or

Yikan bared her worn teeth. “Shall I name them?”
“I doubt we have the time.” Beshha flicked an ear as a line of light-blue-robed females approached the circle of stones from the northwest. “Why not list the things you can still do—at your age.”
“Enough time remains for me to see a few more wet-ears like you come and go at Jhii.” Yikan’s gaze across the open circle was uncomfortably direct. Beshha resisted the impulse to look away. “Which is sad—some of us still remember when Jhii was an honorable Line.”
She was spared having to answer by the arrival of Rebban’s Line Mother, Aan, and her sturdy contingent of daughters, all wearing their manes in long plaits down their backs. She watched as the dark-brown old female greeted Yikan, then took Rebban’s ancient seat, next to Kendd.
Rebban and Kendd. Beshha narrowed her eyes. They were the last of the conservatives who dictated little or no contact with the Outsiders, and today, for the first time, she was going to have the satisfaction of watching them overruled. That was what had drawn her out of the comfort of Jhii’s compound. The pattern she and the others had been courting for so many seasons was nearly complete. With Fik’s ascension to the head of Qartt, the Council lay beneath the claws of those who were not afraid to try patterns never before followed.
Qartt and Vvok had not arrived yet, but red-eyed Ankt still rode low in the sky. Soon, Beshha promised herself, her time would come. From this day on, nothing would ever be the same.

Heyoka’s body hummed with stored power as the yirn carrying him plodded toward the river. Until Nisk had finally persuaded him to soak in the thermal pool, he had not understood the difference g