“That’s … not how it works for humans, Ambassador,” said Ingray.
“No,” the ambassador agreed. “It cannot work this way for humans. It could not. For years human hatchlings must be cared for, carefully attended, fed, taught, before they can swim with a clutch. And long before then the hatchlings you have cared for might as well be your own clutchmates. Perverse, yes. But so it is with humans. You cannot abandon your own clutchmates to death, or leave them to be eaten. A hatchling that thinks only of its own survival makes an untrustworthy adult, and if every hatchling behaved so, far too few would survive.
“The change was not perfect, and because of this some human hatchlings cannot stay. But they are clutchmates. They cannot stay, but they cannot be sent out of the world. Who does this to a clutchmate? But the humans had built a place on the edge of the world, and in this place those hatchlings can live, and even be useful.”
“Tic’s gills didn’t come in,” observed Garal. “He told us that.”
“I have done a wrong thing,” said the ambassador. “I must say to Tic Uisine, I apologize, Tic Uisine.” The ambassador fell silent then, only the sound of the water echoing off the room’s smooth walls.
“What did you do?” asked Ingray finally.
“One of my clutchmates who survived to swim down with me,” said the ambassador, “was Geck human. His daughter is Tic Uisine’s mother. She is not a clutchmate of mine, but she is like a clutchmate to my clutchmate. Do you understand? Even though she is not my clutchmate, even though she has her own clutch, a different one, still I feel that. My clutchmate is a human and I cannot help but love his daughter, because he does. And humans cannot help but grieve for their hatchlings, when they do not survive, and so when her hatchlings failed to survive swimming down, every one, I could not help but grieve with her. Do you understand? We changed the humans so they could live in the world, and now the humans have changed us. I do not know if we should have let them stay in the world. I do not. But oh, she grieved, once, twice, three times. Do you understand? If her hatchlings had not been able to swim down they would have been sent to the edge of the world. If her hatchlings had gone to the edge of the world, at least they would be alive and she might not grieve so much. I saw from the day she showed Tic to me that he would never survive swimming down. He would be like the rest. Do you understand?”
“No,” admitted Ingray, horrified by what she was hearing, though she hadn’t really understood any of it. Frightened, though she wasn’t sure why. “I don’t understand.”
“You did it,” said Garal. “Somehow you made it so that Tic’s gills didn’t come in.”
“I did it,” agreed the ambassador. “I did a wrong thing, but if I had not done it, Tic Uisine would not have survived swimming down. If I had allowed him to swim down, he would be dead. I did the thing I did so that at least he could be alive and in the world. But then he stole ships and left the world. It was like him to do such a thing. It was not like Geck to do such a thing. He would not have survived swimming down. No. He would not.” Silence. Then, “His mother grieved. My clutchmate grieved. What can live outside the world? There are creatures that live outside the world, but they must be creatures of endless sorrow and pain and death. The conclave before, I went, and did what was needed, and returned to the world. I did not want to be outside the world at all, but to keep the aliens away I must do so. I returned to the world as quickly as could be. I thought to do so again, this time. But we saw our ship, and I thought to myself that Tic Uisine might be there, and it might be that I could bring him back, and he would not be any longer in endless pain and suffering because he would be in the world again, and his mother would cease to grieve. But Tic Uisine was always headstrong. Always! From a larva he was headstrong.” The blob paled again, pulled itself under the water, and then oozed back up onto the margin of the pool, water streaming off it. “Perhaps I am headstrong as well. A bit.”
“A bit,” agreed Ingray, when the ambassador seemed to pause for some response. Garal said nothing, and Ingray thought it might be better if she didn’t look to see eir expression.
“Yes,” agreed the ambassador. “I followed him here. It may be that in pain and suffering, surrounded with sorrow and death, he does not act as he should. And it is the wrong thing that I have done that has caused this. So I follow. I am afraid, I do not want to be out of the world, it is terrible to be out of the world. But I look, I see. I hear, I listen. You are very strange, Ingray Human, but you do not seem to live in endless pain and sorrow. No, you swim here as though this were the world, and live your very strange life as though all was right and well. And I think to myself, is this not where the humans came from? They hatched outside the world; this is their home water. The hatchlings at the edge of the world, do we do a wrong thing, to keep them?”
“I imagine,” said Garal, then, “that many of them are quite happy there. It is their home, after all.”
“But not all are happy, Garal Ket,” said the ambassador. “Not all. And until now I could not think that thought, that anyone could wish to be outside the world. But now I think it. And so I talk to you. I have a thing to say to Tic Uisine, but I think he will not agree to speak to me. And you, Garal Ket, and Ingray Aughskold, you are friends of Tic Uisine. Will you say to him that if he truly wishes to leave the Geck, then I acknowledge his human citizenship, and no longer claim he is subject to the Geck? Will you say to him that I apologize? Will you say to him that he can come back to the edge of the world if he wishes, even if he is not Geck, and that I do not care about the ships, only that he is well? That if he is happy and well outside the world, I will be happy for that, and I will tell his mother that even though he is outside the world, he is well, and he swims in waters better suited to him, and has friends, and she will try to cease to grieve? Will you say this to Tic Uisine?”
“I …” Ingray stopped, not sure what to answer. “I think it would be best if you said this yourself, Ambassador. But maybe he won’t want to talk to you at all, and …” She faltered. And I couldn’t blame him for that. There was no diplomatic way to say it.
“I would not want to talk to me at all,” said the ambassador.