, the Lone Power said. Its tone is really starting to annoy me, Kit said silently to Nita. You know what s weird It bothers me less when It s a guy. Hah. At least It s just sitting there. Would you rather have It insulting you or trying to blow you up Ask me again when we leave. Assuming that we do… So what are we supposed to do about all this Nita said. Unlock the kiddie gate, said the Lone One. Find a way to break the wizardry on the kernel. Let them out. Which will also let you out. It looked demure. An unavoidable side effect. Nita sighed and got up. As she passed him, Ponch rolled over and lay looking at the Lone Power upside down, further increasing the surreal quality of the entire encounter, from Nita s point of view. Look, she said, before we agree to help you, of all beings, with anything, we need to have some questions answered, even if it upsets you. We re still not entirely clear about what happened with you a while back, at the end of Dairine s Ordeal. We know what it looked like, and felt like… It tsked at her. And a wizard is supposed to trust her feelings… Not without taking a look at them occasionally to see how they measure up against reality, Kit said. It looked like you, Nita said, were thinking about turning over a new leaf. Giving up being the force behind evil in the worlds. The Lone One said nothing, just nodded slightly. Its expression was unreadable. It also looked like the other Powers That Be…and the One…were actually willing to take you back, Kit said. You were there, It said. Nita and Kit looked thoughtfully at It for a few moments. Even though we were, Nita said, sometimes it s hard to believe what seemed to have happened… especially when we keep running into other versions of you who don t seem to have heard the word yet. We ve been over that. And it would be easy to believe that it was all an illusion of some kind, Kit said. I mean, lots of people might never believe that you could ever be forgiven for what you ve been…what you ve done. That could be so, the Lone One said softly. As there might also be those who ve become a little smug, over time, about their own redemptions…enough so that they d feel comfortable dictating to the One their own minuscule ideas about who else ought to qualify for forgiveness. It laughed, a suddenly bitter sound. And it s a fool s game, because there is no sounding the One, no grasping It. It looked, and sounded, angry, and scornful, and a little haunted…even disturbed. All we can be sure of is that, whether we like it or not, the One means us all well, more so than we can ever comprehend. And the details of that meaning are sometimes going to be impossible for any created being to fathom…even the Powers That Be. It leaned back in Its throne and scowled. It has no taste, no discrimination…that s what s so infuriating, the Lone Power muttered under Its breath. It ll redeem just anybody… Even you Well, whatever, Nita said. But you can still understand why we d have trouble trusting you. Me, in particular. Esemeli sighed and looked at Nita with those lazy, thoughtful eyes. The uncomfortable moment had sealed itself right over again, leaving Nita feeling both sorry for this particular version of the Lone One and still rather cautious. Yes, well, It said. If you re so enlightened, being a wizard and all, you ll get past it, and get on with the work at hand, won t you The mockery was almost a relief after Its unsettled tone of a few moments before. Well, I m not sure exactly what we re supposed to do, Kit said. I have an idea, Nita said. But I m not sure I like it. We re going to need to investigate the species Choice more closely. The only way you re going to do that now, the Lone One said, smiling slightly, is to find Druvah. As if he s around here somewhere, Kit said, annoyed. Oh, he is, Esemeli said. Somewhere… Nita thought again of the incessant good-natured whispering in the air: the whispers of the dead. So we have to find him, is that it Nita said. And then we have to find the planet s kernel And after that, since this is Quelt s world, not ours, we re going to have to tell her what s wrong here, and get her in on fixing it. Thereby turning you loose… Nita looked over at Esemeli. Once this world is set free to pursue its proper course, the Lone One said, there won t be any need for me to hang around here anymore, I assure you. Nita didn t quite glance at Kit, but she knew what he was thinking: The Lone One s assurances weren t necessarily something they were going to feel comfortable depending on. And what exactly is going to happen when the world is set free Well, there are a lot of different ways that can go… Nita gave It a stern look. Really Then you d better start listing them. It laughed at her then, and there again was that old, malicious humor that was almost a relief to hear. Why should I do your work for you the Lone Power said. You should be grateful that I ve consented to give you even this little interview. It s more than the other Powers would do. They leave you with hints and riddles, and make you work everything out for yourselves. Which, considering who we re dealing with, may he the best way to proceed, Nita thought, grimacing slightly to herself. Kit, she said then, I don t know about you, but I m enjoying this vacation. I think this planet is just fine the way it is, and I don t see why we should waste any more of our time playing Twenty Questions in a deserted bandstand with a Power That Has Been! I m gonna go lie on the beach for a while, and after that I m gonna go back home and get on with my life. She turned to go, but not before catching just a glimpse of the expression on Esemeli s face as It became suddenly alarmed. Yeah, Kit said, sounding infinitely bored. Let s go. C mon, Ponch. Bye, he said to the Lone Power, waving, and turned to follow Nita toward the entry. The silence stretched and stretched as they went across the polished white floor. Nita didn t turn her head, just looked at Kit out of the corner of her eye. She could just see him looking back at her, sidelong. They d actually made it to the third step down from the top of the plinth when the Lone One shouted after them, Wait! Both of them paused, turned. Esemeli was off Its throne and hurrying toward them. You cannot leave me here like this! It said. Watch us, Kit said. He turned again. No, wait!! They both stood there and watched the Lone One come out into the sunlight. It winced at it a little, but then it was bright after the shadows of the Naos. Forget everything else, It said. Do you have any idea what it s been like for me, being trapped here And It actually waved Its arms around in the air in frustration. The eternal boredom of it, here in the land of flying sheep and sweet-tempered people I may exist mostly outside of Time, in the depths of eternity, but what happens here echoes there, and do you think I don t experience what this is like Tedium! The whole planet s a playpen! There are no storms, there are no floods, no earthquakes, no disasters Even eavesdropping on the dark sides of these people s hearts isn t any fun. They hardly have any dark sides! The most they manage is the spiritual equivalent of sitting in the shade! They don t know how to hate each other. They re not greedy, they re not envious, they don t get sick, they don t die in pain! They re not even accident-prone there s not so much as even a stubbed toe to enjoy some days! Damn eternally graceful, temperate, loving, goody-goody For the first time, Nita saw an old idiom come true, as the Lone Power began to curse and around It the shocked air literally turned blue with a haze of locally annihilated water atoms and oxygen broken down to ozone. Nita waved a hand in front of her face, rolling her eyes at the stink. When It ran out of curses, which took a while, It glared at Nita and Kit and got ready to turn some of that anger on them until It noticed their frowns and the slight in-unison body movement that suggested they were getting ready to turn their backs on it again. Then It dropped the anger and just got desperate. Just, help me get out of here! It said. I ll tell you whatever you want to know about what to do Yeah, sure, Kit said. I ll do anything you like Hah! We re supposed to take your word for that promise you anything you like Promises! Nita said, and sniffed. I ve heard it all before. There s no promise you wouldn t break, Kit said, bored and scornful. No oath you could take Well, Nita said softly, actually, there s one… The Lone One suddenly looked even more alarmed than It had before. Kit threw Nita a concerned glance. What Are you sure We ve heard It get wizards to swear this particular oath before, in shorter versions, Nita said. It s at the very center of wizardry, embodied in all the Enactive modes of the Speech. Not even one of the Powers That Be would dare break it: They re held by the stricture, whether They re renegade or not. It s at the root of creation. Even the Wizard s Oath is derived from it. The Lone Power s expression was becoming more than merely alarmed: It looked suspicious. Where have you been getting information like that Esemeli said. Nita s smile was grim. You made me do a lot of research when my mother got sick, Nita said. A whole lot of reading in the manual. Do you think that after she was gone, I just gave that up And since I started really working on it, I ve been getting access to all kinds of information I didn t know was there before. You have no idea what trouble you ve made for yourself. There was a brief silence. So swear, Nita said. Come on, it s not so hard. And I can only do this once: It s not like you re ever going to have to repeat yourself on my account. I swear by the One to perform what I promise The Lone Power looked at her, stony-faced, silent. You know, It said after a few moments, what you re likely to be bringing down on yourself, at some later date, by making me do something Nita folded her arms and looked at the Lone One. Threats are a bad start for what s going to happen now… Esemeli glared at her. Won t swear, huh Nita said. No, I didn t think so. You ve just been yanking our chain this whole time. She looked over at Kit. I guess it s true, she said, with a sigh. Evil can t change. Or else, she said, looking back at Esemeli, you re even more stuck than you say you are, you poor thing. Never mind. You just have a nice time sitting here in the shade for another aeon or three! She turned her back and started down the stairs again. Kit shrugged helplessly at the Lone Power, and turned to go after Nita. Wait! Nita didn t stop. I ll swear! Nita went down a couple more steps, a little more slowly, and then stopped and looked over her shoulder. Let s hear it, then, she said. And don t leave anything out. I swear by the One, Esemeli said, standing there in the sun and casting a longer and blacker shadow every moment, to perform what I promise Fully and without any reservation, Nita said, nor with any mechanism or execution founded in the intention to deceive; to fully inform the wizards of all manner of things of which they inquire; to carry out this information at a speed and in a way best suited to these wizards desires and the achievement of their ends; and at the end of said achievement, to depart without doing any harm to them or any thing or person affiliated with them in whatever degree, and when the conditions of this swearing are discharged and acknowledged to have been discharged, to go peaceably again into my own place. And all this, by the Power of that One in Which all oaths and all intentions rest, inviting It on my abroachment of this Oath to withdraw the gifts It allows me to enjoy, I swear Phrase by phrase, scowling more and more blackly with every word, the Lone One recited the Binding Oath. It got as far as any thing or person affiliated with them in whatever degree, and then stopped, glaring at them, while its shadow boiled with half-seen nightmare shapes of fury. Oh, come on, that could be construed as meaning your whole universe!! It said. Nita ignored Its shadow, kept her eyes on Esemeli s face. So it could, Nita said. And if you cooperate with us, there won t be any need to take you to arbitration over it. Assuming you survive that long, the Lone One said, grinding Its teeth. Anything can happen, Nita said. And if you start trying to sabotage us after you ve sworn this Oath, I wouldn t make any bets on your longevity, either. You know what that last clause means. The only reason you re here is because the One hasn t yet seen fit to abolish you by withdrawing the energy It gave you at the very beginning of things. If you break this Oath Then she grinned. Nah. You re infinitely destructive but you re not actively dumb. Come on, just get it over with! Stalling isn t going to help you. Esemeli grimaced, and then started reciting again. When the Oath was finished, Nita nodded and said, All right. That wasn t so bad, was it The Lone One said nothing. Never mind, Nita said. Kit Right, Kit said. First question: Where is Druvah I don t know. Kit gave Esemeli a skeptical look. I mean it, Esemeli said. He used the energy I gave him to change his way of being. After the Choice, he bound himself into the world physically. Finding him is going to require making some preparations. Then make them, Nita said. I want to hear all about them, of course, when they ve been made, before we actually go looking. But don t take too long. We re only here for another week or so, and after we get this sorted out, I want lots of time on the beach to relax with Quelt. The Lone One nodded in a surly way. You ll hear from me tomorrow dawn, It said, then turned and slowly went back up the steps into the Naos, vanishing into the shadows. Kit and Nita went down the stairs again, with Ponch following after, wagging his tail. At the bottom of the stairs, they paused briefly as Ponch hurled himself off into the flowery fields, jumping at the occasional fur-bat that flapped up, startled, out of the jijis flowers. Weren t you a little mean to It Kit said under his breath as they went after Ponch. After a whole week on the Planet of Nice, Nita said, equally softly, and come to think of it, a week without Dairine, I kind of wanted an excuse to get cranky about something. She smiled slightly. Do you trust It Now After It swore the Binding Oath Sure. She glanced at Kit out of the corner of her eye. About ninety percent. I wouldn t put it past Esemeli to keep trying to find a way out of what I made It swear. But at least the odds are on our side. And we ve got to find out the truth about what s going on around here. Druvah is definitely still here…and he ll be able to tell us. They walked on a little ways. So this turns out to be errantry after all, Kit said. Nita nodded. Just not formally declared, nothing that the Powers officially sent us on. Kit shook his head. But why not he said. Why didn t they just send us here and say, There s something wrong with this planet and we need you to fix it Or, Nita said, why didn t They just get in touch with Quelt and tell her what the problem was She picked up a small rock and threw it off into the flowers. One flower moved slightly in a sea of them as the rock came down, and then everything was still once more. She and Kit sighed more or less in unison. No answers were going to be forthcoming. They were just going to have to get on with it. It s like Rhiow said, a while ago, Nita muttered. The little black cat who was head of the New York gating team had been describing a pleasure trip when she d routed outward through the Crossings and had wound up spending days there, helping them repair a recalcitrant worldgate. Wizard s holiday… Kit grinned. The phrase meant a vacation or pleasure trip that rapidly turned into something else, usually involving errantry, but was still pleasant in a strange way, simply because of the change. I don t know why the Powers let us think we re ever going to get a real vacation, Kit said. Maybe They don t get any, either, Nita said, and They think the situation s normal. If you re right, Kit said, I feel sorry for Them. So do I, Nita said, if I m right. Meanwhile… Back to the house by the sea. It ll work, Roshaun said. In the darkness, they all knelt (or in Filif s case, rooted) above the wizardry together. It lay glowing on the ground under the sassafras trees, now almost completely interwritten with the long, delicately curling characters of the Speech. You re sure Sker ret said. Roshaun nodded. The final layout confirms it. Suck the matter out from underneath the tachocline, and you get a brief but big shift in the way the Sun handles its magnetic fields for the tachocline is the dynamo for the star s whole field. When you pull the matter ou