She nodded. “They seem to know what we need, Pen. They knew you were seeking the tanequil, and they led you to it. They knew that I needed to laugh again, and they made me. And they knew I needed to understand them, once they had revealed themselves, and they allowed me to do so. In part, at least.” She paused, staring off into space. “They are so wonderful. I wish I could explain it better. They are free in a way I’ve never been. They can fly wherever they wish, be whatever they want, do whatever they choose. Sisters, of a sort—though I don’t think they really are. They seem to have come from different places, at different times.”

“But they sound the same,” he pointed out.

“They have become one, become a part of a whole. They are different, each of them, but they are the same, too.”

He puzzled over that one for a moment, thinking of the way a family worked, then of something more cohesive, like a flock or a herd. But that didn’t seem right, either. Finally, he settled on a school of fish, all swimming together and then changing direction at once.

“What do they want with you?” he asked finally.

“I don’t think they want anything, Pen.”

“Then why are they so interested in you? Why did they bring you here in the first place? Why are they telling you so much about themselves?”

She laughed, as if the answer should be obvious. “I think they just want someone to talk to. I think they know I will listen because I am interested in them.”

She reached over and squeezed his hand. “Tell me about the tanequil. What have you learned?”

Strands of loose hair fell across her face as she leaned toward him, and he reached out to brush them away. “I did miss you, Cinnaminson,” he said. “I don’t like it when you’re gone.”

She smiled. “I missed you, too.” Her face brightened. “Now tell me about the tanequil. Did you speak with it?”

“I spoke with it,” he said. “It took me a while, but I found a way.”

He told her everything that had happened, how it had taken him all night just to make contact, how it had then withdrawn until he had realized that his connection was premised upon its sensing of his need to help his aunt. He couldn’t explain that, didn’t understand it at all. But it was clear that the tree knew why he had come and what he had come for, and if he wanted to see the quest through, he was going to have to keep the needs of his aunt and his concerns for her safety foremost in his thoughts.