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The first evening stars watched on, supported on either side by Cherri and Lula, though as doing thewould be hard to say We tue to say that in the dark nearly everything anted to do required three pairs of hands

• • •

In the dead of night a coon At first we ignored it Cherri wasstopped dead,Cherri to draw breath Until that point I’d heard little above her excla of axles and supports

“Jalan!” Snorri’s voice

I stuck ht, far froon bed, arresting its motion “Come”

I hadn’t the breath to tell hi to do Instead I slipped out, lacing up what needed to be laced “Yes?” Not keeping the temper from my voice

“Coons I could hear weeping now Wailing

Snorri followed the field’s gradient, letting it lead us a little way out fro Taproot’s tent Here several dozen of the circus folk huddled before a bright fire

“A child died” Snorri set a hand tocomfort “Unborn”

“The pregnant wonant woman Daisy I remembered her name

“The babe’s buried” He nodded to a low rave markers “We should show our respects”

I sighed No ht I felt sorry for the woman, of course, but the troubles of people I don’t know never reached that far into me My father, in one of his rare moments of coherence, declared it to be a symptom of youth My youth, at least He called on God to visit compassion upon me as a burden to be carried in later life I was just impressed that he’d noticed me or my ways this once, and of course it’s always nice for a cardinal to remember to call on God every now and then