The Dark Crystal by A. C. H. Smith Page B

not to betray quite how ravenous he was, Jen started to eat. The Pod People had been waiting for the opportunity to learn about their visitor. With Kira’s help as translator, and picking up a few words of Pod speech as he went along, Jen managed to tell them a little about himself. It seemed they had never heard of the urRu. When Jen first described them, the Pod People began to seem fearful of him. “Shkekshe?” one of them asked. Jen shook his head firmly. Kira explained to them that the urRu were indeed as huge as the Skeksis but a peaceful race. The Pod People nodded, partly reassured.

    He brought out the shard to show to the Pod People. Though they found it pretty, it too held no meaning for them. Jen was disappointed. He had hoped that they might give him a clue to the mission he was supposed to accomplish with it.

    Between conversations with the peasants, and the eating and drinking, he took in the interior of the house. It had been furnished with absolute simplicity. Nothing was decorative; everything served a purpose. The furniture was solid. What beauty it had was the beauty of both usefulness and usage. The chairs, the tables, the platters and spoons, all were made of wood, and shone with the rich patina of age and handling.

    As the evening wore on, the music grew faster and noisier, and some of the peasants started to dance to it. Jen was fascinated. He had never seen anything like this. The dancers began by energetically bouncing about on their own. Then they linked hands in groups of four or five and leaped around in circles. Gradually the circles were linked to each other, and eventually all the dancers were holding hands in one great, bounding ring. When the music reached a climax, the ring broke at one point and the line of dancers coiled themselves inward to form a tightening spiral. At the finish they were all packed close against each other, jigging up and down so enthusiastically that the old house shook.

    “What’s it all for?” Jen asked.

    “Dancing?” Kira replied.

    “Yes.”

    “What a funny question. I don’t think it’s for anything. It’s just fun.”

    Jen nodded, no wiser.

    “You know how to dance, don’t you, Jen?” Kira asked. “You just sing with your body.”

    “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “The urRu didn’t teach me about dancing.”

    After a brief pause for refreshment, amid much laughter, the band struck up again, more wildly than ever.

    From her pouch, Kira brought out a length of string and made a simple cat’s cradle on her fingers. Then she transferred it to Jen’s, pulled out more loops, took it back, and transferred it again, all the time making it more complicated. With beaming faces, the Pod People watched them. Fizzgig had fallen asleep at Kira’s feet.

    Jen looked at Kira as she frowned thoughtfully at the cat’s cradle. “How long may we stay here?” he asked.

    “As long as we want,” she answered, pulling out two more loops.

    “Then I don’t ever want to leave.”

    She paused and looked up at him. “What about the crystal shard?”

    Jen closed his eyes. “Whatever it is that I am supposed to do with the shard, it cannot make me as perfectly happy as I am here. With you.”

    One of the peasants, grinning, leaned over and asked Jen “Lyepa Kira?” Others around heard him and giggled.

    “What did he say?” Jen asked.

    Kira smiled but would not tell him.

    Fizzgig had woken up. His face was alert, listening. He gave a little growl.

    Kira looked down at him fondly and scratched him between the ears. “I don’t think Fizzgig approves of you now,” she smiled. Then her expression became more serious. “Jen, it was only because of your quest that you and I ever met each other. That in itself should give you the courage to go on with it.”

    Fizzgig growled again, more loudly.

    Jen was thinking about Kira’s remark when the band struck up again, with more vigor and noise than ever. Ydra came up to the table and