Cern isn't wearing the torc.

When he is in his own shaman dream, Dema enters it and leads him into the shared dream experience.

She dreams them into the same ancient oak forest they visited the night before.

She realizes that in the timelessness of the dream world this is the very forest where their past selves met.

She accepts that thought for both of them and it becomes so.

In this dream, as the first time, Cern is the stag-horned shaman, bare-chested, on his neck the very torc that hangs in his apartment.

Dema is the Lamia who has wandered up from the south into his tribal area.

At the point where they enter the dream they are already intimate, already accepted as such by the forest.

Now Cern is leading her to his home, to meet his people.

They arrive at the encampment that houses them, small huts of wicker and thatch erected in a natural clearing.

The people smile when they see he has found a woman.

There are several dozen of them, and she can sense that they are all quite naturally aware of the spiritual essence of things.

She knows they are aware of the power in her, and how it has already begun to mingle with that of their leader.

The antlers that speak of his connection to the land and its cycles of life and death are apparent, as is her aura of ancient wisdom and the healing power of the snake.

She shares Cern's modest hut.

At first she senses some disappointment in certain women of the tribe who feel displaced by her, who had hopes of winning Cern as a mate themselves. But they know it is tribal custom to seek a mate from outside, and she quickly wins them over.

All but one.

Her chief rival is a Seer, a woman of power and austere beauty, pale and blond, a daughter of the frozen north, wife to one of the tribe's most courageous men, until he died in a hunting mishap.

The Seer recognizes Dema as the Lamia, vilifies her to Cern with evil rumors, telling him twisted stories dreamed up long before by those of the decadent southern tribes who had run afoul of the Lamia, or merely feared her wrath.

These are the same stories that ever dogged her path and led her to venture north away from those contentious regions. Still they follow her, even here.

The Seer also speaks of Dema's shapeshifting ability, decrying it as something unnatural, evidence of a devious nature.

Cern does not listen to any of the lies.

He is the shaman, the natural leader here, and easily discerns the truth of the matter.

He quietly takes the Seer to task for allowing herself to fall prey to envy and upset the tranquility of his people with such distortions.

She apologizes for her unseemly behavior and says no more.

Cern's people live in harmony with the forest.

The women gather nuts, roots, herbs, grains and berries in season.

The men hunt or trap the abundant small game and an occasional wild pig or deer.

There is no set rule to this division of tasks, many of the men join the women in the harvest when it is at its peak, some of the women join the men in the hunt, or check the trap lines.

The children follow everywhere, watching and learning.

Seasons pass.

Dema becomes well accepted by the tribe, her herbal lore and other skills supplement those of the group.

She and Cern often wander deep in the forest, senses attuned to the abundant life around them, alert for any imbalance they can help resolve.

They treasure these times alone with each other.

Together with him she brings great strength to the tribe, her awareness adds to the native ability of these people to sense when harvest times approach or game needs to be culled to restore balance.

Dema is also recognized for her perceptiveness and ruthless judgment in defense of the innocent when conflicts arise.

This is valued for a time.

A wandering bard visits them on the occasion of one of their seasonal celebrations.

He composes a verse about the couple, and paints a depiction of them on the hide of a red deer.

In both verse and painting, horns symbolize the strengths they have become known for.

Cern is depicted with his stag horns, to symbolize his leadership in maintaining the harmonious pastoral existence of his people.

Dema is a snake with ram horns, the snake for her deep wisdom, the ram horns for the hard-headed judgment she has brought to the tribe.