quot;Yea; said ted casino. quot;e seen ;

    Fat;And do you remember w s;

    quot;S,quot; said ttle boy. quot;Sy in t.quot;

    quot;o be?quot;

    quot;About...quot; said t;I suppose maybe forty or fifty. e didnt see y, maybe. But s, like Paolo said, and s;

    Paolo  t as  in his face.

    quot;Yea; said tiently, quot;I knoers,quot; so Fat;sers at all. S y and never . I ain never seen a gro before, all rig t; s h a challenge in her eyes.

    quot;t I dont kno; said Father Gomez mildly.

    ttle boy plucked at her sleeve and whispered again.

    quot;Paolo says,quot; sold t, quot;o get t;

    Fat le. estimony of Fra Pavel in t torial Court: t be t.

    quot;If I can,quot; ;I s?quot;

    quot;From torre degli Angeli,quot; said ting at tone toops. It s;And tole it, ullio. ters got . You  to kill t boy, ts okay. And t;

    quot;too?quot; said t, trying not to seem too interested.

    quot;Lying filt; spat t;e nearly killed t there came some women, flying women...”

    quot;itc; said Paolo.

    quot;itc took t. But ter. e t maybe s some kind of knife, to keep ters a; sing o stare at him boldly.

    quot;I ; said Fat;But I ask. Maybe t is protecting me against ters.quot;

    quot;Yea; said t;maybe. Any  soutoains. e don kno, because t before and not no;

    quot;t; said t. quot;Bless you, my c;

    t off t, silent streets, satisfied.

    After tures, Mary Malone kne t deal about her.

    t first morning t o a settlement by a river, and table; so o, and tures back  frig t of t made ed enougo ignore t.

    And in tures pons, t eacime in tant past, a line of ancestral creatures must ructure and found it  as generations

    of long-ago craral spine.

    t er a eered by leaning to one side or tled along at a speed Mary found terrifying, to admit t ture sest feeling of danger. If only so o, s.

    At t of tand of t trees, and nearby a river meandered on t looked like a er, but s spend long looking at t, because tures tlement on ty to see it.

    ty or ty s, rougo s to see, tle-and-daub mixture on tcures  out of thers bringing brushwood for a fire.

    So ty. And about tment being made in ures became t  told s not theyre us.

    te close noo eaco look. ty from to a , and Mary clambered stiffly do ser on.

    quot;t; so ? eed? -eyed amiability t stood beside tled for, friend.

    runk and imitated her words:

    quot;Anku,quot; s.

    Sook ure (quot;Anku! Anku!quot;) and  and on to the village.

    And tion truly began.

    In t feo be just as ruck by o begin  get enouge trunks felt over every joint, searc tly, and tc as so curn, t runks. tely flexible, and about as long as e poions at tip  gentleness; tures seemed to be able to vary tone of t of fingertips, from a soft velvet to a solidity like , te task like milking a grazer and tearing and shaping branches.

    Little by little, Mary realized t trunks  in communication, too. A movement of trunk  sounded like quot;c; meant er runk from left to rigrunk curled up at tip, sadness o t. As soon as sated it, moving  sures realized t so talk to t .

    Once to talk (mostly in to teac;ankuquot; and quot;grassquot; and quot;treequot; and quot;skyquot; and quot;river,quot; and pronounce tle difficulty) t an individual  the

    sounds for  it oo subtle for o imitate easily. So e it all doionary.

    But before s ruly absorbed, sook out tered paperback and talks, and asked this, or should I go on somewhere else and keep searching?

    till, so t restlessness dissolves; tumult, one can perceive t laws.

    It  on: As a mountain keeps still self, t permit o stray beyond uation.

    t could alks a scures around her.

    One said, Question? Permission? Curious.

    She said, Please. Look.

    Very delicately trunks moved, sorting talks in ting movement surning tonis t surn t time. to coget;teeple,quot; or make t over-and-over to-opposite forefinger movement t  exactly t in Lyras s away.

    Once talks and t to  C meant t  to do ly, at t moment, w she should do.

    So s o learning more about t.

    S t ten years at least, gro tion. ttlement, one almost gros, t manage to move as t on t for all turousness (skipping up to Mary and srying to clamber up tree trunks, floundering in ter, and so on), t. ts artling by contrast, and Mary sa long for t. Sc cly to tore, and try to fit o tral  o stand up,  once, trapping tracted an adult. truggled to get free, squeaking y, and Mary couldnt  t, at t parent and ty c at t minute and scampered away.

    tmost importance, and soon Mary began to see just hey were.

    t mucime, to begin aining tly lifting and ting t out of trunks to examine trong: a spur of  rigo tly curved so t t part, in t as it rested on tc .

    Mary remembered t seedpod. it  on  stay on the claw seemed

    impregnated ly fragrant oil, and after sesting, cate of to wonder w: wree?

    Alt as  ures could only use ural  be some feature of tent of tone roads t made t savanna, and be so resistant to tle by little, Mary came to see toget, seemingly, managed by tion of every and of  grass, and te tree, and te. On one occasion sing some individuals and , to dispatcrunk. Noted. one in trunks, tted tes, and tcing out tender meat and tougs, trimming t, removing tly t Mary c at seeing anything done well.

    Soon strips of meat  and , er use, and to soak in pits of er filled o tan; and t c of ending to be a grazer, making t evening t to eat, and Mary feasted well.

    In a similar  fiso be ly s. Looking for somet to t-makers and offered to  on t trunks togeto tie a knot, sonisie knots on  first s t tage, s cut . And from t time on, so knot task icular friend, fingers and trunk moving in and out together.

    But of all t rees t took most care h.

    ter by t ty of oty  out to cy trees, and to  any fallen seedpods. It  rees benefit from terco a , surrounding one individual , so ted; but tself aken back to ttlement.

    t open and took out all t pale ovals as big as Marys little fingernail, and examined eac tant pounding t on to crack at all, and also t t to germinate. it ttention, trees would all die.

    Eac  made it possible. It and, but to be saying t ter of t young ones didnt  use their claws.

    And t ion betion t  few years of her life.

    But before s any furtions he mulefa were long and complex,

    because trating ts ten notely for reference), ttlement tacked.

    Mary  to see ttackers coming, t knohey were.

    It ernoon,  one story  climbers; but Mary c it in place wo echey could.

    So s ters of a co er t empering t of t by a flase.

    It came from t distant glitter s  of tall  of t  making  grace for th.

    Mary called t are you seeing?

    S kno, so sail, we, many.

    At once t stopped o ter of ttlement, calling te all to flee.

    Atal, ualapil tualapi!

    It  Mary e sails by time ered t t. Mary acked so sly, togetarlings, all cion simultaneously. And tiful, te slender sails, bending and dipping and filling...

    ty of t least, and tly t. But s t boats at all: tic birds, and t,  and flexed and trimmed by their own muscles.

    time to stop and study t. tall as sened noer.

    Ser treamed out of ttlement and onto t in time: al ing, and as Mary scrambled on al beat t, speeding aer her companions.

    t move as fast on land, soon gave up turned back to ttlement.

    tore open tores, snarling and groossing t cruel beaks  and all t and grain. Everyte.

    And tualapi found tore, and tried to smas seedpods, but t  ense c of ter pod o ty legs, but of course no o t.   several of toer, ohe sea.

    t sno about demolisal, raking blo and stabbing, smasearing movements of the mulefa around

    crooning h sorrow.

    I help, Mary said. e make again.

    But tures  finis; iful ed among tation and voided ted up te dung lay among ttered tc on land giving trut, t back to ter and sailed aream tohe sea.

    Only  tore.

    Out of teen pods t . t o ter and lost. But t bend of t s a ook off , and so it. On t one but five of tening centers, shem behind her.

    titude. tered ter taking care to keep t and .

    Later t niger a scanty meal of s roots, told  time ual joy. But sometue  of te every effort and all ttention trees were dying.