The Color of Distance by Amy Thomson

Author:Amy Thomson [Thomson, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sf
ISBN: 0-441-00244-7
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 1995-06-01T20:00:00+00:00

“Your people are very strange,” Ukatonen said.

“My people are very different,” Juna agreed. She wondered how she could explain war and famine to Ukatonen. Had the Tendu ever fought a war? Had they ever starved? She looked away. The thought of asking such questions of these peaceful people shamed her. She remembered the refugee camp, remembered her stomach cramping with hunger. She darkened with shame as she recalled stealing food from others for herself and Toivo after their mother died. She had done it to survive, but that didn’t excuse the terrible things she had done.

Juna looked up as the sun momentarily dimmed. A heavy bank of clouds was closing in. The villagers began gathering up and reloading their cargo. She helped Anito and the others load their raft. She looked at the Tendu, their moist skins gleaming in the pearly light that heralded the coming rain. Their lives were so different from hers. How could she ever explain humans to them?

The next day they stopped and portaged around a large waterfall. It took the rest of that day and the next to disassemble the rafts and carry them and their cargo around the waterfall, and then reassemble and reload them. Once past the waterfall, the character of the river changed, becoming wider, slower, and more placid. The few stretches of white water they encountered were relatively easy and safe.

Anito and Ukatonen continued teaching Juna about linking. By the time the river broadened and separated into marshy channels near the delta, she had learned to heal small cuts and abrasions on her own body. When they entered the tidal mangrove swamps near the coast, they were set upon by millions of tiny black biting insects. Anito showed Juna how to synthesize an insect repellent in her allu-a, and to adjust her skin so that the saltier water of the ocean would not burn her. At last, after several days of rowing through placid channels, they heard the sound of surf. The trees opened out and they found themselves in a wide bay.

Ukatonen dove off the raft, and vanished beneath the waves. The villagers waited, watching the water intently. All was quiet except for the water lapping against the rafts, and the distant sound of surf. Suddenly the water ahead began to boil. A sleek green shape leaped from the water, followed by several others. As they approached, the rafts drew closer together, and there was a rising flicker of excitement among the villagers. Then the creatures surrounded the rafts. To Juna’s surprise, Ninto reached down and helped one of them climb aboard. It stood with difficulty on its short, stumpy legs.

“My name is Munato. I will escort you to our island,” the creature said in skin speech. “Do you have any honey?”

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