The Search for Kä Read Free Page A

Yayshah’s caution.
    â€œShe moves easily,” Tarani said, after slipping into and out of a quick linkage with the female sha’um. “And I sense only a little discomfort because of the cubs. But her eyes seem to be hurting—I think the light hurts her eyes.”
    â€œOf course,” I said. “The Valley is shady and relatively cool—she must be suffering from all this light and heat.” I looked up at the sky which was, as usual, smoky gray with the cloud cover. I didn’t have to gauge the position of the brighter spot that marked the sun to tell that it was mid-afternoon; my Gandalaran inner awareness operated like a perpetual clock.
    â€œLet’s stop here and rest,” I suggested. “We can move on after dark, if we feel like it—it will be easier traveling for Yayshah.”
    We found a spot between two tall boulders that was relatively shady. Yayshah snuggled down until she was both
on
and
in
the bushy growth at their feet, and went promptly to sleep.
    *Hunt
,* Keeshah told me, and bounded away, headed for the higher hills.
    â€œKeeshah’s concerned about Yayshah,” I told Tarani, as we rearranged some vegetation to make a comfortable resting spot beside one of the big boulders. “Can you tell me how long it will be before the cubs are born?”
    Tarani opened her backpack, dipped her hands in, and brought them out full of berries. She tipped one handful into my cupped hands and shook her head.
    â€œI truly do not know, Rikardon,” she said. “If Yayshah were still in the Valley,
she
would know, probably down to the very minute. It would be …
natural
for her.”
    Natural?
I wondered.
Meaning instinct? Or simply the same sort of inner awareness as the people have? That would mean that the sha’um have their own equivalent of an All-Mind. Not surprising
, I thought.
The very fact that sha’um can link with men and communicate rationally is proof of their intelligence.
    But why would it need to be theirs? They might share ours. Keeshah and Yayshah have as much a sense of individual identity as do Tarani and I
—
more
, I corrected wryly,
considering that the question of “Who are you?” is a multiple-choice test for Tarani and me.
    â€œYou say she would have known, in the Valley,” I said to Tarani. “Do you mean she doesn’t know, now?”
    â€œI think she does know, at least in a general sense,” Tarani said. “But she cannot tell me. She does not think in ‘days’ as we do. When I ask, she says only: ‘soon.’”
    I looked over at the silhouette of the sleeping female. As she rested on her side, the underslung swelling that held the cubs—she had told us there were three—mounded out, higher than the cat’s hips, and rose and fell with Yashah’s breathing.
    â€œWe’ll be in Thagorn in two days,” I said. “The cubs won’t arrive before then, will they?”
    â€œIf the birth were that close,” Tarani assured me without hesitation, “she could not have left the Valley. For the last day or two, she will be too large and weak to move around much.”
    Tarani finished her berries and set aside the pack. I had been collecting my berry pits in one hand; now I threw them all away from me and watched them scatter into the ground cover. I leaned back against the boulder. Tarani joined me and rested her head against my shoulder. I put my arm around her and drew her close against my chest.
    â€œI miss the feel of your body against my back when I ride, “I said, my mouth brushing her dark headfur. “If Yayshah ever gets tired of you …”
    She punched me in the side, and we wrestled playfully for a few seconds. She pulled free and knelt a few feet away, panting from the exertion, but laughing at me.
    When her gaze fell on Yayshah, I felt a twinge of jealousy at the tenderness that appeared in her face. Only a