"Scott G. Gier - Genellan 02 - In the Shadow of the Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gier Scott G)

full height and looking over her head. "It is good to be returned to the warm
mists of my mother's home. Gods grace me."

"Blessings. Thou art always welcome here, son of my husband," she
spoke. "Thou art always welcome home, my beloved son."

"I thank thee, my mother. Thou art kind," Brappa responded, giving
compliment for compliment.

Ceremony satisfied, the mother lifted her long jaw and smiled, rows of
white teeth flashing in the sun. Membrane-draped arms held wide, they
embraced most indecorously, the son's greater form enveloping the
diminutive matriarch. The daughter bravely ventured from the threshold
and danced with unbridled joy.
 "Hast thou yet seen thy good wife and thy brood?" Ki asked.

"First duty is here," Brappa replied almost convincingly, sweeping a wing
around his comely sister.

Ki smiled. "Go to them, my son. Thy duty here is done well."

"Respected mother, Short-one-who-leads is on the salt trail. She tops the
plateau within the hour," Brappa chittered, pivoting to face the misty void,
heavy hunter talons scraping stone.

"Of that who cannot be aware?" Ki snorted. "It echoes from the canyon
walls, screamed by every sentry and even by warriors who know better."
She dropped her eyes. It was unseemly to make such judgments.

"She brings the whelp," Brappa announced breathlessly.

Ki looked up sharply.

"So say the heralds," she said softly. "So say the heralds, but I would not
credit them."

"In truth, Mother," Brappa said, "and she deems thee Great-mother."

"Ah-h-h, an unspeakable honor, my son." Ki exhaled, looking up at her
son. "Thine and mine. But them must hasten to thy lovely wife. Leave me
to ponder this wondrous thing. Go!"

Brappa gently took his mother's head in four-fingered hands and bent to
touch foreheads, softly firing sonic pulses. Ki smiled and dropped watery
eyes. When she looked up, her son had gone silently into the mists. The
daughter, shrouded in drifting steam, perched wraithlike on the terrace
edge.

Ki walked behind Notta and placed her hands on the adolescent's
shoulders. Bathed in warm mists, they listened. Ki's relief at seeing her