Shownotes
Two young fennecs are almost inseparable, even as one’s magical gift brings about responsibilities and an unwanted rival.
Today’s story is “Nudging the Sky” by Utunu (@WildDogUtunu), a painted wolf who creates games for a living but enjoys worldbuilding and writing in his spare time. His published work has appeared in Heat, and soon FANG.
Read for you by Khaki, your faithful fireside companion.
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https://thevoice.dog/episode/nudging-the-sky-by-utunu
Transcripts
You’re listening to The Voice of Dog. I’m Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,
Speaker:and Today’s story is
Speaker:“Nudging the Sky” by Utunu (@WildDogUtunu),
Speaker:a painted wolf who creates games for a living but enjoys worldbuilding and writing in his spare time.
Speaker:His published work has appeared in Heat,
Speaker:and soon FANG. Please enjoy
Speaker:“Nudging the Sky” by Utunu
Speaker:Ia couldn’t focus.
Speaker:She was out in the meadows
Speaker:near the hut she and her mother called home,
Speaker:busy collecting bundles of the long,
Speaker:soft grass to refresh their bedding.
Speaker:Since her mother was out with the other hunters,
Speaker:the task fell to Ia.
Speaker:But the tingling was strong today,
Speaker:and extremely distracting.
Speaker:By the time she found herself back at the hut,
Speaker:the large mound of grass she’d plucked had diminished to one or two sorry tufts,
Speaker:the rest scattered bit by bit
Speaker:along the path she’d walked.
Speaker:She didn’t even remember dropping it.
Speaker:Things tingled too much. It made her whiskers twitch and her large ears
Speaker:swivel randomly. It was music she couldn’t quite hear,
Speaker:scents she couldn’t quite place, and she knew it would frustrate her
Speaker:unless she followed it.
Speaker:So she did. She climbed back down the short ladder from the hut to the ground below,
Speaker:and followed the sky-streams.
Speaker:They weren’t always in the same place, but today
Speaker:they’d clearly decided to be near her home.
Speaker:There wasn’t much to be done, then,
Speaker:but let them lead her.
Speaker:They couldn’t be seen, of course
Speaker:—they were like little rivers in the air that felt
Speaker:different. To Ia,
Speaker:at least. But they made her feel excited and curious
Speaker:and her fur stand on end, and that was enough reason for any young fennec
Speaker:to go exploring. She let her footpaws take her,
Speaker:as her path wound amongst other huts
Speaker:and one or two curious glances,
Speaker:to meander further downslope along the sward away from the village,
Speaker:towards the thin,
Speaker:bright ribbon of the nearby river.
Speaker:In her head she hummed along to the music she couldn’t quite hear,
Speaker:nudging the sky-streams above as she went,
Speaker:prompting little whorls of wind
Speaker:to follow in her wake.
Speaker:Near the river now, she stopped,
Speaker:and the swirling breezes rippling the ocean of grass stopped too.
Speaker:Because there, flitting amongst the wildflowers and alighting on wavering stems,
Speaker:were butterflies.
Speaker:Hundreds of them,
Speaker:different colours, different sizes,
Speaker:just gathered about.
Speaker:Laughing, Ia found herself among them,
Speaker:and nudging the sky-streams
Speaker:—they were strong here
Speaker:—she coaxed them to her,
Speaker:feather-light touches as they alit upon her fur.
Speaker:Decorated with butterflies,
Speaker:she beckoned them to follow as she gleefully ran towards the river.
Speaker:And stopped. There was a boy from the village there,
Speaker:crouched at the bank of the river.
Speaker:She had persuaded the remaining butterflies to form
Speaker:multicoloured wreaths around her ears, but the sudden appearance of the boy fennec
Speaker:startled her and the butterflies scattered in all directions.
Speaker:He seemed just as surprised by her as she was of him,
Speaker:but he found his voice first.
Speaker:“Who are you?” She crossed her arms.
Speaker:“Ia, Master of Butterflies!
Speaker:Who are you?” “Just Hemmu,”
Speaker:he said. “Well, you disturbed my butterflies, Just Hemmu!”
Speaker:The boy smiled. “Tell them I’m sorry?”
Speaker:Ia was mollified at that,
Speaker:and grinned. She shifted her weight back and forth,
Speaker:distracted again,
Speaker:the sky-streams thick and heavy,
Speaker:and ran off into the grass once more.
Speaker:What else does a young fennec do,
Speaker:with freedom to roam?
Speaker:Her mother was frequently out doing things in that strange, adult world of hunts
Speaker:and tribal gatherings and important discussions
Speaker:and village doings.
Speaker:And that left Ia with an expanse of grasslands to explore
Speaker:and sky-streams to follow.
Speaker:She bumped into Hemmu so often she started to wonder at it. And it wasn’t always because she found his pawprints in the wet mud by the river and followed them.
Speaker:Paws on hips, she demanded,
Speaker:“Why are you always around?”
Speaker:She liked the way his ears spoke of his emotions,
Speaker:swiveling and perking and flattening in confusion
Speaker:and abashment. She tried not to giggle.
Speaker:“Well, there are plants here.
Speaker:Herbs. That’s what I’m looking for.
Speaker:And, I get to see you.”
Speaker:He said that last bit looking in every not-Ia direction.
Speaker:That made her feel odd,
Speaker:but it was a good type of odd, and she nudged some dragonflies with the nearby sky-stream
Speaker:so that they’d land on him.
Speaker:His ears stood tall in excitement at that,
Speaker:which made Ia happy.
Speaker:She knelt down at his side
Speaker:—he was busy digging around a seedling in the wet clay of the riverbank,
Speaker:his paws and loincloth messy and smeared
Speaker:—and the dragonflies took up an orbit around her.
Speaker:“Why?” “That’s what I do.
Speaker:I learn about herbs, and I find them
Speaker:and take them to grow by my hut where I tend them.”
Speaker:“Is that what your parents do?”
Speaker:“I’m by myself in my hut.
Speaker:My parents joined the spirits many seasons ago.
Speaker:There was a disease.”
Speaker:Ia couldn’t quite grasp
Speaker:how his ears didn’t flatten when he said it,
Speaker:but hers flattened for him.
Speaker:“Oh.” He shrugged, and got to his feet.
Speaker:“Hold out your paws!”
Speaker:he said with a grin.
Speaker:Ia did, and he placed a wet,
Speaker:clay mess in between them,
Speaker:the tiniest sprout of green within it.
Speaker:“You carry that, I have another one.
Speaker:We’ll take them back and I’ll show you my hut.”
Speaker:It was a nice hut,
Speaker:far on the outskirts of the village,
Speaker:and much like Ia’s own,
Speaker:with its short stilts to keep it raised above the long grasses beneath.
Speaker:She had seen it before, once or twice,
Speaker:but didn’t know who had lived there.
Speaker:She plopped her plant
Speaker:in one of the many empty pots outside at Hemmu’s direction,
Speaker:wiped the clay off on a combination of her fur and loincloth,
Speaker:then climbed up into the hut.
Speaker:It would have made Ia feel small if it weren’t stuffed with various pots,
Speaker:filled with all the different greens of growing plants.
Speaker:Her muzzle wrinkled at all the smells
Speaker:—there was the earth in the pots,
Speaker:the grass of Hemmu’s bed,
Speaker:Hemmu himself, and all the
Speaker:spicy, different, sharp and subtle smells of myriad herbs
Speaker:—so many she wondered how Hemmu could even sleep at night.
Speaker:The hut was well
Speaker:-lit by a large opening in the sloped side wall;
Speaker:at Ia’s curious glance, Hemmu demonstrated the flap of hide that he could use to cover it.
Speaker:“I leave it open during the day so the plants get sunlight.
Speaker:Sometimes I leave it open at night
Speaker:so I can see the stars.”
Speaker:Ia thought that sounded nice.
Speaker:Her mother said it wasn’t safe to sleep outside,
Speaker:so she didn’t often get to see the night sky
Speaker:slowly turn. “Why are all your plants inside?”
Speaker:“Oh, so I can watch them.
Speaker:And so rabbits or other things won’t eat them.”
Speaker:“What do you do with them all?”
Speaker:“I give them to Aniki, the healer. In return he gives me food from the hunts.”
Speaker:That made sense. Ia’s mother always brought food back from the hunts.
Speaker:She stood there, in the middle of Hemmu’s hut,
Speaker:and slowly turned in a circle,
Speaker:squinting when the sun faced her through the opening.
Speaker:“I like your hut, Hemmu!”
Speaker:she declared, and nudged some birds over to land on the edge of the opening
Speaker:so they could sing its praises too.
Speaker:Hemmu smiled, and his ears moved in that way that said he was embarrassed,
Speaker:so she took his paw.
Speaker:“Let’s go find more herbs!”
Speaker:Having a co-conspirator made one braver,
Speaker:so Ia and Hemmu ranged further afield.
Speaker:Not so far that it wasn’t safe, of course,
Speaker:but from time to time
Speaker:they pushed those boundaries,
Speaker:wriggling with a mixture of excitement and dread.
Speaker:They followed the river as it left the grasslands and approached the desert,
Speaker:but that felt too far.
Speaker:It also didn’t look exciting enough. It was
Speaker:just sand and more sand.
Speaker:So, one day they tried the other direction.
Speaker:Upstream was the village—that was boring
Speaker:—but beyond that the sward gently sloped uphill
Speaker:until it finally leveled off
Speaker:in a great, green field
Speaker:of rustling grasses,
Speaker:waving in the breeze.
Speaker:And in the midst of it,
Speaker:huge stones stood tall,
Speaker:taller than a dozen fennecs.
Speaker:But that wasn’t all;
Speaker:the sky-streams had gotten thicker
Speaker:and stronger as they had made their way to this place,
Speaker:and it was now as if they were
Speaker:rivers, roaring with energy, all intersecting near the stones
Speaker:like threads in a weave.
Speaker:“Ia, come on! I can smell the sea!”
Speaker:cried Hemmu. She realised then
Speaker:she had just been standing,
Speaker:kneedeep in the tall grass,
Speaker:mesmerised by the ropes of sky-streams meandering and twisting.
Speaker:She ran to catch up.
Speaker:Hemmu hadn’t headed towards the stones,
Speaker:not yet; he was lying on his stomach in the grass where the field ended,
Speaker:peering over the edge
Speaker:to where waves crashed far below.
Speaker:She could taste the salt of the sea and,
Speaker:sky-rivers momentarily forgotten,
Speaker:joined Hemmu in looking out over the ocean.
Speaker:“That’s a long way down,”
Speaker:she said, nervously.
Speaker:“Don’t worry! You can just peek over if you want.”
Speaker:It worried Ia, and the pull of the ocean view was insufficient to keep her there.
Speaker:Instead she headed towards the immense stones,
Speaker:thrust out of the earth
Speaker:like fingers. So many of the streams ran through them!
Speaker:She nudged at the sky-streams
Speaker:and the winds began to swirl,
Speaker:tracing patterns in the grass.
Speaker:It fluttered in her fur and she reveled in it,
Speaker:pushing them tighter so they raced in circles around the stones.
Speaker:Amongst them now,
Speaker:she could see how truly massive they were.
Speaker:They were not just blank stone, either
Speaker:—odd glyphs and carvings were scattered over their faces,
Speaker:from where they met the earth
Speaker:to as far up as she could see.
Speaker:“And what are you doing?”
Speaker:came the voice. A surprised explosion of wind
Speaker:expanded outward from Ia
Speaker:as she let go of the sky-streams,
Speaker:rippling the grasses as it went
Speaker:and stirring Hemmu’s fur where he stood uncertainly,
Speaker:ears back, several paces outside the stones.
Speaker:The whorls sputtered and died.
Speaker:Leaning against one of the stones was a grown-up;
Speaker:Ia didn’t know him, and she didn’t like that his ears told her nothing about him.
Speaker:She stared back. “Nothing,”
Speaker:said Ia. “Didn’t look like nothing.”
Speaker:Ia shrugged. “Just playing.”
Speaker:The adult glanced over at Hemmu,
Speaker:and Hemmu’s ears somehow got even flatter against his head.
Speaker:“I don’t often see pups up here.
Speaker:And, well, I think I know why you are.
Speaker:You’re Iraha’s girl, aren’t you?”
Speaker:His voice was pleasant enough,
Speaker:but the suddenness of it all
Speaker:still had Ia flustered.
Speaker:She shifted her weight from one paw to the other,
Speaker:then back again. She repeated this a few times
Speaker:since the new fennec just stood there
Speaker:and said nothing further.
Speaker:He looked old. Finally,
Speaker:“I’m Ia,” she said.
Speaker:He grinned at her,
Speaker:and she relaxed. “Thought so!
Speaker:I’m Sura. So, how long have you been able to do your little trick there?
Speaker:With the wind?” She shrugged.
Speaker:“A while.” “You can see the threads
Speaker:weaving through the stones here?”
Speaker:“Sky-streams,” Ia stated.
Speaker:Sura laughed, and Ia jumped.
Speaker:“That’s a great word for them!
Speaker:I see them too, so you’re not alone.
Speaker:It’s very special
Speaker:that you can see them as well!”
Speaker:She decided she would have preferred to be alone in that.
Speaker:They were her sky-streams.
Speaker:She glanced back at Hemmu
Speaker:but he still looked like he was trying to be as small as possible.
Speaker:“Well, you’re a quiet one.
Speaker:I’ll leave you two to play.
Speaker:Be careful around the cliff!”
Speaker:With that, Sura turned and left,
Speaker:and Ia watched him go.
Speaker:The grass rustled
Speaker:as Hemmu moved closer.
Speaker:“I found some herbs,”
Speaker:he ventured. He couldn’t decide whether his ears should still be flat or not.
Speaker:“Want to help me carry some?”
Speaker:It was just herself and Hemmu now,
Speaker:and things felt comfortable again.
Speaker:She nudged the sky-streams
Speaker:and giggled at Hemmu’s expression
Speaker:when the butterfly landed on his nose.
Speaker:He showed her the herbs
Speaker:—there were many—and they collected as much as they could hold
Speaker:before setting out for home.
Speaker:Sura was to be her teacher thereafter,
Speaker:Ia discovered.
Speaker:Apparently the old fennec had gone to talk to her mother,
Speaker:and after that her mother was adamant
Speaker:that she should learn
Speaker:how to tap the sky-streams
Speaker:properly, for they could be dangerous.
Speaker:Ia didn’t want a teacher, and mentioned as such to everything she could find on the way to meet Hemmu.
Speaker:By the third time she finished repeating her complaints to him,
Speaker:Hemmu’s ears were flattened against his head,
Speaker:and Ia felt bad about that.
Speaker:Her muzzle dipped.
Speaker:“I’m sorry, Hemmu.
Speaker:I just want to be around you and we can collect herbs.”
Speaker:“Well, they are only short lessons, right?
Speaker:You can still come play.”
Speaker:“I suppose,” Ia said.
Speaker:The lessons did prove to be relatively short.
Speaker:Sura was a patient teacher,
Speaker:and even Ia’s predisposition to recalcitrance
Speaker:was eventually won over.
Speaker:He told of interesting things, after all.
Speaker:It was not just butterflies and birds and bugs and breezes,
Speaker:but other things too.
Speaker:The other fennec there, though
Speaker:—he irritated her.
Speaker:His name was Kenamen.
Speaker:He was bigger than she was, though still a pup,
Speaker:and she didn’t like
Speaker:that he used her sky-streams too. “Kenamen has been studying with me for a few seasons now,”
Speaker:Sura said, introducing him.
Speaker:Ia soon found that if she focused on what Sura was teaching
Speaker:she could almost forget the boy was there.
Speaker:He told of using the sky-streams to make rain
Speaker:and storms and deflect blows
Speaker:and push away enemies,
Speaker:but some of that sounded like fighting
Speaker:and Ia didn’t want to learn about that.
Speaker:But the other things she did,
Speaker:and she would gleefully reproduce them later for an awestruck Hemmu.
Speaker:Animals, plants, the weather—all listened to her when she called.
Speaker:At her lessons, Sura would push at her,
Speaker:asking her to do more and more.
Speaker:But it didn’t feel right to Ia;
Speaker:sometimes it felt like she was bending the sky-streams so much that they’d break.
Speaker:It was far more comfortable to just
Speaker:nudge them and watch the spin of wind
Speaker:and whirl of birds,
Speaker:her large ears vibrating with the thrill.
Speaker:He was insistent, though,
Speaker:and when he would express his happy surprise at how easily she managed something new,
Speaker:Ia would feel all warm.
Speaker:Except when Kenamen was there
Speaker:—he would look at her
Speaker:with bitter eyes, even as his ears would tell her nothing.
Speaker:She could feel those eyes on her,
Speaker:and so she would pretend to Sura
Speaker:that speaking to the sky-streams
Speaker:was a struggle, and he would nod his serious muzzle sympathetically.
Speaker:Seasons followed seasons,
Speaker:and Ia and Kenamen
Speaker:learned to take on apprentice duties,
Speaker:helping Sura in his tasks around the village.
Speaker:There were medicines to prepare,
Speaker:wounds to tend, crops to bless,
Speaker:hunter blades to sharpen
Speaker:and spears to make fly true, all of which were difficult work
Speaker:even with the sky-streams to help.
Speaker:When she was alone with Sura,
Speaker:she felt she could show more of her abilities.
Speaker:Not too much, though.
Speaker:He would wonder otherwise
Speaker:and ask for more during their lessons,
Speaker:and then Kenamen would look at her with those eyes of his,
Speaker:his ears still as always,
Speaker:so that Ia wished she were home.
Speaker:Home was where Hemmu was,
Speaker:more and more. They were inseparable,
Speaker:and each day did not truly start
Speaker:until Ia’s lessons were done
Speaker:and she could rush off to find him.
Speaker:Fortunately her mother didn’t mind,
Speaker:and even let her stay over in Hemmu’s hut from time to time.
Speaker:He seemed a sensible boy,
Speaker:her mother said.
Speaker:Ia used the sky-streams
Speaker:to help him bring more bedgrass in,
Speaker:plenty of it so there was room for them both,
Speaker:and she’d lie there by his side,
Speaker:the smell of the wind and grass and spices and Hemmu
Speaker:redolent all around her,
Speaker:and watch the stars turn
Speaker:in nights that felt almost endless.
Speaker:When the time came,
Speaker:she and Hemmu had their coming of age ceremony.
Speaker:They were hardly ever apart
Speaker:and were about the same age,
Speaker:so it seemed appropriate to have them on the same day.
Speaker:It took place in the village centre
Speaker:and both were nervous when the festivities began,
Speaker:for it was noisy
Speaker:and boisterous and there were many fennecs Ia only knew by sight from helping Sura.
Speaker:Many Hemmu did not know at all,
Speaker:and even grown as he was,
Speaker:he could not help his ears from showing his discomfort.
Speaker:Ia felt sorry for him,
Speaker:and tried to enjoy herself on his behalf.
Speaker:She brought sparks from the bonfire to swirl patterns around him
Speaker:until he relented
Speaker:and danced with her,
Speaker:while the drums beat heavy into the earth
Speaker:and into their hearts and the tribe whirled
Speaker:in chaos around them.
Speaker:The gold and pink of sunset shone
Speaker:its colours
Speaker:on the cream of Hemmu’s chestfur
Speaker:and Ia kissed him
Speaker:just because she could,
Speaker:laughing as his ears flushed in embarrassment.
Speaker:But he kissed her back
Speaker:just the same. Later,
Speaker:when the stars were out
Speaker:and the celebrations had died down,
Speaker:she tugged on his paw
Speaker:and they went up the sward
Speaker:to the huge fingers of stone
Speaker:—the bones of the earth,
Speaker:Sura had called them
Speaker:—and watched the stars
Speaker:not through the opening of Hemmu’s hut,
Speaker:but in the immense expanse of the sky spread out above them.
Speaker:And soon fireflies,
Speaker:coaxed by Ia and the warp and weft of the sky-rivers,
Speaker:flashed intricate patterns of light in their fur as they lay entwined together in the grass,
Speaker:loincloths discarded
Speaker:and stars forgotten.
Speaker:Ia lived in Hemmu’s hut from then on.
Speaker:Iraha smiled knowingly,
Speaker:and shooed her daughter out with her blessings.
Speaker:So Ia and Hemmu shared the hut
Speaker:and shared the bedgrass
Speaker:and shared the stars,
Speaker:and Ia knew that things were as they should
Speaker:be. Hemmu’s herbs were flourishing.
Speaker:They had long ago determined there was a correlation between
Speaker:where they grew and the sky-streams,
Speaker:and there was no shortage of herbs that he could provide to the healer in the village.
Speaker:Ia was able to help coax their growth with the sky-streams,
Speaker:and it was not long until Hemmu’s hut was a veritable forest of healthy plants.
Speaker:It was a constant panoply of scents,
Speaker:and it was sometimes so distracting that they ended up moving some of the plants outside.
Speaker:Lessons with Sura continued, of course.
Speaker:He would push her,
Speaker:more and more, to stretch the boundaries of what the sky-streams could provide.
Speaker:She was resistant,
Speaker:but there was sense to what he said.
Speaker:The sky-streams were not everywhere, he explained
Speaker:—there were many places devoid of them,
Speaker:and an unskilled practitioner would be powerless.
Speaker:Unless, of course,
Speaker:one brought them along. “What?”
Speaker:Ia asked. “I’ve tried to show you the importance of bending them to your will,”
Speaker:Sura responded, his teacher voice in full force.
Speaker:“If you can bend them,
Speaker:force them until they encircle
Speaker:and tie them off,
Speaker:a closed thread, then their power will be there for you to tap.
Speaker:It will leak over time, yes, but will serve you well while traveling
Speaker:where the streams are scarce.” Kenamen spoke then.
Speaker:“How long do they last?”
Speaker:“Depends how thick a stream you can bend.
Speaker:A day, perhaps? Maybe more, if you’re strong.
Speaker:It also enables you to power an effect for an extended period,
Speaker:even when the sky-streams are sparse
Speaker:or absent.” Sura glanced over at Ia, then.
Speaker:“Your butterflies would follow you across the desert with such a source,
Speaker:sky-streams or not,”
Speaker:he smiled. It was what truly enabled him to take care of the village, he explained.
Speaker:He could provide the aid as needed,
Speaker:tie it off, and replenish it after time had passed.
Speaker:It would be otherwise impossible to support all those who needed his help,
Speaker:for without it, he would be forced to allow some to suffer
Speaker:while he addressed
Speaker:one at a time. Ia nodded,
Speaker:but Kenamen was still there,
Speaker:and his silence as he watched her
Speaker:was a heavy thing.
Speaker:So she would practice in private,
Speaker:with only Hemmu to witness,
Speaker:and the sky-streams
Speaker:seemed more than willing to bend to her will.
Speaker:But she did that for Hemmu
Speaker:and Hemmu alone. That winter
Speaker:Sura died. He was old,
Speaker:and the sky-streams were not something that could prevent it.
Speaker:At the rite to celebrate him,
Speaker:Ia called the birds and butterflies to honour him.
Speaker:Kenamen was there, too,
Speaker:standing back amongst the others,
Speaker:his eyes glittering with the bonfire’s light
Speaker:and his ears, as always,
Speaker:indicating nothing.
Speaker:Afterwards, he asked her to meet him the next morning up at the bones of the earth.
Speaker:Sura’s duties would fall to the two of them,
Speaker:he explained, and it would be best to discuss how to split up the tasks he had left behind.
Speaker:She told Hemmu of it, of course.
Speaker:“I don’t like it,” he said, full of nervous energy,
Speaker:his ears going every which way.
Speaker:“He worries me, and I know he worries you too.”
Speaker:“I’ll be alright,”
Speaker:Ia said. After all, she was stronger than Kenamen.
Speaker:She set off upslope
Speaker:towards the megaliths,
Speaker:leaving Hemmu, a lonely figure with ears flattened,
Speaker:standing aside the ladder
Speaker:at the hut’s entrance.
Speaker:Kenamen was there when she arrived,
Speaker:leaning against one of the stones.
Speaker:He gave her a perfunctory nod,
Speaker:ears still. His scent was dark.
Speaker:“I would be shaman,”
Speaker:he said, simply. “If you wish,”
Speaker:Ia replied. The standing did not bother her
Speaker:—she would help around the village how she had done with Sura.
Speaker:Let Kenamen have his rank,
Speaker:she had her Hemmu.
Speaker:There was little reaction in Kenamen,
Speaker:who paused briefly,
Speaker:then continued. “There should be only one shaman.
Speaker:You cannot stay.” “Kenamen,
Speaker:I have no desire to be shaman.
Speaker:That can be yours.”
Speaker:“People will not see it as that, if you are around.
Speaker:You must leave.” “No,”
Speaker:Ia stated. There was a flash of something Ia hadn’t seen before in his expression,
Speaker:and it frightened her.
Speaker:She focused on the streams thick around them
Speaker:and wove them about her,
Speaker:tying it off, and stood within her barrier.
Speaker:“I am sorry, then,” he replied,
Speaker:and he deftly twisted the sky-stream encircling her.
Speaker:She could not tell what he was doing,
Speaker:but almost immediately, it did not matter.
Speaker:Her barrier was a different thing now,
Speaker:the streams warped and knotted in ways she couldn’t understand.
Speaker:She opened her mouth to speak.
Speaker:And nothing. She battered at the shield around her,
Speaker:before realising that her body was not moving.
Speaker:She willed her paws to strike,
Speaker:but they lay limply at her sides.
Speaker:She reached for sky-streams,
Speaker:but the barrier kept them out.
Speaker:And her in. Horrified,
Speaker:she tried to turn her head to look at Kenamen,
Speaker:but she could not.
Speaker:She just heard his voice,
Speaker:a whisper at her ear,
Speaker:closer now. “You should have listened.
Speaker:Ah, well. It is sad that you succumbed to madness up here by the bones
Speaker:and leapt to your death
Speaker:—the village will mourn.”
Speaker:He grasped her paw
Speaker:and pulled her to her feet.
Speaker:Her body obeyed as if it had no will of its own,
Speaker:and Kenamen led her away from the standing stones
Speaker:towards the cliff.
Speaker:Hemmu’s voice called out when she was but a few strides from the ledge.
Speaker:“What are you doing?”
Speaker:Hemmu! Ia’s heart leapt. Kenamen’s paw clenched hers painfully,
Speaker:but she could do nothing about it.
Speaker:“Ah, Hemmu! I’m glad you’re here.
Speaker:Something’s gone terribly wrong.
Speaker:It is as if the sky-streams have broken her
Speaker:—she cannot speak or move of her own will.
Speaker:She must have pushed herself too hard.”
Speaker:He let a flavour of shock and worry paint his voice,
Speaker:but Ia could tell it for what it was.
Speaker:Hemmu was there in an instant,
Speaker:his worried face searching hers,
Speaker:his ears flat against his head.
Speaker:“Ia? Speak to me!”
Speaker:He grasped her paws.
Speaker:She couldn’t answer,
Speaker:and it hurt so much.
Speaker:Kenamen had made his own path on the walk back,
Speaker:saying he would be by frequently in an attempt to repair whatever had happened,
Speaker:but warned a despairing Hemmu
Speaker:that it was unlikely she would recover.
Speaker:But even left alone,
Speaker:just her and Hemmu,
Speaker:she found herself still locked inside her own mind,
Speaker:no matter how hard she pushed.
Speaker:Hemmu led her to the hut
Speaker:and helped her up the ladder to sit on some bedgrass,
Speaker:her footpaws dangling over the opening.
Speaker:He was constantly in and out of her field of vision,
Speaker:his face darkened with tear-streaks,
Speaker:talking to her and pleading to her.
Speaker:But she could do nothing.
Speaker:At night he cradled her to him,
Speaker:and she could feel him sobbing against her fur.
Speaker:She couldn’t even cry with him.
Speaker:The next day Kenamen came by, as promised.
Speaker:He made a show of examining her,
Speaker:shaking his head and making
Speaker:‘tut-tut’ noises, all the while carefully reinforcing the tied stream that locked her away.
Speaker:He would be back the next day;
Speaker:he patted Hemmu
Speaker:and said he would continue to try
Speaker:as long as it would take,
Speaker:and a miserable Hemmu nodded his thanks.
Speaker:And the days passed.
Speaker:Kenamen was true to his word,
Speaker:always making the time to come check on her.
Speaker:And to make sure
Speaker:she would not escape.
Speaker:Ia did not give up.
Speaker:She poked at the stream that held her,
Speaker:trying to discover what he had done.
Speaker:The knots and twists were slippery and would not yield,
Speaker:and even if she were to grip one and tug,
Speaker:it would tighten the rest.
Speaker:It was almost like trying to repair a pot
Speaker:by holding all the shards in position at once
Speaker:—while it was full of water.
Speaker:The moon turned and turned once more.
Speaker:Hemmu was thinner now,
Speaker:his misery manifest.
Speaker:Ia plucked at the knots surrounding her,
Speaker:and she could work them bit by bit, but it was so complex. Any headway she had made was wiped clean with Kenamen’s next visit.
Speaker:But it was progress.
Speaker:A day came where the knots began to make sense.
Speaker:They started to wiggle free,
Speaker:even as Hemmu helped her walk to the river to watch the sun rise.
Speaker:He spoke to her, as he always did
Speaker:—a stream of words and pleas
Speaker:to make him feel he was doing something,
Speaker:on the offchance she was still there.
Speaker:“Don’t worry, Ia. Kenamen will be here soon
Speaker:and try and help again.”
Speaker:He patted her paw
Speaker:as he gently started to lead her back to the hut.
Speaker:She untangled some of the knots
Speaker:—just enough that she squeezed his paw slightly.
Speaker:His head whipped around and his ears perked. “Ia? Are you
Speaker:there?”
Speaker:She managed the smallest of nods,
Speaker:frantically pulling at the remaining knots.
Speaker:Hemmu started to cry
Speaker:and nuzzled her muzzle with his own.
Speaker:“Kenamen will be here soon!
Speaker:I cannot wait to show him!”
Speaker:“No,” Ia managed, and it was barely a whisper.
Speaker:His ears dipped and he stepped back.
Speaker:“No? No to what?
Speaker:Kenamen?” An almost imperceptible nod.
Speaker:Hemmu was silent for a moment, his ears
Speaker:moving as they did when he was deep in thought.
Speaker:“He did this, didn’t he.”
Speaker:There was fury in his eyes,
Speaker:and suddenly his face was calm again
Speaker:as he noticed Kenamen approaching the riverbank.
Speaker:The other fennec gave Hemmu a friendly nod
Speaker:as he came closer,
Speaker:and turned his attention to Ia.
Speaker:“How is she?” “The same,”
Speaker:Hemmu responded, as if nothing had happened.
Speaker:“But I think she wants to be left alone today.”
Speaker:Ia continued to tug at the remaining knots.
Speaker:“Well, I’m here now,
Speaker:let me have a look.”
Speaker:Kenamen got closer,
Speaker:and suddenly he was there at the tied sky-stream,
Speaker:rekinking it, beginning to close her off once more.
Speaker:Her eyes flicked,
Speaker:panicked, to Hemmu,
Speaker:and Kenamen noticed.
Speaker:He scowled, and fended off her weak attempts to untie the knots as he reinforced them.
Speaker:The rock struck him in the side of the muzzle.
Speaker:Hemmu crouched, picking up another,
Speaker:as Kenamen’s murderous gaze
Speaker:focused on him. The sky-streams flexed
Speaker:and Hemmu was flung into the shallows,
Speaker:his head forced below the water
Speaker:into the mud beneath.
Speaker:He kicked desperately as Kenamen’s power held him there. The knots still held, but Ia could brush the sky-streams outside.
Speaker:It was enough. The banks of the river were home to myriad flying insects,
Speaker:and at her nudging they swiftly coalesced
Speaker:around Kenamen’s form.
Speaker:He swatted at them,
Speaker:but more and more crowded him
Speaker:until he started to panic,
Speaker:flailing at them as they bit and swarmed.
Speaker:Hemmu struggled to his feet,
Speaker:coughing up water,
Speaker:and Ia summoned all she could through the tiny connection she had,
Speaker:pushing the wind at Kenamen in one
Speaker:sharp burst. He fell,
Speaker:his head hitting rock with a crunch.
Speaker:The river’s currents
Speaker:tinged with red. Hemmu stood by her side as the elders listened,
Speaker:and when it came his turn
Speaker:he spoke of what he had seen and what he had done.
Speaker:Between them it was enough,
Speaker:and no blame was assigned to them for what had occurred.
Speaker:The decision of the elders was that Kenamen’s body was to be taken to the desert,
Speaker:to let the sand cover his bones,
Speaker:for he did not deserve a pyre.
Speaker:Ia did not go. Hemmu did, though,
Speaker:and accompanied the hunters far into the sands.
Speaker:The winds there would eat away at Kenamen’s remains,
Speaker:and he would be lost.
Speaker:It was late when they returned.
Speaker:Hemmu found her at their hut,
Speaker:sitting outside amongst the grass
Speaker:and myriad pots of herbs.
Speaker:He took her paw, and together they walked past the village,
Speaker:up the gentle slope to the stones that stretched for the sky,
Speaker:as the stars began to prick the night above.
Speaker:For now, now it was Ia’s and Hemmu’s time,
Speaker:and they lay there amongst the grass,
Speaker:the bones of the earth
Speaker:towering above. Pressed to her,
Speaker:panting and exhilarated,
Speaker:he swore he’d never be apart from her again.
Speaker:Ia held him close
Speaker:as her fireflies swooped
Speaker:and swirled. Hemmu was all she needed.
Speaker:This was “Nudging the Sky”
Speaker:by Utunu, read for you by Khaki,
Speaker:your faithful fireside companion.
Speaker:You can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,
Speaker:or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker:Thank you for listening
Speaker:to The Voice of Dog.