The Cuckoo's Egg

Sweetwind had filled her goblet with melon wine and drained it twice, that must have been what prompted the nightmare. As for setting the scene in the dream, it must have been that she was drinking with a quiet group, listening to Rainbow Dreamer tell the First Story: the tale of the High Ones' coming to this world.

In the dream, she was there beside the Palace, watching willowy High Ones fall under the attacker's blows, but instead of humans the attackers were huge angry trolls. As they advanced they cried out, "Interlopers!" and "Thieves! Go back to your own world!" One struck her right arm with a mace, and she ran away, her arm limp and painful, the bones crushed. The scene shifted as it does in dreams, to the Holt, where she ran up to Nightwind. Whimpering, she showed the healer the throbbing, useless limb, dripping blood from long gashes raked by the barbs of the mace. "I'm sorry, Sweetwind," the black-clad elf said in a reasonable tone, "but you can't run to a healer for every little cut and scratch. Go drink some willowbark tea." Sweetwind stared at her slack-jawed, aghast.

Then someone shook her shoulders. She woke up gasping and sat upright immediately. Sky Arrow jumped back, startled.

Sweetwind reached and felt her right arm, satisfyingly solid and whole, save for the finger which had been missing since before most of her tribemates were born. She heaved a sigh of relief and looked into her visitor's blue-green eyes, which glowed dimly in the dark.

"It'll be dawn any moment now," said Sky Arrow. Dawn was the agreed-upon time when the two elves would go hunting for birds' eggs in the forest. Every Newgreen season the two would start craving nice raw eggmeats or some of the wonderful omelettes, soups or other delicacies that Sweetwind could make only with birds' eggs. Several times each Newgreen season 'Arrow came to Sweetwind's hollow to awaken the elf at dawn; this was the first time that it had taken only a single shake.

"I was having a terrible dream," said Sweetwind, seeing 'Arrow's surprise. "It was the High Ones' coming again, but everything was all mixed up..."

Their baskets were growing heavy and the Daystar had brightened the sky to blue. It was almost time to turn back, but 'Arrow spotted one more songbird's nest high among the branches of a bay tree. Gold-Eyes watched as she climbed quickly up. A wolf-send came, **Time to go home now,** with the distinct overtone of "time for eating eggs soon." The elves laughed quietly.

Sweetwind ascended the tree too, to pick some of the pungent leaves to restock her supply of seasonings. These trips were good for more than eggs; half the weight in Sweetwind's basket was succulent Newgreen shoots, and Sky Arrow had mentally noted several spots where tuber plants sprouted. She would return in the Deathsleep season and dig some up.

'Arrow sent from the nest, **Come see this, Sweetwind.**

Sweetwind left her basket hanging on a branch and climbed higher. She looked into the nest and saw three small, pale eggs and a much larger, speckled egg. **??** she sent, not knowing what to make of it.

**The larger one is a cuckoo's egg. There were cuckoos in the woods where I grew up but I haven't seen any since I came here. Cuckoos don't build nests. They wait until another bird's nest is unattended, then lay an egg in it and leave. The cuckoo egg hatches first and the hatchling is big. It pushes the other eggs out of the nest.**

**The parent birds don't notice?** Sweetwind asked. The big egg seemed so obviously different.

**Apparently not. They feed the young cuckoo like their own child.**

**Do we take it?** Sweetwind asked. The elves followed the rule of taking only a single egg from each nest they found, ensuring that there would still be many baby birds in the forest.

**If we don't, we might as well take all the rest, they'll never survive,** replied 'Arrow.

**Then we should take the cuckoo egg and leave the rest!!** blurted Sweetwind. It was such a perverse idea, to take over the nest and force the rightful inhabitants out, that she felt momentary anger at the unhatched cuckoo chick.

**Aye, I feel the same, but cuckoos have to live, too. It's their way.** Sweetwind looked again at the egg, which seemed monstrous and bloated next to its adopted brethren. By what right was it laid in this nest? A shadow of her dream crossed her mind and the question reformed itself: By what right did the High Ones come to this world? In turmoil, she sent her thoughts to Sky Arrow.

"If this world were a nest," murmured 'Arrow, "and elves and trolls and humans were each an egg..."

"Then the parents who fed the chicks only begot one egg," continued Sweetwind. She looked at the blue sky and budding branches and leaves and blossoms around her and felt very alien.

**It's not that simple,** sent 'Arrow. **Look at the Wolfriders. Are we children of this world, or not?** But she was upset.

"We haven't tried to push the other eggs out of the nest, at least," continued Sweetwind. She was sorry to have upset 'Arrow, and it made the green-eyed elf even more anxious. "And there are no parents, really, just the world, and it's big enough for all of us." In trying to comfort her friend, she consoled herself as well. "I never even heard of humans until I came here."

"Yes, whenever I've heard of strife between elves and humans, it was never because there wasn't enough food, or territory. It was just old grievances." She sighed. "Grievances perhaps because the elves were interlopers, but it was an accident. That's just the way it is."

"There is enough for all, if only we can share it peacefully," mused Sweetwind, glancing at the heavy basket half a tree beneath her.

"We're here now, and our Way is to live in harmony and do no harm to the world. Unlike the cuckoo chick, we displace no one." She gestured towards the eggs. "Should we take -"

But Sweetwind was not to learn at that time which eggs 'Arrow proposed to take, for just then a shrill cry startled them and a flash of crimson flew at the Wolfrider's face. Both elves started and jumped back. Sky Arrow, protecting her face with her hands, retreated swiftly and efficiently but Sweetwind's footing in the tree was not so secure. One arm flailed and knocked at the slender branch holding the nest. All four eggs spilled out and fell. The mother songbird continued to harass 'Arrow as she made her way down. Both elves hit the ground running at the same time, 'Arrow gracefully and Sweetwind, from the branch where she grabbed her basket, with a thump.

As 'Arrow slid onto Gold-Eyes' back, she saw the she-wolf lick her chops with a satisfied air. **Did you eat those eggs that fell?** the elf sent sternly.

**Eggs broken anyway. Was hungry,** came the reply. She loped easily so Sweetwind, on foot, could keep up. The red bird didn't follow them after they left the reach of the bay tree's branches.

**It's still early in the season,** remarked Sweetwind as they slowed down. **She'll lay another clutch.**

**I hope so.** In Sky Arrow's sending there was the same overtone of guilt as Sweetwind felt, but the main emotion was empathy for the song-hen with an empty nest. It was the first time Sweetwind realized that her friend yearned to have a cub. She sent a mindtouch of support, and 'Arrow smiled a brave but subdued smile. "Do you think we should have taken the cuckoo's egg?" she asked.

"I don't know, 'Arrow," replied Sweetwind. "I just don't know."