“Bleek!” he said.
And he felt Shadowed Sunlight laugh, the shadows vanishing from his heart forever.
Chapter Twenty-Two
On the day of the Big Move, Anders drove the air van. His dad’s entire crew, plus Dr. Radzinsky x-a’s, were all on a special field trip hosted by none other than Chief Ranger Shelton himself, with with Senior Rangers Ainsley Jedrusinski and Frank Lethbridge as support. The SFS had even supplied vehicles, officially because they would be going into some rough terrain.
The real reason, of course, was that this way there was no chance any nosy x-a—Duff DeWitt immediately sprang to mind—would slip away and show up where he wasn’t wanted.
A lot had happened over the last few days. Anders’ breaking up with Stephanie had been superseded by the amazing news that Karl had bonded with Survivor. When Anders commed to congratulate him, Karl had shaken his head in obvious wonder.
“I get the feeling Survivor had been through too much. I know what that’s like, really. So I guess we’re both survivors, but we’re survivors looking into the future, not back at the past.”
The Skinny ’Cat Clan took the invasion of air vehicles with composure. Chet was there with his truck. Christine, for once, didn’t ride with him, but came in her family’s flatbed. Karl had arrived in one of his family’s heavier farm vehicles. Toby had borrowed a van used by his church. Stephanie had the bulky vehicle her mom used for moving plants. And Jessica was flying her family’s battered sedan.
Mostly the humans stood around waiting and keeping out of the way. Loading was arranged by the treecats themselves.
“Now I know what it’s like to be a chauffeur,” Stephanie laughed. “Remember everybody, when we leave we’re staying below the tree line.”
Chet’s laughter shook the air. “We’ve filed the flight plan, ma’am. We’ll follow orders.” In a softer voice, he said to Anders, “That girl is wasted as a forest ranger. She should be commanding battle fleets.”
“You going to tell her that?” Anders grinned.
“Oh, no. I like Stephanie a lot, but I’d never try to tell her anything.” Chet looked appreciatively over to where Christine was tying down a net over a heap of treecat luggage. “Actually, I wouldn’t try to tell Christine anything, either. That’s the secret to a happy relationship. No one is boss….”
He clapped Anders on the shoulder, sympathy guy-fashion, and hurried off to pull away an inquisitive group of kittens who apparently thought they could fly his truck.
Given all the advanced planning, it should have been no surprise that the relocation went smoothly. At last, Anders unloaded a heap of handmade cord that his father would have loved to have for his collection, wondering vaguely if treecats had something like ropewalks. Then he stepped back.
“I guess we’re done,” he said.
Karl nodded. “I’m still learning how to read Survivor, but I think what I’m getting is ‘Thanks so much, folks, but we’re fine,’ from his family. They need to settle in without us around.”
Jessica came up, Valiant riding on her shoulder. “I’m getting the same feeling. Should we clear out?”
Stephanie nodded. “Let’s. My folks said everyone was welcome back at our place for a picnic and some hang-gliding.”
“We’ll be there,” Christine said, “after we drop off my parents’ truck and grab our rigs.”
“Me, too,” Toby agreed. “I don’t want to keep the church’s van, though. Can someone give me a ride?”
“Sure,” Chet said. “No problem.”
“I can come straight out to your place, Steph,” Jessica said quickly. “I’ve got my gear in the trunk.”
Anders hesitated. These days, he wasn’t sure how welcome he was. Jessica was still keeping her distance, and Stephanie…. He wasn’t sure how much the general invitation had been good manners. Neither of the girls’ expressions helped much, but Karl gave him a lopsided grin.
“Come on. You know what good cooks Dr.Marjorie and Dr. Richard are. And there are always spare gliders.”
“All right….”
The picnic would only have been called a picnic by the Harringtons. Anyone else would have called it a banquet. Anders had slipped over to the buffet for another slice of tanapple pie when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
It was Stephanie.
“Hey, Anders….”
She motioned for him to follow her onto the back porch, where she sat down on a swing. He sat down next to her, realizing with a shock that this was the first time he’d been alone with her since that fateful drive back from the shuttleport.
“I just want you to know,” she said, “that I think I’m okay now. I needed time to think, but flying around, checking stuff out for the treecats—that gave me the time.”
Anders nodded. “Okay? Maybe you don’t hate me?”
“I don’t hate you.” She managed a grin. “I think I still even like you. I’m not saying I’m ready to dance at your wedding….”
He shrugged. “I’m not ready to dance at my wedding. And I’m beginning to think that the girl…I mean, I don’t know what I think anymore.”
“I think,” Stephanie said deliberately, “that Jessica likes you a lot. But, you know, she’s had a lot dropped on her at once. She knows she was one of my first ‘real’ friends, so she doesn’t want to hurt me. She’s also got a lot of defenses up…No offense, Anders Whitaker, but you seem to be the sort who falls in and out of love pretty fast.”
“I’m really not that way,” he protested.
Stephanie put a light hand on his arm. “Actually, I know that. That’s one of the problems of my bond with Lionheart. He’s pretty polite about not sharing what other people are feeling, but if he thinks I need to know, he’s also pretty ruthless. I wanted to be angry at you. I wanted to be completely furious—cast you as the handsome heartbreaker from a distant world….”
“But Lionheart?”
“Wouldn’t let me sit around buried in self-pity. He made sure I knew you were really hurting. That sort of ruins the fantasy.”
“I guess…” He laughed. “What’s wrong with me that I keep falling for girls who bond with treecats? I’m not really into having my heart paraded for public display.”
“It’s not like that,” she assured him. “I mean, the ’cats may know, but the human side of the partnership’s only in on what the ’cat shares.”
She leaned forward. “Valiant likes you. He’s not going to make Jessica like you, but it does mean you have, well, an advocate.”
Anders’ heart had wings.
“Stephanie Harrington, you really are the best.”
“Friends?” she suggested.
“You bet!”
* * *
Up against the crisp blue sky, the young two-legs soared like birds. For once, Climbs Quickly had chosen not to go with Death Fang’s Bane. He had stayed on the ground so he could talk with his friends.
He liked Keen Eyes—and this was a very good thing. Given the close friendship and shared interests of Death Fang’s Bane and the newly named Shining Sunlight, they were certain to spend a great deal of time together.
Dirt Grubber was thinking about plants with blue leaves. <I wonder if they would grow here? Maybe in one of the plant places. I would like to see some for myself. You do not look at plants as carefully as I do.>
<From what you have been telling us about the changing shape of Windswept’s mind-glow,> Climbs Quickly said <I think it very likely will see such trees yourself. Windswept seems hungry for learning, and as best I could gather, the reason we went to the Hot Land was because that is the central nesting place for those among the two-legs who have a great deal of learning. They are not memory singers, precisely, but I think they serve much the same purpose for the two-legs.>