The old woman gave a shallow bow.
“Hello, young man. You’ve found yourself quite a teacher.”
Her smile deepened the lines of her face. The map of her wrinkles suggested a face that was fond of smiling.
“In a sense, Mr. Green has already met you,” Valentina said.
“Oh? How’s that?”
“I’ve started him on your journal.”
Green leaned forward in his chair.
“Clara?”
A tingle of excitement.
Both women nodded. Clara beamed.
“I’m flattered,” Clara said. “How far in are you?”
“Well, you just learned that Herkimer is…”
“An asshole,” Clara supplied.
Green laughed and Valentina frowned.
“Ah, yes. My old instructor has some antiquated ideas aboutcursing,” Clara said. “Though, she just cheats and curses in Russian or old Italian or whatever language she assumes her company doesn’t know.”
Clara winked her one eye and Valentina shook her head.
“I was filling in Clara on our night’s work,” Valentina said.
“I have some context to add,” Green said.
He told them about touching Catskill’s memories and the wolf’s view of the fawn as an outsider to reality. It was surreal to tell such an impossible story to an audience that simply listened closely and took it all in stride. Clara and Valentina reacted with calm interest as if Green had just retold the week’s weather forecast.
“Interesting,” Clara said. “Many assumed that the Appalachians had a territory guardian, it being an ancient transitional place, but no such creature had been confirmed. Until now. How fascinating.”
“Territory guardian?”
“Creatures that act as reality’s immune system, you might say. Like the orbital kingfisher that hunts the West Coast or the omni-crab down in the Florida Keys. These are organisms that live on the borders of what is real and are very protective of those borders. The simple fact of the guardian’s interest supports Valentina’s theory.”
Green looked to Valentina for clarification.
“That the fawn is an invasive species, not just to this area, but to this reality, and the Hole in Nothing is the creature’s link to the outside,” she said.
He nodded. He didn’t need to suppose things about Catskill’s viewpoint. He knew.
“Alright. Yeah. It fits with Catskill’s understanding, that the fawn is an invader,” Green said.
“There is also the fact that, based on the pattern of attacks, the fawn seems place-bound to the area surrounding the hole,” Valentina said. “That suggests that the rift is more than just the fawn’s point of entry.”
“Right, you told me that hypothesis before, but we’re still left with the important question. How do we make it leave? I know Catskill’smother defeated and banished it in the past, but I don’t know how. He doesn’t know. And if Catskill can’t catch it or chase it away, then neither can we.”
“Note, Clara. Green has shifted from ‘it’ to ‘he’ as his pronoun of choice for the horned wolf since his encounter last night.”
Clara tapped her chin.
