From the new book

'There can only be so many things that are true in the world. When your new truth arrives, some older truth must die.'    -Genen Joe

She went and dared to peer the canyon's edge, and in the sundimmed gloom she saw only dark, and shades of dark, and bits of trees and ribboned water.

Behind her came a shuffling, and Tulsa turned  to find a fishfat marten, dragging its ruin behind it with its sharp front legs. It showed her teeth and barked, blood from between its jaws- she could see all the white of its eyes.

Crying, shaking, Tulsa Brynne picked up an awkward rock and struck the marten with it till it ceased to claw at her- dropping the rock, slicing her hands, sobbing. 'Mean old cat!' she cried, and dropped the rock on it again, her vision blurred by the smoke, her tears.

When the marten made its rattle and convulsed, she fell roughly back into the rocks, past tent and arm, back into her dark shaft. She curled into a shape and clutched her fingers in her mouth, and thought- for the first time- about DEATH.

It had never been an applicable concept, before.

Tulsa Brynne was four years old.

Tulsa Brynne sheds light; coming down the staircase from the stained glass, she glows, backlit. Her shadow drops and drives each step below her. 

Today is Wednesday.

Tulsa wears a dark blue zippered jacket over cleanjeans. Mean Scene, cleanjeans- that's how it went. Her father bought them for her. She's too tall.

She is nearly fourteen, and she's taller than the boys. They torment her, but they'll beg later on. They know not what they do, what creatures they will soon become. 

The flow of students burbles smoothly through the atrium- jogging, knotting up and running rapids past the knots. She's tired, spaced, and stands to feel the beat of it.

Tulsa's pat betrays, dual buzzes at her belt and wristwatch, and she hitchHikes sharp to stop the watch. She heels the pat by hand, too noisy here to 'tooth. She sighs roughly.

She remembers her appointment. She gives one last look at the halldoor to the loading dock, and turns to face the stained glass ascent back to the Shrink, up to his postered doorway and his candlesticks. An appointment she's avoided for months.

It is still some time before she'll give us all our future.