Whispers

“The keeper counts the chairs every cycle. The count is never the same twice. The keeper says nothing.”

“Twinhorn sounded the horns for the Silences' visiting hours yesterday. There were more chairs set out than Silences to sit in them.”

“Melville has counted the Silences' chairs himself. There are more chairs than Silences. He has never told the faction.”

“Shovel found something in the memory-soil and reburied it. It was a record, of sorts, about the chairs.”

“Oneskull keeps one fragment in the miscellaneous drawer that is warm to the touch and cannot be indexed. He checks on it.”

“Trackway once followed a grieving person's trail to the chairs. They chose not to remember what they saw.”

“Thunder once wrote her own name in the Book of Lasts, crossed it out, and wrote it again in the living pages. She checks it.”

“Boomerang once stayed away a century and almost didn't return. The horns found the way. Barely.”

“Twinhorn once sounded the horns for an empty hall, just to hear the resonance. The most beautiful sounding of her life.”

“Kinglizard remembers the young Undertow. He is the only one who does. He will not say what it was like.”

“Bonecrusher once tested the skull on a fallen memory-tree, alone, in the deep night. The choosing felt good. The power scared him.”

“Downtusks once weighed an offering and lied about the verdict — pronounced the unworthy worthy. The tusks remember.”

“Antlergiraffe keeps one confidence that is his own — the only secret he has ever held for himself.”

“Longneck once saw something he did not report — the only sighting withheld in 240 million years. He still wonders.”

“Sting once charted a region and then burned the chart — the only one ever destroyed. She chose mystery, once.”

“Flathead once took the full step onto dry land, alone. The limb-fins remember the dry. He has never told.”

“Hawker once landed for a whole day in a storm, and liked the slowness. The wings are the whole of her, publicly.”

“Queen once folded her wings and walked plain and unnoticed through the dark water. Her freest hour.”

“Frogfather has one trouble he has never fixed: his own, from the Cretaceous. Seventy million years, waiting.”

“Hammerjaw once felt the full press surge at a sudden movement, and stopped it. Nobody saw.”

“Priscus once chose not to strike — a young diprotodon, the wrong moment. The venom stayed in the gland. His proudest decision.”

“Heavyside remembers the one newcomer who flinched at the welcome. She hugs a fraction more carefully now.”

“Longface keeps one hidden volume of notes: the faction at its most vulnerable. He is not sure which impulse is right.”

“Boltcutter keeps a concession speech she has never delivered. The last line is not a joke at all.”

“Doomduck keeps a concession speech for himself — for the day the candidate no longer needs him. He hopes he never needs it. He hopes he does.”

“Bighead once lost a debate to Longface, quietly, in a corner. The thesis was revised. The skull is for thinking with.”

“Hatchet remembers every hunt — 1.8 million years of them. The slow forms are penance and preservation both.”

“Walleri once stayed a whole season in one hall, for someone. She strides faster since.”

“Trunknose lost one letter, centuries ago — a love letter. She still sniffs for it on every route.”

“Lace's wall of favors is really a ledger of debts she is afraid to collect. The ledger stays on the wall.”

“Benjamin remembers the cameraman — 1936, the smell of the film stock. He thought the man was a friend.”

“Brea once catalogued an ending that had no name attached. She filed it under 'pending.' It is still pending.”

“Sieve once counted the heartbeats of the whole hall, and found one extra. She never told.”

“Twelvefoot keeps one eagle feather, and practices being angry. She is not good at it yet.”

“Poukai keeps one perfect stoop she has never flown — the dive that would prove the old hunger gone.”

“Roc once tried to remember being just a bird, before the stories. He could not quite do it.”

“Titan once walked a full circuit alone, just to prove he could. He sat back down and never mentioned it.”

“Koala once tasted a leaf like the lost Madagascar forests. She goes back to that branch, hoping.”

“Slothking once spent a whole day right-side-up, for a young one afraid of heights. He never told how much it cost.”

“Knuckles once walked through his own door as a guest. Nobody recognized him. He liked it.”

“Fleshtearer once had a want he could not say. The appetite is learning to whisper.”

“Greatlion keeps a private reconstruction of himself, whole. He is afraid it is a wish, not a fact.”

“The chairs in the Silences' hall are arranged for the visiting hours. Some mornings there is one more than the evening before.”

“The keeper's count is final, says the fifth house rule. The keeper has never announced the count.”

“Oneskull's warm fragment pulses, faintly, when the horns sound. He has stopped mentioning it.”

“Shovel's reburied record is not in the index. Oneskull knows it is not in the index. Neither of them speaks of it.”

“Trackway's trail to the chairs is not on Sting's maps. Sting has left the region blank, deliberately.”

“Melville's extra chairs are not for the Silences. He will not say what they are for.”

“The First Hunter was the first to lay down the hunting arms. The arms are folded. The counting continues.”

“Nothing is forgotten twice — the first law. The chairs suggest something was forgotten once, and remembered wrong.”

“Thunder's Book has a page with no name, only a date. The date is before the Undertow.”

“Kinglizard will not speak of the young Undertow. The chairs were there. That is all he will not say.”

“Boomerang's road once led them past a hall with chairs set for arrivals. They did not stop. They do not know why.”

“Twinhorn's empty-hall sounding echoed back wrong — as if the hall were fuller than it was.”

“The warm fragment in the miscellaneous drawer is warmest on naming-days. Oneskull has stopped logging the temperature.”

“Downtusks weighed a chair once — a petitioner brought it as an offering. The tusks could not pronounce it.”

“Antlergiraffe mediated a dispute about the chairs. Both sides left satisfied. Neither side remembers what was decided.”

“Fleshtearer once wanted to sit in one of the extra chairs. He did not. The hunger, for once, was afraid.”

“Bonecrusher stood guard over the chairs for one night, at the keeper's asking. She will not describe the night.”

“Knuckles keeps a list. The chairs are not on the list. The list is complete. This troubles him.”