would put them in balance again.

"(Mother)," Dion protested. "(We/humans) have already paid the price.

Why should I prove (myself/us) again?"

"The price was paid by Humans who had flight," the alien returned. There was still loathing in her voice. "You have no flight. You must prove your

(worth/flight/ability), or the debt will be paid to a-" Her voice faltered. "-

Human that can Fly."

"(Agreement)," the purple-dark voice said. "Show that (it/ human/ primitive) can Fly, and I will balance the debt."

Dion's voice was desperate. "Mother?"

The gray-blue Aiueven looked at her a long moment, its slitted eyes blind to

Dion's physical body. "It is Human," she said finally. "Its wings are not real. It cannot be tested with Flight."

"But it must still be tested," others argued. There was grim determination in

their tones. "If it has no wings, why should it be given full (power/ knowledge/past)?"

"Do you claim its (proof/flight) for it?" the strong, silver voice demanded.

"(Denial)." The Aiueven, repulsed by the idea that she was bonded to the Human, was shocked at the suggestion.

"(Pity)," the silver-voiced birdman sent to Dion's mother, recognizing the other's horror. To have to defend a Human to keep one's own voice clear of the darkness that colored another's tones... "Let it prove itself if it wants the debt paid. But let the proof be within (honor/balance) or we will pay again (later/ descendants)." The image of plague and blood coloring the purple-dark voice was clear.

"When I brought it," Eastwind-rider-across-the-rocks cut in slowly, "it said it was a (healer)."

"Then I will test its (healing)," the purple-dark voice snarled.

Before Dion's unfocused eyes registered what happened, he moved

blindingly fast. A tearing, indescribably burning pain shrieked through her body. Dion froze, unable to move. And she looked down to see her parka torn from one side to the other. Blood gushed out over her hands.

It was then that she finally screamed.

XXIII.

What gift is given that has no giver? What glass returns a stranger? What song has words of honesty? What lesson is a thief?

-Second Riddle of the Ages Previous Top Next It makes sound," Sweeper-of-ice-ridges-sharp-on-the-horizon said with satisfaction. "It doesn't (heal) itself. It thought itself (worthy)." Dion strangled on her shriek. In the back of her mind, the gray wolves surged, slipping past the voices. Her child, her daughter... The last of Aranur... She tried to feel her womb.

"(Distress). It is dying," said her (mother). "Look how it centers itself away from the gash and onto its own (child/future). It cannot stop its (blood/life)." "It uses (skin/fur/crude) to stop its (blood)," disparaged the purple-dark voice.

Dion heard their voices as if in a fog. The blood on her hands; the sudden frigid touch of air inside her body. The sense of the mother-alien was heavy in her mind, but it was watching, taking up her thoughts without helping her

to be strong. Dion fell to her knees. The jarring spurted more blood into her parka, soaking the front of the coat.

"Hishn," she whispered. "Aranur... "

It was the shock of the ice that focused her. The alien mother did not seem

to touch her, but still, its strength was part of her. A bond, she thought, like the one with the wolves. A link to power... She grasped the sense of the Aiueven and used it as she used the Gray Ones. She felt her own heart and slowed it; felt for the blood and stopped it. The slash had not torn her womb, but the child within her struggled for more of her blood.

"It is dying," the hard, gray voice said.

A silver voice seemed to frown. "(Denial)," it answered the other. "It is just slower than you wish. It is stopping the (blood/ life-flow) now."

"But it does not (even) try to (regenerate/heal)."

The gray-blue voice of Dion's (mother) was a knife that twisted in her

mind. She shuddered and tried to cling to it, but the alien seemed to back away. The Aiueven shifted from foot to foot as she tried to condemn and yet defend the bond into which she was locked herself.

"It is Human," the silver voice attempted to comfort. "They do not have the

(ability) in their bodies."

"But see how it (protects/life-debt) its (baby/child-debt)," her mother said in despair. "It makes honor-pact with its own (child-debt/future)."

The ice-blue voice snorted. "It is Human. It knows no honor-pact."

"(Denial). It has (youth) in it now."

"How can this be? It is a (yearling) itself."

"It is Human," the orange-red voice snapped. "They (procreate) like rasts."

"Does it (really/disbelief) pact with its (young)?"

"(Affirmation)." Dion's (mother)'s wings beat as if to clear the air for them

to see.

One of the others looked closely. "You are right," he said with resignation.

"It has (youth)."

"(Despair/pity)."

With a shudder, the Aiueven mother reached out to Dion's hands.

"(Denial)!" the purple-dark voice snarled. The alien snapped his lips so that

flashes burst back in the recesses of his mouth. "It cannot (heal/future)

itself, so let it (die/stop/end-debt) like it should."

"It has honor-pact with its own (young)," the birdwoman spat. "Do you break this pact as your (father's father's mother) broke the one you test now?"

"(Shame). (Hate)."

"(Agreement). But it is frail and weak and confused by its dreams. And it is

now my-" She shuddered. "-(youth/child-debt)." She watched while Dion tried to protect her baby. "(Look) at it."

There was shock in her body-Dion could feel it. The cold crept up from

her legs. She had to struggle to control her heartbeat now, to force her lungs to breathe.

"Human." The birdwoman shuddered again. She turned to the others. "This place is (contaminated/dead). Take our (children/future) and go. There are other dens in which to (live/grow/ dream). I will see you at (home/ship) before the storm rides me down."

"(Relief). (Lingering loathing)." As one, all but the mother-debt alien rose and flew from the cave, their voices calling, urging, commanding the young to listen. Two flew back toward the warmer, lower cave to grab up the brown-furred youth. A few seconds later, those two flashed through the cave, following the others, and the sound of collapsing stone shuddered up from below. Icicles snapped and crashed to the floor of the cave, spattering Dion with slivers. She could hardly see through the fog. The white walls around her blurred with her shock, and she couldn't think anymore. The cold reached through her like talons. There was no energy for her to suck from the wolves, so she sucked off herself instead. But her focus faded like an old man's sight, and the blood kept weeping out.

The Aiueven's eyes were slits, blank and waiting.

The pain grew and lessened, pulsing with what was left of Dion's blood.

"Mother!" she cried out finally. "Help me or hurt me, but don't just watch me die."

"(Distress). (Denial)."

"Does my Name mean nothing? Can you not accept anything outside

yourself?"

"That is a Human thing."

"We're bonded now-your voice is meshed in my thoughts. Can you deny

that you are part human too?"