And All Between
| Company type | Novel |
|---|---|
| Industry | Literature |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Founder | Zilpha Keatley Snyder |
| Products | Science fiction and fantasy novel |
And All Between is a 1976 novel blending science fiction and fantasy, authored by American writer Zilpha Keatley Snyder. It serves as the second installment in the Green Sky Trilogy.
The book's name originates from a chant used in Green-sky culture: "And all between becomes among, / And they are we and old is young, / And earth is sky, / And all is one."
Plot summary
Teera, an eight-year-old Erdling girl, escapes after the Council decrees the death of her pet due to food scarcity caused by Erdling overpopulation. While navigating Erd’s subterranean passages, she inadvertently emerges through a vine opening and meets Raamo and Neric, members of the Ol-Zhaan. Believing her to be a Kindar child taken by Pash-shan, they convince her to return to the treetops with assurances of nourishment and care.
Concealed within Raamo's household, Teera engages in Spirit-games alongside his sister Pomma. D'ol Genaa eventually discovers Teera and reveals that Pash-shan are not the feared monsters but beings akin to the Kindar. The group journeys back to the forest floor where Genaa reunites with her father Hiro D’anhk, who was presumed dead but has been living peacefully among Erdlings after his imprisonment by the secretive Geets-kel faction within the Ol-zhaan.
A Geets-kel operative reports these developments to D’ol Falla, the highest-ranking Ol-zhaan, who intends to reunite the Kindar and Pash-shan peoples. Genaa and Neric embark on a mission armed with a map to locate the concealed metal hatch leading into Erdling tunnels.
Opposing this initiative, D'ol Regle captures Pomma and Teera and gathers Geets-kel members to obstruct the reunification efforts. He retrieves an ancient weapon and threatens violence should they persist.
Upon reaching the Erdling caverns, Neric and Genaa find armed Erdlings who explain their intentions during a council meeting. The decision is made to return Ol-zhaan accompanied by Hiro and Teera’s parents as representatives for the Erdling community.
While confined in D'ol Regle's quarters, Pomma and Teera practice spirit-games, demonstrating manifestations of uniforce, a once-lost shared mental capacity. When Neric and Genaa return, they are seized by D'ol Regle and presented before the Geets-kel.
D'ol Regle contends that reunification would compromise their pure society. Some Geets-kel members remain skeptical; however, D'ol Falla argues that societal deterioration—evident in fading spirit abilities and increased illness—results from the division between Kindar and Erdling. She calls upon Raamo to invoke an answer through spirit-skills; during this act, Pomma and Teera levitate the weapon, unveiling the rediscovered uniforce power to all assembled Ol-zhaan.