Chapter 9 - Stories

Immediately, mother-bug loomed beside Sana and earnestly inquired, "Do you really think Grete is ready for stories? Remember, you should be telling her what she does not know from her egg sleep. And I know well your stories scared Beryl and Ewan for many restless days."

Those two desperately clung to their mother's legs like the mere mention had brought them back to that terror. Not that she needed to worry about me. I listened to scary tales to get to sleep. Real-life provided too much uncertainty and fear for any fictional creation to make me sweat. Still, around here, so many things were new and unknown.

Spreading out with the impression of a frustrated teenager, Sana scoffed, "Mom, those two would pass out from a squeak of mud, it's hardly a fair comparison. Trust me, Grete is in my care. I will teach her as she rests."

I was tempted to squelch a bit of the ground to see whether that was hyperbole or not but remaining the well-behaved newborn seemed like the best idea. They scrambled up mother-bug from behind in anticipation of something terrible though. Father doted on Citrine as she rattled off fragments from the Nitchcrawlers and Holehiders, which I assumed were other families I'd not met yet. But, he saved a comforting embrace for shy Riva as she dutifully groomed him.

Silt stored what was left of the discovered, outside food within a thin crevasse before planting his body against the opening. The swooping speedsters on the walls finally slow down enough that I could see their shapes before they rapidly started grooming each other. The pair mother-bug had previously scolded pounced on Beryl and Ewan, sending them into screaming, spinning circuits of the entire area until one each grabbed hold of a parent for comfort.

It took a while for everyone to settle down, but Sana inhabited patience. When and only when she assessed the time was right did she begin.

"Once upon a dusk, there lived a modest family of Shashelm. They gave praise to the King, they groomed eagerly, and they searched well for the best sweet sweet for everyone. But a poor, burning fate scorched them. Nothing went their way. They had to seek out three homes, begged for water, and the Apislong refused to trade with them. Uhh...Apislong live in families without end and have one all-mother. They fly and work and think in so many ways all through the blazing day but...they are never unkind. So, the mother of this family knew something was terribly wrong."

Another name to remember. That one sounded like a couple of different insects I could imagine but I didn't want to interrupt the flow of the story. Mom did sometimes lull me to sleep with well-told tales, though my instinct was to not give her that much recognition. But then my instinct also loathed sharing the same words with her as this motherly bug in the fear that across dreams, space, or whatever this was, mom would still find a way to taint the good I'd discovered here.

Banishing those thoughts away for as long as I could, I renewed my focus on Sana as she continued, "Seeking out the eldest Shashelm in her lineage, a deep mother of advancing days beyond counting, she begged to know why such hardships had tangled up her loved ones. With wisdom as far back as stories can reach, the deep mother had a resolute answer. It was a curse, a turned fate. And one of her daughters was stricken. The only way to know which, would be to watch them as they slept. For the deep mother told her that the daughter whose hands dug at the mud was the one."

At this, mother-bug leveled a look at Sana, who bowed to her mother and petitioned, "It's not scary, honest." She kept the same look on her but didn't halt the story.

"So, late into the scorched day, the mother of the family groomed herself in concern. One of her little ones had a curse? She would do anything to free them of it, if it were true. With hope it was something else, she watched her daughters as they slept. The eldest, confident and true, had her hands out to tackle danger that befell her siblings. The next slept with its leg in its mouth because it still had something sweet left to nibble on. And onward she saw with hope that the deep-mother had made a mistake. Until she got to the youngest."

At first, Sana turned to me but then shifted back to mother-bug before sifting over what she wanted to say. Ultimately, she just gazed out.

Miming the position she described, Sana said, "Her youngest daughter had carved out a little cave with her grip from discomfort and stress. The mother desperately wished for an end to her little one's grief, invoking the Call to the King. When someone you love is in great distress, it is said you can beg the King and, if He hears your lament, then the distress can be given to you and they will be cured. But the curse was too great and affected all of them, so there was nothing the King could do. With her shell weighing across her body like it was covered in rocks and far too small for her, the mother told her lovely youngest daughter what she witnessed."

It was obvious Sana dashed over some parts because it hit too close to home for the listeners. I knew this family had lost some children in the egg and the difficulties I couldn't help but present to them were just one more thing. Still, I hadn't heard this story before and wondered where it was heading.

Fanning her legs out, Sana relaxed into her telling, "While confused and scared at first, the little one had a wisdom beyond her milk lights. She knew the only way to save those she loved. She had to travel far beyond her home in the mud, past things she had only heard about in stories, past unrelenting obstacles, through great danger, and to the endland where your lost self lives. Only there might she vanquish the curse and restore the comfort of darkness."

Others around me bedded down even as Sana continued her tale, with no less enthusiasm but with a respectful, hush voice.

"Despite being small, she braved the milklit nights alone, with crossings of water that never seemed to end. Her long breath gave out more than once but still ever onward did she go. Across paths of sand no other had trod. Through strange places where the creations of Apislong, Bombomori, and beings we have no name for were traded. She soothed beasts that could crush her with a step. She befriended swarms of the air. She saw things that none of her kind in a gen...uhh...it was a long journey, but she always kept thoughts of her family close to her. It would be dangerous and unwise for any others to go for what would be selfish reasons..."

That sure felt like a taped-on disclaimer from mother-bug not to attempt anything in this story by yourself, but I tolerated it.

"Always she traveled by night, in corners and cracks, careful and cautious of every danger. By treacherous day, she hid alone or among friendly fellow travelers. While her journey never seemed like it would end, no matter how far or fast she scurried, finally, at long last, she made it to the Mountain."

To illustrate her meaning, Sana scaled the nearby wall and explained, "This...would be but the tiniest speck to the Mountain. She had to climb for days and days just to see a change in the landscape. But, after a tireless, perilous trek, she made it to the top. And it was there she found her lost self, the twisted curse upon her family..."

Now hunched down, Sana said, "It shared her face but was wild and hungry, like a foul beast that serves and seeks the burning brightness. It grabbed for her, wishing only to consume her. But the little one had grown much in her journey. She had seen so many things and faced such great dangers. She had seen the true face of herself and this one only invited quiet pity.

"Instead of fighting it or kicking it off the Mountain, she offered what food she had after giving a portion to the King. Her lost self quieted and wept, for it had never known charity. With the littlest sister's sympathy, her lost self was healed, free to slip away into the night. As a reward, she left behind the greatest gifts the little one could ever imagine. A boulder of the sweetest sweet, tender fibers to swaddle even the greatest shape, and a shell with a well of water which would never go dry. With these prizes, the little one returned home to find prosperity and love with her family for the rest of her days. The end."

Despite my determination to hear the entire tale, I faded several times and fretted that I had missed some vital scene. At the conclusion, I attentively sat up as though I had been that way throughout. Sana caressed me and whispered, "May you never need to go so far for us. May you always feel the warm, sheltering dark of beautiful nights. And may you stay just as snuggly-cute as you are right now."

Silt, who had long ago fallen asleep nearby, echoed, "Snuggly...cute...little sis..."

After mother-bug checked in with me and made sure I was still nicely hydrated and not at all story traumatized like Ewan and Beryl, who were shaking behind her, she put me down in a little warm nook of mud to rest.

Human me would've much preferred covers and a pillow but this wasn't uncomfortable. Sleep was still difficult with so many thoughts and feelings inside my mind. I still knew deeply this was just an extended dream or vision and nodding off would free me from it but I found these alien. compassionate creatures so nice in ways I never would've expected.

If nothing else came of it, I told myself that I would do my best to never again hurt a bug which wasn't bothering me. I'd put them outside, open a window, or let them escape.

And, as darkness comforted me, I thought about that little bug on a long journey and whether I might be as brave as them if faced with the same.