Kate had proved surprisingly pliant, no doubt as an effect of whatever painkiller the nurse had given her. This time it had come from a brown bottle, and been administered a spoonful at a time. She had taken to the idea of being spoon-fed by a pony surprisingly well, although the process was frequently delayed by Kate’s need to pet the nurse on the muzzle. Once the actual procedure—he couldn’t really call it surgery—started, Dale had given her a summary of what he knew of the ponies so far. The far-off look in her eyes made him wonder how much of it she was actually understanding.