Hush

Though he was certainly not the only child in the Holt for a while, he was the youngest by a decade when he was born, and that was certainly cause for celebration. They all knew that he would have age-mates, most probably Cinder and Shrike would get their Recognition overwith and Shrike's problem with worries would subside - definitely after holding little baby Hush in her arms. She got that look in her eye. She knew perfectly well that her lifemate would be the best father, and she the best mother she could.

It would be the sudden spark between the ancient firstborn Kolgar and the stone-shaper Jade, who would beat them. But that would also be two or three turns away. For now, Archive beamed at everyone about his baby, and his lifemate Dreamwhisper was the consummate mother.

Perhaps a little too precious, perhaps a little too protective of him - but Hush was his parents' child, as well. He'd always hold them close, he would always believe that life was meant to be lived and adored, but cherished and protected as well.

When he was hardly a hand of turns old, and his play siblings were still in swaddling, something odd happened to Bald Mountain. It was he who first noticed it, something sounded wrong. His senses physically weren't as keen as some with mixed blood, and his was basically pure. But it was his awareness that all his life he'd heard the distant sounds of the Humans off in their villages.

Their drums were a constant source of argument - what did they mean? Why did they keep doing it? Well it was certain for some elves here that the drums weren't war dances. They were possibly communicating with others. Hush, even at such a young age, understood the value of communication. He had learned to send thoughts while still in his mother's womb - and had been aided not just by his very powerful father in that regard, but the other first-born healer, Awlvon who was most assuredly the single strongest sender in the Holt.

But... sending didn't explain the Humans drums.

It also didn't explain why they'd stopped, and then suddenly started a different song. There was something wrong. Hush, tiny and wide-eyed, wanted to help them. Why? He just did.

"Daddy," he said, "daddy." He pulled Archive's shirt sleeve gently, and the brown-haired elf turned from his studying. As always he was greeted by a big genuine smile.

"Yes, Hush, what is it?"

"Humandrums," he said, still a little less able with mouthing words than he could be with his arrow-straight mind. "Humandrums. They stopp'd."

Archive tilted his head, and stood. Heading off to the edge of their den, where a wide mouth shaped by their stone-shaper friends allowed plenty of light and air, but little breeze. "But they're drumming now, Hush, I don't --"

"No, diffrn't drums," Hush asserted. "Worried. Humandrums worried."

With that, Archive had no choice but to send to their chieftess. Apogee was flying out north, not to the west where these particular drums were centered. She was far away, but could arrive momentarily. Instead she chose to tell Archive, **gather your dragons, see what the matter is. Sometimes they stop just for us, but maybe there is something wrong.**

Hush desperately wanted to see, so he hustled with his father to the upper aerie where the blue and silver dragon Archive called bond rested. Very quickly, they and several others were holding on to their draconic friends and leaping into the air.

Hush had ridden with his father before, his mother was too much of a clingy worry-wart (as Jade called her) to allow it, but this time since it was Hush that started it, they felt he had better be there to see it through. Whatever it was.

It turned out that it was a fire. A huge one, so far the winds had been favorable and kept it on the wide plains where it belonged. But the edges of the southern hills had been charred, and it had been years since a fire swept through this area closer to Bald Mountain.

The Humans drums were indeed frantic - it turned out they were calling in their hunters, all who could hear, with a special 'fire-dance'. The dragons, welcomed since Apogee tended to swoop down above them and bring them gifts and trade with them, landed.

Though Archive was not able to speak the Human tongue easily, ... Hush found their words to be entrancing. The women there were clearly worried - a tiny child like this! And fire on the way! It was as though he could sense their thoughts too, close up. Perhaps it was more their body language, their wide eyes. But Hush learned all he could that day.

They brought water, taking tarps which the elves normally used to keep rain off their dens - from the lake to the east. With three dragons clutching the edges of it in their claws, they made sure to take much liquid and wet down the Humans' lands so that even if the winds shifted, the fire would not pass this area easily. It wasn't all just for them, of course - Bald Mountain would go up like tinder, all the pines and bush!

The Humans chieftain bowed to Archive, but the tall elf smiled softly, and indicated his son. Proudly, Archive said in their rough tongue, "my son warned us, your drums warned him."

With that, they turned their fire-dance into a celebration, if only for a bit. The drum leader, a burly man with arms used to beating the heavy skin with hard bone mallets, presented Hush with a small drum he'd been working on. True to form, and like all good children - Hush took it and made a loud racket for the next hour.

***

The turns passed, bringing new children by the handful to the Mountain. Hush was the oldest of their bunch, it was clear that even the difference between he and the youngest before him was enough to split a generation. Not all of them got along perfectly well - but they were a large group, and what pack of kids all were great with each other?

He was two Eights old, sixteen turns, and was well on his way to adulthood. Some in the Holt would never really treat anyone less than a hundred Eights as an adult - but Hush impressed those elves none the less. As his powers truly came into their own, and his soul-name was finally sought, Hush could have changed his name, or any number of things at his coming-of-age.

But he was studying with his father, and listening to the Human drums as ever. They'd set him up with his own large shaped drum with a taut skin over it, and a shaped-bone mallet of his own. He would often announce to the Humans below, with a rumbling chorus, that someone was coming to visit. He could do this within the minutes it usually took an elf to reach their dragon and get into the sky - so even this little bit of communication helped prevent any undue surprises.

One or two of the elves disliked this practice, but said little more than "why bother with them", or "don't waste your energy on those five-fingers". But Hush ignored that, some of those five-fingers were his friends. He'd mastered their language, and took lessons not just from his elfin instructors on how to gather information from the mind of an elf, but how to ask a Human questions they'd answer best.

It was indeed very likely, that his powers included something which urged the Humans to help out. Yasheel the female first-born urged him to stop using it on the barbaric creatures, he smelled like them when he came back from their village. But Hush knew that his efforts would be for the best. Any wandering Humans, he explained, would have to go through their territory first, and if these Humans were friendly, what they said in their territory went as law to other Humans.

"What about other Elves?" Yasheel casually asked. The tall, pale-haired elfess was sly, but truth be told Hush knew more than he let on about her. She was hard, stand-offish, and often even cruel to others. But to him she left a soft spot and he most certainly took advantage of it.

"Other elves cross Human lands mostly without even being seen," Hush said. "If they hear that the Humans aren't trying to hunt them, even better. They might even be brave enough to talk to them themselves."

He saw Yasheel's shudder, and inside he chuckled. He maintained an even expression, however, never betraying what he thought. "They're not that bad, Yasheel, they look elves your height in the eye. Isn't that worth something? Isn't it awful getting such a crick in your neck looking down from there all the time?"

Now he knew he'd crossed a line... but she remained somewhat sedate. If anyone else had said something like 'why do you look down your nose at us' she'd have flown off the hook and certainly not spoken to them for at least an eight.

Hush knew it was more than just his magic at work, which it certainly was as well. He held her name - though everyone spoke it, and knew that it was her true name - more closely than others did. And like his mother, he was gifted with seeing things in the future or the past on very rare occasions.

He'd seen something in her, and would certianly not let it go. Not until he knew for sure. But it would be many, many turns before that would come to anything. For now, he merely was content to gently remind the first-born that she was not the only elf on the planet, and that the planet did in fact belong to the humans first.

***

It was a group of his age-mates and he, that were selected for their dragon pairs around the same time. Though each of them were to be heading to a different place, or time, or dragonry, they would essentially be back at the same time together.

So it was to a place which had a massive number of supposedly-small dragons hatching at it. While he was the 'go big or go home' type, 'big' for dragons at Bald Mountain meant something entirely different. Even small dragons were large to an elf, weren't they? Well, either way, they were what Hush decided to try for. And he usually got what he was looking for, be it hunting, howling, dancing or drumming...