Joe hurried to Jesse Walker’s store, aware that Nyx had turned to smoke but stayed behind him instead of racing ahead to meet up with Tolya.

He glanced at the pickup. It looked dusty, but no more than usual. “You missed the storm?” he asked when Tobias stepped out of the truck.

“I think at least one vehicle got caught in it, but that dust storm didn’t reach the crossroads,” Tobias replied. “At least, not when we drove by.”

“That’s good.” He studied the human, whose voice sounded odd. “That’s not good?”

Tobias glanced toward Tolya and Jackson, who had gotten out on the other side, then leaned toward Joe. “Is that the way it usually works? I always thought... Storms. Lightning strikes and starts a fire. Blizzard sweeps in and you have to wait it out and hope your stock survives. But that’s the land; that’s weather. At least, we always thought it was.”

“Most of the time, it is,” Joe said. “But there are terra indigene who can guide weather, even shape it.” Or turn it into a weapon against an enemy. “When we sent the bison meat to Lakeside, Air and Blizzard made sure it arrived without spoiling. That was a good thing.”

“If we started doing something wrong, you’d tell us, wouldn’t you? Give us a chance to fix things before... Well, before weather became something more than weather?”

He smelled fear. “I would tell you.” He looked at Tolya and Jackson, who had joined them, and wondered where Nyx had gone. “Was the train late?”

“No, I wanted to take a look at the town,” Tolya said. “Get an idea of what sort of businesses are there.”

<More like getting an idea of what needed to be maintained if the humans went away,> Jackson told Joe.

<Are they going away?>

<Tolya doesn’t know. Maybe that’s a question for Simon... and Meg Corbyn.>

Not a comforting answer. If it wasn’t for the train station, he would steer clear of the town of Bennett—except collecting the payments for the land lease and water rights for the town were the responsibility of the Others living in the Prairie Gold settlement.

He thought about the rancher, that Daniel Black, who also owed the terra indigene for the land and water he used. Somehow he didn’t think that Daniel Black was going to turn over the payment when it came due next month.

“I rented a room at the motel for Jackson,” Tolya said. “Actually, Jesse Walker reserved the room. She had a feeling you would need it.”

Jackson frowned. “I’m here to pick up eleven bison.”

“We’re going to have to herd them,” Tobias said. “Well, first we have to find the ones you want.”

“Yearling calves,” Joe said. “We can ask the Hawkgard and Ravengard to help us look.”