The Color of Distance Read Free Page B

miss Ilto when he goes.”
    “I think Ilto will die rather than leave the village,” Ani said.
    “Does it matter?” Ninto asked. “Either way, he will be dead to us here.”
    Ani disagreed. She wanted to know Ilto was alive somewhere in the world, even if she never saw him again. She said nothing. Ninto was an elder, and one didn’t argue with elders.
    Ninto brushed her knuckles across Ani’s shoulder. “Thank you for letting me help.” She paused, and there was a flicker of color on her chest as though she was about to say something else. Instead she turned and climbed down the trunk.
    That afternoon, Ilto took Ani and a tinka to help gather food for the evening meal. Their hunting went well. They killed two plump, scaly mityak and an unwary young moodar, its feathers bright with courtship colors. The tinka found a rotting log full of grubs, and gathered a bag full of bardarr berries. They would eat well tonight. Before returning, they paused to lay out a paste made from yarram and mashed dindi roots as bait to attract mantu. Back at the village tree, they rewarded the tinka with a strip of dried yarram each and a share of the food they had gathered, and returned to their room.
    They ate steadily. Every time Ilto paused, Ani handed him some particularly choice delicacy. She wanted to be sure he ate as much as he possibly could before they started working again on the new creature. Ilto also pushed her to eat. At last, her stomach tight and bulging, Ani could eat no more. Ilto sent her to bed. Exhausted, Ani burrowed into her warm, moist bed of leaves and fell asleep.
    Ninto woke her. The rank smell of sickness filled the room. Ninto’s skin was clouded with worry. Ani glanced over at Ilto. His breathing sounded ragged and reugh and his skin had the flat, silvery sheen of sickness.
    “He drugged you to keep you asleep, and then started working again on the new creature,” Ninto said. “A tinka found him. Since it couldn’t wake you, it got me. Ilto won’t let me help him. He keeps breaking the link.”
    Ani linked with Ilto. The alien taint in his blood was stronger than ever. She recognized it now. Some of the new creature’s cells had gotten into his body, and were attacking Ilto.
    “Can you do anything?” Ninto asked.
    Startled by the question, Ani looked at Ninto for a long moment before replying. If this was beyond Ninto’s skills, then it was probably beyond hers. She would try, though. She was willing to do anything for Ilto.
    “It will be deep work,” Ani said. She had never been monitored by anyone other than Ilto.
    “I’ll monitor you,” Ninto said, answering her undepicted request.
    Ani linked with Ninto and closed her eyes. Ninto’s presence in the link felt so much like Ilto’s. It reassured her as she reached in through the link to sample Ilto’s blood.
    With no warning at all, the link broke. Ninto eased Ani back into balance, then gently eased out of the link.
    Ani opened her eyes and sat up. She reached out to Ilto to try again.
    Ilto’s eyes flickered open. His hands moved away from hers. “No, don’t,” Ilto told her, his words pale under the deathlike silver sheen of his illness. “It might make you sick. I’ll take care of myself. The creature is ready; start the changes and put it in jeetho.”
    “Siti, please—” Ani began, but Ilto’s eyes closed and he slid back into unconsciousness. She looked at Ninto, hoping for help.
    “He told us not to interfere,” Ninto said, her skin olive-grey with resignation. “There’s nothing more that we can do but let him be and hope he gets better on his own.” She picked up a tumbi and handed it to Ani. “Now, eat. You’ll need your strength. We’ve got to put that thing in jeetho before Ilto recovers enough to start tinkering with it again. I’ve asked Hanto to look after Ilto while we’re busy.”
    A large group of mottled brown mantu were feeding placidly on the bait they had left the night before. Ninto and her bami,