Until the Celebration by Zilpha Keatley Snyder Read Free Book Online Page B

anxiety, frustration, or even fear, they chanted hymns of Peace, practiced rituals of joyfulness, and consumed larger and larger quantities of Berry. Until at last, when the burden had grown beyond the reach of ritual or Berry, they came to the Senate desperate and demoralized.
    Among the petitioners whom Genaa had seen that morning had been a Kindar carpenter whose trencher knives and chisels had been replaced by Erdling tools— and he was certain that the tools were cursed. Their very efficiency—the sharp bite that shaped the wood with such enchanted swiftness—was proof, to him, of their accursedness. Twice already, they had caused him small injuries. They were, he was certain, only waiting for the right moment to take his life.
    There had been, also, two Kindar bond-pairs whose nid-places were in the farheights, near some of the first Erdling height-dwellers. They were afraid that they were being poisoned by the smoke that came from the Erdling hearthfires and of the effect of the rough and tempestuous Erdling children on their own children’s peacefulness and Joy. They were even terrified, although they hesitated to say so, for the lives of their pets and their children at the hands of the flesh-eaters, who were now their neighbors.
    But the most troubling of all, twice that morning, Kindar had been brought before the Senate who were far gone in Berry-dreaming and clearly not suffering from the effects of the Wissenberry alone. Genaa had been horrified to learn that they had eaten the fruit of the pavo-vine. Growing only in the farheights, this parasitic plant produced a small green berry that was capable of causing extreme hallucinations and was quickly and incurably addictive. Eaten regularly, it soon brought about a dream state from which there was no awakening. For generations the use of the pavo-berry had been forbidden and almost unheard of in Green-sky. But now, since the withering of the Root, the Wissenberry seemed to be gradually losing its milder dream-inducing power, and there were those who were turning to the deadly fruit of the pavo-vine.
    All morning Genaa had searched for answers to difficult questions, and when midday had arrived, bringing a free half-day, she had returned to her nid-chamber determined to spend the free hours in rest. And now, a new and even more frightening problem had arisen and, as a member of the Council, she would have to go to the emergency meeting to search for a solution. Genaa sighed again and rose wearily from her nid. She put on the shuba she had so recently removed and then stood limply, head drooping, while Neric helped her with the wing-panels, tying the fastenings tightly at wrist and ankle.
    Neric regarded her anxiously. “Wouldn’t you like to rest a little longer?” he asked. “There is still time before the meeting.”
    Genaa shook her head. “It would be useless. I couldn’t rest now.”
    Reaching out, Neric pulled her to him caressingly, thinking to comfort her with the ritual of close communion, but she pushed him away.
    “This is not the time for Love-rituals,” she said. “How could we comfort each other, knowing what has happened to poor Wassou—and what has happened to the Rejoyning.”
    Turning away she walked to the window and stood looking out into the soft green of the forest.
    “What has happened?” she asked again. “Will it fail, the Rejoyning?”
    Neric went to stand beside her at the window, but he did not try to answer.
    “We were all so sure,” Genaa said. “So sure that when the truth was told and the Erdlings free, evil would be conquered, and all would be as it was in the early days. Were we wrong? Would it have been better to leave things as they were?”
    “I don’t know,” Neric said. “I have wondered, too, at times.”
    “Raamo,” Genaa said suddenly. “I can’t bear to think what this will do to Raamo. He has been so troubled lately—and now this.”
    “Where is Raamo?” Neric asked. “At the Vine Palace