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"So?" asked Vell, walking over to one of the pools. "What do we do?"

"Hala Spiritwalk said not to do anything until a korred guide arrives," Lanaal explained. "Most especially…" she reached over and grabbed Vell around the middle, dragging him away from the pool, "she said not to look into the pools till he gets here."

"Aye, good advice that is," came a voice. Vell, Kellin, and Lanaal all turned to find a little man standing directly in their midst, the top of his head barely reaching their chests. How he had arrived, none of them could say, though as soon as he appeared, a strong animal stench filled the air. His chest was covered with brown curly hair, and he walked on goat's legs with cloven hooves in place of feet. A small bag dangled at his waist, and a brown loincloth scarcely concealed his crotch.

"Welcome, friends," he said. He danced a circle around them, kicking and twisting those ungainly legs with strange grace. His dancing seemed as natural as walking. "My name is Tylvis, First Terpsichorean of the Clovenclan." He gave a little bow and stopped before Vell.

Looking to the others for confirmation, Vell bent his knees slightly and extended a hand, which the korred grasped in his hairy palm.

"Thank you for letting us come. I am Vell of the Thunderbeasts. This is Kellin Lyme of Candlekeep, and Lanaal Featherbreeze, late of Evereska."

"Lovely ladies both. Human and elf, one of yellow hair and one of dark." He winked at Vell. "The best of all worlds. Welcome to the Fountains of Memory!" Tylvis declared with a robust smile. "Many come seeking this sacred spot, and we don't usually mind. They come seeking knowledge, for this place remembers everything that happens in this world of ours. Mostly we let them slip by and stay unseen. No idea whether they find what they're after."

"What are they?" said Kellin, looking into one of the pools. It did not reflect the blue sky above, and when she craned her head out over it she could not see herself. The pool showed only an impassive, shimmering blueness. "How did they come to be?"

"Nobody knows for sure," Tylvis said. "We think our god Tapann made them, but he's not telling. They show images of other times and places. There's no predicting what they'll reveal. Sometimes the past, sometimes the present. But be wary-we've seen weak-minded humans, and even one or two elves, decide to jump into the pools. They never come out. Maybe they're swept away to the place they see, but we sure never see them again."

"Maybe they die," said Vell. "Drown."

"Could well be," said Tylvis. "I'll feel bad if you decide to take an unplanned swim. Otherwise, look! See what they have to say. Maybe nothing, maybe something. But look. Look and see."

"Those pools in the caves?" asked Vell. "Are they different from the ones on the plateau?"

"Hmm." Tylvis stroked his bearded chin and made an odd little hop on his goat legs. "Don't know, 'cept that of all those who vanished into the waters never to be seen again, the bulk vanished in there."

"That's where the most intense visions occur?" asked Lanaal.

"You could say that," said Tylvis. "Myself, I don't know."

"What do you see when you look in the pools?" asked Kellin.

"Oh, I never look in them," said Tylvis. "Nothing in there I need to know. The past, the present… what do such things matter to the Dancing Folk?" His smile was mysterious, unreadable-did Tylvis speak the truth, or some merry joke only he understood? "But you three go ahead. Make sure you stay on this side of the pool."

"That's all you have to say?" asked Lanaal.

Tylvis smiled a trickster's smile. "What more would you have me say, elf? So many have come here seeking wisdom-I don't know if they get it or not. So good luck. Hope you don't see anything you'd rather not have known." With that, the korred turned and hopped away down the plateau.

"Do we trust the goat man?" asked Vell. "If this place is sacred to his god, then why leave it so accessible-and why doesn't he treat it with more reverence?"