Firestone Hot Springs garmi

The man who answered was not her nino. He seemed older, in a way, and younger in others. And he wore something like nino did, but his was heavy and dark instead of thin and bright like the sun. She stared at him, uncomprehending, and he said something in a language she didn't understand, and then something else in the common tongue — the one nino had tried to teach her, when he still made regular visits to her and Mama's den.

He asked something. Work? Lock? Stuck? No —

"No sé," she said, as she had said to nino. "I don't know."

Her eyes were brimming over with tears, but she seemed unaware of this.

"That collar," she said, pointing to it with her nose before quickly tucking her chin once more. "Does it mean your are, um. Sacardote — " An uneasy pause before she landed on, "... a holy man?"