For he was the one member of the company to whom
Kataya would open her thoughts; and he, too, shared her desire to
understand and cure the baffling self-destruction of the Children's
bodies as they neared adulthood, never forgetting that a living soul was
carried within.
And as always among the social intercourse of men, many actions and
words held cross-purposes at once, some realized, others forming like
vague bubbles in the dark depths of the sea of human consciousness.
Some would rise visibly, for those who knew how to read them; others
would be raised only in the seclusion of after-thought. And still
others, unwisely, would be suppressed. For all, in the end, must rise.
'Have they gone?' asked McIntyre, needing only Kataya's
desolate expression for an answer.
'We'll get ‘em next year,' he said more quietly.
'Who? What do you mean?' asked Sylviana.
'The Children,' he answered. 'Every Spring they migrate
north.' He observed the tension between herself and Kalus, and added.
'You've wondered, no doubt, why the killer whales took up with
them in the first place?'
'Yes,' said Kalus. 'Why?'
'Intelligent symbiosis, my friend. Works every time. A hunter like
yourself will no doubt appreciate their technique. The youngsters make
land some distance from the beaches where the seals lie in their
hundreds, then come up behind them with sticks, startling them and
driving them into the sea, where the orcas are waiting.
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