“No comparing claws!”
“What do we do, Soli?”
“I don’tknow. Maybe Artemisen sent him?”
The snow leopard stares at me.
WHY WOULD THE GODDESS SEND ME TO YOU?
I CAME TO YOU BECAUSE THE EMPTINESS IN MY SOUL RECOGNIZED THE SILENCE IN YOURS.
The silence?
Does he mean the Gray Mind?
YES.THE GRAY. YOUR MIND HOLDS SPACE FOR THE BOND LIKE NO OTHER I HAVE ENCOUNTERED.
I don’t know what to do with that, but I don’t have time to think about it, because the cat abruptly sits.
Right there in the middle of the road.
TELL YOUR MATE TO PUT DOWN HIS CLAW.
“He’s not my mate.”
OR I WILL BE FORCED TO EAT HIM, DUAL-NATURED OR NOT.
“Stop! There will be no eating humans or … or dual-natured people, especially not him,” I say, wondering how he could know about Kaelen. Does like recognize like?
Kaelen is staring back and forth between me and the cat, his entire body tensed to strike, but awe dawns slowly in his eyes.
“Is … is the snow leopard communicating with you? Telepathically?”
“It’s either that, or my brain completely cut free its moorings to any shred of reality.”
“Can it—”
“He,” I correct him. Nobody likes to be called anit, especially talking snow leopards, I’m guessing. I can’t help the burble of laughter that escapes my lips at the thought.
Now both of them are staring at me.
“Yes. He’s talking to me. Inside my mind. Um. Snow leopard? Wait. I can’t call you that. Do you have a name?”
ALL LIVING BEINGS HAVE NAMES, SOLITUDE GRACE GRAYMIND.
I WOULD ASK THAT YOU COME DOWN FROM THE HORSE AND APPROACH.
I slowly dismount despite Kaelen’s protests. “It’s okay, I think. He asked me to come closer.”
“Oh, sure.That’sa good idea,” he says, but I can hear the resignation in his tone. “Are you sure about this? Getting so close to something that could kill us with one paw tied behind his back?”
The cat snarls, and those huge fangs are way too close.
NO HUMAN WOULD DARE TRY TO BIND MY PAWS!
“No! Kaelen didn’t mean—It’s just an expression. Nobody will try to bind your paws. Or any part of you. Zero bindings, okay?”
“Soli.” Kaelen is still talking to me with that calm, don’t-upset-the-monster voice. “Please translate for me what exactly is going on.”
