Page 92 of Suncatcher

“So am I.”

“When did you meet?”

Pearl swallowed through her sore throat. “When I went to the gorge for that wood.”

“You neglected to mention a goyle that day.”

“And also the blinkboars.” Pearl studied her blanket instead of her mother.

“Boars?”

“Two of them. Driz saved me from them.”

“Driz?”

Pearl met her eyes. “Yes. Her name is Driz.”

Sheriff Oak stood motionless for a while, staring out the window again at the rise of the bluffs.

“She’s got no idea who you are. Or what you did.”

“You don’t know that.”

Pearl sighed. Her mother wasn’t listening. And it would do no good to argue now. Her head throbbed and she coughed again, slumping back onto the bed, entirely drained.

Cool hands replaced the cloth on her forehead.

“You don’t have to understand,” Pearl whispered, keeping her eyes closed. “But if you hurt her again, I’ll never forgive you. And I mean it.”

26

Watchful

Driz sat on the stoop in front of Pearl’s home. She’d returned as soon as she woke, but no one would talk to her.

The healer came, and he left again.

“How is she?” Driz asked.

He gave her a startled look and ran away down the street. Her wings drooped.

Somewhere above, Pearl coughed. The only good part of that sound was that it let Driz know Pearl was still up there, with enough energy to cough.

She sensed the humans of the town staring, but when she turned her head, they all scampered away.

Oak’s clunking steps moved about inside. They paced for a while, back and forth. Pearl coughed and they clunked to her room, then left again and resumed their rhythm.

Driz closed her eyes. Pearl was so close, and yet a world away. Driz wanted to go to her. But the sheriff might shoot her again, and that would distress Pearl. Pearl needed to rest. Pearl needed to be well again.

A familiar and wonderful scent, accompanied by an unusual sound, made Driz look up.

A human woman seated in a wheeled chair rolled toward her along the uneven series of connected covered porches, coming to a stop an arm’s length away.

“Shall I move?” Driz asked. Since no one dared come within three wingspans of her, Driz doubted this woman planned to roll behind her.

The woman surprised her by shaking her head. “Nah, you’re good there.”

Driz’s attention dropped to the towel-draped object in her lap. “Are you Molly?”