He gathered himself and plopped awkwardly into the water. Confusion, heads out and in. Keep all under. He paddled about, holding all his heads down. Every few seconds, he'd poke a single nose into the air and refresh that member. I still can do it! The six of him slipped through swarms of squidlets, dived separately through arching green fronds. The hiss of the sea was all around,
mbt tataga c denim, like the mindsound of a vast sleeping pack. After a few minutes he'd found a nice level spot, sand all about and shielded from the worst fury of the sea. He paddled back to where the sea crashed against stony coral.... and almost broke some legs scrambling out. It was just impossible to exit all at once, and for a few moments it was every member for itself. "Hei, over here!" He shouted to Greenstalk and Ravna. He sat licking at coral cuts as they crossed the white rock. "Found a place,
复件 (46) air max1, more peaceful than this --" He waved at the crash and spray. Greenstalk rolled a little closer to the edge, then hesitated. Her fronds turned back and forth along the curving sweep of the shore. Does she need help? Pilgrim started forward, but Ravna just sat down beside the Rider and leaned against the wheeled platform. After a moment, Pilgrim joined them. They sat for a time, human looking out to the sea, Rider looking he wasn't sure quite where, and pack looking in most all directions.... There was peace here,
复件 (39) air max2, even with (or because of?) the booming surf and the haze of spray. He felt his hearts slowing, and just lazed in the sunlight. On every pelt the drying sea water was leaving a glittery powder of salt. Grooming himself tasted good at first, but ... yech, too much dry salt was one of the bad memories. Greenstalk's fronds settled lightly across him, too fine and narrow to provide much shade, but a light and gentle comfort. They sat for a long while -- long enough so that later some of Pilgrims noses were blistered, and even darkskinned Ravna was sun burned. The Rider was humming now, a sort of song that after long minutes came to be speech. "It is a good sea,
复件 (6) 复件 air max1, a good edge. It is what I need now. To sit and think at my own pace for a while." And Ravna said, "How long? We will miss you." That was not just politeness. Everyone would miss her. Even in her mind adrift, Greenstalk was the expert on OOB's surviving automation. "Long by your measure, I fear. A few decades...." She watched (?) the waves a few minutes more. "I am eager to get down there. Ha ha. Almost like a human in that.... Ravna, you know my memories are muddled now. I had two hundred years with Blueshell. Sometimes he was petty and a little spineful,
复件 (51) air max2, but he was a great trader. We had many wonderful times. And at the end even you could see his courage." Ravna nodded. "We found a terrible secret on this last journey. I think that hurt him as much as the final ... burning. I am grateful to you for protecting us. Now I want to think, to let the surf and the time work with my memories and sort them out. Maybe if this poor imitation skrode is up to it, I'll even make a chronicle of our quest." She touched Peregrine on two of his heads. "One thing,
复件 (89) air max, Sir Pilgrim. You trust much to give me freedom of your seas.... But you should know, Blueshell and I were pregnant. I have a mist of our common eggs within me. Leave me here and there will be new Riders by this island in future years. Please do not take that as betrayal. I want to remember Blueshell with children -- but modestly; our kind has shared ten million worlds and never been bad neighbors ... except in a way that, Ravna can tell you, cannot happen here."