He was no longer smiling. The girl who talked to the dogs was silent. He was puzzled. But he had the dogs to talk to. He could hear them.

Their voices loud enough but listening to them was like hearing an unfamiliar voice, saying words that were hard to understand. This is how it was for him, with dogs. But people he listened to were easy to understand.

There he is! He saw the big male, there, and now he is gone. He ran into the high reeds. But he could still hear him, and the female. They were scouting for the best route to...

That was odd, instead of walking to the bus station they were heading farther into the marsh. They were walking on to a peninsula, trapped. Easy to follow now. Ah, yes. He could just see it. A boat. The big male was thinking about a boat. They had a boat waiting for them. He laughed. The little grey female was thinking of the boat now too. She was looking at the water but there was no boat yet. Neither of the dogs liked boats, he could see that. And they were out of land.

He smiled, at last he would be able to talk to all of them at once. He was not afraid of the dogs. Nor was he afraid of the students, children really. He would make them understand things. He had to. Understand things his way.

He could see water on both sides of him now, ahead sky through the trees. Just through this copse of scrubby brush and he would be at the end of the finger of land.

And so would the little group. Atticus,the tall young man, a fast thinker from what he could see. Nasrin, adept and capable, she might have been the most formidable if she had a few years to mature. And Tayanna, and her dogs, she was wild and unpredictable, he would watch her.

He smiled as he stepped out into the clearing.

He was surprised. This was not what he expected at all.

Twenty feet in front of him the two dogs lay their backs to the water. Ears forward, eyes gleaming, they were waiting for him. But there was no one else. He looked quickly to his right and left, then back at the dogs. They were still focused on him. No one else was there. Slowly the dogs stood. The big male's mouth opened slightly, as if he was smiling. Then quick as lightening both dogs darted to either side of him and were gone. That fast. He frowned. Can dogs lie?

Slowly he smiled. His assignment was now interesting.