* You're packed. I'm packed. Everyone else is packed. * I rubbed my nose against his white wyvern-skin coat. * It's a bit late to have doubts now. *

"I don't know if I can do this, Fuzz. All my grandiose plans sounded so good when it was just talk. Now, it's actually happening. I should have taken Father Garshom's advice and become a scholar. I can't even run from danger."

* You don't need to. I do the running for both of us, * I reminded him. * Besides, who needs running when you can kill wyverns? *

"I'm such an idiot. I'm going to get all of us killed," his head drooped.

* Now that sounds like the old Andray who sat around reading all day, convinced he could never achieve anything. Give it a rest. You are a powerful and competent mage. You can do this and you know you can. So quit moping and let's meet up with the others. *

I grabbed his coat with my teeth and dragged him off the chair. Then I dragged him across the floor. I opened the door with magic and proceeded to drag him down the hall.

"Wait! Wait!" Bright Stream chased us, skirts flying. She caught up, "you forgot this," she handed Cat Rider his walking stick. "You almost forgot that." She smiled innocently at Cat Rider and then winked at me. "Going to the benediction? I am too. In fact, I'm the one giving the benediction, so it can't start without me." She bent down and picked up Cat Rider, putting him on his feet. She then took his left arm in hers and the two walked out together. She made it look like he was escorting her and not the other way around.

Roaming Wren was quietly fuming by the time we joined the rest of our band. "What? Were you suffering the lead feet of reluctance again? You're the one who was all hot to go adventuring. Now look at you, mister jelly quivering in your boot!"

"Hey, watch the personal slurs, your lofty highness. Air a little too thin up there?"

I swear, they bickered like they were married. I hope they don't do this for two whole years.

The goodbyes were endless and soppy. I thought Father Garshom was going to cry. Such a determined and strong man, looking like a weeping mother at a wedding. The sooner we got away from these so-called grown-ups the better.

Then finally, we were on the road. Cat Rider was on my back, sitting on a padded seat thing that Cloud Eye designed, made of stretchy elkskin and bison-leather straps. There was a loop of leather that turned into soft stirrups to help Cat Rider's balance. There were even two hardened waterproof leather pockets that buckled shut for my hunting guild membership document and my two pairs of reading glasses. The three elves were wearing white wyvern-skin cloaks, which Cat insisted they accept after he had them made.

Our hunting party stopped at the hot springs on the way to the territory of Chief Stoic Sturgeon. We indulged ourselves, or maybe I should say more accurately, the two-footed ones indulged themselves while I caught some hares for a snack. We spent the night with Stoic Sturgeon and his family. Then we walked three more days to the last elven settlement, a place where the escarpment gave way to the western scablands. When we left there, Wren, Owl, and Cloud put on black leather half-masks that covered both sides of their faces. Then Cloud Eye handed Cat Rider a mask that matched theirs.

Thus four black masks and a cougar walked south along the east bank of the Green River, looking for a place to cross during springtime high water. We were lucky to come upon a family of river trolls.

* They haven't seen us. We can certainly get around them without being seen, * I advised.

The three elves all turned and looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign tongue.

"Whatever for, Fuzzy?" Wren tilted her head in question. "We can barter for river passage and if we spend the evening with them and entertain them with news and stories and new songs, we will get a splendid feast of fish for our efforts."

* What? * The knowledge in my head informed me that all trolls were unfriendly and best avoided.

"This is the family of Gork, Trumble, Elga, and Yak," Wren explained. "I've made a river passage with Gork and her family twice before. They're very friendly and barter honestly. Why the strange reaction, pussy cat?"

* Every reflex I have is telling me to go around them. *

"Wren, growing up I was taught the same," Cat Rider added. "Human lore teaches that trolls should be avoided and the best thing to do is run away."

"Huh?" Cloud Eye pondered our reaction and Motley Owl looked confused by it.

"That's interesting," Wren was thoughtful. "I wonder why. Trolls are helpful, friendly, and usually good-natured. Elves consider running into a troll to be a lucky event. Granted, trolls are not exactly appealing to look at, but never make the mistake of thinking they are stupid. They talk slowly but that doesn't mean they lack intelligence. They use mind speech with each other, a mind speech that other sapient races can't hear."

Wren thought for a moment and then turned to walk down the slope to the riverbank, "Come on, I'll introduce you. Mind you, we'll have to make some kind of trade or barter to cross the river, but Gork made reasonable requests before. We should be able to come up with something."

Despite feeling a bit apprehensive, we turned off the trail and followed Wren down to where the trolls were sitting on the river bank. The closer we got, the bigger they looked, like living moving piles of stone with eyes. Two smaller ones were about three yards high and about the same around. I couldn't see anything that distinguished gender. Then there were the two bigger ones. They were about five yards high and about the same around. They were huge.

"I greet you, Roaming Wren," I heard a voice that sounded like boulders being dragged on a paved road. "Are you in danger from the human? I can squash it for you." A giant gray limb lifted and came down on the ground next to me. I turned and leapt for the trail.

"Gork, I'm traveling with him. He's part of my hunting party. Please don't squash him." Wren looked panicked. I don't think she expected this reaction.

"Why are you traveling with a human? They are treacherous and violent and dangerous. I can get rid of it for you. You'll be better off. It might kill you in your sleep. The puma might attack you too."

Roaming Wren was speechless, jaw hanging open.

"Now, you are Gork, yes?" Cloud Eye asked. She nodded. Well, I think it was a nod.

"He's not really a human, you know."

"What?"

"He's the adopted son of the Elf King. He even has an elven name. He's Cat Rider. He's been living at the King's house for several years now. And what did you call the mountain cat? A Puka? Well, whatever. Her name is Fuzzy and she's a Divine Beast."

All four heads turned and looked at me.

* Are you a divine beast? * a voice asked me inside my head.

* Well, that's what everyone knowledgeable about these things tells me, like all the elves I live with, * I mind talked at the living rocks.

* Don't move. I want to look, * Gork came thumping up the hill.

I was hoping I wasn't about to get squashed or stepped on. I think every muscle in me was tensed to jump. The huge thing leaned over, which I would have thought was impossible, but then there were two very pretty indigo eyes studying my face. Then she lifted her face to study Cat Rider.

"How is one of your eyes glass?" the river troll asked my boy.