The powerful elephant turned into a powerful man, though he was much shorter than he’d initially been. It wasn’t an oddity or a shock to Adeliz. While she had been living, Ines has spoken to her of it, and when Ines had returned to her Kelvic self, she had shown off the shift, half in pride to impress her little sister and half in giddiness to be able to do it again. Some might have been startled by it, but Adeliz found it exotically beautiful. She swore she could watch her sister do nothing but change back and forth for eternity, and the act would never lose its wonder. The bi man was sitting naked in the gentle waves that lapped at the sand. He called up to her with his name and a compliment of hers.
Puk. It was short and simple, nothing like him if her limited introduction told her anything. The gentleness in his eyes spoke of complexities beyond what Adeliz experienced in most people. She had to stop and remind herself that Puk was not people, the same way Ines was not people, not in the way people tended to understand people. Of rourse, Puk was a person, but there was a part of him that understood things with a wisdom and a knowledge that people had lost. Instinct. A purer view. She drifted down to him.
Puk waited for her to come to him before he went on. When he did, he spoke of the life that Ines may have had there in Taloba, things that seemed vaguely true, things about Ines and her clan and what she may have experienced. Ines had spoken some of it, and Adeliz had learned some through vague shared memories. Occupying the same head, the same body, tended to do that to two people, but perspective changed how each one saw it. Still, Adeliz was proud of her sister- where she had come from and what she had made of herself.
But Puk’s recounting quickly showed that he had been ostracized. He spoke of Myrian culture, of blood and of war, of the frightening ruthlessness their people acted with, and Adeliz could tell that none of it spoke to him. Peace was in his nature, but he would defend others if he had to. Ines had told Adeliz how the big Tskana had reacted to the Ashta’s antics. Finally, something slipped out about his time there. “I wish I could’ve got to know the other Tskana.”
All at once, her heart, if she had one, broke for Puk. All he wanted was a herd, a family, a place to call his own with people who loved him and claimed him as much as he claimed them. Adeliz had that. Even dead, she had that. She had Ines She had a sister. Though life had taken much from her, including life itself, she still had more than many people did. She was claimed. She was loved. She had Ines. Puk? He had nobody.
Something burst inside Adeliz. Something broke and swelled and grew until she could deny it no longer. Whatever it was, this something was stronger than the rage she had felt only chimes earlier, fiercer than any hate she had harbored toward him. She didn’t know what it was or where it came from, but it made her hate him even more that his innocence made her feel this way.
No. Puk didn’t have no one. He had her. Resolutely, Adeliz swore in her heart that that he would always have her, and that even if he never had anyone else to call his family, she would claim him, and she would be sure that she was more than enough.
She was so lost in this thought she almost missed his next question, almost missed his sheepish concern. “Does it hurt to be a ghost? Are you scared?”
“Does it hurt?” She shook her head. “No. Not physically, anyway. I just kind of stopped being alive.”
It was true. Her ‘death’ had been different from most people’s.
“Am I scared?” Adeliz smiled at that question. “Always. Just not for me. I’m already dead. Life can’t do me any worse than what it’s already done. But the people I love are still living, and it terrifies me to think that they might die before their time, like me. But that’s what family is for. We take care of each other. We watch each other’s backs. We watch out for each other. You’ll see, Puk. Just stick with me and Ines. We’ll make sure to take care of you, too.”
Adeliz couldn’t be sure if he had caught the implications of that, but she had put it out there.
She went on. “If you stick with me and Ines, there will always be a good place for you at the Saw Mill. We can all take care of each other there while me make ourselves useful to the city. Stick with us, and you’ll be okay.”
Generously, Puk offered her a bite of the seaweed, but Adeliz could only laugh at that. “Fortunately, and unfortunately, I don’t need to eat as a ghost. I can’t eat, not the things people do.” She’d heard of things from the librarian but had yet to try them. “I’ve seen them use that to wrap food when they cook it though. I bet if we brought some back to the Commons, they’d appreciate it very much. Someone would make good use of it. What do you say?”
If he agreed, she’d let him gather some in whatever form he chose and then prattle to him as they wandered down the beach toward the center of the town.
“Did you know Ines is a Kelvic like you? Not like you, not an elephant, but a Kelvic still. She’s a bat. She’s kind of like the Myrians. She drinks blood, but it’s not because she’s mean. She just has to. It helps her to grow strong and healthy. What do Tskana eat? I know you said you liked the fruit trees in Taloba. We have plenty of those here. Crom’s favorite are mangos. Have you ever had a mango before? They were some of my favorite when I was living. Mangos. And cheese. Cheese isn’t a fruit…”
