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paused, puzzled.   It felt as if there were a wall just a few inches outside of the window’s edge, blocking her access to the right side of the window, and yet there was nothing there.   She could see there was nothing.   It was very strange.
    She was obviously overwrought, she decided, so that her imagination was conjuring up walls where there were none.  
    She tried to move toward the outside wall to the left of the window, but her legs struck an obstacle there, too.   There was definitely something in the way.
    Irritated, she reached out a hand and shoved, hard.   The something didn’t move.
    But a blasting sound erupted.
    As the noise ripped through her eardrums, Katara cringed, realizing she’d tripped an alarm of some kind.   Below the high-pitched wailing, she heard the thud of booted feet on the stairs and realized her opportunity for escape was evaporating.   She looked out of the window, then reached outward, feeling no mysterious obstruction.   Jumping forward appeared to be a viable option.
    There was a roof below her, but it was a good ten feet away and thirty feet down.   In her animal form, she wouldn’t hesitate.   But she wasn’t sure she could make it in her human form.   If she missed, she’d fall to her death.   And even if she made it, she could easily break a leg.   Thirty feet was a very long way to drop in human form.
    But if she didn’t escape now, she’d be trapped in this tower, and in human form, for the rest of her life.  
    Behind her, the heavy metal door slid open.   She scrambled to a standing position on the ledge, gathered her legs beneath her…
    And jumped.
     
    *****
     
    When Katara slid back into consciousness, she felt a throbbing in her skull.   Not as agonizing as the pain she’d felt last time, but certainly not pleasant, either.   It appeared she was doomed to headaches as long as she dwelt among the Antler Kindred.
    She opened her eyes to see Hart looming over her, his dark eyes filled with anxiety.  
    “What happened?” she said foggily.
    Some of the anxiety faded from Hart’s eyes, to be faded with irritation.   “You tried to jump to your death,” he said in a low growl.
    She thought for a minute, trying to remember exactly what had happened.   “I did no such thing,” she said at last, haughtily—or as haughtily as she could manage, considering she was supine on a cold stone floor.   “I was attempting to jump to the roof below.”
    Hart blinked at her.   “Are you mad?   It was too far away.”
    “I think I could have made it.”
    “In your animal form, possibly.   In human form?   Impossible.”   He sighed.   “I knew you would try something insanely reckless.   I knew it.”
    “I intended to climb down the tower,” she said with dignity.
    “Oh, well, that was certainly not in the least insanely reckless.”
    “It wasn’t reckless!” she retorted.   “There were numerous handholds.   But I couldn’t get out of the window for some reason.”
    “A force field.   The windows of the keep have them, to prevent children from falling to their death, or despairing lovers from taking their own lives.   A sensible safety precaution, designed by the Ancestors when the keep was built.   It also keeps out insects.”
    “A force field?” she repeated, perplexed.
    “You cannot see it, but it behaves like a wall.”
    She was impressed by the Antlers’ ability to create such a thing, even though it had thwarted her attempt.   “A magic wall,” she said, unable to keep the awe from her voice.
    “It is not magic.”   She could see condescension in his smile.   “It is technology handed down to us from the Ancestors.”
    “I see,” she said, although she did not.   An invisible wall sounded like magic as far as she was concerned.   “Well, I was unable to get to the wall beside the window, but I could reach forward.   When I heard you coming, I decided to jump to the roof below.”
    “So you jumped forward with