CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
How long Liliann and the Big Person repeated the stanzas of the song, Liliann didn't know. There was a point, however, when Liliann saw the Big Person touch First Rider's head with one of her fingers, and Liliann watched as his body twitched, as though an energy much like a lightning bolt sped along his nerves.
Indeed, Liliann was startled to see First Rider open his eyes shortly thereafter and look up at this Big Person, Liliann hearing him say in the mind-to-mind speak, "Ah, it is you, my Big-Person mother. How lucky I am to have you with me. What has happened? Where is my wife?"
"She is here with me," answered the big hairy female. "She and I have been singing to you."
"Please, I need to see her. I need to know she is not hurt."
"I am here," Liliann said in the same mind-to-mind manner. Then, sitting forward, she took First Rider's hand in her own. "I thought I had lost thee, me own husband. And, even now, this fear be more than I can bear. This Big Person thou call thine almost-mother came here as I be callin' out for help. It be she who pulled thee out of the snow. I was tryin'. I was diggin' with all me might to release thee from the snow, but without thy Big-Person almost-mother comin' here suddenly, I would have been too late. But, she came. She came. And, thou are here, alive."
"Of course I came to aid you," said First Rider's Big-Person almost-mother. The big human-like person paused inher thoughts a moment, then said, still in the mind-speak, "It is good to see you again, my almost-daughter."
"Almost-daughter?" Startled, both Liliann and First Rider voiced the question at the same time.
"Do you not remember, Almost-daughter?" asked this female Big Person to Liliann. "All those years ago, in a land over an ocean away, it happened. Do you not remember when you fell in the water when you were a tiny child? Can you not recall how you were despairing and yelling for help because you had no hope of swimming to save yourself? You were too young to do so."
"I be rememberin' somethin', no lie. But, I thought it be a dream," murmured Liliann aloud.
"No dream was it," answered the Big-Person mother in the mind-to-mind speak.
Liliann tried hard—tried very hard, indeed—to keep from crying, but she failed in this attempt. It was simply too much to consume all at once; she had almost lost her husband, and now a nightmare she'd had all her life had actually happened?
Her voice shaking, she managed to whisper to herself, "'Could this be why I knew the song when I first heard First Rider sing it?"
"What do you think?" asked the Big Person in the mind-to-mind speak.
Silence. The mountains, the sun, even the wind around her became silent as, with tears in her eyes, Liliann recalled it all. Whispering, Liliann said, "I remember it now. I do. Be it strange, though, how me own self and First Rider met. And, I be knowin' the song. I have loved thee, my husband, since the moment when thou and I sang together. Oh, how I wanted thee to be mine."
"And, I was," he whispered, "if I…not so blind. All this…might not happen…had I been more…aware."
"How could you have been more aware then?" asked their Big-Person mother. "You were so in love with Tsistsaki, how could you have possibly seen beyond it? Do not forget how you made Otahki your almost-sister, so much respect did you feel for her. You seemed to have waited for her in the only manner you could, and still keep your honor. It is only important now for you both to stay together and remain, yet, honorable."
"But, how?" asked First Rider.
"This is not for me to say," answered their Big-Person mother.
First Rider nodded, while Liliann sat in silence, yet knowing she needed to ask this Big-Person mother another question. And, she asked, "But, me almost-mother, how did thou come here so quickly? It was as though thou were suddenly here, and without thou having to climb the mountain."
Liliann looked up to see the big creature smile at her before asking, again in mind-speak, "Do you truly not know?"
Liliann shook her head.
"Then, I will tell you. It is because our tribe is much beloved by the Creator, for we saved his only daughter when she was drowning, there in His world. For this deed, the Creator gave to us a new home, one more suited to us, and He gave to us, also, a way to travel in this earthly realm in a manner suited to us, but one your own tribes of people cannot do."
"But, how?" asked Liliann.
"I will tell you, but both you and my almost-son must swear to never repeat what I am to tell you. Do you swear?"
"I do," said First Rider.
"I do, too," Liliann said aloud.
"Very well, then. My tribe has only to think of the person, and we are there. In mind, we are never far from those we love, and we can hear you if you are in trouble."
This revelation caused another moment of complete silence as Liliann tried to understand this concept, until at last, she uttered, "I think I still be not understandin', but I thank thee, Almost-mother, for tellin' us. May I call thee 'mother'? Me own mother died giving me life, and so, in a way, thou are the only mother I have had."
"It is what I am," said the Big-Person mother. "Of course you may call me 'mother,' or 'almost-mother,' or you can call me by name, which is Ahoom. Knowing this, you can call to me if you ever have need of me again."
