Until the Celebration

Until the Celebration

Author	Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Illustrator	Alton Raible
Language	English
Series	Green Sky Trilogy
Genre	Fantasy
Publisher	Atheneum
Publication date	1977
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	231 pp
ISBN	0-689-30572-9
Preceded by	And All Between

Until the Celebration is a science fiction/fantasy novel by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, the third book in the Green Sky Trilogy.

The book's title refers to the duration it describes, from the day of Rejoyning (when Kindar and Erdling, the two nations of the world of Green-sky, were united) until the celebration of the first year since.

Plot summary

In the previous volumes of the trilogy, the Geets-Kel, a secret inner society within the respected priestly organization known as the Ol-Zhaan, were uncovered, and it was discovered that in order to keep the secret of the real story of the flight from the ancestors' planet, the Geets-Kel kept some people, known as the Erdlings, imprisoned below the root; the root itself was magical and invulnerable to physical harm, preventing the Erdlings' escape. At the end of the second volume, And All Between, the novice-master D'ol Regle, one of the Geets-Kel, abducted two children, Pomma D'ok (Kindar) and Teera Eld (Erdling), and threatened to harm them, in order to prevent the plan of Rejoyning, bringing Kindar and Erdlings together. ^[1] The two children, however, used uniforce in order to teleport the ancient "tool of violence" away from D'ol Regle, and his plans were thus foiled.

Pomma and Teera became heroes, and by the beginning of this volume, preparations are in motion for the first celebration of the Rejoyning, a year after the event. Most of the Erdling moved away from the underground caved where they have lived; some of them joined the Kindar in living in the cities on top of the huge trees of Green-sky, while others, afraid of heights or reluctant to learn to climb and use shubas for sky-diving, moved to a newly constructed city known as Upper Erda. Yet in order to protect their safety, Pomma and Teera are kept in isolation in the Vine Palace.

There are multiple challenges in the reunion of the two societies. For example, the Kindar are vegetarians who do not even use fire, and they are abhorred by the Erdling's use of fire and eating of animal flesh. The Erdling's society uses currency (tokens), while the Kindar society is a communist one, where anyone simply takes what they need, in good faith; the Erdlings ask even for things they have no need for (for example, shubas are asked for, and given to, Erdlings who prefer to continue living on- or under-ground, where they have no use for the gliding wings). Hiro D'anhk, head of the Joined Council of Kindar and Erdling.

Two disasters unfold over time, and dwarf all other concerns: first, the children both disappear. A vine-rope from their window is the only sign left for how they were removed from the Vine Palace. They are first believed to be kidnapped by D'ol Regle and his followers, who escaped from the Kindar community and live in the forest; but later a message is received from Axon Befal, a leader of the Nekom, an Erdling society dedicated to vengeance. The Nekom, armed with wands-of-Befal (metal swords), wish to take revenge upon the Ol-Zhaan who kept all Erdling imprisoned, and plan to instate Befal himself as leader of the joined population. In his message, Befal requires that all Council members swear allegiance to him, or else the two children will be killed within ten days.

The second disaster is the realization that the ancient "tool of violence" from the ancestral world is missing. The weapon was not in fact destroyed, since it cannot be dismantled without causing much damage; it was kept in hiding by D'ol Falla, the oldest and most respected member of the Ol-Zhaan, but was stolen from its hiding place by Maala D'ach, one of the workers, who is now missing. And another Kindar reports that D'ol Regle is in fact recruiting Kindar to join him and his cause; Maala was one of the recruits, and she was charged with finding the weapon.

Anxiety increases as the deadline set by Axon Befal approaches; but as it passes, nothing happens. The children remain missing. Shortly before the day of the celebration (which is unlikely to be a celebration at all, given the circumstances), Maala approaches the council and surrenders the weapon. She lost her faith in D'ol Regle, and kept hidden by herself in the forest all this time. Raamo D'ok (Pomma's brother and protagonist of the previous volumes) suggests destroying the weapon by throwing it into the extremely deep underground lake that was discovered by the Erdling years ago, and closed off as too dangerous. Neric D'akt and others object, claiming they could use the weapon to threaten the Nekom in cases violence arises; this approach stresses Raamo. But it is then discovered that Maala was greatly harmed by carrying the weapon close to her body all this time, and all realize how dangerous the weapon is.

A procession is made to the underground pool, in order to discard of the tool of violence, kept inside a metal urn. Raamo carries the urn himself. At the edge of the pool, however, he loses his balance and falls, with the urn and weapon, into the water. As he fell, he saw "a clear foretelling that the evil in the urn will be denied in his memory, and his name would become a talisman against it for many years to come." Attempts to save him are made, but fail. However, one of the participants in the procession steps forwards and confesses that he was sent by Befal to murder Raamo; meeting Raamo, he realized he couldn't do it. But he explains that Befal never managed to capture the children; they vanished before he made his move. His threatening message was a fake one, hoping to gain advantage of their disappearance.

The day of the celebration arrives; it is a sad event, but suddenly a message is received that the children are found. They have in fact ran away and stayed in hiding, afraid of all the commotion around them, and realizing that they no longer have the power to kiniport things by their uniforce; they were sure that the masses, viewing them as holy, would ask them to repeat the miracle, and they would fail. But like all other Kindar before them, they lost their spirit abilities as they aged.

In the closing scene, two younger children are seen playing, and as part of their game they kiniport objects. They think its a game, not realizing this is a return of a legendary force.

References

1. Keatley Snyder, Zilpha (1977). Until the Celebration. New York: Atheneum. pp. viii–ix.