"I hope they give everyone new whistles," Zach murmured in an undertone. "I wouldn't want to be the one who gets the whistle back from Michael."Faith ...azed about her, beaming proudly. "That was fun. Let's do it again!"I felt Dr. Zelvetti's eyes on me, trying to drill through layers of dead, sodden flesh to reach what little life remained underneath. "I think," I said, "it all started because I didn't get quite enough sleep last night."Dr. Zelvetti's eyes lost some of their rage; but her hands. " No, I'm pretty sure I'm going to mean 'no' with every fiber of my being. And I don't suspect I will be easy about it. But you get to ignore it. Busy?" What?" Right now. What are you doing?" Uhh, talking to you." I married a fucking genius. So you don't really have anything else to do right now, do you." You mean now." Yes. Now. Bored, remember?" Wait, wait, wait. I need to know something." What else do you want? A bid? A summons?" Afterwards. What happens afterwards?" What's the matter? Don't. They talked. She of what she remembered of her life with the People and of the nightmare existence with the Followers. He of his repeated journeys to take as many of the People to the South as possible. Those that would come. Even with the rumors of the Ravenous Ones and the endless drought, some refused to leave the Dwelling Place.Despite his place with his tribe, he seemed very alone and she felt a lightness of soul that she couldn’t ever remember having. Maybe it was desperation on her own. As you can see by my gimpy gait, I’m still in need of physical therapy, and I’ve been hearing lots of nice things about your skills in that area from a couple of my cousins.”They both laughed at the sudden flush of color in my face. I said, “And as you can plainly see, I’m still not used to the freedom with which you people entertain each other. I can see that Gilleena has no objections, but Thoron might, and he’s not the sort of person I want to piss off.”Faenel got this playful smile on her.