Fawn was right. Jorana was forthcoming and responsive when they questioned him about the transportation stones. As near as she could tell, the big person wasn't holding anything back or attempting to sidestep their queries. The Parramati could be evasive in conversation, and a big person like Jorana more so than most, but he made no attempt to circumvent their questions, answering everything in a direct and forthright manner.
"The stones have always been with the Parramati, the Parramati have always been with the stones. They are the foundation of kusum."
"Are there stones and stone masters on all the islands of the archipelago?" Fawn asked.
"Not all, but many. They have been here for as long as people can remember. They have been here for as long as people have been."
The three of them were seated on thick woven mats in Jorana's longhouse, deep bowls of fruit juice in front of them.
"So the stones were just lying around when the first Parramati came here?" Using both hands in the accepted manner, Pulickel sipped from his bowl, swallowing the pith suspended in the liquid and politely spitting the seeds into his closed palm.
"Yes. It is told that Kureo'o'oa, of the original Parramati, was the first person to understand the working of a stone. He found a stone that, when combined with another, brought all manner of good things to eat close to his boat, so that he might catch them. These were the first fishing stones. After that, other first people tried many different stones. Some did nothing, others led to different roads."
"Hundreds of years of trial and error," Fawn whispered. "Maybe thousands."
"Over time, more and more stones became known to us, and their workings a part of our kusum. Some of these original Parramati became the first stone masters. Some vanished, never to be seen again. Some died." Jorana's barks and yips rose and fell euphoniously in the still, humid air of the longhouse.
"Are all stone masters considered to be big persons?" Pulickel asked.
"Yes, but not all big persons are stone masters." Jorana's lips rippled along the sides of his long snout. "The stone master legacy is passed down within families, within clans. They are the ones who have charge of the stones, they are the ones who know the roads."
Feeling very self-conscious, Pulickel nonetheless asked the next question. "And no family or clan tries to take another's stones?"
"What good is a stone to one who does not know its road?" With the long middle finger of his right hand, the big person stirred patterns in his juice. "Besides, the stones are brought together for the good of all. One stone master helps another, just as big persons help small persons. When needed, stone masters from one island will assist those of another. Torrelau is a big island, with many villages and stone masters. We are always ready to help Parramati who live on smaller islands, even if it is only one family that lives by fishing from a sandbar."
Pulickel glanced significantly at Fawn before asking the question they had been leading up to all morning. "What about the transportation stones?" A group of youngsters outside was playing the elaborate Parramati version of leapfrog. Occasionally a deep thump would echo through the longhouse as one of them ricocheted off the exterior wall.
"Like the ones you borrowed to try to study?" It was difficult to tell when one was being teased by a Parramati. Formal sarcasm had no place in their conversation. "Sometimes the masters of such stones will use them to explore certain roads. From these travels they bring back fresh knowledge, new ways of seeing and thinking. It is only for big persons that they do this, for such learning is wasted on middle and small persons. If what they learn proves useful, it is made a part of kusum."
"Mat's all very interesting," Fawn agreed. "Do the masters of these stones use them to travel frequently?"
"No. It is difficult and can be dangerous." For the first time, Jorana showed reluctance to elaborate. "Such stones are for use only in great emergencies."
"And what would qualify as an appropriate emergency?" Pulickel leaned forward intently.
Jorana considered. "An incurable sickness. A war that the Parramati were losing. Anything that threatened kusum."
Was that an implied threat? the xenologist wondered. He didn't see how the transportation stones could be used against the Commonwealth presence. Apparently Jorana thought such a thing was possible. It was an unpleasant thought, one they could come back to later if the need arose.
"This Koreo'o'oa and the other first persons," Fawn was saying, "they must have been very brave people."
Holding up the outside finger of each hand in the accepted manner, Jorana sipped from his bowl. "They were. I wish I could have known them. Since I cannot, I honor their memories."
"The sacred stones." Fawn shifted nervously on her mat. "I don't mean to commit blasphemy. Please remember that there is much of Parramati kusum I am still ignorant of, but-has anyone ever tried to break one of them open, to study the inside?"
Jorana's pupils parted wide and his long dark lips drew back in horror. "No! It would be a violation of the stone. Why would anyone think of doing such a thing?"
Fawn hastened to reassure the big person. "I didn't mean to suggest that it should be done. I only wondered if it had happened. By accident, perhaps."
Jorana seemed mollified. "To my knowledge, no stone has ever been broken open. Either by design or by mischance." He looked sharply at Pulickel. "That was not what you were going to do, friend Pu'il?"
"Who, me?" The xenologist was being at least half truthful. Had he succeeded in bringing the two stones he'd taken back to the station, initial studies would have preserved their structural integrity so that they could have been returned to their owners intact.
Fawn hurriedly changed the subject. "Down through the centuries the Parramati have found hundreds of stones. Do you ever find any unmastered ones any more?"
"Not in several lifetimes," Jorana admitted. "Some think that the Parramati have identified all the sacred stones that there are to be found."
"Are there any transportation stones on Mallatyah?" Pulickel asked tersely, thinking of the AAnn.
The big person's reply was not reassuring. "Of course. Mallatyah is a large island, also, and home to the masters of as many stones as we of Torrelau."
They paused as one of Jorana's several wives brought food and filled their bowls. Pulickel recognized cured chierofa, a molluscan delicacy from the outer reef. When chewed, it released a taste that suggested a jalapenoed snail. He popped a strip into his mouth, bit down, and tensed slightly as flavor exploded against his palate. Fawn's tolerance for hot and spicy being considerably less than his own, she chose something blander from among the offerings.
Maybe it was the stimulating food, but a half-forgotten question suddenly occurred to him. "Jorana, has anyone ever tried to bring together more than two stones at a time?"
Their host did not try to conceal his shock. "Of course not! There is no telling what would happen. Stones are always used in combination of twos."
Perhaps it was the delectable fire in his mouth, but Pulickel couldn't let the matter drop. "Well, then, has anyone ever tried to use more than two stones together in combinations of twos? Four at a time, say, or six?"
Jorana was staring at him out of gold-flecked eyes. "Why would anyone do such a thing? How much can a person eat? How healthy can they be made? How deeply in love can they fall? No, to my knowledge such a thing has never been tried. If it was, those who did so did not survive to speak to others of the consequences." Jorana did nothing to hide his discomfiture. Unashamed, he found the concept distasteful.
Ignoring their host's unease and Fawn's warning glare, Pulickel pressed on. "Four fishing stones might bring in better eating. Six healing stones might extend one's lifespan."
Despite his discomfort, Jorana found himself speculating. Impiety, Pulickel knew, is ever a subject of fascination to the faithful.
"It would violate kusum," the big person finally declared, as if that put an end to the matter. "We know how the stones are to be used, and they are to be used by twos."
"Put how do you know that that's the only way they can be used?"
"Because that is what kusum tells us," the Parramati replied, closing the circle of logic. "In this manner the stones have served us well. We are not about to tempt fate by going against kusum in the fashion of the Eolurro or the Simisant." Pulickel expected the usual lecture on kusum violation to follow. Instead, Jorana looked frightened.
"No one could say what would happen if many stones were conjoined. No one would be responsible for the consequences."
"Are you so sure there would be consequences?" Pulickel watched the native unswervingly. Jorana looked up sharply but said nothing.
Fawn turned the conversation to more prosaic and less controversial matters, and soon had their host relaxed again. By the time the two humans were ready to leave, he was once more his usual composed, affable self.
They stood outside the entrance to the longhouse, squinting in the bright light of midday.
"We thank you for taking the time to answer our many questions." Fawn underlined her words with the appropriate gestures. "You have been a great help to us and we appreciate it."
Jorana's fingers fluttered complaisantly. "The sharing of knowledge is never a burden, always a pleasure. You are welcome anytime."
As they turned to depart, Pulickel switched to terranglo. "This isn't enough. Somehow we have to obtain a stone for examination."
Fawn's gaze narrowed as she shouldered her pack. "Didn't you learn your lesson last time? No stone master is going to willingly relinquish possession of his or her specimen, and because of your little escapade neither one of us is going to be allowed near one unsupervised. Forget it, Pu'il. We're going to have to study them from a distance and do the best we can."
He looked up at her as they made their way out of the village, heading for the trail that would take them over the barrier ridge and back to base. "You know that's inadequate, Fawn."
"Yeah, I know. Put I'm damned if I can think of a way around it." As they entered the jungle she turned her shirt evaporator up a notch. "Watch that cluster of vines. Shelath stingers sometimes nest in those." At her urging, he gave the dense knot of yellow-brown foliage a wide berth. "I don't think even the ever-courteous, ever understanding Parramati will be as forgiving if we're caught trying to steal stones a second time."
"Not stealing," he reminded her with that familiar fey smile. "Borrowing."
"I wouldn't count on that to save me again, either," she warned him. "The Parramati have fought plenty of wars with their neighbors, some of them in recent times. They're quite capable of violence."
He stepped over a narrow gully. Small spotted creatures peeped querulously in the shallow water below. "I don't see that we have any choice. The alternative is to call in a full-scale research team. If we can't bring the necessary equipment to a stone, we have to bring a stone to the equipment."
"I know, I know. Don't you think I'd love to run Ululiapa's earth stone through the station's geoscope?" She jumped over a fallen log that he ducked beneath. "I don't want a hundred specialists in here, crawling all over the archipelago."
"We've already discussed what would happen to the stones in that case," he reminded her. "The Parramati would take them to sea in their outriggers and dump them in the nearest oceanic trench. Our choices are limited."
"What choices?" she muttered. "All we can do is wait for them to use some of the stones, try to wangle an invitation to the relevant ceremony, and make what recordings we can."
"There has to be another way. Somehow we have to convince, bribe, or frighten a stone master into letting us borrow a stone. Surely there's one who's willing to bend kusum just a little. A young one, perhaps, not yet as steeped in tradition as senior big persons like Jorana and Ascela. What if we offered to let them participate in the process of analysis, brought them right into the station? That way their stone would never be out of their sight."
Fawn looked doubtful. "Won't work. Remember, stone utilization is a tandem process. No stone master does anything with a stone without consulting at least one colleague. Sure, we might tempt a young stone master. But they won't do anything without first seeking advice from another."
He pushed leaves aside. "How can you be so sure, if it's never been tried?"
She looked back at him. "You never give up on a line of reasoning, do you? When you find one you like, you worry it like a dog. Not only do you still think you can borrow a stone, now you want to borrow a stone master, too."
"I'm always glad when my aims are perceived so readily." He grinned up at her.
"You know this trail as well as I do by now. How come you always let me lead?"
"Because you're bigger, are more familiar with the potentially dangerous flora here than I am, and can push all the vegetation out of the way for me."
"Ah." She frowned uncertainly, then set the matter aside. He was being truthful, of course. She just wasn't sure he was enumerating all the truths.