I went looking for him one day, and found his thighs wrapped around a swan maiden. He was so startled that he unwittingly changed shape. She got the shock of a lifetime, gold bristles or not. This last affair curdled something deep inside me. Afterwards, I shut myself inside the walls of Sessruminger with only my cats for company. Cats, I decided, had certain advantages over men. They were loyal without being sycophantic, independent without being absent, and affectionate without being rapacious. That they choke up balls of fur and leave dead rodents at my feet is unfortunate. But it is not grounds for divorce.