<I know of you, Dances on Clouds,> those graceful fingers said. <I have tasted your mind-glow in the songs from Laughs Brightly. And since the Day of Sorrow, Wind of Memory and Echo of Time have sung the songs of all those who came before you, as well. I have tasted them all, even Death Fang’s Bane herself. I know your clan.>

Her hands emphasized the verb, and as Honor looked into those bottomless green eyes, she realized what Sorrow Singer meant. That for the treecats, the mind-glows of all who’d gone before were still available, still there, as long as the chain of singers was unbroken. In a very real sense, Sorrow Singer had actually met Stephanie Harrington, Honor’s own ancestor, the very first human ever adopted by a treecat, and Honor felt a strange, powerful envy.

“I wish I could share those memories with you,” she heard herself say. “I’ve always wished I could have known her.”

<You would have liked her,> Sorrow Singer signed. <Indeed, I think she was much like you in many ways. But in all the years since she and Climbs Quickly bonded, Death Fang’s Bane Clan has been the People’s friend and protector. We know what your clan has done for us. We know what you have done for us. And now, it is time for us to protect you.>

For a moment, Honor was certain she must have misread those flowing fingers. Protect her? Protect her, when humans had destroyed Sorrow Singer’s entire clan?

“Nimitz has already protected me many times,” she said. “And I’ve done my best to protect him. That’s what you do when you love someone.”

<I know that,> Sorrow Singer replied, and her tail flirted as if in a sad laugh. <I could not have tasted the Bright Water memory songs without tasting your love for Laughs Brightly and his love for you, Dances on Clouds. But that was not what I meant.>

“Then, forgive me, but what do you mean?”