Meripen Vanglelauf had not addressed a word to her since they had begun the walk back to the village, nor acknowledged her presence in any way.While she could scarcely blame him for not wishing to associate with someone who keenly felt herself to be beneath contempt, still it would have been . . . comforting to have had some conversation.The easewerth had numbed the pain in her hand, and she had managed to snatch up a few leaves of fremoni along the way. She did not really want to think about the state of her feet, which had worrisomely stopped hurting some while back, nor the spectacle that she would present to Elizabeth Moore, who was even now calmly awaiting their arrival.Meripen Vanglelauf walked beneath the elitch branches, knelt at Elizabeth Moore's feet, and lay the boy across her lap."He lives, Tree-Kin," he said, his voice cracked and wavering."Thank you," Jamie's mother said, and though her voice was even, it was not, Becca thought, quite calm. "He knows the dangers of night-walking, Master Vanglelauf.""It was not the night that did this," Becca said, stepping up to stand beside the Fey.
