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I closed ht my center, my core, the dark place in the midst of myself that was h it was far froht It was a cavern, dark and da fire And the redeemer had never been here There had never been that kind of peace here

I opened my eyes to see the flaent In the dream state, I was dressed in deer hide, tanned in the old way, the way of the Tsalagi The leggings brushed against ht, toward the shadows, e silent I was carrying a blade in ht hand A steel blade, exactly like the one Edoda carried in the all and the lesson learned It was oft honed, the cutting edge curved and sharp and pro death I carried it to the niche in the wall, where the black big-cat slept

The black cat--not truly a lion, but so known only to ht, should I try to hurt hi hier against hio I could find that much peace

With my left hand, I reached up and touched thearound ray place of the change There, in the gray, flashing energies of the skinwalker, I bent and took the silver chain that shackled me to Leo Pellissier and I cut it with the steel knife In the way of drea into two pieces They landed on the floor of the cavern with a clanking rattle

Leo opened his lion eyes and stared at me "Jane?" he said

"Yes You are free"

And Leo thinned into alike sweetgrass and cedar and papyrus The s ofleftof aro what I would see behind me Whom I would see

Beast was on a ledge, at head height, stretched out, chin on her paws, her a otten used to you being here Even if it ether," she said aloud "We are much more than Jane and Puma concolor alone"

It was the first time I had really heard Beast’s voice It was softer than I would have thought, and purring Not unlike Molly’s familiar I reached out a hand to Beast and scratched her behind her ears The purring increased in voluer still," Beast said "KitKit is not enough to contain her death ics"

"Yeah I know But you are"

Beast chuffed with laughter and closed her eyes And I woke in the church It was still e to anyone, I left the church

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