They reached their destination shortly after noon
– a small plateau that afforded them an unhindered view across the craggy
landscape, stark in its aridity but possessing a strange beauty nonetheless.
There were a few bushes to provide meagre shadow, and a tiny well at the
bottom of the rise for water.
"All the comforts of home," Jason quipped as he shrugged
out of his backpack with a relieved groan. "Man, that last mile was brutal;
I thought we'd never get up here!"
"You and me both," Tommy agreed, sinking down against
a handy boulder and stretching his aching legs. "Whose brainstorm was this
trip, anyway?"
"Yours," Jason smirked, massaging his close-to-cramping
calves. "It'll be a bonding experience, you said. It'll make us feel closer,
you said. We'll have fun, you said …"
"Okay, okay," Tommy interrupted him, laughing. "I
said a lot of things. No need for you to rub my face in every single one
of them, though!"
"Why not? It's fun," his best friend said, totally
straight-faced. He received a handful of grit thrown at him for his trouble,
a few grains of which caught in Jason's collar and trickled down his sweaty
neck. Irritated, Jason tried to brush them off and succeeded only in rubbing
them into his skin. "Hey! Stop that!"
"Why? It's fun." Tommy's expression couldn't have
been more angelic.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr."
Chuckling over Jason's outraged look, Tommy belatedly
noticed his brother, who hadn't joined the two yet, but was poking around
among the rocks and sparse shrubbery, lifting a stone here and peering
into a crack there after leaving his pack near the two friends.
"Hey, David!"
"Yeah?" He hardly looked up from whatever he was doing,
inspecting a narrow ledge on a boulder instead. *Perfect place for a
snake to sun himself …* There was a crevice in the back, hardly visible;
it looked as if there might be … Tommy's voice distracted him from his
task.
"Why don't you pull up a rock and sit here with us?
You must be as beat as we are. Whatcha doing, anyway?"
David glanced at his companions. "Checking for ants,
scorpions, prairie dog burrows … signs that maybe a mountain lion comes
here to drink. I really don't want to share the tent with something that
bites or stings, or worse, stumble over it when I need to visit the bushes
in the night," he said calmly, moving to yet another rock outcropping and
smiling to himself as he heard Jason and Tommy wince nearly in unison.
Clearly, they hadn't given a thought to the 'nasty and nice' surprises
they might encounter in this part of the state, where the California desert
gradually gave way to the mountains.
"Uh, right," Jason grimaced, the picture forming in
his mind being rather unpleasant. As a boy, he'd fallen into an anthill
once; it had been a very embarrassing and painful experience. "Need some
help?" he offered, even though he wanted nothing more than sit here in
whatever shade there was, unpack some lunch and rest his protesting muscles.
David gave him a sardonic look. "Would you even know
what to look for?"
"Probably not," Jason admitted with a rueful grin.
"I just feel kinda uncomfortable letting you do all this poking around
while Tommy and I sit here resting." He shifted his legs on the hard ground,
wishing briefly he were back in his garden at home, where a comfortable
lounge chair was standing at just the right shady spot under the apple
tree and he was in it, a cold drink and a bowl of chips within easy reach.
In a pinch, Jason decided, he'd also settle for lying on his air mattress
at the beach, letting a cool breeze waft over him as he read a good book.
Instead here he was, in the middle of nowhere, the California sun beating
down on him as he recovered from a 10-mile hike through untouched territory
to this out-of-the-way place, with only Tommy and David for company.
*Could be worse. MUCH worse; I could be dead instead
…* Jason shook off the morbid thought with the ease of long practise.
He'd learned to accept his mortality when he first accepted his Power Coin,
not just when the Gold Power started destroying his body's defenses.
"Well, the offer stands, anyway, if you change your
mind."
Feeling oddly touched – *At least he's offered!*
-- David shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be finished faster
if I do it on my own." Which he proceeded to do, albeit somewhat more cursorily
than he'd planned. Promising himself to perform a more thorough check later,
David took a last look around their campsite and pronounced everything
safe. He grinned at the tired cheers coming from Jason and Tommy, and finally
sank down next to his brother, to eat the sandwich Jason offered him and
drink the juice Tommy dug out of his pack.
However, the exchange helped in mellowing the atmosphere,
and when the three set up their tent, formed a fire pit and collected fuel,
there was a sense of camaraderie that was marked – especially as it had
been absent before. The rest of the afternoon passed without further incident
as David pointed out features of the area – a falcon's nest, a cougar's
track … what little flora managed to eke out a life on and between the
sun-baked rocks. He was extremely pleased to find his companions genuinely
interested, and that they displayed a very good grasp of the ecological
and environmental issues his tribe was concerned about and why they had
leased the land. In fact, he grudgingly admitted, Jason was much better
informed than Tommy – a result not only of personal interest, but of his
time spent at the Peace Conference in Switzerland.
~*~
The Youth Teen Summit, or rather Jason's tales of
it, also dominated the conversation later that evening, as the three sat
around their campfire, eating the savory stew they'd cooked from their
trail rations.
"…I wish I could've gone on some of other the trips
the Committee offered, but I couldn't," he finished a recount of his visits
to the major capitals in Europe. "This was one trip that was both obligatory
and subsidized by the Peace Conference, and the delegates from the respective
countries were obliged to take part in planning the itinerary."
"Why couldn't you go on any other trips?" David asked,
curious despite himself. Travelling widely was a secret ambition of his,
and he hoped that in a few years he might save up enough money to go at
least to some of the places Jason had mentioned visiting so casually. He
suppressed a slight pang of envy. It was one thing to know Tommy and his
friends had visited other planets as part of their Rangering duties; that
was something special and unique, not for ordinary mortals, he thought.
But to know that a young man, only a couple of years younger than himself,
had been to London, Paris, Moscow, Rome, Athens … seen the world-famous
sights, soaked in the atmosphere … it hardly bore thinking about. *If
I'm very very lucky, I might get to see half of that by the time I retire,*
David sighed inwardly, trying not to feel resentful about Jason's good
fortune. *If I ever manage to save up enough to afford it.*
Jason snorted lightly. It galled a little to have
to admit it, but he wasn't ashamed of anything – least of all his family,
who were so very supportive and understanding of his dreams and ambitions.
"Because quite frankly, I couldn't afford to. My folks
did more than enough by making it possible for me to go at all; I couldn't
ask them to ruin themselves for me."
David was astonished. Jason drove his own car, took
part in all of his friends' activities as a matter of course, dressed well
… his own financial circumstances weren't exactly straitened, but then,
Sam Trueheart was not a rich man, either. They had enough to live in reasonable
comfort, but nothing more. Things like college, though, or foreign trips,
were quite out of the question.
"But I thought you were …" David blurted without thinking,
but caught himself just in time. Embarrassed at his near-blunder, he felt
his face flush.
"What? That we're rich, or something?" Jason asked
wryly, following David's thoughts without any problems. "Sorry to disappoint
you, but no. My dad is a general contractor, Mom used to be a bank clerk
until she was downsized last year … we're doing okay, but not great. I've
always had to work for my perks. Paper route, supermarket delivery boy,
I've done it all until I was advanced enough in karate to start as an assistant
instructor at my dojo," he said matter-of-factly. Time to change the subject;
this was not a topic Jason cared to discuss with a virtual stranger. His
friends knew and accepted his circumstances without question and never
let him feel in any way that his financial background wasn't quite as comfortable
as Trini's, whose father was a doctor, Zack's, whose parents managed an
upscale motel, or any of the others whose jobs were also a cut above his
own parents'.
"But to get back to the trips offered at the Summit,
there was one I took, with my folks' help, even … last fall, I managed
to go to Scotland," Jason said, brightening at the memory. "Man, that was
so cool!"
"Really?" This was news even to Tommy. Somehow or
other, the specifics of Jason's time away from Angel Grove hadn't come
up yet – nor had there really been time for a good, long talk. The immediate
concerns of the Rangers' duties had to take preference, no matter what.
"Why Scotland, of all places? If you could afford only one trip in all
those months, I would've thought you'd pick someplace more exciting, exotic
or whatever …"
Jason laughed. "Trust me, if you had been in my place,
you'd have gone to Scotland, too."
"I don't think so," Tommy shuddered. "From what I've
heard, it's mostly cold there, and not much in the way of excitement, either
– just lots of whisky, heather and guys wearing skirts," he grinned.
"Hah. Shows what you don't know. There's history all
over the place, it's pretty awesome how they manage to have both Gaelic
and English side by side, how they keep their legends and traditions …
but that wasn't the main reason I went there," Jason said quietly, staring
into the flames for a full minute before meeting Tommy's eyes. "I went
there and met my family."
"You … what?" Tommy was stunned. He'd thought he knew
everything about the Scotts; they were a small but tight unit – Jason and
his parents, his paternal uncle and family, a widowed grandfather living
in a retirement community in Arizona because of asthma, or so he'd believed.
"I didn't know you had family in Europe!"
"Neither did I, until Dad mentioned I might pay a
visit to the Clan," Jason related. "I'm pretty sure he meant it as a joke,
but when I had the chance, I jumped at it. Before I looked it up at the
university library, I had no idea a Clan Scott really exists, with its
own tartan and everything."
"Clan? As in, 'I'm Duncan McLeod of the Clan McLeod'?"
Tommy wondered, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the concept. He of all
people knew what it was like to discover a family he had never known existed,
much less a probably big one – as he had found in David, Sam and the Tribe.
To realize that Jason must have experienced much the same thing made him
feel even closer to his Bro than before.
"Yeah," Jason had to chuckle as he recognized the
quote from a TV series. "Only, the Scotts don't go around chopping people's
heads off. Not anymore, anyway."
"What a pity. It seems to be a very convenient method
of ridding oneself of unwelcome company," David commented drily, trying
to make it sound like a joke rather than wishful thinking. Tommy did indeed
laugh, even as he shook his head, but Jason gave the other a strange look
– he'd detected an undertone that was not at all friendly.
David felt the dark eyes on him, and made himself
return the stare, thankful that the flickering flames of their campfire
helped him maintain a bland expression. After a few seconds, Jason shrugged
minutely and resumed his tale.
"Anyway, my grandmother had dug up a bit of family
history stuff; seems there was a James Alasdair Scott who came to America
with Lafayette, during the Revolutionary War. I think he had to leave Scotland
because he was involved with the Jacobite uprising somehow." Jason paused
to take a sip of his water. "The information we had was really very sketchy,
but there's this center at Aviemore where you can look up connections …
I did that, found an address to contact the clan … and they actually invited
me to come and visit. Once we'd cleared up all the details of how I'm connected
to the Clan, I was even officially put on the member list." There was a
quiet pride in Jason's voice; he'd found an inner connection with his very
distant relatives he hadn't expected in learning about the Clan's history.
"Way cool," Tommy said. "Isn't it, David?" he added,
wanting to include his brother in the discussion.
David was feeling slightly ashamed of himself; that
last crack he'd made had really been unworthy of his upbringing, of everything
Sam had taught him in his 20 years … so he gratefully accepted the branch
Tommy held out to him. He might wish Jason to the far side of the moon
rather than on the other side of the camp fire, but he did not really
wish him any harm. He cleared his throat unobtrusively.
"Yeah," he admitted, impressed despite himself.
If it hadn't been for Sam and the stories of Tribal Elders, he wouldn't
know anything about his own family, nor would he ever have found Tommy.
But it wouldn't do to let that show. So he latched on to what he thought
was a lighter point. "All the 'Highlander' references aside, what is this
Clan stuff about, anyway? Is it like a tribe, or just people sharing the
same family name?"
Jason thought about his answer for a few moments.
"A little bit of both, I think. I don't know much
about tribes – not the way you'd use the term, anyway – but not every member
of Clan Scott must necessarily be named Scott, for example. I think
the 'tribes' in Britain would be … well, nations, like the Picts or Scots
– one t, not two, as in my name – which settled the different parts of
the islands way back when, before the Romans even." He grinned a bit as
he noticed the increasingly blank looks on both Tommy and David's faces.
"Sorry 'bout the history lesson. To get back to the question, I'd say a
Clan is more than a family, but not quite a tribe. If that makes any sense."
"Um, I guess," Tommy said a bit dubiously, feeling
very much at sea. While he had some inkling about ancient European history
due to his interest in mythology, he wasn't really up on the specifics,
such as geographical location or exact time periods. To his surprise, though,
David nodded slowly.
"I think I know what you're getting at. It's like
with the Navajo – you have the whole nation, with its own language, customs,
even ethnic look … but it's not a featureless, uniform mass. Instead the
Navajo are subdivided into smaller and smaller tribes, each with its own
distinctions, until you get down to individual families. Who may or may
not all have the same surname," he smiled. "Not that I know all that
much
about the Navajo, not being one myself, but …"
"It sure sounds similar enough," Jason agreed, clearly
intrigued. "How about your own background, though? How does that relate?"
He returned David's smile somewhat deprecatingly. "Sorry, but the things
I don't know about Native Americans is pretty staggering," he admitted
with an apologetic shrug. "If I'm asking stupid questions, don't hold it
against me, okay?"
Tommy chuckled. "You and me both, Bro. I've tried
to catch up on stuff since finding my family, but … anyway, go ahead, Dave."
He settled back against a rock, clearly waiting for his brother to continue.
David puffed out a breath of air. Sam had told him
many things about this, but it wasn't really something he was particularly
interested in – he'd always focussed more on the ways of his people of
trying to live with the land, on the environmental concerns. Now he wished
he had paid closer attention to his foster-father's teachings, if only
to show that he could hold his own in this discussion.
"It may get pretty convoluted," he warned. "Plus,
you should really ask Sam about this; he used to be quite involved in tribal
politics."
"But Sam's not here; you are," Tommy said reasonably,
a twinkle in his chocolate-brown eyes.
Since that was undeniably true, David heaved a resigned
sigh that set the other two to snickering. He mock-glared them into silence.
"Okay, okay. Have it your way. Just don't complain if I don't have all
the answers."
"It's alright, David," Jason murmured, passing around
fresh drinks and a bag of pretzels. "Whatever you can tell us is fine."
He looked from one to the other. "I told you how the American branch of
the Scotts came into existence; would you mind explaining a bit about your
background? From what I do know, you don't really belong to any
of the West Coast tribes, do you?"
"No, the family migrated west during the forties,
when Sam got drafted … are you sure you want to know all this stuff?"
he interrupted himself, giving Jason a searching glance. He returned it
frankly, with no hint of a hidden motive David could detect.
"Positive. If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked." The
deep voice was quiet and friendly, and David chided himself for being overly
suspicious; after all, nothing in Jason's demeanor suggested something
besides genuine interest, or even just honest curiosity.
"Very well then." Drawing a deep breath, taking a
few heartbeats to marshal his thoughts, David then proceeded to relate
his and Tommy's family history, and the tribe's – at least as much as he
was able. To his gratification, as with the plans for the Falcon's Pass
Nature Reserve, he found two intelligent, astute listeners who paid attention
to what he said and then launched into a spirited discussion about tribes,
clans, history, and other parallels between Native Americans and the Scots
– things David had never even thought about comparing before.
It was fascinating, extremely interesting … and increasingly,
an exercise in mounting frustration for David as he listened to Tommy and
Jason argue yet another point. He knew he wasn't stupid; he'd always made
excellent grades at school, but he had to admit that, while he was pretty
certain that he'd received a decent education on the Reservation, he simply
lacked a lot of the basic knowledge which had been taught at the rather
cosmopolitan Angel Grove High. As for Jason's know-how in evaluating other
cultures, his openness to accept differences and treat them with respect,
enhanced and honed by his stay at the Youth Teen Summit … it galled him
to have to admit that the young man was way ahead of both himself and Tommy.
So, David gradually withdrew from the discussion,
growing more quiet as time passed, until a jaw-cracking yawn he couldn't
suppress gave him the perfect excuse to make ready for bed. Almost as if
somebody had thrown a switch, Jason and Tommy, too, began to yawn, and
within minutes they had banked their fire, taken a last trip to the bushes
and were stretched out in their sleeping bags. Briefly, David gave a thought
to the fact that he'd never completed his inspection f the area for snakes
or any other, less obvious creatures who might be hiding among the rocks,
but it was too dark now and he was too sleepy to have another look. *First
thing in the morning,* he promised himself as he climbed into his bedroll.
A murmured good-night, a few grumbles and groans until they'd found comfortable
positions, and within minutes, soft snores filled the tent as the moon
rose over the desert.
To Be Continued ...