"But there must be!"  I cast a desperate glance at the black mare, contentedly licking her first foal, while my fingers absently stroked the other baby's muzzle.  It lipped at them with toothless gums, trying to suck.  Kerovan's amber eyes caught and held mine.  The chilling distance that had lain in their depths when he fought the pull from the mountains was gone.  Replacing it was such sadness that I quickly laid a comforting hand on his arm.

I knew my lord had always felt closer to animals than to his own kind, for it is their nature not to judge by appearance, rather to respond to that which lies within a person.  The little castoff's plight stirred him deeply.

Those amber eyes... they tugged at me, their golden color awakening the ghost of an idea... amber...

My hand flew to cup Zwyie's amulet, clutching tightly that ripe amber sheaf of wheat entwined with grapes.  Gunnora!

I turned back to the mare.  "Kerovan, we must get some of the mare's own milk onto the hide of this little one.  Squeeze some onto your hands, then rub it over the foal."

He hesitated, as though he questioned what I intended, but instead obeyed without further comment.  I walked a little apart so I could see the mare, the two foals, both lying down now, and my lord all together.  The afternoon sun had darkened slightly as it edged toward its western bed, changing the sky's hue to near the amber of the pendant.  Overhead I sould see the faint white day-ghost of the moon's disc.  I closed my eyes, raising my face to that shadow of moon, picturing in my mind Gunnora as she is always described (though none can claim to have seen her with eyes of the body), for, time out of mind, she has been truly spirit.

A woman... ripe of body, yet slender of waist, with dark hair and eyes, wearing a mantle of rich amber, a precious amulet twin to mine....  I filled my mind with that image, holding to it with all the will toward life could summon.  Also silently I thought-spoke, words that held no proper shaping, yet welled up from my heart.

Gunnora... you who are mindful of womankind, our support and aid in times of pain and fear... you who nourish the seed when it is sown, who raise up the ripe fields... I ask your aid to waken and strengthen the will to motherhood here, so that one in great need will not die....  So may it be always by Thy will...

For moments counted only by the beats of my heart I held her image before me, striving to reach... touch -

A warmth spread from between my breasts, outward-flowing along my body.  Those dark eyes - they were no longer those of the woman in my mind-constructed image - they were real.  For a long moment they looked directly into mine.

Then that contact was gone, and the warmth that had been nigh unto heat gentled.  Blinking, I looked around, feeling the tough grass blowing about my ankles once more, then a caressing puff of breeze against my cheek.