Besides, Vlad had already done some of the things he’d promised, and Jesse Walker and Shelley Bookman were now on Steve Ferryman’s particular information list. Shelley had also set up an e-mail account for him at the library so that Simon and Jackson—and Vlad—could send him news if they didn’t want to send a telegram, which would have to be brought out to the terra indigene settlement, or call him at Jesse Walker’s store to have a message delivered that way.

In the terra indigene settlement where he’d lived before coming here, there had been a communications cabin that had a telephone and computer, and the settlement had been close enough to a human village that they could use mobile phones at least some of the time. But Prairie Gold was a simpler place, and communication was no longer as direct. The terra indigene settlement here didn’t have a telephone or computer, didn’t have the poles and wires that made such things work. The Others hadn’t felt the need for such things. More important, the Elders didn’t want those human things touching their hills.

But having a way to communicate with other terra indigene beyond howling range was important now that humans were causing trouble in so many places. He would need to chew on his problem for a while. Maybe the Eaglegard would be willing to act as couriers if he needed to send a message quickly to another part of Thaisia or receive a message from Simon or Jackson? If not, then the Crowgard or Ravengard would certainly enjoy being the first to have news.

Did humans who worked in telegraph offices choose that work because they had the same desire as Ravens and Crows to know the news first?

“What do you think?” Tobias asked.

Joe blinked, then remembered the question Tobias had asked as they loaded the meat into the truck. “Bison fat? Do humans eat it?”

“No, Abigail wants to try making candles and soap from it. She usually purchases tallow from Floyd Tanner when a steer or sheep is butchered for meat, but there are a lot of carcasses out there, and the fat on them is going to waste, so she wondered if she could have some.”

There aren’t that many carcasses left out there now, Joe thought. A Wolf could cover a hundred miles in a day. The Elders could cover even more ground. Many of them had come down from the hills to consume the available meat instead of hunting. And, he suspected, they had become sufficiently curious and wanted a closer look at the Intuits who had settled near the southern end of their hills—humans who were working hard to be friendly with the terra indigene.

“She would give you some of the candles and soap as a kind of payment for the tallow,” Tobias added.