The overhang provided shelter from the hail, but it was a small space and Mawei and Ruffer had to sit so close together that their legs were touching. “Why were you trying to chase down my uncle after his report?” Mawei asked. “What was so important?”
“The council laughed at him when he suggested it might be possible to communicate with humans,” he said, “but I happen to know a human being who can speak yeti.”
“Really?” Mawei laughed. “I thought our little bird might be the only one.”
“Your little human can speak too? I thought mine was the only one.” Ruffer said.
“Are you talking about the human that lives in your wild?”
“Oh, you heard about that? I guess some find it very amusing.” He made a dismissive gesture. “Let them laugh, I don’t mind having the human in my wild, and I happen to know that he can speak yeti because I had a long conversation with him. He speaks better yeti than some of my relatives.”
“Ruffer, you showed yourself to a fully-grown human? I had no choice but to help the child, but a fully-grown human is dangerous.”
“I never felt threatened by him.”
“Yes, but you put every yeti walking the earth at risk.” Mawei said, expressing her fears about what she herself had done.
“We communicated once.” Ruffer said. “I didn’t bring him to a Gather.”
“Our little bird thinks we’re monsters.” Mawei said. “Even if she could explain what she’s been through, I don’t think an adult human would believe her.”
“And how did you come to be her guardian? Did your uncle kidnap her?” Ruffer asked.
“Of course not, I rescued her. She was trapped in a wrecked car, high up on a mountain road, and her parents didn’t survive. I saved her life, so even if she could, I doubt she’d do anything to hurt me.”
“Well, I’m not worried about my human.” Ruffer said. “He is a special sort of human who lives in a tree. He built a wooden platform high up on a tree in my wild, and on the platform he put a blue dome filled with all sorts of human contraptions.” Some hail blew in on them and Ruffer wiped the ice off his legs and wiped some off of Mawei’s too. He looked at her strangely for a second and then continued. “I became fascinated with this human and began watching him daily. After awhile I even started to like him a little. One evening I saw him collecting and eating poisonous mushrooms so I decided to intervene to save his life.”
“He wasn’t scared of you?”
“No he wasn’t.” Ruffer said. “Not only wasn’t he scared, but I found that he could understand and speak yeti. He was quite articulate but he thought we were speaking through some sort of magic, directly from my brain to his. He wasn’t aware of his micro-facial expressions, eye movements, or even posture. He did it all unconsciously.”
“That’s strange.” Mawei said. “What did you talk about?”
“I warned him about the mushrooms and then asked him why he chose to live so far from his own kind. His answer was hard to understand, but I think he believes that human activity is somehow separate from the rest of the world. In his mind he has divided the world into two halves: the world of the human, and everything else.”
“They alter the landscape in their villages quite a bit.” Mawei said. “I guess it is sort of otherworldly.”
“Yes, but that’s not even the most bizarre part. He ascribes positive and negative values to each half of the world as he sees it, but not in the way you would think. He views the human half as negative and everything else as positive.”
“He’s opposed to his own species?”
“Yes, in a way.” Ruffer said. “He views the world as having a natural balance and he thinks that humans have upset it.”
“But surely he can see how unbalanced the world is.” Mawei said.
“That’s what I told him too, but his beliefs couldn’t be shaken. He’s trying to set a good example for his fellow humans -he communicates with them through strange devices, and he wants to show them a way to live that doesn’t upset his fantasy of a balanced world. That’s why I’m not worried about him, he told me that if humans ever found out about yetis that they would try to capture or kill us, and that he would never forgive himself if he caused that. When I heard what your uncle said about communicating with humans, I thought I could help.” He said. “My human is safe. Maybe your uncle and I could go talk with him and explain what’s going on. There could be a lot of bloodshed if we don’t understand each other. The elders are talking about an ‘active defense’ which means killing humans. The humans will surely react and that could lead to an all-out war.”
The hail had stopped, but the wind was still whipping the treetops and the clouds were still threateningly dark. “Right now I have more immediate problems.” Mawei said. “What will happen to the little girl if the twins saw her?”
“I don’t know.” Ruffer said. “What was Rei going to do with her?”
“He wants to raise her as his own.” She said. “He wants her to become an emissary between the world of the yetis and the world of the humans.”
“That would be incredible!” Ruffer said. “Think about it Mawei. If he’s successful it could change everything.”
“And if he’s unsuccessful?”
Ruffer thought a moment. “I guess the first thing to do is to get back to the Gather and see if those twins are snitching. The horripilation will begin soon, and that might slow them down. If we can get to them first maybe we can find out what they saw.” He stood up. “The storm’s passed, let’s go.”
Mawei stood and looked at the sky. The clouds were moving away, and they were all lit pink and yellow by the setting sun. She could hear the sound of water dripping off the rocks and branches all around them as she followed Ruffer north, toward the Gather, wondering what the night would bring.