<Our human pack has been sensible so far.> Of course, hunger could drive out sense. But that was a maybe problem. Food of all kinds was growing in the Courtyard, and there was plenty of meat, even if things like pork and beef were in short supply until they received the next delivery from a terra indigene settlement that raised a few of those animals. And how the human pups drank milk! He’d run out of milk for Sam, and Meg didn’t have any either until the earth native truck made the next delivery. They couldn’t ask for more from their current sources, so they would all have to make do with a little less.

Except Sam and Meg.

<I’m going to the swimming hole,> Blair said.

He’d like to do that too, but he headed for Meg when she stepped out of the Pony Barn, and Blair went on without him.

“You must be hot,” Meg said, tunneling her fingers through his fur.

Yes, he was.

“Where is Blair going?”

This was one of Meg’s tricks: asking questions when he couldn’t answer because he was in Wolf form.

Jester Coyotegard stepped out of the barn, grinning. “He’s going for a swim.”

Meg looked at Simon. “Don’t you want to go for a swim?”

Of course he did. He was hot and his fur was dusty. He gave her a hopeful look.

“No. I’m not hot, and I don’t want to do the Squeaky Dance.”

Simon sighed. This day was full of disappointments.

“I’ll wait for you here,” Meg said.

“Which is convenient,” Jester added, “since your clothes are in the back of Meg’s BOW.”

Grumbling to himself, Simon trotted to the swimming hole. The cool water tasted good and felt even better. And since there weren’t any human females nearby to get all squeaky about it, when he’d paddled around enough as a Wolf, he shifted to his human form and enjoyed floating on his back while cool water played over sun-warmed skin.

•••

Meg returned to the folding chair that Jester had set out for her. She picked up another deck of prophecy cards that she’d brought to show the Coyote. Then she sighed. “Simon really wanted to have bison.”

“Your seeing and his wanting made it happen.” Jester repositioned the other chair and sat beside her. “That brought the bison here, where they’ve done a lot of good. The terra indigene in Talulah Falls are talking to Ming Beargard and the Steve Ferryman because the bison meat is the first thing that has made them happy since they came to the Falls to control the humans. Henry, Elliot, Vlad, and Nyx have gone to Talulah Falls with Jerry Sledgeman to deliver the Courtyard’s bison, and the Steve Ferryman and Ming are going to join them there for a meeting with the terra indigene leaders and some humans.”