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characters found in this story.
Who
Silenced Twitter’s Song?
Part 2
By Twittersong
It had been an
eight of days since the silence overcame Twittersong. She sat by the river
watching the waves develop and roll away along with the current. She would
imagine when the sound associated with this event, would begin, meld with
another sound, and then die away. So many things had opened up to her, as if
she were brought into a new world full of different tastes, smells, sights, and
feelings. She now depended on things she took for granted before. Since she
could no longer hear or speak, she had to rely on the taste of the air, the
color changes of the day, the feel of temperature around her, and the smell of
a new scent on an incoming breeze. She sat by the river, taking in her “new”
surroundings. As she sat, she caught a hint of dreamberries in the air, and
turned her head to see the elf the scent belonged to. She motioned for Jrean,
who was lingering in the trees, to sit next to her. He did so. For a short
amount of time they sat motionless, staring at the water.
Jrean
turned to his lifemate’s mother, “What are….” He stopped, remembering she could
not hear. Twittersong caught a glimpse of his lips moving and turned to face
him expectantly, sitting cross-legged, looking at him imploringly as if she
wanted him to continue. “You can’t hear me,” he reminded himself as much as
her.
Twittersong
raised a finger to her eye then pointed at his lips.
“You can
see the words form on my lips, huh?”
Twittersong
smiled, then cupped her hand around her ear, then pointed at it with her hand.
“Listen?”
Twittersong
then pointed at both her eyes.
“Eyes?
Listen-eyes? I don’t understand.” Jrean studied her hard as she repeated the
motions together a few more times. “Hear-eyes, listen-eyes? Listen with eyes?
Oh…” He realized what she was trying to say, “Listening with your eyes.”
Twittersong
smiled again, with warm loving eyes and patted the former Soundmaker on the
knee. She had studied her tribe when they spoke, and very naturally caught onto
reading lips. She turned her attention toward the water again. Jrean noted the
concentration on her face. He tapped her on the shoulder and she returned her
attention to him.
“What are
you thinking?” he tapped his head, hoping it may help her understand his words.
She pointed
to the water and made her hand mime the waves as she touched her head as if she
was thinking, then cupped her ear.
“Your
thinking of what the waves sound like.” Jrean smiled and Twittersong smiled
even bigger. She gave him a slap on the back just hard enough to send him into
the water face first. Jrean raised his head above water and looked back to
Twittersong, who was now holding her stomach, shoulders shaking as if she were
laughing. And he realized she was laughing, although silently. He dragged
himself out of the water and started to wring out his hair.
“Very
funny!” he said, making sure the fair elf could see his mouth. It was good to
see that she hadn’t lost her sense of humor.
** **
The sun was
now setting over Stormsinger’s Rest, and the sky was covered in reds and
oranges, complimenting fire dancing in front of the Finders as they sat at
their evening meal. They were all engaged in conversation, even Twittersong,
who listened with her eyes and talked with her hands.
“The hunt
was very successful today. We’ll have enough food for a number of days,”
Summerstream boasted. He had spotted the enormous buck earlier that day and was
very proud about his keen eye.
Twittersong
leaned forward to get everyone’s attention. She tapped her head as if she were
thinking, then pointed at Summerstream, and then she made a stabbing motion at
the buck and shook her finger at her lifemate. She pointed at herself and
smiled.
“She’s
right Summer,” Duskwhisper said to the former Plainsrunner who followed her so
many turns ago. “You didn’t kill the buck. Twitter did. You just spotted it.”
Windweaver
chimed in, “Yeah, Twittersong deserves all the credit.” Twittersong stood and
made a clapping motion, telling the tribe to clap for her and she bowed. The
tribe laughed and she went to Summerstream and gave him a small hug, which he
returned, acknowledging that he knew he was just being teased. The conversation
continued for quite some time after. Shortly before the group departed to their
dens, Wisedove took out her pipe and the tribe broke out into song and dance.
“Twittersong
seems to make much more sense now,” said Rayen, who hadn’t been with the
Finders quite long enough yet to completely understand the peppy glider’s ways.
“She seems less…”
“Her hands
and motions speak louder that her words,” interrupted Summerstream, stopping
Rayen from saying something that may ignite his temper. Rayen smiled nervously
as Summerstream danced away with Crystal.
All were
dancing, jumping and singing along. Twittersong acting out the song as it went.
Hunting, searching, and elfin child,
To find a father to make her whole
A chieftess story never told
Having friends right by her side
The open lands, the fire-lit sky
The tree her father lives within
Became our true and loving friend.”
Soon they all grew weary and waltzed off to bed, all
except for those in Twittersong’s den. Within were Summerstream, Twittersong,
Duskwhisper, and Wisedove.
“Let’s try
again tonight,” the counselor said to the healer, who looked to her patient.
They had tried twice since Twittersong’s hearing had gone to revive her. Both
times the healer had failed to make much progress, but the second time she had
tried to heal her, she felt the power wraps begin to give a little. While that
had been encouraging, it has taken so much of her energy that she couldn’t work
long. This time she was prepared, she asked her snow haired friend to be by her
side for moral support, to help push her through. She reserved all her energy
of the last two days for this act. With a nod to Wisedove, Duskwhisper moved to
Twittersong, who immediately lay down on her back while holding her lifemate’s
hand. The dark haired elf nuzzled the soft fingers wrapped around his dark,
rough, calloused hand.
Duskwhisper
placed her gentle hands onto Twittersong’s throat, and reached inside, with her
powers, to her vocal chords. She massaged them and softly pulled at the thick
wrapping. Thin strips would pull off and dissolve, and soon her vocal chords
were no longer paralyzed and loosened slightly. Twittersong gave out a little
moan. Wise dove gasped at the joyous sound and reminded the healer to save some
of her power to work on her ears. Duskwhisper pulled back her energy and wiped
the sweat from her brow. She then took a sip of water from a skin bag Wisedove
had brought with her. She then turned back to Twittersong, who smiled up at her,
holding back tears of fear. The healer placed her hands over the frightened
elf’s ears and set to work once again. As with her throat, she massaged and
pulled at the thick wrapping, but was gentler, fearing she could damage her
hearing forever. Slowly, layers stripped away, bit by bit. Finally, when she
felt her body start to weaken, she stopped, fearing any danger that could come
from losing her energy while trying to rehabilitate her friend. Duskwhisper
fell back onto Wisedove, and all looked at Twittersong. Her face grimaced, and
tears rolled down her cheeks.
‘Did I hurt
her more? Did I trigger some trap Jade may have set up making her worse?’
Duskwhisper wondered as she stared at her friend and tribemate. They sat in
silence for what seemed like an eternity. Then, off in the distance came a loud
screech of a solo eagle, and Twittersong’s eyes flew open.
**Did she hear that?**
Summerstream sent to the others.
**Why are
you sending? Say something!** Wisedove sent back.
**Why don’t you speak counselor?** a
weak send entered their minds. The three turned to Twittersong, who was now
sitting up. They were too busy to realize Twittersong was listening in on them.
**And I did hear that.**
“You… you
can hear?” Summerstream’s eyes widened.
“Yes,” she
said in a soft shaky voice. “Barely, but yes.” Along with her hearing, came her
ability to send and receive sendings.
“You
shouldn’t talk quite yet,” Duskwhisper explained. “You may strain what control
you have over your voice right now. Maybe after our next session you can… I’m
light headed.”
“I think
you’ve done for today, healer.” Wisedove helped her friend to her feet. “It’s
time to rest.”
As she left
the den, Twittersong sent to her. **Thank you, dear friend. Thank you.**