Swiftcurrent Creek Now how can he smile

A pleasure to meet you, Miss Frostfur-Mayfair, Hirundo said. The effect was significantly less smooth with his fur dripping pathetically from his tall narrow body. I am Hirundo. He left his name as it was.

(Once, he would have introduced himself as his mother’s son. But she was gone, and Hirundo could not bring himself to speak of her. Not here. Not now.)

On well-trained instinct, he followed Mae—the first woman of authority he knew of—with his tail wagging calmly behind him. It took him a minute to figure out what she was looking for, but he wordlessly nudged the fish in her direction once he did.

So…is this your family’s home? Hirundo continued, casting a suspicious glance at the evil river. Are you the, uh, priestess?

She didn’t exactly look like any vedunya he had known, but a scary river warranted a scary guardian, he supposed.