Letter XXI (Foofri to Cordy)

Dear Cordy,

You said you didn't know if you believed Muse when he said he'd be back with a letter tonight, but you can believe it! This is probably the quickest response to a letter so far, but current events call for urgency! Sean is following in a day or so and will fill you in on anything I've missed, but let me start from the beginning so you can fully understand how what I've discovered here in the Outskirts affects you and your alarming circumstances!

The Outskirts are not at all like we've been led to believe. There isn't a lot of visible magic, I doubt very many people even know it's there, but someone with a trained eye can see how it's been seamlessly inserted into civilization. All the public works, for example, have been modified with magic. Even what little I've seen of the agricultural layout has been touched by it in some way. The main town (I would even go so far as to call it a small city) is thriving, busy, and very pleasant.

But I have not enjoyed my time here as much as I should. Sean's father and stepmother have been kind and welcoming, I just haven't had anything to do! Marilea offered some of her dresses, which I altered to size and Seamus taught me to fish using only a rod and line, and instructed me in how to clean and cook my catch (I hid my repulsion well when he showed me how to pick the poor creature up, but I couldn't quite hide my horror when he demonstrated how to bash the thing's head in with a rock).

And even though Marilea took me around and showed me everything and introduced me to some very nice people, I felt restless and alone.

I suppose I expected Sean to come and see me. Not an unreasonable idea, after all we'd been through together, but he didn't come. I remembered that he wanted to investigate a few things, but surely that wouldn't take two whole days. The point is, I got tired of waiting and decided to seek him out myself.

Seamus told me earlier that Sean had what he called a “little hermit house” in the forest about a half a mile past the town boundaries and hinted at some basic directions, not thinking I would actually go see him. Since it wasn't too late at the time, I thought I'd stroll on out and see what was keeping him so busy that he couldn't even drop by to see me.

It wasn't until I passed the last houses and stepped into the thick woods that I wondered if making the trek alone might be a little foolish. But, I argued with myself, I was well armed with a very effective protection spell (Muse was absolutely right to include it in your estate protection plan!) and besides that, I had already lived through two separate and very dangerous wraith encounters and was none the worse for wear (aside from being scarred for life, that is). So I kept going.

The forest wasn't too bad, frankly. Just dark and filled with all kinds of noises and with a strong hum of energy which coursed through the air and made the forest seem alive and slightly menacing, but I did a very good job of trying to ignore the feeling (imaginary, I'm sure) that I was being watched.

The path took me deeper and deeper into the woods. I cast an illumination spell to light my way and tried to sing as many annoyingly cheery songs I could think of to keep my spirits up. Just as I finished a pathetic rendition of the normally rousing 'Jalwa's War Ballad' (and thought I might hyperventilate with fear), I saw a few meager lights through the trees in the distance. Quickening my pace, I soon emerged into a little clearing with an eccentric looking house built against the side of a small hill. I rushed to the door and knocked several times before spinning around to scan the forest behind me. It didn't look so bad from where I stood as long as I didn't focus on what appeared to be dark shapes moving within.

All of a sudden, Sean's voice came from somewhere by the door. “Who's there?”

Whirling around, I searched for the source of the voice. To the left of the door, I found a metal tube with a small horn on the end. I cupped my hands around the horn and yelled into it, “It's me, Foofri! Can I come in?”

I heard a low curse on the other end and then Sean appeared in front of me with an angry look on his face. Without a word, he slipped an arm around me and transported us into his entry way.

“What were you thinking?” he blurted, once we reappeared. “No one goes into the forest at night! Not the forest by Seven Oaks, not this forest, not any forest! It's common sense!”

“I'm sorry,” I said indignantly. “But it wasn't quite nightfall when I set out.”

“Jalwa spare me!” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “There is no keeping you out of trouble, is there?”

“I'm not trying to cause trouble, I just haven't seen you in a few days and wanted to make sure you were all right. Besides, if you'll notice, I'm not actually in any trouble, everything's fine. You can relax.”

“Relax,” he repeated in a dry tone, “of course.” He sighed. “What am I going to do with you?”

“How about a tour?” I asked, brightly.

He looked up, incredulous. “A tour?”

“Yes,” I replied, “Aren't you going to invite me in?” I moved towards the room beyond, but he put out an arm to block my way.

“I don't know if that's such a good idea,” he said.

“Why?” I asked, trying to duck under. “Ashamed of your untidy bachelor ways?”

He stepped more firmly in front of me and rolled his eyes. “No.”

“You're entertaining someone and you want privacy?”

He raised his brow and gave me a pointed look.

“A woman, no doubt,” I added (just for fun).

“No, Foofri,” he said, making it clear he was done with this line of questioning.

“Then why can't I come in?” I pleaded.

He stared at me for a moment and chewed his lip, deciding. “All right,” he said, hesitantly. “There's something I want to show you anyway.” He shook his head and made that little disapproving noise as he led me into the main room (which was much cozier than the exterior led me to expect).

“Why the old hermit house in the middle of a dark forest?” I asked, thinking about the contrast.

“It's a great place for experimenting with magic,” he shrugged. “My work doesn't bother anyone or cause undue alarm.”

I snickered. “Just what kind of experiments are you doing out here?”

He turned around and gave me a slow smile. “That's what I want to show you.” He stared at me again and held out his hand. “Come with me.”

He led me up the stairs into a remarkable little laboratory. Thousands of tiny lights hovered and bobbed just below the pitched roof, illuminating every inch of the tidy space. A large mahogany work table, scrubbed and polished to a shine, filled one corner. Covering the walls behind it were thaumaturgical charts of elements and spell components, carefully written and numbered. Next to these were tall bookcases lined with brightly bound spell books.

Running my hands over the books, I noticed only about half were in Realm. “What languages are these?” I asked, moving to a row of slim volumes with dark, shadowy covers. I felt a soft touch at the small of my back while he reached out to pull away the hand that traced the intricate silver lettering on the spines.

“Nirabian,” he said softly. “But no spells for their famous flying carpets, sadly. That's a carefully guarded secret.”

A stack of garrishly covered books at the bottom of the shelf caught my eye. Kneeling down, I touched the thick, wildly patterned tomes. “I'm guessing these are in troll.”

I could hear the smile in his voice. “Good guess,” he said, “and, not surprisingly, they're mostly recipes.” He took my hand again and pulled me to standing. “But that's not what I wanted to show you.”

As he led me past the bookcases, my eyes passed over an old familiar-looking brown leather volume lying alone on the bottom row of the last shelf, but I didn't have time to investigate. In the opposite corner were more shelves, but instead of books, they housed hundreds of tiny cubes, each one filled with a shimmering, undulating substance. In front of the compartments stood a large glass-like chamber, identical to the cubes on the shelf, but large enough for a grown man to stand in and wide enough to fit several people.

“What in the world...?” I said, moving to stand in front of the rows and rows of mysterious little compartments. I wanted to reach out and touch them, but I didn't dare.

“The physical counterpart to my charts,” he said, gesturing to the wall I had first noticed. “These,” he said, showing me the first few shelves, “are elements. These over here are spell components from all over, not just from the Realm. I put as many as I could into separate chambers, even the volatile ones, so I could experiment with them.”

I shook my head and gazed at the vast number of cubes lining the shelves. Each had a number etched on the side which matched its spot on the shelves and its description on the charts. My mind couldn't quite comprehend the possibilities. “Amazing,” I finally said, “but some of these are very powerful. Isn't experimentation a bit dangerous?”

“Yes, which is why I built this, too.” He nodded his head towards the large chamber before reaching over to pluck two elements from the shelves. “Watch.” He tapped the side of the chamber with the cubes and I watched in amazement as the walls of the cubes vanished and the elements spilled into the chamber, fusing together. Grinning widely, he said, “The spell chamber combines them so I don't have to. And when I'm done,” he paused and tapped the glass yet again, “I take them apart and put them back.” The blob of silver which had been hovering inside burst apart and reformed into two separate elements, streaming back into their little cubes and into Sean's hands. He replaced them on the shelf and turned to me, awaiting my response.

“So the chamber combines whatever you put in,” I began, “and then takes them apart when you've finished observing.”

“Or when something goes wrong,” he added. “The parameters of the spell chamber safeguard against any possible danger.”

“So you can try out a spell before actually using it.”

“Precisely. Nothing that happens within the chamber is permanent.”

“I really could have used this in my advanced potions class, you know. My professor winced every time I walked through the door.”

Laughing, he said, “Yes, I use it to teach basic spell construction. When I'm teaching that is. It has definitely helped prevent a lot of disasters.”

“May I try?”

“Be my guest.”

I perused the shelves until I found the cube I was looking for. “Be ready to put this in,” I said, handing it to Sean.

He gave me a dubious look. “What are you doing?”

“You'll see.” I leaned against the chamber and pressed into it. Soon, I felt the solidity of the wall begin to give way and I stepped into the center.

“How did you know it could do that?” Sean asked quietly, peering into the chamber without touching it.

“A hunch,” I said, shrugging. “Now put that cube in.”

“All right,” he said, still sounding skeptical.

As he pressed the cube in, I spoke a few words, weaving the element in myself. It shot forward and suddenly I felt tiny dots of searing pain on my face. I heard Sean cry out and then a vigorous tapping as he recalled the element. The pain stopped and I pressed myself out of the chamber. “Did it work,” I asked, turning my face up to him. “Are my freckles gone?”

“Yes, it worked, Foofri,” he replied. “But your freckles are not gone anymore. Nothing that happens within the chamber is permanent, remember?”

“That's all right, I'll just do it again outside the chamber.” I reached for the cube, but he held it away.

“Don't you dare,” he said.

“I hate these,” I said, pointing to my cheeks. “I've always hated them. Do you know how rare that element is? I'll never have another chance!”

“Foofri, that isn't why I showed you this!” He held the cube above his head. “Besides, I happen to be very partial to your freckles.”

“Oh, please,” I said, still reaching, “no one likes freckles.” Sean looked up at the cube and whispered something. I made a final lunge, but it was too late, the tiny compartment shattered and the element inside evaporated immediately.

As the remnants of the cube fell to the floor, we stood quietly just looking at each other. The sound of woodland crickets came in through the open window, but I could still hear Sean swallow. I suddenly realized how close we were standing.

“I'm sorry,” Sean said finally, looking down at me.

“No, you're not.”

“No, I'm not,” he admitted, lifting his hand to my face. “But I would have been very sorry to see these go.” He lightly traced a haphazard pattern over my cheekbone with his forefinger. “Especially this one.”

“One?”

“Yes, there's one right here, all by itself.” He cupped my chin in his hand and gently rubbed his thumb just above my mouth. “I've wondered for a while what it would be like to...” His words trailed off as he slowly lowered his head to mine. I could almost feel the pressure of his lips when he suddenly dropped his hand and turned away.

“What?” I asked. “What's wrong?”

He went to the window and looked out, shaking his head. “For three days, I was so good,” he began. “I stayed away from you and kept myself occupied. Then you appear, like magic, and within minutes I can't think about anything else.”

Moving to stand behind him, I reached out and touched his back softly. “I wondered why you would flirt with me all the way from the Realm and then drop me flat once we arrived here.”

“I told you that wasn't flirting,” he said, still not turning.

“Then what do you call it?”

“I call it...getting very distracted.”

“From what? I thought you were supposed to escort me out here.”

Shaking his head again, he spoke slowly. “I didn't go back to the Realm to fall in love, Foofri.”

I thought for a minute before replying. “You went to find your stepbrother Ben.”

He turned around and looked down at me. “That's right, and I need to get back and keep looking, not to mention finish this business with the Stones.”

“There's nothing wrong with a little romance along way, though, is there?” I reached up to placed both hands on his chest, but he took them by the wrists.

“I also promised your father I had no intentions towards you,” he said.

“Not exactly,” I argued. “If I remember correctly, when he asked if you had intentions, you neatly side-stepped the question by saying that wasn't why you came back to the Realm. You never actually said anything specifically about me.”

“I keep forgetting you were eavesdropping,” he said with a scolding tone. “It doesn't matter, though, I clearly implied that I had no intentions towards you and I won't betray his trust.”

I pulled my hands away and stepped back. “No? What about riding double all the way through the Pass?”

His face turned hard. I could tell he was angry with himself. “That won't happen again.”

I turned away from him, trying to ignore the heavy feeling in my stomach.

“I should take you home,” he said. “Marilea is probably sick with worry.” He laid a hand on my shoulder and spoke the words to the spell. In a moment we stood outside the door to his father's home.

Marilea was sick with worry. In my haste to see Sean, I hadn't told anyone where I was going and she'd been all over town, looking for me. Now she made me stand in front of the fire to warm myself (even though I was perfectly warm) and went to dish me up a plate of dinner. Sean and Seamus talked quietly on the sofa while I absently browsed the pictures over the mantle.

I didn't realize what I was looking at until Marilea came in with a tray. I was so focused on one of the pictures, I didn't hear her come in and she had to nudge me gently to get my attention. I shrugged her hand away and pointed to the image. “What is this doing here?” I asked.

It was a picture of Jamin Winterfast. His arm was around Marliea and his mouth was turned up in a handsome smile.

The room went quiet. Marilea's face turned sad. “That's my Benjamin,” she said softly.

“Benjamin?” I repeated, my whole body going cold at the realization. “BENJAMIN?” I looked at Sean. “Jamin Winterfast is your step-brother?”

Seamus jumped up from the sofa before Sean could do anything. “We don't use that name in this house,” he said harshly.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Sean demanded.

Marilea drew herself up. “Phillip Winterfast is Benjamin's father,” she said. The cretin who had left her before Jamin was even born, but that wasn't the point.

“Does that mean he's the grandson of Cassius Winterfast?” I asked.

Seamus narrowed his eyes at me. “Yes, why?”

I retrieved the society pages you sent me and showed them to Sean. “Look.”

He snatched the pages and eagerly read the parts I had pointed out. When he finished, he looked up at his father with an accusing expression. “You knew,” he said. He kept his voice calm, but I could tell he was seething inside. “And you knew I went looking for him so why didn't you tell me?” When his father turned away, he lost his control. “Why?” he shouted.

Seamus spun back around. “I didn't want you to find him! I didn't want you getting involved with the Stones!”

“The Suldan Stones?” Sean demanded angrily. “What do they have to do with this?”

Marilea cast an anxious glance between father and son. She laid a hand against Seamus's cheek and looked up into his eyes. Then she left the room without saying anything. The silence was so uncomfortable, I wanted to follow her, but I knew I needed to hear whatever came next, as painful and awkward as it might be. I quickly sat in the nearest chair while Seamus paced in front of the fireplace.

“One of the things Marilea and I had in common when we met was that we both were keeping secrets about parentage from our sons.” He stopped and looked at the picture on the mantle. “For Marilea, she didn't want to give the man who abandoned her the honor of acknowledging his name to his own son, even though he'd never know it. For me,” he paused and looked at Sean. “Well, it was your mother who had secrets she didn't want known and I agreed with her. But some secrets can't be kept forever.”

He took a deep breath and continued. “Sean, you already know your mother descended from a long line of magii, but you didn't know she was from the Demestheln line. The Sedgwick Demestheln line.”

“You mean the one who disappeared with the Stones all those years ago?” I asked, shocked.

Seamus nodded. “He took on a new identity and came to the Outskirts with the Stones. They were secretly passed down in the family with clear instructions of what they could do and, more importantly, that they should never be used, especially together. Above all, they were to be protected and never allowed to fall into the hands of someone who might wield them.”

“Which means they should have come to me,” Sean whispered.

“Except your mother didn't want you to bear that burden,” Seamus explained, “or the temptation. I kept them hidden under the floorboards of the house, thinking they'd stay there forever and eventually be forgotten.”

“What happened?” Sean asked.

“Ben found them,” Seamus replied, “I caught him in the act and he was unable to procure them for a certain grandfather who had long been obsessed with the Stones.”

“You mean Winterfast,” I stated.

“Yes, Winterfast was somehow able to trace Sedgwick Demestheln to the Outskirts and sent one of his lackeys, Lieutenant Gavin Farnswall, to investigate. Marilea said he always knew he had a grandson in the Outskirts, but apparently he didn't care until he and Farnswall traced the Demestheln line to this very house. According to some letters I found in Ben's things, certain promises of parental acknowledgement and wealth were made to Ben. The letters also mentioned the Stones and how much old Winterfast wanted them. Ben was to discover their whereabouts and take them to the Realm. He didn't know what they were, only that they were his means of escaping the Outskirts. When I thwarted his plans, he left with Farnswall and joined Fort Thunderhall.”

“That doesn't explain how the Stones were returned, though,” Sean said.

“I knew Ben would be back for the Stones sometime and that I had to get rid of them permanently.”

Realization dawned on Sean. “So you sent them back to the Realm, hiring soldiers from the Fort to carry them through the Pass. That was the mysterious package that Ben stole and I took the blame for!”

Seamus smiled sadly. “That was the decoy package, for Ben's sake. I had to make sure he thought they weren't here.”

“But they're not here!”

“No, instead I asked a very reliable source to return them to the Demestheln vaults in Imperial City. I also asked that source to keep an eye on you, should he ever cross your path.”

“Alain Montphish, Foofri's father,” Sean said, wryly. “He's known about this all along.”

“He knew about the Stones, yes,” Seamus answered, “but I didn't think he needed to know about Ben or Winterfast or,” he paused again, “that I'd been communicating with Master Blivius of the Imperial Magii Council about destroying the Stones for good. Blivius knows more about the Stones than anyone else and knows how dangerous they are. They're to be kept in the Demestheln vaults until Blivius discovers a way to eliminate them.”

Sean stood up, his eyes hard. “Blivius is dead.”

“What?” Seamus gasped.

“He was found murdered days ago,” Sean answered. “Winterfast must have found out he was going to end the Stones and ended him first.”

Seamus cursed, clenching his jaw. “And the Stones?”

“As far as I know, they're still in the vault,” Sean said.

I thought about everything that had happened and decided I should probably go ahead and impart what I knew, come what may. I cleared my throat loudly and they both turned to me with questioning eyes. “Actually, Winterfast sort of talked Cordy into stealing the Stones from her own vault. I think he may have tricked her into thinking it was a reasonable idea.”

“She's staying with Winterfast right now,” Sean explained to his father. “They're neighbors and she's...oh, nevermind!” he yelled at his father. “All of this might have been prevented if you had simply been forthcoming about the Stones! And about Ben! And about my mother!”

“I didn't know any of this would happen! I was only trying to honor your mother's wishes, you can't blame me for that!”

Sean glared. “I have to leave now. I need to get back to the Realm as fast as possible to prevent whatever Winterfast is planning. Before I go, you should at least tell me what the Stones do that makes them so dangerous.”

His father hesitated, considering.

“Father, please!”

“They connect to your mind,” Seamus blurted. “And they can destroy it!”

“Go on.”

“There are five Stones, one to accompany each of the five senses. The most powerful Stone is the Sight Stone, which, when you hold it in your hand it allows you to see whatever you're thinking about in real time, be it person, place or thing. The next most powerful is the Sound Stone which allows you to hear, and so on with the Stones of Scent, Taste, and Touch. There isn't a happening in the world that wouldn't be completely open to someone who possessed the Stones. No conversation would be private, no strategic meeting would be secret, do you understand? They're the ultimate weapon of knowledge.

“Unfortunately, the Stones are so powerful, when they connect to your mind, they begin to devour it. Without even realizing it, the user eventually goes mad, particularly if using more than one Stone at a time. That's why Sedgwick Demestheln vanished with them all those years ago. He knew he had to prevent them from ever being used.”

Again Sean pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. It was too much information to take in all at once. “I understand why you thought it would be best not to tell me,” Sean said, his voice forgiving, “but I still have to go.”

“Yes,” Seamus answered, resigned. “You'd better hurry.”

“Wait,” I said to Sean, “shouldn't I come with you? I'm involved with this, too.”

He took me by the shoulders and looked me square in the eyes. “Foofri, I really need you to stay here where you are safe and where you won't distract me. I know Cordy is your family, but she's mine, too, and I'm not going to let Ben or Winterfast or anyone else hurt her.”

I slumped in defeat, knowing he was right. I knew you and Father would feel better, too, if I was safely out of the way as well. So I gave in. Sean said goodbye to his father and asked me to walk him out.

“Would you mind terribly if I stayed at your house while you're gone?” I asked him. “I appreciate what your father and especially Marilea have done for me, but I need some time to myself right now.”

He looked skeptical.

“What?” I asked. “Ashamed of your untidy bachelor ways?”

He almost smiled as he recalled our earlier conversation. “I'm just worried that you'll spend all your time in my lab trying to get rid of your freckles.”

“Do you honestly think I would spend time on something so frivolous when so much is at stake?” I said, knowing he'd see my hedging for what it was. “Oh, fine. I do want to spend time in your lab, but I promise I won't touch a single freckle. I only want to further my education, there's nothing wrong with that, right?” I could see the idea appealed to the teacher side of him.

“You promise you won't do anything foolish?” he demanded.

“Truly, I won't,” I said, raising my right hand. “And I'll keep everything neat and tidy.”

He hissed through his teeth. “It's very difficult to say no to you right now, Foofri.”

“Good. After all, I'm the one who has to stay here and wait and wait for someone to write to me that everything is fine.”

“All right, go get your things and tell Marilea.”

When I came back, he transported us to his house and raced up the stairs to his bedroom. “Come on up while I pack,” he called. “I can tell you how things work around here.”

While he shoved things into a bag, he gave me the passwords for entering and leaving the house (only after making me promise I would never go out at night again!) and briefly explained a few other quirks about the house. We went back down to the main room once he finished.

“I want to say 'Be careful' but I know I don't have to,” I said, my chest aching as he got ready to leave.

“Of course I'll be careful,” he replied, his gaze intense. “Don't worry about me. And don't worry about Cordy. Between Ardaya, your father, and myself, she's going to be okay. We'll get this whole Stones mess sorted out once and for all.”

“All right,” I whispered. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” Then he leaned over and placed a kiss so light I could barely feel it on my trembling lips. When he finished, I turned to leave the room, not trusting myself to hold back the tears, but before I could reach the stairs, he suddenly appeared in my path, causing a collision.

“I should have known,” he said hoarsely.

“What?”

“That if I finally kissed you, one wouldn’t be nearly enough.” Without hesitation, he pulled me into his arms and kissed me quite thoroughly this time, his lips lingering much longer than perhaps they should have. Finally, he murmured something against my mouth and just as I realized what he was doing, he disappeared, leaving me clutching at empty air. This time I made it all the way to his room without interruption and promptly threw myself across the bed for a good long cry.

Which wasn't the best position to be in when Muse showed up with your letter. Oh, the teasing I had to endure before I could get in a single word! I wanted to read the letter in haste and send off a response so you would know everything I'd discovered as soon as possible.

And now you do.

If only I had found out what the Stones do before you experimented with them, dearest! When I think about what might have happened to you! And here I thought that Winterfast had unwittingly given you the idea to take the Stones when all along he was plotting to get them for himself. I wonder, does he know as much as Damorin seems to know about them? And was he really the one who killed Blivius or had him killed?

I was so relieved to find out you'd already separated yourself from him! I wonder if Jamin knows about what's going on and how much of his attention to you is genuine. I wonder what happened when he showed up with a decoy package! I suppose Winterfast couldn't exactly turn his own grandson away, especially if he didn't know anything about the Stones.

Of course Sean will tell my father and Damorin everything once he reaches the Realm, but since Damorin already knows about our correspondence, there's no reason not to tell him immediately upon receiving this missive. He certainly is protective of you and doesn't seem to care one bit about the power of the Stones.

Also, I doubt he cares one bit about the princess either. What a nasty cat she is, stooping to childish outbursts and threatening you behind closed doors. As if you didn't have enough problems. You'd think she and Winterfast were in league or something, trying to get you out of the picture. Can you just see them plotting together? Ha, what a laugh! I'd like to turn him into the scratchiest of woolens and force her to wear them on the hottest day of the year!

As for Sean Valerian, I'm even more confused now than I was before. On one hand, I think I know how he feels about me, but on the other hand I'm not sure what he's going to do about it. On one hand, he seems very adamant about staying away from me, but on the other hand (you're right, four hands would be marvelous!) it doesn't seem to take much to overcome his self-control. I just hope he stays safe and that you all are quickly able to clear up this mess with the Stones. Also, congratulations on finding another Demestheln to share the family scandal with! How does it feel?

With all my love,
Your Foofri

P.S. I am enclosing the first few chapters of my memoirs. This is hardly the time for it, I know, but I did have a few days of free time when I first got here so I scribbled out a series of dramatic narratives about my adventures. Would you mind dropping them off at Mme. Dorthwany’s for me? Thank you, dearest!

Letter XX (C.D. to F.M.)

Dear Foofri,

I have not yet received your letter, but hope that Muse will not linger overlong at his family reunion. Too much has happened here to delay writing it down, now that I have a moment.

As soon as I had dispatched Muse with my last letter and your munches, I slipped back over the wall to Winterfast. Although I had planned to snatch at least a couple of hours of sleep, I found myself far too keyed up to lie down. So instead I got dressed, patted a little invisibility powder on the shadows under my eyes, and dashed off to the Justicum to register my new house security. I had to move back home as soon as possible, and since Damorin’s stipulation was that I reinvent my wards, I hoped that Muse and I had been able to do just that. I got there fifteen minutes before the Imperial City Magic Patents office opened. (And frankly, it’s ridiculous that I’m not allowed to alter my own property spells without registering it! Bureaucracy!)

I practically pounced on the little old clerk when she made her appearance (two minutes late). And then I stood by the counter trying not to drum my fingers while she hung up her hat and pulled out her spectacles.

She began to read through the plans, and pretty soon she started making little interested noises like “Hmmm,” and “My, my,” and once “Ooh!” I hoped this was good, and as it turned out, it was. When she had at last finished reading, she was positively flushed with excitement. “Such an inventive use of the allowed security permutations!” she enthused. “Just between us, my dear, it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. One of the best!” She actually patted my cheek before toddling off to get my file and her official seal.

I admit, I’d worried a little bit about some of Muse’s more original flourishes, but clearly I needn’t have. When this adventure is over, perhaps you could get rid of him by encouraging him to set up his own security firm.

The clerk came back looking anxious. “Oh dear, Magi, I’m afraid there’s been a hold placed on your file. I’m not authorized to allow any changes to your property.”

“Magi Ardaya?” I asked in resignation.

She nodded. “I’m afraid you need his signature. After that, I’ll process you right through. Priority.”

She looked so apologetic that I couldn’t show my frustration. Instead I smiled hopefully. “I don’t suppose you know whether he’s in the Justicum?” I knew that the Patent office must have access to the Justicum Locating System. It’s only supposed to be for official business, but she brightened immediately.

“Just between us, I’ll check,” she twittered, and darted away. A minute later she was back and beaming. “He’s in his office!” she chirped.

“Thank you!” I called, already running out of the office. If Damorin left his office before I could get there, finding him quickly would be impossible.

Despite my hurry, I took a moment to gather my composure. As I’m sure you can imagine, I felt a bit nervous about meeting him so soon after what had happened the night before at the ball. But I needed his approval of my new security before I could move back home, unless I wanted Justicum guards barging in again. With my luck, they would show up just as I was on the verge of figuring out how to use the Stones, and then I really would be under arrest instead of protective custody.

Reminding myself not to sound overly urgent lest my sudden and immediate desire to move home raise suspicion, I knocked firmly on the door. There was no answer.

Cursing my luck, I contemplated my options. I could take my best guess and try chasing after Damorin. I could go back to the office and beg the clerk to take another peek at the JLS. Or I could see whether the temporary password Damorin had given me when I was his apprentice still worked and slip into his office to check his appointment book.

It really wasn’t much of a choice. I wrapped my hand around the doorknob and muttered the word. The lock clicked and the door swung open. Exhaling in relief, I stepped forward and froze. Damorin was there, and he was not alone. Ameliorene lifted her tear stained face from his chest and looked at me.

After a brief moment of shock (and I don’t know why I was so shocked), I overcame my first impulse to slam the door and run away and said brightly, “So sorry to interrupt, but if I could just get your signature, Master.” I waved my plans at them.

He gently pushed Ameliorene to one side as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. “How can I help you, Magi?” he asked, coming forward.

I was suddenly blazingly angry. “Sign here,” I snapped jabbing at the appropriate line.

Of course he took the plans and flipped back to page one, leaning against the doorframe as he read. After a minute, Ameliorene slipped past us. For the first time in my life, I felt sorry for her as I watched her go. I wouldn’t have thought Damorin even noticed her departure, except that he swung the door shut behind her.

When he’d finished reading through the security plans, he looked at me and simply asked, “Underwear?”

“It’s innovative and highly effective,” I said stiffly. Actually, I think that spell must be a staple of Muse’s. I did try to talk him out of running it as a trip wire around the property, but he pointed out that no one would be prepared to guard against it, so I had to give in.

“You didn’t write all this yourself,” he stated, rather than asked.

“No, I had help from a Muse.”

“Your Muse?”

“My cousin’s,” I said coolly.

“So that’s how you’ve been communicating.” We locked gazes, and then he smiled. “And Valerian swore up and down he could handle a single schoolgirl. I wish I could see his face when he finally notices the wool over his eyes.”

I thought about the Suldan Stones at home and the wool that was hopefully in place over a certain sparkly somebody’s eyes. “You’re not angry that we’ve been writing letters?” I asked cautiously.

“Why should I be?”

“Well, you’ve been upset over everything else I’ve done,” I said frankly.

His smile faded, and he regarded me with an expression I couldn’t quite identify. “Cordelimaera—”

“Are you going to sign that or not?” I demanded, fairly sure I didn’t want to hear whatever he was about to say.

He signed it without saying anything else. “Thank you,” I muttered, practically snatching it out of his hand, and then I hustled out the door and down the hall.

But I didn’t get very far. A door just in front of me was flung open, and I had to skid to a stop to avoid running into Ameliorene. At first I thought it was just an unhappy coincidence, that she’d ducked into an empty office to finish crying. But all traces of her tears had disappeared, and she looked as beautiful and composed as a marble statue. “May I have a word with you, Magi?”

There were about three billion things I would rather have done, but I wasn’t quite reckless enough (yet) to deliberately provoke a royal.

I followed her into the office and braced myself, but her first question was the last thing I would have expected. “Your mother died when you were very young, is that right?”

“Yes,” I said, momentarily bewildered.

“The reason I ask,” she began, turning from closing the door to face me, “is that there are things you should have learned from a woman’s guiding hand. Really, you’re hardly to blame.” She said it reassuringly, as though I’d come to her for advice.

“I don’t follow you,” I said, although I had a sudden suspicion about where she was taking this.

“When you throw yourself at a man, well, you only make yourself ridiculous.” Her voice was so sweet, that anyone not looking into her icy blue eyes would have thought she actually cared about me.

“You’re angry because Damorin kissed me last night,” I said. “Well I can tell you that it wasn’t my idea. If you don’t like it, take it up with him.” I tried to leave, but she wouldn’t step away from the door.

She’d lost her calm expression, though, and her voice shook a little as she accused, “You tricked him!”

“How?” I asked innocently. “Do you actually think he thought I was you?”

Her face went white, except for two blazing spots of color in her cheeks. “Stay away from him!”

This would have been a good point to tell her she was welcome to him. After all, why would I be interested in a man who comforted one woman in the privacy of his office less than twelve hours after passionately kissing another? But I was too blindingly furious to think straight. I sighed, affecting weariness. “If only he would let me.”

Her hand flew up, and I thought she was going to slap me. But she stopped it at the last second, and instead rested one finger on my cheek. I refused to flinch.

Her anger was gone, and she was simply cold as she said, “I want Damorin Ardaya. I will have him. And no disreputable little flirt is going to stand in my way.” She drew her finger suddenly down, and I felt her sharp nail slice my cheek.

I wish I could say the reason I didn’t punch her in the nose was because I refused to sink to her level. Actually, I happened to remember that assaulting a royal is grounds for banishment. “Excuse me,” I said with exaggerated politeness and stepped around her, then out the door.

After getting the official seal on my security plans, I took a taxi straight back to my house, not bothering to go to Winterfast to collect my things. I could have them sent over later. Right now, the only things that mattered were the Suldan Stones.

All alone in the house (I’d given the staff a holiday after I’d moved to Winterfast), I went into the workroom and pulled out the pouch that had been hanging around my neck, underneath my robes. Untying the drawstring, I took a deep breath and emptied the contents into a silver dish.

Five gray pebbles, just smaller than the tip of my little finger, rattled into the plate. I hadn’t had any definite picture in mind, but even after seeing the small size of the pouch, I couldn’t help expecting something more spectacular. I feared I’d fallen prey to another of the Masters’ decoys and that all the work (and accompanying drama) of the last twenty-four hours had been for naught.

I found I had absolutely no idea of what to do next. I’d been counting on the Stones themselves to give me a clue. Usually, a magical tool gives you a clue about what you’re supposed to do with it. You look into a magic mirror, you put a magic ring on your finger, you eat a magic mushroom. But what do you do with a handful of pebbles?

I picked one up and rolled it around in my palm. It looked and felt like an ordinary rock. “I wish Muse was here,” I muttered.

Suddenly, I smelled a hint of smoke. Alarmed, I replaced the Stone and turned to investigate, but the odor had disappeared completely. Feeling jumpy, I double checked the closest strands of my new security wards, but nothing had been disturbed.

I returned to the workroom and selected another of the Stones. If Muse were here, I thought ruefully, I would actually welcome his stream of endless information. Surely centuries of experience would have given him some ideas. And as if my wish had summoned him into being I heard his unmistakable voice say, “Not a position for publicity of course, but I still feel…” I spun around, still grasping the pebble but the room held no one but myself. “…brilliant young mind, she already holds a position of importance in the council,” Muse said, and I stared at the Stone in my hand with growing comprehension.

I reached into the basin and picked up the Stone I had held previously. Once again the smell smoke filled my nostrils, but this time it was chokingly thick and loaded with incense. A voice I did not know coughed and said irritably, “Where does Rasputin get off? That entrance was flashy
enough to set the room on fire!”

A third Stone was in my hand and I felt the tile beneath my feet fade to lushly piled carpet and my eyes began to water from invisible haze. With the fourth Stone your muse at last came into view, sipping from a long stemmed goblet and talking to another creature who might have been his twin if judged by noses. The unknown was glaring very hard at someone or
something across the decidedly foggy room. I picked up the last Stone and the tang of smoke and incense rested on my tongue.

Our muse’s voice once again made itself heard above the general hubbub of a room filled with his floating, eating, drinking, bragging relatives. “Magi Fofricianabelle has, of course, not yet finished her education, but she already exhibits amazing promise in talent, not to mention that she is practically engaged to one of the leading men in that magical revolution taking place in the Outskirts. And as far as personal charm goes, there’s really no comparison between the cousins. The younger is the most amiable and courteous…”

I laughed out loud, then froze, instinctively afraid I’d given my presence away, but no one so much as looked in my direction. Muse kept bragging about us to his bored looking relative, and I began to explore his family reunion.

It was like I was there, Foof! I couldn’t alter the appearance of anything, as I discovered after experimenting with a plate of honey tarts on the buffet, but I could lick them and enjoy the taste of the chocolate drizzle on the top. I could sink into a pile of luxurious cushions and appreciate their softness even though I made no indentation on their surface. (It was a bit awkward when one muse, so fat he found levitation a bother, sat right on top of me, but I wiggled out and he never knew the difference.)

I had been there perhaps ten minutes when I noticed the voices seemed to be getting shriller. Rapidly, before I quite realized what was happening, the room rushed in against my senses—I was blinded by the colors, drowning in the softness of the carpet, saturated in the sweetness of the smoke. I felt my mind expanding to take it all in, stretching unbearably. I was lost in a terrifying circus of awareness; I was becoming my sensations.

Somehow I knew that if I couldn’t stop this, I would never be myself again. In another moment I would lose my sanity. With a final defiance of will, the last particle of me that was still Cordelimaera, I remembered my own hand. Forcing open my fingers, I dropped the Stones.

I don’t know how much time passed before I regained consciousness. I couldn’t remember why I was lying on the floor or why my head hurt so much. I sat up and opened my eyes and immediately regretted it. The room swam sickeningly and I promptly passed out again.

I was lying chained hand and foot in the palace dungeon. Princess Ameliorene was repeatedly banging my head with a jar full of turquoise fireflies. Gradually I realized I was still lying on the floor of my workroom, somebody was knocking with great insistence on the front door and
the butler was on holiday. If I had been one whit more coherent I would have let whoever it was knock themselves into the Outskirts, but all I could think of was that I had to make that awful pounding stop. I had to answer the door.

The walls did their swirling act again as I staggered up, but steadied when I grasped the edge of the table. They remained still until I took a hesitant step toward the doorway. I made it as far as the hallway before the ripple of the floor grew to tossing waves, and I clutched the doorsill,
helpless to advance any further. The knocking, to my great relief, suddenly ceased. But it was only seconds before a violent snap and an acrid scent filled the air. I realized someone was breaking through the security spells, but stopping whoever-it-was was about as possible as walking in a straight line. Colorful swirls were dancing before my eyes when I heard the
final wards give way and slam the door open. I stood swaying and thought I heard a faint cry before I blacked out yet again.

This time when I came to, my surroundings were soft and warm. I opened my eyes and saw the well worn furnishings of Grandfather’s study lit by a comforting glow. I was lying on the broad sofa where Grandfather used to do his “deep thinking,” and a fire crackled cheerfully on the hearth. I lay quietly, until I remembered everything that had happened.

I was left with two impressions. In the first place I felt peeved that I’d wasted what might be my only chance with the Stones to watch the Muse and his obnoxious relatives. And second, I wondered just exactly how much trouble I was in and whether what I’d done actually qualified as a crime.

I wasn’t going to get any answers lying on the sofa. Moving carefully, I stood up and went to look for Damorin. (I could think of only two people who would break down my front door. The first was whoever was trying to kill me. Since I wasn’t dead, I supposed it had to be him.)

I found him in the kitchen, stirring a saucepan. I was leaning against the doorway, trying to catch my breath, when he saw me. “Cora!” With an expression of concern he crossed to take my arm. “You shouldn’t have gotten up.”

I leaned on him gratefully as we walked to the table. Although the floor was now steady (mostly) I felt very weak.

“How do you feel?”

“Awful but better,” I admitted.

He took my wrist and felt my pulse before going back to the stove. A minute or two later he set a bowl in front of me. “Here.”

With memories of a recently unfriendly stomach I eyed it doubtfully. “There are pieces of dead chicken floating in there.”

“Eat,” he ordered.

I forced down a few bites, and then it seemed to taste better and I realized I was hungry. “I didn’t know you could cook,” I said, when I had finished.

He smiled, a little wryly. “That’s the only thing I know how to make.”

“I almost flunked domestic magic,” I confessed. “I kept setting the kitchenette on fire.”

He laughed at that, and so did I. It was oddly serene moment, considering all that had happened.

“How are you feeling?” he asked again.

“Much better,” I declared, trying to sound cheerful.

“Tell me what happened.”

Too late, I wished I’d played up my lingering headache. “I picked up the Stones and—”

“From the beginning,” he interrupted. “Tell me how you got them out of the vault.”

“Foofri’s muse,” I sighed, and told him the whole story, beginning with my first trip to the vault to collect my jewelry and scan the catalogue. “And then I went back to the ball.” I stopped abruptly. He knew what had happened after that.

He had watched me intently during the recital, and now his gray gaze didn’t waver as he asked, “Before you met me, were you running away from someone?”

“Just Jamin,” I said hastily, relieved the question was no more awkward.

“Why?”

“Because … well …” It was harder to answer than I’d realized. “Because I didn’t want him to kiss me,” would have been the most truthful, but if I said that, then maybe Damorin would think his kiss had been a welcome exchange, which I wasn’t sure that I wanted him to think. But I wasn’t sure I didn’t want him to think it either. “Does it matter?” I temporized, avoiding his gaze.

To my relief, he didn’t pursue the issue, but took my empty bowl over to the sink. He didn’t return to his chair but stood by the window, looking out across the dark gardens. “What happened after I saw you this morning?”

“After I came home,” I began, censoring certain other events of that morning, “I took the Stones into the workroom. I emptied them out of their bag, and then … I didn’t know what to do. They were so utterly unlike anything I’d been expecting. I was wishing Muse—”

“The one who helped you steal them?”

“Who helped me borrow them,” I corrected. “And, well, that was all it took. It was incredible. I could see, hear, taste, smell, feel …” I trailed off, remembering the incredible vividness of the experience.

He was looking at me now, and not out the window. “How many of the Stones did you use?”

I shrugged. “All of them.”

He stared at me for a long moment, but it wasn’t until he spoke that I realized how angry he was. “You stupid girl, nobody is supposed to use all five at once.”

“I’m not stupid!” I flung back. “I let go of them as soon as I realized.” Well, that may have been a slight exaggeration, but in principle it was true.

“It’s a miracle you didn’t drive yourself mad.”

“I have a right to use the Stones.”

“You had no idea what you were doing!”

“And whose fault is that?” I demanded.

He ran both hands through his hair and took a deep breath, visibly forcing himself to calm down. “Stephanus made me promise not to tell you until I thought you were ready.”

I was too tired just then to realize the implications of that. “I am ready! I’ve been ready!”

“For Jalwa’s sake, Cora, you just lost your grandfather.”

I stood up too fast. “Don’t call me that! Nobody calls me that!” My words sounded too loud in my own ears, and the floor buckled beneath my feet. I vaguely remember grabbing the back of my chair and feeling it give way under my hand.

When I woke up it was morning. I lay in my own room on my own bed, feeling grubby in yesterday’s clothes. The first order of business was obviously a bath. As I carefully swung myself out of bed, the room remained blessedly stationary. I also seemed, with the exception of one side of my face, to have stopped aching.

As I passed my dressing table I caught sight of a note from Damorin propped against the
mirror. He said that he had had to go out, and for Jalwa’s sake, would I stay put until he got back. I looked up after I had finished reading, and was startled out of my miff by the vision in the
mirror. Quite aside from my braid which had frayed into a rat’s nest, the right half of my face sported an ugly black bruise from where I must have fallen against the worktable the first time I lost consciousness. (A much nicer term than fainting, don’t you think?) The other part of my face was shockingly white, except for the red line of the princess’s scratch.

I am sitting in the bath as I dictate this to my recording quill (I hope I have not splashed it too much.)

Now I have definitely splashed it too much. Muse appeared right in the middle of the bathroom, with no regard for my nerves or my modesty (thank goodness I have strong nerves and a lot of bubbles). He didn’t make any of his usual snide remarks as he handed over your letter, and he wanted to immediately take this one and be on his way! But I am making him wait until I have read your letter in case I have anything to add.

You were attacked by wraiths?! WRAITHS!! My water is still warm, but I’ve got cold chills all over. I’ve been having nightmares ever since we woke up that old memory, and the thought of you actually confronting the SAME WRAITHS AGAIN terrifies me, even though it’s already over, and you are safe. Is there any way at all to trace who has summoned a wraith? It’s one thing for them to come after me, but now they’ve put you in danger too, and I won’t stand for it!

You say you need advice about Sean, but I’m not certain I have anything to offer. On the one hand, he saved your life! On the other hand, he was the one who dragged you into the Pass in the first place! On the other hand, he is clearly strongly attracted to you. On the other hand (I’ve always wanted four hands), he lied about having to share a larat and took advantage of you! If he were standing in front of me, I don’t know whether I would hug him or slap him. Why are men so confusing? Couldn’t they be straightforward for once in their obnoxious little lives? Perhaps you should simply cut through the problem and demand an explanation. Don’t let him get away with vague hints and cryptic comments, but make him say it out loud! I wish I had enough courage to do the same.

Muse is getting very restless and keeps twitching the parchment. He promises to come back with a reply by this evening (I am not certain if I believe him) so I will save my reflections on our dubiously romantic problems for the next missive.

Ever most affectionately yours,
Cordy

Letter XIX (Foof to Cordy)

Dearest Cordy,

Last time I wrote, I essentially only cared about munches, but then nothing truly strange or truly perilous or truly romantic had happened to either of us yet. Now that we've both had a taste of all three, I, for one, find the perilous vastly over-rated (I do hope to remember this declaration in the future, but don't hold your breath).

The strange, well, I can't really complain about the strange which is just as well since I expect strange things to continue until our adventures come to a close, whenever that may be. Perhaps your experiments with the Stones will hasten the process.

Which brings us to the romantic. Flirting with Jamin is quite shameless of you, although after seeing his picture in the society papers you sent along with the munches and your letter, I can hardly blame you. He really is devilishly good-looking!

And then there is Damorin Ardaya. Damorin Ardaya, who kissed you quite soundly and then essentially branded you as his own, whether that was his intention or not! I am dying to know what is going on in his head!

Oh, dearest! It isn't right for us to be separated when we should be spending hours in your bedroom, drinking tea and analyzing all of our encounters with men! After you read what has been happening with me, you'll see you're not the only one who could use a little advice.

After I sent the muse off with my last letter, Sean was still asleep so I decided to get up and look around a bit.

Walking wasn't exactly easy, but I managed to scramble over the uneven ground to an overlook point. Further down the trail I could see where the terrain of the Pass ended and the forest began and I wondered how many hours it would take to get to that point. As the sun started its descent, I realized we didn't have very much time to travel before it got dark.

I was just about to climb down from my lookout point when I heard the sound of voices further down the trail and decided to stay put until I could see who it was. In a few moments, a group of six soldiers wearing handsome Fort Thunderhall uniforms came riding up the trail on larats. By Jalwa, it was an inspiring sight!

I jumped down from my place of concealment right into their midst. The horses whinnied and shied back as their riders fought to keep them under control. I threw myself back against the rocks and wished I had stayed where I was.

“Ho there!” shouted the captain as they all reined in their mounts.

“Hello,” I shouted (meekly). “I'm sorry about that.”

“It's quite all right,” the captain replied, soothing his horse enough to dismount. He came to me and bowed over my hand. “Good aftenoon, Miss,” he said.

“Good afternoon,” I said, searching for something to say. “Um, you must be the fort officers assigned to Pass patrol. Tell me, is there any news?”

They all looked at each other and back at me. The captain said, “Captain Philip Woodhouse at your service, Miss...? He waited expectantly for me to fill in the blank.

“Oh,” I stammered, “it's Magi Montphish.”

“Magi,” he repeated. “I apologize. You’re not in robes so I didn’t know.”

“My title doesn’t exactly matter here in the Pass, does it?”

“I suppose not, but I do like to show respect to a profession I admire very much. May I ask, Magi, out of duty, what brings you here?”

“I am traveling with a friend to the Outskirts.”

“Friend?” he asked, looking around.

I nodded. “Yes, perhaps you know him. Sean Valerian?” The soldiers all looked at each other, again, in surprise.

“Sean Valerian?” Captain Woodhouse questioned. “You’re traveling with Sean Valerian?”

“Yes, I am. Is that so odd?”

Captain Woodhouse looked slightly bemused for a moment before he answered, “Yes, it is. It's very odd, indeed.” He didn’t offer any explanation as to why it was so strange, but continued his questioning. “Where is he, anyway?”

“He’s asleep. I was just exploring a bit while I wait for him to wake up.”

“Asleep?” He laughed. “Let’s go wake him up, shall we?” He held his arm out to me and I had no choice but to take it. As we approached Sean's resting place, I could see he was smiling and murmuring something in his sleep. Before I could do anything, another officer jumped from his mount and knelt down by Sean, listening. After a moment, the soldier’s face split into a wide grin.

“Foofri?” he asked. “Who’s Foofri?” I hoped no once noticed the color I’m sure my faced changed while they all laughed and nudged each other (what is it with laughing and nudging in the Pass? It seems an epidemic!). The commotion woke up Sean, of course, who immediately jumped up and looked around in a panic until his eyes rested on me.

“Foofri,” he said, the relief evident in his voice. This only made all the men began laugh even harder. I closed my eyes and winced, wishing I could just disappear.

Captain Woodhouse leaned over and clapped a confused Sean on the back. “I suppose there’s no hope of you ever rejoining the Fort now, Valerian. We only allow single men, you know. General Derslot won’t be pleased at all.”

Sean looked around at the merry lot with a rather disgruntled look on his face. “You all know I never had any intention of coming back.”

“Yes, and now we know the real reason why.” More laughing. More nudging. Wisely, Sean ignored their comments and changed the subject.

“You’re obviously on patrol, Woodhouse. What news can you give me of goings on within the Pass?” The men continued smiling as they heard Sean echo my earlier inquiry, but quickly sobered as Captain Woodhouse spoke up.

“Actually, I’m glad we’ve come across you. We found a wraith carcass last night at the far side of the Pass.”

“A wraith carcass. So it’s true then.” When Captain Woodhouse gave him a questioning glance he explained, “We met Gavin Farnswall at the Fort and he said there were only rumors of wraith sightings.”

“Ah, I see. Yes, it’s true. I saw the remains myself. I wish we could accompany you Sean, but we’re already two days late getting back. Plus I don’t think you’ll need our help should you come across one. My only fear is for Magi Montphish here. Would you like us to escort her back to the Realm?”

Sean brushed him off quickly. “We’ll be all right.”

The captain nodded as he signaled all the men to remount. “It was a pleasure to meet you Magi Foofri Montphish,” he said, with emphasis on the Foofri. “I hope we meet again.” He took my hand and placed a light kiss on it, then, looking at Sean, said only, “Good-bye Valerian. Do take care.” Sean nodded glaringly.

“Thank you, Woodhouse. The same to you and your men.” Their parting shots didn’t sound at all as friendly as I’m sure they were meant. The soldiers mounted and began taking their leave. Just as they passed where our larat was tied up and were about to turn the bend, Captain Woodhouse reigned in and turned around, gesturing to the animal.

“Where’s your other mount?”

Sean looked slightly embarrassed. “We only have the one,” he said.

“Why didn’t you borrow one from the Fort?”

“I…I thought you’d be needing them for patrol,” he said lamely.

“You're the one who procured them for us, Valerian. You know you can use them any time you come through.”

Very enlightening, this piece of news. I looked at Sean, who most certainly did not look back at me, and decided to save him from any embarrassment in front of the other men. Of course I had every intention of making him pay privately. Donning my most dim-witted look, I spoke up.

“He offered, actually, but I was afraid of handling the mount all by myself. I’m not very good around animals, you see.”

The captain nodded with a slightly amused look. “All right then. Farewell, Magi. Valerian.” He turned and his little company disappeared around the bend leaving Sean and me to look at each other in silence.

“Well, well,” I began, speaking slowly and distinctly. “So I could have had my own mount after all. ‘The others are needed for patrol, Foofri. Let’s toss a coin, Foofri. Do you want to put your arms around me or do you want me to put my arms around you, Foofri.’ I wonder what my father would think of all this, Sean Valerian. Oh, trusted colleague.”

“Foofri, I-”

I cut him off and continued, doing the best imitation of the conversation I'd heard between him and my father (with maybe a little exaggeration). “‘You don't have any intentions towards my daughter, do you. Sean Valerian?' 'Why no, Mr. Montphish, that isn't why I came back to the Realm!'” Oh, and here’s my personal favorite. ‘Why does this have to be so complicated?'” At this final remark, Sean lost his temper.

“Why, you little sneak! I can see why your father so readily agreed to send you to the Outskirts. He was right, you know, you cannot be trusted!”

“Trust?” I exclaimed, outraged. “Oh, that's rich, you talking about trust! If either you or my father ever thought of sharing information with me, I wouldn’t have to stoop to spying!”

“Well maybe we would,” he countered, “if we knew you wouldn’t go traipsing off, taking matters into your own hands and completely ignoring instructions.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not nearly as good at following instructions as you are. Tell me, what exactly were my father’s instructions about flirting with me so shamelessly?”

“I am not flirting with you.”

“No? You mean you treat every girl you meet like this? How very sincere of you.”

“That isn’t what I meant, Foofri. And besides, I’m not the one telling patrol soldiers that we’re involved.”

“Oh! I didn’t say anything to them about us!”

“Really? Then why were they making such insinuations? You must have said something to cause all that teasing.”

I slowly folded my arms and turned a cold, evil smile on him. “I. Didn’t. Say. Anything! You, my presumptuous friend, were murmuring my name in your sleep! And, of course, you had to be smiling. What were they supposed to think after that, hmmm?”

Now it was Sean’s turn to close his eyes and wince. “Please tell me I didn’t do that.”

“Oh, you most certainly did.”

Sean groaned before looking skywards and, shaking his hands, exclaiming, “Why? Why me?”

“I must be rubbing off on you. These sorts of things happen to me all the time.”

“Yes, but you make them happen.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t even try telling me that tripping act you pulled at the council meeting where we first saw each other was only accidental. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I would just be careful to whom you do it.”

I gasped. “How dare you suggest-”

“I’m not suggesting anything. When I see a spade, I call it a spade.”

“You are wretched, you know that? I don’t know why I always feel so sympathetic towards you. I’m obviously an extremely poor judge of character.”

“Sympathy? Really? And pity, no doubt, as well. I can't say that's something I've ever wanted from you. Thanks but no, thanks!” He turned and began packing up the bedding and refastening it to the larat, who rolled her eyes and shook her head. Sean gave her a glare before he mounted and came to me, speaking abruptly. “Let’s go.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, especially if we have to ride...like that,” I nodded towards the saddle where we had ridden pressed together, his arms around me, his lips practically at my ear.

“Fine, you can walk.” He stared at me pointedly, then held out his hand. I thought for a moment, then accepted it and allowed him to assist me to the front of the huge saddle.

“Just don’t get too close, if you don’t mind,” I hissed over my shoulder.

“Don’t you worry about that,” he replied hotly.

We rode for a few hours in silence, each of us awkwardly trying not to relax against each other, when my stomach began growling quite loudly. Although we had eaten an enormous breakfast, we hadn't eaten since then and my stomach felt no shame in issuing a complaint. I tried to ignore it, but it was rather persistent. Sean finally spoke up after a particularly ear-shattering one.

“Oh, are we speaking now?”

I gasped and turned to glare at him, but the amused look on his face combined with his absurd comment made me realize how ridiculous we had been. We both burst out laughing, which certainly helped to ease the tension that had formed between us.

“I’m hungry too,” he said, still grinning. “Do you mind eating en route? I want to get some distance behind us while it’s still light.”

“Not at all,” I replied. “Do you have any leftovers from tea?” He did. Quite a lot, in fact, and it was marvelous! We weren’t able to talk much since both our mouths were full, but once we finished our lavish meal and had a drink to wash it down, I attempted conversation.

“Sean, what did Captain Woodhouse mean when he said ‘re-join’ the Fort. You were once a soldier?”

“Briefly, yes.”

“What happened?”

He was silent for so long, I turned around to see what was wrong. “I've never really told anyone about his before.”

“You don't have to tell me,” I said, even though I was dying to know at this point.

“No, it's all right,” he replied. “I…I did train to be a soldier at Fort Thunderhall. I admit, I had always dreamed of being one of those dashing uniformed men, ever since I was young. When I turned eighteen, my father reluctantly allowed me and my brother to enlist.”

“Brother? I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“Ben is my stepbrother. After my father and I moved to the Outskirts, Father met a woman who had had grown up in the Realm and had a child out of wedlock from some jerk magi noble. Not having any family of her own and being shunned by all her acquaintances, she ran away to the Outskirts.

“She had been living there for a while by the time we got to the Outskirts and after a few years, Father married her. She's the closest thing to a mother I’ve ever had. And Ben became my brother, except we didn’t get along. He seemed to have a giant grudge against the world.”

“So what happened?”

“Well, we both enlisted, as I said. I think he did it just to get away from home since he'd never really had an interest in soldiering. We each passed all the requirements and began our duties. Everything seemed to be going fine until our regiment was given an unusual assignment. We were to carry a package from the Outskirts and deliver it to the Justicum. Nobody was told what it was, but we all assumed it must be extremely valuable or the Fort wouldn’t have been assigned to deliver it.” He let out a big sigh. “We were about half-way through the pass when the package was stolen during the night. I didn’t say anything, but I could tell Ben knew something about it, and he knew I could tell.”

“Then what?”

“He implicated me. He implied it could only have been done using magic and since I was the only magi among us, everyone suspected me.”

“But…but you were in the Pass! That doesn’t make sense.”

“I know. Believe me, I know! I tried to explain that and some of the men came around to my side, but once word got to General Derslot, it was too late. I was dismissed without even a trial.”

“From what Captain Woodhouse said about the General, I assumed he would be on your side.”

“Oh, that. No, Woodhouse was being sarcastic, I’m afraid. The General didn’t like me from the start. He thinks magi have no place at the Fort.”

“Well of all the-”

“No, it’s all right. The work didn’t really suit me anyway.”

“What did your…parents think about what happened?”

“They believed me. They weren’t surprised actually.”

“And Ben?”

“Well, he left the Fort shortly after that. I think the men who were on my side made it difficult for him and he was less suited for the job than I was anyway. I don’t know what he’s doing now and, but I'm sure that it can't be good.”

“Doesn’t he write your parents or anything?”

“Nope. Not once. Which isn’t surprising, considering not much mail goes between the Realm and the Outskirts. However, I do think he likes to keep track of what I’m doing.”

“How do you know that?”

“You remember Lt. Farnswall? He and Ben were cronies and I think every time I pass through the Fort, Gavin sends off a little report about what I’m up to and when I’m coming back through and such.”

“Thinking back, he did seem rather inquisitive, but I thought it was because you two were friends.”

Sean laughed mirthlessly. “No, that’s not why.”

“That explains why you were so abrupt with him.”

“Yes, partly.” His voiced sounded funny, and when I turned again to look at him, he met my gaze unflinchingly.

We continued talking as we traveled. He told me stories about the Pass, some true, some sounded not so true. And of course we talked about magic. We were enjoying ourselves so much, we didn’t notice that the sun had gone down behind the tall cliffs of the Pass and the light was quickly fading.

“Oh no!” Sean groaned in dismay. “I thought we would make it farther before dark.”

“Can’t we keep going?”

He considered for a moment. “No, I don’t dare risk it. The few times I’ve stayed on the trail at night, I’ve always regretted it.”

I knew we were both thinking the same thing, but each was trying not to say it aloud. Finally, I asked. “What about the wraith, Sean? This is the far side of the Pass.”

“I know, but we really need to get off the trail now. I think we'll be better off if we find a good place to camp.” He didn’t sound as though he had even convinced himself with this speech.

“Sean, I’m kind of scared.”

He moved a little closer and tightened his arms around me. “I’m a little scared too, but I think it’s just because you’re here and I feel extremely responsible for your safety. If it was just me, I think I would feel fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

After scouting around for a little while, we found a little cave far enough off the trail for Sean to feel safe. It was too small for us and the larat, but for some reason, she indicated preference to stay outside anyway. We didn’t dare have a fire, but Sean produced a small candle so we would have some light by which to eat our cold dinner and prepare for bed.

We had been settled down for quite a while, chit-chatting a bit, when I remembered it was the night of the Anniversary Ball. I had completely forgotten about it until that moment and a huge sigh escaped my lips as I thought of you and what might be happening at that very moment.

“What is it, Foofri?”

“Tonight was to be my first year at the Emperor’s Ball.”

“I’m sorry. I wish you could be there.”

“So do I. Do they have any balls or dances or anything like that in the Outskirts?”

He smiled, amused. “Of course. We're not primitives, Foofri. Though I’m sure the Emperor’s Ball is far beyond anything we have.” He turned onto his side from where he had been laying on his back and propped his head up with his elbow. “I have a little charcoal portrait of my mother, my real mother, the night of her first dance. She was very pretty.”

“Do you look like her or your father? I can’t remember what he looks like.”

“I look a lot like my father, but he says I have my mother’s smile. And her magic, of course.”

“Oh yes, she was a magi, wasn’t she?”

“That’s right.”

“Tell me about her.”

“I don’t really know that much. She died in childbirth, so I never actually met her.”

“I remember your father saying that on the night you…well, that night with the wraiths. What happened to her? I don’t mean to pry, but I’ve wondered about her.”

He laughed softly at that. “You sound just like me, talking to my father. I don’t mind talking about her. She was really special, from what little I know.” He lay back again and stared up at the ceiling of the cave, which danced with the dim shadows from the candle. “She was born and raised in the Outskirts, but she didn’t stay because she had magic, but refused to stop using it. No one threatened her outright or anything, but she was shunned. So she left and ended up in the village by Seven Oaks where she met and married my father.”

“He didn’t mind that she was magic? It seemed like he was quite against it, if I remember correctly.”

“No, he didn’t mind. Not then, anyway.”

“What happened to her to make him hate it so?”

He looked away. “She had a difficult birth. There were complications. She used magic to try and help and it killed her.” He looked up and saw my stunned expression. “That's how my father tells it, anyway, but I think there's more to the story. I can't know this for sure,” he continued, “but from what he's told me about the complications, there wasn't anything she could do for herself. Magic can't cure everything. It can't save everyone in every situation, but I think she knew it could save me. And it did.”

After a few moments of silence he added, “I think he's really just angry that it wasn't strong enough to save us both.”

“I can see why he would be angry, but, Sean?” I hesitated, wondering if I should even ask the next question. “Was it...was it very meaningful when you discovered you had her magic? That you had something from her, something she loved? That she had passed on such a significant part of herself?”

He stared at me in surprise. “Yes, Foofri,” he said quietly. “No one has ever understood that before. I mean, I've never told anyone, but that's exactly how I feel.”

We looked at each other a little bit longer before he noticed the candle had all but died. He blew it out and we both laid down. I lay there listening to his breathing, waiting for it to get slower. After what seemed like a long time, he whispered to me.

“Still awake?”

“No,” I said and we both laughed, softly.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“That night,” I asnwered. “You know the one.”

“It was horrible, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, Sean, it was horrible. The worst night of my life, in fact. Did you know Cordy and I used a spell to make us forget?”

“I wondered about that. When you saw me for the first time and didn’t recognize me, I thought it was strange. I had grown up quite a lot, but I still looked like me. I could sense a sort of magical cloud around your awareness of me, but I didn’t think we would ever forget each other, not after what we’d been through.”

“I’m sorry, but when we found the spell, we both jumped at the chance to erase the nightmare. The spell worked so well, we almost forgot everything about you, which was strange considering what a big crush I had on you before that night.”

“What? You hated me! No, that’s not true. You felt pity for me, which is worse.”

“No it isn’t, and besides, that isn’t what I felt.”

He sighed, then uttered a bitter laugh. “But you forgot all about me. What made you remember? A seal breaking charm?”

“Yes. I used it the night after I followed you and my father for the first time. It was a very potent spell and the after affects were staggering. I couldn’t even get off of my bed for hours. The memory came back as though it was yesterday and…I felt horrible, Sean. Truly, I did. And I wondered about you a lot after that. What had happened to you and why were you doing this thing with my father and what you thought about everything. And your magic.”

“I wondered about you a lot, too. I knew you were all right, but I still wondered.”

It took me a minute to answer, I was feeling a little choked up. Finally, I whispered, “I’ll never forget you again, Sean.”

Within a few minutes, he was asleep and a little while after that, I was too.

I awoke later to complete darkness and felt something of a panic. I reached out to Sean, but he was gone. I pulled on my boots and crawled to the entrance of the cave where the larat stood shifting her feet nervously.

“Where’s Sean?” She shook her head.

“Is he all right?” Her eyes widened as she shook her head again. I jumped onto a nearby rock and vaulted onto the saddle, clutching the reins as I shouted, “Let’s go!”

We rode down the trail for what seemed like forever. He couldn’t possible have gone this far, I thought to myself, but the larat kept going, seemingly confident of her destination. All sorts of horrible images ran through my mind, but the worst of them was of two evil creatures laughing as they circled around us. I pushed it to the back of my mind and concentrated on finding Sean. At this point, the boulders began to appear smaller in size and there were patches of soil and trees peppering the landscape. I knew we must be getting close to where the Pass merged with the forest, but couldn’t see very far ahead in the darkness. Finally, we came to a sort of clearing with stubby trees surrounding it and a palpable aura of evil. It wasn’t until I dismounted that I saw Sean's body sprawled on the ground, his face in shadow.

“Sean!” I yelled as I shook him. My hands burned where I touched him and I drew back, gasping in pain. My vision seemed blurred for a bit as Sean’s figure rippled in the air in front of me before it once again became solid. It rolled over and looked up at me. Then it began to laugh. It was a laugh I had hoped never to hear again.

Stumbling backwards, I turned to the larat, intending to remount and run, but before I could reach her, her body also began to ripple and waver in the air. Instead of returning to shape, she seemed to melt down in size until I stood before another replica of Sean. The two wraiths began to circle slowly around me.

“We meet again,” the first one said. “We’ve been waiting for this day a long time.”

I couldn’t believe what was happening. Every part of me wanted to run away, but I was frozen to the spot. “Sh-sh-Sean.” I managed to squeak out in protest. “Sean killed you.”

The second one stepped behind me and spoke slowly into my ear, the skin burning where it touched me. “We do not die,” it said slowly. “We can be banished, and it is very painful, but we cannot be destroyed. We have long hungered for your souls, and finally, a summons has provided us this exquisite pleasure.” I felt a searing grip on my shoulders as the first wraith held me in place while the second one stood in front of me. It looked so exactly like Sean, but for the yellow eyes, I would have sworn it was really him.

A million thoughts swirled in my mind, but uppermost was this: Where was Sean? The real Sean? He was probably already dead. They had torn the life from his body and now he was gone forever.

The thought filled me with such fury that it brought to my mind, with shocking clarity, the memory of that night of our first encounter with the wraiths. I could see Sean standing before me as the wraith sought to take my life. I could hear the words he spoke as he called upon his magic to condemn the wraiths to banishment.

Then the memory burst and I was again conscious of the excruciating grip of the wraith. But the spell was clear in my mind and I spoke the words.

Now, dearest, you know that magic doesn’t work the same in the Pass as it does elsewhere. I knew that too, but I had no choice. I had to try anything to save myself. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the wraith and I both screamed as blue light, liquid in form, spilled all around and began swirling us in a whirlpool of magic. The warped atmosphere in the Pass had morphed the spell and it was running out of control. The other wraith tried to back away, but was swept up beside us into the eddy of magic, unable to do anything but writhe in pain like we already were. I could feel the magic trying to melt the substance of my body so it could banish my soul into oblivion, when, all of a sudden, it disappeared. It was gone!

I immediately fell to the ground, but before I could hit, the magic reappeared and swallowed all of us up again, pulling at us with its violent grip. It went on like this for I don’t know how long, disappearing and reappearing, as we were tossed about at the mercy of its power.

While we were caught up in the tumult of magic gone awry, I noticed something pulling at us, a force that attracted the magic. The maelstrom whipped through the landscape to where the Pass ended. At the edge of the forest, standing on a thick carpet of moss, was the real Sean, his eyes closed in concentration. He was surrounded by a halo of pure magic, which, without actually projecting any magic towards us, pulled us towards him.

As we crossed the boundary of the Pass, there was an explosion and the two wraiths and I were thrown apart as the whirlpool vanished, leaving each of us surrounded by our own blue liquid flame, still flickering with indecision. Within seconds, Sean banished the two wraiths, then came to stand before me. He didn’t stop to analyze the spell I was caught in, but stepped forward to enfold me in his arms. The force that had been pulling me apart began to disintegrate as Sean’s magic mingled with mine and I could feel my body immediately regain its total structure and settle firmly around me. The blue flame flickered out and, shortly after, Sean’s halo died down. He pulled back from our embrace to look at me and, as you can imagine, I promptly fainted.

I awoke in a soft bed covered with a cheery quilt. The sun was peeking through the breezy curtains at the window and Sean sat in a chair next to my bed, holding my hand against his cheek.

“Good morning.” He spoke softly, soberly. I tried to smile, but couldn’t quite manage.

“Where are we?” I whispered.

“Myy parents home. Right after you fainted, I transported us here.” I nodded and closed my eyes again. “Foofri?” he prodded, “I need to know how you’re feeling.”

“I’m all right,” I said. “I’m not in pain or anything if that’s what you mean. I’m just trying to grasp what happened last night. It seems so unreal and yet, I’m still so frightened.”

We sat for a moment before I had the courage to voice my thoughts.

“Sean, why did you leave me? At the cave? Where did you go?”

“During the night, I awoke, sensing something lurking outside our cave and when I looked out, I saw the wraiths over by the brook, sniffing us out. I immediately jumped on the larat and rode straight for the forest hoping to draw them away.”

“Well, when they didn’t follow you, why didn’t you come back?”

“They did follow me, Foofri. I made sure of that. There were just more wraiths than I thought, which is strange. They never group together like that. I thought there were only the two and that the farther I went, the farther I was leading them away from you. I’m so sorry.”

I felt sick. “There were more wraiths?” I sat up, searching his face and, for the first time, noticed the welts on his face and neck.

“I almost didn’t make it to the forest,” he said, “but I did somehow, and after I disposed of the first set, I felt a surge of magic coming from the Pass and knew that you must be close by, trying to use magic to defend yourself against something. I didn’t know that it was more wraiths. All I knew was that the quickest way to get to you was to draw your magic to me. So I did.” He clasped my hand tighter. “I’m just glad it's over.”

“Yes,” I agreed solemnly as I gripped his hand in return. Then I remembered something. “Sean, it was the same wraiths as before. They’ve been waiting to come back and they told me they were summoned. Sean, they were summoned back by someone. Did you know that? Someone’s tried to kill us!”

“Yes, and they don’t know they failed. Yet. When I get my hands-”

“Sean, no! Don’t go running off tryi-”

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere to do anything until I do some investigating. I have a few suspicions I need to explore while I’m here. Your father will have to wait a bit longer for me to return.”

We talked a little more before he went home for some rest (I’m staying with his parents, who live next door). I slept most of the day too, waking up only for Marilea, his step-mother, to check on me and bring me food, and make sure I don't do anything strenuous.

Muse came, too, of course, with your letter and the munches and the gossip papers. What a welcome sight he was, loaded down with goodies, and he wasn't even (very) grouchy. I think he just really disliked being in the Pass for some reason and now that we're through it, he can be his usual jovial, bossy, and demanding self. He informed me I had some spell-learning to make up now that we were done traveling, but that he was going to be oh-so-generous and give me a few more days off to recuperate. Never mind that there's a huge muse family reunion (I shudder to think of it) that he wants to attend!

It’s evening now and I’ve just finished preparing for bed. I have a clean nightgown to wear and even a dressing gown and slippers! I’ll never take such wonderful things for granted again! Sean mentioned that he took the liberty to send a letter on my behalf to both you and my father informing you that I am well. He said he just conjured my handwriting and that I didn’t need to worry about it. I wondered at his nerve of writing for me, but he only said that he had felt a certain urgency to inform Father of what had happened and that he hadn’t wanted to wait until I could do it myself. And he thought that since he was writing Father, he might as well write you too. So, if a letter arrives from me and it isn’t through your friendly neighborhood muse delivery service, know that it’s from Sean. And please tell me what it says and how it got there!

Your letter frightened me very much as I’m sure this one will frighten you. There is no need to worry about me as I believe I am through the worst of it. However, you are still in grave danger. Please, just concentrate on protecting yourself.

With great affection and longing,
Foofri

P.S. I can’t even think about my memoirs for now, but, hopefully, after things settle down, I will be able to write my gripping tale of adventure!

P.P.S. Thank you for the munches! You cannot imagine how much they have helped! And I so appreciate you sending me the gossip papers. I'm sure they'll be in tatters within the week as they are my only connection to the Realm besides your letters.

Letter XVIII (C.D. to F.M.)

My Dear Foofri,

I hope you are enjoying your Munches. I had to go to three bakeries before I found one that would special order a batch using entirely non-magical procedures. Hopefully, the bakery was honest and they have not exploded on their way through the Pass (and the muse jolly well better not have smashed them either). You will need all of them to fortify you for this exceedingly long (as you could no doubt tell from the weight of the envelope) tale.

Although I suppose fashion is least of my news, I’ll start there anyway. I fulfilled my intention of visiting Madame Schacter the morning after I last wrote. Jamin offered to drive me, and even though I insisted I could take one of the carpets, he refused to be put off.

“I’m perfectly capable of taking myself,” I told him. “As a member of the Imperial Council, I do not need an escort.”

“You’re staying with us because it’s not safe at your estate,” he said stubbornly. “And you were almost killed by a chandelier yesterday. Besides,” here he looked shy and I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, “I like being with you.”

Jamin and I have been flirting with each other since we met, of course, but on my part, it’s been completely lighthearted, more in a spirit of camaraderie than anything. I had thought he felt the same (certainly I am not the only girl in the City on whom he has turned his golden charm), but there was an unsettling note of sincerity in that simple statement.

“I like being with you too, of course. I always wondered what it would be like to have a brother,” I said, perhaps a trifle disingenuously.

Thankfully, he didn’t look cast down by this statement, and we drove to the dressmaker’s without any awkwardness.

Jamin let me off at the door and drove down the street to leave the curricle while I went inside. There were two other ladies waiting and sipping tea. Neither of them were magii, for their escorts were also apparent, expressions of longsuffering written across their features. (Before Damorin started locking me up and Jamin attached himself to my heels, I am afraid I took the liberty granted by the status of magi for granted. No more!)

No sooner had I taken my seat than the door opened and Damorin entered the waiting room. Ordinary gentlemen are amusing enough in this situation, but one in Master’s robes looks so utterly out of place, that I couldn’t help smiling as I greeted him.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing at the chair next to me.

“Of course.”

“How is your head?” he asked, sitting down.

“Healed, thank you.”

“We examined the chandelier. One edge of the support spell had given way. It looks like an unfortunate maintenance accident.”

“I could have told you that yesterday,” I said pertly. “And I don’t know why you made me go home. I missed the second half of the buffet! Clearly, your new duties do not keep you very busy, since you have plenty of time to examine chandeliers and arrest innocent citizens.”

“Not arrest,” he said mildly. “Protective custody.”

“Oh yes, and now I’ve more custodians than I know what to do with.”

On cue, Jamin pushed open the door and came to sit down on my other side.

“Behold, my faithful watchdog,” I announced.

Jamin smiled sweetly. “At least I don’t slobber on your robes. Hello, Master.”

“Mr. Winterfast,” Damorin said, sounding bored.

Just then, Lady Ardaya came out of the fitting rooms, with Madame right behind her. “They are wrapping my gown now, Damorin,” she said, nodding coolly at me. I nodded coolly back. I once thought she might like me better after I graduated and she wasn’t obliged to invite me to tea anymore, but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference in our relationship. “Hurry, please,” she said to the shop assistant who staggered out a moment later beneath the weight of an enormous pasteboard box. “I must finish my appointments before our luncheon appointment at the Residency. I should hate to keep dear Ameliorene waiting.”

Fortunately, I was distracted from rolling my eyes by Madame Schacter. “Cordeleemaera, you naughtee girl. Zee ball ees tomorrow!”

I looked my most repentant. “I’m sorry, Madame, it’s just …” I gestured helplessly. “So many awful things … Can you help me?”

She relented almost immediately. “Did I not know you would come? Of course I have zee gown for you. Come. Celestine,” she snapped her fingers at the poor assistant who had just come back in from placing Lady A’s box in her carriage. “Bring out Magi Demestheln’s dress at once.”

“Not black,” I pleaded.

“Of course not, poor child, Stephanus, he hated zee black. You,” she jabbed a finger at Jamin who was trying to follow us. “Seet down. Marguerite will bring you tea.”And she whisked me away to the back rooms.

I am lucky that Madame has made dresses for me all my life, and my mother and grandmother before me. The dress she had designed was deep violet, and in the very latest fashion. It needed only a few minor alterations, so I arranged to pick it up the next morning.

Jamin and I returned to Winterfast just as a footman carried over a handful of mail from my house next door. I flipped through the letters as I walked to my room, and was more than a little surprised to see your handwriting! The short note read:

Cordy, I have been trying to contact you for days. Meet me near the Unicorn Rock by the edge of the fire circle at eleven tonight. Do not fail me, dearest.

Obviously, I knew the letter was a fake. For one thing, you had not been trying to contact me for days, and for another, you would have sent any message through the Muse. I briefly considered contacting Damorin, but I was fairly certain any action he would take would involve me staying at Winterfast or perhaps being locked up in the Justicum again. But if someone was trying to hurt me, I wanted to look that person in the face and besides, I was perfectly capable of defending myself.

So, at 10:30 that evening, I tucked the small carpet I had borrowed from the garage under my arm and climbed out my bedroom window. I landed about a five minute walk from the statue and hid the carpet in a bush before continuing on. I put up a shield, of course, but I didn’t bother with invisibility, since that is generally only useful when no one is expecting you.

Deciding it would be best to act as though I expected to see you, I tiptoed over to the statue and whispered, “Foofri?”

There was no answer, so I began walking around the base, looking for company. When I was beneath the upraised forelegs I stumbled and placed a hand against the rock to steady myself. The stone cracked and flashed, and even as I thought “Fire!” I was sailing through the air, driven by the thrust of raw power against my shield. I landed face first in the ceremonial fire pit and came up choking, just in time to see the last flicker of flame fade from the unicorn.

I sat there coughing for a while, trying to look helpless and lure my would-be assassin out of hiding, but I suppose whoever it was, was far away, creating an air-tight alibi. That is part of the point of a booby trap, and I certainly played the part of the booby. I realize now that it was rather stupid of me to go alone when I suspected trouble, but on the other hand, I did take care of myself, so I think that evens things out on the stupidity scale.

I’m not sure how long I gazed at the unicorn before I realized that one of the forelegs was too short. The lowest hoof had apparently been blasted into powder by the heat. I abruptly decided that I had had enough of the fire pit and all but ran for my carpet. I made it home without incident and went for a quick swim to get rid of the ash. I put the carpet back in the garage and walked through the front door, not in the mood to climb in through the window.

Winterfast and Jamin were in the hall putting their evening cloaks on, and they both regarded me with surprise. “Sorry for the drips!” I said, and breezed past before they could ask any awkward questions, like why I’d been swimming in my petticoats.

I can’t deny it anymore, Foofri. Somebody wants me dead.

Once I’d accepted that fact, I began to think about the chandelier accident of the day before. I remembered that something had snapped under my foot, that I’d been thrown against the wall, and that Damorin had said one side of the support spell had given way.

I took the shoes I had worn to the funeral down to Winterfast’s workroom and looked at them under the magiscope. Just as I suspected, I found a thread of a loose stabilizing spell. When I’d stepped beneath the chandelier, the two severed spells had been attracted to each other. The crack was their binding, the force that threw me to the wall and set the chandelier swinging was the reaction of that binding.

I think what unsettles me most is that someone actually cursed my shoes. They would have had to touch them to put that spell on. It probably happened at the funeral, in the crowd. But now that I know to be watchful, it won’t happen again.

I slept surprisingly well, considering, and was up early the next morning to begin my Anniversary-Day errands before the parades started at noon. I was not early enough to elude Jamin, so he had the pleasure of sitting in Madame’s waiting room again while she double checked the alterations. Then, the box safely in the curricle, we were off to the Justicum, to collect my jewelry from the vault. Jamin had to wait outside again, since he doesn’t have clearance, and after I collected the cameo set (more about this later), I took my time recording it in the inventory book, making certain to scan all recent entries as I did so.

I supposed that the Masters wouldn’t have written “Suldan Stones, Row Three, Shelf Four,” in the inventory book, but since there haven’t been very many entries lately, it wasn’t hard to pick out the suspicious ones. There were only two of them, actually, both for antique chamber pots, both deposited a week before Grandfather’s death. Since neither Grandfather nor I have ever had an interest in collecting potterie, I thought I detected the fine hand of Lastra. I memorized the locations while pretending I was having trouble with the pen, and then hurried out to order Jamin back home. Ostensibly this was so I could prepare for that evening’s festivities, and that was true. The difference was that I was scheming with the Muse instead of trying out hairstyles.

I have to admit, he is rather good at, well, brilliant really, and so clever at all sorts of enchantments and complex plans that I would never have been able to accomplish on my own. (Sorry, he was looking over my shoulder when I wrote that bit. He’s floated back to work now, stroking his beard and looking unbearably smug.) What I was going to say is that he’s good at being sneaky, a quality I admire in any being, no matter how insufferable they are in other ways. It was his idea to stowaway as a piece of my jewelry, for example. He went as a comb, and gave himself a cameo face right next to my ear so that he could whisper into it if necessary. And I warned that it had only better be when necessary.

At any rate, I didn’t know whether I’d actually be able to take the Stones into my own custody that night, since I didn’t even know how big they were, but Muse and I finalized a plan for getting into the vault without arousing suspicions, and then for making it look like we spent a good deal less time in there than we actually planned to.

That night, I arranged my hair in a fancy pile that looked well with the cameo combs, or at least, as well as anything can look with what are undoubtedly the ugliest pieces of jewelry I’ve inherited. They are, however, very historical with their profiles of famous heroes, and I hoped that would explain my wearing them to the Anniversary Ball. The one of Jalwa, which is on the choker, is particularly bad since it renders his nose in all its enormous glory. However, every one of the outsized cameos hides a secret compartment. Traditionally, they hold messages or poison. I believe Grandmother used them to smuggle chocolate into tedious Council meetings. Of course, there isn’t much I can sneak into the Residency without triggering the alarms, but I put a few forgetme pellets in the choker and various other handy odds in ends in the earrings and one true comb.

And then we were off to the Ball. I admit that ugly jewelry or not, I felt very splendid as Jamin and Winterfast escorted me into the Imperial ballroom. Although I’ve seen it before, it still takes my breath away, with the crystal pillars refracting a blaze of light, and dark green moonflower vines spilling out of troughs set in the floor and climbing up the columns. The sweet scent of moonflowers filled the air, and the crystal floor was already filled with dancers. We were, naturally, fashionably late.

I danced the first one with Jamin and only stepped on his foot once. I will confess to vanity and admit that I knew we made a dashing couple. As soon as we finished, young (and not so young) ladies besieged him, and I drifted off to talk to old friends from the Academy.

I saw your father, who looked very dapper in a new suit with a cranberry waistcoat, as well as a number of our other mutual acquaintances. But nothing really interesting happened until I spotted Madam Dorthwany standing by a champagne fountain, looking prim and discreetly taking notes for the next day’s gossip columns.

I filled a glass and approached my target with a smile. “Happy Anniversary Eve, Madam Dorthwany.”

She nodded with her habitually solemn expression. “Good evening.” Madame makes me laugh. One would never guess by looking at her conservative demeanor that she is the publisher of the most sensational serials in the Realm.

“I apologize for bringing up business on such an evening, but I wondered if I could ask you a question.”

“Yes?” She wasn’t helping to break the ice, but I plunged ahead anyway.

“I have a friend who wishes to publish a dramatized version of her memoirs. She has selected your publications as being the most appropriate opportunity. I wished to inquire about the process of submitting a serial for publication.”

Suddenly, her frosty attitude melted and she slipped a chummy arm through mine. “Mmmm, yes I see. Memoirs often benefit from a touch of drama. Precisely what sort of story does your friend have?”

“Exotic adventure combined with passionate romance,” I improvised, since I really didn’t know what you were planning.

“And where does this exotic adventure take place?”

“The Outskirts.”

“We haven’t published any stories taking place in a barren and magicless wasteland recently. And who is this friend?” she asked, watching me intently.

“She wishes to remain anonymous,” I said smoothly, “and also she is not living in the Imperial City at this time. Preliminary contact may be made through me, and after that she has a muse who can make deliveries directly to and from your offices.”

She tapped her lips knowingly. “Anonymous, yes I see. Very well, Magi. Inform your friend that she may send the first chapter of her serial to the Daily offices. If we like it, we’ll send her messenger back with a contract of terms.”

I was surprised and pleased. “Thank you very much, Madam Dorthwany.”

She gave me one of those pointed glances people seem to be getting so fond of. “It is always my pleasure to give an aspiring young woman of talent a boost up the literary ladder.”

It took me a moment to realize that she thought I was the one who wished to remain anonymous, and that my “friend” was entirely fictitious. “That is very good of you,” I said, trying not to laugh.

She pressed my arm closer. “While we’re on the topic of business, may I gather a few quotes from you for tomorrow’s reports?”

“Certainly,” I agreed, wanting to help your chances as much as possible.

“What, exactly, is the status of your relationship with Master Ardaya?”

I blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Are you betrothed? And will his sudden promotion push back the wedding?”

“No!” I exclaimed.

“The wedding will proceed on schedule, how lovely.”

“No!” I said more desperately. “I mean, we’re not betrothed, so there is no wedding to push back. We’re not even … even …” The word to describe what Damorin and I were not eluded me, so I concluded, “I don’t know where you could possibly have picked up such a ridiculous idea.”

“Magi! There’s no need to be so discreet with me. I am your friend. I always champion the underdog. You must know everyone is talking about how you’ve defied the princess in daring to love the man she has all but claimed for herself.”

Instinctively, my eyes scanned the ballroom for the people we were talking about. I’d spotted Ameliorene earlier, waltzing with a duke. Now I found her rose colored gown again, and this time she was (unsurprisingly) attached to the arm of a shimmering blue robe. She wasn’t looking our way, but Damorin was, and his expression was furious.

“Madam, you must see how ridiculous it is all is,” I said, and then the ridiculousness of it hit me, and I threw back my head and laughed. “It’s really too funny,” I gasped. “To think that Ameliorene and I would fight over …” I trailed off, trying not to spill my champagne.

Madam Dorthwany looked smug. “Methinks thou dost protest too much, my dear.”

And then I was seized with an inspiration worthy of you, dearest. “Madam, can I trust you? I mean, really?”

“Of course,” she promised patting my hand.

“The truth is,” I paused, gulped, and tried to appear distraught instead of hysterical, “I am terribly in love, but not with Damorin. The man I love is … he’s so worthy. So good and kind, and oh, so handsome. But, you see, he’s poor and none of his family are magii. And worse than that, they think magic is evil. They’ve sworn never to use it, and they hate me and everything my family stands for!”

I fumbled in my tiny reticule for a handkerchief, as Madam Dorthwany patted my arm again. “It’s a touching story, Cordelimaera, but I don’t believe a word.”

I stared at her in dismay. “You don’t?”

“Not a word,” she repeated. “But it’s most interesting, nonetheless.” And she finally pulled her arm out of mine and sailed away.

I really thought I was a better liar, but I suppose we all have these little misconceptions about ourselves.

“Well, that was interesting,” Muse whispered. I flicked him, hard. That was not a necessary remark.

Fortunately, it was nearly midnight. I had only to make certain I was near none of my close acquaintances when the lights went out as the clock began to toll. As soon as the ballroom went dark, I pulled my mask and cloak out of my magically stretched reticule and put them on, drawing the hood over my head. With my dark colored gown and a bit of luck, I hoped to escape the ballroom without being recognized.

As soon as they released the colored fireflies and lit the lanterns, I sidled my way through the crowd and out the door. Luck, or something, was with me, for the Muse and I traveled all the way to the lowest level of the Residency, where the tunnel connects to the Justicum, without being stopped. We did have to duck out of the way of several amorous couples already swarmed by music motes (they reprogrammed them this year with bleeding heart renditions of recent love songs, which were all dreadful. I’ve never understood the thinking behind music motes, anyway, since the whole point of the masking and the sneaking around to romantic assignations is secrecy).

The tunnel was as heavily guarded as always, but as soon I pulled off my mask and showed them the damage on my earring (which I’d paused around the corner to inflict) and explained I only wanted to put it back in the jewelry box, they let me pass. On the other side, I passed through more guards and then, of course, I had to sign in at the entrance to the vault.

And then we were in. Muse popped out of my hair and back into his own shape, and I counted down the rows to the first one noted in the book as the location of the new chamber pot. The first pot was shaped like a war elephant (I suppose to inspire one to mighty efforts), and I could just reach it when I stood on tiptoe. I grasped the heavy base, and the next moment, fell forward against the shelf, as it evaporated in my hands.

I hastily righted the bottles of crystals that I had knocked over. “It disappeared,” I told Muse, rather obviously. “What do we do now?”

“There were two locations mentioned?” he asked pointedly.

“Of course.” I nearly slapped myself for being so dimwitted, and then we hastened to the other location specified in the catalogue.

The elephant was there, on a higher shelf this time. “You try and pick it up,” I told Muse, and he gave me a condescending look before floating up to the level of the shelf.

“Human magic is simply no good in a crisis,” he said snidely, and I couldn’t help a momentary feeling of smugness when the chamber pot disappeared beneath his pudgy hands with a faint pop.

“It must be back on the other shelf.”

“Obviously,” he sniffed.

“When we touch it, we push it into the other location,” I said slowly, thinking it through. “But if someone were already there, waiting to catch it …” It seemed too simple, but the more I thought about it, the more I became convinced I was right. “It takes two people to get the Stones out. But there aren’t many people allowed into this vault, and of those that are, Foofri is the only one who would conceivably help me steal the Stones, and they’ve taken care of her. They were counting on my being alone.”

“But you are hardly alone,” Muse said, puffing out his chest a little.

“Muse, I could kiss you!” I said, almost meaning it.

He pulled at his beard with both hands. “There’s enough of that going on in this place already. Go and push the snigger thing back at me.”

I hurried back down to the right shelf and found the elephant perched in its old spot. “Ready?” I called.

“I am always ready!” he bellowed back.

I took a deep breath, stood on tiptoe, and grabbed the base of the pot. The moment I did, it quivered under my hands, and then I felt Muse’s hands on top of mine. The elephant recoiled, caught between two places, and exploded into a thousand shards.

I staggered back from the shelf, my hands flying up to protect my face. Happily, most of the pieces flew into the Muse’s space, and of course they couldn’t hurt him. When I’d caught my breath, I looked down at the mess. At my feet lay a velvet bag, about the size and shape of my little finger. “That’s it?” I asked out loud, astonished that the Suldan Stones could possibly be so small. But I didn’t have time to investigate. We’d already spent several minutes in the vault, and now we had a mess to clean up.

“Muse, can you fix it?” I called hopefully.

He floated around the corner, brushing bits of pottery out of his beard. “Nobody could fix that,” he said sourly. “Do you have any idea of the kinds of germs that are probably lingering—”

“Let’s not think about that,” I interrupted. “Can you make it look like it’s fixed?”

Muse humphed and picked up the largest piece of pottery. “Of course I can.” He created an illusion anchored on the shard, while I stirred up a draft to blow the rest of the wreckage beneath the tall shelf.

At the last moment, I remembered my excuse for being here in the first place, so I threw the earrings in the jewel chest and ran for the door. A forgetme pellet for the vault book guard, a moment of fiddling with the recording quill to alter my exit time, a few sweet words to the new set of guards at the tunnel, and Muse and I were back in the Residency, he disguised as a turquoise firefly, and I with the Suldan Stones in the cameo that hung around my neck.

I paused in front of the mirror to make certain I’d put the necklace on straight, and I was about to replace my mask, when a man appeared behind me.

“Maera!” he exclaimed, so I knew it was Jamin. “I’ve been looking for you,” he said as he came closer. “I hope you haven’t exchanged masks yet.”

Mine was very clearly dangling from my hand. “But you’ve exchanged by this time, surely,” I said, hastily tying the satin mask back over my eyes.

“No, this is the original,” he said, tapping his gold glitter mask. “There’s only one lady here tonight that I have any interest in kissing.” He spoke lightly, so I’m not certain how serious he really was.

“Well, you’d better go and find her,” I said brightly, and darted off down the passageway.

I know it was cowardly of me. I ought to have stayed and had the whole matter out with him, but I had the Suldan Stones around my neck, and I panicked.

I ran through a salon and exited into the gardens, rounded a shrub manicured to resemble the emperor, and darted into the hedge maze. I had stopped just before the first intersection, trying to find the secret sign that points the way to the center, when a very angry voice around the corner demanded, “What do you mean you’ve lost her?”

“She slipped away during the masking. I’ve been looking ever since.”

“You were supposed to be guarding her,” the first voice hissed.

“I’m sorry,” voice number two said humbly. “Should we alert the Residency guards?”

At this point, I found the sign and it pointed toward the voices, so I started tiptoeing back to the entrance. It was entirely possible that those voices were looking for me, and I didn’t want to be found, no matter who they were. But when I got to the end of the hedge, I spotted a man in a gold glitter mask standing on the lawn.

Ready to scream with nerves, I started back down the hedgeway, determined to take my chances with the other path, but when I got to the intersection, the voices were gone. Exhaling in relief, I hurried around the corner of the right path and ran solidly into a tall figure, dressed in very recognizable, shimmering robes.

Damorin had me by both shoulders and his shadowed gaze was very cold. “Why were you sneaking behind that hedge?” he demanded.

My only chance was to brazen it out. In a somewhat forlorn hope I would escape recognition, I answered in a coquettish whisper, “What is any girl doing tonight? I’ve still got my own mask, and I’m running out of time. Excuse me,” and I tried to twist away.

His hands tightened. “Perhaps I can be of service,” he said, and then he pulled me close and kissed me.

I don’t think it was what the experts term a triple crown, but it must have been at least an eagle.* Whatever its official rating, my knees had all the firmness of custard, and I could have sworn we were surrounded by a cloud of music motes. Which, when he finally stopped kissing me, we were.

Oh Jalwa, was all I could think at first, I was so flummoxed. Then I realized that my arms had somehow wound their way around his neck, so I dropped them quickly and stepped back.

“Thank you, Happy Anniversary,” I stammered and tried to dart away through the cloud of music motes (playing a really awful violin version of “My Helpless Heart Has Been Magicked Away by You,” which, for the record, is the worst love song ever written), but he caught my arm. “A moment, Magi. I believe this belongs to me.”

I stepped aside as he reached for my mask. “But you haven’t got one to exchange,” I protested. “You’ve already given it away, so I don’t owe you anything.”

“I did not,” he said unexpectedly. “I didn’t wear one. I didn’t see the point.”

“You do stand out in a crowd,” I conceded, observing the way his robes glimmered in the darkness of the maze, “but you can’t expect to get something for nothing.”

He pulled a glittering strand from his sleeve. In a moment, it wove itself into a delicate eye mask. “Will this do?”

“I suppose.” I pulled off my own mask, feeling oddly vulnerable without it, and exchanged it for the shining one. “Goodbye,” I said, and he finally let me go.

I had to stop in the center of the maze, to catch my breath and gather my composure. “You were getting pretty hot back there, Magi,” a little voice buzzed in my ear. “What’s the matter, fan the flames a little too hard?”

“Oh, Shut Up,” I snapped, tying on my new mask, and surprised to find that my cheeks were wet.

Fortunately, I found my way out of the maze without getting lost, and I went back inside, where they’d turned the proper lights back on, to look for Winterfast. I was more than ready to go home.

I found Winterfast. He was with Uncle, who was talking to Lady Ardaya, who was accompanied by her new best friend, the princess. I tried to back away, but they had all already seen me.

Uncle looked very relieved when he saw me. “Cordy! I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I was just asking Lady Ardaya if perhaps you’d been cornered by the Master for some theoretical discussion. You Council members never seem to stop working.”

“No,” I said, “no theoretical discussion for me tonight.”

Lady Ardaya was looking at me with narrowed eyes. “What an unusual mask.”

And then they were all staring at me. Ameliorene’s eyes went wide, Uncle looked suddenly suspicious, and Winterfast appeared amused.

I snatched off the mask and realized what I had missed in my earlier fluster. The mask didn’t just sparkle. It sparkled blue. Damorin may as well have scrawled his name across my face. Jalwa and his war band take all Masters and their stuck up ways! Why can’t they wear ordinary party clothes like the rest of us?

I can’t bear to think of the rest of that awkward conversation, so I shall skip over to coming home and going to bed. As soon as I’d given Winterfast and Jamin enough time to slip into sweet dreams, the Muse and I hopped the wall to my estate and spent the rest of the night setting up the new security system we’d invented. Or rather, the Muse tolerated what he called my “amusing human bumbling” for a few minutes, and then took over, so I’ve been writing to you.

I haven’t opened the pouch with the Stones in it yet. I want to be in my own house, behind my own safety wards before I do that. But the next time you hear from me, I will at last have unraveled the secrets of the Suldan Stones.

Ever Affectionately,

Cordy

P.S. I don’t understand what Sean means by maintaining a balance between being able to do things with and without magic. Perhaps we should also all practice walking on our hands, in case something happens to our feet!

P.P.S. I can’t believe he kissed me. I can’t believe he gave me that mask. And I can’t believe you’re not here to help me make sense of all this! I’ve been trying not to think about it, but it’s proving more difficult than I thought.

* The tradition of the masked Anniversary Ball and the Anniversary kiss is one that goes back to the first days of the empire. After Martaluk I ascended the throne and created the Imperial Realm, the crown prince (later Mukaluk I) fell passionately in love with a Nirabian princess. Although the girl returned his regard, she was already betrothed to another. She accompanied her royal father to a grand celebration given by the emperor to celebrate the first anniversary of his rule, and she the prince arranged an assignation during the grand ball. They wore masks to conceal their identity, which they exchanged during the rendezvous as pledges of undying affection. Fortunately, they were spied upon by both Imperial and Nirabian agents. Once the king learned his daughter had won the heart of the Imperial prince, he threw over the minor landowner to whom he had first engaged her and pledged her hand to the prince. Thus, a happy trade alliance between the Realm and Nirabia was born, and it endured until the disaster of the Shazar Pass. At that time, there was some discussion as to whether the Anniversary traditions honoring their memory ought to be abandoned, but public outcry was so great, and the merchandizing power of the manufacturers of masks and hooded cloaks (to say nothing of the Imperial Guide to Kissing franchise) so massive, that the traditions of the Ball remained intact.