Six
Suvi
Dog -- Dogs are the most closed-minded of all the Soli. The dog child will likely refuse any contact with non-Dog children and may aggressively thwart any efforts at friendship. Progress has been made in teaching Dogs in community-based Soli schools, with intensive education in lower sciences.
Know Your Students -- a Junior Educator's Handbook to the Soli
, Severnessan Ministry of Stations
* * * *
Suvi put Chelah, well wrapped in a scarf, in the basket of the motapede, next to an unlabeled glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. "Be careful of that flask. It is a present for our friend Ludde."
Chelah squeaked in an inquiring way. "I hope so," Suvi answered with a smile. "It would be good to have some fish for the dinner Friday night. Food has been a little scarce for the last few weeks."
She peered anxiously at the sky. "Come on. We had better get going. Those clouds look like snow." The broken windows of the office reflected the dirty grey light. Suvi sighed as she pushed the pede off its kickstand. "Why didn't he come, Chelah? He could have at least sent a message. Marja is out of her mind worrying about Riku, and I..."
Chelah growled sympathetically.
"Well, yes. I wanted to see him too. He is very handsome, don't you think?"
They took the road north, towards the coast. Suvi pushed the motapede hard, trying to beat the threatening weather.
A recent thaw had left thick muddy ruts everywhere. Dirt spattered her clothing and boots by the time she reached the path to Ludde's tumbledown shack. Suvi parked the pede before the dunes, well hidden in a clump of tishin. Its thorny evergreen foliage would discourage all but the most determined thieves. She collected Chelah and the flask, and hiked the last half-mile, with her eyes still anxiously on the sky.
Bits of rusty fishing tackle littered the yard of Ludde's house, set hard against the shore and a rotting jetty. "Good, Chelah. He is not fishing. See, there is his dory, tied up. And the
Sweet Poppy
is there too." She pointed to the deeper water, where a very decrepit single-masted yawl lay at anchor.
Suvi crossed the sandy yard and carefully negotiated the steep steps to the front door. Fisher folk had built Ludde's house long ago, using six-foot piers to keep it above the high winter tides. Some of the steps were cracked, some were missing, but Ludde never bothered to fix them. The door needed paint too. The salt spray had eaten into the wood, leaving it slick and swollen with damp. Suvi knocked firmly and then wiped her knuckles on her coat.
Not a sound came from inside the house.
Suvi tried again, a little harder. "Ludde, are you in there?" she called, though she knew he was and that he had heard her knock.
"Go 'way!" a gruff voice ordered.
Suvi sighed. "Ludde, it is me, Suvi. Please open the door."
"No! I don't want company today. Take some dried fish from the shed, if that is what you came for. Plenty of pikken there for you."
Even this did not discourage her. She always had her last resort, though she hated to use it, not like that. "Oh well. I guess I will have to drink this flask of poteen all by..."
The door flew open, revealing a tall, unkempt man with an almost impossibly bushy red beard. "Suvi! Come in. Bring your beast -- and the drink, of course," he added with a sly half smile.
She followed him inside, stepping carefully over the piles of paper, wood, clothes, dishes and fishing nets that took almost all the floor space. A fire roared away in the hearth, making the room almost uncomfortably hot, but Ludde still wore his thick cable-knit sweater. Suvi sometimes wondered if he
slept
in it. Certainly, it smelled as though he had not washed it in an age.
He ratted around amongst the dishes on the bench and found two moderately clean shot glasses. "How are you, girl? Keeping well?"
"Fine, Ludde. And how are you?" Suvi studied what little she could see of his ruddy, weather-beaten face, noting it looked a little thinner than the last
Suvi
Dog -- Dogs are the most closed-minded of all the Soli. The dog child will likely refuse any contact with non-Dog children and may aggressively thwart any efforts at friendship. Progress has been made in teaching Dogs in community-based Soli schools, with intensive education in lower sciences.
Know Your Students -- a Junior Educator's Handbook to the Soli
, Severnessan Ministry of Stations
* * * *
Suvi put Chelah, well wrapped in a scarf, in the basket of the motapede, next to an unlabeled glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. "Be careful of that flask. It is a present for our friend Ludde."
Chelah squeaked in an inquiring way. "I hope so," Suvi answered with a smile. "It would be good to have some fish for the dinner Friday night. Food has been a little scarce for the last few weeks."
She peered anxiously at the sky. "Come on. We had better get going. Those clouds look like snow." The broken windows of the office reflected the dirty grey light. Suvi sighed as she pushed the pede off its kickstand. "Why didn't he come, Chelah? He could have at least sent a message. Marja is out of her mind worrying about Riku, and I..."
Chelah growled sympathetically.
"Well, yes. I wanted to see him too. He is very handsome, don't you think?"
They took the road north, towards the coast. Suvi pushed the motapede hard, trying to beat the threatening weather.
A recent thaw had left thick muddy ruts everywhere. Dirt spattered her clothing and boots by the time she reached the path to Ludde's tumbledown shack. Suvi parked the pede before the dunes, well hidden in a clump of tishin. Its thorny evergreen foliage would discourage all but the most determined thieves. She collected Chelah and the flask, and hiked the last half-mile, with her eyes still anxiously on the sky.
Bits of rusty fishing tackle littered the yard of Ludde's house, set hard against the shore and a rotting jetty. "Good, Chelah. He is not fishing. See, there is his dory, tied up. And the
Sweet Poppy
is there too." She pointed to the deeper water, where a very decrepit single-masted yawl lay at anchor.
Suvi crossed the sandy yard and carefully negotiated the steep steps to the front door. Fisher folk had built Ludde's house long ago, using six-foot piers to keep it above the high winter tides. Some of the steps were cracked, some were missing, but Ludde never bothered to fix them. The door needed paint too. The salt spray had eaten into the wood, leaving it slick and swollen with damp. Suvi knocked firmly and then wiped her knuckles on her coat.
Not a sound came from inside the house.
Suvi tried again, a little harder. "Ludde, are you in there?" she called, though she knew he was and that he had heard her knock.
"Go 'way!" a gruff voice ordered.
Suvi sighed. "Ludde, it is me, Suvi. Please open the door."
"No! I don't want company today. Take some dried fish from the shed, if that is what you came for. Plenty of pikken there for you."
Even this did not discourage her. She always had her last resort, though she hated to use it, not like that. "Oh well. I guess I will have to drink this flask of poteen all by..."
The door flew open, revealing a tall, unkempt man with an almost impossibly bushy red beard. "Suvi! Come in. Bring your beast -- and the drink, of course," he added with a sly half smile.
She followed him inside, stepping carefully over the piles of paper, wood, clothes, dishes and fishing nets that took almost all the floor space. A fire roared away in the hearth, making the room almost uncomfortably hot, but Ludde still wore his thick cable-knit sweater. Suvi sometimes wondered if he
slept
in it. Certainly, it smelled as though he had not washed it in an age.
He ratted around amongst the dishes on the bench and found two moderately clean shot glasses. "How are you, girl? Keeping well?"
"Fine, Ludde. And how are you?" Suvi studied what little she could see of his ruddy, weather-beaten face, noting it looked a little thinner than the last
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