ught, and put it back, blinking. Her eyes still felt grainy; she hadn t had a lot of sleep the previous night. The thought of going upstairs and having an ice cream herself, a big one, was looking increasingly attractive. Sir said the voice in the background. Would you like some And then she heard the shriek. Dairine suddenly realized what she had been hearing, or rather, not hearing. She hurried toward the changing room, flung the outer curtain open. Past it she saw one of the staff standing half in and half out of one of the changing rooms, the curtain held in his hand, frozen. And one after another, other people s heads popped out of the other changing rooms, staring at the sales guy. Oh no, Dairine thought. Spot! She put out her hand, and an instant later Spot was in it. Dairine flipped his lid open as she came up behind the staff guy, pushing the curtain aside. The poor man was staring at something he probably had not seen in a changing room before a Christmas tree wearing Day-Glo orange Jams and several baseball caps, all brightly colored. The top one was on backwards. I like the root covers, Filif said thoughtfully, but I m not sure about the hat. There were about twelve things that Dairine was not sure of at that moment, almost all of them being why she had let Filif out of her sight. Blood sugar! But there was no time for that now; there was movement in the other cubicles You know which spell I need, she said silently to Spot. His screen cleared and came up with the general-purpose invisibility spell a quick one that Dairine had used on herself often enough and had had some practice in throwing over other things in a hurry. Silently she read the words, felt the air in front of her twist itself out of shape and into another refractive configuration entirely, under the influence of the Speech. A moment later, both she and the sales guy, and the three heads peering in from behind them, were all staring at what appeared to be empty space. Are you okay Dairine said to the sales guy. He looked at her as if she d come out of nowhere. I, uh…, he said. I, uh, I think maybe I had a little too much of something or other last night… He stared once again at the mirror in the empty cubicle, and then turned and let the curtain fall. The other customers went away, and after that the shop guy wandered back out onto the sales floor, shaking his head. Dairine rolled her eyes, relieved. Silently, she said to Filif, I wish you d asked me for help! I didn t need any help, Filif said. I m doing fine! She said, You have no idea. I m leaving that invisibility over you for now. You need to put that stuff down and come out with me. We ll come back for this later, under more controlled circumstances. Let s go! She reached through the field of invisibility until she could feel a branch or three, and took hold of them, cautiously, being careful not to squish any of the berries. Trying as hard as she could to look casual about it, trying equally hard not to look as if she was leading something invisible away by the hand or branch, Dairine made her way out of the sportswear store and out into the center of the mall again. There she looked around, took a moment to recollect her wits, and said, You stay invisible for a few minutes, okay I ll be back for you. We re going home. Don t let anybody bump into you! All right, Filif said. And then we can come back another time for the decorations Absolutely, Dairine said. She went up to the food court. There sat Roshaun, Carmela, and Sker ret, ingesting large ice-cream sundaes. They all looked up at her in surprise. Where s Filif Carmela said. About to be taken home, Dairine said. The fast way. Meet me back there later, okay Sure, Carmela said. Dairine turned and headed off again…but not before catching sight of Roshaun s amused smirk. I am going to get him for that, Dairine thought, heading back to where Filif waited. And as for the rest of this…I am never applying for anything again. Cultural exchange ! She snorted at her own stupidity and went off to find an invisible tree. * * * * Taking in the Sights DAD NITA SAID. I can hear you fine, honey, Nita s dad said. Whatever Tom did to the phone, you don t have to shout. How are you I m fine! Everything s fine. Nita was sitting on the beach with her manual in her lap, while a hundred yards away Kit and Ponch were running along the pink sand, racing. Ponch was winning this not even the new venue could change. The sun was up, and warm already; the wind was just strong enough to take the sun s heat away, but not so strong as to chill; the waves slipped up and down the beach, whispering. What s it like said her dad s voice from the manual. Nita laughed. Like the Hamptons, she said. Except they don t have money here. There was a pause at her dad s end. That takes a stretch of the imagination, he said, sounding somewhat dry, for the resorts and wealthy residential communities of the Hamptons, out at the end of Long Island, were (in the Callahan household, at least) often described by the head of the household as a place where people had more money than sense. No money, huh What do they use instead It s a barter economy, but with exceptions. For things that are hard to get locally, they have other ways of dealing with getting stuff around. But when the dust settles, everybody here seems to have what they need. And that s good, because the people here are really, really nice. How s the family you re with They re the best, Nita said. They remind me of us. Her dad chuckled. No higher praise, I guess…A barter economy. Are they farmers, then No. Well, they have sheep, Nita said, looking back toward the grassland. If sheep fly… From where she sat, she could see yet another of Kuwilin s small flocks of flying sheep landing, while the first flock he d been feeding took off. A scatter of feed, a flurry of golden wings, and off they went, and another little flock wheeled down out of that blue, blue sky to take their place. It was like feeding pigeons, except that the effect would have been unfortunate if the sheep had tried to land on you the same way pigeons did. Nita laughed again as exactly that thing started to happen to Quelt s tapi, who waved the sheep off with a weary familiarity. But you haven t been just sitting there looking at sheep, I hope. Oh, no, Nita said. We ve been doing tourist things. The stuff that nobody here does unless they have visitors. Her father laughed. They have that there, too Oh, yeah. We went to the Cities to do an errand for Quelt s mom. Which city The Cities. It s just what they call it…Don t ask me why. As if they were interchangeable. They are, Kit said, running past. Modular. They put them where they need them. Ponch ran past him with a stick of ironwood in his mouth; Kit threw Nita a resigned glance and trotted off after him. But they re really pretty, Nita said. It s as if they did New York, but in pink and peach and cream colors. And there s no garbage. Her father whistled. A city with no garbage… Nita shrugged. People here don t seem to litter. I don t know if they even have a word for it. They don t throw a lot of stuff away. Come to think of it, they don t have a lot of stuff, period. They don t sound deprived, though… Nope. Did I tell you, we re famous here No. They like us because we re short. And wizards are a big deal here. It s going to be strange to come back and have to keep quiet about it again. That would be a sore point around here at the moment, Nita s dad said. Oh How s Dairine doing I haven t seen her as yet today, Nita s dad said. She wasn t up when I headed to the store this morning. I think the past couple of days have been a little wearing for her. Uh-oh, Nita said. How are you doing, Daddy Are the guests too weird Not really, her father said. One of them s just a tree. That I can cope with. Another one s a giant centipede. That s all right, too. That boy has a healthy appetite and everything interests him. He s a whiz with machinery, too: Yesterday he fixed my lawn mower when it stalled. The third one There was a sudden pause. Oh, good morning to you, too. Yes, right out there. No, not that way! Nita heard a crash. They re not making trouble for you, are they, Daddy It s not the usual kind of trouble, her dad said, and I don t mind. There was a pause. Yes, go ahead, just don t tell Dairine I gave it to you. There were loud crunching noises in the background. Is that static Nita said. No, honey, it s fine. You didn t say anything about the third guest. That may have been on purpose, Nita s dad said. Nita looked down the beach. What s he doing Being himself, Nita s dad said, for which I suppose I shouldn t blame him. But if he were my son There was another pause. Oh, her father said, there you are. There was a clunk and rustle as if the phone had been taken out of Nita s dad s hand. This was the dumbest idea in the world, Dairine said loudly. I just want you to know I confess to having been really stupid. Nita wasn t sure what to make of that. Dairine s confessions could sometimes be extremely heartfelt, but she was also extremely good at retracting them later when circumstances changed. Well, Nita said, things are terrific here, so I don t know if I necessarily accept your evaluation of the whole thing. It s good where you are It s super. I hate you, Dairine said. And there was another clunk and rustle of the phone as it was passed back to their father. I m not sure what to make of that, he said a moment later. I am, Nita said. When she calms down, tell her I feel sorry for her, and I ll send her a postcard later. We got the portable worldgates plugged in last night, so I can come right home if you need me. And I can send you a postcard, too. Nita had spent a little time that morning designing a wizardry that would take pictures of the surroundings and deliver them home through the portable gate. I don t know if she ll thank you… I ll take my chances. What about the third one The third what Wizard, Daddy. What s his problem I think he Oh, good morning, Roshaun. Right over there… There was another pause. Not right now, sweetie. Nita resolved to take a look at Roshaun s profile. Maybe there s something I can do to help… Then again, she could imagine Dairine s response to this. It was best to leave matters alone, perhaps. Did you get all your homework done Yeah, Nita said. Both kinds. Do wizards get homework assignments Not as such, Daddy. Just some reading I was doing. Earlier that morning, Nita had been going over the Bindings and Strictures material again; it was complex, but fortunately most of the strictures, especially the Binding Oath, could be used only once, anyway. Well, as long as the schoolwork s done. Anything you need there Nita sighed. Sunblock, she said. I burned yesterday. I thought you could do a wizardry for that. I got distracted, and I forgot… That s bad for your skin, honey. You be more careful. I will, Nita said. Just leave it in my room, okay I can pop out later and pick it up. Okay, I ll leave it on the bed. Uh-oh…here comes Carmela. I should get off. Things start getting lively when she turns up. Nita grinned. Is she getting a lot of practice at the Speech I think there s more going on than that, Nita s dad said, but you d better talk to your sister…She ll fill you in. Okay. Talk to you later, Daddy! You have a good time, sweetie. Love you. Love you, too, Daddy. Bye! The print on the page in the manual in Nita s lap said, Connection broken, JD 2452749.06806. Nita shut the manual and leaned back, looking around her. Down by the main holding pen, Kuwilin was still scattering feed for the flying sheep. Nita got up, dusted the sand off herself, and went to see if he needed any help. By the time she got there, he was leaning over the pen s fence, watching the sheep munch up their feed. There were always faint sucking and snorting noises when they did this. Their lips were prehensile, expert at picking up the feed pellets and ironwood seed while avoiding the sand, but every now and then they got greedy and wound up doing a lot of spitting. Nita leaned on the fence beside Kuwilin, watching the sheep. It takes such a long time every day to feed them, she said. Well, too much at once and they get sick, Kuwilin said. Was that your dad How is he He s okay. But my sister sounds like she s having some problems. I think she wishes she were here. And the exchange wizards…I think she s having problems with one of them. Nita pushed her hair back from where the sea breeze had blown it in her face again. She ll work it out. Was Kit helping you again Yes, he was, Kuwilin said, and if you two didn t have better things to do with yourselves, I d take you on as migrant volunteer labor. He s getting very good at relieving them of the shesh. They hardly notice. Kuwilin sighed, a sound that humans and Alaalids had in common. Which is good, because this time of year, it s hard to keep them in one place for long. They want to wander. And if they run into another big migratory group, half of them may not come back. Of course, Kuwilin added, they do pass directional information back and forth…so I might lose fifty this autumn and get a hundred and fifty back next spring. It depends if they like where they ve been better than where they re going. He smiled. They re not birds, Kit said, running up with Ponch lolloping along behind him. What The things Ponch was chasing last night. They re not birds: They re bats. Sort of. With fur. And they have antennae, and flaps. Flaps Kit shrugged. Maybe they re more like webbed feet. They sing, too, Quelt s tapi said. Have you heard them Well, maybe not yet: We were still eating latemeal when they would have been singing, the other night and last night, too. You can hear them better if you go up the hill behind the house. They re mating this time of year, and the singing can go on for hours. It can keep you up for hours, too. Ponch abruptly got between Kuwilin and Kit with yet another stick in his mouth. Where is he finding all these Kuwilin said, grabbing it and trying to take it out of Ponch s mouth. Ponch gripped hard on the stick and shook his head back and forth, fighting with Kuwilin. We could be rich, with all the ironwood he brings home. I should hire you all. You do more work around here than Quelt does! I wouldn t let her hear you say that, Nita said under her breath, and laughed. Well, it s true! And Kuwilin laughed as well. But it s not her fault, I know. She has more important things to be doing for the world, and we try not to bother her about chores. When did you find out she was a wizard Kit said. Ponch jumped up and down, growling, with the stick in his mouth. Kit took it and threw it, and Ponch chased off after it. Why, she just came in at firstmeal one morning and told us, Kuwulin said. I guess that would be a couple of hundred years ago now Two hundred and sixty, said Demair, coming out of the house and down to the pen with a jug and a cup of sepah for her husband. You should come in and wash, she said. You smell of ceiff. I always smell of ceiff, said Kuwilin. So does everything here, even these Earth people. They ll probably go home smelling that way. We should bottle some of the air over the pen and send it home with them, labeled A Souvenir of Alaalu. Kit snorted with laughter. Nita jabbed him in the ribs with one elbow. They ll have to bottle you, too, she said. To Kuwilin, she said, Was that before her Ordeal, or after Ordeal Demair said. Oh, you mean the Own Choice. After, I suppose. She looked at Nita in slight perplexity. Ordeal is that what they call it in your world Is it normally dangerous for you Nita was taken aback. Well, yes, in that you usually wind up fighting with the Lone Power, one way or another Both Demair and Kuwilin looked blank. Who Kit looked surprised. You know, the Lone Power. You do know the Lone One Invented death Nita said. Got thrown out of Timeheart Runs around trying to get sentient species to willingly buy into death Oh, that one, Demair said, and laughed. Certainly, we know about her. But she s no problem. No problem, Nita said softly. Then she looked around at the landscape and thought of the Cities as well, clean, safe, full of smiling people; all in all, it was a world where there seemed to be no such thing as crime or disaster or hatred or anything of the kind. Yeah, she said, maybe I see your point. But how come she s not Kit said. Kuwilin and Demair looked at each other, perplexed again. I always assumed it had something to do with our species Choice, Kuwilin said, but I wouldn t be an expert. Quelt would know more about it, I d imagine. Nita looked around. Where is she now she said. Up in the meadows. She said she had to talk to the wind about something. Nita nodded. This was