Clara ate a large meal and rested at the mayor-lord’s home. It was quaint and capable, lots of rough wood and a few elegant draperies. Then at dusk, she took a donkey she had also purchased and the monthly supply of the Eskiman tribe’s favorite peyote grown in the fields outside Rancher, and headed into the hill country, climbing toward Rocky Pen.

She rode the surefooted donkey as long as possible, before stopping to make camp for the night. Clara fed the donkey from her pack and removed a thermal blanket. She rested for three hours and awoke at dawn.