«You are bewitched,» said the woman Stel, «and I will have none of it. I have no desire to be tortured and have my head cut off. But I will be silent. This is all I promise. Goodbye, Valli. I know nothing of this.»

She disappeared into the reeds. Good riddance, thought Blade bitterly, glad that he was not being left to her not-so-tender mercies. Then he forgot Stel. He must concentrate on this Valli, see to it that she did not change her mind. He smiled and showed his pink gums and gurgled and waved his tiny fists at her. A fine goddamn business for a grown man!

«Poor darling.» The woman knelt beside him and Blade caught his first full glimpse of her. She was young, probably not yet twenty by Home-Dimension time, and she wore only a short skirt, or kilt, with underpants of some silver color. Her breasts were bare, large and firm with brown-tinted nipples. A mass of dark hair was piled atop her head and held with golden combs.

She took him into her arms. «Is the poor little thing hungry?»

Blade very nearly spoiled it all by speaking, by saying that Christ yes he was hungry, that he was damn near dead of starvation. He remembered in time and gurgled. He stared up into her eyes. She patted his behind and stroked his belly and joggled him. Blade saw that her eyes were black, coal black, and in them he read love and kindness and fear and determination. He began to feel a little easier about matters. He had found an ally.

He flailed at her with his little fists. Valli took one of her breasts and held it to him and thrust the nipple into his mouth. She had some milk, thin and warm and strange tasting, but Blade knew that it would keep him alive for the time being. He sucked contentedly, holding that firm round breast in both his chubby hands and making noises. It was an odd form of survival, but so far it was working.