A Little Conversation

 

Photo by R. A. Bird

            It was one of those mid-winter days when the sun shines almost painfully brightly on banks of snow. It might make a person feel like some remote planet, hot on one side and icy cold on the other.
            As you can imagine, Twigg had a lot on his mind. He had seen marvels in his relatively short life, though to him they were only business as usual within the confines of the Great Forest, as ruled by Ralph.
            The business with Rose, whom he had named and blessed in old form Saslingua, had left him wandering and wondering. He’d had no idea that naming her and singing to the fishy girl would change her as it had.
            Ramona could see that he was working on something, but she didn’t try to do it for him. Ralph let Twigg wander around thinking too.
            Berry and Bob just looked at each other when Twigg walked right past them. If cats shrugged, they would  have shrugged and raised their eyebrows. They missed their boy. He was there, of course, but distracted.
            Suddenly, Twigg stopped pacing and looked around at where he found himself. He wasn’t aware of how he had gotten there, but there he was, a little past Ralph’s big cedar log. No one seemed to be around at first. Then he saw Cherry!
She had fallen asleep in a brilliant shaft of sunlight shining down through the firs. Not even birds could nap in midair, but Cherry could!
            Blue was also asleep, but in the same beam of sunlight where it struck the snowy forest floor, creating a nice spot for a wolf to nap in
            “Cherry!” whispered Twigg. “Your sun spot is moving away. Better wake up!”
            She heard him and looked down at him. She looked startled.
            “I didn’t really mean to go to sleep up here. I was trying to show Blue how to come up with me, but she didn’t learn how and I got so sleepy!” said Cherry. “I thought maybe I could just pull her up with me and hold her up here and she could stay.”
            Twigg laughed. He was picturing Blue sailing serenely through the air, but he couldn’t quite get it to work for him. In fact, he giggled for the first time in many days.
            “I don’t think Blue will ever be able to float like you do!”
            “Twigg,” said Cherry, “I was afraid when you left that morning.”
            “I thought you probably were,” he said. “But I didn’t know what else to say to you.”
            “I think you picked the right thing to say. It was simple and plain. Whenever I would start to think about being afraid I would remember that you said not be afraid. So, I decided to trust you,” said Cherry in a rather long speech for Cherry.                 

            “Then I would sort of forget about being afraid.”
            “I didn’t know where I was going either. But I was curious, and I thought it might be important to go and find out,” said Twigg.
            “Was it important?” she asked.
            “In a way. But it’s hard to explain,” said Twigg. “It was about Rose.”
            Cherry slowly drifted down to ground level, and Blue woke up, sensing her presence.
            “I know,” said Cherry, and she smiled a wise, nosy little sister’s smile.
            Also, smiling, Maeve watched them silently from a branch high over their heads . She was just watching over them because she loved them. Then, when Twigg and Cherry and Blue walked down the path to the fireplace, Maeve herself floated along behind them like a sort of corvid angel.

❄

Saturday Greetings From Ralph & Open Thread, 8/30/2025

 

First of all, Ralph asked me to say that he thinks of you all, and he wishes you a whooopin’ good Saturday. He suggests that we all get out there barefoot and feel the zaps and tingles between our toes.

Next, he is willing to chat with Chuck, but only in person, in neutral territory. Perhaps at Jonathan and Sara Brown’s place on the res. Maybe with reliable witnesses, say Jeremiah and Miguel both.

(He would love to hear from you by the way!)

Also, he wants to let it be known that he is not, nor has he ever been, a bear. Not really. He has on a couple of occasions, possibly in a pinch of some kind, shifted to bear-form temporarily.

Nothing looks more ubiquitous to a certain mentality than a “bear” in the woods. 

He would like to point out that no bear approaches his size. That should be enough. But perhaps the mind fixed on bears needs more? Hard to say. He reminds us that no bear on this planet can pick up, grip and pitch a rock, an apple, a stick, a bottle.

He said not to go on and on about it, but he’s not a bear. Really.

He invites you to come to the forest, take a seat, and just see what happens.

Signed, Affectionately,

RALPH!XOXO🌲🍁🍂

An Invitation to September

🥀

Yes. It’s August still.

Days are tedious with the fan's spinning. Nights too.

It’s ripe to a fault. Heavy. Worn.

Here, a squash. Here a yellow pear. And then, cucumbers.

Sometimes, early, before the light is fully up,

I see a bit of you, September, in mist and softness.

So demure!

In all of this past summer, there were two small rain showers.

Even the cats seem weary of this lengthening of August.

So, welcome, September.

You will be glorious! 

August 29, 2025

🤍

Peek-a-Boo & Bears Too

 

            Well, you know Millicent, that writer for the Milltown paper, of course.
            Like so many other times, she was incubating a question. It was a rather broad, diffuse question, which could only be answered by Himself, the most Jovial Monarch of the Great Forest. Yes, it was a question for Ralph.
            So, as was the normal procedure, when she wanted a chat with Ralph, she sent a message by Maeve, who checked by Millicent’s fourth floor office window every morning. She asked Maeve to find out from Ralph, a good place, and time, for an interview.
            Maeve came back before Millicent went home for the night, with an invitation. Would Milly please come by for a midday bit of lunch the following day? Maeve said that Ralph said that she could bring her phone and her laptop, that he knew she wasn’t going to pull any fast ones, and besides, as it turns out, even if she wanted to, she couldn’t. And so, they weren’t afraid of her buzzy little human toys.
            Maeve said Ralph would meet her in the parking lot of the Ranger Station. So, that’s what they did.
            Millicent showed up at about 11AM. She parked the big green Escalade out by the woods, stuck her phone in her pocket, grabbed the now traditional Safeway bag of junk food treats, including some Slim Jim sausages for the cats and Blue, and got out. She shielded her eyes with her left hand, looking for Maeve or Ralph or anybody.
            She didn’t bring her laptop. Why carry it around for no reason? Her phone was a different story; a girl might need that.
            So, while this was going on, Ranger Rick came out of the station with a bag of stuff for the dumpster. Since, he was out there he said, “Ma’am, can I help you with anything at all?”
            “No…” said Milly, not knowing what to say.
            “I’m supposed to meet somebody here,” she finally said.
            “Oh!” Rick laughed. “Hang on, he’ll show up in a minute. He’s got a deal with that big bird. She has his ear, literally. And she’s always looking. Have a good day!”
            Just like Rick said, Ralph strolled out of the woods, bigger than life, and ready for a chat.
            “Hi, Milly! Glad it’s not snowy today!,” said Ralph, smiling at his old friend.
            “Well, you can see that I dressed for Byrd Station, just in case,” said Milly. “I guess I can always take some of it off.”
            “What’s the big question today, Milly?’ said Ralph, as they entered the forest.
            “Maybe I can present it better if we’re sitting down,” said Millicent.
            “OK, I can wait. Let’s get down to the fire. They all want to see you,” said Ralph. “Where is Byrd Station, by the way?”
            “Bottom of the world. All ice. Never melts. Story called Who Goes There, and all that jazz. Science happens there!” said Millicent.
            “Sounds like a fairytale,” said Ralph. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when he’s kidding. Heck of a poker face has Ralph.
            Ramona saw them coming and ran to Millicent. They hugged. Milly handed over the loot for the kids, and maybe for Ralph too.
            She met and admired Blue, Cherry’s new wolf, who was growing fast. She greeted the cats too. She shook Twigg’s hand and then hugged him. She hoisted Cherry way up in the air and twirled her around until they both got dizzy and nearly fell over laughing.
            Maeve, watched from a high branch. “Evermore,” she whispered to herself, happily.
            Then they all sat down, and looked across the fire at each other, quite fondly.
            Then Milly began, “So. I have people asking me constantly why the only thing they hear about you sons and daughters of the forest is why some of you, not you personally, but others, peek in windows and watch us Hairless sleep, or eat, or do dishes, or whatever. What is so interesting about us? They don’t get it,” she said. “Some of them say they have experienced this themselves. They still don’t understand.”
            “It does seem a little rude, in human terms,” said Ramona.
            “Think of it like this, maybe,” said Ralph. “What if you lived by an adorable little Hobbit village. What if you didn’t know that the village was there, and you suddenly found it in the woods, or over the hill in some meadow. I bet almost any of you would be very curious. You would be drawn to these little people, because of the novelty and how impossibly cute they were.
            “Maybe, well of course, you Milly would not peer into their windows, but some people would. There would be news crews with cameras. The next thing might be tours of the little village.
            “To tell you the truth, from a Forest Man point of view, you guys are so cute and little. It’s like watching TV, or a puppet show. That’s about half of it. The other half is self-defense. Some of you guys scare some of us, so some of us like to keep an eye out,  it's just caution.”
            “How do you happen to know about Hobbits, Ralph. You amaze me sometimes,” said Millicent.
            “I saw the whole thing with Rick on his laptop over at the Ranger Station! Heck of a story. Very long too!” said Ralph.
            Millicent just shook her head. “You know, your parents wouldn’t even understand your world,” she said.
            “I think I can button that up into a little piece about curiosity, perfectly natural, considering. I’ll bring in the Hobbits too.”
            While they had been talking, Ramona served fish for lunch. They ate a lot of fish. It’s easy to catch, easy to clean and easily cooked. She also had a salad of wild greens. Toasted Filbert nuts were for desert. Then there was a cup of coffee for the adults.
            “I’ll tell you a funny story,” said Millicent. “This is true! There is a lady, an accomplished photographer on the other side of the Sound, who says that all the evidence which people report about Forest People is all bears. She says bears stink, leave foot prints, make loud noises, get into mischief, tear open cars, and etc. She has Squatch proof vision. The funny part of this story is that there are no bears where she lives! So! Who goes there, indeed!” she laughed.
            “She has a whole little farm there, with chickens and everything,” she added.
            “Oh! I can see it all now,” said Ralph. “I’ll bet anything that there are a bunch of our peoples’ kids playing pranks over there. I bet they are shifting into bear form and prowling the area having a great time with her!”
            “Well, I  hope it doesn’t get out of hand,” said Ramona, but she  had to laugh too.
            “You’re probably right,” said Millicent. “And it does present a funny scenario.”
            Snow began to drift down on the party around the fire. They all watched it fall for a few minutes, just enjoying the silence and the falling snow.
            “I had better get on home now. Colin will be looking for me, and I want to get back to town before this snow builds up on the road,” said Millicent. “Thank you, for the lovely lunch, Ramona. It was the best thing I’ve eaten all year!”
            There were more hugs all around. There were promises to get together again soon. Millicent kissed Cherry, and Blue too!
            Ralph walked her out to the parking lot, so she didn’t get mixed up anywhere on the way out of his domain. The snow continued to fall and looked like it was going to stick.
            “Thanks, Ralph. It’s always wonderful to visit here! I love you all!” said Millicent.
            “We love you too, Milly. Be careful on the road. Not everyone is as skilled as you are! Look out for the goofballs out there!”
            “I will,” she said.
            Then she drove carefully back down out of the hills, thinking about the story she would write.

🐻

He Walked Into The Mountains

 

            One night, early in the fall of that year, the first snow came while everyone slept. Like dusty dreams, light and powdery, it sifted down to reach ground level. There wasn’t much, not in the Home Clearing, just a light frosting. Elegant. Restrained. Glamorous.
            The wind must have been sleeping somewhere too. The air was as still as air may ever be. Through this scene a single snowy owl drifted, silently, and passed on, finding no prey there.
            As morning neared, the wind woke and shooed the snow clouds away.
            A fiercely blue sky peeked down through the canopy.
 
            Inside, as the family slept, the wind spoke to Twigg as in a dream. “Come out,” it said. “It’s time. Come out now!”
            Twigg woke with a gasp. He found himself at home in the cave, in his bed, wrapped in the Gifting Day quilt. He pushed the dear old quilt tenderly aside. He sat up, putting his feet on the stone floor, steadying his mind, considering the message.
            Cherry woke suddenly. “Why are you sitting up,” she said to her brother.
            “I’ve heard a call. It’s time to go out now. Cherry, tell them that, and that I will return if I can,” said Twigg.
            “I will,” said Cherry.
            “Don’t be afraid,” he said, to comfort her.
            “I won’t,” she said.
            It was strange that Ramona didn’t wake. Normally, if her children were up talking before dawn she would have noticed, but she didn’t. Neither did Blue, nor the Puma Bros, nor Ralph himself.
            Taking nothing with him, Twigg got out of bed, walked past his parents, opened the clever green door, stepped out into the morning, and closed the door carefully behind himself.
            The first snow, if it appears suddenly overnight, is always a surprise. To Twigg the beauty of the moment seemed like a precious gift. He was also amused to see his breath appear like smoke in the air. This snow would stick around; it was below freezing in the Great Forest.
            “Walk this way,” the wind told his heart. It blew toward the high peaks. “Let’s go up higher!” it called. It blew some snow so light that it was hardly affected by gravity down on Twigg’s head to get him moving.
            So, Twigg walked. He left his home behind, and all of his life there. He walked a path that was seldom taken. It was long and rather hard and rocky going up that steep incline. He’d never been there before, but he kept going up higher, as bidden.
            The underbrush thinned and vanished. Only a few firs dotted this mountain slope. There was more snow on this path, but not enough to keep him from walking. He walked higher and higher, until he was far above the tree line. There were only the granite slabs and peaks and the sky.
            He stopped and looked around himself. All he could see were mountain tops and the sun in the empty blue sky. It was very cold up here, near the sky.
            The sun dazzled his eyes. He wasn’t seeing much but light, and the air was so thin that he was getting dizzy. His head was pounding, and he was hungry by now. If someone had been timing Twigg, they would have said that he had been walking for about four hours.
            He sat down right where he was and closed his eyes against the brilliant glare of the sun.
            “Why am I here?”  he asked. He wept a little, for he was young after all.
 
            There was thunder in the distance, and he could see a line of clouds building on the horizon, though the sun shone on as brilliantly as before.
            The wind came back, pulling the thunderstorm along behind itself. As Twigg looked at the line of storm clouds a darkness separated itself from the cloud bank It was the Changeling.
            She was dark, impossibly huge, but flying in the light. She hovered there before him with  the sun glancing off of all her blackness. Her piercing eyes searched his face with longing.
            “Please help me again, Twigg,. Free me from this darkness!” the Changeling said to him, in a way that only they two could hear.
            “I release thee,” Twigg said in the deepest, most formal words of the Old Language.
            Rose, the Changeling, entered the light before his eyes. All of her darkness was as if it had never been. When asked, in later days, he never could adequately describe this change.
            “Come with me?” she called to his heart.
            “Not yet,” Twigg whispered after her. Again, he wept.
 
            He felt like it was time to go home then, so he headed back down into the forest. The wind was at his back, so it was faster going home than it had been going up into the mountains. On the way down, Twigg nibbled a few shoots and buds, which he found near his path. He scooped and ate a few mouthfuls of snow, for he was very thirsty and tired.
 
            Ramona saw him coming from a long way off, and when he was in her presence she held him in her arms and didn’t ask any foolish questions. She rejoiced that her son had returned, and she saw that he was changed.

🤍

A Felicitous Tootsday to You All!

 

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat.

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp.

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears 

And water'd heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake, 1794

Suzy and Toots would like you to know how very much they like this old poem!

🧡

August 25th, A Picnic Kind of Day, Open Thread

One August 25th in 2012, at Kyak Point Regional County Park.

Everett is right below the bottom edge of the map.

Might as well enjoy the end of summer 2025,

in whichever way seems to fit life today.

All the best to you!

All Things New

 

            The rainy season was just barely beginning. Some nights were still clear and mild, and then some were damp and chilly. A few desultory yellow leaves drifted down in the Home Clearing and were tossed around by the wind. It made a pretty sight.
            Looking on, Ramona nodded and acknowledged the turning of the year. The children were growing up, and things were changing. She saw that it was good.
            Rose was beginning to pick up speech. Like with any child, first she learned names. She was delighted with her own when Twigg showed her a late blooming wild rose in the meadow. Cherry brought objects to Rose’s attention and told her their words. She helped Rose with pronunciation too.
            When Cherry rose and drifted in the air, Rose followed her flight with fascinated eyes.
            After learning the thing and name words, they all went on to intangible words. Rose learned fast because though in her life in the water she had never spoken, she did sing, so she understood about making vocal sounds. Or maybe she learned fast with a little extra help from Twigg or Ralph.
            Maeve also was very involved in the project. It amused her very much to hear Rose utter “evermore.” She also made sure that Rose understood raven and bird.
            Twigg hadn’t decided to make any big changes in his living arrangements. He told his mother that he was fine sleeping on the floor near Rose when it was rainy outside, not that rain really bothers the sons and daughters of the forest.
            Sometimes on special nights, when the sky was clear and the stars looked down, or the moon took her turn through the sky, Ralph and Twigg would camp out by the fire circle talking late into the night about life, and everything. They left the cave to the girls on those nights. We must assume that they were also chatting about life and everything in their turn.
            Ralph didn’t steer his son in any particular direction. He waited, with attention.
            One afternoon a tremendous thunderstorm blew in, the big brother of the beguiling summer breeze. It grew dark under the firs. The sound of deadfall crashing out of trees combined with the howl of the wind to make a terrific amount of noise. Rose wasn’t frightened though. She had seen many storms on the Sound and outside the Sound on the great Pacific Ocean. In fact, it pleased her like an old friend’s call. She watched it all with her mouth open and her green eyes shining, remembering her life in the sea.
            There were strobe-like flashes of lightning. It lit the mighty trunks of the surrounding trees intermittently. Great drops of rain blew in sideways, rendering everything sopping wet in no time at all.
            As Twigg and Rose watched the storm the tips of the firs swayed one way and then the other. Branches whipped in the rushing wind.
            Rose stood with the rain in her face, listening and hearing it all. She rose on her tiptoes and called out, “Happy! Happy!” She threw her arms in the air and twirled about, a creature of the tempest.
            The storm revealed her essential wildness to Twigg.
            The thunder bursts came closer and closer. It rolled and kept rolling. And in the dark flashing sky a mighty creature of flight soared over Twigg and Rose. Bigger by far than Maeve, black, appearing like a raven, wings appearing and disappearing in the flashes of lightning.
            It dropped down near the forest floor as if searching. It saw Rose there, enraptured, and called one long harsh call, then wheeled powerfully back into the wind, as if swimming in the very sky.
            Rose looked at Twigg and said, “Help me, Twigg! Help me! Oh help me! I must go, Twigg!”
            She became bent over with the power of her weeping and her desire. Her body pulsated with sobbing.
            So, Twigg gently helped her to stand. “I will,” he said.
            He stood her before him and took her hands in his, right on right and left on left. Then he sang a song of his own devising. It was a song of freedom and releasing of bonds, sung into the wind and rain with authority.
            Her hands slipped out of his grasp, and she rose into the wind, and was gone, transformed again. She followed the wind and the essence of the storm, rising over the peaks of the mountains.
            Twigg walked back to his home cave and stepped inside. For a moment his family could hear the crashing storm, then he closed the door.
            “Where is Rose, Son,” said Ramona.
            “She wanted to follow the wind, so I helped her, Mama,” said Twigg. “She’s gone.”
            “Are you very sad, my dear?” said his mother.
            “A little,” said Twigg. Then he smiled again.

A Friday Comment From Suzy on Saturday

 

 
            As I woke this afternoon, Friday that is, Suzy, who had been snugged in beside me, also woke. She looked a little concerned, in that very Cautious™ way she has sometimes when she wants to tell me something.
            “You look like a cat with something on her mind,” I told her.
            “Listen,” she said. “I’ve heard all this talk about that fishy woman being remade as a Daughter of the Forest. It’s a nice idea, but Toots and I think it sounds pretty “fishy” if you ask us.”
            “Oh come now,” I said. “I thought it was sweet! She will get to experience all the pleasures of life on the warm, pleasant land with others who love and care for her. It has to be better than hanging around in Puget Sound and rivers eating fish and singing weird songs out over the water at night to scare people.”
            “Exactly. You’d think she’d be grateful,” agreed Suzy.
            “I think she is! Did you hear how she ran up and down the riverbank on her new feet, throwing her arms in the air and shouting for joy?” said I.
            “Toots and I want to know how she knew to go to Twigg. What about that?”
            “I thought that was happenstance, or maybe a miracle,” I said.
            “You are a big softy, P-lady,” said Suzy. “What if this fishy person is still cold-hearted even though she’s wearing a new suit of clothes and walks the land?
            “We don’t trust her,” said Suzy. “We don’t want anything sad to happen in the story. You know?”
            “Now, who’s a big softy?” I giggled. “What would it take to convince you that she was reborn for real, that like the Velveteen Rabbit, she had changed?”
            “Oh. We didn’t think about that. You wrote it! You figure it out!” insisted Suzy, rather pointedly.
            “That’s what I’m going to do. In fact, I think I know what happens next, but I won’t tell. Your concerns have been noted. Tell Toots I appreciate her interest, too!” I said.
            “By the way, Willie is surprised that Twigg didn’t pop her in the bag with the rest of the fish,” said Suzy.
            “Well, he didn’t, and he wouldn’t. For one thing, she was too big to go into a burlap bag, and Twigg saw that she wasn’t only a fish,” I said.
            “Well, OK. But I don’t think anybody should turn their back on this Rose! That’s all. They should keep a little caution in mind.
            “We just want Twigg to be OK. You know?” she said and went about her business elsewhere in the house.
            “Don’t worry, Suzy,” I called as her tail disappeared around a corner. “Ralph will keep an eye on things! He always does!”
            “Maybe she reads my mind while I’m sleeping?” I wondered to myself.

A Rose In The Forest

 

 

            Summer was winding down. The nights in the Great Forest were becoming cooler. There was mist laying on the ground when the sun first woke the forest in the morning. The leaves of the softer trees looked a bit tired and worn.
            It was that sweet moment just before autumn begins in earnest.
            There would soon be rain, a lot of rain. This forest was, after all, built of rain, wind, stone, and the mighty trees.
            Maeve and Ralph were up early, conversing over by the river, so they didn’t wake anyone still sleeping, which was, in fact, everyone else. Ralph sat on that same rock where Twigg had sat when Rose had first appeared, with his feet also in the running water. Maeve, feeling the chill a little since she was a rather mature Raven, sat on his shoulder for the sake of the warmth.
            “Well, Boss. Now what will you do? You have a wolf at the door. Well, inside the door. The puma bros., a son who is nearly grown, a daughter, your dear Ramona, and now you  have this changeling,” chuckled Maeve, in her Raven voice, which Ralph understood perfectly well.
            “It’s more crowded in the cave than it used to be, Maeve. That’s for sure,” he said.
            “I’m a nosy old bird, I know it, but I have to know where you put everyone to sleep last night?” said Maeve.
            “We tried this: Twigg gave Rose his bed, and he slept on the floor at her feet wrapped in that big quilt Thaga made for him. We had an extra quilt which Rose used for her first night with us,” said Ralph. “It was not ideal, but for an emergency it was doable.”
            “Ah, Twigg. What a fine fellow he is, Ralph,” said Maeve.
            “I know it, Maevie, I know it. But he can’t stay on the floor forever. Something will need to change, and I have an idea. By the way, you called Rose a changeling. Why? Do you know something I don’t know?”
            “Maybe I was there, Boss, when he found her in the river!” whispered Maeve. “What he said is true as rain, as far as it goes. There is more to it,” she said. 
            “It’s a nice quiet morning, everyone is sleeping. This is a good time to tell the tale, dear old bird,” said Ralph.
            “Very well. As I flew up the river yesterday, just feeling the wind, and drifting upstream, I noticed a large silver creature swimming up our river. Something I had never seen before. It was like a fish, but not quite fishy enough, if you know what I mean. As I looked I saw arms, a long finny tail, and drifting hair in the current.
            “When I got up to the very spot where we sit now, I noticed Twigg sitting here, summoning fish, as you taught him to do.
            “I lighted up high in that tree over there, silently, and watched to see what would happen. I could imagine several possibilities. Some good, some bad, some merely nothing at all.
            “What did happen was this. This finny woman, for such she was, gazed upon Twigg through the water. She swam near him where the water is shallow and slow, and she sat up. I could see that the water woman was enraptured by what she saw. Twigg is a remarkably handsome young thing!
            “He spoke to her. He gave his hand to her, and he drew her from the water to sit beside himself here. He named her, though she didn’t speak, but only nodded.
            “Oh, Ralph, here is truth, though it sounds like a fairytale when I say it. He took her face between his hands, and he blessed her and held her, and as all of heaven and earth is my witness, she changed. She became as you are. I saw this. I am a true witness,” said Maeve.
            Ralph looked long out over the running water. At last he nodded and smiled.
            “There is a lot to be done, Black Leg. Much to be done!” said Ralph.
            “Ramona will be a mother to this changeling. We will all speak to her until she speaks back to us. So it will be,” said Ralph. “Cherry will teach her to play.”
            “I will be her father,” said Ralph.
            “Yes, you will,” said Maeve. “And I will watch over her from the sky,”
            “The rest is for Twigg to decide,” mused Ralph. “I wonder how it will all turn out!”
            “Whatever Twigg decides will be good. You know that, Boss!” said Maeve, giving him a little bit of raven side eye.
            “I do know that. Now, how about we go home and build up the fire for Mona! Anything to aid cooking something for morning is a good thing!” said Ralph.
            “It’s always a good thing when Ramona cooks,” added Maeve happily.
            “Let’s go, I think I was born hungry, Maeve,” said Ralph.
            

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