He looked.
She was lying in the grass.
One of the second twelve — one of the ones who had been there from the clearing's edge for forty-eight hours, one of the ones who had sprinted at him when he said 'should we go for another round', one of the ones whose three sessions over three days had put her at Core Formation Late.
She was on her back.
Her hair was dark and the grass was under it and the amber afternoon light was on her face.
She was looking at the sky.
She said, without looking at him, with the flat, present, entirely matter-of-fact delivery of a woman having a thought and stating it:
"You are leaving soon."
"Yes," he said.
"For the Giantess realm."
"Yes."
She looked at the sky.
"When you are in the Giantess realm," she said, "you will have other women."
He said nothing.
This was not a question.
"We will be here," she said. "We will be here after you leave."
She paused.
