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caught the scent of mouse as the brownie knelt and cupped her hands around her mouth to call down into the burrow's back door, making a dreadful ghostly noise. Seconds later a mouse shot out, straight into Balkis' claws. When she had finished the morsel, the brownie led her to another burrow, then another.
    As Balkis was licking her chops, the sprite asked, “Are you well enough to travel now?”
    “I think I am.” Balkis took a wobbly step but said gamely, “I shall walk as long as I may.”
    “Come, then.” Lichi turned away.
    It was a long walk for a cat whose strength had been depleted by injury. Lichi led the way, other Wee Folk appearing around Balkis as she followed. Several times, Balkis had to stop to rest, and the brownies stroked her, lending magical energy, and their strength revived her. She thanked them and rose to stumble on. During one of these rests she asked Lichi, “Am I in Hind or Persia?”
    “Neither,” Lichi said with a frown. “You have come into Bactria. Why would you think this was Persia?”
    “Because your language is akin to one I learned from some Parsi folk,” Balkis explained, “at least, close enough so that I can understand if you speak slowly, though there seem to be many words I do not know.”
    “Ah.” Lichi nodded. “Well, there were Persians who came riding here in conquest, long ago—then Greeks after them, though our mountaineers swallowed them up in time. Then the Persians came again to conquer, but the mountain folk swallowed them, too, over the years. They have left something of their language behind, though. Come, you must see some of our mountain folk.”
    Lichi led her to a farmstead, though Balkis found it amazing that a house, barn, and storage sheds had been built on such sharply sloping land. Even more surprising, the buildings stood straight, though they were of a style Balkis found most strange—circular and covered with earth, with grassgrowing on the roofs, yellow now, in winter. There were fenced enclosures near the outbuildings, but all were empty. “The cows, goats, and swine are closed in for the night,” Lichi explained, “but there are holes enough for a brownie, or a little cat. Come.”
    Balkis, tottering with weariness, followed as best she could. She fought down the urge to tell the little woman how queasy she was feeling, how weak, or that the headache had started pounding between her ears again.
    However, Lichi seemed to know. She led Balkis through a gap where two boards failed to join near the ground, into the warmth and earthy scents of a barn. “Only a little farther now, sweet kit,” she coaxed, and other brownies crowded close to encourage and lend energy by touches. They brought her near a sleeping cow, and Balkis had to fight the urge to shy away as she passed between its hooves. Lichi reached up to pull on a teat, and warm milk splashed in a puddle in front of Balkis. The delicious aroma filled her head and she stretched to lap it up eagerly.
    The cow came awake with a startled moo and turned to see who had so rudely awakened her, but Lichi soothed her with strokes on her hock. “There now, O Sweetest of Kine-kind, ye of beautiful eyes! Lend some little of thy milk to a poor starving kit, we beseech thee! Nay, kindest and most gentle of cattle, be not afrighted nor incensed, for such generosity to a poor injured creature will surely see thee reborn as a human babe when thou hast died!”
    Mollified more by the tone than the words, the cow turned back to her manger and took a mouthful of hay, suffering a few more pulls upon her teats with good grace. She hadn't really thought about reincarnation, of course. In fact, she hadn't thought about much of anything but food and warmth since her last calf had grown and gone away.
    Full of milk, Balkis suddenly felt the weight of her wounds and her long night's walk. She staggered; it took three brownies to hold her up and keep her moving while Lichi led the way again, saying urgently,