has the flu. Even his teeth ache. Despite the reluctance of the weather system, he’s slowing untangling the discordant strands, trying to see if he is dealing with more than one origin.

Tewow is communing with nature. His head lifts to the weak sunlight bravely penetrating through the veil of snow clustering on branches like leaves. His eyes are closed, and Diego can hear a faint rhythmic tone coming from his throat. Maddie’s at a cluster of shrubs a few feet away from a sickly-looking tree. She appears reluctant to approach the tree but is softly stroking the side of one of the shrubs while peering intently at the ground surrounding the tree.

Sully stands beside Ranger Brunner and Deputy Peterson, the three of them talking shop. Sully seems oblivious to the cold while Brunner occasionally blows on his cupped hands and the deputy periodically stomps his feet. Sully must have one of Wendy’s charms. Diego’s group has been tromping through the forest following Ranger Brunner for the past several hours. He knows that Maddie and Tewow probably have better insight, but his specialty is the weather, and it’s been the same kind of crappy at every spot that Ranger Brunner’s shown them.

He sees Sully reach into his pocket, pull out his cellphone then read his screen. Not only is Diego ready for a break from the cold, be he also wants to return to the motel to analyze the samples collected yesterday from the stream the body was found in. He asked Deputy Peterson to hold the samples until lunch and is now anxious to get started. The weather is trying to tell him something and he thinks the samples will provide further information.

“Wendy’s at the hospital with Libby and the rest of the group. They’ll leave within the hour which should give us time to walk to the SUV and head to the motel. Are you ready to go or do you need more time?” Sully asks the group.

Diego is certainly ready, and he hopes that Tewow and Maddie are as well. With gratitude, he sees them both nod their heads in agreement. There is a spring in Deputy Peterson’s step as he walks beside Sully as they follow Ranger Brunner out of the forest towards the parking lot. Their trek finally ends as they reach the vehicle and Maddie starts their SUV as the rest begin putting up their belongings. Diego sets his bag of handheld gauges in the back. He used them to measures barometric pressure, humidity, temperature, wind current, and the like. Sully brought a heavy-duty camera with a tripod that Tewow carted around which freed Sully up to carry his rifle case slung across his back and a shotgun in the crook of his elbow. Maddie reaches the rear compartment door and places the satchels she used to gather leaves and twigs on top of their equipment.

“Mr. Escudero, the sheriff will meet you at the motel with the samples from yesterday, then serve as escort back here this afternoon. I’m off to patrol. It was nice working with younz, I’m sure I’ll see you again before you leave.”

Diego nods his thanks as Sully says, “Thank you, Deputy Peterson. We appreciate your accompanying us this morning. We’ll see you this afternoon, Ranger Brunner.” They quickly climb in the SUV and Maddie begins driving towards the motel and food. Sully is in the passenger seat messaging back and forth, either with Wendy or Sepulveda. Tewow is quiet in the back seat beside Diego, appearing contemplative.

Tewow is a bit of a mystery to Diego. The GT didn’t test and identify their Psycept citizens when America and other neighboring countries did. Some people of the Greater Tribe chose to self-identify as Psycept and move near Psycept communities and help with petitions. Tewow is from the ABQ area, he didn’t have to move anywhere to be closer to Psycepts. He doesn’t work Psycept petitions, but he has several long-term Psycepts as apprentices in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine.

Most apprentices in other fields are three to four months probationary period. The Psycept learns what is and isn’t an acceptable use of their powers and signs a statement acknowledging that basically, they were taught right from wrong. Other apprenticeships are a year or so and the Psycept learns additional use of their genetic gift. This is what Diego went through during his first contracted year with the military, though he had informal training from his mother starting as an adolescent when his abilities first manifested. With Tewow, since it truly is learning to communicate with and treat a variety of animals, it’s a much longer apprenticeship. Kyle has apprenticed with Tewow for about six years and still has two to go. He compares it to vet school, internship, and mentorship in an eight-year program.

The noon meal dropped off this morning includes two huge pots of hearty stew and a large crockpot of vegetable soup plus a giant loaf of brown bread with butter. They left the pots warming on the stove when they departed this morning and Diego is salivating just thinking of lunch. They beat Wendy’s group back and decide to unload their equipment, grab chairs from their rooms, then they’ll all gather in Tewow’s room for lunch. Tewow has the same size room as everyone else, but with only one occupant, it seems larger. The motel doesn’t have a dining or conference room, just an enclosed area off the back of the office with a kitchenette filled with a two-burner stove, a full-sized fridge, a double-sink, a two-seater table, and a little combination washer-dryer tucked in the corner. The clerk, Jon, turned out to be the owner and lives at the motel, sleeping in the room just above the motel office. Diego wonders if he ever gets a vacation. In any case, Jon’s getting free meals for a few days in exchange for letting them use his kitchenette so that works out.

They continue bringing all the chairs to Tewow’s room as

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