t s part of getting ready for what comes after. Nita smiled. The memory had no pain about it; it seemed a long, long time ago. Then, I thought it was kind of funny. Now, though, I wonder sometimes whether it s such a bad thing that after a while you should want to go on to the next thing. Even though there s a lot of argument on my world about what the next thing is… She trailed off again. Hey, I interrupted you, Nita said. Sorry about that. You were talking about fixing the weather. She grinned. That s funny, too, but for different reasons. We have a saying, Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Except that whoever made up the saying didn t know there were wizards. Do you do weather, too Kit and I did a hurricane last year, Nita said. With a consortium of other wizards. It looked like it was going to cause a lot of trouble if it came ashore, so the North American Regional Wizards did a risk assessment on it with the Western Europe group, and when it turned out it wouldn t go anywhere else if we were careful, we pushed it out to sea They discussed storms for a while, the wizardries of wind management and heat exchange, of what to do with the leftover kinetic energy after you ve pushed ten million tons of relentlessly cycling wind and water off its intended course. Alaalu was sedate enough in terms of weather its star was quiet and predictable, its orbit very nearly exactly circular, and its seasonal tilt very small. But there were still biggish tropical storms in the equatorial belt, twice each year, and dealing with those made up a surprising amount of Quelt s steady work. It seems so strange that that s all there is for you to do, Nita said. Or mostly that. It didn t always seem strange to me, Quelt said. When I was younger, anyway. But now I keep getting this feeling, like I said, that there s something else that s supposed to be happening, something I haven t noticed. I d notice it if I stopped and looked around…that s the feeling I get. And I do stop and look. But so far… She shrugged. I know another wizard, Nita said, a cat that s another of the sentient species on our planet who told me once that sometimes the Powers have a message for you, but it s like a spell that you re building: You have to put it together piece by piece over time, and the rest of the time you just leave the bits and pieces scattered around in your head and give them a chance to come together. That s what I m doing, I suppose, Quelt said. And then she flashed Nita one of those grins. But I m impatient, I think! Something our people aren t, usually … She stretched her legs out on the sand. Still, it nibbles at me. Like the keks if you stay around after they start work… It ll come together eventually, Nita said. She yawned and stretched. I m surprised to see you out here, she said to Ponch, when the boss isn t up yet. Ponch, upside down, looked at Nita with one eye. He s lazy. He s lazy You should talk. You sleep all day! I ve been doing my job, Ponch said. I don t have to hunt. I don t have any puppies to guard. So I sleep, and the rest of the time I have fun. Nita chuckled. Sensible, she said. Okay, I take it back. She stretched again, ran her hands through her hair. You know what I love about this place No bugs. Bugs Insects. Little life-forms that come and bite you. The keks would do that. Yeah, but the keks you can get up and walk away from. These things fly after you in the air and sit on you and bite you. Some of them are so small you can hardly see them. They re a real pain. But you can talk them out of biting you, surely… I ve tried. It s an uphill battle, believe me. You get better reactions out of walls and rocks than you do out of most bugs. Quelt laughed, and got up, and stretched. I should go put the laundry in to run, she said. I told my mom I would. Nita laughed. We re corrupting you with all these strange foreign words, she said. Oh, I don t think so. I hear what you call my topi… Nita and Quelt smiled at each other. Go on, Nita said. Ponch, go on and kick the boss out of bed. It s a sin for him to miss this. Quelt and Ponch went back toward the house, and Nita watched them go with a slight smile. Chores on this world didn t seem as onerous as chores did at home, somehow. And even less so when I don t have to do them, she thought. But Quelt didn t seem to mind doing them, either. Nita sat there a while longer, looking out at the sea and watching the tiny waves slide lazily up the sand, so unlike the energetic surf of the South Shore. But then the Great South Bay has tides, because Earth has a Moon. That s the only thing I miss here: a really big moon. Still, this is gorgeous… Very slowly, the east started to turn a fiercer orange red than before. Nita sat in that fiery light and soaked it up with endless appreciation. But the dream would not quite go away. The heart of the world is frozen, and so there is no heart. Nita blinked, and then she shivered, her sunburn briefly forgotten. Dairine and Filif and Sker ret got back from Mount Everest late that afternoon to find that Roshaun had arrived while they were gone. Carmela was sitting in front of the TV with him, discussing clothes once more. Annoyed as Dairine was with the prince, she had to be amused at least Carmela had found someone as interested in personal adornment as she was. I didn t think it was possible, Dairine thought. And at least Roshaun had come back. Though not because of anything I said… Filif, wanting some relaxation, joined Roshaun and Carmela in the living room. Dairine s dad was sitting at the dining room table, making some notes about supplies for the store on a pad. As Dairine and Sker ret came in, his head jerked up, a little guiltily, Dairine thought, to make sure Filif wasn t in sight. You okay, Daddy she said, bending over to hug him and give him a kiss. Huh Oh, fine, he said. How was your day You guys have a nice lunch Sker ret looked most satisfied. Very filling, he said. Oxygen bottles, mostly, Dairine said. Her dad glanced up at that, amused. Nothing wrong with a little roughage in the diet. Where are you off to Just down to Sker ret s pup tent. He s going to lend me some music. Stick your head in and yell if you need me. Okay. They went down the basement stairs more or less together it always being a question, when Sker ret was on forty legs and she was on two, who was ahead and who was behind at any one time, if not both at once. On the mountain, Dairine and Sker ret had started discussing popular music while Sker ret ingested carefully chosen chunks of garbage including some climbing expedition s very broken tape recorder and Sker ret had suggested that when they got back, they could use one of the manual s data transfer options to pass some favorite selections back and forth. Dairine promptly had Spot grab a wide and peculiar assortment from the big computer at home everything from boy bands to Beethoven and was curious to see what Sker ret was going to pass to her in return. They slipped in through his pup-tent access. Dairine looked around and saw several of the sitting/lying racks Sker ret s people preferred, sort of a cross between a giant step stool and monkey bars. Dairine looked around at the stacks and racks of storage. Very organized, she said. Not what my parent says, Sker ret said. Dairine snickered. None of us is ever neat enough for our parents. One of those universal traits. Sker ret laughed and started rummaging around for his own version of the manual, a little flat data pad. Dairine sat partly down on one of the racks it was impossible for a human to get really comfortable on one of them, no matter how she tried and perched there, swinging her leg, while Spot spidered around, peering into everything. You told me before that they wouldn t let you into the restaurants in the Crossings, Dairine said. Why not Did you misbehave in there or something Sker ret s laugh acquired something of an edge. Dairine heard a hint of bitterness about it. Oh, no, he said. It s just that families of employees aren t expected to use the same facilities as the patrons. Dairine stared at him a moment. Abruptly, the data slipped into place. Oh no, she said. You re not just some Rirhait, are you You re related to the Station-master … I m the youngest of his first brood, Sker ret said. Dairine breathed out. That means you inherit management of the whole place when he retires, doesn t it It would mean that if I were normal, Sker ret said. But I m not, am I I m a wizard. Now there was no mistaking the bitterness. I m supposed to run the Crossings, and become one of the most powerful beings for light-years around. It s as much a political position as anything else: Control worldgates and you control so much else. No one argues with the Stationmasters. But you can do that and be a wizard, Dairine said. Can t you Sker ret looked at her with several eyes. I want to, he said. But they don t want me to. As far as my parent is concerned, to be a wizard is a distraction from what I m supposed to be doing, from the business of life, and the real world. He snorted, a most peculiar, rather metallic sound. Not precisely a waste of time we know as well as anybody else how useful wizards are. But my parent is furious with me. He wants me to reject the wizardry, to give it up. And I can t! Dairine drew a deep breath. Wizardry does not live in the unwilling heart. That was one of the first laws of the Art. You could give it up, if you were unwilling or unable to hold by the strictures embodied in the Wizard s Oath. It could leave you of its own volition, if pain or illness or changes in your life made it impossible for you to keep the Oath any longer. But the prospect was horrible to imagine, at least for Dairine. To actually have the people around you trying to force you to give up wizardry, to give up that most intimate connection with the universe and What had made it She shuddered. You go your own way, she said to Sker ret. You do what your heart tells you. Hearts, Sker ret said. Whatever. You do that! That s how They talk to you. Don t let anyone push you around. That s easy to say, Sker ret said, when your father s not the Stationmaster of the Crossings. Dairine gave Sker ret a look. I have news for you, she said. I think you re tougher than he thinks you are. I think there s room in the universe for you to be exactly what you want to be. Your father sorry, your parent may be the most powerful entity for light-years around, but if he were sure of that, he wouldn t be pressuring you so hard. So I think you still may have some bargaining room left. He looked at her, all those stalked eyes weaving in a gesture of uncertainty. There s no harm in trying, Dairine said. Dig your feet in. There are enough of those to make anybody think twice. Anyway, what s the worst the family can do Disown me, Sker ret said. Dairine swallowed. So what she said. You ll always be a wizard. You have a bigger family than just your family. And you ll always have a place to stay: You can sleep in my basement anytime. They locked eyes for a few moments. Shortly Dairine said, You really need to stop moving them around like that. You re making me seasick. Sker ret laughed. So did Dairine. They spent half an hour or so swapping music between Spot and Sker ret s manual, and after checking the sound quality, they headed upstairs again, where Sker ret wandered into the living room to see what the others were doing. Dairine got the urge for some milk and opened the fridge, pouring herself a glass. Then, hearing laughter coming from the living room, she leaned in through the door to the dining room to see what was happening in there. The aliens were watching cartoons. Carmela was still sitting cross-legged on the floor, rocking back and forth in amusement, while Roshaun sat in Dairine s dad s easy chair That s probably the closest he can get to a throne, she thought and was laughing, too. Not as hard as the others, perhaps, but he was plainly enjoying himself. Someone needs to tell me what mice are, he was saying to Carmela. And why do they bang the cats over the head with these hammers so often Is it class warfare of some kind I don t think so, Carmela said. It s one of those cross-species things. The cartoons and the laughter went on for a while, and Dairine sat down at the table, scrolling through Spot s manual functions while listening to the Rirhait music. It was surprisingly symphonic, though written in the key of M, and only occasionally did it become so weird that she had to skip ahead. The music combined strangely but amusingly with the bonks, hoots, and shrieks of the cartoons in the living room, and the metallic, hissing, or humanoid laughter of the room s living inhabitants. Finally, a little peace came with a station break. Enough of that, Carmela said. Let s look at some of the news. She changed the channels. the Suffolk County Pine Barrens, said an announcer s voice suddenly, recent dry conditions have combined with a passing driver s carelessness to produce the season s first brushfire. Some fifty acres south and east of Pilgrim State Hospital, at the edges of Brentwood and Deer Park, were blackened after a There was a sudden terrible rustling in the living room. What the Dairine s dad said. He got up, and collided halfway through the living room door with Filif. The effect was much like that of a man trying to catch a falling Christmas tree, except that the tree was still trying to fall after he had caught it. No, Filif said, and the word was mixed with a high, keening whine, entirely like the sound that Dairine had heard green pinewood make in the outdoor fireplace, sometimes, when her dad was burning brush. Oh no, Filif said. And he hastened into the kitchen and leaned against one of the counters there, rustling uncontrollably. What s the matter, son Dairine s dad said, alarmed. It s here, Filif said, broken voiced. Death Her father went a little pale. Death in Its own self, Filif said. The Ravager, the Kindler of Wildfires. I thought… Filif sounded stricken. I was beginning to think perhaps this was one of the places where the Lone Power hadn t come. Here and there you do find places like that, worlds or planets or continua It forgot or hasn t been to yet…places where the Bargain was done differently. Filif looked around him with all his berries. It s so terrible, he said. I never knew I didn t know It was here, too. I thought this was paradise! Her dad looked at Dairine rather helplessly, then did all he could do in such circumstances: He hugged a tree, not to draw strength from it, but the other way around. It s not going to get you here, son, Dairine s dad said. Nothing like that is going to get you here. And as for the powers of darkness, yeah, they re here, too. But we know they re here. And we fight as we can. There was a long silence. Finally, Filif pulled himself away. That s all we can do, he said. Isn t it That s all, Dairine s dad said. Slowly he went back into the living room, leaving Dairine and her dad gazing after him. There are really places like that Dairine s dad said after a few moments. Places where they just haven t taken delivery on Death Dairine nodded. Here and there, she said, and she turned away. For her, too, the subject was too close for comfort. She went to rinse out the empty milk glass and put it in the sink. After a little while she wandered outside and looked up at the sky. The Moon was coming up in the east, and as it slid slowly up through the twilight, her dad put his head out the back door and looked at her. You all right he said. Dairine breathed in, breathed out. Yeah, she said. Are you Her dad let out a long breath. How do other places get to operate like that, he said, when we don t Dairine shook her head. It s a long story, she said. But right now I really wish we were one of them… Her dad nodded and vanished back inside. She came back in, thought about another glass of milk, fetched Spot into the kitchen from the dining room, got another glass, and went back into the fridge for more milk. While she was pouring, Sker ret came back in. Ah, Sker ret said, the got stuff. Yup, Dairine said. Don t tell me you re hungry again! Not again, Sker ret said. Still. Dairine glanced at her dad. Daddy, she said, have we got any scrap metal…or wood Or matter of any kind, Sker ret said, with the air of someone trying to be helpful. Let me see what I can find, Dairine s dad said. Now that you mention it, I ve been thinking of replacing the old woodshed, but I keep putting it off. If I had to replace it because somebody, uh, ate it… Dairine snickered. Her dad got up and came into the kitchen, putting the kettle on to boil. Then he picked up his cell phone and dialed. After a moment he