Rosewater Oasis A white stag pulls up a stool and bellows hymns to enchantments.

That response stumped her, though it turned out it didn’t matter much. Had she had the rabbit all along or had she just pulled it out of a hat like some magician? Towhee shook her head, sobered by the reminder that she wasn’t entirely well.

The dark-furred woman said something about the distance, then suddenly her words became garbled. Towhee could only pick out a few—“not from here,” “words hard”—and nothing else. Well, this certainly wasn’t the first time she needed a moment to parse someone’s meaning.

Sorry, didn’t catch all of that. I’m actually deaf. I like it when people speak simply, it’s easier for me to follow, she explained.