"Did you get that, Maggy? Bayd? I think we just got words for 'skin' and 'feathers.'"

The crested sprookje let her hand drop. From its own vibrantly colored yoke, it tugged a feather and gave it to her. Feathers are good, it told her silently, try them.

Tocohl bit her lip to keep from laughing and translated this, adding, "Get swift-Kalat." Swift-Kalat pushed through the crowd to join her.

"Feathers are good for sprookjes," she told it, translating aloud in GalLing' as she went along. "Skin is good for strange-sprookjes. I give feather to the Jenji to examine." She was forced to lapse into her created pidgin-as yet they hadn't the sprookje word for "examine." In pidgin, it was the nipping motion with which everyone in camp had been examined.

"Keep your eyes open, Bayd. He-"

"She," corrected swift-Kalat.

"-She wants LightningStruck to translate that."

"Got it."

(Got it,) agreed Maggy, and together they repeated Tocohl's phrase, this time ending it with the sprookje's own term.

The crested sprookje turned his attention on swift-Kalat. "You examine?" Tocohl translated for him.

Swift-Kalat turned his thumbs up. The crested sprookje looked first at LightningStruck and then at Tocohl for confirmation. "Yes," they both told her.

"Give feather," the crested sprookje agreed. "Feathers are good." Then she stepped back to indicate the garden.

"She wants to know if you made that," Tocohl said.

Swift-Kalat flicked his fingers no. At the same time, Tocohl expressed the sprookje negative.

Reaching into the crowd, she brought Dyxte forward. "The ti-Tobian made that." And she translated the crested sprookje's response for Dyxte: "Her Nibs says it's very good. Different and strange, but very good. It's what she came to see, if I got that right."

"Thank her for me, Tocohl. Ask if she does landscaping, if you can." That wasn't easy, but Tocohl managed it.

"Yes," came the answer, "I will show you-" Tocohl broke off her translation. "Did you get that last, Bayd?"

"I think it's a time referent. See if she'll explain it. We need time referents desperately-I can't even sort out their tenses, if they've got them."

There was a flurry of activity and a flutter of feathers involving all five sprookjes, three h.e.l.lsparks, and van Zoveel. At the end of it, they were forced to agree that both sides would wait for understanding.And that Dyxte would wait to see the crested sprookje's work.

By then, most of the surveyors had trickled away to let the glossis get on with their work. Swift-Kalat had gone to examine the feather. Only van Zoveel and Alfvaen remained. It was Alfvaen who next attracted the crested sprookje's attention. "I examine One-Who-Was-Poisoned," Tocohl translated, adding, "She means to nip you again, I think. So be forewarned, Alfvaen."

"Yes," said Alfvaen, and she held out her hand, flinching only slightly when the expected nip came.

Having taken her sample, the crested sprookje turned to Leaper, the brown sprookje that had been swift-Kalat's shadow, the first Tocohl and Alfvaen had seen. The crested sprookje ruffled its feathers and raised its crest. "Good work," translated Tocohl for Alfvaen's benefit, "with a raised-crest fillip."

"Perhaps it's a superlative," Nevelen Darragh suggested. Tocohl raised a brow. Darragh smiled and went on, "Perhaps youngsters don't rate a use of the superlative."

"Anything's possible."

"Let's find out if they are youngsters," Bayd said. "Good timing," she said as Om im brought tarps and spread them on the muddy ground. Bayd sat, inviting the crested sprookje to join her.

Tocohl watched the two, but she found herself increasingly distracted by some elusive thought she could not quite touch a blade to. Her glance kept returning to Alfvaen: the Siveyn shared a tarp with LightningStruck.

"Yes," Bayd confirmed, "the brown sprookjes are youngsters. It was a matter of the larynxes. I can't quite make it out. And the fact that youngsters are more flexible in a new situation. FineGarden-that's the best I can do on Her Nibs's name-FineGarden wants to know if we are too. I told her no. We think a strange land is too dangerous for youngsters."

Tocohl waited for the rippled reply. FineGarden seemed to say that strange sprookjes could be dangerous too. Tocohl's eyes widened. There it was: the strange sprookje that could be dangerous was Maldeneantine-Timosie Megeve!

She looked again at LightningStruck, completely at ease beside Alfvaen even though she had seen Alfvaen at her most violent. And she remembered seeing the sprookjes back away from Megeve.

"They're afraid of Megeve but not of Alfvaen!" she said aloud-and it was to Byworld Judge Nevelen Darragh that she spoke. "Perhaps one of them saw something!"

For answer, Darragh stood to tap the chimes at the entrance to layli-layli calulan's cabin. When layli-layli appeared at the entrance, Nevelen Darragh turned again to Tocohl. "Ask them," she said, "ask them about Oloitokitok."

"I'll try," said Tocohl. To layli-layli, she added carefully, "I can't promise anything." Frowning in thought, she rose to her feet and shifted her body as if she were about to speak in the Yn male dialect.

LightningStruck looked startled, then rose. Shifting to match her kinesics to Tocohl's, she riffled her feathers in alarm and opened her mouth to display a tongue warning. The feathers settled as quickly as they had risen, to indicate to Tocohl that she must wait. All this Tocohl translated for layli-layli calulan, while LightningStruck held a hurried consultation with FineGarden.

Tocohl was unable to follow this, except for LightningStruck's quick shift into Yn-male (again signifying Oloitokitok?) and back to sprookje. FineGarden replied just as rapidly and just as incomprehensibly-then addressed herself to Tocohl.

"We wait," Tocohl interpreted, "LightningStruck will ask-or possibly will get-Vikry. Vikry?"

FineGarden shifted to Yn-male. "Oh, yes. I understand," Tocohl said. "Vikry is Oloitokitok's sprookje."

"Do you think Vikry can tell us what happened to Oloitokitok?" Alfvaen said as LightningStruck hurried off into the flashwood. Tocohl gave her Kejesli's one-hand shrug. FineGarden, who seemed enchanted by the gesture, drew her into a lengthy discussion that pa.s.sed the time until LightningStruck returned.

With her was a sprookje Tocohl had not seen before.

(This could be tricky, Maggy,) Tocohl said privately. (We've got to get this just right. Tell me if the arachne spots anything I miss.) (Right,) said Maggy, moving the arachne to one side for a clearer view of the new arrival. (Vikry is carrying what appears to be a short length of cable.)That was curious. Tocohl craned for a look, but the object was obscured by the sprookje's feathers.

(What kind of cable?) (I can't tell from this angle. I'll let you know in a moment.) The arachne moved slowly, angling closer to the sprookje.

Knowing how capable Maggy was of splitting her attention, Tocohl went on to greet Vikry and to introduce herself. Her 2nd skin rippled stripes in several different areas.

"I'm asking what they know of Oloitokitok," she added, "I'm telling Vikry that you were very close to Oloitokitok, layli-layli, and we want Vikry to tell you about him." Brown and gold stripes rippled at Tocohl's wrists. "And I will speak for you to understand."

For a long moment, Vikry turned his enormous gold eyes on layli-layli calulan, his feathers a jumble of activity.

Tocohl would have reached to smooth the feathers but she did not know if Vikry was familiar with the pidgin and she had no sprookje for rea.s.surance. LightningStruck did it for her, adding the pidgin gesture as well, with a glance at Tocohl to see if she understood. Tocohl turned her thumbs up and simultaneously had Maggy ripple a yes.

Hesitantly, Vikry moved toward layli-layli calulan. "Oloitokitok good," Tocohl interpreted, "Oloitokitok very good."

"Yes," said layli-layli calulan, turning her thumbs up in agreement with the sprookje.

"Oloitokitok gave Vikry this," Tocohl went on, still translating, as Vikry held out the short length of cable to layli-layli.

(It's a piece of superconducting cable,) Maggy put in privately. (Expensive gift!) (Thanks,) said Tocohl, and she continued aloud, "He wants to know if you want it back, layli-layli."

"Tell him if Oloitokitok wanted him to have it, then I want him to have it," said layli-layli calulan, motioning in pidgin that the length of cable was his. Tocohl did the best she could in sprookje, but she was glad to see Vikry had already gotten the idea.

Vikry went on, in both pidgin and sprookje simultaneously. "Oloitokitok good," Tocohl translated again, "Vikry thanks you. Vikry gave-I wish we had some idea of tenses-yes, gave Oloitokitok something-something like cable? I didn't get that. Did you, Bayd?"

"No, I didn't." With Maggy's a.s.sistance, Bayd rippled green and gold stripes asking Vikry to repeat himself.

Superconducting cable, Tocohl thought as she watched. They gave me moss for moss- "I still don't understand," Bayd said, signing it as well.

"LightningStruck," said Tocohl, in GalLing' and sprookje simultaneously, "you and I spent two storms in good/safe plants. Tall plants. What do you call them?"

LightningStruck made the same riffling of feathers that Vikry had made. "You've got it!" Bayd said.

With Maggy repeating the riffle, Tocohl asked Vikry, "Oloitokitok gave you the cable, and you gave Oloitokitok lightning rod?"

Thumbs up and another riffling, this time across the chest. "Lightning rod and cable-the same!"

Tocohl translated triumphantly.

Thumbs went up all around, everyone happy to have gotten that straight, but Tocohl felt a chill run up her spine. (Odds on Megeve jumped again,) Maggy reported.

(I know. Now we ask a few nasty questions.) She addressed herself to Vikry again, translating as she went. "Oloitokitok good. Oloitokitok give you cable, you give Oloitokitok lightning rod." Thumbs up on each. Inexorably, Tocohl went on, "Megeve see you give Oloitokitok lightning rod?"

Vikry again turned thumbs up. Om im growled in Bluesippan, touching the hilt of his knife. Layli-layli calulan's face turned grim. A handful of the other surveyors, catching on to the implications of Vikry's report, stirred restlessly.

"Go on," Tocohl said to the sprookje, "then what happened?"

She'd gotten the idea of continuation across, for Vikry picked up the story from there. "All excited,"

Tocohl translated, "Megeve and Oloitokitok make... beak flaps with... no, I don't..."Seeing her confusion, LightningStruck stepped in and demonstrated, by parroting Tocohl's last few words. Then she repeated the feather rufflings that were, unmistakably, the sprookje for "verbal speech."

"Beak flaps with safe thunder," Bayd said. "Ah! Distant enough thunder that you needn't worry about lightning and needn't shut down your ears!"

(What is it?) Maggy asked. (You just spiked on every sensor. Are you all right?) (Help me out, Maggy. I'm going to make another guess.) Tocohl touched Vikry gently on the wrist to make sure of her attention. Speaking aloud as she went along, Tocohl began, "Vikry. Oloitokitok gave you cable. You gave Oloitokitok lightning rod. Megeve saw. Megeve and Oloitokitok very excited. You show me Megeve and Oloitokitok."

LightningStruck riffled her feathers to sign that she did not understand.

"You give Oloitokitok lightning rod." Tocohl shifted to a stance that mimicked Vikry's and made her an imaginary gift. "What do Oloitokitok and Megeve do? How do they move? Vikry show me Oloitokitok. LightningStruck show me Megeve."

The two younger sprookjes riffled at FineGarden. Tocohl couldn't tell if they were asking FineGarden's permission or if they were asking her to explain Tocohl's request. Whichever it was, Vikry at least turned back and turned her thumbs up.

"Good," signed Tocohl. "You show us Megeve and Oloitokitok." (Tape this, Maggy.) (You think I'm as dumb as Garbo?) Maggy had already moved the arachne to a position that afforded her an un.o.bstructed view of the two sprookjes.

(Sorry, Maggy,) Tocohl said. (If this works, we can't afford to miss the chance to record the result.) The two sprookjes made a fine show of smoothing their feathers and readying themselves, then once more Vikry turned her thumbs up.

(It might not work,) Maggy began-but the two sprookjes had already changed manner. Vikry took on the proxemics and kinesics of an Yn male with an accuracy that would have astonished even a native dancer of the language. From Layli-layli calulan's whitening face, Tocohl knew that the sprookje had caught much of Oloitokitok's individual manner as well.

LightningStruck-too slender, too small-was nonetheless the image of Megeve in every movement.

The sprookjes clacked their beaks, apparently in imitation of the two humans speaking to each other.

No sound came out-Tocohl had expected none-but she could read the sequence of events in their movements.

Oloitokitok waved something triumphantly in his hand. He started for... yes, he must have started for base camp, urging Megeve to follow quickly.

Megeve-angry and fearful-caught him by the tips of his feathers.

His excitement barely controlled, Oloitokitok turned to face Megeve. Megeve made beak flaps.

Oloitokitok watched him, his great gold eyes widening.

Megeve made more beak flaps. Oloitokitok quieted, deflated, then sagged-into a posture that shrieked humiliation. As Megeve made yet more beak flaps, Oloitokitok resigned himself to failure.

To Tocohl, they might just as well have spoken the words: Megeve had convinced Oloitokitok that their evidence would not be accepted.

She was not the only one who understood. Beside her, Om im spat out a curse in Bluesippan and grasped the hilt of his knife. Tocohl gripped his shoulder and he quieted, but the hand on his hilt did not loosen.

In silent anger, they watched the remainder of the sprookjes' dumb show, fighting to comprehend the sense beneath the movement.

At last, Megeve made beak flaps at Oloitokitok that buoyed his spirits. Together the two of them set off for base camp: Megeve still angry but no longer so fearful, Oloitokitok in antic.i.p.ation.

"That was how he seemed," said layli-layli calulan, "the day before he d-disappeared." Her scars of office stood out against the pallor of her cheek. "Ask them what happened next."

"What then?" Tocohl signed, but both sprookjes had already returned to their own individual stances.

In sprookje, Vikry explained that they had seen nothing more that day. A storm had forced them to take shelter for the evening. The next day, when the weather was safe, they returned to the camp.LightningStruck followed Megeve out to the hangar but Megeve had-here LightningStruck ran out of understandable signs and showed them-Megeve had raised something heavy to threaten her with it.

"Megeve not safe," she signed again, showing the red warning of a thrust-out tongue for emphasis.

Vikry agreed. When he had followed Oloitokitok out to the hangar shortly thereafter, Megeve had frightened him away too.

The sprookjes could show little more. From a distance, they had seen Megeve give something to Oloitokitok. Then two daisy-clippers had left together. That was all.

"No more beak flaps from Oloitokitok," Vikry finished.

"No," said Tocohl, her hand still clenched on Om im's shoulder. "That was the last anyone heard from him."

There was a long grim silence that was broken at last by Nevelen Darragh. "You have your witnesses, layli-layli calulan."

Layli-layli calulan, with the calm of an empty suit of iron armor, said only, "Yes."

"Tocohl, may I borrow your blade?"

It took Tocohl a moment to realize that Darragh was referring to Om im. "Of course," she said, relinquishing her grip on the Bluesippan's shoulder. Her hand ached. "Your pardon, Om im," she muttered hastily. She got a brief glancing smile in return as he stepped forward to bow to Darragh.

Darragh smiled at him. "You know the drill, Om im. Call court in the common room in"-she consulted her own computer briefly-"one hour. Any cases dealing with the world known as Flashfever may be presented at that time."

"And presiding?" Om im asked.

"Byworld Judge Tocohl Susumo."

Tocohl opened her mouth but nothing came out. Across the way, layli-layli calulan met her eyes, and gave a crisp, satisfied jerk of her head.

"S-susumo?" Tocohl said, her voice harsh with the effort.