The trolls bartered passage across the river for four deer and a mended fishnet. Cloud Eye did the fishnet mending. Don't ask me why an elf who grew up in a forest knew about mending fishing nets, because it doesn't make sense to me either. Though maybe I shouldn't be one to talk given that I'm a cougar who can read. These things only happen in books, right?

It took me a morning and a half an afternoon to hunt down six deer, two more than needed but the deer population was abundant where the trolls were currently living. It took Cloud Eyes two days to do the mending of the net. It was a big net, around 30 yards by about 10 yards. It's the most efficient way for the trolls to catch enough for all four of them to eat. Trumble told me they need to move every 10 days so they don't destroy the fishery of the river in any one location.

None of the trolls knew why there was such animosity between humans and trolls. It appeared to be a long-standing problem, each race thinking the worst about the other. It made me curious enough that now I'd like to research it, when I find the time, if ever.

We said farewell to the hospitable river trolls and continued south along the west bank of the river. Wren said we would reach the trail into the goblin kingdom of Gorgurak tomorrow at our current pace. Sometimes we made small talk on the trail and other times we walked in silence. It was the first time in a long time that I could indulge myself in idle thoughts. I found myself pondering what Gork said, that I was tied to Andray's soul. What did that mean for me? It felt right to always be by his side, but why? Was my boy destined for some great fate that required my presence to fulfill it? I really wanted to know why.

It just seemed odd to me. Motley Owl followed my boy because he chose to do so but I followed because this was the way I was made. Would there ever be a time when I followed my own heart instead of Andray's? The quiet forest and the noisy river had no answers for me.

It rained during the night after we left the trolls. That's something you never read about in all those adventure books. No one ever dwells about the romance of rain falling all night and being soaked to the skin, miserable, and cold come morning. It kept raining the next morning. We were a sorry-looking bunch and felt just as bad as we looked. At least my boy's wyvern-skin coat kept most of him dry. Too bad there wasn't something to keep me dry.

Because of the weather, Wren missed the turnoff for the trail to Gorgurak. By the time she realized it, we had to backtrack. The delay meant another night spent in the pouring rain.

"What are you doing, Owl?" Wren asked when he took Cloud Eye's axe and attacked a pine with it.

"Shelter," he said between axe blows.

"The rain will continue through tomorrow, Wren," Cloud Eye commented. He would know since he had weather sense among his various talents.

"You boys are soft," Wren humphed.

"No, you are insane," Cloud Eye replied. "Cat Rider isn't used to this way of living yet and Fuzzy is miserable because she can't leave Cat to suffer while she finds a nice fir tree to hide under. I would like to spread out my bedroll instead of sleeping huddled under my cloak.

"Hmph," Wren was just a little too full of herself as far as toughing it out in the wilderness was concerned. Me? I had gotten spoiled sleeping under a roof for the last three years. If I could have helped Motley Owl to make a shelter, I would be.

When the tree fell, Owl cleared the branches now under the trunk to make space, turning the trunk into a slanting roof beam. Cloud Eye cut branches off surrounding trees and laid them on the trunk to build up a roof. It took about an hour but we had a dry place to sleep. I didn't see Roaming Wren complaining about being able to sleep in a dry bedroll.

We headed out the next morning. The trail took us west away from the river. Soon the trees thinned out. By the noon hour, we were on a gradual downhill slope as the fir and pine trees gave way to a terrain populated by spread-out limber pines and desert cedar. The rain lightened up and finally stopped in the late afternoon.

"How much further to civilization?" Cat asked Wren.

"We'll get to the first goblin settlement tomorrow," she shook the excess water out of her hair. "I hope we don't have a repeat of hostility over Cat's identity as a human. The goblins have not fared well at the hands of the human kingdoms, especially Nordweg, their next-door neighbor."

"Sounds like humans don't get along with anyone who isn't humans," Cat Rider remarked sourly.

"Humans have a higher birthrate," Cloud Eye remarked. "So the number of humans keeps going up and that makes them land greedy. And they have an excess population to turn into soldiers to take land that belongs to other races. I'm afraid most of the wars over the last millennium were started by humans wanting to take someone else's land for their own. That has a lot to do with why humans are so popular with other races."

"Yes, I already know all of that," Cat sounded just a tad defensive. "But here's an oddity for you. That's not what I learned when I had to study history. The reasons were always that dwarves monopolized mineral reserves to drive up prices, or goblins stole livestock, or there was a land dispute over a border or some such. Someone else was always at fault when there was a war. So tell me, do the other races also lie to themselves about the causes of war?"

"No, they don't," Wren stated with certainty.

"And you're sure about that without researching past wars?" Cat rebutted. "Twenty-four years ago, every single inhabitant of Sendor's Crossing was killed, right down to the pet dogs and cats by a band of elven warriors led by one of the six chiefs. The dispute was over a one-schilling increase in the bridge toll on a bridge that Nordweg built and maintained. That was the first act in what turned into a three-year-long war. My point is that everyone lies to themselves and lies about others to justify the atrocities of war and other armed acts of violence. We are all complicit. So tell me, Wren, what do the elves say was the reason the war started?"

"Nordweg wanted to build a road through elven territory to facilitate trade. The bridge was the first step in that. The elves didn't want the bridge for that reason. We didn't want the bridge, the road, the trade, or humans on our side of the river." Wren glowered at Cat, "pushy humans didn't heed what the elves did or did not want."

"And yet, both elven and human traders were drowning at the ford where Nordweg later built the bridge. The trade was happening anyway," Cat pointed it out. "Let's circle back to my original point: both sides of every conflict adjust facts to suit their own cause."

Owl cleared his throat loudly, "what about humans stealing land?" He looked uncomfortable in bringing it up again.

"You got me there," Cat smiled and shrugged. "Humans indeed have done that far too many times for me to defend it."

"It's a shame you don't want to be king of Nordweg," Cloud said. "With your perception and intelligence, you would be a great king, at least as far as diplomacy is concerned."

"Please, Cloud," Cat looked worried, "I care a little bit about the place because my father, assuming he's still alive, loves Nordweg and its people. All I want is to be sure Willam would be a good ruler, and then I want to find a quiet place far from my stepmother's relatives, set out my shingle as a mage for hire, and happily overcharge rich people for my services so I can give them away to the poor who need them more. I do not want to be king. It's too much work and I'm lazy."