Chapter 15 First Honor

"Good night, girls."
"'Night, Mizz Julayla."
"Good night, Julayla."
It was bedtime in Knothole. Julayla was going from hut to hut doing a final bed check. She had found Sonic and Tails high-spirited and reluctant to settle down. Rotor wanted to stay up and work on yet another gadget, and it was to Antoine's considerable relief that Julayla had insisted he go to bed. Now she closed the door of the hut where Sally and Bunnie lived. She knew from personal experience and from the girls' too ready compliance that they were not about to go to sleep just yet, but would resume the whispered conversation they had been engaged in and which had been broken off when Julayla had knocked on their door. No point fighting it, she told herself. She resolved to come by their door in a few minutes to remind them that they were supposed to be asleep.
Sure enough, a moment after Julayla had closed the door to the hut, Bunnie threw off the covers and sat herself down at the foot of her bed. Sally sat up as well, the better to hear Bunnie's whispering.
"So what'd y'all find out, Sally-girl?"
"Just what I was afraid of: Rosie and Julayla are planning to wean Tails in two days."
"Did they tell you that?"
"No, but I took a look at Rosie's notes for meal planning for the next few days when she was out of the kitchen."
"Two days? But ain't that the same day as First Honor?"
"Exactly. We don't have much time left."
"Ah still cain't see why we don't just raid the kitchen."
"Come on, Bunnie. You know it'd be like taking food out of Tails' mouth!"
"Ah suppose. But Ah don't like your idea any better, if y'all want to know."
"Bunnie, where else can we get the milk we need?"
"This'll be the first time we've had First Honor since we came here, won't it?"
"Right, and I want this to be special."
"Me too, but…" There was a rap at the door.
"Are you two girls in bed?" Julayla asked.
"Yes, ma'am!" they answered truthfully in unison.
"All the way?" They both swung their legs up onto their beds before replying
"Yes, ma'am."
"And under the covers?" It took them a little longer to answer, with less enthusiasm,
"Yes, ma'am."
"Good night, then."
"Good night." The two girls waited a few seconds until Julayla's footsteps had faded completely.
"Think the coast is clear, Sally-girl?"
"Uh-huh." The two girls sat up in bed, their legs under the blankets.
"So now what?" Bunnie whispered.
"What about Rotor?"
"He's been sneakin' our stuff into the kiln whenever he's had a chance."
"So we've got six bowls ready?"
"Five." Bunnie heard Sally slap her mattress in frustration.
"Don't tell me Sonic's still holding out?"
"Yeah. He says he don't want no part of no First Honor ritual no how."
"What is his problem?"
"Ah wish Ah knew. What're we gonna do?"
"I'm going to try talking some sense into him one more time," Sally said as Bunnie heard Sally snuggling into her bed and wrapping herself in her blanket. "And if he's still going to be stubborn about it, we'll just have to go ahead without him. Good night, Bunnie."
"G'night."
Milk was not a staple food on Mobius. In fact, many Mobians through their whole lives never knew the taste of milk once they had been weaned from their mother's breast. In addition, that event in itself was considered a special occasion.
In addition to the public holidays of Mobius, the beings of the world had also developed a host of smaller, more intimate celebrations, known collectively as 'The Times', to mark significant moments in a Mobian's life. These celebrations were always family matters, private rather than public. They were a chance for a Mobian family to gather and to strengthen their bond with one another.
The act of weaning was the first such occasion in a child's life after it had been born. It marked the formal transition from infancy to childhood. It was always a joyous time for the child, who was the guest of honor at a party thrown by the family. It was also a bittersweet occasion for the child's mother, for it marked the beginning of the process of letting go.
Rosie and Julayla were planning this celebration for Tails. He was considerably older than the usual weanling; for most Mobians were weaned by the time they were three years old. Nevertheless, since Sonic had brought Tails to Knothole as a foundling it was impossible to pinpoint his age exactly. Still, the women decided that the time had come for at least a ceremonial weaning. In practical terms, it meant the exclusion of milk from his diet from that day on. The other children, of course, had their own priorities; they were looking forward to the party.
There was one other Mobian holiday, however, that was uppermost in the minds of Sally and all of the other children except Sonic, and it was the only other Mobian ceremony where milk played a key role. Once a year, in the spring, Mobians would observe "First Honor." The name originated with an ancient proverb: "Of all the debts of honor you will incur, the first is to the one who gave you the life you have."
So the practice gradually developed that once a year on Mobius milk appeared in the markets in good supply, and it did not require one's life savings to buy it as at other times of the year. For on the morning of First Honor, mothers all over Mobius would awake to find their children each offering her a small bowl of milk to drink. It was a way of thanking their mothers for giving them life and for nurturing them, a kind of symbolic repayment. It was a simple but touching gesture, and many a mother would season the milk she drank with tears of gratitude.
Despite the fact that milk had always been a scarce commodity on Mobius, even before Mobius found itself under Ivo Robotnik's thumb, Rosie somehow had always made sure that there was milk available for Tails' meals. Nobody knew where she was obtaining it, but there it was just the same. Every time any one of the other children asked her about it, she would dismiss them with the same response: "Ask me no questions, dears." It became a matter of speculation amongst them.
That is what was happening the next morning as the children of Knothole, with the exception of Tails and Sonic, gathered on the bridge spanning the river. They had finished breakfast and while helping Rosie with the dishes had tried to ask her where she got some of their provisions, items they knew they had not grown themselves.
"Ask me no questions, dears."
"But Rosie," Sally asked as she hung her dish towel up to dry, "it has to come from somewhere."
"Now, M'lady, do I asks you about where you go some nights?"
"No," Sally admitted. Rosie had a good point. For the last six months, the lives of the children had altered dramatically. Tails had turned up missing one evening and the other children had gone looking for him, finding him inside the abandoned home of Sonic's Uncle Chuck near the very edge of Robotropolis. It was there that Sonic discovered his Uncle's legacy to him: the power rings and the means to generate them. Using the rings, Sonic could now travel faster than he or any of the others could even imagine, and he was using that speed to lead the other children in scouting parties to learn what changes had taken place in Robotropolis and what Dr. Robotnik was doing to their world. Rosie insisted that she not be told of these raids, "in case something happens." She never said what she thought might happen, but the words were sobering enough to make the children obey. Now she was using that ignorance to forestall any further questioning from the children, and they knew it. They silently finished helping with the washing up and retired to the bridge.
"I am becoming too much tired of that answer," Antoine said at last.
"Me too, Ant," Bunnie replied.
"And I must repetition you not to be calling me that!"
"What's the matter? You gettin' bugged?" she asked with a grin for his squeamishness about insects had become something of a teasing point.
"That is something about which you are not to be joking! Besides, that kind of fuelishness I was to be expecting from Sonique."
"Yeah, where the hoo-ha is Sonic, anyway?"
"He was with us in the kitchen," Rotor added. Then they heard Tails' high-pitched laughter. Turning, they saw Sonic chasing after the young fox, who was using his two tails to fly from one spot to the next. It was a game the two of them played frequently, and it served the purpose of sharpening Tails' flying skills.
"Forget about him," Sally said gruffly.
"You mean that?"
"Just about, Rotor," she sighed. "First Honor is tomorrow. If he doesn't want any part of this, why bother trying to drag him into it?"
"Are you being sure, my Princess? What if we are having… how does he say… the need for speeding?"
"We don't need to be fast if we're smart. Now what about the bowls?"
"They're all fired and ready, Sally," Rotor replied. "I can bring them to the big hut after dinner. Antoine will have the paints and brushes ready."
"Great! Rosie'll be gathering provisions and won't know what we're doing."
"What about Julayla?"
"If she catches us, I'm sure she can keep a secret if we ask her."
"But even if we are having the bowls, what about the something to be putting inside of them?"
"I've got that all figured out," Sally said as she lowered her voice, looking around her. "We know that Robotnik's turned my father's castle into his headquarters. He's changed a lot of things about it but it should still have the same rough layout."
"Sally-girl, don't even think about it!" Bunnie pleaded.
"I'm sorry, Bunnie, but there's no other way. Now if you want out too…"
"No, Ah'm in. Ah just wish Ah wasn't."
"Good. Now I'll try talking to Sonic one more time." But Sonic spent the remainder of the day eluding Sally and the others, spending his time with Tails playing games and regaling him with talk about what he had to look forward to as a "big guy." Tails didn't understand much of what was said; he only knew that there was going to be a big party the next day, but he still hung on Sonic's every word simply because he was Sonic.
Sally knew that the situation called for subtlety and tactics. She waited until the evening meal when Sonic was seated at the table eating. In a neatly executed move, she sat down to Sonic's left with Rotor sitting on his right. Sonic was boxed in.
"What's the deal, Sal?"
"You know what the deal is, Sonic."
"Then you know the answer, so leave me alone."
"I'll make this easy for you." With that, Sally placed an unpainted clay bowl in front of Sonic. All of the bowls that the children had planned to use for First Honor had been hand-made and showed the distinct characteristics of their makers.
Sally's bowl was clearly the product of a lot of thought and consideration; Bunnie's was designed with a stylish flair, practical but more ornamental; Antoine's was functional but needlessly ornate; Rotor's had a machine-like precision of execution; Tails' was crudely executed but it looked as if a lot of love had gone into it anyway.
The bowl in front of Sonic was typically Sonic: hastily executed and discarded once he'd lost interest which, in this case, had been about two months ago.
"Hey! Where did that come from?" Sonic was clearly annoyed.
"I saved it from being turned back into clay, and had Rotor fire it. If you want to paint it, fine; if you don't, that's fine, too."
"And if I want to forget about it?"
"Sonic," Sally said with patience more appropriate to a grown-up, "I'm going to explain this one more time."
"Well, make it fast 'cause you're starting to sound like that old slave driver, Julayla."
"She is not a…Sonic, you know what First Honor would mean to Rosie. She's been like a mother to us… to all of us! So all of us have to be in on this together."
"Forget it Sal. No way."
"Sonic…"
"I said no!" With that, Sonic picked up the bowl in front of him and hurled it at the nearest wall. It instantly shattered, the gray shards raining down on the floor.
"Sonic!" Everybody turned toward the doorway. Julayla was standing there, silhouetted by the early evening light. Her arms hung at her side, and Sally gasped when she noticed that both her hands were clenched into tight fists. It was something she had never seen Julayla do before.
"Everybody but Sonic, leave." Her voice was low and measured, but everyone could feel the rage just below the surface.
"But…" Sally began.
"Now!"
The children rose silently and walked out of the hut as Julayla stepped aside, her facial expression never changing. No sooner was the last of them outside than Julayla closed the door with a bang. Then they heard something they had never heard before: Julayla sliding the bolt on the door, locking them both inside. Tails started whimpering and Bunnie held him close.
"Now what are we to be doing?" Antoine asked.
"There's only one thing we can do," Sally replied.
"Pause for a moment of silence?" Rotor asked as he removed his cap from his head.
"No. We leave for Robotropolis."
"Say what?"
"I saw Rosie leaving Knothole to get provisions on our way in here, and Julayla's going to be in there with Sonic for… well, for a while, anyway. It's now or never!"

(End of Chapter 15)