Dancing Fox closed her eyes, sinking down to hold the old woman's skeletal hand. "I . . .I'll stay. Keep you company. Make a shelter for—"
"Go," Talon whispered gently. "I might hang on here for days. You'd be late in finding your Dreamer.''
"I'll find him later. Let me—"
"Fox?"
"Hmmm?"
"About this Dreamer. You've never known a real Dreamer and I'm afraid—"
"I saw Runs In Light after the Wolf Dream. And I was married to Crow Caller.''
"It's not the same."
"What?" she asked with trepidation, seeing the old woman's hesitation.
Talon sighed, lungs wheezing. "The old Dreamers, the real ones . . . Well, I've never seen one with a mate."
"I don't understand."
Talon clucked her lips. "I figured you didn't. I never said much about your Runs In Light and all, but, child, if he's been with Heron you may not know him when you meet him."
"That's silly, of course I will. I've known him since I was—"
"That's not what I mean." Talon leaned her head back, old eyes scanning the stars. "Fox, Dreams change people. Something happens inside their heads. They lose interest in things of this world. In friends—especially lovers."
"But a Dreamer's just like anyone else. I mean, Crow Caller wasn't any different than—"
"Bah!" Talon hissed. "Crow Caller? He's no Dreamer. Oh, he had glimpses, once, years ago. Then the status got to his head, muddled it all up. That's why he lost it, child."
Dancing Fox squeezed the woman's hand, steering the conversation back to Runs In Light. ' 'What about Light, Grandmother?"
"Real Dreamers lose interest in everything but the Dream. Nobody knows why it happens, but it does. I remember hearing about lots of broken hearts when I was a girl."
Fox breathed in the chill night air, filling her lungs. A weight lay heavy on her chest. "You mean he may not want me anymore?"
"That's what I mean."
Fox swallowed and let her eyes dart anxiously over the patches of snow glistening in the wavering lights of the Twins' northern war. Stubbornly, she murmured, "He'll be there, waiting, I know it."
A white haze grew on the horizon as Moon Woman gathered herself to spring into the sky. "He didn't come to the Renewal. You know why?"
"He couldn't. He was busy."
"If he'd really wanted to see you he'd've been there. He stayed with Heron because the Dream was more important."
"Why didn't you tell me, then? I could have prepared."
"At the time, well, it didn't make sense to lay another burden on you. Not with Raven Hunter making trouble. And ... I thought I'd be there when you finally saw Light again and I could make the landing softer for you. I didn't know I'd give out so quick."
"I just can't believe he'd . . . can't." She shook her head,~ hope and anticipation mixing with premonition. All those long months, the suffering, the loneliness. Only his promise of love had kept her going.
Talon swallowed, the sound loud in the night. ' 'This is the girl who worked so hard to make herself independent? You're stronger than this. Get your head back to earth. Only crows fly up there." She pointed a gnarled finger at the crystal night sky. "You're worth more than that."
Fox's heart throbbed as though it would burst. "He won't have me and you're leaving. I don't want to be alone. I need—"
"You don't need anybody, you've just been fooling yourself into believing that because it's the way of the People. A woman's supposed to depend on others."
' 'People need each other.''
"Do they?"
"Of course."
Talon pointed a thin bony finger. "There's only one reason people are afraid to be alone. It's because they fear themselves deep down, child. They're scared to death there's not enough in them to survive without help."
"I don't fear myself," Fox insisted.
Talon smiled faintly, pride in her eyes. "Good. Because of all the women I've ever known, there's only two I thought could make it on their own."
"Who?"
"You and Heron." Talon sighed weakly and gazed out across the moonlit jumbles of rock. "I didn't know her so well. I was only ten when she left camp. But even then, I remember admiring her for going."
"What if it's not Heron who's keeping Runs In Light
away?" Fox asked shakily, her mind seeking other possibilities.
"You mean what if you walk into his camp and find him with three wives?"
"Yes."
"You going to throw yourself off a cliff?"
Fox bowed her head, blinking at a long-abandoned bird nest tucked in the rocks no more than a foot off the ground. The sticks were crusted with frost. A broken speckled shell nestled inside, gleaming in the night. "No."