Seeing that Xiao has come to collect Gale for work, I lay both my hands on the long neck wrapped around me and tilt my forehead to touch her cool, smooth skin. Then I concentrate. The air out here is even richer than among the buildings in town—and so much better than in a filtered facility like the hospital or Dr. Gupta’s lab. It makes establishing the connection easier than the first time, but ripples still go out in all directions, like when a rock drops into a still lake. As comforting as it is here in Gale’s embrace, I’m still too emotionally frayed to keep tight control on the link. I half expect sirens to go off, but it seems I haven’t set off the miasma alarms in town. Well, that’s a relief.
What I have done, though, is gotten a connection between us in place so that, just like with Bluebell, I can understand Gale. It’s difficult to know for sure, but that seems a fine name from her point of view; she identifies with such a force of wind. “They said you were working. Did you want to go back to work?” I ask Gale.
“But you’re so warm!” she indicates, nuzzling more closely around me. Then she pouts. “And their games get boring.”
“What’s the bigger problem? That I’m nice and warm? Or that the games are boring? We could see if they can make the games more fun. Or if you’re too cold, I can try to warm you up,” I offer, sliding a hand along her neck.
Gale grows excited by the prospect. “I bet you would make a fun game! Yeah! Make a game for me, Shelftop.” I smile at her perception of my Chiron identifier. “Like the other night,” she encourages, reminding me of how we first met. Ah, I see, I see! So warmth is just one of the things that makes me a pleasure to hang out with, and briar beast bowling was more interesting than naval exercises. “With another good snack!” she urges.
Though I keep one hand lingering on her, I extract myself from Gale’s embrace enough to lean around her bulk and see the group that Cleve has brought over.
“Hey,” Xiao says with a little wave. “Looks like your recovery is going well.”
“Can we come on your ship and see what kind of training you’re doing? Gale thinks it’s kind of boring and the snacks aren’t good enough.” Xiao blinks in confusion at me, speechless for a moment, but Cleve nods along. What I’ve said makes sense to him—he gives Bella snacks and interesting tasks.
Xiao makes a capital T with his hands. “Timeout,” he says. “Gale can talk to you?” He looks at her directly. “Can you understand me?” he says, waving at her.
I let out a long breath. “Let me make something completely clear to you,” I tell Xiao. “These creatures don’t talk with words. Gale doesn’t understand the English that I’m speaking.” And she hasn’t been talking back to me in words, per se, but in sensations and transmitted concepts that I can map to them.
“So the wailing you were doing back and forth… was that talking?” Xiao asks.
“That was just me trying to make welcoming noises.”
Xiao nods. “Okay, that I can understand.”
“But I… I perceive things. I have some senses that other humans don’t have.” Like I did with Deirdre, I relate this to how certain animals can see in different spectrums and hear in different auditory ranges. “Those pheromones your scientist use—you can’t smell them, but I can.” I turn to look at Gale and give her a pat. “I can understand sentiments from some creatures, if I focus enough.” I return my attention to Xiao. “So, yes, I can understand that Gale finds your training sessions boring and that it was more fun to be blowing around giant balls of briar beast than whatever you were having her do out there.”
We have an audience of three… ensigns, I guess? One of them now mutters, “He can see with a light that others cannot see!” The reverence in her tone and gaze suggests to me that those words are a quote from Sal.
Xiao shoots a quick glare at the teen. Before he can similarly shoot down my request, I say, “So take us out on your ship! Let us see what you’re doing. Maybe—”
“The exercises are… boring?” Xiao says, sounding almost offended. “But we have to get ready.”
“Right, but maybe we can jazz them up a little!”
I throw Cleve a pleading glance, part asking for permission, part begging for us to just have some fun. He backs me up. “Maybe she’d like to learn a few commands instead of having everything be pheromone based,” he suggests. “Dogs like to learn tricks, to have jobs to do and commands to follow.”
“And maybe I could be a translator,” I offer.
That appeals to Xiao’s practicality. “All right,” he says slowly. “We could try some different approaches.” He looks at Gale. “Does that sound good?” he starts to ask her. But then he stops himself, muttering, “Gale can’t understand me.” To me, he says, “Can you tell Gale that, yes, we can try some different things, but we do need to get back out there? We need to train so that we can get better. Then we can do some really interesting things.” He looks back and forth between me and the xenodragon, and then an earlier idea suddenly resurfaces. “I’m sorry, it’s a game to Gale?” he asks, incredulous.
I’m surprised at his surprise. This is a wild animal. Gale has no obligations to the mariners. “What did you think it was? A job?”
“It’s training! It’s getting good at what—” Xiao throws up his hands, overwhelmed by this different worldview. “I don’t know,” he says, defeated.
I turn to Gale, and despite what I told Xiao, I speak English when I address her. Those words are meaningless to her, but it helps me form my intentions, and those are what she understands. “I’ll come with you, and we’ll see if we can make it more fun,” I tell her.
“All right, we’re going on a boat,” Cleve says. “Sounds like a great idea.” And for once, that isn’t fatalistic sarcasm—he sounds like he actually means it.
Gale snakes her neck back around me, hugging me closer for a moment, and then she uncurls and launches herself up into the air. Sand goes flying every which way, and we humans all shield our faces.
“All right,” Xiao says, resigned, motioning us to follow him down to the hydrofoil. “I’ll give you a ride to Good Fortune.”
///
At the hospital, Marina’s attention is pulled from the Data Haven laptop when her bioscanner starts going haywire. “Oh, no!” she gasps, snatching it up.
In the Temple of Chiron, artifacts shake and glow. Cultists meditating nearby look up in wonderment. “Oh my goodness, it’s a sign!” one exclaims.
At ranger headquarters, Progenitor equipment sounds an alarm.
Deep in the waters, far out to sea, unknown creatures stir, and bubbles slowly rise to the surface.
Something has happened, something profound, and many have taken note of it as it resonates throughout the Garden of Chiron and its waters.
///