Kim

A runaway child

Some of The People had come and left  children, in exchange for some of  the Woodsrunner's .  Then for fourteen days they had brought them all traveling fast, to  finally arrive here yesterday evening.   This morning Kim was gone.    He had run away during the night.   He was four turns old, barely able to read words.    Oh he was trail wise,  Kelly and Chak had made sure of that as soon as he'd learned to walk.   Food, water, and shelter were at hand in any woods,  even these, sparse as they were, were easy to fit into.    His feet itched from the large tied grass sandals, that had left them no trail to follow.   

               They'd told them all  it was a plan to keep the world at peace,  to exchange children for a year or two, to  come home, and then go somewhere else,  learn their customs,  then come home again.  He had not been given a choice.   They'd just smiled sadly when he'd told them he would go his own way.   Well here he was, headed for the hills, with a knife, a hand axe, and his bag of secrets.

           He sniffed the air again, slowly checking to see if they followed.   So far he was in the clear.   The only sign of animal life, of any size, was the smell of cat.   He  came across a large snake  raiding a bird nest and killed it swiftly with his axe.   After bleeding it out, he hung it around his neck, then followed the widening trail up hill.  The weather was mild and what sun shone through the trees felt good.  The moss covered  trail, open in places to crabgrass and weeds and the occasional flowering ivy was easy walking.   He glanced back at  the ground occasionally.   What trail he was leaving was springing back up almost immediately.   Soon  he'd have snake meat to eat, and the makings of a new pair of boots.   All he'd need was sand to fill the skin, and the time it'd take for the leather to cure.   That and  groke water to soak them in every morning.   The first pair he'd made he'd out grown before they were really broken in.   Kevin and Keith wore them, depending on which twin got to them first.   This time he'd allow for growing and use more wet sand.   

                          The birds were getting used to him now, and practically ignored him.   Occasionally a squill would chatter, but mostly he was accepted as normal woodslife.   He saw a large blowdown ahead, and checked the sun.   It was time to set up camp and settle in for the night.   Kim filled the root hole with as many leaves and needle boughs as needed, then dug his cook fire trench under a high pine to hide any smoke.  He started to skin the snake.   It wasn't as easy as usual.   He needed it whole to fill with sand, and in  two good lengths.   Once he'd pegged the head to a branch, it became easy to peel off, like an inside out sock.  He filled it with some rocks, and set it into the stream.  About then he smelled the cat, and turned to see it watching him from  atop a large boulder.   For a cat it was a good size.  Kim studied it carefully.   It was male, tawny brown, with short hair, and a long thin tail.  The black lines on his face made him look almost human.   Kim went back to preparing the snake for cooking, slicing out the entrails, and rinsing it in the stream.   He tied it around a stick to hang over the fire in the fire-pit he was now digging.   Kim took off the grass boots and used them to start the fire.   He was far enough away from trail readers now.   It took just a moment for the grass to catch in the hot spot caused by the lens on  his knife handle.   He had always liked the knife.  It was wide-bladed and easy to dig with.    He kept it sharp with the file in his axe handle.   His carving knife was in his bag.    Grampa Rory had shown him how to keep that blade very sharp.   Kim set forked sticks into the sandy soil on both ends of the fire to hold the spitted snake.   He waited till the flames died down and the root woods were burning red before settling in the spit stick.   Dad had shown him how to leave it long with  a twig sticking out for a handle.

         The cat washed himself, and watched every move.   Kim considered his options.   

 He could kill the cat,  and sleep comfortably.  Well maybe he could kill the cat,  he looked again at the size of it.   The cat looked back at him and yawned.   Kim sat  on his haunches, slowly turning the meat,  wondering what to do.  He added more twigs to keep the fire hot along the length of the spit, and sprinkled it with watered seasoning.   One of the first things he'd been taught to do was  cook.   The cat came closer, and rubbed it's head against his leg.  

 "Guess killin's not the answer Cat.   Maybe we can be friends.   I could sure use one." 

                        He took the meat off the fire, and set it on a rock to cool.   Cat sat down next to it and purred.   Kim was not used to being alone.  The twins had always hung on him at home, and the other fosters had been following his lead since they'd been traveling.   He wondered how long it'd be before he was missed.   He'd gone out of his way not to be noticed, always the third to move with the group, never the last to get anywhere, and avoiding eye contact as much as possible.   He didn't think anyone of them would recognize him, especially now since he'd turned his  vest , and pants, inside out, to the darker brown side.   The  brown head scarf  that had covered his red hair for the whole trip, now hung around his neck.

                    The snake meat was eaten.   His small fingers had made short work of cleaning out the bones.   Cat had waited patiently for his portions, and had been especially delicate in eating each piece.   Kim washed his loin cloth, together with his shirt ,vest, and pants.   He used  the aloe and soap grass growing beside the stream.   He studied the fire, and added some denser broken off roots.   It was soon a bed of coals that would be unseen in the fast coming night, unless someone came within feet of it.   He'd learned that trick playing hide and seek with Dad.   His clothes were hung to dry on the spit stick, and would not fall off,  like that first time he'd done it.   Rolling out the web sheet from his bag, he curled up in it, using the bag for a pillow.   He awoke at first light, with  Cat curled against his back.   He rose and dressed.   Cat watched him.   It was then he noticed the three headless bouncers, lined up beside the bed.   Cat purred as he scratched, and petted him behind his ears.

                He skinned and deboned the carcasses, then tucking the meat into one hide, put it in his shirt.   When they left, the fire was buried, the bed was scattered, and any sign they'd been there was gone.  

                      Cat led the way uphill at a steady pace.    Kim wondered where they were going.   Anywhere was fine, as long as there were no people.   Higher ground was always better.   It made flight easier going, and since scent only drifted downhill after noon, there was less chance of being found.   They passed a shattered, wind blown tree, and Kim stopped to study the wreckage.             

                                             One side stood in slivers,  stretching up to twice his height.   The sun was setting when he stopped working, to camp just a little uphill from the top of the blowdown.   He dug a fire pit,  starting the fire with shavings  from the bowstick he'd spent almost all day making.         The lance and stick had taken no time at all.       He had had a hard time with the string set, but it was accurate as any he'd seen.  The tree had provided darts, simply by cutting them off at the best length.  He'd trimmed the cord from one side of his web sheet, and woven it with three strips.   It wasn't as good as Dad had made.  He had to hold the cord locked under his thumb, but it shot as straight as any he'd tried at home,  and a grass blade was enough to keep a dart in steady flight.   They had eaten the bouncers for lunch. He'd cooked them over shavings between two rocks.   Three fat birds , skewered above the fire pit were starting to drip.   

                                  Cat watched as Kim  pinched seasoning over them.  The flames sputtered green and blue.   He remembered Ma telling him it was for taste, not  fun.   Gramp's carver was getting dull.   He didn't have a grind stick.   He was going to have to find a  sandstone.   Cutting the groove had been the most time consuming part of making the bowstick.   He looked at the back of the axe head and saw how it could be ground to do the groove the next time. 

                                Cat growled.    He quickly took the spit off the fire.  Cat sat  watching the birds cool on the flat rock.  Kim wondered what Cat was up to.   It looked like he was satisfied  so far.   The stop had not seemed to have bothered him.   He'd simply curled up in the sunshine and waited to see what was next.   Kim deboned the birds onto the same flat rock they'd been cooling on, and divided it up into two piles.   

                    They ate together from opposite sides of the rock, with Cat pausing to sip from the stream, and Kim sipping from his battered old tin cup, the one Gram had given him on his third birthday.    She'd been  so surprised and proud of him when he'd brewed her tea, she had promptly given him the cup.   She and Ma had laughed together like they'd had a secret between them.   Since it was tin, Kim had cooked in it using a stick to get it off the fire.   He ground the tea into the hot water afterwards so he didn't spill any.  It tasted just as good so long as he waited until it cooled.   

                               Cat watched as he filled in the fire pit and lay down over it.   He curled up behind the boy, with his head resting on the end of the secret bag.   Kim dreamt of riding, with Cat sitting behind him,  winds blowing so hard they couldn't go where they wanted,  and hawks screaming at them for no reason at all.  

                                   He rose the next day, and after  emptying himself in the hole he'd used for the feathers and bones, he filled it in and felt the sand.  He scooped up wet sand and filled the two boots to be.   In moments they were shaped as feet.  He tied them together and looped them around his neck.  The bowstick he looped over his  shoulder.    He carried the lance with his secret bag as a walking staff.   Cat looked at him for a moment,  then led off up hill,  following the streambed.  

                         In the distance the land was beginning to take up more space than the sky.   There were less and less trees as they came to a river, and the sun was warmer.   Now the only trees were beside the river winding off toward  a steep stone cliff.   Cat studied the cliff.  Kim reckoned he was trying to find a way up.   

                            To their left came the sound of roaring waterfalls.   Just as they rounded the bluff to see the great falls Kim saw a small cave with a  stream of water trickling out of it.   He turned back and walked over to investigate.   Cat waded into the water, and proceeded to drink.    He buried his head in the water to re-emerge with a great mouthful of dripping green slime.   Kim followed Cat in, and reaching down, pulled some out to try it.   The taste was not sweet, and not bitter.    It was familiar somehow, salty but not, and almost animal in flavor.   Kim filled the snake tail water jug with it and tied it to his belt.  

        They went on into the cave, which tunneled upward, winding its way along with walls that gleamed enough to see their way,  at least for Cat to see his way.   Kim held on to the end of his tail.   The lance was now dragging behind them tied to the secret bag that was looped in his belt.   The sound of the falls was a memory now, and in the silence was a high pitched humming sound, that could have been imagination.   Cat kept going,  pausing now and then to taste the water.   They rounded a corner to face a long flat pool.   There was no choice but to wade into it.   

                  Cat's eyes glowed as he looked back at Kim.   Kim took the lead toward what looked like light ahead.  Soon warm water was up to his chest.   He reached back and holding Cat's neck fur, pulled him with him as he kept on wading.   The water shallowed and Cat started leading the way again.   They were once again walking beside the stream, and Kim was cold.   They walked out into full daylight.   All Kim could hear was the wind.      

Before them was a narrow green valley with  a small pond. The stream ran out of it.   They walked  up out of the valley and faced the wind.

                 There was no way they could walk into it, and no way  out of it.   They tacked, going one way, and then the other.   The sun was warming them, soon Kim realized he was dry.   They were wading through waist high waves of grass.    Cat stopped in the lee of a large mound, and sat down.   Kim squatted beside him, and reached for the snake jug.  It was lighter now and three quarters full with dust.   Kim wet his finger and tasted the dust.   This was the spice Ma cooked with, better than any other he'd ever tasted.   Cat yawned and studied the bowstick.  

        A bird shot by, and then another.    Kim looked ahead over the knoll , then lowered his head, and looked to the right.   Another bird shot by.   Kim grasped the loading lever, set the line, and pulled it over to lock, putting a dart in the groove.  Holding it down with his thumb he released the loading lever and watched the approaching  birds.   He allowed for the speed and lifted his thumb.   The dart traveled about a yard, impaling a bird through and through.   It smashed to the grass, and was immediately retrieved by Cat.  Kim laughed  and did it again.  Cat watched him as he resettled the bowstick in carry mode, then curled up to wait as Kim dug a fire pit.

     The dust rubbed birds spattered into the coals.    Kim wondered where they were going to find fuel to replace what he'd carried.   Water was also a question.   Shelter was easy, it just meant weaving grass.   He  could weave brown grass into logs, green too if he could build a firehouse.   He dug a shithole and studied the soil.   It was time to check the boots.   He emptied them onto his web sheet and realized they were holding their shape already.   What had caused this?    He thought of the long pool and all the slime.   He slid his feet into them and smiled.   They were softer than cloth on the inside, and harder than rock on the outside.   The sides were soft and the bottoms were hard where they'd dried the longest.    He looked up and saw his first wharrim sailing through the sky like his parents had told him.

               " I'm on the Wind Plain" he thought. "This is where they got the web.   Maybe I can get one, but it takes two to fly one".   Cat yawned.  Kim looked at him.  Cat looked up at the disappearing wharrim, then looked at Kim and yawned again.   'Maybe I could train him to go where I want him to.'   Cat looked at him, then sat down to wash.   Kim thought about Twowinter.  He had his breather in the bag so his lungs wouldn't freeze, but he'd be needing a place to stay warm,   The cave tunnel had been  warm and there were a couple of spots to set up camp.   The air had flowed upward so a fire wouldn't  smoke them out.  It was all downwind of where they were now so it'd be easy to get to in a hurry and there was plenty of firewood on the lower riverbank.   Maybe if he could get a web he could curtain off a couple of doors and camp in where it was light enough to see.   He shook the sand from his web sheet and tucked it back into his bag.

                They kept cross walking into the wind scaring up birds and the occasional bouncer.   The bowstick was getting easier to handle now that he'd learned to leave the load lever on.  He did  worry that the bow would lose it's spring if he kept it bent too long.   He wondered how else he could catch them.   He'd heard tales of a whip and  wove another length of line  with his stick tied  into the end of it.   By the time they were ready to camp again Kim was getting used to handling a whip.   Cat had jumped at the first crack but was now ignoring it as much as he could.   A bird  burst into flight  as they turned to tack.   The whip lashed out to wrap its neck and break it.   Cat picked up the bird as Kim stepped toward a branhole.   Soon the fire was  cooking fresh bird and Cat was watching patiently.   The branhole had plenty of clean fresh water.   He wondered how the bran knew where to dig.   They were long gone downwind by the sign and Kim thought again of Two winter.  

               It was warm sleeping in the grass, but chillier in the mornings.   They had decamped and were once more crosswinding when they heard screaming.   In a hollow before them was a wharrim wrapped around a  now silent and dead horse, across from them was a very  loud and angry stallion.   Kim quickly loaded his bowstick and aimed it toward the wharrim.   Cat let out a scream that caused the wharrim to  drop the horse and rear to pounce on them.

This gave Kim the target he wanted.   The dart shot into the heart of the wharrim and killed it instantly.   Ma had told them all the only spot to aim for  so many times it was almost instinct.   Kim ran and pulled the vent line, then wrapped  the web around his lance using the catch lines to tie it up.        

              Cat watched the  curious stallion watching Kim, and moved between them to sit and wash a front paw.   The stallion stood there, sniffing the air and tossing his head.   Kim walked over to the wharrim and started to skin it.   He remembered Ma's winter coat and now knew where it had come from. 

        It was fast approaching Two Winter, and Kim had a plan.   If Cat could walk the web, they could fly down to the tunnel cave to spend Two Winter.   The stallion slowly and hesitantly came closer.   Cat stayed between them as Kim wondered what the horse was doing.  He reached down to Cat's ear and scratched softly.   Cat sat beside him and purred.   The stallion's nostrils  brushed against Kim's chest.  He reached out and stroked  the shiny black neck.   The eye closest was so deep he felt as if he was sinking into it.   Images came into his head of racing free across the plain.  He stroked behind the ear of the horse and Cat at the same time.   The horse nickered softly then touched noses with Cat.

   "I'm Kim.   He's Cat.  I'll call you Wind Racer.   We'll ride down to the cave together Windy"   The following morning would soon be one of Kim's finest memories.    He rode bareback,  carrying the web wrapped lance, and what he could of the wharrim. Each time he started to slip the horse would shift under  him.   Cat ran along side in an easy ground eating lope, watching ahead  and occasionally looking over at the  pacing stallion.   Kim laughed with the joy of it.   He'd ridden before but never like this.   It felt like he was using the hooves himself.  He'd always bounced on a trotting horse.   This was like gliding over the ground.   They reached the valley of the cave in late afternoon and he rode down  out of the wind into thickening fog.   He hadn't noticed any mist on the way out and wondered at the cause of it.   He slid off the horse and stood for the first time all day.  After a few stiff paces, he  knelt to scoop up  some water to drink.   It was warm.   This was the cause of the fog.   The small pond that the stream ran out of was a hot spring.   The rushing stream had cut the cave and now kept it warm.   The fog kept Two Winter at bay, keeping this  valley  meadow green and growing, to feed any  rogue bran or horse that  found it.  Kim followed Cat into the cave, holding on to his tail until his eyes accustomed to the darkness.    They made their way down into the large cavern next to the lower entrance and settled in for the night.

Steady mouthfuls of slime kept them both full enough to forego supper.

Kim started to build a fire pit and oven, using the loose stones laying around the cave floor.   Cat joined him, holding his paw on the next choice of stone.   Kim smiled, Cat could see  in the dark, and the stones began to fit together better.   He built a mound of loose leaves from around the entrance covered it with web and lay down on it.   Cat joined him.   Just as he fell asleep he felt Windy laying his head down on a soft mound of bran-grass.

                      Gabby Henry wasn't the most talkative guy on Two Winter.   That's how he'd come to be known as Gabby.  He could go days without so much as a grunt.  He could express his feelings with eye contact and facial expressions so well speech wasn't needed.   He was a Trader by choice, and his  main product was honey.   Honey  stays good in all temperatures, even freezing, without losing anything.   It also makes mead.  Gabby loved his mead.   It kept him happy.

His two wheeled trap carried all his possessions easily, and the two mares could pull it anywhere he felt like going.  Wilder tribes attacking Traders had long ago learned not to bother Gabby.   Maybe it was the blowguns loaded with bees. Then again it could have been the poison darts.   He was also deadly proficient with a bow.    The arrows were also poison tipped.  In short Gabby was left alone.    He liked being alone.  

          People looked forward to seeing him on his regular route of travel.   They would be just about out of honey when he arrived, and fully stocked when he left.   Sometimes they ran out before he arrived.   Those were the people who bought more nowadays.   The coin was barter.   The mares had to be fed and shod,  and Gabby liked his vegetables, along with the occasional bran roast.   He knew who was rich in what, and who needed what they had.   The trap was always full and Gabby never wasted a word.   He spent his Two winters making clay pots and jugs, and filling them with the honey he collected from his secret cave.  

             He pulled up just short of the entrance and unhitched the mares.   They clattered into the cave going past Cat and Kim at a fast trot.   They would soon be in the top pasture. Windy would be happy to see them. 

He unloaded the trap into a pile by the door, then he pulled a pin out of the axle, lifted and turned the trap bed on its pinhole,  then folded it in half.  The wheels were almost touching as he laid the fore rods down to rest.

               Gabby came in carrying a lazy man's load of  the trap's haul.   He stopped at Cat's low growl.

"Gabby!" shouted Kim laughing with joy.   "It's okay Cat He's a friend"

Gabby watched Cat stroll in back of the boy to lay down and ignore him.

"Kim?   It is you!   Your parents are looking for you with The People.   They've just about given up on you!"

While he listened to Kim telling him what had been happening Gabby looked around his now not so secret cave.   He saw the almost completed fire pit and started taking it apart.   Kim stopped in mid sentence, then laughed aloud.  

"Your mares have just met Windy! my stallion.   Why are you doing that?"

Gabby looked down at Kim and Cat.   

"If you build a fire down here Kim it will draw all the smoke and heat up to the pasture.   It will also pull in Two winter air and freeze up the whole cave."   Kim thought about it and realized what he'd almost done.

"I won't be able to cook down here" he said.   Gabby smiled as his eyes slid over to the far wall.  

"Been upstairs yet?"  He saw the question in Kim's eyes and walked over to the wall.   He picked up the notched pole and leaned it into the hole above him.   Then he reached down into his pile of goods to pick up a set of  twenty woven plates.   Kim watched him climb the pole to disappear into the ceiling.   He followed him up as Gabby lit  light -sticker lanterns.

They were in a bee hive.   Gabby was covered all over with bees as he slid out honey combs and inserted the woven plates.  Kim went back to the ladder quickly.   

"Go slowly Kim! Don't hurry! They don't like hurry"

Kim stopped and slowly stepped down.  Then he slowly walked over to where Cat sat watching him.   The bees were all back upstairs.  Kim waited for Gabby to come back down.   It was a long wait.  Gabby came walking in beside the stream.   He had lit a few more lanterns and the cavern they were in was almost like daylight.

                              Gabby grinned. "Light-stickers like honey too Kim.   Come on I'll show you around."   He grabbed another armload of gear and led the way up to his workroom, where he showed Kim his ovens and kilns.   The pond bottom was red clay and easily worked.   Gabby had plenty  of beeswax and lots of wharrim poison.   He also had a pile of bran bone.   He showed Kim some cups he'd made.   They were almost see through.  He'd made them first out of wax, then covered them with clay, then baked them till they were hard,and the wax was melted out of them.   After that he'd melted the bone with  wharrim poison water-mix  and poured it into the clay mold.  He'd warmed up the molds again very slowly until the poison had steamed out of the holes to cool and collect in the bowl they hung over.  The last thing he'd done after they cooled was to break the clay from around the bone.

He'd made twelve.   They were all beautiful and in the light-stick lantern light, they seemed to glow.

"I dropped one on purpose Kim.   It bounced and didn't even crack.   But I don't  think I'll try it again.  How do you know what Windy is doing?"

"He's coming in with the mares to get a drink of colder water and some more slime."    Cat yawned.  "We know what we're doing and what we're going to do,  and Cat knows why."   Gabby looked at Cat as he yawned again.  

"That's some smart cat Kim!"   smiled Gabby, "I'm glad he found you."

Kim fondled Cat's ears and looked at the oven.   Cat slipped outside and disappeared into the tall grass.   Kim walked to the grass edge drawing his knife.   Gabby watched quietly as Cat dropped a bouncer at Kim's feet and went back into the tall grass.   Kim had it skinned and cleaned and was starting on the second as Cat came back with a third.   He looked at Gabby for a moment then ran back into the grass.   He came back with a fourth bouncer then sat down to watch Kim.

                  Kim dribbled some powder from his snake tail bag onto the four simmering boneless bouncers, and slid them back into the oven.

"What's that Kim?  It looks like Chakima's spice powder!   Did you bring it from home?"   Cat sat up and yawned.   Gabby smiled.   He was learning.

"It's Ma's but we got it here." said Kim.   "She got her' s from the waterfall, but it's the same slime."  Cat yawned again.    Gabby slowly reached over and scratched behind Cat's ear.   Cat purred.

                   Kim mixed up some travel bun dough and set out the balled buns on the tin oven plate.   They were hot and ready in minutes.   Gabby split them and added honey.   Cat ate his share daintily,  purring loudly.

"You have this cooking thing mastered Kim" said Gabby "Did Chakima teach you?"

"She an' Pa both,  and they laughed every time they showed me something.   Even Gram laughed when she found out.   I love to cook!"

'The kid's about the smartest tad I've met' thought Gabby, '  Kelly and Chakima will be so glad to see him.'

"Come Spring we'll go down river and show your folks what we've been doing all Two winter Kim.  They'll be so happy to see you're not dead"

Kim looked up from the beeswax he was playing with.  "You tell them I'm fine Gabby.   Tell them I miss them and not to worry, but I'm on my own now, with Cat and Windy as friends, and we have places to see.  Besides they would only take me back to The People, and I don't want to go."

Gabby sat back and sipped his mead.   This he had not expected.

"Well I could just tell them You're ok Kim.   Maybe even drop off a gift or whatever you feel they'd like,  Or we could just visit on our way to the Lake District, or maybe the Herders.   If you were with me you'd learn how most everybody lives,   What do you really want to do?

"Cat and I want to fly but we don't want to leave Windy.   Maybe if we sew some webs together we can carry him too"

"I could take him with me and then you two could fly down to meet us down river" said Gabby,  "Maybe even at your folks.   I could drop him off there, where he'd be safe and easy to find, and the twins would love him to death"   He sipped his mead looking innocently off into space.   "What's for dinner?   I have to put all my stuff away and roll in the trap.   Maybe you could catch us some fish and get a shell back or two"

"Sure Gabby we'll try that, and if we don't catch anything the woods are full of winter fat bouncers.   I'll think about Windy being at home for a while.   Pa loves horses. Windy says it's fine with him.   He wants to see the twins."

                            Gabby sat there sipping for a while then went down and started putting all his gear where it belonged.   When he went out to get the trap it was getting dark.   He looked toward the falls and saw a campfire.   'They must be cooking'  he thought, and taking up the fore poles he walked the trap into the darkening cave.   He lit a far back lamp and went  back out to see how supper was cooking, wondering what it could be.   It was cold and he wished he'd brought more clothes.                                                                                                                            

                  Cat looked up from his place by the fire and moved aside to let Gabby sit where the rock wall reflected the heat.   Gabby's lips twisted in a grin as he saw how he was now accepted.   He sat and was warm almost at once.   Supper sat cooking in the fire.   Gabby wondered what it could be, whatever it was steam kept escaping into the coals and Cat was growing impatient.   Kim tossed water onto the fire and rolled the whole thing onto what looked like a stretcher.   He motioned to Gabby to grab the pointed end and drag it to the cave.    While Gabby was doing that and Cat was sniffing alongside, Kim was putting out the fire.   He ran to keep up with Gabby and held one of the sticks to stop supper from falling off.   They took it all the way up to Gabby's workshop and  taking it off the rack with tongs , put it on the table.   Kim took his knife, cut all around it and lifted it off.   It was a solid lid of mud and leaves.   He put it down on the rack.    What was left was covered in groke leaves.   Kim set out plates and peeling off the leaves began to serve it.

Gabby saw two large fish un-skinned, two shell backs still together, and what looked like leaf wrapped bouncers.   He found out later they were a mix of bouncer and squill with bird breasts  and livers chopped on them. 

The skin and scales on the fish came off in almost one piece.   Kim picked up the shell backs, shook them, then pulled off the heads.   All the meat, even the tail fin meat came out still attached to the heads.   He sliced them off and cut them in half lengthwise.   The bouncers he simply sliced in half, leaving the meat to be forked out onto the white and red roots that were so soft they fell apart if touched.

           When they were finished eating Cat burped.   Gabby grinned then burped too.   "Kim I have never eaten a meal as good as that in all my days.   You are not a good cook!   You are the best cook I've ever met!" 

"Chakim has sent me bearing ill news Chakima"   The words rang in her head as the web flew towards the land of The People.   He was their first child,   His full name was Sun Walker, Moses Herron Lewis,or Moss.   How they had shortened it to Kim was the boy's doing.   He had said his name was Kim when he had first talked.   Now  Kim had run away.   He had told them both he would.   They had thought it just a childish threat.  The People had searched for him fruitlessly.  She and Kelly landed in the camp and wrapped the web around its lance.   The chief of camp stepped forward and presented them with horses.

He then led them out on the grass where they had lost Kim's trail.   It was headed down toward the Badlands.   Chak dismounted and walked into the tall brangrass.   Kelly followed walking softly.   Kim had been missing for months now.   The  People were fine trackers and suspected a wharrim or warbird had swooped down to take him.  

                      Kelly stopped at a spot where the grass was thinner and felt where it had been cut.   Chak swore.   Kelly nodded and pointed up toward the Wind Plain.   They thanked the chief for the two horses and set off up hill at a steady walk.

"The grass boots trick!" muttered Kelly.   Chak swore again.   They kept going uphill  knowing their son's woodscraft.   After all this time there would be no track to follow.   In late afternoon they came upon the wind broken tree.   Kelly looked at the axed ends of missing slivers and some curled shavings fast caught in thick needled branches.  

 "He's built himself a bowstick Chak"   She smiled tearfully but remained silent.   They continued on uphill until sundown then camped for the night beside the river.

In the morning they continued on towards the falls.   There was no sign of Kim at all anywhere.   They had found some old sign of a large cat in the soft sand of the riverbank, but there was no clue where Kim had got to.   They rode up the narrow winding trail onto the wind plain, camped again for the night, then set off for home.

                        "He's not dead Kell.   I know he's not dead.   I'd know if he was!"   Kelly sat his horse and nodded.

"You'd know Chak .   We'd know.   With all this extra sense we have now we'd know that for sure."   She looked at his back slack in the saddle and considered what he'd said.   Maybe there was another way to find their son.   'Itmightworkhonwait tillwerehomeandabed'  She straightened and arched her back.   'letstohomethendarlin'

They headed down the narrow trail.   When they bottomed out onto the river bank she shivered.  

 "He's smart enough to survive Two Winter Chak.   He'll make it!"  said Kelly.   

Chak smiled to herself.  'He knows what I'm thinking!'  she thought.

"Yep!" said Kelly "Most of the time"

"The wind's right.   Let's let these horses go and we'll fly home"   They watched two tiny horses making their way towards The People as they rose into colder wind.   Kelly lay back in the web looking up at his wife's almost naked body as she guided them towards home.   They should have listened to Kim.   He'd make it a point to listen carefully to the twins.

Chak wrapped her toes around the lance, absently holding the lines as if they were reins in one hand and scratching her knee with the other.   'Damnrightwe'lllistendarlingmanandI'lllistentoyoutoo'  Below her Kelly laughed.   'Sureyouwill"

It was going to be a long Two Winter especially with both of their parents spending it with them.

     Chak sat sipping tea.   It tasted better than the usual shavings.    She had added a large amount of slime dust.    The hot tea had added to the I-want-more  taste of the dust.   She sipped and rested, letting her mind slip into the relaxation of not thinking.  Soon the teacup was empty and she lay back on the soft down filled pillows.  

              Kim where are you? her mind quested out into the night.   For a the longest time there was nothing but emptiness.  Then she felt it and shot back in alarm.   Her mind tentatively returned to where she almost had been, questing tentatively to see what had alarmed her.   She was looking into green eyes, cat's eyes.   Cat stared at her coldly.   Chak tried to say she meant no harm, she was looking for her son, who she loved and missed so much.   Cat blinked and yawned.  

                   'Ma?'   She felt Kim jump with joy, and reached to hold him closer.   He squeezed her tightly and cried like a baby.   Chak was crying too.   Cat purred and they both felt it.   Chak held her son  realizing how much of a bond was between the two.  

 'Can we talk son?   Are you ok? really ok?'   She felt the solid spirit of her eldest child and knew everything was fine.   Cat yawned and she felt his spirit too.   Her arms wrapped around the furry neck and held Cat close.   Then they felt Kelly slipping in to join them.   Cat licked Kelly's hand and looked at Kim.   They all heard Windy blow and paw the grass.   Chak awoke looking into Kelly's eyes.

"He's less than 5 turns Kell, and he's on his own! and if he comes back it'll only be to visit!   How can we get him back?   He's bonded with a wild cat and a wild horse!   What can we do?

Kelly looked at her,  felt the pride of their son's accomplishment  with her, and wondered what to say.   "He'll leave us eventually Chak.   All I can think of is to make him feel welcome any time he wants to see us.   They both want to fly.   Cat will protect him, and Cat wants to experience as much life as we do.   How Cat found him I have no idea.   They are a pair.   The stud needs him too.  His talent in animal bonding is way beyond anyone I've ever met.  I guess we just have to accept he's matured faster than most.   One thing's for sure, we have to make him want to be with us as much as he can, and not cling to him.

Chak sat up in bed.   She reached for her glass and took a long cold swallow.   

"I have to agree with you Kell, but"   She set the glass down and turned into Kelly's wrapping arms.   Kelly's lips brushed her neck  in that special place and she shivered with pleasure.

Gabby sat atop his high wheeled dray reliving the Twowinter he'd just spent with Kim.   The boy was years ahead of his age group, and at the same time was living his life to the fullest.   Cat too had been a revelation to the wily old trader.   He had watched them fly the web together and had marveled at the maneuvers they had performed and in such perfect unison they had made it look like child's play.   Gabby chuckled to himself.   The stud paced along side of him tossing his head.   He  blew softly as loose nostrils flapped.   Gabby knew something wasn't  as it should be and  wondered what was about to happen.

                                      The Tongar couldn't believe his good fortune.   He had lain in ambush since sunrise in this perfect spot between two boulders, overlooking a common crossing of this ridge.   Three horses! and whatever this sleepy old man had in his wagon, and no-one to have to share it with.   In moments he'd be close enough to slaughter with his hand axe.   He leapt up with a scream to disorient his prey.   The dray was empty.   To his left stood the sleepy old man, calmly sheathing his blowgun.   He never felt his body falling to the ground.   Gabby studied the dead warrior carefully.   Obviously he was alone, and had been all day.   He pulled the dart from his neck and then carefully punctured his neck again almost in the same spot.  

"Damn snakes are everywhere theses days!" he stepped up onto the dray and took a sip from his canteen.   The stud nickered.   Gabby poured what was left into his hat and held it while the stud drank.   "Yup! you Cat an' the kid are a hell of a team  First time a hoss whispered to me though,"   Windy tossed his head spraying Gabby and trotted off up the trail.   Gabby put on his wet hat and wiped his face with his scarf.   Soon they'd be at the Woods Runner camp.

They trotted into the camp then slowed to a walk.   Gabby took in the gathering of tents and realized Kelly and Chak had company.  About  then the twins came running to greet them.   Windy stopped and lowered his head to be petted and hugged and rubbed.   Gabby watched as Windy disappeared beneath two wriggling climbing twins.   Chakima walked up to Windy and held her hand on his neck.  Windy whickered and blew as Kelly came into view to also greet him.   Gabby was beginning to feel left out but Chak sensed his feeling and laughed aloud.  "Sorry Gabby, I thought you knew.   We've met Windy and Cat and talked with Kim"

Gabby remembered Kim saying his folks knew what was going on and Windy wanting to meet the twins.   Sometimes these two were so way ahead of normal folk it was scary.  Summer and Lorenzo stood beside Rory and Stacy watching the twins bond to the stallion.   "Kevin'n Keith will be busy for days now Ma" said Rory smiling.   "That's plain truth Red" said Lorenzo "If we want time with grandchillun we'd best be helpin' them tend to that stud.   It looks like Kelly and Chak have met him before."  Windy picked up his head and blew softly.   "Tell him we love him Wind Racer" whispered Chak as she stroked his neck.   Gabby smiled,  Kim had already told him of their dream visit.   There was really no need to tell them anything.   

"As you know Kim and Cat are fine.    I should tell you they fly a web together better than any I've seen."   Kelly laughed,   "Cat's getting his way, and Kim's loving it."   Summer and Stacy were hugging each other.

"Kim's okay!" said Lorenzo.   "Well of course he's okay" said Rory    "With his bloodline he has to be!.   Was he with you all Twowinter Gabby?"

"Finest Twowinter I ever had " said Gabby   "The kid's the best cook I ever met.   bar none!   And his skill with carving and ceramics is better than mine.   I built a set of bone cups.   He built the saucers to match and added salad bowls, and that was while he was building these elves for you Chakima."   He reached into his pack and brought out three elves.  He set them down on the kitchen table and watched them all crowd in to see.   It was actually the same elf in three different positions.   Kim had him dressed in green and brown with knee high boots and a wide belt with a bag hanging from it.   Gabby produced some trees and bushes and set them up behind the elves.   He then moved his hands across in front of them with a small litestick.  As the light winked out it looked like the elves moved then disappeared.   They blended into the greenery so well it was hard to see them.   Chakima looked at Kelly,   "All Kim's work Gabby?"  "Every leaf, every wrinkle, and every twinkle.   He's way beyond anything I've done.   All I did was show him how it was done and watched him play.

Oh! and taste this.   He reached into his shirt and brought out a large flask.   "I was making mead and he suggested I add a pinch of dust.   I did and then I distilled it."   He took the glass from Summer and poured in a little.   She promptly swallowed it and gasped.   Gabby took the glass and added some more.   Kelly took it and sipped carefully.   He looked at his mother's now smiling face and smiled himself.   "The Scots'll trade for every bottle you own Gabby"   Gabby grinned.   "The kid's a master cook folks.  The drink's called Kim's Own."    They sat around the table sipping Kim's Own,  marveling at the elven figurines, and deciding who was going to help the twins.   Gabby spoke up again.   "The stud needs shoes.  Is Kevin available Kelly?"   "He's available Gabby, but that's a wild stallion!"

Gabby turned and looked at Windy pacing around in circles with both twins standing on his back and dancing.   He didn't have to say a word.

"Kevin's on his way" chorused Chak and Kelly.   Chak blushed and said    "He'll need our help hon."   Kelly yawned widely.    Gabby burst out laughing.  

Keith and Kevin sat between Windy's legs trimming excess hair with small scissors.   Windy snuffled each neck tickling each twin with his nostrils.  Summer watched her son Kevin pick up a hoof and set it in his apron.   He deftly filed and trimmed it, then held a cold shoe against it to check for fit.  Satisfied, he reached and hung it on the rack.   After repeating the operation on the rest of the hooves he rose and set the shoes in order on the forge.   The twins still sat on the floor playing with the trimmings.   Windy looked preoccupied.  "Kim's talking to him Key" said Kevin.  " I know Kev.  Windy's telling him what's going on.  Yes Kim I know we're being careful  Windy won't hurt us!"   

Chak looked at Kelly.   Kelly nodded.   They shook their heads in wonder.

Gabby watched them and smiled.   Cat yawned and Kim rubbed behind his ears.   Kevin came quickly from the forge, set in a hot shoe, then swiftly nailed it home.  In moments Windy was standing fully shod and tapping the stone floor.   The twins  climbed up and the three of them clattered off to dance around the corral.

Chak snuggled in to Kelly's arms and murmured " Do they talk to Cat too? or just Kim?"  Kelly closed eyes and quested quietly.   "It's the first time they've talked to Kim.  Cat's watching and helping Kim.  Cat says soon we'll all be talking.   Gabby knows already."   Chak shook her head in wonder.   Summer and Stacy looked at each other.   "They'll tell us later" said Summer.  "Either they will or the twins will" said Lorenzo.   Rory sat back, looked at Gabby, and smiled.   Gabby nodded and passed him the flask of Kim's Own.   "Pretty soon we won't be needing tongues, cep' maybe to taste with."   Windy nickered, and Gabby smiled.   Rory raised the flask and then took a good sip.   He licked his lips savoring the after taste.   " I miss the smoky heather, but this is sipping whiskey Gabby"   He took another sip and handed back the flask.   Gabby raised the flask,  "To snow snakes! " He toasted, and took a sip himself.   Lorenzo laughed.      " Some things are meant to be. And some are a welcome surprise."

Kelly glanced toward the setting sun, estimating how long it would be  before they ate.   His eyes focussed on a bright shiny spot just above the horizon.   "I'll start the grill fire hon.   See if you have enough fixin's for flat rolls and marmalade."   Chak's head snapped around from Summer and Stacy.  "Well I'm just guessing hon but wharrim ain't usually comin' this way at sundown."   Gabby smiled and nodded at Rory,   Lorenzo saw the silent exchange and turned to Summer.   She smiled and nodded too.   Cat ran back and forth in the web causing it to swing and catch even more tailwinds.   Kim stood on the swaying lance busily compensating  for the added dips and sped the web toward the camp.   The power landing was absolutely beautiful to see.   Cat stepped off as the web stopped.   Kim pulled the vent open and spun the web around the lance as it settled down.   The only part that touched the ground at all were the tie lines, and they were soon tied closely around the wrapped web.   Cat  walked up to Kelly and touched noses.   Chak threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.   Cat fell to the turf and rolled with her, sticking his nose into the curve of her neck and purring.   Kim laid the web against a chair back and turned to hug his father.   Gabby just sat there totally content that all his plans were complete.   Windy tossed his head and whinnied.

"Looks like Cat's found a home" said Summer.   Stacy nodded in agreement.

Author's Note

A Twowinter tale for the younger set