Greatwater Lake (M) Butterflies taste through their feet.

Something cool and damp touched her cheek. Towhee flinched, eyes snapping open to see a pair of yellow eyes hovering an inch away. They were full of questions she had no particular desire to answer.

Towhee just wanted to sleep, though she pushed upright. She shook out her pelt, gazing down at the stranger contemplatively for a moment. Her nose wrinkled for no apparent reason.

She hadn’t said two words to him, though she changed that now by saying, Cool necklace.

And then, well aware that he would not be able to keep up with her, Towhee took off again. She didn’t even glance back this time. Her muscles protested a little but she remembered her elation just moments ago—even better than the lovemaking—and bent her head into the wintry wind.