The Goddess had spoken. Even over the years and the viewing through the Sphere of the Web, the power of her sending came through as though she had told us herself so many seasons later. I had no choice. It was my time to leave. The next morning, wearing the leathers of my rank as Priestess and carrying little more than my obsidian dagger, my yumi with a quiver of arrows and a few essential tools along with some brightly-colored stones and jewels for trade I flew off with Gralnna to meet my destiny.
The thing standing out on the plains looked exactly as Gralnna had depicted. A white so pure as to rival the snows on the mountains lying in a circle of blackened soil surrounded by a sea of green and gold waving gently in the breeze. The weather was mild, not reaching the heat of summer but not yet free of the cooler winter season. The dreary, soggy coolness of winter had finally broken, leaving the mountaintops shining in their fresh white coats that would soon enough melt away to expose bare grey, brown and red rock while the dark green of timber shrouded their lower slopes.
The plains lay covered in grass as far as the eye could see, already up to my own waist and soon to be taller than the tallest Pardu. Perfect country for the great bison and other grazing species. Scattered here and there lay tiny copses of trees that served as resting places for the Sauk and hiding places for the Pardu whenever either ventured out onto the plains. The grasses lay short enough that a Pardu would have difficulty hiding herself as she stalked her prey, yet tall enough she wouldn’t be easily spotted as long as she held still or moved with the grasses as they blew.
The machine before me had chosen to settle almost exactly midway between the forests and the mountains, almost as though inviting both Peoples to seek it out. Already down for more than a hand of days, I had to assume that the Pardu had already sent a scout to investigate and I needed to be especially wary as I approached. My life would be forfeit if I came too close without sighting it. Because of their own ability to hide themselves from Sauk mind scans, the Pardu usually attacked from ambush and only our vision, not too different from the raptors we used to herd our birds, gave us any ability to locate them when they hid. That, and their scent.
A handspan’s flight away, about an hour by Earth time, I could still smell the smoke of the craft’s landing though I could hardly make out more than the general shape of the craft itself. Already I was impressed with the bravery of the scout who had first investigated this landing, finding only one other copse of trees between where I sat now and the craft. And that copse was little more than a finger’s leisurely flight away. How she kept from being seen going in or out of there escaped me.
I watched from this hiding place for a full span of the sun but I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary and all the life around me confirmed that with the exception of my escort I was alone. With a farewell send to Gralnna I launched myself high into the air, keeping my wings tight to my shoulders to make myself as small as possible. I didn’t open my wings until I gained three eights wingspans in altitude, something over 7000 feet as measured here on Earth. At that altitude I flew towards the craft, gaining a clearer and more detailed view with each beat of my pinions.
I stopped flapping and started a glide downwards at a shallow angle as I flew past that final copse. I didn’t use my telekinesis any longer to maintain altitude, letting the wind alone buoy me up in my long, circling descent. As I expected, before I’d settled more than halfway towards their landing, three beings came out from beneath the craft, their skins or covers the color of a late-evening sun; an orange so deep as to almost become crimson, darker even than the color of my own feathers.
I circled their craft at about eight times the length of that craft, studying the grasses as I approached as well as studying the creatures themselves as they appeared to wait for me. When I finally came low enough to start my landing, I angled to settle that same distance away in plain view of the creatures and flared in for an unassisted touchdown; dropping the last half length almost vertically as my wings stalled and my legs cushioning the actual landing. Mantling my wings I settled them tightly to my shoulders and tried to make myself appear as small and harmless as possible.
Slowly I began walking towards the craft, only now realizing just how large it was since it seemed to tower over me as I approached. All through my landing and my slow approach now I kept my mind open, listening with all my senses for any sending from these creatures.
I keep saying creatures but they had to be beings, despite the fact none of them attempted to communicate with me; at least by sending. Maybe Gralnna was right and they were more like the Pardu, but unlike the view when Gralnna reported the landing, these beings wore no bags upon their backs and revealed no sign of extra arms or wings. In fact, these beings looked much like the images of my birth mother and her male companion, one of the three showing a larger chest that might indicate that one was female. Even so, I dared not make any assumptions.
I stopped a full length of the craft away, not yet within the circle of burn caused by its landing. Green shoots already showed where the grass was growing to fill in the burn except in the shade of the craft itself where the sun could not reach. I could ‘hear’ the minds now of the beings who awaited me beneath the bill of their craft, but I could make no sense of them. Images seemed strangely organized and shaped, though each clearly had thought and identity of ‘self.’ I saw myself as they saw me, an image of animals and birds unrecognizable to me with a fear of the unknown little different from my own.
One of them called out to me by voice and mind and I responded, sending that one a greeting as I stepped forward, marking my hand and offering it formally. Instead of replying in kind the male (at least I envisioned that one as male) cried out and raised his hands to his head in pain, doubling over and falling to his oddly-jointed knees. Startled, I stopped and stared, looking into their faces for some reason behind this reaction while listening to their surface thoughts.
They projected so strongly! I could easily hear their minds even where I stood twenty wingspans away. They could easily send as strongly as any Sauk, but there seemed no coherence. Did they not know how to send? Before I could discover anything more my own mind was assailed by a a roaring louder and stronger than anything I’d ever heard with my ears; louder even than the noise of the great summer twisting winds that tore open forest and plains alike, born from the great storms spawned in the western mountains. Before I could raise any shield, the world vanished into darkness.
