The Helavite War Read Free Page B

just by listening Jake should be able to learn
Henu the same way. He was disappointed when he found that acquiring
a language so easily, seemed to be a Henu trait only, not
indigenous to humans.
    By the end of the week Jake felt it was time
to get his ground legs back. He had begun to sway when he walked
from being up a tree too long.
    *****
    "He's not down there. I put him back up on
the ship." Jake reassured Arr once more.
    Arr still looked slightly distrustful as he
surveyed the ground below for signs of Kay-o.
    "I promise its safe." Jake shinned down the
tree and whistled shrilly for the dar-dolf. "See.... No Kay-o."
Jake held his hands up, palms open as though he were a magician
proving there was nothing up his sleeves.
    With the absence of the dar-dolf proven Arr
descended slowly of his own accord. When the kid got to the ground
he made straight for the water. He pulled off his clothes at the
edge and dove in swimming like a fish across the lake and back
again. When he got back to where he had started he pulled up a reed
with a bulb on the end, peeled the bulb and crushed it between his
hands. The bulb had a milky substance in it that when it contacted
the water and was rubbed between the hands created a kind of soapy
froth. That's how Arr used it. He sudsed up his whole body standing
at the water's edge, and then he dove back in for a rinse. When he
came out to offer Jake a piece of the root Jake couldn't help but
admire this unique life form.
    He was a creature that spoke decent English
after only one week of listening to a human. In the same time he
had healed sufficiently enough from a dar-dolf bite to swim a lake
probably a quarter of a mile across. He stood there offering Jake
the bulb/soap. He really was a beautiful specimen. His whole body
was covered with a fine hair that shone red/gold in the sun. There
was not an ounce of fat on him. He was all muscle and those bright,
blue cat eyes held both mystery and mischievousness in their
depths. On top of all this he was just nice to be around. Jake had
almost killed him yet even when Arr knew enough English to berate
Jake, he didn't. He only asked what Kay-o was and why he had
attacked him. The loss of this civilization was such a waste.
    Jake took the makeshift soap, shucked off
his clothes, and had a refreshing bath at the water's edge. Jake
wasn't much of a swimmer, in fact he'd almost drowned once when he
was a kid. To this day, he didn't like his water in any larger
quantity then a bathtub full.
    When they were both dried by the sun they
put their clothes back on. Arr headed off to gather some goods for
a meal and Jake tagged along. Every object they passed had to be
named out loud by Jake for Arr's continuing language lesson.
    They picked berries and dug roots for about
a half hour. When Arr began to look tired Jake encouraged him to
sit down in the shade of a tree.
    The boy took what looked like an apple from
his gathering sack, cut it in half and handed Jake part. As Jake
took the fruit he once again noticed the tattoo in Arr's right palm
and this time he felt comfortable enough with the boy to ask about
it. With very little difficulty, for lack of the correct words,
Jake got the full story.
    "My people are all matched at birth with a
mate. The male and female are both tattooed with their lineage.
Mine reads, 'Arr son of Raa, Mate to Mya.' There is a ...." Arr
faltered, looking for a word that was missing. "A gathering, but
more." He cocked his head looking at Jake with those inquiring cat
eyes.
    "A party?" Jake supplied. Being around Arr
now, as his vocabulary was expanding, was like playing a continual
game of charades. "Or a festival?"
    "What is the difference?" Arr asked.
    "A party is a number of people gathered
together to celebrate something. A festival is usually an annual
gathering or celebration." Jake explained, hoping he had gotten it
right. He was learning that defining words correctly was somewhat
difficult at times.
    "There is a festival at the