Tailchaser’s Song

Tailchaser thought he could guess the meaning of her words. So, he was still beneath the guardian shadow. The thought took the cold edge from the wind that blew across the salt mere.

"Do not think, though," Mother Rebum continued, "to escape entirely free from obligation. Your friend told me that you have been part of the great doings to the northwest, yes?" Fritti assented. "Good, then you shall tell me your story, for the feckless gulls have brought me only snatches and shards. I ca

The Marsh at the Center of the World. Fritti smiled to himself, and began his long story.

It was almost the Hour of Deepest Quiet when he had finished. Mother Rebum had sat still throughout the entire tale, her goggle eyes watching him closely.

As he ended she blinked several times, then sat silent for a moment, her throat puffing in and out.

"Well," she said finally, "it sounds as though there have indeed been many great splashings in the ponds of the cat-folk." She paused to pluck a low-flying insect from the night air. "Hearteater was a force, a great force, and his fall shall birth many ripples. I see now why your spirit is troubled, little furback."

"Troubled? Why do you say that?"

"Why?" Mother Rebum chugged. "Because I know it. I watched you when you saw the water-shadow. I have listened to you sing for half the night. Your heart is in confusion."

"It is?" Fritti was not sure he liked the turn the conversation had taken.

"Oh, yes, my brave, questing tadpole… but fear not. If you but take my advice you will find your way happily. Remember this one thing, Tailchaser: all your troubles, all your searching, and wandering, struggling-they are as one small bubble in the world-pool."

Fritti felt chastened, and a little angry. "What do you mean? Many important things have happened since I left my home. I was not responsible for most of them, but I played a part. It is even possible that things would have gone worse had it not been for me," he finished with some pride.

"That I will grant you. Please, don't bristle so!" chuckled the old frog. "But answer me this: has the snow covered Vastnir?"

"I suppose it has by now, yes. What of it? It will be spring soon."

"Exactly, my mi

Tailchaser was not sure he saw the point. "Many of the flafa'az have made their way back… that is also true."

Mother Rebum smiled a green, toothless smile. "Very well, I shall ask you no more questions. I can see for myself, here in my lily-pond home, that the sun still crosses the sky each day. Do you understand yet?"

"No," said Fritti stubbornly.

"It is this. By the time another winter comes, and passes into another spring, Vastnir Mound and all the works of Hearteater will have disappeared entirely-lingering only in memory. Before too many more winters have come and departed, you and I also will have disappeared, leaving behind only our bones to be the home of tiny creatures. And do you know what, brave Tailchaser? The world-dance will falter not a step for any of these passings."

She brought herself up heavily to her front legs. "Now, friend cat, I must away and dunk these old bones in a mud bath. I thank you for the pleasure of your company."

So saying, she hopped to the edge of the pond, half into the stagnant water, then turned and looked back. Her round eyes blinked sleepily.

"Never fear!" she said. "I have woven my song well. If you need help you shall receive it-at least once. Look especially to things that move in water, for there lie most of my powers. Luck to you, Tailchaser!"

With a hop and a splash, Mother Rebum disappeared into the pool.

CHAPTER 32

Wind over the lake: the image of i

–I Ching (The Book of Changes)

During his last night on the Pawdab, Fritti had a long, strange journey in the dream-fields.

His spirit soared like a fla-fa'az over the hills and trees and waters, the night winds beating in his face. Like the great Akor that nested in the high mountains, he sailed up, up, up. The night-belly of Meerclar was his field, to travel in where he would.

As he sailed the wind spoke in his ear with the voices of many-Grassnestle, his mother; Bristlejaw and Stretchslow. They all called his name in the fierce howl of the breeze… but he flew on when Pouncequick's voice cried out to him, too-not in fear, but in a kind of wonder. As he heard it he swooped down, hurtling into blackness. The roaring airs became the mad yowls of Eatbugs and Scratchnail; the soft tones of Roofshadow intertwined with their screams, speaking his heart name over and over.

"… Fritti Tailchaser… Fritti… Fritti… Fritti Tailchaser…"

Then the rushing sound of the winds changed, and became a great, ceaseless roar. He was skimming above the Bigwater, so near to it that it seemed he could reach down a paw and skim it in the waves.

Salt wind flattened his whiskers, and the night sky around him was empty but for the sounding of Qu'cef.

A bright flash, like Whitewind's star, appeared above the horizon. Carried rapidly nearer on the broad back of the wind, he could see the light gleam, then fade, then gleam again.

A great, gray tail stood up from the waters of Qu'cef. It towered above the waves, and at its summit the light he had seen burned liked sky-fire.

He was rushing toward it-helplessly, now-when he heard the voice of Eyeshimmer the Far-senser echo down the wind:

"The heart's desire… is found in an unexpected place… unexpected…"

And suddenly the air currents carried him up again, past the shining light… and the great, waving tail sank back down into the waters, extinguishing the glow… and now… and now another, softer light was kindling, spreading across the Sower edge of the night sky…

It was dawn. Fritti sat up in his bower of cord-grass, and the early-niorning marsh wind came moaning through the stalks and weeds. He sood up and stretched, listening to the night insects singing a final chorus.

So Fritti came up out of the marshlands, crossing the tiny stream-a distant relative of the mighty Caterwaul-that flowed into the southernmost tip of the Bigwater, marking the boundaries of the Pawdab.

Sloping up from the shores of Qu'cef, windswept meadows with green turf rose gradually on his right flank. Far away across the grasslands he could see the dwellings of M'an: small, and isolated from their neighbors. He was traveling U'ea-ward now, green fields on his right side and the gravelly sea-strand on his left.

Woolly Erunor grazed all about the hummocky meadows. Their fleecy bodies dotted the downs like fat, dirty clouds that had settled to the ground, too heavy to stay aloft. They regarded him incuriously as he passed, this small orange cat, and when he called out to them they grimaced complacently with yellowed teeth, but did not answer.

When Tailchaser first saw the light he thought it was a star.

He had come down from the meadow-track to walk along the shore. The Eye of Meerclar, rapidly approaching fullness, blued the sand and silvered the waves. By its spirit light he had caught a crab, but had been unable to force the wet and slippery shell. In disgust he had watched it limp away- sideways, as if unwilling to turn its back on him. For some time afterward he had paced hungrily up and down the strand, in hopes of finding a more unprotected morsel.

Despairing of his ill-luck, he had looked up and seen the blossoming glow on the northern horizon. After a moment's glare it was gone, but as he stared into the darkness it returned once more. For a moment it had illuminated the night sky. A heartbeat later, it had vanished again.