut is our owl nest and it's less than six meters from the geo shed" explained Tu. She said to Pyosz "We've only had one glimpse of her, she's nowhere near as big as yours, at least not yet."

Schlih had stopped eating. Heretofore her work on Pya had not involved owl-infested zones. it appeared. Funny reaction from someone who sometimes has to venture into caverns crawling with shu thought Pyosz.

"The owl on this end of Saya has the biggest wingspan we know of, 11 feet" said Pank. "At least, those of us not from Chwet."

"It landed right here on this table in the dark, right next to Pyosz, her first week here" said Maar. Pyosz suspected Maar was subtly exacting revenge for the crack about pilots.

"But her tree is north of the chicken house, we won't be in her territory at all today" assured Pyosz. She said to Tu "You think your owl could be one of mine's babies all grown up?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if yours was the emma and abba for all the forest owls in this range of the Pea Pods, including the other end of Saya and over on Teppe" mused Tu. "I don't know as much about the rock owls, although with all the caverns we've got around here, there's probably more of them." They began discussing the Owl People demonstration at Mchele Fair, which Pyosz could tell was making Schlih's skin crawl. To PYA she shouted inside her head.

As they were drinking the last of their tea, the sound of a sinner approached. "My aga and kiln!" cried Pyosz, leaping to her feet. Maar said to Tu "You all can go on to Herne, I'll help her here and we'll be over later." The three headed for the kissing gate as Maar stepped out to the area south of the kitchen, cap and scarf wrapped around her head, to signal lowering of the sinner's pallet. Pyosz watched for a minute, then busied herself with dishes.

An hour later, the aga was in place though not yet connected, the kiln was installed, and the old stove was in the pallet. Even with the use of the pallet's side crane and two special handcarts, Maar had scraped the flesh from her knuckles and Pyosz had sprained an ankle fitting the aga into the barely-wide-enough space left by Mrebbe's construction. They rested with cold tea and Pyosz's stream of consciousness ideas about what she wanted to make from Saya clay. After dressing Maar's scrapes with Lawa's ointment and supervising pickup of the pallet, they walked slowly, Pyosz limping, to the gate at the new bridge linking Saya to Herne.

Killer and a few kids were at the gate, and they turned to greet the humans expectantly. More ominous was Molars' presence, with fresh toothmarks around the latch and hinges. "She doesn't give up, does she?" said Maar as Pyosz tried to drive Molars away from the gate.

"Well, once Pank has her huge hogs roaming free on Herne, I imagine all the goats will suddenly think this barrier is an excellent idea" said Pyosz. "I don't know if their world view includes the notion of other livestock. Except for Killer, of course, who has now seen it all."

The aga was not quite hot enough to make dinner by nightfall, but Pyosz roasted kahe and balik on the grill, along with fresh corn and other tillage vegetables, and there were three kinds of pie. Mill, Oby, and Api joined them for dinner, Api signing off on the renovations with a flourish. Pyosz emptied her coin stash to pay Schlih, but the warmth in her cabin when went in to feed the katts was reward enough.

Before they all left, Pyosz turned to Maar and said "I understand the anniversary of your official entry into the Lofthall was yesterday. You're due another service bracelet, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't get to the jeweler in Skene this time, I was offered work shifts -- " Her voice trailed off when Pyosz pulled a wrapped box from a kitchen drawer. Her eyes filled with tears as Pyosz, with unaccountably trembling hands, fastened the delicate links of Chloddia silver around her ankle.

"To Pya! To Skene!" cried Mill, and they all joined in, even Schlih. Pyosz took a photo to send Thleen. That night, after a long shower with unlimited hot water and a naked dash into a toasty cabin, she called Prl, waking her deliberately, to burble on about how happy she was. Prl listened with a bittersweet heart. Pyosz okayed the purchase of a wheel Lawa had found for her, accepting the temporary loan of its price and shipping from Prl until she could earn it from future labor, and after clicking off she whispered to her katts "I'm going to be a keramiker. Not just a capriste and baker, orchardist and beekeeper. I'm all of my ancestors distilled into one woman."

Curds gave her a look as if to remind her that such arrogance and ambition was not in keeping with Skene humility, but Ember snuggled closer, perhaps believing Pyosz was the magical source of the cabin's new comfort.

When Pyosz woke up, the sky was emptying itself onto Pya. She thanked the rain for holding off this long, then immediately had a pang for how wretched it would be for those working on Kacang today. She held out a cherry-almond pie from her delivery to Gitta, and as she was approaching the cafe, she ran into Maar in uniform under her burzaka.

"No sinning today?" she asked.

"Maybe this afternoon. Want company for breakfast?"

"Actually, I was going to get a large thermos of hot tea to take to Kacang, along with a pie, but yeah, I could eat something" said Pyosz, holding the door open for Maar. Who got only partway inside before stopping still.

"Move over, it's dripping on me" complained Pyosz, shoving past Maar. Then she, too, saw the occupants of the corner table: Sey and Uli, in laughing conversation. Pyosz walked woodenly on to the counter and shed her burzaka before claiming a stool. Maar joined her, whispering "I don't think they saw us come in."

Pyosz said to the counter person "Maple rice cakes, poached eggs with runny centers, kelp and onion balls, and tomato juice" before she turned and walked determinedly to the corner. "Hello, Sey, welcome to Pya" she produced in a perfectly friendly tone. Uli almost dropped her mug of tea, but Sey gazed at Pyosz eagerly and said "You -- you look really different. Good. I mean, you always looked good.." She trailed off, thick-tongued.

"Thanks. I'm sure I'll see you around. Hi, Uli, I'll be sure to let Qoj know I ran into you in my next letter to her. Have a good day, you two." She walked confidently back to the counter, noting most of the cafe had gone silent. A Redtop sighting with special points she thought to herself. Maar bumped her shoulder in muted jubilation and said "If Dodd walks by the window and spots them, she pry a brick from the sidewalk and heave it through the glass."

"What can Uli be thinking?" hissed Pyosz.

"Oh, it's just automatic with her" said Maar, confirming Pyosz's worst fears. "But don't be too disgusted, I think underneath it all she longs for more than the game. I think she actually wants connection and security. Hang onto her friendship, some of us just take a while to clean things up." Which made Pyosz turn and look right into Maar's eyes, inches away, for a long moment where Pyosz forgot about the scrutiny of the corner table or the rest of the cafe.

By the time they finished their meal, Uli and Sey were long gone. The rain had slowed to a steady drizzle and Maar returned to the Lofthall while Pyosz rode the new ferry out to Kacang. Api was there, under a temporary canvas canopy, and introduced her to the future immigrants, Aleri and Nezi. When Mrebbe spotted her, she yelled out "You bring food?", drawing forth the other timmer and Schlih. Twenty minutes later, Pyosz returned to the ferry with an empty pie tin and thermos.

Tu and Pank, working through the mud on Herne, joined her for lunch and dinner, as well as a mid-afternoon hot springs soak once lightning risk had passed. Maar landed a lighter at the jichang while Pyosz was milking, putting a bucket of clams near the aga for the next day and making the salad dressing for supper. As Pank and Tu took the ferry back to Koldok to stay at Dodd's, Maar and Pyosz buckled into the lighter.

They flew directly away from the long-set sun, over Dvareka in an arc toward the southern tip of Chwet. Maar took them the length of Chwet, entirely dark aside from the handful of lights at its inhabited end.

"Owl paradise" said Pyosz. "And I guess squirrel too, despite the owls."

"We all eat other living things and know there are things that want to eat us" said Maar. She made a sharp bank to the right, climbing at an angle, and Pyosz realized why when she looked out the window and saw they were barely clearing the treetops of Nec.

"Waves and ripples, Maar, is this forest planted on a peak?" she asked.

"Nope. Those older trees are over 100 meters tall" said Maar. "We'll go for a picnic some Sju when I'm not working. It's like nothing else on Skene." She kept flying west, leaving Pya behind. At first there was morrie strati below, visible from the light of a half-full Delma already in the zenith, but it didn't look as vibrantly red as the morrie strati on either side. It soon gave way to deep-looking ocean that was dark green, Pyosz thought, rather than a shade of blue.

As if reading her thoughts, Maar said "We don't sin in these waters. For one thing, no fish migration goes through here, but the reason for our avoidance as well as theirs is what's being churned up out of Jiang Giant land by that." She pointed directly ahead, where the kale green water morphed to turquoise, then magenta, then a bubbling ring of crimson.

Pyosz breathed out in awe. "That looks much larger than the cone off Yanja" she said as Maar began a bank to circumnavigate the emerging volcano, with the best view out Pyosz's window.

"It is" affirmed Maar. "The water here is several hundred feet deeper, so it must be massive to have reached the surface at all. They think this is what's causing all the seismic activity on Tetama. And, of course, if it frankly blows instead if the creep upward it's doing now, the resultant tsunami will wipe out Pya. Probably Skene, too."

"What a terrifying thought" said Maar, taking photographs.

"One I have every week as I fly out here to dump our cast-off toxics right into its open mouth" said Maar grimly. "You have no idea how sweet it is after that solo run to land on Arta and walk toward singing, laughter, the smell of food."

Pyosz became aware of almost tangible intimacy in the small cabin. "I have something to confess to you" she said impulsively. Maar focused on their heading, straightening back toward Pya, before warily asking "What?"

"All this time...ever since I got here, until last week when Ngall set me straight...I've thought that you and Abbo were lovers. Still lovers, I mean."

Maar gave her a swift, incredulous glance before bursting into crazed laughter. For a minute, Pyosz wondered if she should take the stick, except their flight was stable and she hadn't the foggiest notion of how to operate a plane. Maar finally wiped her face with her scarf and said "Well, that explains a great deal."

"You're not upset with me for being so obtuse?" asked Pyosz.

"Your version of obtuse brings a thrill to my existence" said Maar, blushing instantly. After an awkward moment, she began talking about plate tectonics, and Pyosz gladly followed the change in topic. They said goodbye at the jichang: Maar would be leaving the following morning for Skene.

"I don't have a letter for Thleen -- wait there, I'll be right back." Pyosz hurtled into the dark and returned with a cheese box filled with jars of jam, curd, and honey. "Give her this, and if you have a chance to call me, I'd love to talk with her" said Pyosz breathlessly.

"I'll miss you all on Shmonah" said Maar.

"Go spend it with my abbas instead, in my name" urged Pyosz.

Maar hesitated, then said "I want you to know, I've not had a lover in over six months and I'm not going to -- I'm not looking." The small orange light from the lighter instrument panel made her hair look even more fiery than usual.

After a long pause, Pyosz whispered "Carynn bye" and kissed Maar's cheek lightly before stepping back so the hatch could swing shut. She waved her off before going to make instant tea from the always-simmering aga cistern.

copyright 2009 Maggie Jochild

LOLCATS WEEKLY ROUNDUP 1 DECEMBER 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:05:00 +0000

Here's the weekly best of what I've gleaned from I Can Has Cheezburger efforts. There are some really creative folks out there. As usual, those from little gator lead the pack.

PYA: CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:07:00 +0000

To begin reading this sci-fi novel or for background information, go to my Chapter One post here. To read about the background of the first novel, read my post here, which will also direct you to appendices.

For more detailed information, posted elsewhere on this blog are:

Pya Dictionary from Skenish to English (complete up to present chapter), with some cultural notes included
Pya Cast of Characters (complete up to present chapter)
Map of Pya with Description of Each Island
Map of Skene (but not Pya)
Map of Saya Island and Environs When Pyosz First Arrived
Skene Character Lineage at Start of Pya Novel
Skene, Chapter One (With Cultural Notes in Links)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

As they circled for landing at the Koldok jichang, Pyosz saw Dodd standing at the path from the schoolhouse. Qoj was first out the door, and it wasn't until Qoj broke into a trot that Pyosz realized Uli was next to Dodd. She grinned to herself and heard Maar chuckle.

Pyosz unpacked her own bags into a cart, then threw herself into helping Abbo and Maar unload the huolon. After a moment, so did Dodd, then Uli and Qoj. Abbo was running the forklift and Maar the hatch crane, but there was still much the extra hands could do. When all was stowed in the warehouse, the huolon tied down, Abbo said "I'm grabbing a cup of porridge and hot shower before going back to sleep."

"I'll be there soon" said Maar, and Pyosz reminded herself there was no longer any reason to be jealous. Maar said to the others "I'll definitely be at Pank's play tonight, if you get there first will you save me a seat?"

"Yes" said Dodd. She hadn't combed her beard this morning, and Pyosz thought she looked uncharacteristically grumpy. Dodd said to Pyosz "Pank and Tu are at rehearsal right now, but they wanted me to tell you everything's in good shape on Saya. They've moved into our Manage for the rest of Mchele Fair. I'd like to hear from you how Halling, how all my emmas are doing." The insider's take, she means thought Pyosz.

Qoj jumped in to say "Let's all go to the cafe and eat whatever meal it is!" Her eyes were wide and happy, her face turned toward Uli. Dodd replied sternly "First we have to stop in at the clinic so your aggie can say hello, I promised her."

"Of course, and then the cafe" said Qoj easily. But Maar shook her head regretfully: "I have to bake for several days' worth of my commitment to Gitta. I have to shop for a few supplies before that, and I need to check on Saya for myself. Then I have to milk and rush back to make the plays tonight, I'm not even going to manage a nap today."

Dodd looked very disappointed. She nudged Maar, who added "Me neither, I'm afraid. I actually have to work, we all do, this afternoon. For the rest of the fair, we'll be on 14-hour shifts with 2-hour breaks here and there. So I'm following Abbo's lead. But I'll walk you to the clinic." She put a hand on the cart to help push.

Qoj and Uli talked quietly between themselves as Pyosz gave Dodd the account she wanted while they walked through Koldok. At the clinic, Maar said she'd continue on with Pyosz to the djostiker's -- "Moving my body will help me sleep," Maar didn't take her leave there, however, but accompanied Pyosz also to Gitta's where the three of them conferred on bridies and single-serving pastries that would sell best at Mchele Fair. Maar helped Pyosz load her bags and crates into the ferry, where empty milk cans were already lined up.

Looking across the water, Maar said "I swear I can see Ember waiting for you at the top of the trail."

"I felt bad about leaving her" confessed Pyosz. "I was worried she'd think I was gone for good, like Ferk."

Maar's face went serious, as she said quietly "What will you do with her when you return to Skene, then?"

Pyosz felt a jolt. "I told her I'm her person from here on out, so she'll go with me wherever I live." She and Maar gazed at each other. Maar said "I'm glad she has you that way."

Pyosz didn't know what to do with herself. She saw a glint of crumbs at the corner of Maar's mouth and leaned toward her as she gently brushed them away with her thumb, saying "Lemon cookies --"

But Maar flinched backward from her touch. Their immediate "I'm sorry" tumbled across each other. With an awkward laugh, Maar said "I really do have to go rest."

"I'll see you later" said Pyosz as normally as she could muster. She castigated herself all the way across the kuono, but when Ember rushed to the end of the dock, yowling piteously, Pyosz focused all her attention back on her Saya life.

She took enough time to comb out the katts, with much reassurance, and to go call hello over the kissing gate, though most of the goats ignored her. Then she began moving at a rapid, proficient clip, making dough, stewing fillings for bridies and tarts, and briefly transplanting the Motu lilac starts into a compost-filled hole in full sun near the non-goat side of the kissing gate. She ate a bridie in gulps while running to do a quick fruit harvest from the orchard -- even with Tu and Pank's diligence, on these long summer days picking needed to be done every day or waste was inevitable.

She hurriedly hung her new silks and stacked the rest of her bags on her trunk for later unpacking, saving out a new pale yellow shati with chocolate linen kalsongers to wear to the play. She did a rough wash at her sink after milking, throwing a new burzaka over her attire as she literally galloped her wain toward the dock. Dusk had closed in, and Ember's face had been tormented when Pyosz shut the cabin door. Once on the ferry, however, she caught her breath, checked to make sure she'd remembered her camera, and cheerfully accepted the help of two passersby to transfer crates from ferry to cart. The grocery was closed but Gitta was waiting on her and exclaimed happily about the quantity Pyosz piled on her counters.

"I'll freeze some, and it'll get us through the rest of the Fair" said Gitta.

"Pay me later" said Pyosz from the door, "and I'll get my crates over the weekend." She sprinted for the schoolhouse, and had to apologize her way through standing-room-only throngs in the entryway. The first play was halfway through, and in dark Pyosz couldn't see anyone in her family, nor did she want to disrupt the audience's rapt attention by searching. She tucked into a wall sconce and gave herself over to watching. As soon as applause began, she pushed out into the eddy of humanity and almost immediately heard Frahe calling her name.

Her family was at the front but on the far side, minus Nk who was backstage helping her emmas. There was no visible seat for her. However, as she reached them, Qoj stood and sat back down in Uli's lap with a wicked grin which was a perfect inverse of Dodd's scowl. Pyosz slid into the vacated seat with "Thank you for your sacrifice, cousin", which made Briel giggle. Pyosz stood again briefly to shuck her burzaka, far too hot for indoors. Maar whistled and leaned around Oby to say "Great shati."

"The color of Saya cream" said Pyosz happily. She fumbled her camera out of her bag as there came a thud and an oath from behind the stage curtain.

"Did you get a chance to eat?" asked Maar, leaning over Oby again.

"No, but maybe at the next intermission" began Pyosz before Oby said "Here, Maar, just switch seats with me." Maar pulled a lentil burger and bottle of lemonade from her own pack, and Pyosz had gobbled most of it down before Pank's play started.

Pyosz found herself laughing through tears by the final scene. She could hardly believe how good Pank was in it, and the minimalist scenery was quite effective. Pank had landed the role of romantic lead and carried it off quite dashingly -- except for the instant where she had to bend over her sobbing enamorata and there was a distinct report of breaking wind which blasted into either wing, followed immediately by audience hysterics. Tu later complained it was this indiscretion which kept their performance from winning the black ribbon. The whole family stayed through the other two plays so they could be present for the award ceremony, and they cheered riotously when Pank and Tu's troupe won green.

Api, Ollow, Mill, Oby and Abbo left after that, but the rest stayed to help strike sets -- the stage would be needed the next day for other events. Giddy with tiredness, Pyosz said yes to Tu's suggestion they all retire to the Lofthall canteen for tea and catching up. After Maar dozed off sitting up, she was banished to her bunk down the hall, but the rest kept chatting, Dodd determinedly asking Uli questions, which Pyosz decided was mostly to keep her and Qoj from slipping off alone. Well, my cousin will leave her emmas behind tomorrow, I'm sure of it thought Pyosz. In fact, when the rest finally walked her to her ferry, Uli and Qoj melted away into the growing fog.

Somehow she remembered to set her alarm, and she fell instantly into slumber despite Curds and Ember wanting to complain to her about how strangers had invaded their bed for several nights. Getting up came too soon, but she was happy to get her body back into the satisfaction of milking. She donned another new shati -- this one a gauzy print of red cuttlefish amid green kelp -- and left her clean milk cans in the ferry to have breakfast at Dodd and Briel's before setting out with her family to experience this particular Roku, the "market of all markets". She collected her earnings from Gitta first, and had to return to Dodd's house twice to stash her purchases, mostly the finest of Pya's handicrafts which she intended as gifts for her family.

Stalls spilled out of Koldok and lined the road all the way to Pertama and the fairgrounds, with only a narrow lane left in the middle for buses which ran back and forth nonstop. Qoj was hand in hand with Uli, and Tu had whispered to Pyosz that she'd not come home the night before. By 10:30, Pyosz felt headachy from sunlight, dust, and spectacle. When Nk said "Let's grab lunch from a stall and go claim early seats for the shearing competition", Pyosz was glad for the chance to sit down under a tree on a quilt. She kept wishing Maar were with them, or at least not having to fly all over Pya on endless hauls and shuttles.

At one point Tu confessed to her "We took one jar of every sauce and jam you make, and entered them in the culinary competitions under your name," Pyosz gaped at her, and Pank added "Plus that pie you left for us in your coldbox. Folks was expecting to see a pie by you in the line-up."

By 1:30, Pyosz felt tapped out. She said "I have to nap before milking or I'll never last through the kickball game tonight. I'll see you all at the bleachers." As she threaded her way through the stall by the Lofthall, she heard Maar call her name and made her way to the front of the Lofthall.

"If you want to join the others, I can tell you where to find them" said Pyosz. "You have a couple of hours off, right?"

"Well, longer, because one of the rushers on the Koldok kickball team fell out of a tree this morning and broke her arm" said Maar. "They've asked me to fill in for her, and Mill's given me the afternoon to rest up."

"I didn't know you were on the team" remarked Pyosz.

"Haven't been for a few months, kept missing practice" grinned Maar. "But I guess I'll do in a pinch. Abbo is steamed they asked me and not her, especially since she's having to work extra now. Where are you headed?"

Pyosz told her, amid great yawns, and Maar said "You can save yourself ten minutes by dossing down in my bunk if you want. The dorm area is under quiet orders right now, with so many of us sleeping odd hours." Pyosz stared at her, and Maar said with red cheeks "I'll take Abbo's bunk, she won't mind."

Pyosz was filled with the desire to see where Maar spent her nights and she nodded instantly. Maar, her face still flaming, led her silently through the side hall and down the aisle between rows of bunks separated by canvas walls. In the corner, these walls had been shifted to make a small room holding two metal cots which faced each other. One side of this room was littered with dirty laundry, a few mugs left on the floor, and the sheets on the unmade bed were not quite clean. To Pyosz's relief, the other half, clearly Maar's from all the photos of Thleen, was spotless and tidy. Maar sat down on Abbo’s bunk, pushing a disarticulated newspaper onto the floor, and began wearily tugging off her otos.

Pyosz felt suddenly shy. She removed her shati with her back to Maar and folded it neatly over the foot of the cot. Maar stood again to close a curtain against the light and she mutely handed Pyosz a soft old shati from her clothes chest. By the time Pyosz had changed and pulled back the blue-and-yellow coverlet on Maar's bed, Maar was prone and seemed to already be asleep. Pyosz listened to her breathing, smelling the lemony scent on Maar's non-Lofthall linens, and studying the hundreds of photos overlapping every inch of the wall next to where Maar slept.

She didn't remember dropping off. It was Abbo who woke them a few hours later, jerking back the curtain and snorting loudly when she saw them. Pyosz was unpertubed, feeling rested and contented to a degree she could hardly explain. She dressed slowly, alternately watching Maar assemble her kickball gear and taking in the three photos of herself pinned in among the ode to Thleen.

Ember met her at the dock again, trying to make sense of Pyosz's comings and goings. Clouds were rolling in, and Pyosz willed rain to delay until midnight. Even so, she wore her cap and burzaka when she returned to Dvareka for the game. Her family had a seat for her this time, and after getting another meal from the food stalls, she settled in between Tu and Mill as Mill rattled on about Koldok's chances against the brutes of Cogio. "At least we have Maar in there, she knows how to throw an elbow and put a scare into 'em." Pyosz smiled serenely and shared her candied orange slices with Tu.

Her serenity lasted throughout the raging fervor of the extremely close game. Koldok lost by one point, with Maar scoring two goals and bloodying the nose of the most hated Cogio player. Pyosz took all the photos she could, knowing the professional thrill they would give Thleen -- especially, she suspected, the one of the Cogio player bent over with gushing nose. Afterward they went to Dodd and Briel's house for tea while Briel treated Maar's scrapes and bruises. Mill and Oby asked Dodd to accompany them as they walked Pyosz to her ferry and Maar to the Lofthall, since post-game rowdies were still out and about.

Pyosz remembered as a child hearing her emma complain to Qala in the kitchen "Dodd was always our first choice for a game or company or being on your side, we all felt that way about her, but Ndege and I were the only ones who made sure it went both ways, that Dodd got back from us as much as she offered. And now that Ndege has given up on anything except keeping Gerra safely confined to Sigrist Poke, why did Dodd let herself be tricked into going to Pya to help out Mill?"

Pyosz hadn't been able to hear Qala's quiet answer. Now, though, she'd guess it had been something along the lines that Dodd had gone to Pya to help out Dodd, not Mill. And Briel, of course, who did more than anyone in their family to keep Dodd feeling treasured and in balance. She briefly wondered if Qoj was going to sleep in Uli's bed again tonight; from how they'd looked this evening, swollen and distracted, she'd guess yes. Her mind suddenly reminded her YOU slept in Maar's bed today, and she suppressed a laugh. She fell asleep reliving the smell of Maar's pillow.

The following noon at awards ceremonies Pyosz won a green ribbon for her apple-cheese pie with hazelnut meal crust, and pink ribbons for her lemon curd, ginger fish sauce, and blackberry jam. Maar insisted she pin all the second and third place ribbons to her shoulders, and Tu said "This is before you've had time to age your vinegars or develop your orchard, just wait until next year." Which dimmed the smiles on both Maar and Pyosz.

The final award was for the crop or confection "which best symbolizes Pya this year", and Pyosz was stunned when it was given to her shamsjooz sauce. Dodd pushed her up the steps to accept the glossy black ribbon. As Pyosz rejoined her family, Gitta called out to her "Our prices just went up!"

Pyosz celebrated by riding the zip line set up on the fairgrounds, her ribbons flapping wildly, otos clamped together and her high screams causing half the crowd to look her way. Maar met her at the bottom with an exuberant hug before leaving for another work shift. "Save your first dance for me tonight, I'm already bruised from the kickball game" she whispered in Pyosz's ear.

Pyosz took at least one turn on every carnival ride with her younger cousins, and cheered on Pank at the axe-throwing pitch. She left at the last possible minute to get back to Saya before dusk, feeding her out of sorts katts before milking. She took a long hot shower and lay down for an hour's nap before rising to pick her hair, dress in the rich old blue silks, tuck her silver zaoxue into her pack for dancing, and make a quick cheese sandwich for eating on the dark ferry.

This dance was being held in a Pertama factory which smelled of wax and resin, but the floors were expansive and smooth. Two stages had been set up for the band competition. Pyosz refused to take off her burzaka, even after she had on her zaoxue, until Maar was there. Her unveiling caused the sensation she wanted. Dodd fingered the silk and said "I know where this is from", Mill said "You look so much like emma", and Maar couldn't seem to find words at all. Dodd's band wasn't playing for the first set but she was obsessively tuning her fiddle, so Pyosz handed her camera to Briel and led Maar onto the floor as the first bars of music began -- a fast waltz, thank the stars.

Her memory wasn't perfect and she hadn't enough practice, but still after 30 seconds the difference in Pyosz was so profound that Maar came to a halt briefly and said "Are those silks enchanted? I mean, what happened?"

"My abbas" said Pyosz cryptically, coaxing Maar back into motion. She was a little crazy with triumph at the end, and accepted every dance request extended to her, making Maar compete heavily for turns. However, when the first two bands exited the stage and Cawl Ffa began setting up, Pyosz sat down next to Maar, breathing heavily and draining a cold glass of tea. "I don't want to miss the anthem or the dawn chorus, and since they have a limited set, I'm going to sit and listen as much as I can. Is there a pitcher of this tea, or -- "

"That was mine" said Maar. "Save my chair and I'll go get us a pitcher."

"And food!" Pyosz called after her. "I'm ravenous."

Maar returned with a platter of fish-stuffed noodle wraps, onion fritters, and apricots just as Dodd strode to the front of the stage and sang

I embrace this good green earth
Rising safe I am this hour

Pyosz sprang to her feet, and at the end her shout "To Pya!" was thunderous. But so was everyone else's. She ate steadily through the next song, then wiped her mouth and asked Maar to teach her how to do the following tarantella. During the dawn chorus, she contributed the bleats of both Stutter and Nips. Cawl Ffa concluded their set with "Oak Grove", Dodd giving a brief history beforehand, and during the final bout of appause, many of the dancers were weeping. Pyosz whispered to Maar "They've won it, those bagpipers from Pirinc might as well go home right now.'

"Except there's nothing like pipes for doing the leaping step I want to teach you next" said Maar.

By the time Pyosz waved goodbye to her family from the ferry, her silks crusty from sweat, her feet aching in a pleasant way, Dodd had a black ribbon tied into her beard and Abbo was talking to Mill about how hard could it be to learn to play bagpipes, really, you didn't have to start young.

Pyosz went right back to bed the next morning after milking, since Kolm and the rest of Pya would be sleeping in. When she got up at 10:00, she called Killer out from the pasture and let her gambol around the kitchen during breakfast, stopping often to pull the kid away from nibbling clematis, climbing on the table, or eating toast from the counter. "I'm sorry we've only had the one chance to practice" Pyosz told her as she put on the leather harness so Killer could get used to it. "I'll be with you every instant, and all the new people you're going to meet will adore you, keep that in your little goat thoughts." She filled a leather bag with cracked corn and tied it to the waist of her black broeks, donned a short-sleeved fuzzy black shati, and used an old feed sack to carry Killer's props out of sight as she led Killer on a tether to the ferry.

Killer said an adamant no to the idea of being lowered into the ferry. Finally Pyosz tied a scarf around Killer's eyes and swiftly slid down the ladder with her, engaging the lever forward before removing the scarf. Killer bleated at the top of her lungs, pressed hard against Pyosz's thigh, and when they reached Koldok wharf, Killer nimbly evaded a second blindfolding. Eventually Pyosz called up to the wharf for help, and she was relieved when Poth's face peered down at her.

"I’ve got a recalcitrant goatling here" said Pyosz.

"Bit of an oxymoron, that" remarked Poth. "What are you doing with her?"

"Taking her to Mchele Fair" grinned Pyosz. "I need to hand her up to you, if you can assure me you won't drop her no matter how she struggles."

"I know how to keep a grip on animals" said Poth, bending down. She was as good as her word. Killer emptied her bowels onto Pyosz's shoulders as she was swung into Poth's arms, but it was mostly pellets. Pyosz brushed them away and said "I guess I asked for that" as she handed her other bags to Poth and scrambled up the ladder.

"Good thing you're wearing black" observed Poth. "I’m guessing this is part of the Saya Island contigent listed in the parade line-up?"

"You guess right" answered Pyosz, taking back the tether from Poth and patting the goat's head with a loud "GOOD little Killer", startling an onlooker.

"I'll make sure my little ones come visit" said Poth. "They seldom see goats."

Indeed, Killer caused a sensation as Pyosz coaxed her along the road to the fairgrounds. At first she balked whenever anyone besides Pyosz was near, and Pyosz used corn as a bribe for each step. But Killer loved to be petted, and once she realized all these strangers wanted most of all to to rub her velvety ears, she trotted along confidently toward each new human form.

Killer panicked again when they reached the parade assembly area and were directed into a holding pen that held sheep, pigs, geese and turkeys meant to be part of various contingents. Pyosz didn't think she could vouch for the good will of the other animals, some of whom were agitated, so she sat on the railing and held Killer tethered close outside, where only human contact could reach her. Pyosz was gratified to see Killer slowly calm down and her curiosity take over. "You're as clever as I thought you were" Pyosz told her.

She hadn't spotted anyone from her family but she knew they would be watching and could imagine their surprise. The flock of turkeys which belonged in the Pabo contingent were rounded up amid a cacophony of shrill bird cry that almost unnerved Pyosz herself. She bent over to wrap her arms around Killer's neck and said "At least it's just you and me, hmm, not a crazed herd of your kinfolk. Ready to put on your hat? No, it's for wearing, not for lunch. Here, you can mouth my red cap once or twice, yummy salty wool, eh. Okay, now remember this? It simply rolls behind you but is no threat at all, remember?"

A few people nearby stopped to watch and laugh. The contigent after Pabo had called themselves the Pya Oceans Reclamation Society, whose acronym was a slang term for erect nipples. This turned out to be a group of teenagers who had transferred an old sailboat to bicycle wheels. As they glided by Pyosz and Killer through the gates into the parade ground, a hue went up: Every child in the stands is going to want a ride on this boat thought Pyosz. Change is surely afoot.

Between the Erect Nipples and Saya was a band which turned out to be the Pirinc bagpipers. As their skirl and drone launched an almost visible wall of sound in the small zone behind the gate, Killer screamed in alarm and Pyosz wrapped around her, filling her palm with corn and her voice with reassurance. "You're handling impossibilites very adroitly, because you're the one and only Killer, yes you are."

Then they were being waved on by a grinning parade monitor. "Okay, Killer, let's go find the barn" said Pyosz, standing and giving a tiny tug at the tether. On Killer's head was a baby's chinstrap cap which had been dyed the same color as Pyosz's famous Redtop. Her leather harness was attached to a child's wagon painted marine orange, a goat wain. Killer followed Pyosz out of sheer nervousness -- the wain didn't rumble much here on the sandy parade ground, and Pyosz's hand was packed full of corn.

As they emerged through the gate and came into view of the bleachers, however, the delighted roar stopped Killer cold. Ignoring the cries of "I claim ten points for a double sighting!", Pyosz went to her knees beside Killer and murmured into her ear "Just noise, like the wind, but I'm your capriste, I'll always keep you safe." She slid a wedge of dried apple from her pocket, which overrode all of Killer's other senses. Pyosz stood again and Killer followed her easily, aware of more apple in that same pocket. But Pyosz heard one or two voices nearby saying "She talks to them and they understand, her I swear."

By the end of the parade route, Killer was enjoying herself again. Pyosz led them to the loudspeaker, where she said "I'm the Saya capriste and this brave kid is Killer, but don’t let her name put you off, she wants nothing more than to cuddle with people. Especially children." From every corner of the bleachers, Pyosz heard small high voices begin importuning "Emma -- " She let Killer bleat into the mic and announced they'd be in the dispersal zone next to the end gate, if anybody wanted to make friends with Killer. She barely had time to unbuckle the wain from Killer before they were surrounded by children.

Maar found her quickly, laughing wildly and bestowing a kiss on Killer's redtop as she said "Children all over Pya are going to refuse roast kid in the future."

"Okay with us, isn't it, Killer?" answered Pyosz. "Please tell me somebody got photographs."

"Dodd was on it" said Maar, squatting beside Pyosz. They watched the remainder of the parade together. One of the last contigents caused a stir when it was announced as "Some Denizens of Chwet." Maar said to Pyosz "The Owl People never been in the parade before", her eyebrows raised.

A leather-garbed figure emerged from the far gate and ran nimbly to the end of the parade ground. As she came within range, she clanked slightly, and Pyosz realized she had full-length vambraces of metal under each leather sleeve. She was unusually tall and muscular, and her hat seemed to made of squirrel, with a long furry tail hanging down the back that Pyosz wanted to take home as a toy for her katts.

The woman from Chwet turned and solemnly faced the distant entry gate. As it swung open, the bleachers went so silent Pyosz could suddenly hear Killer's chewing. A second leather-clad Chwetian stepped out with a massive owl on her shoulders -- not as big as my owl thought Pyosz, but seven foot wingspan, at least. "Lev" swore Maar under her breath, leaning toward Pyosz. Emmas swiftly swung children up into their arms.

The owl was swiveling her head from side to side in a seemingly impossible radius. The woman near Pyosz lifted her squirrel cap from her head and waved it at arm's length, twitching the tail in a tantalizing manner. Pyosz saw the owl's vision lock in on the motion and her squat feathery body hunched a little. Pyosz wondered how long her talons were, and guessed the armor underneath those Chwat garments was steel rather than copper or aluminum.

With no obvious effort, the owl was abruptly airborne, swooping with unbelievable speed in their direction. Killer at last spotted the source of all the tension around her. She froze like a statue, without appearing to even breathe. With one motion, Pyosz and Maar pulled the kid between them, and Pyosz could feel trembling, though she wasn't sure of its source. A second later, the owl landed on the outstretched arm of the woman nearby, with a grunt from the woman and an odd clicking sound from the owl. She was shredding the cap between one talon and her wicked beak. The woman pulled a strand of meat from a pocket and gave it to the owl, making similar clicking sounds with her beakless mouth. The Chwetian at the far end gave an elaborate bow, and the stands exploded into relieved applause. Women and owl departed with a wide berth around them, and Pyosz heard Maar give a long ragged breath.

Pyosz thought nothing could top this demonstration of what must be going on during the night hours on Chwet -- wait til the abbas hear this story she thought. However, after a short lull, Dodd and the bodhrán player from Cawl Ffa stepped out of the far gate, playing a lively reel. Dodd was still wearing the black ribbon, and her pu and jirekinu were of dazzling silver brocade with a green thread which brought out her eyes.

Behind them rose up a quintet of eerie masked figures, ten feet off the ground, moving with slow grace in time to the music. Pyosz could tell which were Pank and Tu by their leg and back muscles. Their arms were as elongated as their legs, thin sleeved appendages culminating in four-digited hands with claws that the stiltwalkers could lever open and closed. They were reaching into the stands, swiping at children who shrieked in terror and hid beneath benches.

The last ten feet, Pyosz saw Pank zero in on her. She squared her shoulders and whispered to Maar "Look after Killer." Maar covered Killer's eyes with her hands. Pank pivoted in a spiral and ululated from beneath her mask as her open claw closed on Pyosz's head. Pyosz heard one child begin crying. At the last minute, Pank deftly snatched the red cap from Pyosz's head and broke into a loopy victory dance. Pyosz sat back flat on her ass, laughing with everyone else.

The stiltwalkers exited and a phalanx of various band members, all carrying rainsticks, formed inside the entry gate. "This is it" Maar whispered to Pyosz. Killer decided to sit down in Pyosz's lap. The rainsticks began moving in unison, creating crashing and ebbing waves of sound. The far gate swung open, and Pyosz felt her dreads stand on end. A massive dark green lobster with purple spines and legs scuttled forward, easily as big as a Manage. The 11 puppeteers it took to move the lobster were dressed in ocean blue covered with ripples, and almost immediately faded from view: The lobster really seemed to be alive and on its own.

Any child which had toughed out the last two contingents now decided an emma shield was necessary. Even teenagers were alert. The lobster's progress was slow and horrific. Pyosz stood and lifted Killer, asking Maar to bring the wain. They climbed to the second tier of bleachers to watch the end of the parade, the lobster prowling off to find easier prey.

The family found each other by clustering around Pank and Tu's easily-sighted forms above the crowd. Dodd and Briel invited everyone back to their house for a barbecue. Pyosz said "I'll be there, but I need to somehow persuade Killer back onto the ferry home, she's been pushed as far as she should today."

Maar said "I have to run shuttles all over Pya for the next couple of hours, I'll give you two a lift if you'll save me a plate for later." Pyosz accepted, and helped clean Killer's vomit from the sinner floor before Maar left for other runs. Killer scampered into the pasture with an air of self-importance, and Pyosz called after her "They're never going to believe you."

At Dodd's they all took turns talking to family on Skene, recounting hilarious detail, as lobster and corn roasted on the grill. Qoj and Uli seemed to be squabbling, which Briel whispered to Pyosz was simply the stress of Qoj having to leave the next day. Pyosz looked at Qoj with deep empathy. She resolved to get her photos developed first thing the following morning, so she could send copies back with Maar to show Thleen.

Pyosz waited to eat until Maar had joined them. They dipped their food into butter mixed with black-ribbon shamsjooz sauce, and Pyosz murmured "Next year, Killer will be an old hand at the parade." Maar looked at her with wistful brown eyes but said nothing.

copyright 2009 Maggie Jochild

THANKSGIVING JOURNAL

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:49:00 +0000

(Buttermilk pie)

it was a tough night because i was thirsty and i'd run out of all bottled water, juice, or even soda near my bed. bad planning. i'd been up and around the house earlier, pushed to my limit, and the idea of repeating a foray to hydrate seemed too much to bear. (try to get upright with major joint issues, wearing an abdominal binder and not using any abdominal muscles -- it's an olympic event.) i tried telling myself it was about self-love, but even that didn't work.

dry-mouthed, i began watching a pbs docu about the mamas and the papas, and got engrossed in spite of myself. i was struck by michelle philllips' mature appraisal of her strengths and weaknesses, and her unstinting affection for mama cass -- she called her "huge" with a humor that had no tinge of fat phobia. she deftly put paid to the "choked on a sandwich" canard about cass, and outlined the reasons why cass would have gone on to be a superstar had she lived.

(Mama Cass, Mary Travers and Joni Mitchell singing "I Shall Be Released", 1969)

i intended to watch the independent lens docu which followed called objectified, about design, made by the folks who made the excellent "helvetica", but I fell asleep. when i woke up four hours later, i had the will finally to get up and bring liquid back to my nest. i took my hydrocodone for the day, recklessly not saving it for a pain crisis -- i think it will be okay today. i plan to have human conversation, excellent food, and do some writing. it's a day off.

i couldn't eat my threadgill's chicken-fried steak last night; my capacity and appetite are very diminished, and i begin meals with what my body is most craving, which last night was tomatoes and cornbread. this morning after i was hydrated, the cold meat sounded appealing, so i had it for breakfast while watching the start of the parades on TV. to my surprise, dinah offered to share the meal with me. she typically is skeptical about humin fud but she remarked that any dish containing the names of TWO meats was worth a look-see. she approved. still couldn't finish it so will save the rest, although with the other food here, something will probably get thrown out before being eaten. i do have a slice of buttermilk pie (my all-time favorite) which WILL be eaten.

quick question: is anybody else around my age who DOESN'T have joint problems starting to have serious difficulty loosening bottle caps and jar lids?

aside from cass's soaring voice, what else is intruding into my thoughts is the PBS episode of "secrets of the dead" yesterday about the terrorist attacks on mumbai a year ago. i had mixed thoughts about trying to watch it, but now i can't recommend it highly enough. two different set of survivors, married couples, one of whom (an elderly turkish pair) went through unspeakable slaughter which splattered all around them, gave riveting firsthand accounts which ended, eventually, with a version of compassion for the ignorant, terrified young men who were controlled by a remote terror network into becoming tools of murder and suicide. it was so damned good to hear a detailed, NON-American take on terrorism. catch it if you can, and be ready to grieve in a productive manner.

i'm experimenting with a shareware program that will cartoonize and/or make line drawings of photographs. the one i'm trying for free, photo to cartoon, is adequate but i suspect i could eventually make use of a lot more bells and whistles. anyone out there have recommendations to make? i'm not a skilled graphics person and i use PCs, so those are limits to keep in mind. also it must be either free or low-cost; i'll definitely use it for blogging but i can't justify high expenditure for this, all the same.

okay, it's 10 a.m., i'm going to eat the pie now. my daughter worked for amy's ice cream when she was a teenager, and their employee T-shirt was the first place i saw the adage "life is uncertain. eat dessert first."

i'm past the point of dying young and leaving a beautiful memory. i'm planning for happy, meaningful old age instead. that's new, folk. time to turn off this idiotic parade, eat pie, and untie my brain.

(Maggie and mother Mary Jo in passport photo to India, 1956 -- cartoonized by Maggie)

[Cross-posted at Meta Watershed and Group News Blog]

LOLCATS ROUND-UP THANKSGIVING 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:06:00 +0000

Here's a special edition of what I've gleaned from I Can Has Cheezburger efforts. Before the jump, however, are a few LOLMaggies, my own attempts at captioning photos. Have a good one, y'all.

HUBBLE THURSDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2009

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:05:00 +0000

(Eagle Nebula, M16, Pillar Detail, Portion of Top)

Every Thursday, I post a very large photograph of some corner of space captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and available online from the picture album at HubbleSite, followed by poetry after the jump.

XI.

by Wendell Berry

Though he was ill and in pain,
in disobedience to the instruction he
would have received if he had asked,
the old man got up from his bed,
dressed, and went to the barn.
The bare branches of winter had emerged
through the last leaf-colors of fall,
the loveliest of all, browns and yellows
delicate and nameless in the gray light
and the sifting rain. He put feed
in the troughs for eighteen ewe lambs,
sent the dog for them, and she
brought them. They came eager
to their feed, and he who felt
their hunger was by their feeding
eased. From no place in the time
of present places, within no boundary
nameable in human thought,
they had gathered once again,
the shepherd, his sheep, and his dog
with all the known and the unknown
round about to the heavens' limit.
Was this his stubbornness or bravado?
No. Only an ordinary act
of profoundest intimacy in a day
that might have been better. Still
the world persisted in its beauty,
he in his gratitude, and for this
he had most earnestly prayed.

DINAH'S SURVIVAL TIPS

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:43:00 +0000

[Note from Maggie: I translated these from LOLspeak because I had pity on you.]

1. The putting on of pants is time to panic. Hide her keys. And glasses.
2. All rustling plastic could be a Whiskr Likns bag being opened.
3. Chinese takeout has hot peppers mining the meat -- FAIL.
4. Best time to ask for attention is when Maggie is compiling her weekly round-up of LOLCats for her blog.
5. If Maggie suddenly says "God fucking DAMMIT", immediately go to closet for long nap.
6. Cripples are easy to outrun.

UPDATE

redredhands@sbcglobal.net (Maggie Jochild) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:29:00 +0000

(Sappho, painting by Charles Mengin, 1877 -- hat-tip to Ian at Dykes To Watch Out For for this image)

Thanks those of you keeping tabs and wondering at my silence. It's pretty tough right now: Extreme physical weakness and no nursing help, intermittent diarrhea, and not eating enough -- no real appetite plus making a meal leaves me exhausted. In addition, to get around the hit-or-miss wifi on my bedroom netbook, Barbara brought me a router which I couldn't get set up right for 24 hours, bumping me offline (which some of you noticed).

Good news is the wifi is now working and throbbingly strong, your donations continue to arrive, my incision is clean and tightly knit, Thanksgiving is not a holiday where I miss my family, and Dinah's devotion is striking. So I push on. Facebook is a fun diversion at the moment, as is the early release of Westward IV. I'll write more now that I can get through reliably. Love and cornbread stuffing to y'all.