"She'll fight with me. Not under tides, though. And . . . don't tell her anything. I won't kill Merril if she's captured."

"Fair enough. You called the funnel a 'treemouth'-"

"I was wrong, wasn't I? The jungle can't feed itself that way. There's not enough wind. What is it?"

"It's what makes the jungle move. The petals are part of it too. Whatever side of the jungle is most dry, there the funnel wants to face. The petals reflect sunlight to swing the jungle round in that direction."

"You talk like the jungle is a whole creature, that thinks."

She smiled. "It's not very smart. We're fooling it now. The fires are to make the jungle dry on one side."

"There are tens of life forms in the jungle. One of them is a kind of spine for the whole thing. Its life is deep down, and it lives off the

dead stuff that drifts toward the center. Everything in the jungle contributes something. The foliage is various plants that root in what the jungle-heart collects, but they rot and feed the jungle-heart and shield the jungle-heart if something big hits the jungle. We do our part too. We transport fertilizer down- dead leaves and garbage and our own dead

-and we kill burrowing parasites."

"How does a jungle move? The Grad didn't know."

"The silver petals turn the jungle to put the funnel where the jungle is most dry. If everything gets too dry, then the funnel spits hot steam."

"dave, it's time to put the fires out. I must tell the others. I'll be back."

Minya followed Dloris through twisting, branching tunnels. Minya's grip on Jinny's arm was relaxed; it would tighten if Jinny tried anything foolish. But the treemouth, and any chance to leap into the sky, were farther away with every step.

The way the tunnels twisted, Minya wasn't sure where she was. Near the midbranch, she thought; and the tuft would be narrowing toward the fin. She couldn't see solid wood, but from the way the spine branches pointed, the branch was below and to her left. Earlier she had passed a branching tunnel and heard children's laughter and the shouting of frustrated adults: the schools. She could find this place again.

The mouth of a woven hut showed ahead. Dloris stopped. "Minya. If anyone asks . . . you and Jinny both think you're pregnant. So the Scientist's Apprentice will examine you both. Jinny, I'll take you to your sister, and what happens then is none of my business."

They had reached the hut. Dloris shooed them in. Two men waited inside, one in Navy blue, the other-"Who are you?" Dioris demanded.

"Madam Supervisor? I'm Jeffer, the Scientist's Apprentice . . other apprentice. Lawn is otherwise engaged."

To meet both Minya and Jinny was more than the Grad had hoped for.