Despite the bad beginning, Ratha grew more hopeful as the demonstration progressed. She could see that the additional days of training had been well used. Aree performed better than he had when she’d seen him the first time. She could tell that the Firekeepers were impressed, but she also sensed hostility, as if they resented the treeling’s skill.
Shongshar sat next to Fessran, muttering things in her ear. Each time he spoke to her, the interested expression that had been on her face when Thakur began to show Aree’s skills faded a little more, until her expression was as wooden as the others’.
Ratha knew Thakur had anticipated this. He gave her a meaningful glance as he set Aree to laying out kindling for another fire. This task was not something she had seen before and she watched in fascination as the little paws placed each stick carefully against the others, making a perfect nest for the Red Tongue. Not once did the treeling drop a stick or knock the pile over. With Thakur’s careful guidance, Aree took a torch from the original fire and lit the new pile.
The Firekeepers’ eyes widened despite themselves. Even Shongshar looked impressed, although Ratha was sure he didn’t want to be.
Perhaps Aree also felt the challenge from the Firekeepers, for the next thing the treeling did was unexpected. Seizing a stick small enough to carry in one paw, Aree plunged one end in the fire, drew it out and galloped around the Firekeepers on three legs, carrying the Red Tongue. Thakur’s whiskers drooped in dismay and he chased after the treeling. That was exactly what Aree wanted. He scampered toward Thakur, leaped up on his back and rode him with the firebrand lifted high in both paws.
As soon as Thakur stopped, Aree bounced down from his back, tossed the firebrand back into the flames and swaggered back, his tail curled high, expecting the usual reward of licks and nuzzles. Ratha could see that Thakur had no choice but to praise the creature. The treeling’s antics were not what he had planned, but they were equally astonishing. The Firekeepers’ jaws hung open in amazement.
Shongshar, not Fessran, was the first to speak. “Your tree-ling is skilled, herding teacher,” he said, studying Aree closely. The treeling fluffed his fur at him and wound his tail tighter around Thakur’s neck. “Did you spend much time teaching him?” Shongshar asked.
“Yes, I did. Aree is clever and learns fast, but he took a lot of work.”
“Why did you choose to teach a treeling instead of teaching clubs?”
Ratha saw Thakur hesitate. “I teach cubs herding. I am not a Firekeeper,” he said. “I taught Aree because he has a special ability that the cubs do not have. His paws are different from ours: they are made to grasp the limbs of trees as he climbs. He is not as clumsy as the cubs. He doesn’t knock things over.”
“The cubs understand what they do when they serve the Red Tongue,” said Shongshar softly. “Does your treeling?”
“No,” Thakur admitted. “He understands only the actions necessary to care for it.”
“He does not share the feelings that we have for the fire-creature. He does not know its strength and its power.”
“No,” the herding teacher replied, his green eyes glowing angrily. “How can you expect a treeling to understand such things? There is no need for him to understand. He just does what you tell him.”
“Then he is an animal, like the dapplebacks and three-horns,” said Shongshar with a hiss in his voice and a gold glitter in his eyes. “He is witless, like my cubs that you and Ratha took from clan ground. Is an animal to serve the Red Tongue?”
Ratha felt her own eyes narrow and her nape rise. “Enough, Shongshar! It is Fessran I would hear, not you.”
The Firekeeper leader lifted her chin and eyed Ratha coolly. “Clan leader, I share many of Shongshar’s feelings. You know better than I how fiercely we fought for the Red Tongue in the days when Meoran ruled the Named.”
“Yes, you ran with me then and your feelings were your own,” growled Ratha. She regretted her words as they left her tongue, for Fessran flinched visibly and her amber eyes took on some of the same hard glitter as Shongshar’s.
“The treeling’s skill is impressive,” she said. “However, I do have some questions. You have only one treeling and there are many Firekeepers. Do you intend to catch more treelings and train them in the same way?”
Thakur looked at Ratha. “I hadn’t thought about that. I got Aree by accident. He was injured when I found him. It may be difficult to catch others.”
“If we accepted Aree and let him do the difficult tasks for us, we would no longer try to do them for ourselves,” Fessran pointed out. “What would happen then if the treeling were to run away or get killed?”
Thakur had come to sit beside Ratha and she felt him tense at Fessran’s words. “I don’t think Aree is going to run away and I am certainly not going to let anyone kill him.” He glared back at the Firekeepers.
Ratha decided it was time to interrupt. “There will be no talk of killing,” she snapped. “Thakur has offered to share his treeling’s ability and you should be grateful.”
“Clan leader, we did not mean to offend either you or Thakur,” said Fessran. “We think that the treeling’s skill is valuable, but there are some problems. After all, Thakur did not know what the creature would do when he snatched up a torch and began running around us. I think you would agree that more training is needed before the treeling can really be trusted.”
Ratha tried to control her temper. Fessran might be irritating, but she had made some points. Aree’s last display showed that the treeling was still unpredictable, and there remained the problem that there was only one of the creatures. Nonetheless, Ratha was pleased with Thakur for trying to jolt the Firekeepers out of their complacency.
“All right,” she said at last. “Thakur, you are to continue teaching Aree. To make things easier for you, Fessran will assign a Firekeeper to build and tend a fire near your den. Do you both agree?”
Fessran glanced at Shongshar and looked uncomfortable. “Is there anyone you would like?” she asked Thakur.
“If you could spare Bira, I wouldn’t mind working with her,” Thakur answered.
He stayed beside Ratha as the Firekeepers put out their fire and left. He smoothed his ruffled fur with short angry strokes of his tongue.
“Fessran will let you have Bira,” Ratha said as the dusk closed around them.
“She may. I wonder what else she’ll do.”
Ratha looked at him sharply, but he was only an outline and two eyes in the growing darkness. “She will do as I tell her as long as I am clan leader.”
He sighed. “I wish you hadn’t put it that way,” he said softly and padded away with his treeling on his back.
During the next few mornings Ratha visited Thakur at his den to be sure Fessran was doing what had been promised. Each time she went, she found Bira there along with a well-made little fire and a stack of wood that was always kept full. The young Firekeeper seemed to enjoy watching Thakur teach Aree. Ratha watched her carefully for signs of the same hostility that other Firekeepers had shown, but there were none.
Aree’s instruction was progressing well. The treeling seemed to understand that capricious actions, such as those he had performed in front of the Firekeepers, were not acceptable and would result in a scolding. Thakur reported that Aree had become more obedient, and she could see for herself that the herding teacher had managed to accomplish this without breaking the creature’s spirit. Every once in a while Aree looked at Thakur with a mischievous glint in his eyes, but the treeling took his task seriously and never deliberately disobeyed.
Ratha watched and felt encouraged. Soon Thakur would be able to show Aree to the Firekeepers again, and they would be unable to find any fault with the treeling’s performance. Perhaps she and Thakur could also devise a way to capture more treelings. Aree might be able to lure another one down from the branches. If the captured treeling was a female, she might bear young. Or Thakur might climb one of the fruit trees with Aree and look for a treeling nest that might shelter young ones. If they could find and train more of the creatures, Fessran might be willing to accept the idea.