Heyna's Tale Chapter One Revised (cont.)

The Care Arbor

When she awoke everything was blurry. She was in a med hammock and her tail was held gently and restrained by a sling.

"My glasses," she said.

"Just relax, dear. You had a little heat exhaustion. You are in the Care Arbor." Heyna could tell by the voice and the spicy scent that she was being treated by a Quetzalcoatl nurse or doctor, but from across the room, she couldn't make out her features.

The doctor handed over her glasses, and Heyna now could see her clearly.

Heyna could also see the arbor, with it’s high graceful ceiling and beautifully arched and trellised walls. Claws like hers had created this beautiful space. Sunlight filtered through a delicate lattice and a cool breeze freshened the air with the scent of a million blossoms. The smell of the sea was strong, and the harbor close enough for Heyna to hear sea birds calling. A ship’s bell was signaling.

The Care Arbor? What am I doing here? The Care Arbor was for the Quetz, not for servants. Why had she been brought here, and not the servant’s clinic? The Quetz were a benevolent race, just and diplomatic, but they could be haughty. This is Xico’s doing, she thought. I know Mama and Papa get paid very well but they could never afford this.

Doctors and nurses came and went. They had a strong medicine smell, antiseptic and sharp. There were a couple of other patients. An ancient Quetz waved. She waved back. Another Quetz pointedly ignored her.

“Let me take your temperature,” the doctor said, and she submitted to being examined. Heyna realized she was lying on her side (she only ever slept on her stomach) and that someone was behind her grooming her fur. Fingers with sharp claws were combing and picking, and it felt good and familiar. Her brother.

“Is that you, Jaz?" She felt a sharp jab in her back, and she yelped.

“Don't you, ‘Jaz,’ me! You lost us a day's pay! How many times do I have to tell you to drink water and keep your fur groomed, or the heat will get you. By the Trees!" Heyna was immediately shamed, and angry. Her brother sounded like Papa.

“Don't scold me! Go back to work, if you want. I can take care of myself.”

“Not quite, dear." said the Quetz doctor. "You need to be groomed, which is not a service we provide to servants, so Jaasi, keep working. And you, my girl, are staying overnight for observation. We're not sure that you are old enough to have been working down BelowLight by yourself."

“I am too old enough!" Heyna said.

“But not smart enough," her brother said. She tried to smack him with her tail, but it was still in the sling, and she only managed to jiggle the hammock as a figure darkened the entrance to the room.

“All right, you two!” a familiar voice growled. Great! Heyna thought. Papa! Now, I’ll get it double. Then Heyna gasped, right behind her dad, came her mom, then Xico!

“Heyhey!” Xico rushed to the bed and gripped Heyna in a tight embrace, flapping her vestigial wings and feathers puffed in alarm. “I was so worried!”

Heyna was embarrassed by all the attention and looked at the doctor, who suddenly puffed and stiffened.

“Mr. And Mrs. Plesh!” The doctor gave a respectful nod as Xico’s parents came in. Heyna was shocked as well. The Plesh were a very high status couple in Quetzalcoatl society. Visiting a sick servant? It wasn’t done. With Xico, it was different. They’d grown up together, but they were getting to the age when Heyna expected Xico to drop her as a friend to avoid the social stigma. But Xico was still as devoted as ever. Her parents, though?

“How are you Vessa, Yan?” Mr. Plesh said to Papa and Mom. “How’s our Heyna, Doctor Juss?” Our Heyna? Father’s mouth dropped open, so did the doctor’s, only mother seemed unsurprised.

“She looks little the worse for wear.” Mother said. And noting Jaasi grooming, added, “rather pampered I’d say.” Jassi jabbed her and yanked on her fur and she gave another little yelp.

“She’s had a shock to her system,” the doctor said, “and she’ll be here overnight so we can make sure she doesn’t head straight back BelowLight before she’s completely well.” Mrs. Plesh approached the bed, and as she did, everybody in the room made way deferentially.

“Dear girl, we value you too highly as a member of our family,” Heyna saw the doctor puff again in astonishment. “We will not allow you to resume your project until you are completely restored.” The entire room nodded and murmured.

“Yes, Mrs. Plesh.”

“Of course, Mrs. Plesh.”

“Certainly, Mrs. Plesh.”

“Right you are, Dear,” said Mr. Plesh.

“Now, you stay in that hammock and follow the doctor’s instructions. We’ll see you in a few days. Xico can stay a little while.” Mrs. Plesh gave her another squeeze and stepped back.

“Doctor, If you please,” said Mr. Plesh, and Doctor Juss and the Plesh walked out of the room. The Erda all breathed a sigh of relief, as did Xico. Such an unprecedented visit! Heyna looked a wide eyed question at Xico, who just shrugged.

“Well, dear,” her mother said. “We have to get back to work. We rode with the Plesh. Get better, and we’ll see you at home. Jaasi?”

“I’m still grooming HeyHo,” Jaasi griped.

“I’ll take over,” Xico said, and pushed Jaasi to one side.

“Thank you!”

“See you later Jaz. Thanks for the groom.”

“Sure, whatever.” Mother reached to grab Jaasi’s ear as she had done when he was younger, but he easily avoided her claw. Heyna’s parents and brother left her alone with Xico.

“Wow! Who can understand parents?” Xico said. “One minute they’re indifferent, the next they are shrieking, and the next they are all concerned.”

“I know, right?” Xico began grooming Heyna, and without thinking, Heyna began to groom Xico. This was what they’d done since the nest. Mother had started as Xico’s nurse and had naturally cooped the fledgling with her own kit. Again, that was usually never done among the Quetz, but the Plesh never behaved like it was anything to comment on, and mother never said anything, and the children didn’t know any better. So Heyna and Xico considered themselves sisters and always made common cause against Jaz, which was unfair. Heyna could see that now, but, well, that was just how things were. Heyna and Xico never even questioned it.

“God! It’s so hot down BelowLight. I don’t know how anything lives down there, even the tree trunks and roots. I couldn’t breath.”

“I know. But Mama says that there’s a whole world down there, and a good thing too. We wouldn’t be able to live and shape the canopy up here without it. We’d have to live like barbarians, on the ground, in nature. Yuck!”

“I guess so, but maybe everyone is right. Maybe I shouldn’t try to work down there. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a master builder.”

“Nonsense! You can be anything you want,” Xico squawked. “Except a Quetz noble, of course!” They both laughed. It was their game. Heyna pretended to be the noble, and Xico the servant. Her mother had once caught them at the game and grounded Heyna for a month.

“Don’t you realize that we are dependent upon the Plesh family for our livelihood!” Her mother had said. “Don’t you know how disrespectful such games appear? What is wrong with you?”

“What is wrong with me?” Heyna said out loud.

“Nothing is wrong with you, Girl!” Xico said. “Just look at your arms! Your claws! You are so strong! You are magnificent! I’m a weakling, compared to you.”

“But you are so smart, so beautiful, so colorful, and I’m… brown.” They both laughed at their other favorite, the praise game.

The doctor came back into the arbor and told Xico her parents were waiting. The friends embraced, and Xico went out.

“Try to get some sleep now, dear,” the doctor said.

*

Heyna was restless for a while. Her mind drifted to her brother. She remembered a morning when she watched Jaz sculpt a fish weir on the South bank of the Yann River. The tough ironwood yielded smoothly to his razor sharp teeth. White flakes first filled his cheeks, then were spit out into the stream, where fish nibbled them hopefully. The sun glinted off the water as the river flowed its last, placid few hundred yards from beneath the dense canopy of the jungle to the wide expanse of the bay.

She looked upstream at the inky darkness from which the river emerged, and into which, the sunlight hardly penetrated. She wondered, why her much older brother took such pains to make a work of art out of what was basically a fence in the water to catch fish. The dense, sturdy wood looped and swirled in graceful curves. Jaz had carved it in two-tone contrast that formed a picture, in bas-relief, of fish leaping and diving. He couldn't just make quick work of it, Heyna thought. He just had to make art.

“That is stunning,” she said. “I'm sure the fish will appreciate your workmanship.”

“No more work than carving something boring,” he said.

“What difference does it make…” she started to say, but she knew that answer.

“It's what I do, HeyHey. It makes the work fun. The Quetz appreciate it.”

“The Quetz,” she snorted. “It's for corralling fish. The Plesh never come down here. They're a thousand feet up in their arbors and council hall. They're never even going to see this.” She kicked the weir.

“Heyna!”

“Sorry! I'm hot.” She turned and dove into the water to cool off, showering Jaz as she came out shaking the water out of her pelt. She looked at his work again.

“Is this is what you want me to do, make art?” she asked.

“You'll be more successful, the more beautiful the work you can turn out.”

“Sure.”

“Shut up and help me with this,” he growled. “You've got a lot to learn.”

Together they stacked the sections of the weir high on the bank to await the river crew who would do the installation. They tied them together, and Jaz tagged them with their sigil, ensuring that they would get credit for their work.

“You're right. It's a scorcher.” Jaz dove into the river and it was Heyna's turn to get showered as he climbed out and shook.

“Hey!” They laughed together. “I'm serious, Jaz. You think I can do what you do? I'm no artist.”

“Don't give me that! You're just as good as I am, you're just lazy. You need to work harder.”

“Lazy!” Heyna squeaked, “I work as hard as anyone.”

“Yeah, but you're wasting your talents. You could be doing so much better. Cleaner is bottom of the barrel work.” He started walking toward the lift. “You're growing up. You need to think about your future.”

“Yeah, but I don't know what I want to do, yet. It's always been so easy for you.”

“You were too little to remember, but I got this good by practice, little sister, practice… and a healthy dose of natural ability, which you have too.”

“But…” He cut her off, as they climbed into the lift and yanked on the signal cable. The car jerked into motion.

“I know it seems like a lot, so start with something simpler. Start with shaping,” he said.

“Shaping? BelowLight?” He nodded. “You're serious?” He nodded again, and turned to take in the sight of the bay as the lift dragged them up towards the canopy.

“Always need shapers. It's a crap job, but it pays, and you learn a lot.”

“Right. You never shaped, but it's good enough for your dumb little sister!”

“Damn right I shaped! And Heyhey! I never said you were little,” he laughed. She swatted him with her tail. “Ow!”

“You are such a flake.”

“And… D'you want to clean arbors for the rest of your life?" She knew that Jaz was right. Her mother had done just that. Jaz was respected for his artistry, which the Quetz prized above almost anything. She envied him. But working BelowLight? She had heard creepy stories.

“I'm already tired of cleaning.”

“So?”

On that day, she knew what she had to do. Now she knew what it was like BelowLight and was having reservations. I’ll give it another month, she thought.

Finally, Heyna slept.