Safy closely examined the herbs that were growing in the meadow, while evan Illyana sent carefully detailed images, not only of the individual plants, but of their proximity to one another and to the rest of the meadow. While she talked to each one, determining its uses, he dutifully relayed the information.

“Mark this one particularly,” she commented. “It’s hallucinogenic.” She giggled. “It says it will give us very pleasant visions.”

“We have need of such things?” evan Illyana commented, his disapproval clear.

“Well, no – but it might be fun,” Safy answered.

Her companion made a hmphing sound. Safy turned large, uncertain eyes to him.

“Why so disgruntled?” she asked.

The answer came clearly from his mind. He had never wanted to leave their old home.

“It was necessary, you know that,” she told him.

He was silent.

“The Zehara thought so,” she added, her own disapproval coloring her words. His sullen, I did not, startled her.

She stood, placing her hands on her hips, gazing at him, her expression scolding. “Evan Illyana, you who are so attached to tradition, you would gainsay the Zehara?”

“I only think the decision was a hasty one,” he replied stubbornly.

“So you are gainsaying the Zehara,” she accused.

“Father did not agree,” he said. Safy heard the emphasis on the word and knew he wasn’t talking about his senda.

You are MY children, came the thundering voice of the Zehara in both their minds.

Safy immediately fell to her knees, and though evan Illyana did likewise, there was a sense of petulance in his mind.

Continue your survey, evan Amanda’s strong yet gentle voice instructed them, And, evan Illyana, take care of your pride.

Yes, Elder, they both replied – and again, evan Illyana’s voice seemed cross.

Safy went back to speaking with the plants around them, only occasionally glancing at the frown on her companion’s face, and at the one in his thoughts.

Raeth raced ahead of evan Louisa, almost on the tips of the branches of the forest. Her mind was easily cataloging each of the trees beneath her, as well as the forest floor and all the varied creatures that lived there. It was an easier thing for her than the others. Evan Amanda was her salish, and very well attuned to the images and information in her mind.

When she at last came to what she could sense was the center of this particular forest, she dropped to the ground. A second later, evan Louisa dropped on top of her, laughing as they rolled together on the mossy forest floor.

“This place is almost as beautiful as you are,” he said to her, and she made a face, pushing him away.

“You’re incorrigible,” she told him. "I’m salish.”

“So we can’t actually make love,” he replied, picking leaves casually from his hair. “It doesn’t mean I can’t still love you.” He glanced slyly at her. “Or that you don’t still love me.”

Her face softened into a smile. “I do, I will, always,” she said, and stroked his temple.

He shivered. “Mmm, I remember that,” he whispered.

“Too well,” she laughed and started to rise.

“Don’t say that, Raeth,” he returned, grasping her wrist. “It’s not something I ever want to forget. It sings in me, just as it always did.” He gazed into her deep purple eyes. “As it always will.”

She shook her head. “It can’t, evan Louisa.”

“But it does, ani Ramea.”

They eyes met and locked, the power of what they had once shared flowing from the deep places in both their minds.

I’m salish, she reminded again.

And evan Amanda just might be worthy of that, he answered.

If he wasn’t would the salish have worked?

Evan Louisa stood up, turning from her. “Have I ever mentioned,” he said casually, “that I hate logic?”

“Not logic, per se,” she replied, her laugh returning.

“And that I hate you, too?” he mock-snarled, then bent, gathering a handful of leaves, tossing them at her.

She shrieked and he started off at a run. She followed, catching him and knocking him down. They wrestled for a moment, then both submitted at the same time, laughing and hugging like silly children.

I love you, my dearest friend, Raeth said, then added impishly, and worst enemy.

Evan Louisa smiled, and kept his heartache to himself.

“They explored all the places of their new world, receiving permission for the life already there to live and play and exist there together,”ani Ramy said, to the smiling nods of the children gathered at her feet.

“But how did the Clans…?” Finnil began.

Let her tell the story, evan Kinda interrupted.

Finnil scowled, then sent a very unflattering image of the young boy to the others. There were chuckles and blushes and a few returned embellishments, particularly from evan Derith.

Finnil ani Filis! Evan Derith ani Derin! ani Ramy scolded, and both contritely apologized, but the keheil saw Finnil sticking her tongue out at evan Kinda behind her hand.

“We must all be patient if we are to hear more of the story,” she said to her audience. “Perhaps the most important part of any mythistory is in the telling. You must learn to let the words paint pictures in your minds, imagine yourselves in the story, feeling as the players in it do, experiencing what they experienced. In this way are things learned and not simply heard.”

Pala and Whist nodded wisely. One of the children, clearly of the Selnorine, caught sight of a brightly colored bird and took off after it. Ani Ramy let him go. The Selnorine were well known for being entranced and delighted by just about everything, and their flighty manner often led others to think of them as superficial. Which, of course, wasn’t true. Their minds simply moved faster than that of others of the Koltiri. After all, he didn’t need to be within the sound of her voice to follow the tale in her mind.

She gave a mental snap, regaining the attention of the children, and continued.

“All seemed well, but there was a danger in this deceptively lovely world, one that would forever change the way the Koltiri lived…”

It took several days, but evan Amanda had finally created a thorough mental map of their new home. It took another day for that map to be settled with unerring understanding into the minds of the approximately 50,000 other Koltiri that now inhabited what would someday be called Beta Antares 4. The Koltiri reached an understanding with the flora of the planet, to take what was needed to sustain life, promising to return to it with careful, loving cultivation, waste products tailored to its nutritional needs, and the power of Koltiri songs. The flora agreed

The Zehara communed with the rocks and explained to them what She needed for the meeting hall, Her children not having yet achieved the ability to speak to stone. She also decided to leave the large carnivores of the planet alone, not wishing to interfere with whatever arrangement they had struck with the life forms that were lower down on the food chain.

Life settled into an easy, lazy rhythm. Children were conceived and born, salishes formed. Most of the Koltiri decided to continue their custom of living in the trees, creating beautiful open dwellings that were woven in between the branches, becoming almost a part of the tree itself, with only soft bedrolls and cushions and the ornate boxes that held personal items for furniture.

But there remained one of the Koltiri who was not content with the trees. He was not content to leave the caves to the carnivores. He had gone with those who explored them at night when the creatures were hunting, and was struck with their beauty. The strange, twisted crystalline forms held within the deep recesses of the cave called to him. He spent every night the beasts were roaming within the cool, moist depths, straining to speak to the beauty, stilling his mind to listen to what it had to teach. Not even the pleas of the female he loved could persuade him from its secrets. So compelling was his desire for it that she agreed, at last, to spend just one night there with him.

Safy ani Sara shivered in the damp of the cave, trying for peace in her mind, only to have it shattered with the sound of each irregular drip of distant water. evan Illyana laid out the bedroll and beckoned to her, his eyes large and dark in the dim light.

“Do you feel it, Safy?” he asked, his voice a hushed whisper of reverence.

“I feel cold,” Safy replied. “I miss the wind, evan Illyana. I miss the stars and the moonslight and the song of the night insects.”

He made a dismissive sound. “They are lovely, certainly,” he said, “but this – this, Safy, is the heart of this world. Can you not feel its depths, its majesty? There is power here, deep and dark…” His voice trailed off, but it continued in her mind.

… enough to rival the power of our Mother.

Safy drew away from him. What are you saying? she asked with horror.

He didn’t look at her, his eyes instead gazing into the mysteries of the inner reaches of the cave.

Feel it, he repeated. It thrums, like the largest of the kostel bells, like the lifebeat of the first being.

Safy closed her eyes, trying to comprehend that of which he spoke. At first, there was nothing but silence and the damp – but then, almost as if it slowly became aware of her, she sensed something, a thick and heavy pull, beautiful, yes, but threatening. She sent her thoughts questing, and followed the dark beauty, only to find its source within the male who sat next to her.

Her eyes flew open in alarm. Evan Illyana, what are you doing? she gasped.

He turned his face to her, and even in the dimness, she could see his eyes had darkened, the violet cast almost obscured in the black.

I feel the power of our Father, he whispered.

NO! Safy cried. She leapt to her feet, pulling desperately on his arm. You can’t return, beloved, we belong to our Mother!

But trying to move him was like pulling at the planet itself. He was immovable, both as solid and as dense as its very core. Frantically she called to others, her fearful screams echoing though the quiet of the night.

The courgat lifted its ears, sensing the panic and fear. The scent was strong and compelling, enough so that she forgot the prey she was stalking and turned to this newer, better possibility. To her surprise, it led back to her lair. She had become used to the smell of the one who had invaded it night after night: that scent had a disquiet to it that made even her wary of lying in wait for an easy meal. She shook herself, her mottled dark green and black coat shifting in the moonslight, and began stalking toward the sweet call in her mind.

Evan Amanda came abruptly awake, immediately sending comfort to the mind of his unborn child. Raeth, too, woke, her hands clutching at her not yet swollen belly.

Stay, beloved, he said.

But Safy...!

I will see to her need, he assured, and the thought was echoed from many, many others. He rose, focused his thoughts, and teleported to the mouth of the cave.

Evan Illyana frowned, shutting out the cries of the woman who simply could not understand what he was achieving. Others would come, he knew, and would forever ban him from the cave, from the flow of energy and being that had become his life force. He knew, he was certain that he only needed a little more time to gain the strength to return to his Father.

He sensed the arrival of the others – evan Amanda, evan Midori, evan Violia, evan Louisa – and in desperation, called out to the mind of the creature who spent the daylight in the cave’s recesses.

Come! Defend your home!

The riot of odor hit the courgat’s mind, calling forth a feeding frenzy of unparalleled strength. With a roar, she leapt from the rocks above her lair, landing heavily on the shoulders of one of the beings who were appearing before the cave. She felt his cry, his attempt to reason with her and to calm her, but his blood smelled sweet and she would not be denied her meal. Her powerful jaws snapped at the tender area above his shoulders, ripping his throat out.

A shock ran through Raeth’s mind and she screamed. Immediately Killa appeared, her face twisted in horror, drawn to the need of her friend. Then the Zehara appeared, Her beauty marred by the streaks of tears down Her face and the gleam of both anger and grief in Her eyes.

Mother, what has happened? Killa asked. Why did the courgat attack?

Too much to explain now, child, the Zehara answered. Call to your salish, conceive a child. This night, ani Karina, this very night!

Killa blinked, but bowed her head in swift acknowledgement. Yes, Mother, she said, and vanished.

The Zehara held the fading life force of Raeth in Her hands, using Her own will to increase Her daughter’s shielding, attempting to allow the life of the child within her to continue. But the shock was too great, the child not yet viable on its own and Raeth breathed her last.

The Zehara allowed her to believe the child was only sleeping.

When She was alone, the Zehara gathered Her power around her, forming Her intent, crafting and sculpting it in the space of a heartbeat. In another, She solidified it, and in the next, sent it throughout the genetics of Her children. From this day forward, salish will result automatically in the conception of a child, She decreed.

No longer would the genetic material of one such as evan Amanda be lost to Her people.

“And so it became truth that every salish results immediately in the conception of a child. No longer would genetic material be lost to the Koltiri,” ani Ramy said sadly, then paused to let the children accept the grief and shock of such a devastating loss.

“What happened to evan Illyana?” Finnil finally asked, her voice hushed with fear.

“That is the next part of the tale,” ani Ramy returned.

Safy screamed and fell as the shock reverberated through her and those who had gathered at the cave. Evan Louisa tore a branch from a nearby tree, too enraged to ask its pardon, and clubbed the courgat with wild, lethal blows until it lay dead at his feet. The feel of its passing, too, added to the silent howl of grief that ran, growing, through every mind. Heeding the sudden urgent call from his salish, evan Midori vanished, teleporting to their bower.

The Zehara appeared, terrible in her wrath.

Mother, he is mad, Safy pleaded. He tries to return to the Father!

Leave this place! the Zehara thundered, then added, evan Louisa, you will stay.

The male was still shaking with the power of his deed, and he gave a curt nod as the others winked out in swift succession.

Feel this death you have caused, my son, the Zehara commanded. Know what you have done, take it into yourself, mourn for it, vow to never again be the cause of such destruction.

But Mother, it killed…! evan Louisa began heatedly.

It did what it was designed to do, the Zehara continued. And now, it is what you must do. Eat of its flesh, evan Louisa. Honor its loss.

The Zehara moved into the cave, emerging moments later with a small, think piece of sharp, dark, volcanic glass. She handed it to the kneeling male without a word, and turned away as he began to peel the hide from the courgat's belly.

Evan Illyana rose as the Zehara approached him. Come no farther, Mother, he warned. I have touched the heart of this world, and I know its power. It is greater than yours.

And to what end to you consume this power, my son? She asked, Her voice soft and mild.

I would return to my Father! he exclaimed proudly.

Indeed? Why?

You left Him with nothing! evan Illyana cried.

I left him as he wished to be left, with those who could accept his reasons. You chose the washing, evan Illyana.

My mother chose for me!

You were a child. It was her right.

I did not choose it! he insisted. In the dim light, he seemed to grow and the power of the heart of worlds pulsed thorough him.

And such a choice matters more to you than the gifts you have been given? the Zehara questioned.

There was only a moment’s hesitation before he answered, Yes. It does.

Very well, if this is truly what you desire, She replied. She lifted her hand. Your essence will leave this place, evan Illyana. Your name will be anathema to us, your power forbidden. Take it to your Father, you are no longer a child of mine. And be forewarned, should you ever attempt to return to the Koltiri, we will treat with you as an abomination.

“There was no panic in evan Illyana’s eyes as he stood before his Mother for the last time,” ani Ramy said in a voice that was as cold and quiet as death. “Proud, irredeemable, full of his own purpose, no longer that of the Koltiri.”

Which is why ‘Illyana’ is not a Koltiri name, evan Kinda added in the hush that followed the Keheil’s words.

“Keheil, how does this tell us of the formation of the Clans?” little Pala ventured timidly.

“There is a little more to the story,” ani Ramy answered. “Listen, child.” She took a breath, preparing to reveal the final two lessons of her tale.

“Killa ani Karina, did conceive a child that night, and she grew to have both the carefree joy of her sensalish and the calm wisdom of the fallen evan Amanda. But ever since that fateful night, evan Louisa had himself been consumed with a desire for the caves, but for a far different reason than evan Illyana…”

Evan Louisa hid in the foliage around the cave’s mouth, the obsidian knife that had been given to him by the Zehara tucked into the waistband of his loin cloth. Eating of the courgat’s flesh had filled him with its power and cunning – as well as its taste for meat. He found he could barely stomach the usual vegetarian fare of his people, and so he hunted in secret, following the ways of the courgat.

A sound came to his alert senses, and he turned toward it, ready to draw the knife – then recognized the mind of the young daughter of Killa and evan Midori.

Child, what are you… he began

You hunt, evan Louisa, she replied. You killed the beast that claimed evan Amanda, and I want to know how you did it.

He chuckled grimly. Not as I hunt, little one, he told her. I killed it with a club torn from a tree.

What then do you use the knife for? she asked.

He considered. He could feel in her thoughts that which was more than curiosity, a fierce need to understand, as well as a desire to have the power the kill had gained him.

It is a terrible thing, Kist, he murmured.

You honored the courgat, she returned simply. It feels a greater thing than that we give to the plants.

It is, for the sentience is greater, he explained.

That is what I want, she said, to know this greater thing.

Again he considered. Though of evan Midori, she had the intelligence of evan Amanda. Though of Killa, her eyes were Raeth’s. He was filled with not only his love for Raeth, but a desire to honor his lost beloved’s salish.

Come, he said. I will teach you.

She was a quick learner, and in only a fortnight, she was finding and taking prey with ease. He cautioned her each time to honor the death, to feel it, to take it within her. She was hesitant, the first kill, to taste the flesh of the swift, long-legged, forest-dwelling vela, but after feeling the gentle speed of the creature singing in her blood, she came to understand.

But never forget, child, that the life given for this power is a gift, one we must never take for granted, evan Louisa told her.

Kist nodded, smiling at him, her lips ruddy with the blood of the vela.

It was weeks later that another courgat attacked.

As before, it leapt upon them from above the cave, its claws rending across evan Louisa’s shoulders. Kist leapt back, and sent a withering blast of STOP! to the creature’s mind. It twisted away from evan Louisa, crouching, readying itself to spring at her. She, too, crouched, raising the knife and when it burst toward her, she threw the blade.

It caught in the animal’s throat, burying itself deeply, and the courgat let out a rasping screech, falling next to Kist as she danced sideways.

She reached for the knife with both hands, closing her eyes.

I honor you for your power and skill, she thought. I take your life as my own and your essence will be sung in my songs forever.

She finished the kill, then turned to evan Louisa, grinning proudly.

He lay, unmoving, on the brush.

Evan Louisa? she called, tentatively, then with panicked urgency. Evan Louisa!

He raised his head, his eyes dark with pain. You – did well – little Kist, he managed.

Horrified, she raced to his side, her eyes widening at the deep scratches on his chest and sides.

I go to our Mother’s garden, he whispered and she felt tears gathering in her eyes.

No, I won’t let you go! she cried. Your genes cannot be lost to us!

What can you do, child? he asked. Death comes to all things. Honor me, as you honored…

NO!! Kist screamed, and she felt the life-force, so newly in her blood from the courgat, and forced it into him.

Take this life, let it heal you, she nearly snarled. Then other words came to her, filled with power and sorrow and beauty. Know it, fear it, vow never to let it have sway within you. Never again allow the wasteful destruction of another.

Slowly wounds appeared on her own body, and she writhed with the pain of them, but did not let that distract her. More and more energy she focused into evan Louisa, more and more she gave to him. Her arms and legs ached, then burned, and still she focused. His eyes opened wide in wonder as his wounds healed, as, in time, did Kist’s. When the child collapsed, he took her into his arms, kissing her golden hair.

He glanced up as the Zehara appeared before him.

You have given the Koltiri a great gift, the Zehara said softly. Such genetic material must not be lost to our people.

Evan Louisa looked down at Kist’s young face. Her eyes opened, and she smiled at him with the eyes of one who he had loved above all others. Do you consent, Kist ani Killa? he asked.

Her assent sang in his mind.

“And of their union was born a child, Kith ani Kist, and she was taught the ways of her parents, and so the first keheil was born to the Koltiri,” ani Ramy said. “And the word ‘keheil’ means ‘the birth of all potential.’”

The children clapped in delight, nodding to one another. Ani Ramy could feel each of the girls sizing up the others, wondering if any among them would become keheils. The boys smiled, nodding to each other, well aware that it was their genetics that were the carriers of that greatest potential.

Which is why we need have a care for their egos, came the laughing voice of the Zehara, and all the children knelt to Her as She walked across the meadow before Srel Zehara.

Ani Ramy, your transport is here, She continued, and the children all groaned.

“But she hasn’t finished the story yet!” Finnil complained, followed by a chorus of agreement.

You have heard of the birth of keheils, and of That Of Which We Must Never Speak, the Zehara answered. That is quite enough story for one day. And ani Ramy has duties off-world to which she must attend.

Ani Ramy rose gracefully to her feet. “I’ll come back,” she promised, then accepted the hugs and kisses of the children before turning to follow the Zehara to the transport station.

Ruth woke with a start, shaking her head. There were drying tears on her cheeks and she quickly wiped them away.

“Commander Valley?” Anton’s voice called, “the compiler’s finished.”

“At last!” Ruth said, and began studying the readouts of the newly integrated specs.

The End