He stared at the computer screen. He wasn’t sure how much farming—or what kind of farming—was being considered at the River Road Community being developed by the Lakeside Courtyard and the Intuits at Ferryman’s Landing. Sure, the land around Lake Etu wasn’t like the grassland found in the Midwest, but there was grass. And he wasn’t thinking of a herd of bison. Just a few at River Road, a few in the Courtyard. Substantial meat. Even with the deer that were already in the Courtyard, there would be enough grass to feed a handful of bison. Wouldn’t there? Of course, it would be safer to ship little bison and let them grow up once they were here. So they would have to be fed for a few years before they were of sufficient size to be a meal for all the carnivores living here. But one bison would feed all of them for several days.

Something to think about.

Vlad sank into the chair on the other side of the desk. “When you were told to consider how much human the terra indigene would keep, we thought it meant the things humans make. But this prophecy sounds like something is going to happen that will cause a lot of the human cities in Thaisia to disappear.”

“I know.” Simon pushed aside the happy distraction of fresh bison. “But Lakeside and Great Island survive.”

“Prophecy is not a guarantee of the future.”

No, it wasn’t a guarantee. Choices could change the outcome of the future.

Vlad set the letter on the desk. “I’d like to show the letter to Grandfather Erebus—and to Stavros. Blair is picking him up at the station. Tolya came with him from Toland and will travel with Nyx to Prairie Gold. They’ll deliver the books to Jesse Walker and Shelley Bookman, and they’ll talk to Joe Wolfgard.”

“You didn’t have to thin our stock quite that much,” Simon grumbled.

“I’ve already sent in the reorder. We still have plenty of books available for the Addirondak Wolves to experience shopping in a bookstore. Besides, I sent Jesse Walker the rest of the kissy books we couldn’t send to anyone else.” Vlad gave him a long look. “The inventory didn’t match the books we had left. You wouldn’t know what happened to the rest, would you?”

“Oh. Well. I didn’t want to get rid of all of them in case Meg wanted to read that kind of story. Not now, but sometime.”

“I think it would be smart to ask a human male if that’s the way human females typically respond to mating before assuming a story provides useful information.”