The young dolphins called the child Beeweeabee, but Zelana didnt really think that was appropriate, since it approximately translated into Short-Fin-With-No-Tail. Despite her habits and her companions, the little girl was still a land animal, so Zelana unleashed her poetic talents and ultimately arrived at Eleria. It had a nice musical sound to it, and it rhymed with several very pleasant words.
The little girl didnt seem to care for the name, but after a while she would answer to it when Zelana called her, so the name more or less did what it was supposed to.
The seasons continued to turn, but Zelana had long since realized that they could do that on their own, so she didnt have to prompt them.
Then in the autumn of Elerias fifth year, Dahlaine came by again. How are things progressing with your child, dear sister? he asked Zelana.
Its a bit hard to say, Zelana replied. I havent had any contact with the man-creatures for more than ten eons, and Im sure theyve changed in that many years. I cant really be sure whats normal for them at Elerias age. She spends most of her time in the water, though, so she doesnt stink the way most of her kind did when I turned my back on them.
Where is she? Dahlaine asked, looking around the grotto.
Probably out playing with her friends, Zelana said, most likely somewhere along the coast of the Isle.
She has friends? Dahlaine seemed a bit surprised. I didnt know there were any people here on the Isle.
There arent, and even if there were, I wouldnt permit her to associate with them.
Youre going to have to get over that, sister. Eventually she will be required to have dealings with her own kind.
What for?
Shell have to tell them what theyre supposed to do, Zelana. If her playmates arent people, what exactly are they?
Dolphins, of course. She and the young dolphins get along very well.
I didnt know that dolphins can move around on dry land.
They cant. Eleria swims with them.
Are you mad? Dahlaine almost screamed. Shes only five years old! You cant just turn her loose in Mother Sea like that!
Stop worrying so much, Dahlaine. She swims almost as well as her playmates do, and she finds most of her food out there in deep water. It saves me all sorts of time. She feeds herself, so I dont have to bother. She does seem to like berries when theyre in season but most of the time she eats fish.
How does she cook them if shes out there in the water?
What is cook? Zelana asked curiously.
Just a custom, really, Dahlaine replied evasively. You ought to try to keep her out of deep water, though.
Why? She swims mostly along the surface, so what difference does it make how much waters down below her?
Dahlaine gave up. There was just no talking with Zelana.
2
Though Zelana would not have admitted it even to herself, her life was much more pleasant now that she had Eleria to love and to care for. Since Eleria was able to find her own food and she had playmates enough to keep her occupied, her presence in the grotto in the evenings was hardly any inconvenience at all. Zelana was still able to create poetry and compose music, and Eleria served as a ready-made audience. She loved to have Zelana sing to her, and she seemed to enjoy listening to the recitation of Zelanas poems even though she didnt understand a single word. She was now well into her sixth year, but she continued to speak exclusively in the squeaky, piping language of the dolphins.
Zelana considered that. It wasnt really all that much of a problem, since she herself was also fluent in that language. She decided, though, that perhaps one of these days she might teach the young one the rudiments of the language she spoke and shared with her sister and her brothers. It shouldnt be too difficult. Zelana had discovered that Eleria was very quick.
As it turned out, however, Eleria was about two jumps ahead of her. Zelana had been reciting poetry to the child since Elerias infancy, and one day in the early autumn of Elerias sixth year Zelana happened to overhear the child reciting one of the poems to her playmates, translating each line into their own language as she went along. Zelanas poetry took on whole new dimensions when delivered in the squeaks and burbles of the dolphin language. Zelana was fairly sure that the young dolphins werent really all that interested in poetry, but Elerias habit of rewarding their attention with kisses and embraces kept them obediently in place. Zelana was very fond of dolphins herself, but the notion of kissing them had never occurred to her. Eleria, however, seemed to have discovered early in her life that dolphins would do almost anything for kisses.
Zelana decided at that point that it might not be a bad idea to start paying closer attention to the progress of the young child. Lately it seemed that every time she turned around, Eleria had a new surprise for her.
Eleria, she said a bit later when the two of them were alone in the grotto.
Eleria responded with a squeaky little dolphin sound.
Speak in words, child, Zelana commanded.
Eleria stared at her in astonishment. It is not proper that I should, Beloved, she replied quite formally. Thy speech is not to be used for mundane purposes or ordinary times. It is reserved for stately utterances. I would not for all this world profane it by reducing its stature to the commonplace.
Zelana immediately realized where she had blundered. In a peculiar sort of way shed treated Eleria in much the same way the child was now treating her dolphin playmates. Eleria had been something on the order of a captive audience but not quite completely captive. The child had drawn her own conclusions. There was a certain logic behind Elerias conviction that Zelanas language was reserved for poetry alone, since the only times when Zelana had spoken that language to her had been during those recitations. Ordinary conversations between them had been in the language of the dolphins.
Come here, child, Zelana said. I think its time for us to get to know each other a bit better.
Eleria seemed apprehensive. Have I done something wrong, Beloved? she asked. Are you angry with me because I told your poems to the finned ones? You didnt want me to do that, did you? Your poems were love, and they were for me alone. Now I have spoiled them. Elerias eyes filled with tears. Please dont send me away, Beloved! she wailed. I promise that I wont do it again!
A wave of emotion swept over Zelana, and she felt her own eyes clouding over. She held out her arms to the child. Come to me, she said.
Eleria rushed to her, and they clung to each other. Both of them were weeping now, yet they were filled with a kind of joy.
Zelana and Eleria spent all of their time together in the grotto after that. The dolphins brought fish for Eleria to eat, and the trickling spring provided water, so there was no real need for the child to go out into Mother Sea. Her playmates were a bit sulky at first, but that soon passed.
Zelana spent many happy hours teaching Eleria how to create poetry and how to sing. Zelanas poetry was stately and formal, and her songs were complex. Elerias poetry was still antique but much more passionate, and her songs were simple and pure. Zelana was painfully aware that the childs voice was more beautiful than her own, clear and reaching upward without effort.
Eleria eventually came to realize that the language she had come to know as the language of poetry had a more colloquial form which they could use for everyday communication. She still insisted on calling Zelana Beloved, however.
It was in the spring of Elerias seventh year when the child went out to play with her pink friends again. Zelana had suggested that Eleria had been neglecting them of late, and it was not polite to do that.
Late that day Eleria returned to the grotto with a strange glowing object.
What is that pretty thing, child? Zelana asked.
Its called a pearl, Beloved, Eleria replied, and a very old friend of the dolphins gave it to me well, she didnt exactly give it to me. She showed me where it was, though.
I didnt know that pearls could grow so large, Zelana marveled. It must have been an enormous oyster.
It was huge, Beloved.
Who is this friend of the dolphins?
A whale, Eleria replied. Shes very old, and she lives near that islet off the south coast. She joined us this morning and told me that she wanted to show me something. Then she led me to the islet and took me down to where this enormous oyster was attached to a reef. The oysters shell was almost as wide across as I am tall.
How did you pry it open if it was that big?
I didnt have to, Beloved. The old whale touched the shell with her fin, and the oyster opened its shell for us.
How very peculiar, Zelana said.
The old whale told me that the oyster wanted me to have the pearl, so I took it. I did thank the oyster, but Im not sure it could understand me. It was a little hard to swim and hold my pearl at the same time, but the old whale offered to carry me back home.
Carry?
Well, not exactly. I rode on her back. That is so much fun. Eleria held the pearl up. See how it glows pink. Beloved? Its even prettier than the ceiling of our grotto. She nestled her pearl, which was about the size of an apple, against her cheek. I love it! she declared.
Did you eat today? Zelana asked.
I had plenty earlier today, Beloved. My friends and I found a school of herring and ate our fill.
Did the whale have a name, by any chance?
The dolphins just called her mother. She isnt really their mother, of course. I think its more like a way to let her know that they love her.
She speaks the same language as the dolphins?
Sort of. Her voice isnt as squeaky, though. Eleria crossed to her bed of moss. Im very tired, Beloved, she said, sinking down onto her bed. It was a long swim out to the islet, and mother whale swims faster than I do. I had trouble keeping up with her.
Why dont you go to sleep, then, Eleria? Im sure youll feel much better in the morning.
That sounds like a terribly good idea, Beloved, Eleria said. Im really having trouble keeping my eyes open. She lay back on her bed of moss with the glowing pink pearl cradled to her heart.
Zelana was puzzled, and just a trifle concerned. It wasnt natural for whales and dolphins to associate with each other in the way Eleria had just described, and Zelana was almost positive that they wouldnt be able to speak to each other and be understood. Something very peculiar had happened today.
Eleria appeared to be sound asleep now, and her limbs had relaxed. Then, to Zelanas astonishment, the glowing pink pearl rose up into the air above the sleeping child. Its pink glow grew steadily stronger and the glow seemed to enclose Eleria.
Dont interfere. Zelana, a very familiar voice echoed in Zelanas mind. This is necessary, and I dont need any help from you.
Eleria awoke somewhat later than usual the following morning, and she had a puzzled look on her face as she sat cross-legged on her bed of moss with her pearl in her hand. Why do we sleep, Beloved? she asked.
I dont, Zelana replied, and Im not sure exactly why other creatures seem to need to sleep every so often.
I thought you and I were of the same kind, Eleria said. We look very much alike except that your hair is dark and glossy and mine is sort of yellow.
Ive wondered about that myself. Maybe Ive just outgrown the need for sleep. I am quite a bit older than you are, after all. It was a simplified answer, but Zelana was quite certain that Eleria wasnt ready for the real one just yet.
Since you dont sleep, you wouldnt know about the strange things I seem to see happening while Im sleeping, would you?
Theyre called dreams, Eleria, Zelana told her, and I dont think any other creature has the same kind of dreams you do. My brother Dahlaine told me that your dreams would be very special, and much more important than the dreams of the ordinaries. Did you have a dream last night that frightened you?
It didnt particularly frighten me, Beloved. It just seemed very strange, for some reason.
Why dont you tell me about it? Zelana suggested.
Well, I seemed to be floating except that I wasnt floating in Mother Sea the way I do sometimes when I want to rest and catch my breath. I was floating way up in the air instead, and all sorts of strange things were happening far below. Father Earth seemed to be all on fire, and his mountains were rising and falling the way Mother Seas waves do. Rocks were melting and running down the sides of some of Father Earths mountains into Mother Sea, and some of his other mountains were spouting liquid fire way up into the sky. Could something like that really happen?
Yes, child, Zelana said in a troubled voice, and it happened in exactly the way you just described it. I was there watching while it happened. It was at the very beginning of the world. What happened next?
Well, the fires kept burning for a long, long time, and then the land below me started to break apart, and the pieces floated off in different directions. Then trees began to sprout on the face of Father Earth, and Mother Sea started having children. It was about then that I seemed to know that I wasnt alone. Others were having the same dream only maybe for them it wasnt really a dream.
Zelana smiled. No, dear, it wasnt. I was one of those others, and I certainly wasnt dreaming, and neither were my brothers or my sister.
Then it was your family that was sort of hiding around the edges of my dream? Eleria asked. I thought you only had two brothers and one sister. There seemed to be two more brothers and a sister watching with me.
Theyre another branch of the family, Eleria, Zelana told her. We dont get together very often. We can talk about them some other time. Why dont you tell me what happened next in your dream. Dreams fade, I guess, and Id like to hear your whole dream before you forget.