"Well, you certainly put your foot in it" Birdie thought. "How was I to know it was strictly a platonic relationship?"
Birdie signed, thinking that too much time on the road had dulled her ability to "read" people. Such mistakes could get a person killed! Walking to the edge of the camp, she stood, closed her eyes, and started to raise her arms...
Then suddenly remembered that no one here seemed to know that the "Entwife" had been her! In the heat of the battle, her instant transformation from tree to traveler seemed to have been overlooked. Birdie considered waking the sleeping wizard and explaining the situation to him, but rejected it for now. Some people were touchy about Skin-Changers, believing them to be, at best, spies, or at worst in league with Dark Powers. Best to sound out her companions a little more before revealing her one "talent".
"Well, no sleeping standing up for you tonight." she thought ruefully. Birdie fetched her pack, pulled an old woolen cloak out of it, and wrapped it around her shoulders. Finding a spot by the fire, she laid down on the cold ground, groping irritatingly around for a rock between her shoulder blades.
The black war steed lay across from her on the other side of the fire, gazing at the skin-changer like a cat curled up on a hearth. There was the slightest flicker of red deep within its eyes. Birdie shuddered, hoping it was a reflection from the dying flames between them.
"What are you looking at?" she muttered. She rolled over, her back to the horse, and tried to sleep.
[ June 30, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]
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