Talina added, “People still blame Hofer for that.” She glanced at Kylee. “Not starting the fight, you understand, but that the bar was closed for two days as a result.”

“And Inga raised her prices to cover the broken bottles, wasted liquor, and cleanup,” Shig said with a sigh. “The ripples ran through the entire economy. Meant I had to raise the price of my squash.”

“Wasn’t all bad,” Kalico said thoughtfully as she turned in her chair and glanced around the room. “These paving stones hadn’t been that clean since the day they’d been laid. Hell, who would have thought they were really light gray? I always assumed they were black to start with.”

Kylee shot an uncertain look Talina’s way, shook her head in disbelief; she sipped at her stout. Smacked her lips. “Tastier than that stuff Chaco makes.”

“Where are you staying?” Shig asked Kylee. “I have a most comfortable futon out in my study, and it’s not more than a two-minute walk from the hospital.”

“What’s a futon?” the girl asked.

“Medieval torture device,” Kalico said with a grunt. “Sort of like sleeping on a board.”

Shig’s beatific face fell. “I have spent many nights of restful sleep on that futon.”

“You’re an ascetic who follows all that Buddhist and Hindu searching-for-enlightenment crap. You think that suffering, dukkha, in this life will make the next one better,” Kalico shot back. “You’d make the same claim about a bed of nails.”

For the first time, Talina saw Kylee’s lips bend into a smile.

“Dek and I will put her and Madison up,” Talina said. “That will give them a bit more privacy.”

Kalico agreed, saying, “Not often that a living legend comes to town, Kylee. Half the people here think you walk on water, the other half consider you to be devil’s spawn.”

“Fuck that!” Kylee muttered as Inga came charging down the bar, three heaping plates balanced with extraordinary dexterity. “Hey, I’m just me, okay? All I want is to get Tip out of the hospital alive and get back to Flute. It already feels like half of me is missing.”

“Sort of like walking on one leg,” Talina amended, having her own familiarity with quetzals in her mind.

“Yes,” Rocket whispered from her shoulder.

Talina watched the plates set down, Dek’s on the end of the bar. No sooner had that happened, than he excused himself from his conversation, taking a position on the end of the bar as he reached for the fork.

Dek said, “Quetzal sign out by Muley Mitchman’s claim. Muley climbed out of his hide to take a leak at first light. Happened to catch a silhouette on the ridgetop. He made a mad dash for his aircar, and flying out, said he saw four quetzals staring up from the between the trees.”

“That’s ten kilometers out,” Talina said thoughtfully as she toyed with her fork.