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If he felt that way still, which I judged he did, how had he forgiven me?
    I looked at the naked, lissome damsels smiling all around me, answering their smiles only with my own, glad of their friendship, quelling my aching thoughts of Tass, of Kor. At least, I told myself, there was no danger any longer that I might become like Birc—
    And there he was, striding up to kneel beside me, shyly smiling as of old to greet me, the shaggy hair of his forehead stirring and parting to reveal knobs and spikes in velvet.
    The wolf trotted into the circle of firelight at the same moment, making the deer maidens jump up with bleats of fright, then turn into hinds within a heartbeat as they fled. Birc stiffened and quivered but did not change form or flee. He was courageous, Birc, as he had been since the first day I had known him, one of Kor’s guardsmen at Seal Hold. He watched the wolf narrowly as it lay down beyond the fire, then let go of fear and sat beside me, offering me a seedcake such as the deer people are accustomed to eat.
    I gave him a one-armed embrace as I accepted it. The seedcake was an awful thing, as I knew quite well, made of millet coarsely ground and nearly as bitter as the liquor. Nevertheless, I ate it within the moment. Birc gave me another, snatching it from the hot stones near the fire, and when I had finished it he offered me a third.
    â€œNo, thank you,” I said. “My gut is aching.” Two of those things would be enough to either strengthen me or kill me.
    Birc extended a hand toward me in silent inquiry. He could not speak, of course, any more than a sylkie could, and I had to guess what he wanted. He was wondering why I was not with his former king, probably.
    â€œI had to leave,” I explained. “I must find Sakeema.”
    Birc’s brows arched high.
    â€œI must find Sakeema!” I repeated more fiercely, “or the whole world seems likely to slide down to ruin. But Istas has died, and Kor had to stay at Seal Hold.… Birc, you know I could not have left him for anything less.”
    He was still looking at me, quizzical. I tried again.
    â€œKor was well enough when I left him. As long as there are mussels on the rocks and fish in the sea, he and the Seal Kindred will not starve. But I know he will soon be hard beset.” I felt my shoulders sag. “The Fanged Horse Folk are in ugly humor, and they threaten. So does the Otter River Clan. If only I can find the god quickly and go back to him.…”
    Something moved white in the night. The fair white hind, Birc’s mate, walked up to him on dainty cloven hooves, nuzzled his ear, and changed with the touch into her human form, the fine fur of her body creamy pale, her glorious mane of hair the color of a red deer in sunset. She gazed at me with herb-purple eyes. I had once been afraid of her, for men turned mute and grew antlers for love of her. But whether from desperation or folly, I feared her no longer.
    â€œCan you help me find Sakeema?” I asked her, the first time I had spoken directly to her. “Can you guide me to his cave?”
    She and Birc looked at each other, then tried to tell me with gestures something that I could not understand. They were anxious, they made small bleating noises such as deer do. I asked again to be taken to the cave, and again they looked at each other, conferring, and this time they nodded me a grave-faced agreement.
    With the dawn they set out to take me there—the wolf was nowhere to be seen, for it was a courteous creature and knew that these strange deer-humans could not abide it, nor were they to be hunted. And they were all in deer form, my friend and his eerie bride and all their retinue. Birc made a magnificent hart, his dark eyes flashing, kingly even though his antlers were only in their first springtime growth. The white hind and her maidens leaped and darted, all aquiver, taking every step airily, and Talu plodded sourly along the ways they