Leetah soon recalled the only communication possible with the Silent One - Toorah's hand-speak. In the days when Sorrow's End had no healer, there had once lived an elf who lost his hearing in an accident. He had devised a language of gestures and taught it to Toorah and some others, and Toorah in turn had passed it on as a game to amuse her daughter. When Dilah stopped speaking, she agreed to learn the hand-speak in case of emergencies. Leetah was the healer, and she had not spared stern words when she had told Dilah her childish oath might endanger the lives of her fellow villagers - she could not shout a warning if she saw a sting-tail in someone's path, for example. It was the least she could do to learn the hand-speak, to communicate with the healer.
The Silent One was repeating three signs over and over:
--- I --- speak --- cry ---
Leetah answered, in voice: "Are you hurt?"
--- no --- hurt ---
"Why did you come to me?"
--- come --- Leetah --- no --- come --- healer ---
Leetah sighed in relief, and reached out to touch Dilah's shoulder, a gesture of the universal language known to all who have hands, and turned to her lifemate:
"It's all right. This is the Silent One, this is how she speaks. Nobody's hurt, I'll explain later."
Cutter nodded uncertainly, got dressed and left the hut. He had the feeling he was eavesdropping on secrets, even though he understood none of the gestures. The deaf Rillfisher had never needed such clumsy language, she could send. This girl seemed to hear just fine, but for some reason she did not speak.
Leetah asked the Silent One: "As a friend?"
Dilah nodded.
"What is the matter?"
While saying this, she gazed meaningfully on Dilah's naked body. The girl seemed to realize her state only then, and wrapped her arms around herself. Leetah took one of her own cloaks and covered the girl with it.
--- sorry ---
"It's all right. Tell me."
--- I --- speak --- cry ---
"You have spoken?"
--- I --- cry --- joining --- it --- so --- good --- I --- cry ---
"Ah. With whom?"
Dilah wore the puzzled expression that meant she had no sign for the name of the person in question. Then she grinned. She placed two fingers of each hand on her brows and drew a curved shape around her face, ending on her cheeks.
"Skywise?"
Dilah nodded.
"And why are you here now, instead of with him?"
--- I --- afraid ---
"Because you broke your oath?"
--- because --- lost --- control ---
"Control? It's joining you are talking about! You should lose control... but you never did before, did you?"
--- no ---
"Because you think to lose control is to give it to your lovemate, to lose your freedom - you think it is all a game, a game about power."
--- before --- I --- think --- that --- now --- I --- no --- know ---
"I remember your initiation. You never understood what sharing was all about, either. In that, you were a bit like Rayek, although his reasons were more personal."
--- I --- will --- never --- join --- again ---
"Really? Because you fear you might cry again?"
Dilah nodded.
"Why must you deny yourself so much? First voice, now pleasure."
--- Sun-Toucher ---
"What has my father got to do with this?"
--- magic --- he --- find --- in --- darkness ---
"There is more to his powers than blindness and you know it. Besides, it hasn't worked for you, has it?"
Dilah shook her head sadly.
"And you have been silent well over three hundred years now. Don't you think it might be time to try something different?"
--- what ---
"Lose control. Speak and cry. Laugh and sing."
--- no ---
"Then give yourself fully to pleasure. Become truly initiated, at last. Who knows what doors that might open inside you - and I don't mean magic ones. Not the way you understand magic, at least."
--- afraid --- I --- cry ---
"Oh, High Ones grant me patience! That at least is easily prevented. Just keep your mouth full."
Dilah stared at the healer for a moment until it dawned to her what Leetah meant. She grinned, the second time that night, an expression no-one but Leetah had seen in over three centuries - Leetah, her initiator and first lovemate, if only because Dilah had sought power in the embraces of those who possessed it.