"No, but that's all right. They need us." "We're a bit old to be starting out as parents."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said airily. "Oh, I suppose you're getting on in years, but I'm certainly not."

He laughed, then leaned over and kissed her. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too." She took his hand, but he could see that she was troubled. "All this talk of a Mettai witch frightens me. It's going to frighten a lot of people as it gets around the village."

"It should," he said. "If she's really out there, doing to other villages what we think she did to Tivston, we should all be terrified."

Over the next several days, the girls began to settle into the rhythms of Fal'Borna life. They accompanied N'Tevva into the fields and they fished the waters of the lake with S'Doryn. They even went to the sanctuary for lessons with other children their ages, though N'Tevva was concerned about Vettala, who had yet to say a word to either her or S'Doryn, and who seemed unwilling to leave Jynna's side.

According to the older girl, however, Vettala willingly went off with children her own age once they reached the sanctuary. Even there, she spoke to no one, but she played some of the games that the younger children played, and she appeared to listen attentively to her lessons.

U'Selle had said that she would speak with other a'laqs, using her powers to walk in their dreams, as all Weavers could. But S'Doryn heard nothing from the a'laq, and he didn't presume to ask her, knowing that if she had anything of importance to tell him, she would do so.

The full of the two moons came and went, marking the beginning of the Harvest waning, and still the a'laq told him nothing.

"You should ask her," T'Noth urged one evening, as S'Doryn and

T'Kaar walked the fields with him.

"Don't you think she'd tell us if she knew anything?" T'Kaar asked.

"Perhaps she hasn't even reached for them yet," the younger man said. "She's not been well, you know. It might have slipped her mind." "And what if it hasn't?" S'Doryn asked. "What if she takes the ques tion as an affront?"

T'Noth offered a small shrug. "You could…" He shrugged a second time. "She'd probably understand. She knows how anxious we are for any word of the woman."

"Perhaps it slipped her mind," T'Kaar said, grinning now.

"Yes," S'Doryn said. "I think you should remind her, T'Noth. Old as I am, it might slip my mind as well."

T'Kaar laughed.

"Fine," the younger man said, walking away from them both. "We'll wait."

They didn't have to wait long. Three days into the waning, at midmorning, as he worked his crops, S'Doryn received word that the a'laq wished to speak with him. He hurried to her house, arriving there just as the brothers did. It seemed they had been summoned as well.

"Do you know what this is about?" T'Noth asked.

He sounded eager, as only a young man could under such circumstances. For his part, S'Doryn had started to hope that Jynna had been wrong about the Mettai woman, that her tale really was just the product of fear and grief and a young girl's imagination. He dreaded hearing whatever it was the a'laq had learned.

Stepping into the a'laq's cottage, they saw that the other members of the clan council were there as well, some of them seated around her table, others standing. Far more surprising, Jynna, who was supposed to be at the sanctuary, sat at the table beside U'Selle, looking pale and young and very scared. Every person in the room looked up as the three men entered.

"At last," the a'laq said brusquely. "Come in, please. There isn't much room, but I hadn't the strength to make my way to the sanctuary." "Not good," T'Kaar muttered, his voice tight.

S'Doryn had to agree.

Jynna looked as though she wanted to be near him, but was afraid to offend the a'laq. U'Selle appeared to notice this as well, for she whispered something to the girl, and immediately Jynna was on her feet. She ran to him, threw her arms around him, and pressed her face to his shirt.

"What's going on?" she asked, the words muffled. "Why did they bring me here?"

"I don't know, Jynna," he said, stroking her hair. "But we'll find out. Sit with me."

She nodded, and followed him to the table. T'Noth and T'Kaar sat with them and the rest of those who had been standing came to the table as well.

"When Jynna first came to our village with her story of the pestilence and its odd effect on her people," the a'laq began, "we didn't quite know what to make of it. Some wondered if this were some new form of the disease that struck only Qirsi victims. Others thought it might be unique to the Y'Qatt, a product of their forswearing of magic. And still others thought it might be the work of the Mettai, a spell directed at Qirsi magic.

"I've considered all of these possibilities and at the same time have been in contact with a'laqs throughout Fal'Borna lands to see if there are other villages or septs that have suffered as Jynna's people did, dreading the day I would find them."

She took a breath and was taken with a fit of coughing. When it finally passed, she dabbed at her mouth with a small cloth.

"I found them this morning. Or rather, they found me. Another a'laq, a man named S'Plaed, spoke to me as I slept, Weaver to Weaver." Jynna turned to S'Doryn, looking puzzled.

"Weavers can walk in the dreams of other Qirsi," he whispered to her. "Even from afar. It allows us to communicate with other septs, even other Qirsi clans if need be."

U'Selle had paused in her tale, allowing him to explain. Now she went on. "S'Plaed leads a sept on the northern edge of the plain. Not long ago they numbered five thousand strong. Then they were visited by an Eandi merchant. Within hours of this man's appearance, the pestilence struck, sickening thousands-at least half of S'Plaed's sept. As with Jynna people, this strain of the disease took hold of their magic so that fire and shaping and healing raged out of control. Hundreds more died in the destruction the afflicted did to their families and neighbors. The a'laq usually meets with all merchants who visit his village, but in this case the man was in too great a hurry to leave. His haste is all that saved S'Plaed's life.

"According to S'Plaed, the merchant's name is Torgan Plye and among the wares he was selling that day were Mettai baskets of uncommon quality. This man has been named an enemy of all Fal'Borna people, and is to be killed on sight."

"Did you ask about the woman?" Jynna asked, drawing stares from all around the table. "There was a Mettai woman! She made the baskets!"

S'Doryn feared that U'Selle might be angered by the interruption, but the a'laq just shook her head.

"He said nothing about a woman, or about any Mettai for that matter."

Jynna started to say more, but U'Selle silenced her with a raised hand.

"The baskets are enough, child. I believe what you told us about the woman, and as soon as I heard that he was selling Mettai baskets, it occurred to me that she and the merchant are partners in some dark scheme. I don't know how or why she came to be working with this Torgan Plye, but clearly there are Eandi abroad on the plain who seek to destroy all Qirsi people, be they Fal'Borna or Y'Qatt."

"How long ago did this happen, A'Laq?" T'Noth asked.

"Not long. A matter of days. You should also know," she said, "that most of those who survived were children, just as with the outbreak in Tivston."

"It has to be the magic," S'Doryn said. "That's the only way to explain it."

"The only way?" asked one of the council members.

"I believe so. This is a disease that kills Qirsi adults but spares their

children, and the Eandi who spread it. How else could that be possible?"

"Then it must be the Mettai," said another member of the council.