She woke from her doze and sat up. Outside, she could see that full dark had fallen.
"I lived among the People for much time," she finally answered.
"How long?"
She thought for a minute. She had no idea how humans counted time. "One winter, then a leap winter. This would have been the third leap winter."
He appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Sixteen years. How old were you when...?"
"I don't know. I was learning to read when ther30;when the Outcasts came for my mama and daddy and...." she trailed off, swallowing. "The People took me in."
"Maybe three or four, then." He sat down across from her. "No wonder you won't eat meat. They taught you that, just like my father taught me r11;" he broke off suddenly, then started again. "What did you eat when you were with them?"
"Salt fruit. Spring fruits when they grew," she said, remembering. "Mosses. The People...helped me too." How could she explain? "When it was too bad, too cold, they took me Inside. Then I wasn't hungry anymore. And I was never hungry when I Dreamed."
"But they won't take you Inside anymore."
"No." She was Outcast.
"And you can't Dream now."
"No." But then she hesitated. Hadn't she Dreamed the other night? Or had she? Had it just been a regular dream, like the humans had? "Maybe. Probably not."
"Your face is pale. Are you hungry?"
She turned away and fell silent for a long time before admitting it. "Yes."
"You ate the meat last night. Why not now?"
"I..." she took a breath. "I just keep seeing the grazer. It was alive at sunrise."
He touched her hand. "I would bring you something else if I could."
This time, she turned to look at him. "Why? You know what I think of the hunting, the killing. Why do you even let me stay if you don't like what I think?"
Whalen stood up and turned toward the thin piece of wood that was nailed over part of the hut's wall. He stared at it. "I don't know. But I like having you here. I will not cast you out the way they did. It isn't human."
Neither, she thought, was she. But she didn't say it.
Mary unslung the pouch from her waist and, using the small knife she had found and started using, sliced into the vines that held it together. He hadn't had anything she could use for gathering mosses, so she had taken a piece of cloth and roughly sewed it together.
Whalen looked up from cleaning his furs. "What is that?"
"Mosses." Spreading the cloth on the ground, she gathered a handful and held it out. "They are there. Under the snow."
He took the proffered items and sampled them. "This is good. It's better than the moss I've found, even in the summer."
"I listened," she said. "I was quiet. The Earth told me where to look."
"You can still hear the Earth?"
"Yes. If I listen hard." She looked around for someplace to store the moss. "I can go back. There is more. Enough, I think, to keep strength."
He shook his head. "Not in winter. But maybe it's enough not to hunt so often."
She smiled a little. "Where should I put this?"
"I'm not sure."
He looked around, and then suddenly looked down at the piece of cloth she was using and went still. His face twisted and he stood up, advancing toward her. "Why did you use that? That's mine, it's her last message, you should have left it alone!"
She scrambled backward, trilling softly. "It was r11; it seemed to be the best for r11;"
"No!" Snatching it away, he sent the moss flying. "Don't ever touch that. Ever!" He was breathing heavily.
"I didn't know."
His hands clenched into fists, but then slowly relaxed. He took a breath. "Now you do."
Folding the cloth into his robes, he stalked out of the hut and jammed the mask over his head before picking up the laser bow and heading out into the woods.
Climbing to her feet, Mary went to the door and looked after him. Then she turned around and looked at the inside of the hut again. Moss was scattered everywhere, mixed too much with the dirt for her to sift out. They wouldn't be eating any more from this collection.
"Who were your parents? Your human parents, I mean."
He'd been gone overnight but had returned the next morning, carrying meat instead of bringing the carcass with him to butcher in front of the hut. She was able to eat this without gagging, though she had to do it slowly, a bite at a time.
She took a drink of water from the cup he'd handed her. "Biologists."
Whalen watched the fire before them. "Mine were too. But I was born a long time before you were. It must have been a different group."
"Where did they live?"
"Here."
"I thought they would have lived in the garden. Where we lived."
"The garden?" He was calm now, simply talking to her.
"The one that the Eden humans use. Do you know it? It is where I was born."
"No. We didn't live there. I'm not sure it was even built." He stared into the fire for a long time. She managed to get another bite of the meat down.
Shifting position, he took out the folded piece of cloth. "Do you remember how to read?"
"It was too long ago. With the People, I never needed to."
He spread it out on the ground. She stared at it, not moving.
"It's all right. Come here. Let me show you." His finger traced one of the marks on the cloth. "The letters mean different sounds. The sounds combine to make words."
She edged closer. "Why are you showing me this?"
"I want to show you why I was upset. This is special. It's the voice that answers all the voices. The Edenites brought it to me. They," he said, "are kind."
She cocked her head sideways. "If you know the Eden humans, why aren't you with them?"
"Because I am not kind." He pointed to her jacket. "Why aren't you?"
Now she stared into the fire. "I was not Outcast before I met them."
He reached up and touched the tips of his fingers to her face. "I'm sorry. And I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday. I'm...still learning how to be around real people. Other humans, I mean. The ones that don't invade your dreams."
She realized that she hadn't missed the Dreaming in several days, and she covered his hand with her own. It seemed the right thing to do. "I understand. Dreams are different now."