He eyed me, wondering how I could know they had had one, then reasoned it out. There was no garbage or human waste around. That could tell us a lot.

One of the jamadars told us that now they were looking they had found plenty of evidence of an extended occupation. One man and one woman. The woman slept near the fire. The man stayed near the altar. They dont appear to have bothered that. Mistress? Would you look?

An honor. I did not immediately understand how they knew a woman had slept near the fire. Then one produced a few strands of long black hair. Can you tell anything from this, Mistress?

Yes. She didnt have naturally curly hair. If it was a she. Some Gunni men let their hair grow long. Shadar and Vehdna tended toward curls. Vehdna men wore their hair short. But everyone at this end of the earth had black hair, or very dark brown when it was clean.

Swan was a real curiosity with his golden locks.

My sarcasm did not escape my companions. I said, Dont expect me to see the past or future. Yet. Kina comes to me only in dreams.

That even startled Narayan.

Lets see the other place.

They showed me where the man had slept. Again, they had determined sex by length of hair. They had found one strand three inches long, fine, a medium brown. Hang onto those hairs, Narayan. They could be useful someday.

Deceivers scurried around seeking more signs. Narayan suggested, Lets find that pit.

We went out. We wandered. I located the place. Some lowlife candidates to the cult got to open it. I wandered while I waited.

Mistress. I just found this. A jamadar offered me a small animal figure someone had made by bending and braiding and twisting strands of grass, the kind of time-killing thing people do when they have nothing to do. But the man looked disturbed.

Its just something somebody did for the hell of it. It has no power. But if there are more around Id like to see them. They might tell us something about whoever made them.

Less than a minute passed before another turned up. It was hanging from a twig, Mistress. I guess its supposed to be a monkey.

I had a brainstorm. Dont move anything. I want to see them right where they are.

Over the next few hours we found scores of those things, some made of grass, some twisted from strips of bark. Someone had had a lot of time and nothing to do. I knew a man once who did that with paper and never realized he was doing it.

Most of those things were stick figures, monkeys hanging from twigs, four-legged beasts that could have been anything. But a few of the four-leggers carried riders. The riders always carried twig swords or spears.

I must have made a noise. Narayan said, Mistress?