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farm boy was coming in handy. I set it in the bag carefully.
    I carried the bagged herb back down the path. Now I could not run, lest I shake up the plant. Other plants might not care, but a shaken boneset was not good.
    I reached the glade. The unicorn was now quiet. The girl had dragged herself over and was cradling the animal's head. She spied me. “Oh! I was afraid you were gone!”
    “I was just getting this plant,” I explained, somewhat lamely, though in truth the two of them were the lame ones. The unicorn had a foreleg broken, and the girl seemed to have turned an otherwise serviceable ankle; it was beginning to swell.
    “Do you know anything about healing?” she asked.
    “Not much. But I thought maybe this herb might help.” Actually I was quite sure it would help, but something about being near to the unicorn, or maybe the girl, made me less assertive.
    “A stupid plant?” she demanded. “Horntense could make two bites of that!”
    “Don't eat it!” I protested, alarmed. “This is bone-set.”
    “What's that?”
    “A magic herb that sets bones. Let me plant it here, so it can operate.” I felt more confidence, having discovered that I knew something she didn't.
    I used my stick to dig a hole by the animal's broken foreleg. Then I slid the herb into it, and packed the earth around firmly.
    “Now if I can touch the leg—” I said, reaching for the unicorn's injured extremity. She did not shy away, so I put my two hands on it and drew it slowly toward the plant. I set it right beside the herb, touching it.
    Immediately the boneset's leaves quivered. Its stems reached out and curled over the broken leg. Vines tightened around it. Suddenly they clenched, and there was a muffled crack. The unicorn emitted a squeal of agony and jerked her leg away.
    “What happened?” the girl cried.
    “It set the bone,” I explained. “That's the herb's magic.”
    She looked at the unicorn's leg, which was now unbroken. “It did!” she breathed, barely believing. “The leg is better!”
    “No, it's just reset. It will take a few days to heal, if I find the right herbs. The animal shouldn't put much stress on it, meanwhile.”
    “She's not an animal!” the girl said crossly. “She's a unicorn.”
    It was no use arguing with a girl, so I didn't try. "A unicorn,” I agreed.
    “That plant—do you think it would work on my ankle?"
    I shrugged. “It should, if it's broken at all.”
    She turned herself around and put her leg out. I caught it and guided it to the boneset plant. The stems took hold, circling her foot and ankle, tightening. I saw that though her ankle was bruised and swelling, her bare leg was rather nicely shaped, under the dirt.
    “Is it going to hurt?” she asked belatedly. Her arms and face were dirty too; she had really sprawled in the dirt.
    “For a moment,” I said.
    “Hold me, then.”
    I had no experience holding girls, and was awkward.
    I sort of kneeled beside her and put my arms around her shoulders. She turned into me as she sat and put her head against my shoulder and her arms around my middle. There was something quite soft about her chest.
    The plant tightened. There was a pop. “Oh!” she gasped, her arms clenching around me.
    “It's done,” I said. “There must have been a small break, but now it's set. But you shouldn't walk much on that foot until it heals.”
    “It feels less worse already,” she said, lifting her head from my shoulder and squeezing the dampness out of her eyes with the bends of her wrists. “But I shall have to walk; I need to fetch food.”
    “I can fetch food,” I said, for no good reason. “I know how to find good things to eat.”
    “Oh, would you?” she asked eagerly. That made me feel good, for even less reason.
    I went out and cast about for things a girl would find edible. I could get by on stewed slugs, having verified that they were easy to catch and nutritious, but I suspected she would not. I was in luck: there was a pie tree