"David Eddings - The Dreamers 01 - The Elder gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

fin, and the oyster opened its shell for us.’
‘How very peculiar,’ Zelana said.
‘The old whale told me that the oyster wanted me to have the pearl, so
I took it. I did thank the oyster, but I’m not sure it could understand me. It
was a little hard to swim and hold my pearl at the same time, but the old
whale offered to carry me back home.’
‘Carry?’
‘Well, not exactly. I rode on her back. That is so much fun.’ Eleria held
the pearl up. ‘See how it glows pink. Beloved? It’s even prettier than the
ceiling of our grotto.’ She nestled her pearl, which was about the size of
an apple, against her cheek. ‘I love it!’ she declared.
‘Did you eat today?’ Zelana asked.
‘I had plenty earlier today, Beloved. My friends and I found a school
of herring and ate our fill.’
‘Did the whale have a name, by any chance?’
‘The dolphins just called her “mother”. She isn’t really their mother, of
course. I think it’s more like a way to let her know that they love her.’
‘She speaks the same language as the dolphins?’
‘Sort of. Her voice isn’t as squeaky, though.’ Eleria crossed to her bed
of moss. ‘I’m very tired, Beloved,’ she said, sinking down onto her bed.
‘It was a long swim out to the islet, and mother whale swims faster than I
do. I had trouble keeping up with her.’
‘Why don’t you go to sleep, then, Eleria? I’m sure you’ll feel much
better in the morning.’
‘That sounds like a terribly good idea, Beloved,’ Eleria said. ‘I’m
really having trouble keeping my eyes open.’ She lay back on her bed of
moss with the glowing pink pearl cradled to her heart.
Zelana was puzzled, and just a trifle concerned. It wasn’t natural for
whales and dolphins to associate with each other in the way Eleria had
just described, and Zelana was almost positive that they wouldn’t be able
to speak to each other and be understood. Something very peculiar had
happened today.
Eleria appeared to be sound asleep now, and her limbs had relaxed.
Then, to Zelana’s astonishment, the glowing pink pearl rose up into the
air above the sleeping child. Its pink glow grew steadily stronger and the
glow seemed to enclose Eleria.
‘Don’t interfere. Zelana,’ a very familiar voice echoed in Zelana’s
mind. ‘This is necessary, and I don’t need any help from you.’
 Eleria awoke somewhat later than usual the following morning, and
she had a puzzled look on her face as she sat cross-legged on her bed of
moss with her pearl in her hand. ‘Why do we sleep, Beloved?’ she asked.
‘I don’t,’ Zelana replied, ‘and I’m not sure exactly why other creatures
seem to need to sleep every so often.’
‘I thought you and I were of the same kind,’ Eleria said. ‘We look very
much alike - except that your hair is dark and glossy and mine is sort of
yellow.’
‘I’ve wondered about that myself. Maybe I’ve just outgrown the need
for sleep. I am quite a bit older than you are, after all.’ It was a simplified
answer, but Zelana was quite certain that Eleria wasn’t ready for the real
one just yet.