Visions Read Free Page B

connection to the past was visible in the elderly, sitting high above the babbling throng, wrapped in heavy robes and dozing after a satisfying meal.
    “Already we are as the Cousins,” said Anka. “I do not see Tenanken here, but something foreign.”
    “You see their clothing, and ignore their hearts and minds,” said Tel. “All are Tenanken, even the Cousins, but we have The Memories, dear heart. You give us that.”
    “And after you and I are gone, who will be Keeper of The Memories? Where are the Tahehto faces among the young? Where are the heavy features promising remembrance of the ice days, and the great sea, and the long trek south? I see only Hanken features, and a future for the mind touch, but without memories what will there be to tell? We have lost all examples of ancestral purity, Tel. We have become Hinchai.”
    “Dear heart, the gifts come and go, and the bloods of Tahehto and Hanken are in all of us. You rely too much on appearances. It is a curse of The Memories you bear. Now go to the children who await their favorite teacher.”
    “Very well,” said Anka wearily, “but it is an effort tonight.”
    “The strength you need will come to you as it always does,” said Tel. “Besides, they will not go to sleep without some kind of story, and it is you who have given them the habit. Go, now, so we can all sleep!”
    “Enough!” grumbled Anka, and he shuffled off along the spiral shelf with an expression of painful resignation on his face while Tel grinned after him. In retaliation he took his time getting there, stopping to share a greeting with each family unit perched on the shelf, for even the adults were gathering to share The Memories, and he loved being the center of so much attention.
    Tel settled herself at a tunnel exit near the top of the great room to cool in the gentle breeze from outside, watching her mate of two generations move ponderously downwards while the children scrambled aside to make a path for him to the center of the gathering place. He held himself with great dignity, though she knew his knees ached when slowing the descent of his bulk, and it had become so bad he occasionally allowed himself to complain about it.
    Tiny hands reached out to touch him as he followed a winding path into the center of the gathering place. Anka enjoyed cuddling with Tel and close relatives, but was ordinarily not a toucher, preferring to express himself most intimately with the Mind Touch, and finding the grabbing and pulling by the children an irritating distraction to his thoughts. But he was careful to hide such feelings, for this would hurt the children terribly, and he knew he could not bear to do that.
    He allowed them to grab at his beard, but their hands were gentle. They withdrew a little when he reached the center of the gathering and carefully lowered himself into a sitting position, and then they were rustling and bustling about, jostling each other to try to get as close to him as possible. As movement subsided, he found himself facing Baela at such close range he could see his face reflected in her amazingly blue eyes. He made the sign for quiet, and all movement ceased in the cavern, even to the high shelves where the elders sat dozing in the flickering light of exhausted cooking fires, stomachs full of meat and vegetables taken in during the bountiful summer.
    Anka looked up at Tel, and she smiled, and then he closed his eyes, reaching out to slow the heartbeats of all around him, drawing from them all anxieties that might interfere with their vision experience. He held this posture for several moments, sneaking a look once to find the children relaxed, hands folded peacefully in their laps, eyes closed and chins up to look inward where he would meet them. Far above him, a faint snore was interrupted rudely by a sharp jab from an elbow, and then it was quiet again.
    Shadows danced on yellow walls. There was the smell of wood smoke from dying fires, and a moaning sound as the