"Oh, like some ancient stone ritual? A little hocus pocus."
  Her back stiffening, she began pressing the stones harder into the ground. "Today I prove my merit, and my brother gets to be a warrior."
  "Oh, he can't do it without you?" asked Barry.
  "No," she gestured towards a little boy, maybe seven, struggling to carry a basket of rocks towards them.
  The fire smoked now, as Patawanyme sprinkled wet grass like spices into soup. "What are you running from?"
  "Some seer you are," said Barry. "I was running from a monster -- a girl I used to know. She was right behind me when I saw you."
  "Was," she said. "You're funny."