"So that Cheiron will believe that you really do have these allies," Gloha said. "I suppose that means that you don't intend to give up Che Centaur or Jenny Elf."

"Jenny Elf may go," Godiva said. "She is not captive." She glanced at the girl. "But I expect you to keep your word."

"I will," Jenny said. "But I'm not going until Che does." She turned back to Bud. "You really think we are just variants of the same species?"

"I suspect we are equivalents for our respective lands. Do you have other creatures on yours?" "You mean like trolls?"

"Ah, you have trolls! Are they point-eared like you?"

"No, they're round-eared and ugly. They don't stand much taller than we do, but they are way more massive."

"Interesting. Our trolls are tall and thin. How many fingers on their hands? Ours have five, unless some have been bitten off."

Jenny smiled briefly. "Four, when they're all there. Yours do sound similar after all."

Electra listened with growing interest, and realized that the others were doing the same.

"Are there human beings there?" Bud asked.

"Some. We really don't have much to do with them."

"Neither do we. Electra is the first I have had contact with in years. Your humans' ears are pointed?"

"No," Jenny said, growing excited. "They are round—and they have five fingers too. I mean, I never actually saw one, but I remember the stories. Round ears and extra fingers. And they're big—half again as tall as we are." She looked at Electra. "In fact, the same size as the ones here. They're the same, except—" She looked away from Electra.

"They're not friendly?" Electra asked.

"Not with us," Jenny agreed. "We're enemies, mostly. We have a long history of fighting, and our kind is seldom friendly with their kind. It started when we first came to their world, and we were civilized and they were primitive; and they attacked us and slaughtered us, and they were so big and strong and vicious that despite our magic and organization we suffered terribly and had to flee to the forest and hide, and form into scattered tribes, and ever since then—"

She broke off, looking around. "Oh, I'm sorry! It's not like that here, I think."

"It has been like that, sometimes," Electra said, and Bud nodded. "When I was young—I mean, around nine hundred years ago—" She faltered as she saw others staring at her.

"She slept for a number of centuries," Godiva explained, "owing to an enchantment. She is no older than she looks, in terms of the life she has lived."

"Yes," Electra said, grateful for the woman's clarification. Somehow it sounded normal, when Godiva said it. "There was more fighting between human beings and other creatures. I don't know about elves, specifically, but—"

"They wanted to clear land for their villages," Bud said. "They wanted to cut down elms."