ABSTRACT
Shelsan did not ask himself why he did not go straight to the Place, walk across the roofs to Mala’s house, call down to her. After all, he carried a message: he’d seen what happened to the mud people who grew all their food. Yet at Dak’s Cave he came to understand he was reluctant to deliver it. He knew what the People, especially Pinnak, would say, and so he delayed his return.
