Page 171 (1/2)
The seal heaved a sigh and squinted in the fog “That is to be expected I am always answered the same I ran froain I ran froh the oak and the yew and the birch and the pine, I ran frorapevines fat and purple, I ran fro in the shade, I ran froreat nus which seemed wise then and I clutchedand singing and my feet weren’t even tired, all the way to the sand and tide I leapt into the froth and the wave, the sea beatingat my waist I shouted to the wind and the pelicans, I was so full of salt and er!
“It all seems rather silly now As soon as I tasted the sea I kneas no good I had too much of her in me It only tasted of tears And one day a red ship sped by overhead and I knew it for her; I knew she was abovethe boards with her hooves I followed, but the ship was so fast I followed all the way to the edge of the Boiling Sea, and there I could not go But I am patient; I waited I followed them to the Skin-Peddler’s Isle and I followed them into the icy seas where they were shole And there too I followed I beat the sea with obbled me doith her But his belly was so wide I looked and looked a the old wrecks but I could not find her I lay down on the liver of the beast and prayed to die Tireat fluttering of birds came and his mouth opened, I did not even look up, so far was I from those curtains of baleen It was only when the awful old beast caught his belly on a reef and retchedin hi the flotsa
“But I have heard ruain I know she is alive; I know she crests the waves” The seal so to sea? If I had known, if I had been a cleverer beast, if I had been older, less silly, I would have built her a house on the shore, and fed her black bread and sardines, and wehappy We ht have found ours”
“I aently touched his face “I have heard of no such ship, no such beast Even the Boiling Sea has dried to a long, white, dry bed with no water in it at all now We must steer around that wasteland, where shark skeletons litter the blasted seafloor”
He nodded miserably “Well I know it But still I ask There is no shortage of sailors flying off their boats like great ungainly albatrosses One of them will be from her ship one day I know it”
THE TALE
ON THE FLOOR,
CONTINUED
“HE WAS A SELKIE,” OUR SAILOR FINISHED, “and a Selkie dare not approach the shore He dragged me as far as he could, and pointed hed, and seawater sprayed fro swimmer I sail; I do not swim I sed the ocean, and deep in the dark, in the bottoain I heard her telling the baby in her arms to wake up”
We looked at each other, blinking, perplexed “Your mother is not here Our mother is not here This is a motherless place”
Galien sat up with difficulty, propping herself on her elbows “Of course she isn’t You’re here Didn’t you listen tofor Do you knointo the brine after your voices? On every er, as wicked, as a place never to drea”
Nyd’s beak began to quiver She tried not to cry “That’s ridiculous,” Ashni said, sta to each other Every creature is allowed to sing The songs were not for you We did not go fishing for sailors, dropping our voices into the sea like barbed hooks We push out our hearts and blood and marrow and breath—”
“You dash out our hearts and blood and marrow and breath on these desolate rocks, and no one survives your song,” the navigator whispered
“But we did not s were for us alone,” Ghadir said, her face ashen
Nyd fell to her knees, and her sobbing echoed over the shoals She laid her feathered head on the rocks and cried over and over: “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry”