Enim was lying on his bed at mid-morning, staring at the ceiling. Lhut and Kaya had gone back to their daily work, leaving with a promise to give him a tour of Shebbetin later on. Enim had meant to go out and make contact with at least one of the mines in the meantime, but he felt disturbed and unfit for pleasant introductions. He could not present himself now, neither as a likable person nor as a competent artificer.

Enim tossed on his bed.

'What's more,' Enim thought, 'why was Lhut still sitting around with the stumps of his legs like that? I know people often need to wait for a wound to heal before an aid can be placed. But surely not three years?' Enim turned around. 'I'll ask him next time we meet.'

And as if this was the answer to all his doubts, he fell asleep.

* * *

"Welcome to the Mansion! The heart of Shebbetin!"

Kaya spread her arms wide in a triumphant gesture. She half-turned, grinning back at Enim over her shoulder.

Enim recognized that dense, crowded area full of nooks and edges that he had noticed on his arrival, looking down from the hill into darkness and moonlit tangles. By day the quarter still seemed crammed, tousled and unwieldy, and only slightly less mysterious.

"It is just a mass of houses grown together, really," Kaya explained. "People moving into town squeezed in another cabin where they could, or an extra room at least. In the end they simply covered up the space left in between with another roof. So alleys turned into corridors, and the open places of a village into the halls of a great house. Our Mansion."

Kaya let her fingers trail along the rough stone wall beside her. "I've always loved it. For being a good neighborhood, with people ready to help each other out in all the hardships they face. A friendly, a trustworthy place."

Kaya hesitated. "As far as the people are concerned," she added grimly. "The houses, charming as they may be, actually are a death trap. And everyone knows it. Bring a spark to the Mansion and you have killed everybody inside. The thatched roofs will go up in flames like tinder, in a labyrinth of stone walls that keep anyone from escaping. That is why no one is allowed to bring fire near the Mansion, or to use it inside."

Kaya tapped her hand against the low eaves of a hut, slapping the straw. "Very good for my business," she added with biting sarcasm. "No one here has a hearth at home. Lots of demand for warmlings from outside."

Enim bent low to follow Kaya through a small archway, then almost bumped into her as she stopped inside a courtyard lined with potted plants. Brambles climbed up the walls, and flowering vegetables graced the edges. With various traces of play and craft sitting in every corner, the even sand plane looked like a cross between a farmer's garden and a charming village square.

"That's the Snuggery." Kaya was already kicking off her shoes before the door on the left. "Let's pop in so you can get an idea of what Lhut is doing."

The room was teeming with life. A floor full of rugs, blankets and woven grass mats held a jumble of kids big and small. Chalk drawings and writing squeezed into every corner of the boards along the walls. A few low tables were scattered across the room, most of them occupied by children deeply immersed in games Enim did not recognize, in sketching and building and watching with furrowed brows. Lhut was sitting over in one corner, surrounded by three kids with shiny eyes who were pulling at his sleeves while telling him something important.

Kaya's voice flowed on across the buzz of the room. "This is Cahuan. She has founded the Snuggery."

Enim turned. And froze. Cahuan was a butterfly, like Yoor. Enim stared. He had not seen this coming and was caught utterly unprepared. Cahuan seemed unearthly, fay. Her skin was velvety, shimmering in hues of green and gold. Under long dark lashes, her eyes looked out at him like deep green ponds, drawing him in, to drown perhaps, or to swim with the sunlight playing in the water in golden streaks. Like underwater plants, her long wavy hair was flowing down her back, swaying softly, and even in its rich green darkness there seemed to be little sparks shining through, like tiny golden fish darting through the seaweed, or brilliant reflections of sunsparks. Cahuan was round and full, and all of her body had a soft, unhurried grace to it that again reminded Enim of an underwater dance. 'Perhaps she is a mermaid,' he thought stupidly. 'A butterfly mermaid.'

Enim pulled himself together. He did not know how long he had been staring, or how obviously. He blushed and narrowly stopped himself from giving a little cough. But everyone else did not seem to be staring back at him. So perhaps it had not been so bad.

Enim regained some of his composure. He was able to take in more of the Snuggery again, and of the conversation going on around him.

"He speaks Kokish, mostly," Kaya was saying.

"Oh great!" A twelve-year-old girl with braids full of pearls and feathers beamed at Enim. The immense confusion of colorful patches that was her tunic swished and swayed before Enim's eyes with flaps and frills and ribbons. "Will you come and talk to us? And read out stories? We have this one book, you know? Pulan..." She waved a brightly patterned arm through the air. The girl next to her, with broad cheeks and extremely short hair, whistled through her teeth and darted off.

Enim, meanwhile, received further explanations. "We always copy the words written in it, but we never quite know how to pronounce them. But now you are here!"

Pulan came back with a triumphant whistle and stomped to a halt before Enim. She proudly propped open the book, holding it directly in front of his nose. Enim felt expectant eyes bore into him.

"Ah..." He stared at the pages, blinking. Letters blurred, too close to his face. "Ah. Yes. I can read Kokish."

The colorful girl threw herself at Enim for a brief but breath-taking hug.

"Brilliant!!" Then she added, "I'm Som."

*

As Kaya and Enim left the Mansion behind, space between buildings reappeared and rapidly grew larger, until the last of the houses were only a scattering across the wide hillside.

"We cannot go into the mine just yet," Kaya said as they climbed. "But you can walk past and cast a glance at the entrance, see some of the miners working there. It's at least a bit of an impression."

"Yes, very good." Enim did not mind. To him, everything was new and worthy of exploration.

He could already see the two small buildings that flanked the entrance. They looked nothing unusual, Enim thought. Just the same kind of low stone house and thatched roof that he had seen so often in Shebbetin. Some people were gathered outside, joined by a few more coming out of the mine.

Then a shock rocked through the whole group. Enim heard a high, shrill cry coming from the depth of the mountain. Kaya's hand clamped down on his arm.

"Nightling," she breathed. "Run!"

Kaya started off. "Don't look back!" she shouted over her shoulder.

Enim looked back instantly, unable to stop himself. But all he saw was people fleeing in all directions.

Enim turned and made after Kaya as fast as he could. He ran across the uneven meadow, stumbling, catching himself, hurrying on. Kaya was far ahead. The high grass brushed against his knees, threatening to entangle him.

Enim heard movement behind him. Something big was following, going very fast. Coming closer.

This time, Enim did not look back.

He kept on running. He felt more than saw a shadow behind him, to his left, and veered to the right, down the hill. And fell. Stumbling over a root, Enim dove headlong down the decline, crashing down hard. He rolled and tumbled on with the force of the impact, plunging downward without orientation, without control.

Finally, the avalanche came to a halt. Fingers clutching frantically at the grass, Enim managed to keep the world still.

He whipped his head around.

But the shadow was not upon him.

It had moved on alone up above.

Enim could see the nightling clearly now. Up on the hillside she was racing through the grass like the wind, fast, smooth, unbroken, in long, elegant bounces. Her black coat gleamed in the sunlight, showing the perfect play of muscles as her long slim body dashed on with the intense energy of a wildcat. The nightling was huge, much larger than a human, but seemed light, unbounded, almost weightless. She raised her head and gave one more sharp, eerie cry. Enim's hair rose on his neck. The piercing scream seemed to have penetrated the very marrow of his bones.

Then the nightling took wing.

Enim's eyes grew wide.

With one last bounce, the nightling had thrown herself into the steep fall of the hill, into the rise of the wind. She spread her wings, two sails made of darkness, of shiny black leather, perfect half-circles the color of a new moon. The air bore the huge creature effortlessly. The nightling rode on the breeze, turning into a sudden gust, rising up high with its thrust. She cut through the sky, swift and elegant as a swallow, circle upon circle, a black beauty unrestrained by the pull of the earth.

But she returned.

In a long, low dive, the sinuous creature swept over the grassland just above the tips of the blades, her open mouth a huge gaping hole, as wide as her whole body. With breathtaking speed she advanced toward Enim. And rushed past.

Enim lay on his back, pressed into the ground. His breathing had stopped. The black shadow rose up again, higher and higher, challenging the wind, soaring like a streak of dark lightening tearing up into the sky.

But this time, she did not come back. She let herself be carried away, a slim gracious outline, a flight of perfect wings circling away in fast, seamless swings, in a long, drawn-out flourish. Enim's gaze followed her dance until she disappeared into the light over the mountains.

Enim closed his eyes. He felt the solid earth underneath his body. He took a breath. And another. His heart was trying to come back to a normal rhythm. Enim laid a hand on his chest to help.

When he opened his eyes again, Kaya was beside him.

"Are you all right?"

Enim nodded.

Kaya stared at him hard, a skeptical look in her eyes. Then she shook her head. "You are in shock. You have no idea if you are hurt."

With an authoritative gesture she pushed Enim back onto the meadow when he made a move to get up. But her touch was incredibly gentle as she took hold of his hand and moved the fragile joints one by one, so careful as if she was handling a treasure made of blown glass.

A deep sigh rose up from Enim's chest. He felt lightheaded. Willingly, he succumbed to Kaya's ministrations, bent his elbow, raised his arm, lifted his shoulder. He took off his shoes, his trousers, his shirt.

Kaya's focused attention drew him in, let him become aware of every single toe he had, every bone in his spine. He knew once again he had a liver, a kidney, a soft belly full of vital organs. And a heart that had returned back to its natural rhythm.

"Congratulations! You have survived." Kaya grinned. "Scratches and bruises," she added with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Enim took a deep breath. "Thank you." He felt a little more like himself again. He began to grope for his trousers in the heap of discarded clothes.

"That was a good move, to roll down the hill like that." Kaya sounded impressed.

Enim snorted. "Thank my body. Or the ground." His fingers imitated a very uneven surface. "I sure not this had planned." He ran a hand through his hair. "But, tell me. Why we run? Is it not that if you run away, hunters start to chase?"

"Yes. They do. If they are hunters. But the nightlings are not. Or, at least," Kaya amended, "they do not chase anything nearly as big as you and me. They eat insects, such like."

"Oh." Enim's head had not quite arrived back in its usual place yet. He shook it very cautiously. "Right. But, then also, why we run? If they are not dangerous. Not hunting us."

"They are dangerous. Very dangerous. If caught in a tight spot. Nightlings go into caves to sleep, and if they get surprised in there, they panic." Kaya looked back toward the entrance of the mine. "This here may have been bad." She hugged her knees.

Then she pushed herself up in one fierce move, holding out a hand to Enim. "Come."

*

Moans and cries filled the air. The injured were staggering out of the mine, leaning heavily on the arms of their fellows, their eyes wild with pain. Groans and stifled oaths escaped from their lips. Sobbing uncontrollably, a large, hulky man was hunched down on the ground, holding the lifeless body of his son in his arms. Three people were kneeling beside him, sending a grievous lament up into the wind, a keening, a prayer.

With impatient urgency, a tightly knit group pushed past, piercing screams coming from their midst, a trail of dark red stains left behind in their wake. The woman they laid down on the meadow was young and sturdy. But her right leg was in shreds. Blood gushed out over the hand of the miner who tried to squeeze her artery shut. As he leaned onto her with his full weight, her whimpers rose into another wail, then broke off suddenly. Her head lolled to one side.

"Fainted," the girl beside her said, in a thin voice. She ripped a piece of cloth off her shirt and deftly tied it around the leg, twisting the bandage tight with a stick. "She'll survive," the girl said defiantly. "We'll only have to get the leg taken off."