"Why not?" he wonders.

"I don't know. Because the people who don't know yet, won't ever? Even little witches who can't fly yet or go away from their daemons or cast a verse charm can feel it."

"I wish I could," says Kas. "I already don't know what it's like to have fur or feathers or echolocate or see ultraviolet or breathe water."

"Your soul knows those things," Bell says, gesturing at Petaal. "He - she? - I can't tell these things by looking in arbitrary species like Path can and sometimes he's not with me, what should I default to? - is part of you. So part of you knows it."

"I can't tell him, though," says Petaal. "Call me whatever you want. You can pick one and stick to it if that makes your life easier." She flicks her tail, tapping it against Kas's legs; he puts his hand on the top of her head. "I wonder if I could be a witch," she muses.

"Daemons sometimes help with rituals," Isabella says. "If I were going to do a ritual that had to do with Kas then it might involve you in some way. But that's probably not what you meant."

"I mean the way I'm a human sometimes," she says, laughing a little. "And a bear once. I've never tried witch, though."

"Oh. Interesting question," says Isabella. "I don't know. I've never heard of a daemon quite like you."

"There's daemons who settle human," says Kas. "Never heard of one settling witch, though."

"Never heard of one settling panserbjorne, either. But then, we don't know what governs it. People don't wind up with dinosaurs as daemons, and those were ordinary animals. Passenger pigeons can still happen even since their extinction, though."

"I was a velociraptor once," volunteers Petaal. "Jurassic Park-style."

Isabella grins. "Was it fun?"

"It was awesome," she proclaims.

"I was more of a fantasy creatures sort myself," says Path, "when I could change. Small dragons of various designs especially. After I gave up trying to settle as a firefly I wanted to be one of those, but it does seem to have to be a bird, not just anything that flies."

"Why do you have to?" wonders Petaal. "What makes you be something you don't want to be?"

"We didn't feel like a witch," Path says. "Until I found this sort of owl and began to be it. Being a witch was more important than being a dragon or a firefly."

"I've been lots of things, but we never feel any different because of it," says Petaal. "I'm going to try being a witch. When we're not in the middle of the street." She giggles. "Maybe you'll turn into a bird," she says, bumping her shoulder against Kas's leg.

"That would be bizarre," comments Isabella. "Bears' souls are their armor. If they made the same metal into a sculpture instead they probably wouldn't feel very bearish, would they? I think it's the same with witches and birds."

"I tried to be armour once, but it didn't work," says Petaal. "And Tina said it creeped her out when I was a bear, and I didn't want to do it again, so I didn't."

"Tina? And I wouldn't expect you could be armor. It's not an organism."

"Augustine," says Kas. "My best friend, in Quebec. She's a bear."

"I'm not exploring Rockland right now, I'm talking to you," he says reasonably.

"Yes, I know," she laughs. "But you were going to find and evaluate establishments." She sits in a drift of snow near the library door. "I don't know how long it will take you to do that and you didn't say how long you have to remain in this town."

"I'm gonna be here until I leave," he says. Petaal flops onto the ground and Kas sits next to her, snugggled up just behind her shoulder. "I don't get it, what's the rush?"