"Big town!"

"I see. Are there any before that? One we might reach tomorrow, for example?"

"No town."

I nodded. "Thank you very much indeed, Oreb. You've been very helpful."

He took wing.

"He's still afraid of Jahlee," I told Hide. "I don't believe he has reason to be, but he is."

"So am I, a little. I mean, not on Green or that other place, but here."

I nodded again. "Was she in your dream?"

He shook his head.

"Was anyone, besides the tall men?"

"A little girl named Mora and another one. Do you remember Mora from back when we were staying at that farm Jahlee pretended was hers? You said you knew her before, and she talked like she knew you."

"Of course."

"This little girl looked a lot like her, dark and pretty, you know? And she had a thing here on her cheek." Hide touched the middle of his own.

"I understand."

"They'd been playing with dolls. You know how girls do."

"Yes, certainly."

"They had a lot of dolls and toy dishes and a little table and chairs. The dark one wanted me to play with them, and I said all right, only not that. Then the other one said how about hide-and-seek? So I said all right. Then they said their dolls could play too, whoever was it could look for the dolls, too."

"I see."

"I hid my eyes, you know how you do, and counted to a hundred. You wanted to know if I'd looked at my hands."

"Yes. Did you?"

"Uh-huh. I just thought of it, but I did then. I remember taking my hands down after I counted. They looked younger, too, just like the rest of me."

"Were you wearing a ring? Any jewelry at all?"

He shook his head.

"Do you remember the ring I found in the lander?"

"Sure. Only you gave it to Sinew, not me. I don't think I could have taken it back with me."