Renewed by her snack, Ani set off, swinging through the trees at a dangerous pace, hurrying back to Ilto. It was dangerous to leave him alone when he was so weak.

She needn’t have worried. Ilto was sitting where she had left him, munching on handfuls of bibbi shoots from his gathering bag.

A good meal restored them both. Ilto sent Ani back to the village to fetch some help. It took twelve Tendu to bring the new animal and Kirito back to the village. Ilto was still too exhausted to do much, so Ani had to organize everything. She half-expected the elders to scold her for telling them what to do, but they followed her orders without question or comment. Their quiet acceptance of her ability to assume command bothered her. It meant that they agreed she was ready to take Ilto’s place.

They laid the comatose animal on the sleeping platform in Ilto’s room. Ani shooed off the curious villagers and helped her exhausted sitik into bed. The new creature was safely in stasis, and could remain like this for half a month if they fed it nutrients and fluids through their aim.

The next morning, Ilto ate an enormous meal, then set to work. He spent the next four days squatting beside the animal, eyes half-hooded, unaware of his surroundings, lost in intense communion with the new creature. Ani monitored him, working in shifts with other elders so that she could rest and eat. She had to keep herself strong in order to provide Ilto with the strength he needed to continue his deep communion.

Ani watched as Ilto studied the minute details of the new animal’s bizarre physiology. A full day passed before he began changing the new creature. First Ilto altered its body processes so they would not react so strongly to foreign substances. That was easy to do. Next, he improved its sight and hearing, so that it could see better in the dark, and hear nearly as well as a Tendu. Then he puzzled out how to make its toes grow long enough to be useful without causing the rest of its bones to change. That was hard, but it gave him the knowledge he needed to create a skin that adequately protected it from the hazards of the forest.