Chang's Bar and Grill

Jack's family had never moved out of the Bay area since the tragic die off of so many of it's populace. Family had been in the same place for well over a hundred years, they stayed in the place of so much death for fifty more.



The older of two brother's, he had been trained and expected to take over the family buisness, as head of his large family of siblings and all of the offspring they would all produce.



But, as a young boy, he had exhibited certain talents that his maternal grandfather had noticed and began to train him to develop more strongly. As a sorcerer.



This did not set well with his parents. And adding to the fact that Jack really wanted to
go see the world. A world they viewed as dangerous, full of untrustworthy other people who lived very different lives from themselves.



The community they lived in hadn't really changed a lot after the Great Death. They still kept to the China Town community, still plan marriages within the community, stll carried on with the family business.



After a great blow out with his father, mother, uncles and aunts, Jack packed his bags and left. His grandfather found him before he had left the bay city entirely the next day.



Griping his hand, he told Jack everything else he thought Jack should know about how to use his talents, told him to work it so he did performances for money, and handed him a bundle.



When Jack opened the bundle, tears came to his eyes. Within was some of Grandfather's cherished robes, hats and slippers, his short sword, and his wand. He had also included his
I-Ching tiles.



When Jack had exclaimed, all Grandfather did was hug him, tears in both their eyes, Then told him to go south and not look back.



Grandfather died six months later. Jack always believed Grandfather knew he would go soon.



Jack did come back once with his new wife. His tall beautiful red-headed Sheila. Of Irish and Mexican descent, and as gorgeous a woman as he had ever seen. She towered over him, but he loved her more and more over the years.



She was made of fire, but when they got a cold reception from his family, she told Jack without any signs of her usual hot temper, that she wanted to leave and never come back.



So except for the time he came back to fetch his mother, he hadn't been back home in a long time.



His mother and Sheila finally found some common ground, they both adored Jack Chang with all his odd habits and wandering ways, and so finally made peace just before his mother died.



So now, with this silence between his brother and himself, Jack sat at a table eating food with his daughter and great granddaughter seated next to him.



An ocean couldn't have put more distance inbetween the brothers.



Jack's brother, Leslie Chang turned and chatted to his oldest daughter, directing her to
make up two rooms for their guests upstairs. Most of the family lived either upstairs, or in the surrounding buildings. Using the rooftops as their only access to fresh air and sunlight, and kept
every thing within their holdings well guarded.



Leslie stood up and nodded at Jack, Grandmother Magnolia, and Rosemma. Then turned to Charlie and Charles and spoke. "Gentlemen, I wish you a good rest, Niece and great-niece, sleep well."



Mary Chang Kwon smiled at his back as he walked out. "Don't mind him, he is very surprised by your sudden and late visit. He is not too good at surprises, Uncle Jack you do remember that?"



Jack grinned,"Oh yeah, he is the image of my Dad, I know you were old enough in the family line-up to kind of remember your grandfather."



"A little bit,Uncle. Let me show you to the rooms we made up for you. If you aren't tired you can go sit on the roof for a bit. Everyone gets up early to get the kitchen started, and so on around here. Business as usual, but don't let that stop all of you from sleeping, it sounds like you had a long hard walk to get here. There are towels in the bathrooms for each of you. But make the baths quick, the hot water tanks will be shut off, we have to to conserve our wood to get through for a while."



Jack thought on this as they were climbing the stairs, "Mary where do you get your wood from nowadays?"



Mary thought,"Well, for a long while there were some old buildings that had fallen down by the old Sausalito area that some crews looking to trade for goods and meals tore apart and then hauled all the way here. But some of the family enterprises lately are hauling down wood from up North, there are no people in Santa Rosa anymore."



Jack pressed for more information. " How about any kind of fishing, boats, small ships, sailing yachts, what lies down in the harbor?"



Mary thought, then frowned. "Why would you be interested in that, Uncle?"



Jack glanced back at Charlie and the others, " We maybe need a boat, none of us are sailors, we need to know who is, what they have to rent out, that sort of thing?"



"We'll ask in the morning, someone in the family will know, Uncle. There are lot of us Changs, not all of us spend all our days in this old restaurant tending to customers. And some of our regulars know a lot of what goes on out there in the bay. Till tomorrow, Uncle. Magnolia, Rosemma, and you two fine gentlemen." She bowed to Charlie and Charles, then turned and
walked down the hall leaving them standing in front of their rooms.



Grandmother pressed Rosemma into their room. She had been glad that Jack never mentioned that Rose and Charles were newlyweds. Indeed. She still simmered at her son-in-law for putting them all in such a position. They could still be home, Rosemma would be an apprentice and not have felt this pressure to make a foolish leap into marriage and leaving to find the Nommos. But now they felt hunted, and Jack had quietly told her they were being tracked but were well ahead of Rosemma's father and brothers.



Finally she and Rose laid their heads down to sleep exhausted.



Up on the roof, Charles, his grandfather and Jack sat with steaming cups of tea.



Jack had gone back down into the kitchen, and found things really hadn't changed much. The cups, the pots, the tea was still just as he remembered from his childhood.



He needed a clear head in the morning, and even though Charlie made a face, they sipped their tea.



"Jack, I ain't sure your family quite knows what to make of this grandson of mine and me, coming here with you so late in the evening."



Grunting, Jack waved his hand towards the lower floors of the building, "They never know what to make of anything, time hasn't changed a thing. They cling to the same old ways,
cook the same food, feed the same customers, with a new face here and there, serve the same old watered down booze, go to bed the same time, get up the same time. You are not white, maybe latino?" At this he grinned at Charlie's expression, and then at Charle's smile. " Maybe not, doubt they see too many Indians around here anymore."



"Face it, it has been a long time and living out and off the land was easier for your folks, my folks were never country people. So they live in this wrecked old city, doing the same thing as always, being shop keepers, serving food, trading for goods, hardly go too far from home. When they do they scurry back pretty quick."



Charles observed Jack's face. He seemed a little melancholy. "Uncle Jack, you left, you were always out adventuring, and you stayed away, why?"



"Well young man, they didn't like my wife, the love of my life, they never tried to
send me a message except when my old man died, and my mother just wanted to be with me, her oldest son, that is what goes on, the oldest son takes care of his mamma. So I came and got her, and took her with me back to the desert. She had a hard time at first , but she did come to love Sheila and the kids, and helped out." Other than that they never tried to be friendly with my wife and kids, or me. I did send them a couple of messages as to where I could be reached, but that was that."



Charlie scratched his chin, thinking of those days in the desert. "We were gone a lot, Jack, but we made some money and took good care of our families. Not easy out there. But we all worked hard, each in our own ways, and none of the children went hungry, ever."



Jack sighed, "I know, we did well by our kids. But when Mother died, I sent a message to this place, to my family, and not one of them came to visit her grave, and I never heard from them, and I quit trying after that."

He shook his head half in anger, half in sorrow. "I am the odd man out, I took after my mother's father, he traveled in his younger days earning a living for his family, and then this family, looking for students, and here I was under his nose, and when I became his apprentice, my father knew it was the right thing, but he hated it. Leslie was his apprentice, he had the right son for the job, but he held a grudge against me for leaving, never wanted to leave his little niche and resented me for being different. The older son. So now here I am, needing their help, all to go traveling again!" He chuckled.

They all got up thinking sleep was a good thing to get some of before the night grew thin and morning was on top of them.

Once in bed, Charles lay awake for a while. The old men fell asleep quickly and he wished he had their ability to just nod off.

He had a wife, something he really didn't want or even had seriously considered. Not that he didn't like Rosemma, but she was so young, and after her determined slightly mad jump into
a way to become his apprentice, he wondered if she was thinking over what she had actually done.

He knew the Nommos contact with her had made her determined no matter what. But his first impression that she was just a scared little very young mouse of a girl stayed with him. But that scared little mouse of a girl had gone behind her very big and dominant father, married him to become his apprentice, then fled, ran away with the rest of the party to avoid all of the consequences that would come the next day.

So now what? He thought it all over, and for better or worse he would stick with her, try to reach the Nommos, try to find this place they were in a worry about, then they would see.

And who knew, maybe they would grow on each other. He thought of her blue eyes, and smiled.
Somehow, he knew she wasn't like her older sisters, but did she even know how powerful she was. Very few humans he had met had the ability to move things like he had seen her do. He wondered what other abilities lay dormant inside Rosemma waiting to show themselves. Her
great-great grandfather was a Chinese sorcerer, so was her great grandfather. Her grandmother was a whale singer, her aunt and cousins had magical talents. She was never encouraged in any thing magical, it could be she had some strong talents. She was Irish, Mexican, Chinese, and what ever else, what kind of talents did she inherit from other ancestors?

His grandfather, Charlie Bearscratcher, got his name because he could talk to animals, walk up to bears, and scratch them on the belly, and put them to sleep. He was a shaman, Charles had been his apprentice, and he could find animals at a long distance away, and communicate with them.
His mother had trained him in the healing arts, and use of wild medicinal plants, and he had hoped to one day go to the big gathering of his people in the middle of the country to find his seat on the council of medicine people. His mother went and sat, and some year he hoped to be admitted to participate in discussions on the state of the tribal nations. Like all other humans, they had to struggle to subsist and coming together gave them a combined strength and shared
information as to what went on in the world around them. Government as it had been before the Great Death no longer existed. Just small pockets of humanity in communites united in survival and protection against starvation and bandits.

Like the ones they had seen since they entered the bay area, like Chinatown.

Finally he drifted off, sighing to himself over the turn his life had taken.

The path to the bay

Two days later they came to the ruins of the old city on the bay.

People still lived there, but not many, as they had to move out to hunt and the fish in the bay were few.

But Rosemma and Charles stared around as they walked beneath the shadows of ruined
towering buildings, stepping on broken glass and other debris scattered in the streets.

Grandmother kept her dog, Jack Sharp Tooth, close to her hip. And every now and then she would remind Rosemma to to the same. Very carefully stepping around some sharp debris, cautiously skirting it to avoid injury to the dogs feet.

The people they did see, were not too friendly, staring at them with grim looks.

Jack Chang grunted here and there. He had grown up here, in the old part that had been called China Town. He left home as a young man after his grandfather has died, only going back to bring his mother out to come live with them in the desert.

And now he was heading back. Charlie Bearscratcher stepped along with him. He had come here once too. To watch Jack's back as they moved his mother out.

Chinatown, Jack mused. He wondered if there was still anyone he knew, he was not a young man anymore, it had been a long while. The years had been pretty good to him, he was still fairly spry, still had that magic touch, only his hair had gone white, but his face wasn't too lined. Well, a little, but not so bad.

Gardens were visible here and there around houses, front yards, chickens scratched in the streets.

Cats were everywhere. Grandmother supposed they had to have so many, the rodents would over run every thing otherwise. She had always loved cats, but unless she had made her
home the Scared Mountain village permanently, it just wouldn't work. Cats for the most part didn't travel well.

A group of men stepped out in front of them. Jack and Charlie motioned for everyone to stop.

One of the men came forward with a expression of authority.

Jack stepped to meet him. They confered, Jack gesturing, pointing in a direction, then pointing back at their group.

He then pointed up, then down, and suddenly the ground did a little shake. The other man jumped back, quickly motioned for them to pass, and he and the other men moved out of their way back to where they had come. With fear in their eyes.

Grandmother waited untill they were well past then spoke. " Father, what did you do?"

Jack chuckled, "Well Maggie they do know of the sorcerers from Chinatown, I just thought I would hurry up the interview a little. I'm not sure they would have let us get pass them. And it is so much quicker this way. Not that I blame them, there has been some trouble the last few years. Bandits, and some territorial disputes have left them kind of suspicious of strangers."

Then he added, " I want to keep moving on as quick as we can, I don't want to be out on the streets when it gets dark."

So he hurried them along, untill Rosemma thought her feet would never stop aching, and she was used to walking, but this land had so much hard to it. And things to watch for, things that could trip or cut a person.

Charles seemed very quiet, she thought. She still felt shy with him, but then she realized in some ways, he was a quiet man, and didn't need a lot of needless talk to make him feel important. She glanced his way, and found him staring carefully at his feet, watching where he walked.

He seemed to be in deep thought and concentration, so she went back to her own careful steps.

The day seemed to go on for ever. Finally as it was getting towards evening, Jack Chang sighed loudly.

"Never thought I would see this place again, well let's go see who is around."

Grandmother grumbled,""Father, you can't be serious, who would still be alive that you might even know?"

Jack Chang turned around. "Magnolia, you know that we Chinese are a very long lived people, and I come from a really big family. Three of my sisters chose to stay here, and last time when I came to get Mother Chang, they all had fairly large families. As do my cousins, and my brother. So there is someone here who wil know me. And," He pointed at himself, I do look a lot like my grandfather, they will all remember him, he was in this city, a very famous man!"

Grandmother hushed up, and they crossed into what Rosemma could see was a very
different part of town than where they had been before.

Another two blocks later, Jack motioned for them to stop, and he knocked on a door.

When the door cracked open a small way, Jack spoke in a language that no one else
had heard him speak before. The door opened wider, and a young man and an older white haired woman stepped out.

The woman who was tiny in stature, but huge in attitude, took Jack's face between her hands and stared. He said something to her, and she laughed, then hugged him. She grabbed his arm, motioned to all of them to come inside.

To Chang's Bar and Grill.

A bit of a hiatus, but still plotting on in my head

Just been one of those months, hopefully not several months before I get back.

So much and some unexpected has popped up, and I am dealing with the usual fall
chores, plus others, so when the dust settles, I will be back, as will Rosemma, Jack Chang and
Charles BearTracker and the rest.

These are troubled times to be sure.

William Riley reacts badly

Rosemma was frightened by her fathers face.

He always intimidated her, but this time his anger and lack of concern on her part shocked her.

Not once did he ask her what she wanted, not once did he even look her way. When he ordered her to return to the family yurt with all of her belongings in the morning and then stomped out, she suddenly was angered beyond anything she had ever felt before.

He made her feel like a thing, an object, not his daughter. Something likened to a whipped dog, a animal owned by him.

No kind words, no loving glance her way, concern for her, and she felt her heart squeeze.

Then she turned to Grandmother, Great Grandfather, and Charles with a grim look.

And she said" So who's up for a wedding, then a quick pack up to get the hell out of this
place?"

Then turned on her heel and trotted back to Jack Chang's cabin as fast as she could go.

Grandmother caught her half way back. "Rosie, you don't have to do this, not on a whim dear child!" She thought of her daughter, and the repercussions of the days to follow after they had all gone.

Rosemma turned to face her."Yes I do, Grandmother, the Nommos need me to come, and so I will go as a married woman then, but in name only. I need Charles to come, they seem to want him there with me. I have no choice. My father is a difficult man, so let him be difficult. I am not going to stick around and have him treat me like a cow."

She turned and picked up the pace. Once at the cabin, she quickly packed up her clothes, and the meager things she could call her own.

Back outside she whistled for the pup, Chomper came running. He followed past the other three who by this time had arrived. Jack ventured a "Child-!" At which she put up her hand for silence.

Walking up to Charles she held out her hand to him, which he took.

"In name only, Charles, and you travel with me, teach me, and if any of the rest of you want to come, do so." At this she looked over her shoulder to the others with a meaningful glance.

"And otherwise I would clear out anyway. Father will make life pretty miserable for you, none of us should be here in the morning."

Charlie and Jack gave each other a raised eyebrows look in astonishment, then grinned
with some elbow nudging. Grandmother had a shocked face, not believing this was her little
granddaughter giving orders to all of them.

But after some thought she came to realize the Nommos at work, and how desperate they must have made Rosemma feel. They needed her to come to them.

When they came back to the elders still remaining in the Council Hall, and Rosemma
stated her desire to be married to Charles BearTracker, Bertola didn't refuse her request.

She understood completely. And with the other elders as witnesses she married them in a brief ceremony, and their names written in the marriage and death book, and rings given them, ones made to standard sizes as proof of official sanction. She then kissed them both, and
stepped back. Tears in her eyes, knowing they would be gone, and she had regrets over that, but she knew why they had to go.

Two hours later, all were packed, Chomper and Jack Sharp Tooth carrying packs, and they slipped out of the village in the dark.

Rosemma didn't look back, but the lump in her throat felt like a boulder. She hoped someday her family would understand and she suddenly felt very old.

Jack was already making plans, talking low to Charlie Bear Scratcher about finding a boat, where to go to find a boat, all the while working magic to swirl aroudn behind him and erase their tracks. He knew the trail well, and a spirit light he set to guide them floated along as they went lighting the way.

Despite feeling heartsick and unsure, Rosemma thought learning some magic would not be such a bad thing.

Then she glanced at Charles, and realized she wasn't the only one feeling unsure. He glance back at her and offered a slight smile, shyly.

"Charles, I am so sorry it had to be like this. I hope when we find ourselves at the end of our journey, whole and alive, we can then undo the marriage if we both wish, and stay good friends. This is not that way it goes in the village usually. Most parents are delighted to have their son or daughter apprenticed to someone with talent so they can learn a craft. I will not make any apology for my father, I am just sorry I seemed so pushy and I had to go so soon, oh
I would have given anything to not have it go like this!" She felt weary, and stopped talking then.
Both of them walked on under the spirit light for what seemed to be miles. Then Jack stopped them. Grandmother protested, "Father we need to put a lot of distance between us and
William!"

Jack turned to her, "Magnolia, hush for once. I am going to set a guard, and will keep watch for anyone following us. So far, no one has followed us, and if we get up in the morning before first light and keep going, they will not catch us."

At this, he sat down on a rock, the rest of them took out their bedrolls and lay down exhausted. Rosemma suffering from fear of her father again. She just couldn't stop shaking about what would happen if he found them.

Charles whispered quietly so they could all hear" This sure wasn't the kind of honeymoon I would have planned!" And they all laughed together, and soon settled into a cold restless but needed sleep.

Grandmother reviews her own life

Maggie almost exploded when she came around the corner of the cabin to hear
her father and old Bear Tracker hatching up some cockamammy thing like betrothal between
a young girl and a young man still in his own training period.

But she stifled herself, and slipped back around the corner and went to sit on the front
porch.

"The last thing those two know is anything about marriage", she thought. "The last thing I knew was about marriage, only that I wanted to get married so bad, and all I got from that was two babies and a no good husband that vanished into thin air and left us practically
begging for food."

Her memories came flooding back, Luca just left one day, walked off, took his pack , she realized later, all his clothes, just had it stashed, planned it. Her mother who was alone with all the little ones, and their best friend, Alma Golden Moon BearScratcher, got her started on learning to spin and weave so she could earn a little trade goods to get by on. She helped in their gardens, milked their goats, went out with the dogs and fetched in the sheep every night, while they watched the girls. All so they would survive, have some food, some milk, some wool.

Idana was the oldest, and she learned to cook at a very early age, along with Maggies youngest siblings. Learned to dry meat, vegetables, any thing for winter.

It was a hard way of living, water had to used and not wasted. They were in the desert, and not used to the heat. Old May-Ling Chang, Maggie's grandmother suffered the most. She had spent her life along the coast, in moister warmer temperatures. The dry heat only spared her arthritis some, but left her lethargic and always complaining.

Sheila McGilroy Chang was a tough no nonsense woman, who managed the family with
lots of love backed up a firm hand. Maggie learned alot by watching her with the younger children and applied some of it to her own daughters.

But she constantly dealt with a deep burning anger over the desertion of her husband.
And with the anger came a resolve to never have to expose herself to pain like that again.
When unattached men came into camp, didn't matter who they were, she never smiled, never
laughed, didn't look their way, and finally it seemed to have become a habit with her.

By the time the two wandering husbands came back. though always prosperous with newly acquired goods, which no one asked in what manner they came by them, Maggie was ,
and she sighed at this, a sourpuss.

When her mother put down her foot and demanded that things change, Jack got a spot
teaching magic in the Sacred Village. And both Sheila and Maggie cried at having to leave their
dear friend Alma.

Charlie and Alma had five children, all girls, walking out of camp the Changs cried
sadly, hardly daring to turn and look at their counterparts standing in camp crying just as heartily.

Charlie and Alma were from the desert tribes and torn, between family and beloved friends, and it was a long journey of over two weeks of walking to reach each other, so as the years flowed past the pain dimmed into a fondness when they all thought of each other.

Charlie would pass through on one of his expeditions, finally crying on the cabin porch with both Sheila and Jack over Alma's death. The next year, her mother passed. By that time
all the little Changs had grown up, and went onto their chosen path or married and were raising
children while being employed by their prospective camps and clans.

Three of them lived in the village, Maggie saw them now and then. Her father would make the rounds to visit his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, coming back with tales of who was doing what, or fighting with who, or getting married.

Maggie would listen and shrug to herself. She had to grow up so fast, it seemed like she was never a child playing with all of her much younger siblings. She felt detached.

But her own grandchildren, even though she was stern with them, they filled her life.

Idana's girls and the one boy had talent, but not as whale singers. They took after their
greatgrandfather with his conjuring. Idana did too. Much to the delight of many of her neighbor
children. She would tell them stories and embellish them with the characters riding along on a horse, or a fierce eagle flying right through where they sat, or over their heads.

She was a huge success at birthday parties, and gatherings of a celebratory nature.

Then there was Vincenza and her husband. Because he disliked all things magical heartily which he did not understand, he forbade them to his children. No wonder that none except Rosemma
had shown any signs of a gift. Closed minded, and the older girls were going to get themselves in trouble. Oh, he stood over them like an farmer over his best heifers, but May-Ling and
Soledad were the most determined flirts, teasing and then snuffing out any hope in the hearts of more young men their age than Maggie could count. Sometimes beauty was just skin deep, and that was all.

She though of Rosemma then, hoping that the test had gone well, and she hadn't
come out of it tramatized. Young Charles seemed like a decent young man. She remembered him from his visits to the village with his grandfather. Son of the youngest daughter. Who tried to look after Charlie. Oh good luck, just like Jack, irrascable to the core.

She broke out of her revery at the sight of Charles and Rosemma walking up the path.

Rising, she saw the two of them exchange glances. "Oh, oh, now what is this?"

Charles cleared his throat,"Grandmother Magnolia, I would like to speak with you, your
father and my father if it would be possible."

" The elder gentlemen are just around the back" she replied, " I think we will just go there and make it easy for them." She grimaced to herself. What she didn't say was the elder gentlemen had about three mugs of ale each and at this point pretty satisfied with themselves.

Jack and Charlie looked up at their coming and motioned for them all to sit.

They both smiled with this look on their face that to Maggie spoke volumes.

Charles pushed his glasses up his nose, glancing at Rosemma.

"The test was a great success, we made contact with the Nommos, both of us, they
came through Rosemma and included me in what they came to show us."

Grandmother gasped,"Showed you, what did they show you?" She forgot the
tipsy old men and her annoyance with them at this news.

" They took us to the far north, we saw something we can't explain quite yet, it was a beam of light, and from the perspective of time, it seemed we had gone back to when the time of the dying happened." Charles swallowed hard at the memory. This he knew was possible, to
journey in time, but it still gave him pause. But at least the first to hear this information were
well versed in the eosteric ways of life.

"What did you see, how did it happen?" Jack leaned forward on his cane, a little wobbly but excited and focused on Charles.

Rosemma spoke up,"There were many men in strange clothing, and machines that worked, so we knew this was not in this time and day, they were busy moving around in their machines, and when this huge beam of light came on and shot up into the sky, it killed almost everybody, just like the histories tell, us. Only a few got back up after a while, and then we were shown that it began to snow a lot. Things changed and we saw many dead Nommos and their cousins in the ocean, and more snow untill all the northern coast were covered over and
cold. I am not sure how far down this was to be honest. But from what I and Charles were shown it was still going on."

She swallowed, and went on"And Charles would like for me to be his apprentice." She saw that this was a shock by the looks on their faces. Best to get it over now.

"I said yes", she added. Hardly daring to look at her grandmothers face.

Magnolia was a little taken aback, but thought she wasn't too surprised.

"Jack chuckled, and Charlie smiled. Magnolia spoke up.

"Rosemma, the hardest part will be telling your father this, you know that."

She continued, "you are old enough to get married, but if he objects to your
apprenticeship to Charles, you may have to wait two more years before you can have the way
clear."

Rosemma burst out, "What, why is that, my father would not even let me
get married to anyone unless he approved of some match in his favor, he still has my sisters to marry off, he wouldn't stop my apprenticeship, would he?"

Jack spoke, "Here is this village, a senior member of a family has the right to approve a marriage in the presence of a council person, at the age of 16 or older, but if there is an apprenticeship that may impact the livelyhood of the whole family, it has to be considered by
the whole family and brougt before the council to determine the outcome."

Rosemma felt a lump rising in her throat, why had the subject of marriage come up in all of this, when all she wanted was to be an apprentice. Oh she thought, marriage involves some kind of
material goods as a good will gesture, but taking a young worker from their clan involved no such thing. The clan would come away less unhappy if she married, she suddenly realized.

The faces of her parents came into her mind, as she thought about them, then realized she was being addressed

"So, you may have to wait and see how your father reacts."

She drew a sharp breath.

Old cronies never change

Jack Chang and Charlie Bear Scratcher were sitting out in Jack's yard behind his cabin.



None of Jack's family living in the yurts that surrounded the yard at some distance could see them, or hear them, mostly due to not being at home, but off in various activities.



After arriving at the cabin, Jack had grabbed a jug of his homemade ale, and two mugs

and they vacated the premises quickly.



Because they knew that Magnolia was coming back soon after, and Jack knew she would be in a mood. And he wanted to laugh with Charlie, just like old times.



He and Charlie were each twenty years old when they first met. Jack had been traveling along towards the old city of Reno, still a wild place, and Charlie had too, but from a different direction.



Son of a Medicine woman, he was just tired of the high holy talk and attempts to get him to immerse himself into the Medicine way. He just wanted out, see the world , have some fun, sow some oats, then after some time maybe find himself a good woman and have some kids.

The rest would fall into place.



The first time he saw Jack Chang was outside Reno, on the old highway from the west.

Jack was holding off some bandits, well quite literally holding them up and off the ground.



Charlie stood and laughed at the improbable small young man with a long pigtail, outrageous long silk robe with long sleeves who was smoking a pipe with one hand and carrying on a conversation with the five men he had suspended in mid-air.



"If I let you down, unless you leave quickly and do not bother me again, this -with a wave of his pipe holding hand- will chase you down and eat you!" And there was a giant red

dragon standing there glaring at the men.



Even Charlie was impressed, and amused. He chuckled and saw that Jack nodded

slightly in his direction.



Jack had lowered the men down and they ran fast and hard in different directions

vanishing in just a matter of minutes.



So did the dragon. Jack turned to Charlie, "Now good sir, how can I help you?"



Charlie grinned,"Pretty good trick, you a magician from some show?"



Jack grinned back, "No, I come from a long line of Chinese magicians, wizards to be exact, I am formerly of the old San Francisco city to the west, and am off to see the known

world and find my fortune. And search for other magical folk here and there."



"I am the reknown Jack Chang."



Charlie grinned, I am the not so famous son of a Medicine Woman, Willow Weaver, and come from the Northeast area of here, still in the desert, mostly known as the sticks, and I too am off to see what is out there and find my fortune, and maybe a woman too someday."



"I have some whiskey in my stuff, want some?"



After that day, they traveled together, inseparable, finding adventures, some fortune, but not enough to ever last long, and eventually women they came to love. And families.



Both Jack and Charlie had many children and grandchildren, and great grand

children.



Now they sat smiling after a second mug of ale, and Jack spoke of his beloved

wife, Sheila, and his regrets at leaving her alone with the kids so often. And how his mother

May-Ling had come to help out in her later years. And of course his great-granddaughter,

May-ling, who was the village beauty. He shook his head, "May-Ling of course has gotten a swelled head about her looks, Soledad has at least a bit more sense. She will marry well."



Charlie mused, "All my daughters did pretty well. Took after their mother, my

Alma Golden Moon, found good husbands, and then I have the grandsons. Charles is a good boy, though he tends to be very sensitive, and not so hot in the social skills department. If I remember that summer he spent here, May-Ling was pretty merciless on him. Leading him on

then shutting him down."



"Now how about this youngest one, she is pretty young, but I tell you what, you and me(this accompanied by a swing of the mug) should maybe think of a betrothal.

Rosemma trailed her grandmother and Jack Chang into an almost empty cabin
behind the long house used for community gatherings.

Seated in a chair was a tall upright old man, who watched them enter in silence and a somewhat stern expression. That was until he saw Jack Chang. Then a great smile crossed his
face. Which he then stifled again.

As Rosemma stood blinking in the dim light, she saw a younger slender man with glasses
who stood back a bit behind the older man as if in respect. He was watching all of them intently
and really was staring at her.

She blushed and suddenly wanted to run out the door and hide.

The older man spoke "Jack Chang, greetings!, and I am honored to meet you again
Magnolia after all these years. And this must be the young newest singer, the child we have heard so much of."

Jack grinned from ear to ear, "Oh yes, my great granddaughter, a chip off the old block, and as sweet and good a girl as they come, very talented too.." He paused to grab a breath and Bertola jumped in.

" Well, this young man is Charles Beartracker, also a grandchild and also talented, and
since he has come with his grandfather, we could spend all day bragging up the kids, but let's not."

" There is work to do, and I have other things to go off and do now, and I suggest that we let Charles proceed with his testing of Rosemma."

At this Bertola nodded her head at the others, and left.

Rosemma really was edging towards the door, not sure why or how she had to be involved with this test. Charles watched her, and when he finally spoke, she froze.

"Rosemma, please do not be afraid, it will be a very simple thing, and you do not have to fear me."

"Please come closer." At this he pulled chair out for her, and then one for himself and sat down, motioning for her to sit across from him. She did, compelled by his words.

He pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled at her. She cracked a small one back at him, studying his face. Dark skin, long black hair, braided down his back, nice features,
not like any of her peers, Tall, lean, his eyes were a dark liquid brown, and very kind, with a gleam of mischief at that moment. He was older, but not that old, older than her sisters, but not
older than her oldest brother.

He was studying her intently, and looked into the bluest sky eyes he had seen
in a long time. A little upward tilt, but not like her sisters. He knew them from some time back,
suffered some at May Lings cruel words, and gotten over both of her sisters. Not a flashy beauty this one. But so different, freckles, curly fire red hair, and utterly a child, but also
there was an energy all around her, she was gifted in more ways than one.

Charles turned his head to his grandfather and Jack Chang. " Could be a while here, you two wanna go catch up?" And then adressing Grandmother" Madame, we will be taking our time slowly, I promise you I will go slow with her, and so if you have errands, or things to catch up, I will bring her to you when we are finished."

Grandmother pursed her lips, but got up and nodded. Jack and the older
Beartracker grinned and quickly left, slapping each other on the back , as they went. Grandmother made a disgusted noise in her throat and disappeared down the steps.

Charles smiled at Rosemma. "Now move your chair close to mine, until our knees touch. And I don't bite, or have bad breath,"

She blushed, pretty he thought. "Now that will never do, this is a child, and I am going to take her into a trance state."

Where they would both be very vulnerable, and he was the one with experience, no distractions.

" Please put your hands in mine, Rosemma, and lean forward and put your forehead against mine." She complied, and trembled a bit.

" I want you to go back to the time you saw the whale, calm your mind."

" Think of the water and the whale, open your eyes and look into mine,
Rosemma, please." She did.

Up close her blue eyes could drown someone, he took breath. "Match
your breathing to mine, and feel the floating on the raft, gently moving up and down with the
swells, up and down, breathing with me."

She caught her breath, and he curled his fingers around hers gently,
breathing slowly. she relaxed and felt herself drifting away from the chair.

Suddenly they were both on the raft, on the ocean and the whale was there. Singing, the song triggering pictures in her brain, in his brain. They were sitting
forehead to forehead, and she lifted her head and looked at the whale. The whale looked back.

She could see images of not just the snow the whale had shown her falling from a few months earlier, but a land, a shore line, and it was covered in snow. The sky
was dark and lights danced in the dark sky, and something else. A huge beam of pulsating
light, with a circular motion that seem to cut straight up into the night sky, and she felt fear.

The whale drew her closer to the shore. Charles patted her hand, it was then that she realized he could see what she was seeing. He smiled and nodded at the whale.

She turned her head back. It was if she was on it's back, and as they approached the shore, her breath caught. There was nothing , life, all life, trees, and the shore itself had decay upon it. Burned for miles around the pulsating light, and only the light frizzing with an energy from some unseen source seemed to be alive.

The whale moved back away from the shore, but swam along moving
slowly, flashing images of rusted machines, buildings falling down from rot, all the old things from a time well before Rosemma was born, before Charles was born.

They both watched the light clearly visible even as they got further up the shore, snow falling now as they traveled with the whale.

Then the scene changed, and the whale seemed to move into a different
time, people were moving on the shore, and the snow was gone. Machines, and men drifted about strong and dominant buildings, busy with their activities. And there was no beam of light.

Suddenly they seemed to move again into a different scene.

The men were intensely watching the sky, and then the beam shot up into the sky. And a horrible thing began to happen. Men began to cry out, and fall down
shaking their arms and legs, some screaming before they lay still.

Rosemma gasped and Charles put his hand on her temple, murmuring soft words as to a frightened child. "Rosemma, take a breath, stay with the whale, stay with me."

She breathed a ragged breath and felt the whale reach out and soothe her, and she found the strength to stay there.

It was not easy. For next the whale moved them back to the raft, and pushed them in another direction, and they moved again back in time.

They moved closer to a coast that Rosemma knew, and she saw
more people falling down, flaying in spasms before they stopped, all ages of people, men, women and children.
Her eyes filled with tears, but then she saw some of the people move, and eventually get up. Very few. And they were confused, and cried out in pain at what they saw.

Charles spoke " Rosemma this was the time of the Great Death, and so these were the surviviors. Whatever knocked them down, did not kill all of them. Most of them, but these were the ones who are our ancestors. Only a few generations back."

At this point, Rosemma also looked about the ocean and saw other victims and survivors. The whales, the Nommos had suffered greatly too. Death floated all around them in the ocean, and she looked into the great creatures eye and saw sorrow there.

"Charles, they lost their loved ones too, and so did all creatures that lived here!" It was a revelation, she saw the whales as they were, intelligent, loving,
with families, and a connection to each other, and they had suffered the blow and had reached out. To them, to humans out of such a loneliness so deep, and sad, they put aside all of their fear of humans to make contact. And some of the humans had changed, could hear them, and feel and see what they sang about.

She reached over and put her hand on the whale, and shed tears, the tears falling on the wet skin of the Nommos. The creature began to sing to soothe her, and Charles sat in awe.

Finally he spoke, "Rosemma, I think you should say goodbye, and let it be known we will be back to visit. We will both be very tired, and so will the Nommos." He
gave a smile to the great creature, it was an honor to just be included in this contact.

Nose running, Rosemma whispered" Goodbye, I will come to see you again, I will come to find you, I will try to travel to the ocean when the weather is better, or go southnow if I have to to see you, you would find me? The Nommos sang back in agreement, and she kissed it above the eye.
"Goodbye, dear one until then."I will come." And she broke the contact.

They were back in the cabin, sitting knee to knee. Rosemma rubbed her palms on her knees and spoke.

" What did we just do?" Charles rubbed his eyes, fumbling around trying to find his glasses. "I am a singer too, but I hear other creatures most of the time, I have only heard a whale once in a trip to the coast with my grandfather."

"But I learned to vision quest and travel between when I showed some
abilities as a child, and was apprenticed to my own grandfather, who is a shaman. Just as your
great grandfather is a a magician, and wizard, I suppose."

She looked around the room trying to help him locate his glasses. They were in the corner, how they ended up there, well she could put that to right. Reaching out her hand, she moved them from the corner right into her palm.

Charles sat startled. " Well it looks like there is more than meets the eye with you , young lady. A talent very few possess. Telekinesis indeed."

Rosemma grimaced, " Please don't tell anyone, I am afraid one of the
teachers will want to make me their apprentice, and it is not that I don't like them all, but I am
happy where I am, with Grandmother and Jack Chang."

" Well, dearest girl", that gleam of mischief was back, " I think I can find someone who may just be the one to teach you, but first you'll be happy to know, you passed the test with more than the highest colors. Funny phrase, that."

"I guess I am glad, but still, I can't sit in classes any more than I do now. I love some things, but do not like sitting so long. I just can't." Her eyes looked strained and her mouth drooped from exhaustion and the emotional burden left over from the visions she had seen.

" Listen, I will teach you, and no sitting for too long. I am claiming you as my apprentice, you have a special gift, and need special training. My grandfather will be there to keep us both out of trouble, that is if he and Jack Chang can keep themselves out of trouble."
" It won't be easy, we will have to learn what that great beam of light is."

Rosemma looked drained as she almost slid out of the chair to the floor, and Charles caught her and half carried her out into the fresh air. They sat down on the steps, and he made her put her head down. Then he stepped to get her a drink of water.

She drank and gratefully smiled a thanks up to him. He smiled back.
"What did I just do, claiming her as my apprentice, here I am charmed by her already, dear
spirits, how do I go from here?"

Winter settles in

Rosemma sat yawning and tearing a comb through her tangled hair.



She had been staying with Grandmother and Great-Grandfather Jack Chang for the last two weeks, and found it both liberating and hard work. Grandmother worked her fairly hard, but also made her go to her classes during the middle of the day. A different one each day!



But she was also out of under her father's stern ruling thumb, and when her chores were done,

Grandmother and old Jack Chang did not mind her sitting and day dreaming, or playing with

Chomper, who needed a lot of playing with and training, which Grandmother was helping her with.



Rosemma had a lot of things to daydream about. The boys in her classes, one in particular, what the other girls did to attract attention, and wondering if she could behave like that and get away with it, let alone feel comfortable with the behavior.



She felt all of two left feet and a mouth full of buck teeth awkward and shy. Not that she was
any of those, but she lacked the confidence to be at ease with boys, let alone flirt, or even flirt
outrageously like her sisters did. May-Ling had the combined head turning looks of upturned
very green eyes, a gift of both of her grandmothers and a head full of berry wine curly hair.



This had the boys almost daring to come hang around the Riley's home yurt, but not quite.
William Riley's tall and broad shoulders topped by a stern face pretty much slowed thoughts of
lurking around his household into making a second thought out of the impluse.

Unless they befriended one of the three sons. Which many of them did, then found themselves
enjoying more masculine activities instead. William's three sons were hale and hardy young men with a love of hunting, fishing, and had not even given much thought to casting looks around their camp to contemplate domestic bliss with any of the available girls involved in trying to attract their attention.

Rosemma had spent a great deal of time watching all of this interesting social behavior since she had seen her own sixteenth birthday. But found most of it a lot of strange and very confusing.

Great Grandfather Jack stepped out onto the porch, his long white pigtail swinging as he nodded his head in greeting. "My little RoseBud, how did you sleep?'

He ashed her the same question the same way every morning. Even though it was very chilly, he wore only a baggy pair of pants and a towel over his shoulder. He made his way to
the water trough in front of his cabin.

His water trough, like all the permanent one in the village, was of stone set together, and water filled it from springs from far up the slopes of the Sacred Mountain. He had designed it so a person could sit next to it and perform their various "abolutions"" as he called shaving, brushing teeth, filling water for drinking pitchers, and hauling water in to heat for bathing
privately. There was a gate to divert the water into the basin or to a spigot for filling jugs.

Old Jack Chang took his seat and set about shaving his old wrinkled elvish face. He burst out into song this morning which was not a ususal event.

" Oh there once was a man from Shanghai,
He was scarred with only one eye,"


'His expression was frightening,
from his nose came lightening"

"He could roast a fat pig in it's sty!"

" Oh there once was a girl from Brazil,

" Bless me I remember her still,

she was smooth, she was lovely,

I would sigh when I looked at her..."

At this point Grandmother's voice ring loud and clear, "Father, stop it right now!"

" I do not want to hear anymore of your song, mark my words."


Old Jack Chang turned and winked at Rosemma.

Then continued with his morning shave.



He was just getting his face blotted dry, when a large , well a very large
black raven landed on the hitching post in front of his cabin.

"Ah hah, RoseBud, best finish up your hair,." "Daughter!" He yelled at Grandmother, " we seem to be having a visit!"

" Oh, and from who?" Grandmother replied, still inside the cabin.

"Well, Magnolia, it looks like we are expecting the Queen of the Witches!"

There was a mufflied exclaimation from the kitchen, but Grandmother didn't say much more. She appeared on the porch with a cross look . "Oh and I wonder what she wants now?"

Bertola, the woman Great Grandfather called the Queen of the Witches, was
actually the elected head of the Council of Sorcerers of the Sacred Mountain Village. And that also made her the Supervisor of Village Education. Which meant she had come to check on
Rossema's progress in her own talents.

Which was not moving along at all since the trip to the coast, and the dream and the early snowfall. Not at all.

Grandmother and Great Grandfather had teamed up on William Riley to let
Rosemma live with them. But he insisted on her being in his household for breakfast every morning, and they insisted she attend not only the histories classes, domestic talents classes,
and hunting skills classes, but she attend the elements of magick classes, herbal potions, and
farseeing classes. Six days of school it meant for her. And next spring she had to attend
animal husbandry also. Seven days then. Plus chores, and no wonder she had no time for the
listening for the songs of the Nommos.

Rosemma kept her peeves to herself, but wow, it seemed like her sisters
only took domestic talents, and maybe majored in flirting with boys. Why was this?

Finally Bertola made her appearance, trudging heavily into the yard.

She nodded bruskly at Grandmother, gave Great Grandfather a look, then
turned around the yard untill she realized that Rosemma was sitting on the porch.

"There you are girl, I want to come with me this morning, I have someone
who is going to give you a test."

Then she frowned and turned to Grandmother, "You too, Magnolia, you will
want to come anyway, you too Jack, if you want. I know you know the tester."

"Oh do I?"

"Yes, he is an old associate of yours, from long ago, an old classmate."

"Oh, and who is that?" Jack Chang squinted up at Bertola, she loomed a good five inches over his head.

" He is from over from the Shoshone territory, the shaman, Bear
Scratcher."

Jack laughed, " Oh, you mean old Bear Crapper! He is here, that
old reprobate? Hah, lead me to him, I can't wait to hear his load of ...."

"Father! that is enough!" Grandmother was really glaring now, and if her eyes could throw flames, Old Jack Chang would be charred.

She was at this point, really angry with Bertola for coming in her imperious manner and ordering them around like they had no choice.

Sighing to herself, she turned to Rosemma. " Rosie, run and tell your
mother and father, that today you have to skip breakfast with them, but please ask if there is something you can take with you and eat, and then come back here."

Vincenza Riley stood frowning as the last of the kitchen gear was unpacked. Her two oldest

girls, Soledad, and May-ling began opening the crates and setting the pots, pans and utensils out on the table to be shelved away as they fininshed each crate.



May-ling glance at her mother, caught her sister's eye and raised her eyebrows. Their mother was in one of her pensive states, not always an easy thing to read.



Vincenza has stood and listened to her mother and youngest daughter at the camp council in embarrassment, and disbelief about the approaching snows. It was only late summer, the season was still warm, the fishing was going to be good, the crops were mostly picked and dried, but they still had two more turns of the moon before they had to go south.



Most of the camp council felt the same, except for the Truth Sayer. He agreed with
Grandmother, and Rosemma. But the decision was postponed due to more time and thought
and discussion that it would take to find a unified view on what some of the camp families viewed as crazy.



Two mornings later there was a light snow outside their yurts, and that was all it took.
The horses were harnessed, dwellings were broken down, dog teams were packed, babies
tucked in and off they went. Fishing along the way to the Sacred Mountain village.



They were staying with Grandmothers father. Vincenza's grandfather, old Jack Chang.

The seemingly crazy old man, magician extrodinaire. He stood on the porch to his cabin, , white haired, leaning on a cane, smiling as big as the sun. He loved his family and had missed all of them when they went off on their various journeys.



So all around his cabin the yurts went up. Indana's clan, Vincenza's clan, great-grand children, dogs, horses, cooking gear outside, furniture inside, cooking stoves inside, clothes, dishes, bedding, everything they possessed and took with them when they went and then came back.



The Sacred Mountain Village was a spot with what seemed like and infinite source of very good water, and almost as infinite source of what Vincenza's husband William Riley considered
crazy people.



William had come from the desert area to the East, his clan was a stolid bunch, and he had been raised in a very no nonsense manner to discount anything other than what his own eyes
told him. And he tended not be really work to hard to see anything other than that.



As a result, his wife always seemd to the be mediator between William and her mother and sister in matters of magick, and the esoteric. He dissaproved heartily.



So it was a relief for Vincenza to not have any children who showed the slightest tendency to hear the whales or do any kind of magical act not requiring them to hide it on their person or pull it out of a hat. That he would put up with.



Until Rosemma. That first night she and her grandmother came back was the worst she had in a long while. William was almost purple, he was so angry.



"Magnolia, I won't hear anymore from you, this is the height of insanity! How can you stand there and tell me that we must ask for camp council, this is a busy time, people are out
working to store up foodstocks, this is the most frivolous thing you have ever brought down
on our heads!" And on and on.



Vincenza remembered watching her mothers face the whole time, stern and unmoving.

Her mother was made of stone. She had raised her daughters alone, after their father had gone off one day and never come back. She never cried in front of her girls, she just went on, did every thing herself, kept her feelings to herself. The only time she ever smiled was with her grandchildren. She wasn't too fond of William, but tolerated him, as he did her.

Now Magnolia Chang sat near her father on his porch. Their relationship was seemingly a quiet almost without conversation, but then again, Vincenza knew they often spoke the mind voice to one another, and only when other full time residents of the village were not in range.

And she was quite correct. Jack reached over and tapped his daughter on the shoulder, then tapped his head.

She made a face, but nodded.

"Maggie, so now you have your budding whalesinger , what are in your plans?"

She sighed."Father, this was so out of the blue, and as I told you before, I have never had this happen, no one has, I also spoke to the singers I could reach and they are floored by the way it happened too. All that distance they came to her, and in a dream like that. But her information was correct." "Tell me, what do you think, I do not know exactly how and what to think, not one
other whalesinger had contact and they did Rose at so far a distance, and not the usual way, hearing the song first then mindspeaking them. I am a little undone, and just need to unwind here a few days, Father, before I tackle the whole thing again."

"I do think though Maggie, it is important the first thing you do is to contact all your brethren and consult amongst yourselves. I am feeling that the Nommos have more to say on the subject of this early snow. Obviously they have seen the impacts in the far North seas, and if they sought and found Rosie, she is very strong in her gift. "

"And"...at this he threw up his hand to quiet her"they are very concerned at what they have seen, and they will find her again. Even this far inland, and you should prepare her and be with her when they do!"

A foggy kind of music

Grandmother hugged her covers to her and shivered.

It was already three days over with, and still no sign of the Nommos. She let out a sigh, and
felt the cold damp deep in her bones. After a while with the dogs on either side of her, she drifted off to sleep.

She was rocking, up and down, side to side. She looked out and was on a raft on the ocean.
It was still foggy, but she sat up and then knew she was in a dream, but knowing didn't seem to get her to wake up. She looked off to one side and there, red hair blowing in the wind was Rosemma. She was sitting upright, knees hugged to her chest. And beyond her, just an arms length off the raft was a Nommos. A large grey one, one eye staring at Rose as she stared back.

Grandmother woke with a start. The dogs were snoring, deep in their dog dreams, Rosemma was lying silent and still, her breath soft and deep.

Her heart pounding, Grandmother lay back and calmed herself. She listened for the Nommos. Not a sign or a answer back to her as she sent out to them, singing her high
sweet call for a few minutes.

She was sad, and fell back down. They would have to leave tomorrow, they would only
run out of food if they stayed, and everyone back at their camp would be worried, come looking, make a fuss. She hated a fuss made over her.

Finally she drifted off, and morning was not promising. The fog was so thick, she could barely see the dogs as they went out for their morning relief. Rosemma was still sound asleep, and Grandmother couldn't see waking her yet. Maybe the sun would burn off the fog. Otherwise it would be a tough start, trying to find her trail back. But she would look for her signs she had left, and since she had walked this way so many times in her life, they would get back, slowly but sure.

Rosemma suddenly sat up and yawned with a smile. "Grandmother, I had the most wonderful dream. We were out on the waves and I saw one of them!"

" Who did you see?" Grandmother had this strange clutch at her heart, feeling almost as if she dare not breath too deep.

"I saw the whales, the Nommos, Grandmother" They came close to the raft, and we stared at each other."

"Did they make any kind of picture thought in your mind, did you know what they said, could you hear them?" Grandmother talked so fast, she was shocked at herself.

"No, but they liked me, and they are very far off, but they liked me, they came close to me, I saw the one smiling."

"Smiling, they don't smile, they can't smile!" "Child, it was just a dream, I can't ever remember them coming to anyone in a dream to look at them, not like that."

"They are too far away, Grandmother, I saw the rest of them where the snow is, they are coming, but it is coming too."

What is, Rose, what is coming too?"

" The snow is coming, they are swimming fast, they are ahead of it just barely, they don't have time for much singing, but they let me know there is a lot of snow coming."

Grandmother felt herself shiver all the way to her insides. What if the child was seeing the Nommos in her dreams. It won't be the first time, but the only time she had heard of it, was from fully adept whalesingers who were in communication with the Nommos on the shore by day, and dreamed of them by night. Not some untried child, who hadn't even really heard them, and from such a long distance. The all year snow was far to the north, way too far away.

She couldn't wait if that was the case, and bit her lip while thinking about her next move. If Rose was right, then they needed to get home and have council with the heads of
the clan and camp groups.

"Rosemma, pack up your things, I'm going to fix a little breakfast, we are going
back to camp. Tie a rope on that knotheaded pup of yours too. Don't want him wandering off
I won't look for him if he does."

When the song was heard

Rosemma spooned more of the cooked oats from the pot into her bowl, and munched on a dried apple as she mulled over what her grandmother had just said.

Grandmother smiled to herself, she had been telling this story to all of her grandchildren over the years, in the hopes if they had the gift then they would understand in part why it was an important link in the history of all of those who learned information from the Nommos.

She mused on her own father, the notorious Jack Chang. Chang the magician. The
wizard, a man who lived most of his life, still lived for that matter, with his head half in another
world. One very few could share.

The mornings her father would come in from an early walk in the woods, up before anyone else in camp. He would be smiling, as if just hearing some silly yarn, or the lastest choice gossip. Father loved gossip, loved the doings of others, who was courting who, who was having a tiff with a neighbor, who had a new littler of puppies to give away.

He would sit down at the table and perform all sorts of little amusements for his children.
Flowers would pop up out of bowls of cooked porridge, make a tinkling like small bells then
vanish into thin air. Or wildly colored birds and butterflies would flutter over their heads, singing in tiny voices the nursery rhymes the children knew.

Oh, Jack Chang, he and Mother had seven children, and most mornings Mother put up with it , tutting at him, but grinning when her back was turned.

But one morning, she dropped the pot when he set the air off with fireworks and it frightened her. Oh she had yelled and marched him outside to talk away from all the children.

Never well off, always off to consult with this person and that. Jack Chang was quite
the charmer when it came to his wife. What was said between them that morning was never known, but he left and was gone for a while. Longer than usual for him.

But when he came back, he announced that all of their family effects, dogs and children were to be packed up and ready to leave.

And leave they did, they came north to the Sacred Mountain. The biggest, most
snow covered mountain that any of them had ever seen.

And there close to the base was a village. With regular buildings, houses, huts, and a large community of shamans living together.

Grandmother thought to herself how life was never quite the same after that for her, or her brothers and sisters. Schooling was a large part of their day, each of them was assessed for
any talents and gifts and then sent off to some usually grumpy teacher to learn whatever it was they were meant to do. Except for her.

Their mother's mother had followed soon after they arrived in the mountain communtiy. Jack Chang was none too happy about that, but even more unhappy when
she declared that she would teach the un-gifted daughter herself.
The older married sourpuss of a daughter who already had two children and thought her life was ruined forever.
One year later, they made the walk to the ocean.
And her life was never the same again.

Grandmother gave herself a shrug and picked up the pot, took it to the steam and rinsed it out. "There the fishes will have breakfast too when it reaches the ocean."

Then she turned to Rosemma and beckoned."Time to walk down child, the fog has
cleared off well, and we can see far enough out for now."

The dogs racing around happily, they walked in silence to the edge of the ocean and
sat on a wave tossed weathered log.

Grandmother put her hands up to shade her eyes and stared out, sunlight was
weakly shining down on the breakers.

"Soon, we will be able to see farther and hopefully see their spouts, or tails"

"Grandmother, why do you call them the Nommos?" "Everyone else calls them
Whales!"

Without turning her head, Grandmother replied"Well my little Rose, that is what they call themselves, all of them do. Doesn't matter what type or clan they are, they view themselves as the same." "But there are some who have become quite like wolves or wild dogs and hunt in a pack, and the rest of the Nommos accept that they are family, but they are also
very much afraid of them."

"Do they talk to humans too?" Rosemma was afraid of the notion they might come across these creatures.

"Yes they do, and they have a edge to them that one must always be aware off
if you must have information from them." "They tell tales of being trapped and treated by
humans as if they were there only for their amusement, and this is one of their histories dear."
"And they are prone to blood lust, if blood is in the water, they get the hunger, it overcomes them. Pity, they are also most intelligent of them all."

" But for now I want you to close your eyes and just feel the ocean rolling
in and out along the shore." "Listen to the seagulls crying over head, feel the breeze on your face, the sun shining down"

"Clear your mind and do not worry." "How often do you get a break from your schoolwork and chores?"

"Rosemma grinned, and did what Grandmother said. Soon she was feeling drowsy, and slid down off the log to lay in the sand.

Grandmother sat watching, feeling immense pleasure in letting her mind
drift like a feather on the breeze. If they came along she would know, and they would know she was there.

For what seemed like hours they stayed, the now stronger sun pouring
down on their stuporous heads with a golden sleep inducing glow. As they took off jackets and
made themselves more comfortable, Grandmother thought they could be doing this for a couple of days yet.

She didn't mind so much, but she also was anxious to see if Rosemma would show she might hear them.

None of her daughters had the gift, none of her nieces and nephews, or their children had shown any signs either. Was it going to stop with her?

She remembered the story her grandmother had told her of the first in
their family. Infanta, the orphaned baby girl. She grew up to be a mother and it was during a foraging trip to the ocean down south that she heard the songs, carrying her oldest baby on her back and the next one in her womb.

The whole group of people who had gathered together and who had survived what ever had killed all the other people on the Earth, had braved going back through the dead cities to the ocean. To fish, to look for boats, to salvage items they could use.

By this time, most of the dead were bones lying about. Infanta had braved it, barely. Her soon to be born was making her exhausted, but she followed her beloved
Sanchez to the shore.

One morning she went into labor, and without any preamble, her
screams were answered. She heard the songs, she fell into their songs, filled by their songs she
gave birth. And they gave her a name, and a name for the newborn. Sunlight on the Waves, and Hungry Calf. Hungry Calf was a hungry baby, and she cried frequently to be fed.
But at times she would stop her crying and just be still as if she was listening to something.
Infanta would sit with her on the oceans edge, and she knew, she knew that both she and the
new baby were the first of their kind. And she listened to the songs they sent and she sent them back. Sang back in gratitude, and they showed her everything that they had seen on their journey from the northern seas.

And she showed them what her baby looked like, and her older daughter and what she knew she looked like. And they were pleased, because they expressed concern over the deaths of so many humans, and that new little human calves had been born.

So it started, this young woman began a yearly trip timed to coincide with
the passing of the Nommos, to stand on the shore and listen for them, to see , hear and feel their visions of everything they had seen as they journeyed along.

The far and distance story of the singers

It was foggy and promised a peak of sun in the morning.



Rosemma felt closed in upon. She was used to the open and wide sky of the inland valleys where her people grew crops and hunted.



Their winters were spent further south in larger encampments and they had snow,

very little fog, and lots of rain in those months.



Her grandmother was stirring around water in the old pot over the cook fire. She looked up and smiled at her granddaughter. A treasured moment for Rosemma. She often felt like

she just wasn't up to the task of pleasing both her parents and her grandmother. Her mother's sister, Aunt Idana was always smiles, hugs, treats, and Rosemma often envied her cousin's.

Idana had four girls and one boy, who was the youngest.



Idana also showed little bits of magick here and there. Small magicks to be sure, but

Rosemma's parents took a dim view of any person younger than apprentice age, 17, ever seeing

any tomfoolery. Only if they were under the tutelage of a true shaman and seer, well then it was

appropriate.



Rosemma's grandmother took the pot off the fire.



"Well child, time for some food, and we will walk to the shore in a while. The sun is going to come out, and it will be a good day for listening."



They ate, sitting in closely together by the fire. Rosemma mulled over this part about

listening.



"Grandmother, what are we listening for?"
Her grandmother cleared her throat, seeming to find a way to broach the subject.



" We can see them at times, they live in the water, they are the Nommos. The large fish who travel great distances up and down the shore of this land we live on. They see things, like the great ice fields, the old empty cities, other people who live on the shores, and they love to sing about what they see. They love those of us who hear them and sing back."



"Sing back! Sing back how?" Rosemma was fairly certain now that this was not
anything she could ever do, much less hear them and learn to watch for them.



"One step at a time, dearest, you do not have to get all panicky on me so early!"



I am going to tell you the story I heard from my grandmother, who heard it from
my greatgrandmother, it is the story of those who sing back to the Nommos.



She began. "Four generations ago, there came a day that stopped everything on this planet to absolute nothingness." " What it was, no one has ever come to know, but most of the people who lived, suddenly fell to the ground, and convulsed violently and were dead.

Without a mark upon them, without any sign of disease, and those who regained their senses a few hours later were very few in number by comparision."



"My greatgrandmother was a baby when it happend. Her parents were both dead, and she cried and cried, and by nightfall, she was found. By the Sanchez family.

Jesus' and Isadora Sanchez has a baby son who had by some miracle has survived along with them. They picked up my great grandmother, who had been named something, and called her
Infanta. The name sort of stuck. Senora Sanchez nursed both of the babies, and as they found
other people they walked. A long way, down the coast. All around was death, finally a small
group of people they had joined with turned east and headed into some open country away from
the great bay area they had all come from."





"Now child, some of names of the people who came together you would
know. There were the Jones, the McGilrays, the McBains, the Martinez, the O'Neals,
the Jordans, the others I can't remember. There were children too, some belonging to the families and others picked up along the way. All survivors, all tramatized and bewildered."



" All races, all huddling together fearing for another occurance of what had
killed almost everyone else. Life was scratched out of leftover groceries, things we no longer have today. Things in buildings, those of the group who were brave enough to go in amongst the dead, came out with everything they needed to live on. And they walked. Untill they came to
what was know as a State Park."



"My greatgrandmother grew up in the State Park. Eventually she married the Sanchez boy, and then their children were born. First was Nila, then my grandmother. Her name was Tiarenia and then she grew up and married one of the McBain clan boys, and her daughter married a Chang, and here I am. With you . One of my daughter's married a Riley, and that was your mother.So I was a Chang, and you are a Riley, and your Aunt Idana married a Lopez and her daughters have come here too as you know. Same as your sisters."



" And it was from my greatgrandmother the trait came to hear the Nommos. And it shows up once in every generation or so."

Author's Note*

Please bear with me as I come to terms with the formatting of Whale Singer. What I think I
have lined out, well turns out to be totally different when it goes up on the blog. Thank You.

The journey to the ocean

Rosemma blew the dust out of her nose and rubbed her cheek.



The large puppy she dragged in her wake looked up excitedly at the gesture and jumped off to

the side of the trail. Rosemma was pulled off balance, and in irritation yelled at the pup.



"Bad boy, Chomper!" She tugged on the rope attached to his collar, and he sat down in

all out rebellion.



"Rose!" Her grandmother turned and stood staring at both her and the pup in a way that

Rose had seen before.



Why she had insisted that Rosemma go with her on this trip was beyond the girl. Rose hated

walking, and they had been walking for two days. Rose hated being dirty, and they had only

stopped long enough to sleep, eat, pack up and then start walking again.

Her grandmother was viewed as something of an oddity in her camp. And also with deference

by the camp council. She had dragged everyone of Rosemma's siblings on a journey to the ocean

by the time they were fifteen years old.

Rosemma was sixteen this summer, and had hoped Grandmother would forget about her.

She should have known better. Grandmother never forgot anything.

Grandmothers dog, Jack Sharp Teeth walked ahead of their little party, picking out a path

for them to follow. He was a large black dog, with a dense fur that stuck out from his body and

had a tail that curved over his back. He carried one of Grandmothers packs on his back.

He was up to Grandmothers hip tall, and Grandmother was a tall woman. Thin and spare,

her white hair in a long braid down her back, Grandmother moved quickly.

Too quickly for Rosemma, she had to drag on Chomper's rope almost all the time to make

him keep up. Chomper was one of Jack Sharp Teeth's pups. At six months, he showed promise

of growing at least as large as Jack. But at this stage of life, he had none of his sires good sense,

or willingness to work with his human as part of a team.

In fact all he seemed to want to do was pick up evey tiny or big thing that caught his

attention as they walked along. And chew on it, or better yet lay down and chew on it.

Grandmother stood waitng and finally spoke again. "Child, you need to stop yelling at that

pup and tell him when he does good." "All you do is just make him want to get your attention

by mis-behaving, in fact he don't know no different, he thinks your getting excited means you

like what he's doing!"

Rose sniffed. "How do I get him to mind me?"

Grandmother sighed."Talk to him child, just talk to him, make it sweet and happy when

he comes along easy, then tell him to walk on and give a little tug when he don't" "And stop

jerking him so hard too!" Then she turned and set off again at a fast pace. "Now hurry up girl,

we will be there while the sun is still up if you stop taking so long!"

After a while with stops, and starts, and Rosemma almost singing to Chomper when he

came along without grabbing for every little stick on the path, they began to put some distance

under their belts.

At last Grandmother stopped and they sat down to eat some dried meat and bread.

Rosemma thought about whatever they were supposed to be doing and posed a

question to Grandmother.

"Grandmother, what am I going to be seeing when I get to the ocean?" She had been

there only once before two years ago.

"Well, it's not what you are going to be seeing, Rosemma. It's more like what you may

be hearing that is the biggest sign we're looking for. "

"What am I going to be hearing, Grandmother?" Rosemma was not sure about

this at all.

"When you hear it, you will know it, and I will know it, and so will they know it."

"Come on, let's get going, we have a long couple more hours yet." Grandmother got up

abruptly and picked up her pack.

Off they went, Chomper having to get used to behaving all over again, Jack

growling at him every now and then, impatient with his antics.

Then they just walked steady, smelling the salt air the closer they came.

Finally the ocean came into view through the trees, and Rosemma felt a growing excitement.

And a large portion of awe.

"Okay child, mind the path, we go down hill, and it is steep, slippery and filled with

lots of small stones to trip on. Chomper needs to be real close to you, so keep that rope tight

and be firm and let him know you love him, but mean for him to mind."

Slowly with only an minor incident or two with Chomper, Rosemma found herself

standing beside her Grandmother staring at the ocean. And off in the distance, the wreakage of

old buildings, standing like sad lost old folks left behind when the camp went to the sacred

gatherings because they were too crippled to walk that far.

"Grandmother, what is this place? Do people live around here, this is different

from what I remember. Are we at the right spot?" Rosemma felt anxiety rising in her chest.

Grandmother smiled, wrapped an arm around Rosemma and pulled her close.

"No reason to feel afraid, my little Rose. This is a very old place, not bad, no one has lived here

for a very long time. I thought it would be easier for you to hear, if you were to hear them at all.

we will be able to sit close to the edge of the water and in a open spot to watch for them.

But for now, lets go find a place that will be in out of the wind to set up our tent and camp."

Tired, and unsure, but trusting in Grandmother, Rosemma nodded and they

walked on looking for what Grandmother called a high and dry spot, safe away from the tide.

When they found it and finally got the little tent, old and patched, but waterproof

put up, and their bedrolls down. Then the fire was started, and the dried meat, roots and

berries cooking in a pot of water from a little stream close by.

Grandmother began to slowly shift into a relaxed state, saying that Jack would let

them know if any critter, two legged or four came with in a half a mile. Her stern tightly held

face softened and she leaned back just smelling the ocean air.

Rosemma asked a question, not quite sure how to not sound as unlearned as she

knew she really was. She didn't like the histories passed down to the children by those who

had the job of teaching the encampment children. Sitting for two or three hours at a time was

not something she looked forward everyday, and often she daydreamed or if she could tried to

come up with ways not to be there. But her parents were very insistent upon all of their child-

ren learning the histories, along with the how-to's. How to skin a deer, or rabbit, how to catch a

fish, how to weed in the gardens, how to dry meat, how to , the list was endless.

Rose didn't think her head was big enough to hold all of it.

So she decided to probe Grandmother's vast memory as a way to learn what it was

she was sitting here at the ocean listening for.

"Grandmother, the histories say that once there were lots of people who lived all

along the ocean, and lots of roads, lots and lots of all sorts of strange things like those we see

now and then on our trips to the sacred gatherings. The things that are all broken and will

never work again. All those people made them work, and then something happened and so

many died and the world became like it is now."

Grandmother glanced at the pot bubbling gently, and nodded. "Yes, that is true, and

we never talk about what truly happened, we don't know it all, only what we have passed on

to each new bunch of children as they grown. It is the living pledge of all who become one of

of the histories to keep the story as true as possible, so all people will remember."

She yawned and looked at Rosemma. " Child, I know you aren't too wild about

sitting and listening, but when you have little ones of your own, someday, you will care, very

much." "My own grandmother brought me here the first time I hear the singing, and told me

how the world and the way it was once was lost to us. All of us, all people." " And for several

generations, we didn't even have the land here to live on. All who were left had to walk south."

"South, why Grandmother?"

" To escape the deep snows that fell on and on , covering everything, every building

every body of the the dead, and left the living starving, cold and moving to try and find a safe

place." "It was then that those who had the gift heard the singing as they walked along the

shores of the ocean, giving them signs of where to go." "Without it those of us who still live

today wouldn't be here, and we hold those who sang to us in the highest esteem, and honor them

as friends."

"Who are they, Grandmother?" "Why did they sing to us?" Rosemma was

enrapt now.

"You will see, my little Rose, I do so hope. None of your brothers or sisters seem

to have been able to hear them, so I am come at last to you, youngest of my daughter's own."