Story and artwork by Tavie Phillips

Shycloud sends her daughter Doe off to bed with a story about a holt of oddball humans who sound strangely familiar...

"Please, Mama, tell me a story."

"Well, all right then. Which one do you want?"

"Tell me about the humans."

"The humans? Are you sure it won't give you bad dreams?"

"Oh, Mama."

"Okay. The humans it is then...."

"Once, long ago, so long ago that it hasn't even happened yet, there lived a human named Karen. She had cubs and a lifemate and lived far away, somewhere cold and rainy. She studied human magic and taught it to many cubs, who didn't really listen &emdash; "

"Oh, Mama! Humans don't have magic!"

"Well, it wasn't real magic, cubling. It was sort of... oh, it was called science, but that was just a name humans made up for their sort of magic. They don't like to say they have real magic, at least not where Karen comes from..."

"What about the cubs?"

"Well, she taught cubs who came from all over because they had to, and they didn't like to listen. They liked to talk among themselves and when she asked them to repeat to her what they had learned, they would usually mumble something and go back to whispering with their friends and chewing up big wads of sticky stuff and leaving it on the floors of the lodge where she taught them."

"She was teaching them magic and they didn't listen?" Doe's eyes were wide and unbelieving. "What was wrong with them?"

"They were mad, dear."

"Mad?"

"Never mind. Anyway, Karen was a great teacher, and a great storyteller, as well. She had a lot of friends that she used to talk to without speaking..."

"Send to, you mean."

Shycloud shrugged. "I'm not sure. But they made up many, many stories together, and they were generally happy when they went to their special place and told their tales."

Doe yawned. "Boring. Tell me about &emdash; "

"Okay, then. There was another human named Tea Rose, who was a friend of Karen's. Tea Rose and Karen didn't always agree on how the stories should be told &emdash; "

"Like Tito and Nightfire!"

"I suppose. But they were united in their love for the telling, and they held everyone in their tribe spellbound by their words. Everyone lived the stories they told, and they lived the stories that were told by the whole tribe."

Doe sighed happily. "Nothing but stories, all the time."

"Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? I think so, too. Tea Rose was very, very smart, and she liked to talk a lot, and everyone liked her because of her exuberant personality."

"Exuber-what?"

"Happy and loud."

"Like me."

"Yep. Tea Rose had many close friends, but most of them lived far away in holts of their own. She lived all alone in a den by herself and..."

"That's sad."

"Not really. Many humans live that way."

"No they don't, Mama! They live like us except on the ground."

"Humans live in many different ways, cub. Tea Rose spent most of her time dreaming of her stories and thinking of new ways to share them with her friend, John."

"More stories!" Doe giggled.

"It all comes back to the stories. John was another human who lived far away, with a family of his own and a lovemate named Valoline. I don't know too much about her. She was very silly and she and John were even more silly when they were together."

Doe giggled.

"Yes, and John and Tea Rose and Valoline liked to imagine that their stories took place in different times, and were excited at all the ways the stories could be told."

"Humans are good storytellers, aren't they."

"Not all of them. There was one named Tavie, and she wasn't very good at storytelling. She covered up for it by being loud and messy and throwing things, and mostly she got along, but sometimes she was sad that she couldn't say things as well as the others."

"Poor Tavie," sniffed Doe.

Shycloud shrugged. "She got on okay. She wasn't sad so much as people thought &emdash; she was very good friends with Tea Rose, although secretly jealous that Tea Rose and John got along so well together..."

Doe wrinkled her nose. "Why?"

Shycloud shook her head. "Humans are strange creatures. Well, anyway, she had lots of good friends, and a soul brother of her own, whose name was Jerry. Jerry was kind and gentle, and always at odds with Tea Rose and Karen because, once again, none of them could agree how the story could be told."

"Mama?"

"Aye?"

"If they fought so much about how to tell the story, why did they stay together?"

Shycloud nibbled her lip. "I'll have to think about that one. Anyway, Jerry was liked to make up songs for Tavie to sing, and they were very close. Jerry also lived in a cold place, like Karen &emdash;"

"Were they like Go-backs?"

"Well, it wasn't quite the frozen north, where Jerry lived, but it was like that a lot of the time." Shycloud shrugged. "I think the cold made him a little crazy. He used to drink fizzy sweet stuff the color of a troll's skin, and he thought it tasted good!"

"Yuck!"

"Yuck is right! Well, there was another human in their group, whose name was Mara. Mara was a symbol-maker with a special talent and a strange habit of crying, 'Arpee! Arpee! Arpee!' whenever the friends gathered in their special place to tell the stories."

"Arpee! Arpee!" Doe chirped. "Arpee! That's funny!"

Shycloud gritted her teeth. "Yeah, I guess so. She seemed to think so. They all loved Mara, too. Mara had a special fondness for the stories, and she got so excited at the thought of telling them, she would make this funny noise as a signal to the others that it was time to begin. Sort of like Twiglet when it wants to do something and no one is listening to it."

"That's all the time," Doe giggled.

Shycloud giggled, too. "Yeah, you're right! Anyhow. There was also a human called Corinne, who lived away from her holt, not far from Tavie."

"They must have been good friends, then," said Doe. "Bet they hunted together and fished together and catched flutterbies and sang songs..."

"Uh... well, they could have, dear, but Tavie was afraid of Corinne."

"Afraid of her? Was she mean?"

"No, she wasn't mean. Tavie was afraid that if Corinne met her she wouldn't like her."

"I don't understand," said Doe. "They were in the same tribe and they never meeted?"

"It's sort of like when Stormrook 'went out' that time. You know how elves can 'go out' and talk to each other from far away?"

"No..."

"Never mind, then," said Shycloud. "Well, love, the sun's been up for a while now. It's time for you to sleep."

"Awwwwwww," Doe whined. "Please tell me a few more. Please, Mama."

"All right. Just a few. Another one of these humans was called Jen. Jen was an adorable human with a big heart who, when you thought of her, always in your head seemed to be smiling. She loved cubs, and she, too, was a teacher."

"Wow, a lot of humans are teachers!"

"A lot of humans try to be teachers," Shycloud said, "but not all of them are appreciated. Many people, especially cubs, don't seem to think teachers are very important. They think they can do well without them."

Doe laughed. "Humans are stupid!"

"A lot of them are. They wouldn't be, if they appreciated the value of a good teacher. Your uncle Ashes taught me to shoot an arrow and to use a knife. Your uncle Stone taught me to use my healing powers the best way I can. It's very easy for me to see how much they're needed, how lost I would be without them. For humans, it's not so easy. They're eyes aren't as keen as ours. There was another human in the group who was a teacher. Her name was Lynn."

"Lynn," repeated Doe. "What did she teach?"

"She, like Mara, was a symbol-maker, and she taught the craft to cubs. She had a special gift, and used it to help tell the stories. She had a fine cub of her own, like Karen."

"Wow, she must have been old."

"Humans don't get to be very old, kitling."

"Old for a human, then!"

"Not really. She was wise, but she wasn't gnarled and ancient like Allim. Actually," Shycloud mused, "No one's old and ancient like Allim. Not even Allim."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Anyway, Lynn wasn't very old at all, but she was probably the oldest, or one of the oldest, in this human tribe."

"Did they listen to what she said?"

"Sometimes they argued," Shycloud admitted. "Tea Rose and Lynn didn't always agree."

"Did the humans EVER agree?"

"Sometimes, Tavie tried to make them. She had troll-forged boots with bits of steel on the toes, and she used to threaten to kick them if they didn't behave."

Doe shook her head. "How could she kick them if they all lived in different holts from each other?"

"Uhm, anyway, there were other humans in the tribe, too. There was Wavie, who never seemed to be around and was always missed by her tribesmates."

"Where was she?"

"That's a big mystery," said Shycloud, "And probably a tale for another time."

Doe looked excited at the idea. More stories were always a good thing. "Who else was there, Mama?" she yawned.

"There was one human whose name was Tim. Tim went on a quest for two turns of the seasons, which is a long time for humans."

Doe gaped. "Two whole turns?"

"A long time for little cubs, too," Shycloud chuckled. "When Tim returned to the tribe, he was welcomed back with open arms. Humans don't easily forget a friend," she added fondly.

Doe poked at Shycloud's side with a chubby little finger. "You like humans, don't you, Mama!"

Shycloud paused. "I... hm. I used to be very afraid of them. Kestrel and Hilltop were always much more at ease with their kind. But, yes, I do think I've gained a certain liking for humans. We've met a few in our travels."

"I want to travel," Doe murmured.

"You will, little one. We all will. Ready to sleep yet?"

Doe shook her head, but Shycloud saw her eyelids were heavy.

"One more then. There was one last human, whose name was Gil. Gil was quiet and funny and wasn't interested in anything much but the stories, it seemed, but the others knew that he liked them and was part of the tribe whether he liked it or not. And now, my dear, it's time for you to sleep. Let me tuck you in."

Doe yawned again. "Mama, you said you'd tell me why they all stay together if they never could 'gree about anything?"

Shycloud drew the ratty bearskin Doe used as a blanket up to her daughter's chin. "Because they loved each other, cubling, whether they liked it or not."

"They did..." Doe said sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

"And," added Shycloud, blowing out the candle, "Because Tavie made them. Good night, love."