“No,” she said quietly. She tried to form her thought carefully, so as not to hurt Alise’s feelings. She wasn’t sure, just yet, if she wanted to be as friendly as the Bingtown woman seemed inclined to be, but she didn’t want to put her on her guard again. “No, I think Sintara was manipulating you, well, us. A couple of days ago, she pushed me to do something, and well, it didn’t turn out nicely at all.” She glanced at Alise, fearing what she’d see, but the Bingtown woman looked thoughtful, not affronted. “I think she may be trying to see just how much power she has over us. I’ve felt her glamour. Have you?”

“Of course. It’s a part of her. I don’t know if a dragon can completely control the effect she has on humans. It’s her nature. Just as a human dominates a pet dog.”

“I’m not her pet,” Thymara retorted. Fear sharpened her words. Did Sintara dominate her more than she realized?

“No. You’re not, and neither am I. Though I suspect she considers me more her pet than anything else. I think she respects you, because you can hunt. But she has told me, more than once, that I fail to assert myself as a female. I’m not sure why, but I think I disappoint her.”

“She pushed me to go hunting his morning. I told her I preferred to fish.”

“She told me to follow you when you hunted. I saw you here on the riverbank.”

Thymara was quiet. She lifted her fish spear again and walked slowly along the river’s edge, thinking. Was it betrayal? Then she spoke. “I know what she wanted you to see. The same thing I saw. I think she wanted you to know that Jerd and Greft have been mating.”

She waited for a response. When none came, she looked back at Alise. The Bingtown woman’s cheeks were pink again, but she tried to speak calmly. “Well. I suppose that, living like this, with no privacy and little supervision, it is easy for a young girl to give in to a young man’s urging. They would not be the first to sample the dinner before the table is set. Do you know if they intend to marry?”

Thymara stared at her. She put her words together carefully. “Alise, people like me, like them, people who are already so heavily touched by the Rain Wilds, we are not allowed to marry. Or to mate. They are breaking one of the oldest rules of the Rain Wilds.”

“It’s a law, then?” Alise looked puzzled.