“What’s the rush?” Harrison’s eyebrows arched. “You’re that eager to run away from Manticore? I thought you guys were going to spend a week or so with your parents on the Bay before you went home!”
“Well, yeah. Sure!” Stephanie produced another smile, hoping it looked more natural than it felt. “But Ms. Pheriss—she works with my mom, sometimes, you know—says there’s a problem that needs looking into. So we’ll probably be heading back a little ahead of schedule, and I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but much as I know you love Manticore, I’m really missing Sphinx right now.”
And that’s not really stretching the truth all that much, she told herself. After all, Jessica is “Ms. Pheriss,” and she does work with Mom sometimes.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Harrison said sincerely. “I’m going to miss you guys—and Lionheart. Let’s at least try to stay in touch, okay?”
“Sure thing,” Karl agreed.
“Hey!” Harrison cocked his head. “Does that mean you’re going to have to head home without addressing the Adair Foundation again?”
“No.” Stephanie shook her head. “That’s scheduled for tomorrow night, and we can’t leave—that is, we don’t want to leave—” she amended, not entirely truthfully, “until grades are officially posted. So we’ve got plenty of time for it, and Earl Adair Hollow’s invited my parents, as well.” This time her grin came more naturally. “I’m looking forward to it, especially since they finally managed to get Lionheart invited, too!”
* * *
Dirt Grubber was aware of Windswept’s excitement the next morning as she tossed a variety of bags and bundles into her flying thing and motioned for him to jump in. He knew part of the reason for her happy mood was that they were going to get Bleached Fur. Even when Death Fang’s Bane had still been close, Windswept had clearly found Bleached Fur an attractive male, but Dirt Grubber had gradually come to realize that she had held back expressing her feelings because she felt that Death Fang’s Bane had a claim on him.
That sort of confusion would not have arisen among the People, given their ability to taste one another’s mind-glows, but he admitted that there were still many things he did not truly understand about two-legs. For example, he was far from certain how they chose their mates. There were pairs he had met who behaved outwardly like bonded pairs. Inwardly, however, each was indifferent to the other. Sometimes parts of an apparent pair even despised each other. That was troubling enough, but this question of conflicting claims on one person—this uncertainty and pain when there was no indifference in any of them—would not happen among the People.
Not for the first time, Dirt Grubber wished he and Windswept could talk Person to Person. Since they could not, he settled for watching the landscape passing in a blur which was still mostly green beneath the flying thing. Even with the clear partitions closed, Dirt Grubber could tell that once again they were over one of the areas where the fires had been very bad, for the green shifted to blacks and browns. He thought it might even be near the area where they had found Keen Eyes. That reminded him of their last meeting.
When he had awakened after Darkness Foe’s treatment, Keen Eyes had shared very little with Dirt Grubber and Swift Striker. Part of that was clearly because the medicines Darkness Foe had used to make him comfortable muddled his thinking, as both Dirt Grubber and Swift Striker knew from first-hand experience. But part was certainly because he was deeply miserable and did not care to share his innermost thoughts.
Dirt Grubber had to depart when Windswept did, but Swift Striker had promised to stay with the stranger and offer him comfort. That Swift Striker would also try to learn what had so disturbed Keen Eyes, Dirt Grubber did not doubt. However, Swift Striker would not be able to share that information over the enormous distances that separated them, so revelation would need to wait until their two-legs brought them together again. Judging from the number of times the feelings Windswept associated with Darkness Foe flowed through her mind-glow after she had gathered up Bleached Fur and they were making their mouth noises at each other, Dirt Grubber did not think that meeting would be too long in coming.
Death Fang’s Bane was also much on the young two-legs’ minds. Dirt Grubber was interested to see that Bleached Fur’s mind-glow became a rich complex of conflicting emotions at these times. Dirt Grubber could not taste the young male as easily as he could Windswept, but he thought that the strong affection Bleached Fur had always felt for Windswept was growing into something more complex.
These poor two-legs! How hard it must be not to be able to easily taste emotions and thoughts. Mind blindness must lead to so many misunderstandings among them.
But, then again, he thought, remembering Keen Eyes and the three dead People, even mind-voices and mind-glows could not solve all conflicts.
* * *
“How about putting down over there?” Jessica said, indicating a pocket meadow at the edge of a picketwood grove.
“Good choice,” Anders said. “River and picketwood enough for shelter, but near enough to the fire zone that it’s likely the hunting isn’t great. Looks like a logical place to find a bunch of ’cats who’re eating a lot of fish.”
Jessica landed her air car, got out, and shrugged into her pack. Anders—he was doing the same thing—thought he’d need to be both blind and neuter not to admire how her torso moved when she did this.
He forced himself to look away and saw Valiant flowing up into the branches of one of the closer picketwood trees. Anders himself moved over by the river so he could splash some cold water over his suddenly hot face.
“I see some little fish,” he said, “so the river at least is ‘live.’”
Jessica hunkered down next to him. “Over there,” she pointed. “See that matted plant with little heart-shaped leaves floating in the shallows?”
“Anders nodded.
“I’ve seen Valiant sample it. Usually, the mats are larger, so I’m wondering if this one’s been foraged lately. There’s a lot of evidence that treecats—like human hunter-gatherers—have the sense not to take all of the plant. They cut it back but leave enough so the plant will regrow.”
“We saw some evidence of that when we were trapped by the swamp,” Anders agreed. “Valiant’s people—you know, I never thought about it until now, but it was probably Valiant himself—had left some near-lettuce that we harvested ourselves.”
He turned to grin up at the ’cat. “Thanks, fellow!”
Valiant replied with a polite “bleek,” but his attention was firmly fixed upstream, in the general direction of the mountains.
“I have a feeling we should go that way,” Jessica said. “And we shouldn’t rush.”
“Did Valiant tell you that?”
“Not so much told, but, yeah. Ready?”
They fell into step side by side. The picketwood canopy was shading toward the deep red foliage of autumn. It contrasted nicely with the dark gray and black of the trees’ rough bark.
Really a nice place to go for a stroll with a pretty girl, Anders thought. I just wish I didn’t feel so—
His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp, commanding bleek from Valiant. The treecat had been guiding them, scampering from branch to branch or leaping gracefully when he needed to alter direction. Now he’d halted and was holding up one true hand to indicate “stop.”
The humans did. Anders tried not to move even his head, but his gaze scanned both the branches and the surrounding area. He let his hand drift to the butt of his holstered handgun.
“He’s spotted someone,” Jessica said very softly. “A treecat someone, I mean. More than one treecat someones.”