People of the Lightning(131)

He started to lurch to his feet, and she caught his hand. “No. Thank you. It’s kind of you to offer, but I would rather that you sat down. Good. Now, please go on.”

He bowed his head and frowned at the wavering shadows on the dark forest duff. “M-musselwhite?”

“Yes, Pondwader.”

“Do you remember when I asked you about Turtle Bone Doll?”

“I do.”

Pondwader braced himself, watching her carefully work her shaking hand to carry the piece of fish to her mouth. It took great effort, but she managed.

Quietly, he said, “She—she comes to me.”

“Who?”

“Turtle Bone Doll.”

Musselwhite had picked up another piece, but slowly lowered it, and placed it back in her bowl. “What do you mean she comes to you?”

“I think …” he said softly and touched the robe over his heart. The space felt unusually warm. “I think she really comes to see Glade. To find out how he is doing. Sometimes, I swear I hear them talking to each other, though I can’t make out any of their words.”

“But, Pondwader, I never breathed Power into that doll. I breathed my souls into it. I loved it when I fashioned it. But I would never have attempted to do more. I will grant that the bone from which she is made is curious. It looks like bone, but it is stone. And very old. It was handed down to me by my grandmother, who claimed she received it from her grandmother. But none of them were Soul Dancers. Just weavers of beautiful fabrics.” Musselwhite’s eyes narrowed. “How could the doll have gained such Spirit Power? Where did it come from?”

“I don’t know. She never said. Still … she comes, and she talks to me. She—she tells me the strangest things.”

“What does she tell you?”

He twined his fingers in his robe, clutching it tightly. “Well, she … she told me there was a great storm coming, that it was darkness itself, and that if the world is to live, it will need all the light and warmth it can get. She said that every twinkle being born inside me was a shout of joy … a promise that life will continue. Turtle Bone Doll calls Glade the ‘deliverer.’ I don’t know what she means by that, but that’s what she calls him.” He blinked contemplatively. “Do you know, Musselwhite?”

“No.”

Pondwader looked away. He wet his dry lips. “And she says things about people. Like Cottonmouth. But I didn’t really understand—”

“What did she say?”

“She said he wasn’t cruel. That Cottonmouth is … how did she put it … ? ‘Derelict. Desolate. A weightless shadow somersaulting underwater.’ She also said that the waves of his solitude drown him, but that he can never cry for help. And that it isn’t that he wants to die. She said he … he wants to be nothing.”

Musselwhite went deathly pale. “I’m sure he does.” She toyed with the corner of her blanket, crumpling it, then smoothing it flat. In a faint voice, she asked, “Has the doll said anything about me?”

“Oh, yes.” Pondwader nodded. “Last night. She came to tell me you were dying—”

“Dying?”

“Yes, and Turtle Bone Doll said that it was my fault, because I refused to learn to Dance with the Lightning Bird’s soul. She told me that if I didn’t learn to soar and flash and thunder, that you would die!” He stopped with his mouth open. “ … So I did.”

“Did what?”

“I learned to thunder.”

She forced herself to roll to her side, facing him. Her brows drew together. “What does that mean? How did you do that?”

Pondwader repeatedly threw his hand up. “I leaped.”

“You … you what?”

He got to his feet and jumped up and down a few times to demonstrate. Dry exhalations of dust puffed beneath his sandals, forcing Musselwhite to squint in defense. “I leaped. The doll said I had to give up my human feet, and to do that I had to keep leaping until I forgot what the ground felt like, so I spent all night leaping up and down, and finally—”

“Your legs went numb?”

“No, no,” he corrected with a shake of his head. Had she asked the question in earnest or not? She watched him expectantly. He knelt by her side again. “I was standing right there, beside the firepit, looking down into the coals, when this red tornado spun up from the ashes and grew a white hot core—like one of the Shining People fallen to earth. And I … I …”

“Go on.”

He coolly reached down and cleaned the sand from between his toes, while he said, “A white lance of light soared by my face, and I leaped up and grabbed its tail with both hands.” He reached into the air, his hands clasping the invisible tail.