FAUN AND GAMES

BY PIERS ANTHONY

Synopsis:

The latest Xanth adventure by the author of more than 20 successive New
York Times bestsellers. For Forrest Faun, a young tree faun  searching
for a suitable spirit to save a magical tree, the astonishing
world-within-a-world of the tiny planet Ptero may be the place where he
will find the answer to his quest. Piers Anthony puns his way into
quantum physics in this delightful journey.

This is a work of fiction.  All the characters and events portrayed in
this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously

FAUN & GAMES

Copyright (D 1997 by Piers Anthony

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or
portions thereof, in any form.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

A Tor Book Published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc. 175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

Tor Books on the World Wide Web: littp://w.tor.corn

TorQ is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging -.  ,- Publication Data Anthony, Piers.

Faun and gaines / Piers Anthony.-1st ed.

P.  cm.

"A Tom Doherty Associates book."

ISBN 0-312-86162-I acid-free)

I.  Title.

PS355l,v3F38 1997 97-19362 813'.54-de2l CIP

First Edition: October 1997 Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Hey, Faun, how about some fun?"

Forrest Faun rubbed what remained of his night's sleep out of his eyes
and looked down to the base of his tree.  There stood a fetching nymph
with all the usual nymphly features: pretty face, flowing hair, perfect
figure, and no clothing.  But there was something amiss.

"What do you mean'?" he asked as he sat up in a fork, still getting his
bearings.

,.What do you think I mean, Faun?  Come down and chase me, the way fauns
always do to nymphs."

Then he had it.  "You're no nymph."

"Oh, pooh!" she swore, pouting.  She dissolved into smoke and reformed
as a luscious clothed demoness.  "I am D.  Mentia, out seeking routine
entertainment or mischief while my better half waxes disgustingly
motherly.  What gave me away?"

"If I tell you, will you go somewhere else?" It was usually possible to
get rid of demons if one made a suitable deal with them.

"Yes, if you want me to." Her bright yellow dress fuzzed, showing the
vague outline of her body beneath, with almost a suggestion of a
forbidden panty line.

So there was a catch.  "Why wouldn't I want you to?"

"Because I have dreadful information that will puzzle and alarm you and
perhaps change your whole outlook."

That seemed like adequate reason.  Forrest, now fully awake, jumped down
to the ground, landing neatly on his hoofs.  "What gave you away was
your manner.  You were not acting like a nymph.  You were way too
forward and intelligent.  Much of a nymph's appeal is in her seeming
reticence and lack of intellect.  Now what's this dreadful information?"

"Follow me." Mentia whirled in place, so that her body twisted into a
tight spiral before untwisting facing the opposite direction, and walked
away.  Her skirt shrank so as to show her legs as far up as was feasible
without running out of limb.  But of course Forrest didn't notice,
because nothing a demoness showed was very real.

She led him across the glade to a tree on the far side.  "See."

Forrest stared with dismay at the clog tree.  It was wilting, and its
clogs were falling to the ground.  That could mean only one thing: it
had lost its spirit.

As it happened, the clog tree's spirit was Forrest's friend: Branch
Faun.  They had known each other for almost two centuries, because their
two trees were in sight of each other.  Almost every day Forrest would
drop out of his sandalwood tree, and join Branch in the glade between
them to dance a J'lg or two.  With luck, their 'igging would attract the
fleeting attention of a nymph or three, who would join ill, jiggling.
With further luck, jig and Jiggle would lead to a pleasant chase and
celebration.

But this morning Branch's tree was in a sad state.  It wouldn't fade so
soon if its faun were merely absent; fauns and nymphs shared an
awareness with their trees that alerted them instantly if harm came to
either.  Let a human forester even come near such a tree with an axe,
and its faun would have a fit.  Let a faun split a hoof, and his tree
would shudder.  Such reactions were independent of distance; a faun
could run far away from his tree, and still be closely attuned to it.
They felt each other's pain.

"Are you trying to ignore me?" Mentia asked warningly.  Demollesses
could handle almost anything except that.

"No.  You're right.  I am puzzled and alarmed by this dreadful scene. Do
you know anythin, about it?"

"No.  I just happened to note it in passing, so I looked for the closest
creature who might be tormented by it."

He glanced at her.  "You're one crazy organism."

"Thank you," she said, flushing red with candy stripes.  The color
extended to her clothing and hair, and traces of it radiated into the
air around her.

The clog tree's distress meant that Branch was in serious trouble, if
not dead.  What could have happened?  Branch had been fine yesterday. In
fact he had encountered a nymph from a lady slipper tree whose slippers
gave her special fleetness, just as the sandals from Forrest's
sandalwood tree gave him excellent footing, and the clogs from Branch's
tree protected his hoofs.  They had had quite a merry chase.  Because
that was what fauns and nymphs did; they chased each other until they
came together, and then they celebrated in a manner that children were
not supposed to see.  Because it did tend to get dull just sitting in
one's tree all the time.

In fact, Forrest now remembered, the nymph, clad only in her slippers,
had led Branch a chase right out of sight.  Meanwhile her friend from an
oak tree, named Kara 0ke, had done some very nice singing to background
music of wind through trees, so Forrest had had his own distraction.
Naturally he had chased her, and naturally she had fled, but not too
swiftly, because she was still singing her oak song. So he had caught
her, and they had celebrated in the usual fashion, while she continued
singing.  That had been interesting, because she had sung of every
detail of the experience they were sharing, making it a work of musical
art.  Then she had returned to her tree, satisfied that her song worked.
There weren't any other nymphs around at the moment, so Forrest had
returned to his own tree and settled down for the night.  And now his
friend was gone.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Mentia inquired.

Do?  She was right; he probably should be doing something.  But what?
"What do you think?"

"I think you will follow their footprints, so you can find out what
happened to them."

"Now that's really sensible," he agreed.

The demoness turned smoky black.  "Darn!"

He set off in search of them.  He had no trouble following their tracks:
her slipper prints, which were hourglass shaped, in the manner of the
nymph herself, and his clog prints, which were forceful and furred. They
looped around other trees, as she made cute dodges and diversions. It
was the chase that counted; fauns and nymphs loved lo run almost as much
as they loved to dance.  The better the chase, the better the
celebration at the end.  Forrest remembered a nymph once who had been in
a bad mood, because her tree was suffering a fungus infestation, and had
simply stood there.  This was of course a complete turn-off, and no faun
had touched her.  Any nymph who wanted nothing to do with any particular
faun had only to refuse to move, and he would leave her alone. Sometimes
a nymph teased a faun, pretending disinterest, then leaping into pursuit
the moment he turned his back. If she caught him, it was her advantage,
and he had to do whatever she wanted.  Of course that was exactly the
same as what he wanted, but other fauns would taunt him unmercifully for
getting caught.

Mentia, floating along beside him, was getting bored.  "Are you ready
for me to depart?"

"Yes," he agreed absently.

"Good." She remained where she was.  He realized that he should have
urged her to stay-, then she would have been sure that he was up to
nothing interesting.

The tracks veered toward the Void.  That was the nearby reion of no
return.  Of course every faun and nymph knew better than to enter it,
because there was no way out of it.  Anything that crossed the boundary
was doomed.  Only special creatures, like the night mares, could escape
it, because they weren't real in the way ordinary folk were.  They had
very little substance.

"Don't float too near the Void," Forrest warned the demoness.

She changed course to approach the boundary, then paused.  "Say, you are
a cunning one!" she said with admiration.  "You knew I'd automatically
do the opposite.  It almost worked, too.  But I'm only a little crazy.
You have to be a lot crazy to venture into the Void."

"Maybe next time," he muttered.

The nymph was clearly teasing Branch, by passing flirtingly close to the
fringe of the Void.  Her prints almost touched the boundary, then moved
away, then came close again.  The menace of that drelid region added to
the thrill of the chase.  Forrest had done it too, and knew exactly the
steps to take to be sure of never straying across the line.

Then his sandals balked.  He stopped, perplexed; what was the matter?
His sandals were magic, and protected his hoofs from harm, and if he
were about to step somewhere harmful, they stopped him.  Yet he saw
nothing ahead to be concerned about.

"So what's with you?" Mentia asked.  "Tired of walking?"

"I didn't stop," he explained.  "My sandals did."

"Say, I'm getting to like you.  You're almost as weird as I am."

"That's impossible."

"Thank you." This time her flush of pleasure was purple with green polka
dots, and it extended down her legs and out across the ground around
her.  "So why did your sandals stop?"

"I'm not sure.  Maybe it was a false alarm."

Still, his sandals had never yet been wrong.  So he dropped to his furry
knees and examined the ground before him.  It was ordinary. There were a
few smiling gladiolas, the happiest of flowers, and beyond them some
horse radishes were flicking off flies with their tails. He thought of
asking the nearest horse if it knew of anything harmful here, but he
didn't understand plant language very well, and in any event all it
would say would be "neigh." So finally he got up and made a detour
around the place.

"Oh, well," the demoness said, disappointed.

But now he couldn't find the trail.  Both sets of tracks were gone. So
he turned back-and that was when he saw it.  A splinter of reverse wood
on the ground.  He was sure of its identity, because the gladiola
closest to it was drooping sadly.  And right across it was a lady
slipper print.  The nymph had inadvertently stepped on the splinter.  It
hadn't hurt her directly, because it was lying flat.  But it must have
affected the fleet magic of her slipper, so that she had lost her sure
footing.

"You see something," D.  Mentia remarked astutely.

Now he saw the clog-print next to it, and realized the awful truth. The
nymph had lost her balance, because of the reversal of her slipper
magic, and teetered on the edge of the boundary of the Void.  Branch had
collided with her, caught by surprise by her sudden stop.  And the two
had sprawled into the Void.

"Yes.  They are gone."

It was a freak accident, the kind that would happen hardly once in a
century.  The reverse wood splinter might have been blown there recently
by an errant gust of wind.  It would have been harmless, except when it
came into contact with something magical.  Then that abrupt reversal
Branch and the nymph were lost.  They would never get out of the Void.
And their trees would suffer, for without its spirit a magical tree
slowly lost its magic and became, dreadful destiny, virtually mundane.
It was a fate, many believed, worse than extinction.

"I'm sorry," the demoness said.  "That means that you won't be
entertaining me any more."

Forrest had no idea where the nymph's tree was, but knew it was
suffering similarly.  He hoped there would be another nymph free to join
it and save it.  Meanwhile, he did know where Branch's tree was. But
what could he do?  He could not care for two trees; the relationship
didn't work that way.  He was bound to his sandalwood tree.  He knew of
no fauns looking for trees.  There were more trees than amenable fauns
and nymphs, so that some trees that might have flourished magically
became ordinary.  It was sad, because the right trees had much to offer
their companion spirits, but true.

Then he thought of something.  It was a vanishingly tiny chance, but
marginally better than nothing.  "You're a spirit," he said to the
demoness.  "How would you like to adopt a tree?"

"You mean, become a tree dryad, so that I would live almost forever and
always protect it?"

"Yes.  It's a worthy occupation.  It doesn't have to be a nymph. Any
caring spirit will do, if the commitment is there.  And the clogs would
protect your feet."

"Commitment.  Protected feet." She tried to look serious, but smoke
started puffing out her ears, and finally she exploded into a hilarious
fireball.  "Ho ho ho!"

Then again, maybe the notion had been worse than nothing.  Demons had no
souls, because they were the degraded remnants of souls themselves. They
cared for nothing and nobody.  "Sorry I mentioned It."

Oh, I'm not!  That was my laugh for the day." The smoke coalesced into
the extraordinarily feminine female woman distaff luscious shape of
girlish persuasion with the slightly translucent dress.  "A tree nymph!
You are a barrel of laughs." She formed into a brown barrel with
brightly colored pancake-shaped laughs overflowing its rim.

Forrest ignored her as well as he could, and headed for his home tree.
How could he have been so stupid as to make such a suggestion to a
demoness?

She followed.  "The oddest thing is that my better half well might have
agreed, were she not otherwise occupied.  She has half a soul. But also
a half mortal child, so she's busy.  I'm the half without the soul."

As if he couldn't have guessed.  "You could share the soul of the tree.

"The soul of a shoe tree," she exclaimed, her laughter building up
another head of steam.  "A clog sole.  Protecting my feet.  Oh, hold me,
somebody; I think I'm going to expire of mirth." Her body swelled until
it burst and disappeared, leaving only a faint titter behind.

This time, it seemed she really was gone.  But Forrest didn't chance it;
he walked directly back without looking around.

When he returned and looked at the clog tree, his heart sank into his
stomach.  The poor thing was so droopy and sad.  It was all that
remained of his friend Branch.  He had to do something to help it.

He walked up and put a hand on the trunk.  "Have confidence, clog tree.
I will find you another spirit.  Just give me time to do it."

The tree must have heard him, because its leaves perked up and became
greener.  It knew him, because he had been near it many times, and was
the friend of its faun.  It trusted him to help it.

He had promised, and he would do his best.  Some folk thought that fauns
and nymphs were empty-headed creatures, incapable of feeling or
commitment, but those folk were confusing types.  The creatures of the
Faun and Nymph Retreat had no memory beyond a day, so every new day was
a new adventure.  But that was the magic of the retreat; any who left
there started to turn real, which meant they aged and had memories. Some
preserved their youth by finding useful jobs.  Jewel the Nymph had taken
on the chore of spreading gems throughout Xanth, so that others would
have the delightful challenge of finding them, and later she had married
a mortal man and become a grandmother.  Many others had adopted magical
trees, just as Forrest had.  It was a kind of symbiosis, which was a
fancy word meaning that the two got along great together and helped each
other survive. The trees kept the fauns or nymphs young, because trees
lived a long time and their spirits shared that longevity.  The fauns or
nymphs protected their trees, bringing them water in times of drought
and harassing woodsmen who wanted to chop the trees down.  Nymphs had
very effective ways to distract woodsmen, or to persuade them to spare
their trees. Sometimes a nymph would even marry a woodsman, if that was
what it took. But her first loyalty was always to her tree.  Fauns had
other ways, such as setting booby traps or informing large dragons where
a nice man sized meal could be had near a certain tree.  One way or
another, they protected their timber, as well as enhancing the natural
magic of the trees.

But the sudden loss of Branch left the clog tree in trouble.  Such
relationships were not lightly made or broken.  A faun who lost his tree
died, and a tree who lost its faun turned mundane, an even sadder state.
So he had to find a replacement.

"If only I had the faintest notion how," he said in anguish.

There was a swirl of smoke.  It formed into a large pot labeled SEX.  "I
should have thought a faun already knew how," it said. "But I suppose I
could show you, if-"

He should have known that the demoness hadn't really gone.  She was
still hoping he might do something entertaining.  "How to find a
suitable spirit for the clog tree," he clarified.  "Naturally you have
no better notion than I do."

"Naturally not," the pot agreed, its label changing to KETTLE as it
turned black.  "I would never think of going to ask the Good Magician
Humfrey.  The last time I suggested that, I had to guide a stupid
gargoyle there, and he wound up saving Xanth from whatever.  Actually
that adventure did have its points; it certainly was interesting."

The kettle formed back into the luscious lady shape.  "So there's no
point in suggesting it, especially since the Good Magician charges a
year's Service for an Answer.  So you might as well abandon all hope and
just let the stupid tree die."

"I'll go see the Good Magician!" Forrest exclaimed.  Then he realized
that she had tricked him into reacting, just as he had tried to trick
her.  He had said it, and the clog tree had heard; its leaves were
becoming almost wholesome.  Now he had to do it.  But a year's Service?
"I can't leave my own tree that long," he protested belatedly. "And I
don't even know the way there."

"You need a guide," Mentia said.  "I need to go bother my better half
some more, but I can find a friend to show you the way to Humfrey's
castle."

"I don't want any friend of yours!"

"Excellent.  You will find her just as lusciously annoying as I am. I'll
be right back with her." The demoness popped off.

Again, he had said the wrong thing.  But he was now committed to going.
How would the trees fare during his absence?  He didn't want them to
suffer, but there didn't seem to be much of an alternative.

But there might be a way to get some help on that.  There was a cave
nearby, where a nice cousin of Com Pewter dwelt.  She was ComPassion,
and she loved everybody, because a love spring flowed in her cave.  Her
powers were limited, but she would do any favor she could manage for the
local folk.  Maybe she would be able to help the trees.

Unfortunately, there was a complication about dealing with her, which
was why he normally stayed clear.  But at the moment he didn't seem to
have much choice.  He would just have to hope that it would work out all
right.

He fetched his knapsack, which he always used when going far from his
tree, and ran through field and dale until he came to Passion's cave.
Lovely purple flowers grew at its entrance, and the scent of the air was
sweet.

Oh, no!  He had in his haste forgotten something important.  It was
usual to bring a little gift to Passion when visiting her.  It wasn't
exactly to put her in a good mood, because she was always in a good
mood.  It wasn't just protocol, either.  It was that a gift tended to
make her feel that she should do something in return-and he really
needed that return favor.

What could he find for a gift?  Passion's main weakness was that she
couldn't do anything physical.  She couldn't walk out of her cave and
see the sights or pick the flowers.  So sometimes folk brought her
stories of the things outside, to keep her informed.  But he suspected
he would need more than that.

Then he remembered something.  The chips!  Passion loved chips. What she
did with them no one knew, but she truly valued them.  He knew where
some nice chips grew.

He ran to the glade where the chips were.  Sure enough, there was a nice
new crop of them.  Chips of every kind grew in profusion. Which ones
would please her most?  He pondered briefly, then went for a Potato
Chip.  The moment he harvested it, he felt the urge to speak, and his
words were really salty.  He also felt extremely thirsty. He quickly put
it into his knapsack and sealed it shut.

Across the glade was a brown region.  He went there and harvested a
Chocolate Chip.  It smelled good enough to eat, but he didn't dare take
time for that now.  If he ate one, he might get a hunger for more, and
be unable to stop.  So he popped it quickly into his bag.

One more should do it.  He looked around, and saw an old block in the
center of the glade.  So he went and took a chip off that.  It was very
stubborn and didn't want to turn loose, but when he touched it he got
stubborn too, and finally did pry the chip off the old block.

He nerved himself and entered the cave.  It was very nice inside. He
knew that it was really a rather ordinary cave, but the overflow from
the love spring ran through it, and some of the water evaporated and
suffused the air.  That was part of the complication.  He would have
tried to breathe through a cloth or something, but that would be
impolite, and impoliteness was bad form when one came begging a favor.
So he took it in stride, and his stride was good.  He reached the
center, where reclined a device fashioned of passion wood.  fle stopped
and took a breath.

Before he spoke, a screen lighted.  Who is there,?  it inquired in neat
cursive script.

"Forrest Faun," he said.  "From the nearby sandalwood tree."

WHY DEAR BOY HOW VERY NICE TO SEE YOU.  THE SCREEN SAID WITH A SWEET ROW
OF HEARTS ACROSS THE BOTTOM.

"Uh, likewise, I'm sure," he said.  This wasn't going well.  "Uh, I
brought you a gift."

The screen glowed brightly.  Why how ve thoughtful of you, dear boy! And
the hearts grew larger.  V y If T T y Not well at all!  "Uh, here they
are." He fumbled in his bag and pulled out the Chocolate Chip.  "A sweet
for the sweet." He found another chip and fumbled it out.  "A salt for
the salty." oops; that wasn't right. So he rushed on to the third: "And
a chip off the old block for the stubborn." Worse yet!

Why dear boy, I believe you are flustered the screen said, smiling.

"Uh, yes," he confessed.  He was two centuries old, but felt like an
adolescent elf.

How ve sweet.  The screen turned Valentine pink.  And what is your
request of me, dear boy."

Forrest launched into his story of the fate of Branch Faun and the need
to save his tree.  "So I must go ask the Good Magician what to do," he
concluded.  "But I can't even leave my own tree that long, safely.  So I
thought maybe you could, well, sort of change reality to make the trees
all right, for a while, if you wanted to, until I get back." Suddenly it
seemed rather stupid.

So all this is just to help a tree?

"Yes," he confessed, feeling woefully inadequate.  The whole notion was
ridiculous.  He would have to find some other way.  "But I guess you
have more important things to do.  I'm sorry I bothered you."

Dear boy, you have such a generous spirit, I really like you.  Of course
you must save the tree.  I will help you."

"You will?" He was amazed.  He had thought it so trivial, as far as
anyone else was concerned, but now it seemed important again.

Yes.  Of course I have my price.

Dread surged back.  What changed reality would she require of him?
"Yes."

You kpow I have a romantic nature, bUt that I am a machine.  I can only
dream of love, not actually experience it.

"Yes." This sounded worse.

But I can on occasion approximate love, if I have a cooperativ(?
partner.

She could?  What was she going to make him do?  But he was stuck for it.
"Yes."

Kiss my mouse.

"But you don't have a mouth, ComPassion."

Not mouth.  Mouse.

"What?"

I have a mouse, she explained patiently.  I want you to kiss it.  What
term do you not understand?

"But-a mouse?"

A small living creature, usqfulfor going where I am unable to go.

In this case, romance.

She thought it would be romantic for him to kiss her mouse?  "I- if I
have to-"

Be than1/2f&l I managed to exchange the donkey I had recently for the
mouse.  It was an asinine creature.

He certainly wouldn't have wanted to kiss her asinine creature. "Okay."

Then the cave chamber shimmered, and he knew she was changin(i reality.
It became a lovely glade surrounded by red, green, purple, yellow, and
orange trees, with their assorted round fruits of similar colors, and
flour plants growing in the center.  From the far side came the
prettiest nymph he could remember seeing, with thick lustrous brown hair
that spread out to form a cloak for her body.  But it could not conceal
the elegant curves of that graceful form as she walked.

She came up to him as he stood somewhat bemused by the change. He had
not expected a reality shift of this magnitude.  And what was the nymph
doing here.?

"I am Terian," she said.  "Kiss me."

"But I'm supposed to kiss a-a mouse," he said.

"I am that one.  I am the Mouse Terian.  I am older than I look."

"You're the mouse?" He stared at her.  "But you're beautiful!"

"Thank you.  It has been forty millennia since I have had a compliment
like that.  Others have thought me to be primitive or crude."

"Oh, you are neither of those things!  You are the loveliest creature I
can imagine."

"Thank you.  Now you must kiss me, for I can't kiss you.  I don't know
how."

"Like this," he said enthusiastically.  He folded her lithe and softly
yielding body in his arms and kissed her firmly on her luscious lips. At
first she was hesitant, but then she got into the feel of it and kissed
him back.  What had been a halfway experimental effort became a
full-fledged delight.

After a wonderfully long time he felt obliged to break it off.  For one
thing, he had forgotten to breathe.  He looked into her deep brown eyes.
"Oh, Terian, that was the greatest kiss I ever had!"

"Thank you." Then she turned and walked back across the glade.
Astonished, he just watched, not knowing what to make of it.

The scene shimmered, and the cave returned.  He was staring at the
screen, where the words Thank you were scripted.

"I don't understand," he said.

Mouse Terian could not stay.  I can alter reali only so much. Perhaps
some day someone will go out into the field and harvest me a cereal port
so that I can make better se of the mouse.  But he did enjoy your kiss.
And so did I He was slowly and uncertainly recovering his grip on
reality. "She-what is she like, really?"

A mouse ran up on top of the wooden frame holding the screen and stood
on its hind feet for a moment, facing him.  Here.

So Terian really was a mouse.  He truly had kissed a mouse.  Transformed
by a temporarily local change of reality, but nevertheless a mouse.

Yet a detail didn't fit.  "But she spoke to me!  In sound."

I am rather proud of my sound system.  As the words appeared on the
screen, they came in sound too.  I was the one speaking.

So it could all be explained.  It had been crafted from sound and
temporary reality.  It hadn't really been a lovely nymph.  Still, it had
been impressive.  "I think you are getting close to the feeling of
romance, ComPassion," he said sincerely.

Thank you.  Wait until I complete my next upgrade.  Then more than
kissing will be feasible.

That was somewhat daunting.  "Is-is that all?"

Yes, unfortunately, for now.  Take the two disks beside me and set one
in each tree.  They will alter the trees' reality slightly, so that your
absence will seem like only a day.  They will not wither or wilt. But
you must be back within a month, or the effect willfade, and then they
will suffer.

"Thank you," he said gratefully.  He picked up the two small wooden
disks and tucked them carefully into his knapsack.

Any time, dear boy.  It was a pleasure.

He made his way outside.  The fresh air cleared his head of the fumes
from the love spring.  He realized that in that ambiance he had wanted
to experience the romance, and that must have helped the effect.  What a
woman Terian had seemed to be!  Some day she would surely make some male
mouse excruciatingly happy.  And once ComPassion was fully compatible,
she might make the notorious Com Pewter happy too.

There was a swirl of smoke before him.  Two parts of it descended to the
ground and formed into feet.  The rest became a smoky nymph figure.
"This must be the faun," she said.

"Of course it's me, Mentia," he said.  "Who else would it be?"

The dark face frowned.  "I am not Mentia."

oops.  Demonesses could be troublesome when annoyed.  "I apologize.  I
thought any creature that lovely had to be Mentia."

"Oh you did, did you'?  Mentia's crazy.  Consider this."

The form shifted and reassembled, becoming so exquisite that it was
difficult to look at her without flinching.

"You're right," Forrest said, shielding his eyes with one hand. "That's
twice as lovely as she was."

"And only half as lovely as I could be, if I cared to make the effort.
Well, come on, faun; I don't have all week."

"Come on?  Where?"

"To Humfrey's castle, of course.  Where else did you think?"

A dim bulb flickered.  "You're Mentia's friend!"

"Hmph.  An exaggeration.  But yes, I am Demoness Sire, and I did owe her
half a favor.  So I'll guide you there.  But that's all.  No round trip;
that would require a whole favor.  And I'm not going to make you
deliriously happy enroute, so forget about that too."

"I wasn't even thinking of it."

She looked disappointed.  "You weren't?"

This could be more mischief.  "Well, I was trying to suppress the
thought of it, with imperfect success.  I am a faun, you know.  We're
related to the satyrs.  We have similar urges, but more self control."

She considered.  "Suppose I looked like this?" She became somewhat more
luscious.

"Please don't, because then I would be thinking of it all the time."

"Suppose I became like this?" The scant clothing on her form shrank,
causing parts of her to bulge dangerously.

"Then I would be so overwhelmed I'd be constantly grabbing for you, just
like a satyr, unable to help myself."

She nodded, satisfied, and sagged into a lesser form.  He was learning
how to handle demonesses.

"But first I must see to the trees," he added.  "Then I'm all yoursor
would be, if I weren't struggling not to think of it."

D.  Sire looked even more satisfied.  She drifted beside him as he
wended his way back to his home glade.  "Is it true that nymphs & fauns
have very little magic, apart from their longevity, emptyheadedness, and
insatiable urge to pretend to summon fleets of storks?"

"Flocks of storks," he responded shortly.

"Flocks.  So it is true, cute-horns?"

"Not exactly.  The magic of nymphs is to become phenomenally attractive
to males when they run and bounce, so that any male who spies a running
nymph is compelled to pursue her though he knows he can't catch her. The
magic of fauns is to run fast enough to catch the nymphs, and to make
them desire to celebrate when there is physical contact."

"Fascinating," she said, sounding bored.  "Does it work on other
females?"

"Why, I hadn't thought of that.  I suppose if they removed their clothes
and ran-"

"I mean the animal magnetism.  Do real women get hot when a faun touches
them?"

"Well, we don't chase real women.  They know too much, and they aren't
as well shaped.  In addition, they often regard fauns as misshapen, and
are repelled.  So there's no way of knowing-"

"So they tend to avoid contact.  But if it should happen, what then?"
She dropped to the ground and put her arms around him.  Her upper
section pressed into his chest in two firm places, and her lower section
pressed his fur in one firmer place.  "Is this sufficient contact?" Then
her eyes grew large and dreamy.  "Oh, it's true!  Suddenly I want to get
much closer to you." The three places increased their pressures.

Forrest struggled to disengage.  "You're not a woman, you're a demoness.
If I tried to celebrate with you, you would just dissolve into laughing
gas."

, 'True," she agreed, dissolving into puffs of vapor that spelled out HA
HA.  "But nevertheless also true that your touch inspires a certain
lust.  So I shall make sure not to tease you from too close."

"Thank you." It had been all he could do to stop from trying what she
had been teasing him to try.

"Unless I change my smoky mind," she said, reforming into something
luscious.

He went to the two trees, and tucked a disk into the lowest cleft of
branches of each.  The trees did not seem to change, but he trusted
ComPassion.  They should be all right.  He fetched a spare pair of
sandals, just in case, and put them in his knapsack.  "Now I am ready to
o.  Which way'?"

"South.  He lives below the Gap Chasm."

"The what?"

"Do-ri't tell me you don't remember!  The forget spell wore off it years
ago.

"It isn't that I don't remember.  It's that I never knew."

"Oh.  Well, it's a huge cleft in the ground that is impossible to
penetrate unless you know how." She pursed her lips as she spoke the
words "cleft" and "penetrate," as if suggesting something naughty.

Forrest had no idea what nuance she was nuancing, so he ignored it.
"Will you tell me how'?"

"Of course not.  That's more of a favor than I owe Mentia."

He had thought as much.  Still, limited guidance was better than none.
Maybe he would be able to ask along the way.

Forrest stood at the brink of a monstrous abyss that was yawning despite
the fullness of day.  So this was the dreaded Gap Chasm!  It was indeed
impressive.

"So how do you suppose you will get across this impassable abyss?"
Demoness Sire inquired.

"I suppose I will have to find a place to climb down into it, cross the
bottom, and find a place to climb up the other side.  We fauns are good
climbers, because of our hoofs."

"Ixnay, faun.  The Gap Dragon ranges the depths, eagerly waiting for
idiots like you to try just that.  He's a six legged steamer, and chomps
first and asks questions later."

"Well, maybe I can find a bridge across it.  There must be one
somewhere."

"Several.  One's invisible.  Another is one way."

"One way?"

"Whichever way you're going, it's going the other way."

Forrest had encountered a one way path in his day, so he knew how that
worked.  "Well, I'll keep looking.  There must be some way that folk
cross it."

"There is."

"And you won't tell me."

"That would be a smidgen over my half favor."

So he walked west along the brink.  After an indefinite time, he heard a
scrambling in the brush.  He turned toward it, holding his sandalwood
staff protectively before him.  It would kick anything that turned out
to be dangerous, giving him time to run to safety.

In two and a half moments he spied an odd animal caught in briers. It
looked like a male werewolf, but couldn't be, because that would have
changed to human form to pick away the prickly vines.  As it was, the
poor creature could hardly move, and more beiers were reaching for it.
They would soon coil completely around and prick it to death so they
could feed on its blood.

Forrest didn't like briers much, so he decided to help the animal.
"Could you use some assistance?" he called.

The not-werewolf looked at him.  "Arf!"

Forrest wasn't sharp on animal languages, but he had a nodding
acquaintance.  That sounded like canine for "yes." So he used his staff
to clear a path through the briers.  They whipped around, striking at
it, trying to stab it, but couldn't hurt the wood.  The staff gave them
increasingly hefty kicks in return, until they gave up.

He reached the animal, and carefully pried the briers from its body.
Soon it was free.  "Now follow me out, and stay close to my staff," he
said.  The animal nodded.

When they were safely out of the brier patch, Forrest turned to the
animal.  "If you don't mind my asking, who are you, and what kind of a
creature are you?  You seem like only half of a werewolf."

"Woof!" the animal replied.

"So your name is Woof."

"Oh, come on, you'll never get it that way," Sire said, appearing beside
them.  "You are wasting my time."

Forrest hardly spared her a dark glance.  "You could save your time by
telling me how to cross the Gap Chasm expediently."

She ignored that.  "His name is Woofer.  He's a Mundane dog."

Forrest was amazed.  "A Mundane creature!  I thought they were extinct."

"No such luck.  There's more than a slew of them north of Xanth."

She faded out in disgust.

Forrest looked again at the dog.  "Well, Woofer, I've never met a real
dog before.  So you're Mundane!  I suppose that means you are of limited
intel-urn, that you don't care to talk much.  So I'll phrase yes/no
questions.  One bark for yes, two for no.  Okay?"

"Woof!"

"Are you friendly?"

'Woof."

"Do you have friends?"

"Woof."

"Are you lost?"

"Woof."

"Can you find your way back to them on your own?"

"Woof woof."

"Then I had better help you find them.  I'm not making much progress on
my own anyway."

"Disgusting," Sire said somewhere in air.  "I'll never get through this
chore."

"You know what you can do about it, demoness."

"That would be unethical.  Half a favor is half a favor, not half a whit
more."

"Where did you last see your friends?" Forrest asked Woofer.

The dog bounded to the brink of the chasm and pointed upward with its
nose.

"Over the pit?  Can they fly?"

" Woof."

"And you couldn't keep up with them, running on the ground.  Or maybe
you could, until you got into that brier patch.  And they didn't realize
you were caught, so don't know where you are."

" Woof."

"But maybe when they realize that you're gone, they'll fly back the way
they came, and find you."

"Woof!" Woofer agreed, brightening.

"So let's wait here until they come.  Then you'll be all right.  Xanth
isn't very friendly to a Mundane creature alone."

"Woof."

So they waited by the brink, gazing out, watching for flying creatures,
while D.  Sire faded in and out, her disgust expanding to its farthest
boundaries.  Forrest took some balm from his knapsack and spread it on
Woofer's scratches and punctures, and they started healing.

Then Forrest's sharp eyes spied two things in the air.  They might be
birds, but they didn't fly like birds.  "Maybe that's them," he
suggested.

"Woof!" Woofer wagged his tail.

So Forrest waved violently, to attract their attention.  The shapes
veered toward him.  Soon they showed up as two humanoid figures: a young
man and a young elfin woman.  She had wings, while he flew without
wings.  Evidently they were a couple.

Woofer bounded across to meet them as they landed on the brink.

The young man hugged him, and the young woman kissed his nose.

Then they turned to Forrest.

"Hello," he said, feeling abruptly awkward.

"Woof!" Woofer said, returning to him.

"You helped Woofer"" the man asked.

"He was caught in the brier patch."

"Woof.

"But those scratch something awful," the woman said.  "He's
unscratched."

"Woof woof."

"I used some balm," Forrest said.  Then, still feeling awkward: "I'm
glad he's safe now.  I'll be on my way."

"Woof woof."

"But you are safe now, aren't you'?" Forrest said to him.  "These are
your friends."

"I think he means that you helped him, so he wants to help you back,"
the man said.  "Let's introduce ourselves.  I'm Sean Mundane."

"I'm Willow Elf," the woman said.

"I'm Forrest Faun."

"And so you won't have to wonder, I really am Mundane," Sean SAId.  "I
vISITED Xanth, and fell In love wIth Willow.  We-well, we ran afoul of a
love spring without realizing it at first.  She's large for an elf and
flies because she associates with a very large winged elm tree.  I
returned to Mundania with her, and she found it a really weird place.
Then wtien we came back to Xanth, suddenly I could fly.  We don't know
what happened, but it's great.  Now we're just enjoying it. We hope to
marry soon."

Forrest realized that they were as curious about him as he was about
them.  "I'm an ordinary tree faun.  My neighboring tree lost its faun,
so I am in search of a replacement faun for it, so it won't die or
become-" He hesitated.

"Mundane," Sean said.  "No affront; I know how awful that seems to
Xanthians.  Of course you don't want that to happen."

"So I'm going to ask the Good Magician for advice," Forrest continued.
"Though I understand that he charges a year's Service for an answer, and
I have to be back with my tree in a month.  And I can't even find my way
across this crevasse.  So I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing."

Sean and Willow exchanged a Significant Glance.  Then she spoke. "You
helped Woofer, and we appreciate that.  So maybe we can do you a return
favor.  I don't know how to solve your dilemma, but I think I know who
might be able to help.  I'll call her." She lifted a whistle she wore
around her neck and blew on it.

In barely a moment there was a crashing in the brush as something huge
charged through it.  "A dragon!" Forrest exclaimed.  "You had better fly
out over the gulf."

"A dragon ass," she corrected him.  "Friendly."

Indeed, now he saw that the dragon was striped and had the head of a
donkey.  It was forging through the brier patch, not even noticing the
briers.  And on it was a young woman half a shade lovelier than D.  Sire
in her seduction mode.

"Disgusting!" the demoness agreed, forming beside him.

The dragon ass came to a stop before them.  "We heard your whistle," the
beautiful woman said to Willow.  "How may we help?"

"This nice faun helped get Woofer out of trouble," Willow explained.
"We'd like to help him in return."

The woman turned her graceful gaze on Forrest.  "I am Chlorine. My
talent is poisoning water.  This is my friend Nimby, whom I love more
than anything in Xanth, and to whom I owe everything.  His talent is
making the two of us anything we want to be.  We travel around, looking
for good deeds to do.  Who are you, and why are you worthy of a favor?"

"I am Forrest Faun, and I'm not worthy of any favor."

Chlorine glanced at Willow.  "That's not true," the winged elf girl
said.  "He's trying to find a replacement faun for a tree that will fade
or die otherwise.  He needs to get across the Gap Chasm so he can go ask
the Good Magician's advice.  And he doesn't have time to serve a year
there, because the tree will last only a month."

The woman's gaze returned to Forrest.  "I gather you're not the smartest
faun in Xanth, but you mean well."

That summed it up nicely.  "Yes."

"So we'll help you," she decided.  "Won't we, Nimby?" She leaned forward
to hug the dragon's neck.  They seemed to be the perfect combination: a
beauty and a beast.

Nimby nodded yes.  "I love you," Chlorine said, kissing his neck. "You
gave me back my tear, and so much more."

Forrest gathered that there was more to that relationship than showed on
the surface.  Why should such a lovely woman care so much about such an
ugly dragon?  But that was the same kind of a question others asked
about uns and nymphs with trees: why did they bind themselves to such
unresponsive plantsT There was no point tryin, to explain the wonders of
the relationships to those who lucked any basis for understanding. Maybe
Nby protected Chlorine from other dragons, though he did not look very
formidable.  Maybe he just had a nice personality.  Or maybe it was that
great beauty was attracted to great ugliness.

Chlorine straightened up and looked at Forrest again.  "Get on behind
me," she said.  "We'll take you across the Gap."

Forrest looked at the daunting vast void.  "But how?"

She smiled, and the local scenery brightened.  "You'll see."

So Forrest walked to the side of the dragon, and scrambled up on its
back.  But his perch seemed insecure.  The dragon's small wings were
right behind him, and Chlorine's remarkably contoured backside was
before him.

"Put your arms around me," Chlorine said.  "And hold on TIGHT"

.  'But-' , She reached back and caught his hands, drawing them forward
until his hands touched across her small waist.  He clasped his fingers
together. His face was almost in her flowing hair, which smelled of new
mown hay.

The dragon strode forward, directly toward the brink.  His head dropped
down into the chasm, disappearing from view.  Then the main body crossed
the edge, turning at right angles.  They were going down into the gap!

The sky seemed to whirl as they changed orientation.  Terrified, Forrest
clung tightly to Chlorine, expecting to plummet into the awful depths of
the chasm.

But it didn't happen.  He found himself jammed tight against Chlorine's
shapely back, his thighs against her hips, his face buried in her
fragrant hair-and they weren't falling.  Instead they were moving down
the vertical wall, as if it were level.  Chlorine's hair wasn't even out
of place.

"Bye," Sean said, waving.  He was floating beside them, but angled
differently, because to him down was still down.

"It was nice meeting you," Willow said.  She was flying similarly, her
wings beating with a gentle cadence.  Forrest felt the wind from them,
and knew it was going down, but it was like a level breeze to him.  He
was anchored to the wall, and it had become his ground.  The experience
was weird, but not unpleasant.

"You can relax a little," Chlorine said.

Oh.  He loosened the near death grip he had on her body.  It really
wasn't necessary.

Sean and Willow waved again, then flew away.  There was a woof as Woofer
followed them, running along the land beyond the chasm.

"Thank you!" Forrest called to them, remembering his manners. "And you,"
he added to the woman and dragon.

"It's just what we do," Chlorine replied.  "Nimby and I have such good
fortune that we try to share some of it with others, when the others are
deserving."

"But I'm just trying to help a neighboring tree.  That's not anything
special."

"It's something generous and nice," she said.  "The fact that you don't
regard it as worthy of comment suggests that you are decent and modest.
That's the type of person we like to help."

He was getting quite curious about her and the dragon.  "If I may ask-"

"What's with the damsel and dragon ass?" she finished for him.

m just a somewhat dull, plain, indifferent girl with not much of a
talent.  But Nimby makes me beautiful and smart and healthy and nice,
and now we live in the Nameless Castle where a full staff of servants
takes care of our every whim.  Once a month we go out around Xanth,
looking for good deeds to do, in this minor way sharing out- happiness
with others."

"The dragon lives in a castle?"

She laughed, causing his linked hands on her soft but firm belly to
shake.  "Oh, Nimby changes to handsome princely man form for that,
because he wouldn't fit very well in some of the passages in dragon
form.  And while I love him in any form, when it comes to sharing my
bed, I prefer him as a man.  More cuddly, you know."

She thought the dragon could become a man?  That had to be delusion,
because everyone knew that each creature had only one magic talent, and
Nimby's was walking along vertical walls as if they were horizontal.  So
she must have a fond imagination.  Her notions about her own body and
personality were the opposite: she credited the dr,igo with- naking her
beautiful, when it was plain that she was stunningly lovely on her own.
Still, she and the dragon were doing him a favor, so it would be best
not to disparage her notions.  "That's " he said.

nice, "You don't believe me, do you."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to.  But you don't."

"I mean no offense.  But yes, I don't quite believe you."

"That's good.  I don't want to be believed.  Can you believe that Nimby
and I are married, and that we spent a month on the far side of the
moon, reveling in honey?"

"I do find that similarly hard to believe."

"Wonderful!  I could probably tell you anything, and you wouldn't
believe it.  So I can be completely candid."

"Well, I wouldn't say that."

"If I told you who Nimby really is, you truly wouldn't believe me. So I
won't bother."

Maybe that was just as well.  The farther they rode, the less sense
Chlorine was making.

As they continued down, D.  Sire reappeared.  "I trust you are having
fun?" she inquired, glancing significantly at his hands.

"Yes, this is a remarkable experience," Forrest agreed.  "I have never
seen such a chasm before."

"I meant hanging on to Miss Water Poison, who looks good enough to
drink."

Chlorine glanced at her.  "Haven't you got some better errand elsewhere,
demoness?"

Sire smirked.  "No.  I-" Then she looked surprised.  "As a matter of
fact I do.  " She faded out.

They reached the bottom of the gulf, for the dragon's big feet made for
swift progress.  They turned the corner and walked across the level
bottom.  Forrest looked up, and saw the rim of the chasm impossibly far
above, and a couple of gnat sized specks that might be Sean and Willow.

Then he remembered something.  "Isn't there supposed to be a Gap Dragon
down here, that eats anyone who get caught?"

"He's not in this section at the moment," Chlorine said.  "Did you want
to meet him?"

"No!  I want to avoid him."

"His name is Stanley Steamer, and he eats only folk he doesn't know.  I
could introduce you."

"Thanks all the same.  I'd rather not."

"He has a really cute son named Steven Steamer.  All the girls swoon
over that baby dragon."

"I'm not a girl."

She laughed again.  "Very well.  No introduction.  But if you should
ever meet him, just say that Nimby sent you, and he won't eat you."

"Oh-you mean dragons don't eat the friends of dragons?"

"Something like that.  The winged monsters, especially, are very
honorable.  They protect their own, and the friends of their own.  But
don't abuse the privilege.  They have to make their living, you know."

By eating most folk they encountered.  "I won't abuse it," Forrest
promised.  So was this more fantasy on her part, or was it valid?  He
hoped he never had occasion to find out.

They reached the far wall of the chasm, which wasn't far off, because
the gulf was narrower at the base than at the top.  Forrest knew that if
he cared to ponder hard on that, he might conclude that this meant that
the walls weren't quite vertical.  But that intensity of thought wasn't
worth the effort, so he didn't reach that conclusion.

The trip up was like the trip down, only now "forward" was toward the
distant sky.  The dragon seemed to have no trouble walking on the wall,
and Forrest did not feel any great pull of gravity holding him back.
Just the supple form of Chlorine's body as he kept his handslinked.

"You must be hungry," she said after a bit.  "Have a dough nut. They're
very filling." She made a quarter turn, and put a big spongy nut to his
mouth so he could take it without letting go of her.

He opened his mouth and took it.  It tasted very good, rather like fresh
pie crust, and was surprisingly filling.  "Thank you."

"You are welcome."

Forrest looked ahead and saw a dark cloud approaching.  "That looks like
Fracto, the worst of clouds," he said.  "I hope he doesn't decide to wet
on us."

"He wouldn't dare," Chlorine said.

However, the cloud came floating toward them, growing bigger and uglier
by the moment.  Until Chlorine tapped Nimby on a scale.  "Mischief at
two o'clock," she murmured.

The dragon lifted his head and glanced at the cloud.  The cloud
blanched, and then changed course, scudding swiftly away.

Forrest blinked.  Surely he hadn't seen that.  How could one glance from
a comically stupid looking dragon dissuade as mean a cloud as Fracto? It
must be an illusion.  Maybe the woman's craziness was spreading to him.

They reached the top and bent around it.  Things were on the level
again.

The dragon stopped.  "This is as far as we'll take you," Chlorine said.
"There is a magic path right ahead.  Follow that, and it will lead you
safely to the Good Magician's castle."

"Thank you," Forrest said, sliding down to the ground.

"And don't be concerned about the Year's Service," she told him.

"Humfrey won't require it of you.  So you will be back with your tree in
time."

"I will?" he asked, astonished.

"Yes.  And I think happier than you have ever been." She shrugged.  "But
of course I don't know the future, so I could be wrong."

She seemed so reasonable in her madness!  "Thank you," he repeated.
"Thank you for everything."

She smiled, lighting up the local scenery again, and waved as Nimby
started off into the jungle.  He didn't seem to need a path. Forrest
turned and followed the magic path.

In a moment he thought of something else, and turned back.  A moment
wasn't long, so he had plenty of time to catch them and ask his
question.  But when he returned to the brink of the Gap Chasm, there was
no sign of damsel or dragon.  He followed Nimby's tracks to the jungle's
edge-and there they stopped.  It was as if the creature had simply
vanished without walking farther.  Could he have flown?

No, there was nothing in the sky.  They were simply gone.

That was one curious pair of creatures!  How could he query a vanishing
donkey-headed dragon?  Oh, well, he had forgotten his question anyway.

"Yes, they are really gone," D.  Sire said, fading in.

"What happened to you?"

"I had a sudden urge to busy myself elsewhere.  It didn't fade until you
got free of Miss Poison.  So I never got to see whether any bumps in the
terrain caused your hands to bump up to her bumps."

Yet another evidence of the odd woman's power.  She had banished a
demoness!  "Well, I no longer need your guidance, so you can continue
your business elsewhere."

She shook her finger at him, and the shaking progressed down her arm and
through her body.  "Nuh-uh, faun.  I have half a favor to complete."

"You have done so.  I am now on a magic path leading straight to the
Good Magician's castle."

She nodded, and the nodding spread down too.  "So you are.  But there is
a further complication."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Good.  The Good Magician always has three preposterous Challenges
preventing a querent from entering his castle."

"Preventing a what?"

"A querent.  A person who comes to make a query.  That's you."

"So how do I handle those Challenges?"

"Sorry, that information is beyond my obligation."

He looked at her, annoyed.  Then he realized that that was what she
wanted.  "Thank you.  I appreciate the information.  Now I am better
prepared to handle the Challenges."

"Curses," she muttered.  "Foiled again." She faded out.

He ran along the path, making excellent time.  By some process he did
not understand, it seemed to be earlier in the day than it had been when
he first reached the Gap Chasm, so that he wouldn't need to spend a
night halfway there.  He wasn't hungry; the dough nut seemed to have fed
him for a long time.

Indeed, in the afternoon he reached the Good Magician's castle. This was
an appealing edifice, for those who- night like that type, with red
brick walls, green tiled roofs, and a bright blue moat.  In the moat was
a peculiar monster.  It had the top of a man, and the body of a winged
serpent, and it was huge.

There was a drawbridge, and the bridge was in the lowered position,
crossing the moat.  Somewhat hesitantly, Forrest approached the bridge.

" You'll be sorry," D.  Sire murmured behind him.

"Then go away before you enjoy it too much," he said shortly,
lengthening his stride.

Immediately the moat monster swam toward the bridge.  "Come into my
grasp, faun face," he said.  "I haven't eaten in days."

Forrest stopped.  The human portion looked fully strong enough to grab
him and dispatch him, and the serpent portion looked capable of
digesting him.  There was no way he could avoid those arms.  on the
narrow bridge.  So this must be a Challenge.

He looked around, but the moat seemed to circle the entire castle. He
couldn't try to swim, because the monster would catch him that much
easier.  How was he going to get past?

A nonchalant man of indifferent persuasion came walking around the moat.
"Do I perceive a problem?" he inquired.

"I am trying to cross the moat without getting grabbed and gobbled by
the monster."

"Now that is a very interesting statement.  Why do you wish to do that?"

"Because I need to talk to the Good Magician."

"Indubitably.  Why do you wish to talk with him?"

"I need an Answer to a Problem."

 The man nodded.  "Has it occurred to you that you may be misdirecting
your energies?  You can't change the circumstance, but you can change
yourself.  Maybe you can solve your problem yourself, just by developing
a better attitude."

Forrest glanced at him.  "Who are you?"

"I am the castle psychologist.  It is my business to talk to querents
and try to enable them to solve their problems the old fashioned way: by
themselves."

"If I could solve it myself, I wouldn't be coming here," Forrest said
shortly.

Now are you sure of that?  Perhaps all you need is an adjustment of
attitude."

Forrest's mood had not been great when he arrived at the castle, and it
was deteriorating.  "I think all I need is a way across that moat."

"Why do you feel that way?"

Forrest's ire was approaching the blow-off point.  "If you're not going
to help, I wish you'd go away so I can concentrate."

"I think we need to get at the root of your hostility.  Did you have bad
parenting as a child?"

"I never had parents!" Forrest snapped.  "I'm a faun.  We all get
delivered to the Faun & Nymph Retreat, where we stay until we go."

'."Do you want to talk about it?"

I 'No!" I The psychologist shook his head.  "I'm afraid we have a
difficult case here.  This may require many fifty minute sessions.  Why
don't you make yourself comfortable, and we shall proceed."

A bulb flashed over Forrest's head.  "You're part of the problem!" he
said.  "You're another Challenge!"

"By no means.  I am a Solution.  But you have to be amenable to It.  Now
I can help you, but you have to really want to change."

"I don't want to change!  I want to get across that moat!"

"This hostility is doing you no good.  I won't be able to help you if
you don't develop a better attitude."

Forrest considered.  If what the man said was correct, he was a Solution
rather than a problem.  But how could he help, when he just kept trying
to distract Forrest, or to make him give up his quest?

Forrest forced a moderate expression to his face.  "Exactly how do you
help people?"

"I encourage them to talk about their feelings, in this manner explating
them.  In the colloquial sense, I am called a shrink: one who shrinks
the head, making it intelligible and less burdensome."

A shrink!  Suddenly Forrest saw a possible way.  "You know, I have
problems.  But as you say, they are complicated and will take a long
time to shrink.  On the other hand,.  I suspect that the problems of
that" moat monster are simpler, and can be shrunk in much less time. Why
don't you help him first, so that there won't be a backlog'?"

"Why that is an appealing idea," the psychologist agreed.  He turned to
the mer-dragon.  "say there-let's talk."

"What for'?" the monster asked.

"I can see that you are troubled.  I wish to alleviate your concerns and
enable you to feel good about yourself."

"Of course I'm troubled," the monster said.  "I'm a monster!  Have you
any idea how dull it gets being confined to a circular moat?"

"Yes, I can appreciate that.  But you can't change the moat, you can
only change yourself.  Perhaps if you developed a better attitude about
it, you would feel less troubled."

"I would?" The monster was interested.

Forrest sat back and watched while the two talked.  And as they did, the
monster gradually shrank in size.  The shrink was doing his job.

, ,You cunning knave," Sire murmured behind him.  "You figured it out."

"Well, I didn't want to get shrunk myself," he agreed, satisfied. "So I
thought I'd get the monster shrunk instead."

When the monster was too small to reach the bridge, Forrest walked
across to the castle.  He was feeling halfway satisfied.

When he arrived at the inner shore, he discovered a set of metal tracks.
Beyond them was a blank wall.  The tracks and wall continued to either
side, with no room around them; they marked the only level ground
outside the castle.

So he picked a direction at random, and started walking between the
tracks.  Something swirled before him.  "I wouldn't do that, if I were
you," it said.  "Fortunately I'm not you."

"Are you still here, D.  Sire?" he inquired irritably.

"I have not yet quite fulfilled my half favor," she said, taking
luscious shape.

He had to stop walking, lest he collide with her form and get pressed in
three places again.  "Why wouldn't you walk here, if you had the awful
misfortune to be me?"

"Because the locomotive is coming, and there's no way to avoid it."

"Locomotive?" This was a new word to him.  "What is that'?"

"A great huge enormous giant crazy machine that thunders along these
tracks, squashing anything in its path."

"Oh-like a big dragon?"

"No.  More like a train of thought."

He looked at her.  "You can be pretty irritating."

"It's the flip side of my nature.  Those who are most capable of driving
a man wild with longing, also are capable of annoying him beyond
endurance.  I suppose I could demonstrate." Her clothing began to fuzz.

Forrest closed his eyes to avoid being freaked out by the sight of her
underclothing.  He knew she had no intention of playing nymph & faun
with him; she just wanted to drive him mad with desire.  That was how
demonesses entertained themselves: tormenting ordinary folk.  "So what
would you do, in my place?"

"I would get quickly back to the landing area.  Very quickly."

Forrest heard an ominous rumbling.  The tracks were shaking, and giving
out sounds of incipient power.  He turned, opened his eyes, and saw a
bright light in the center of a black blob coming toward him. He ran
back toward the bridge as fast as he could.

The blob expanded into a frighteningly large black onrushing machine.
Jets of white steam sprouted from it, and big puffs of roiling smoke
poured from a chimney at its top.  A piercing whistle came from it.

For-rest dived for the bridge.  He rolled and got his hoofs out of the
way just as the monster engine thundered across, as Sire had predicted.
He would have been squished flat, if she had not warned him.

"Thank you, demoness," he said.  "You saved me from an uncomfortable
experience."

She appeared above him, her skirt threatening to show too much of her
legs.  "Well, it would have been a waste, to have you squished into
oblivion when I was only one and a half challenges away from completing
my half favor."

"To be sure," he agreed.  He forced his eyes away from her knees, or
wherever, and climbed back to his feet.  "Now what would you do, if you
were in my place?"

"I would board that train before it gets moving again."

He realized that once it had missed him, the locomotive had puffed to a
stop not far along the tracks.  Behind it were hitched several cars, and
the door to one was open right before him.  It had many windows, in a
row somewhat above the level of his head.

So he put a hand on a rail and stepped up the steps, into the end of the
long car.

The whistle blew again, and the crazy engine puffed and resumed motion,
struggling to haul the cars along behind it.  The steps folded up behind
Forrest, sealing him in.  He was on his way somewhere.

"Of course I am not in your place," Sire murmured invisibly in his ear.
"Mentia might be able to handle this situation, but I doubt I could."

"What do you mean?"

But she had faded out.  He was on his own again.

There was only one way to go: on into the main portion of the coach.  It
was lined with plush seats, all of which were filled with unmoving human
figures.  They looked like statues, for their eyes never blinked.  That
made him nervous.

He walked along the center aisle until he found one seat that was empty.
The coach was shaking and its floor was heaving as it got up speed, so
it was hard for him to keep his feet.  So he sat in that one free seat.

He heard a sound beside him.  It was a young human woman, sobbing into a
hankie.

Forrest had no good notion how to deal with human women, as he had not
encountered many.  His sandalwood tree was in a part of the forest where
humans seldom wandered.  But it bothered him to be so close to someone
this unhappy.  Since there was no other place to sit, he decided that he
would have to try to deal with whatever was bothering the woman.

"Hello," he said.  "I am Forrest Faun.  Is there something I can do for
you?"

She turned her head and looked at him with her tear-rimmed reddened
eyes.  "Eeeeek!" she screamed.

This set him back slightly.  "Eeeeek?"

"A satyr!  As if I didn't have trouble enough already."

Oh.  I'm not a satyr," Forrest said firmly.  "I am a faun.  We are a
related but less aggressive species.  We chase after only willing
nymphs."

Her eyes began to clear, and her sniffles to snuffle out.  "You don't
pursue innocent maidens?"

"Definitely not."

"Well, all right then.  I am Dot Human, and my talent is making spots on
the wall."

"I'm sorry."

I 'Sorry?"

"That you don't have a decent magic talent.  Of course I don't have a
talent at all, being only part human." He didn't count his natural faun
traits as a talent.

"I have a decent talent."

"But you said-"

"I'll show you." She focused on the back of the seat before her.

A picture formed on it.

Forrest stared.  "But that's not a spot!  It's a picture."

"It's lots of little spots.  Dots.  All different colors and
intensities. So, taken together, they make up the picture."

He looked closely, and saw that it was true.  The picture was composed
of a multitude of tiny dots, so closely set that the moment he blinked
they fuzzed back into the picture.  "But that's a good talent. I thought
you meant spot-on-the-wall as a euphemism for having a worthless
talent."

"No, it's a good talent.  But it's not doing me any good."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm stuck here behind the locomotive, going crazy."

"Crazy?"

"That's what it does to you.  Didn't you see all those other folk on
this coach?"

"They look like dummies."

"That's because they have gone completely loco.  There's no hope for
them; they've crashed.  But I'm not completely loco yet, so there's hope
for me.  That's why I'm crying." Her eyes began to brim again.

"I don't understand."

"By the time you understand, it's probably too late.  The ei'fect builds
gradually.  Each lap the locomotive makes around the castle makes it
worse.  You're still fresh; you're hardly crazy at all.  And I guess
being close to you makes me less crazy, for a while, until we both are
overwhelmed."

Forrest was starting to catch on.  "The longer we stay here, the crazier
we become?  Because of the locomotive?"

"Yes.  I was pretty far gone, until you came in.  But it won't last."

"Then we must get off the train before it gets us."

"We can't get off.  Why do you think I was crying?"

"I wasn't sure.  But I hoped to help.  Why can't we get off?"

"Because it won't stop.  The windows won't open, the doors won't open,
and even if they did, look how fast it's going."

He looked out the window, and saw the wall rushing by at blinding
velocity.  He looked across the aisle to the far windows, and saw the
moat passing just as swiftly.  "But it stopped for me."

"It stops to let folk on, not to let them off."

"Why didn't you get off when it stopped for me?"

"I couldn't.  The seat belt held me."

"What seat belt?" Forrest saw nothing of that kind.

"The automatic seat belt.  It clasps you only when the train is
stopping."

"So if someone else wants to get on, I'll be belted too?"

"Yes.  It belts everyone, so no one will get hurt."

"But that's crazy!"

"Precisely."

"Well, we'll have to get out of our seats while it's moving, then stop
it."

"I tried that.  The coach is locked up.  No way out of it.  The
locomotive won't stop unless everyone is secured."

A bulb lighted.  "The Challenge!  It's to make the train stop."

"I guess so," Dot agreed.  "But I have no idea how."

"And if I don't figure it out pretty quick, I'll go crazy, and become
another crash dummy."

"That's true."

Forrest pondered.  He was starting to feel a bit unbalanced already, and
he could only have been around the berid once or twice.  But there had
to be a way to get oft the train.  He just had to figure it out. Soon.

He saw no way, offhand.  The limited scenery zoomed by unabated. Even if
he could manage to open a window or door, it wouldn't be safe to jump
out.  He had to get the train to actually stop, without fastening him
down with a seat belt.  That seemed impossible.

But there did have to be a way.  That was in the big book of rules, or
whatever.  He hoped.  So what was he overlooking?

There hadn't seemed to be much way to cross the moat, either.  But he
had managed to use the psychologist to change things, so that it became
possible.  Too bad there wasn't another psychologist, to shrink the
locomotive, until it couldn't pull them along so fast.

Then another bulb started to light, but he managed to suppress it before
the woman saw it.  There was another person, and she was it. She must be
the key to escape.  She wasn't a fellow trap-ee, she was part of the
Challenge.

But her talent was merely spots on a wall.  Very good spots, but how
could spots stop a train?  Unless "Dot, can you make a picture outside
the train?"

"Well, if there's a surface close enough."

"Can you make a picture of a door through that wall?"

"I suppose.  But the wall is moving.  It would carry away my dots."

"No, we're moving.  The wall is still."

"Oh.  I suppose that's right." She focused on the wall, and in a moment
a picture formed.  It was a door.  It seemed to be right opposite their
window, unmoving.

"Very good," Forrest said.  "Now can you make that door open?"

The door slowly opened, revealing a nice garden beyond.

"Now can you make a similar door in our window, and open it?"

The dots quickly formed a door, and it opened.

"Now all we have to do is go through those two doors, and we'll be
there," he said with satisfaction.

"It won't work," Dot said sadly.

But he tried it anyway.  He reached across her and put one hand through
the nearer open door.  And banged his knuckle.  "ooooh!"

He brought his hand back.

"The window's still there," Dot explained.  "So is the brick wall. So is
the motion.  All I do is pictures, not changes.  It just looks
different." The pictures faded out.

Forrest sighed.  The doors were illusion; the window and wall were
reality.  He should have known.  It had been a rather crazy idea.

Crazy.  That figured.

He sat back and pondered some more.  He didn't want any more

'deas, he wanted something that worked.  What could he come crazy I   I
up with, before his mind lost its common sense?

He still thought it related to Dot, and her talent.  How could her
talent stop the train?  Not with illusion, but reality?

What he really needed was information.  Like a manual of instructions,
to know how to stop the train.  But of course that was another crazy
notion, because mere pictures couldn't provide that.

Or could they?  Maybe it was worth a try.

"Dot, just how detailed can your pictures be?"

"Infinitely detailed," she said proudly.  "I can make dots so small they
can't even be seen individually."

"Then let's make a special picture.  Of a manual.  On the cover it says
I,OCOMOTIVE OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS.  Can you do that?"

"Sure.  But that doesn't require much detail." The picture appeared in
the window, a book with the required words.

"Very good.  Now can you open it?"

The cover turned, in much the manner of another door opening, revealing
the title page inside.

"Show the contents page."

Another page turned, and CONTENTS showed.

Forrest leaned across to read it.  Near the bottom of the page was a
listing for Chapter 10: STOPPING.  "Turn to page fifty," he said,
reading the indicated page number.

The pages flipped across, stopping at 50.  But the print was too small
to read.  "Can you make the page larger?"

The image expanded, until it filled the whole window, and the print was
legible.  Forrest read it avidly: TO STOP LOCOMOTIVE IN ITS TRACKS, PULL
THE CORD ABOVE THE SEAT.

He looked up.  There was the cord, that he hadn't noticed before. He
reached up and pulled it.

There was a squeal as the train hurtled to a stop.  Seat belts jumped
out to clasp the two of them, as well as all the dummies in the rest of
the coach.  oops-he had forgotten that detail.

"You did it!" Dot cried.  "You stopped the train!"

"Can you show the contents page again?"

The pages turned back.  He found the chapter for SEAT BELTS, and turned
to that page: TO RELEASE SEAT BELT, PUSH BUTTON THEREON.

Sure enough, there was a button.  He pushed it, and the belt unclasped
him and disappeared on either side.  Dot did the same.  "You figured it
out," she said, pleased.

"Let's get off this crazy train before it starts again," he said,
standing.

But she shook her head.  "Thanks, no.  This is your Challenge, not mine.
My job is on this train of thought."

He had suspected as much.  "Thanks for your help, anyway."

"It was a pleasure.  You're a nice person."

He walked along the aisle to the end of the coach, where the door had
folded down into steps.  He stepped down and off.  As soon as he did,
the steps folded up again, sealing the train, and it started moving
again.

"Well, I guess you got through that one," D.  Sire said, fading into
view.

"You can go any time, demoness."

He waited while the train rolled out of the way.  Beyond the tracks was
an open door in the wall just like the one Dot had pictured.  He crossed
the tracks and put out a cautious hand, just in case the doorway wasn't
real.  His hand didn't bang.  He stepped through.  He had won the second
Challenge.

Suddenly he was horribly frightened.  He reeled, staggering back through
the door.  His fear abated.

What had happened?  He hadn't seen any monster or hurtling 10comotive or
anything; why had he been so suddenly and awfully afraid?

"I think you have a problem, faun." Sire faded out, satisfied.

He stepped forward again-and was blasted by the fear.  He reeled back
again, out the doorway.  It was this place: he was afraid to enter it.
But he had to enter it, because it was the only entrance to the castle
he had found.

He stepped close to the entrance, stopping just short of the fear, and
peered in.  There was a small man, or maybe an elf, or maybe in between.
"What's this?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious?  I am LA, the lost angel.  I am here to help you
enter the castle.  But first you must conquer your foolish fear."

So it was the third Challenge.  All he had to do was nerve himself and
go on through.  It seemed simple enough.  After all, LA didn't seem to
be afraid, so probably there was nothing to fear.

He tried again, and was balked again.  There was nothing to fear except
fear itself!  He couldn't enter that chamber.

He pondered.  The chamber itself must be imbued with fear, so that
anyone who entered it was terrified.  But then why wasn't the lost angel
afraid too'?  Was there some secret way to nullify the fear?  No,
probably there was a special anti-fear spell on LA, so that he was
immune.  It wouldn't make sense to have the folk helping the Good
Magician be afraid to do their duties.

In each case before there had been a barrier or threat of some kind, and
a person of some type, and the person had been the key to the solution.
Could this be the case again?  He thought it would make more sense to
have something entirely different, but he wasn't the Good Magician, and
didn't know how the old man thought.  So maybe there was a pattern, and
the person would have the answer.  But not anything obvious.

What would a lost angel have to do with fear?  Maybe angels were beyond
fear, so that was how he was able to be in that dread chamber. But
Forrest was no angel, so he needed something else.  Still, maybe he
could talk to LA and learn something, as he had with the other two.

He looked in.  LA was just sitting there, completely at ease.  "I gather
that there is a way for me to eliminate my fear, and that you know of
it, but won't tell me," he said.

LA nodded.  "You seem reasonably smart, for a faun."

"Not everyone considers me so," Forrest said.  "I met a damsel and a
dragon, and I think the damsel liked me, but thought I was a bit dull."

"Beauty is often in the eye of the beholder."

"She was extremely beautiful, so I must have been dull in contrast."
Forrest considered how to proceed.  "Do you have a magic talent?"

"Why yes.  I can change one kind of wood to another kind of wood.
Unfortunately there is no wood here, so I can't show you."

Something nagged at Forrest's mind, but he couldn't place it.  So he
talked some more, hoping to learn something useful.  "You came to ask
the Good Magician a Question, and he gave you his Answer, and now you
are serving your years's Service for him?"

"Exactly."

"If it is not too personal, what was your Question?"

"It's not personal at all.  It wasn't a Question, it was a request.  I
asked that a significant village be named after me.  He told me that one
already was, but that it was in Mundania.  I suppose that's better than
nothing."

"And for this you are glad to serve for a year?"

"It does seem inadequate.  But that's what I get for wanting something
stupid.  I am learning a whole lot during this Service, and will depart
here a much wiser creature.  If I had known how it would be, I would
have dispensed with the Question, and simply come for the Service."

That surprised Forrest.  "Is it the same with Dot, and the
psychologist?"

"Certainly.  And for the mer-dragon too.  And maybe for you, if you
manage to get through."

"The damsel said he would not require a Service of me."

Now LA was surprised.  "I find that hard to believe.  He always requires
a Service.  It's his way of discouraging folk who aren't serious, just
as is this business of three Challenges.  Why should you be an
exception?"

"I have no idea.  Maybe it's not true."

"Who was this damsel?"

"She called herself Chlorine.  She said her talent was poisoning water.
She rode a funny looking dragon."

"Ah, the dragon ass.  I have heard of him.  They are an odd couple.
Well, maybe they know what they are doing.  I have heard that good
things tend to happen when they are around, as if they somehow reverse
the normal perversity of fate."

Reverse perversity?  Then, for no reason, Forrest got a notion.  Reverse
wood!  Could that reverse the fright spell on the chamber?  Of course he
d'Idn't have any reverse wood, but if LA cared to cooperate, he could
get some.

"Will you do me a favor?" he asked the lost angel.

"Within reason.  What do you want?"

"I would like you to change some wood for me."

"I'd be glad to.  But I don't have any wood."

"But I do." Forrest removed one of his sandals.  "Will you change this
sandalwood to reverse wood?"

LA smiled.  "You are a clever one!  Very well: bring it here."

Forrest started to walk into the chamber-and was immediately beaten back
by utter fear.  Oh, no-he couldn't do what he wanted, because of the
thing he wanted to eliminate.

But then he found a way.  "I will toss it to you."

He threw the sandal.  LA caught it and held it.  "Are you sure you want
me to do this?  There may be consequences."

"I'll risk them.  Change it to reverse wood."

"Very well.  Done."

The sandal looked the same, but when Forrest tried to enter the room, he
had no trouble.  In fact he was drawn into it, delighting in its
ambiance.  Not only did he feel no fear, he felt absolutely fearless.

"Thank you," he said to the lost angel.  "That worked perfectly."

"Did it?"

"Sure.  My fear is gone.  I'm having absolutely no trouble with this
chamber.  In fact I could stay here forever."

"That's nice." But LA seemed oddly subdued.

"Well, I must move on into the castle proper.  But I'll need my sandal.
Please change it back to sandalwood now."

"I can't do that."

"But you changed it before.  Why can't you do it again?"

"Because the reverse wood reverses my talent.  Now I can't change
anything."

Forrest paused.  The angel had warned him that there might be
consequences.  He hadn't paid enough attention.

"Maybe I can use it anyway," he said.  "Let me put it on."

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

"I don't have any magical talent.  I'm a faun.  So it can't reverse it.
If I take it away from you, your own talent should revert to normal, so
you'll be okay.  And who knows-maybe I'll find some future use for
reverse wood.  So, yes, this seems the best way."

LA gave him the sandal, and he put it on.  But he felt suddenly quite
odd.  His hair seemed longer than usual, and his body felt different.
His feet felt oddest of all.  What was the matter?

He looked down, and saw his legs and feet.  He stared.  They were human!
They had five toes, and were fleshy, with solid heels.

Then he traced the lines of his legs upward.  They were human, with far
more flesh than his goat legs ever had had, and got really fleshy near
the tops.  And above that"Oh, my," he breathed, appalled.  "I'm a
nymph!"

"It seems that the reverse wood reversed your nature," LA said.

"You are now a fine looking female."

"But I don't want to be a nymph!" he (she) protested.

"Then take off the sandal."

That made sense.  He tore off the sandal, threw it across the room, and
felt his body reverting to normal.  He was himself again.

"I guess I'll have to do without the sandal," he said.  "I'll use my
spare pair." He removed the other sandal, put it in his knapsack, drew
out the other pair, and put them on.

"You may still have a problem," LA remarked.

"Not if I stay well clear of that reverse wood.  I'll just step on into
the main castle, leaving it behind." He paused.  "Unless it makes things
too difficult for you."

"Have no concern about me.  I'm here for the duration, regardless. My
job is here; I'm a prisoner of this chamber.  Your visit has helped
relieve the boredom."

Okay.  Then I guess it's farewell, and thank you." Forrest walked to the
doorway into the rest of the castle.

But as he passed through it, sudden terror gripped him.  He reeled back
into the chamber, and the fear faded.

Then he realized what had happened.  "The spell is reversed.  Now the
chamber is fine, but I'l-n afraid to leave it."

"I know the feeling," LA said.

"But how can I see the Good Magician, if I can't leave the room, and you
can't change the reverse wood""

"It is a question."

A question he had to answer for himself.  So he walked around the
chamber, pondering hard.

"What, stuck again'?" D.  Sire inquired mockingly from the doorway
leading out to the tracks and moat.

He had had enough.  He ran to the reverse wood sandal, picked it up, and
hurled it at her.  In the course of that action he felt himself
changing, and changing back.

The wood passed right through her.  "oooh, that smarts," she cried,
flapping her hands to bow the smoke away from a sandal-shaped hole in
her- mid-section.

The sandal splashed into the water of the- noat beyond her.  The water
shuddered and turned to fire.  There was a scream of outrage from the
moat monster, who must have had to scramble to land.  A little reverse
wood in the wrong place could be a lot of mischief.

But Forrest's problem had been solved.  The chamber was now normal, and
so were his emotions.  "Thanks for your help, demoness," he called out
one doorway, then walked out the other, into the main castle.

A young woman greeted him in the ball.  "Hello, Forrest Faun," she said.
"I am Wira, the Good Magician's Adaughter-in-law.  He is ready to see
you now."

"Just like that?" He was surprised to have such ready acceptance, after
the complications of the Challenges.

"He has been most interested in your progress.  This way, please."

Magician Hunifrey had been following his case?  The Challenges had
seemed designed to confuse or discourage him.

Forrest followed the woman through dull passages and up a dark stairway.
He wondered how she could be so sure-footed, in such poor lighting.

Soon they were at a study so gloomy that "dingy" would be inadequate to
describe it.  Within it a gnome sat hunched over a huge tome.  "Forrest
Faun is here, Good Magician," Wira said.

The gnome looked up.  "Thank you, dear." It was probably illusion, but
there almost seemed to be a nuance of affection when he spoke to her.
"Send him in."

 Wira turned to Forrest.  "Go on in," she said.  There was something odd
about her gaze, which did not quite meet his own.

Then he realized what it was: she was blind.  That was why she was
indifferent to darkness.

Embarrassed for no reason he could settle on, he walked on into the
Magician's crowded study.  "My Question is-"

"Yes, yes, of course," the Magician said impatiently.  "Imbri will be
here in a moment."

"But how can you Answer, if you don't hear my Question?"

"I am not going to Answer, because I won't charge you a Service.

Now stop wasting my time."

Forrest experienced an unusual emotion.  After half a pause he
recognized it: anger.  "You mean I took all this trouble to come here,
and to brave your Challenges, for nothing?"

"Not for nothing.  For the Solution to your problem.  That requires
neither Question nor Answer.  The mare will clarify it in due course."

"But how can I get a Solution, without-?" He stopped, because he saw
that Humfrey was paying him no further attention.  The grumpy old
Magician was lost in his tome.

Wira reappeared.  "Come on downstairs.  It will be all right.  It always
is."

"This isn't what I expected."

"It seldom is."

So he followed her back through the dusky passages.

Hello, Fat.  Are you the one I am to guide'?

Forrest looked around, startled.  No one was there.

You ('a i'l see me, the voice said.  I am M(ire Imbri, the day male.

I c n speak to you only in daydreams.

"In my dreams?" he asked, surprised.

Wira turned.  "Oh, she's arrived?  Good.  Sit down here and talk with
her.  I will return when you need me."

Distracted, Forrest entered the room the woman indicated, and sat in a
comfortable chair.

I was once a night mare, but I lost my body and became a day mare.  I am
invisible.  Would it help if you could see me?

"Yes."

Then close your eyes and make your mind blank.

Forrest did as asked, bemused.  In a moment a horse appeared in his
mind, a black mare with white socks on her hind legs.  Or perhaps if I
assumed girl her voice said.  The horse twisted and changed, becoming a
pretty young human woman.  "Is this better?" she asked.

"I can hear you!" he exclaimed.  "That is, I could before, but now it
seems more like speech."

"Yes, it is easier to imagine a human form speaking.  It is your own
mind doing it; I merely send the thoughts.  This is a day dreamlet.  You
don't need to speak aloud, either; I can hear you if you just imagine
yourself speaking.  I can use speech balloons, if you prefer."

"Speech balloons?" he said aloud, then caught himself, and resolved to
speak silently next time.

A cloud appeared above the young woman's head, with part of it pointing
down at the woman image.  IN THIS MANNER, the words in the balloon
wrote.

"Regular speech will do," he said.  Then caught himself again, and added
without moving his lips: "But tell me, what is this about guiding me?"

The dreamlet girl frowned prettily.  "I must perform a Service for the
Good Magician.  That Service is to guide you to Ptero, and safely
through it."

"I don't know where Tero is."

"Ptero," she said, spelling it in a speech balloon.

"Wherever.  In fact I don't know anything about this.  I came to ask the
Good Magician a Question myself, but he wouldn't even listen to it.  I
have gone to all this trouble to try to help a tree, and he won't even
listen!  "

"The ways of the Good Magician are often inscrutable to ordinary folk,"
she said.  "Tell me more of your situation."

So he told her the whole story.  She was a very good listener, even
making dreamlet scenes to illustrate what he described.  That way he
knew she understood, because he could see the details, and make
corrections when they erred.  "So here I am," he concluded.  "Ready to
ask the Good Magician how to find a companion spirit for the clog tree,
and I guess he's mad because for some reason he can't use me for a
year's Service, so he won't talk to me at all."

Imbri shook her head.  "Humfrey is old and grumpy, but he doesn't waste
energy on anger.  He always has some obscure reason for what he does. We
simply have to figure it out.  Obviously he has something in mind for
you, because he informed me that my Service is to help you.  We just
have to understand what you are doing."

"What I want to do is find a spirit for the clog tree, so it won't fade.
I have to do it within a month.  I don't know anything about this Ptero
place.  Why should I go there?"

She considered.  "As it happens, I am one of the very few folk in Xanth
who do know something about Ptero.  Not a lot; nobody knows a lot about
it.  But some, because on occasion I have delivered daydreams there.
It's a very strange place."

"That explains why you are supposed to be the guide.  But what about
me?"

"All I can think of is that the spirit you are looking for is there."

"There are people there?"

She laughed, and little HA HA's went out from her image.  When the
demoness had made such laughter, it had been derisive; Imbri's laughter
was friendly.  "There are more folk there than anyone can count."

Forrest found this confusing.  "How can there be more?  Any person who
exists can be counted."

"That's the thing.  Not all of them exist."

"Now I'm really confused!  How can there be people who don't exist?"

"It's hard to explain.  Ptero is where all the folk who ever lived in
Xanth stay, and all the folk who ever will live in Xanth, and all the
folk who ever might live in Xanth.  So there are a lot of folk there.
But what's really strange is the way they live.  They-do you know
anything about quantum mechanics?"

"Huh?"

"I guess not.  It's a concept I picked up from the mind of a former
Mundane scientist.  His dreams were really weird!  I think Ptero is a
quantum world.  That is, nothing is certain there; everything exists in
all its possible states at once.  It's only when the folk there visit
regular Xanth that things start making some sort of sense, for a while."

Forrest shook his head.  "I don't want to go there.  I just want to find
a faun for the tree."

"But maybe that faun is there."

A glimmer began to form.  "A faun for the clog tree?"

"Since all the folk who ever might exist in Xanth are on Ptero, your
faun could be there.  Then you could bring him to the tree."

The glimmer expanded.  "I think I am beginning to make some dim sense of
the Good Magician's attitude.  I don't need his Answer; I just need to
go to Ptero and fetch that faun myself."

"That must be it," she agreed.  "And I must guide you there, and through
Ptero too, as well as I am able."

"Can you get me through it and back home within a month?"

"I can do whatever you wish.  But you must decide how long your search
is.  I don't know how long it will take to find him.  I have delivered
daydreams there, but I don't know the actual landscape.  I may not be
much help, though I will try my best."

Forrest nodded.  "I'm sure you will help a lot.  At least I won't be
blundering there alone." Then he thought of something else.  "This is
your Service.  What was your Question to the Good Magician?"

She smiled wistfully.  "I was foaled as a night mare in 897, and became
a day mare in 1067.  I wasn't the best night mare; I was too tender
hearted.  It has been better as a day mare, because at least I bring
pleasure to dreamers instead of horror, but I'm still not quite
satisfied.  Now I would like to gallop in some other pasture.  The Good
Magician will find me that pasture, after I have completed my Service."

Forrest was impressed.  "You are as old as I am!  You were foaled the
very year I adopted a sandalwood seedling and became a responsible
creature.  You were a night mare for a hundred and seventy years, and a
day mare for thirty years.  So you are two hundred years old."

"Yes.  I don't mean to complain, but it does get dull after a while.
Maybe I'm just a misfit."

"Well, I hope the Good Magician has a good new pasture in mind for you."

"I'm sure he does.  Let's find your faun."

"Let's find my faun," he agreed, feeling better.  "Where is Ptero?"

"At Castle Roogna."

"This strange land with uncountable folk is at the human capital?"

"In its fashion."

"Oh, you mean that's where the magic is to reach Ptero?"

"That is where the access is.  Humfrey will have to give you a spell to
cross to Ptero."

"Then I had better wake up and get that spell.  I don't want to waste
any time."

"I will be with you.  Just clear a little place for me in your mind when
you want to talk to me."

"I will.  Thanks."

He opened his eyes.  There was the cell, the same as before, but now it
didn't seem so dingy.  "Wira?"

In a moment he heard her light footsteps approaching.  "Have you
finished talking with Imbri?"

"Yes, for now.  I need the spell to-"

"Here it is.  The Good Magician said to give it to you when you asked
for it." She held out a tiny stoppered bottle.

"How do I use it?"

"Imbri knows.  Just keep it safe.  You may need it to depart Ptero, too.

"I'll keep it safe," he agreed, putting the spell into his knapsack.

"Would you like something to eat?" Wira asked.  "I'm sure the Designated
Wife will be glad to fix you something before you go."

Designated Wife?  Forrest decided not to inquire.  "Thank you, no.
Chlorine gave me a dough nut, and I haven't been hungry since."

"They do stick to your ribs," Wira agreed.  "Then I will show you out.

She led him to the front gate.  This was now completely clear; there was
no wall and no set of tracks.  The drawbridge was down, and the moat was
calm, with no sign of fire.  It was evident that the Good Magician could
change his castle around at will.  "Thank you," he told her.

"I wish you good success," Wira replied, with a rather pleasant smile
that lacked any trace of the mischief of the demonesses.  Then she
looked embarrassed.  "Oh, I almost forgot: here is your lost sandal."
She held it out.

"But that had become reverse wood!  How did you-?"

"The Good Magician has ways.  It Is a good sandal; he thought you would
need it."

Not half as much as he needed a good Answer.  But he stifled that
remark.  "Thank you," he said, taking the sandal and putting it in his
knapsack.  Now he had a complete reserve pair, again.

"And this," she said, holding out a piece of paper.

He took it and looked at it, but it had indecipherable scribblings. "I
can't read this."

"The Good Magician scribbled it in his very own handwriting," she said,
as if that were a special thing.  "I'm sure he had excellent reason.
Keep it with you; it may become useful when its time comes."

What could he do?  He thanked her, and tucked the paper into his
knapsack.

Forrest set out for Castle Roogna.  It was not a difficult trek, because
he was on a magic path that was supposed to lead right to it.  The funny
thing was that again it was morning, though there had been no night, so
that he should be able to reach it by evening.

He wondered about that, so he tried asking Mare Imbri.  He closed his
eyes briefly as he walked, making a place for her to appear.  "Are you
there, Imbri?" he asked silently.

"Always, as long as this Service lasts," she agreed, appearing as the
black haired woman.  Now he saw that she rather resembled her mare form,
in a pleasant way, with white socks on her feet and black gloves on her
hands.  Her dress was black too.

"I have noticed that it's always morning when I start walking, though I
am sure a couple of days should have passed since I left my tree.  Is
there some magic operating?"

Imbri considered.  "Share your recent memories with me.  Maybe I can see
what is happening."

One hoof tripped, and he had to open his eyes.  He lost the image of
her.  This was awkward, walking with his eyes closed.  So he stopped.
"First-is it possible to see you without closing my eyes?"

Her voice came in his head.  "Yes, if you can concentrate.  Reserve a
space about five paces ahead of you, and to the side, or wherever you
want, so it doesn't interfere with your view of the path.  Think of me
being there."

He concentrated, and after some effort managed to see a fuzzy region.
"That's it," Imbri said.  "Just keep working on it as you walk, and I
will clarify."

He did, and she did.  After a while he was even able to see her as a
human sized person walking beside him.  "Can anyone else see you?"

"No.  Only you."

"It's like seeing a ghost."

"Yes.  It Just requires the right concentration."

"Now I will review my memories of the day." He thought of his beginning
of the trip to the Gap Chasm, guided by the Demoness Sire.  Then of the
ride through the Gap, on the back of the dragon ass.  Then of the walk
to the Good Magician's castle.

"You are right," Imbri said.  "It's always morning.  The first morning
may have been the work of ComPassion, because she likes you. She just
wanted to give you more time, after you were nice enough to kiss her
mouse, so she reset your day.  Otherwise it would have been afternoon
then.  The second morning started when you got off the dragon ass.
That's a strange creature; I have no entry into its I ch is funny,
because she used to be an ormind, or Ch orine's.  Whi dinary girl,
rather plain and ill tempered, actually, with dreams as foolish as
anyone's.  Now, suddenly, she is phenomenally lovely and intelligent and
nice, and lives in the Nameless Castle with that dragon, and her- mind
is completely opaque.  It's as if she's a different person.

"You mean Chlorine really does live in that castle'?  I thought she was
just pretending."

"She really does live there.  The castle sits on a cloud that floats
across Xanth, so no one can see that it supports the castle.  She lives
like a princess, and that dragon assumes the form of a prince, and what
they do at night, on those air mattresses that the floating castle has,
is beyond any dream I could bring."

"Do you mean, like fauns and nymphs?"

She made an equine snort.  "Like fauns and nymphs in much the way Castle
Roogna is like a wood cutter's hut.  I'm surprised that there hasn't
been a flight of storks so big as to darken the sky.  They are surely in
love.  I wish I had been watching when they changed; I'm femalishly
curious about what happened.  They must have stumbled on fantastic
magic.  The oddest thing is that they don't make anything much of it.
That is, they just trundle around Xanth as a damsel and dragon, doing
favors for folk, asking nothing in return.  It is very strange."

"Yes.  I thought so too.  But how could they have made my afternoon
become morning?"

"That would require good illusion, or very good magic.  Maybe they have
a sprig of thyme.  At any rate, it does seem to have happened: they gave
you more day to do your business.  And more day again, when you left the
Good Magician's castle.  Because the Good Magician would hardly bother
to waste such magic so irrelevantly."

"Well, whatever the reason, I appreciate it.  It does help me save time,
so that maybe I can return to my tree within the month."

By evening they were approaching Castle Roogna.  Forrest paused to brush
out his hair and make himself presentable.  After all, this was the
royal human castle, and it deserved some respect.

When he started walking toward it again, Imbri spoke.  "This time I
caught it!  It's morning again."

Startled, Forrest looked around.  She was right: the sun was at
midmorning level.  He also felt fresh and vigorous, as if he had had a
good night's rest.  "This is nice magic."

"This is very strong magic," Imbri said.  "The rest of Xanth doesn't
seem to be changing.  Just us.  We just seem to have more time, without
losing what we have done.  It is as if we weren't supposed to notice the
favor."

"Well, if it's from the damsel and dragon., I will thank them when I see
them again.  But now I need to find Ptero."

"I will guide you there.  Go in and ask to see Princess Ida."

Forrest approached the castle.  The moat monster reared up
threaten'ngly.

This one I can take care of," Imbri said.  "Souffld, it's all right.

This is Forrest Faun, and he is with me."

The monster nodded, and sank back under the water.

"I thought you said no one else could see you."

"Only those I know well, and show myself to.  Souffld has been around a
long time.  He baby-sits the royal triplets."

"A moat monster takes care of children?"

"There is no other place like Castle Roogna."

So it seemed.  They walked on into the castle.

Two girls, about six years old, ran up to them, colliding before they
managed to stop.  They wore matching little crowns.  "Oh, goody!"

the red haired one cried.  "Visitors from afar!  A faun from north of
the Gap!

"And a day mare," the dark one added.

"Meet the children of Prince Dolph and Princess Electra," Imbri said.
"Princess Dawn, who can tell anything about any living thing, so she
knows about you, and Princess Eve, who can tell anything about any
inanimate things, so she knows about me."

"But you're alive!" Forrest protested.

"No she isn't," Eve said.  "She's a spirit.  She has half a soul, but no
body.  She lost that in the Void in 1067."

"They really do know," Forrest said, amazed.  "I've never seen such
magic."

"That's because no Magicians or Sorceresses ever came to your sandalwood
tree," Dawn said.

A woman in blue jeans hurried up.  "Girls!  Behave!" she exclaimed.  The
two little princesses immediately stood back and looked angelic.  "I'm
sorry," the woman said.  "They're irrepressible.  I i'm Princess
Electra, their mother."

"He's Forrest Faun, here to see Princess Ida Dawn said. "And she's Mare
li-nori, who has to guide him through Ptero."

"Oh, you are here on business," Electra said.  "Girls, tell the Princess
she has a visitor."

The two children dashed off.  "Uh, thank you," Forrest said.  "I didn't
mean to make a commotion.  I don't know Princess Ida.  I'm supposed to
go to the land of Ptero."

Electra looked blank.  "Go to the land of what?"

"Ptero.  Where all the might-be folk stay."

"But Ptero ]s-" The Princess paused.  "Well, I'm not sure exactly what
it is.  But it's not a place you can go to."

"But we have to go there.  Because that's where I'll find my faun."

Electra still looked remarkably doubtful.  "I think I'll just have to
let Ida explain it."

"I hope someone does.  Imbri hasn't."

The Princess nodded.  "I can appreciate why.  Come this way." She turned
and led them down the hall.

The twins came dashing back, their red and black pigtails flying.
"Auntie Ida says to go to the Tapestry!" Dawn cried brightly.

"And she'll meet them there," Eve finished, darkly.  "She says this
could get com-com-"

"Complicated," Electra finished.  "I'm sure." She changed course
slightly, and led them upstairs.  Forrest was much impressed, because
this was only the second time he had used stairs, and these were much
broader than the ones at the Good Magician's castle.

Soon they arrived at a pleasant chamber with a nice view of the outside
moat and orchard.  A woman rose to greet them.  She was another
princess, because she wore a crown.  She looked to be about twenty
eight, but it was never possible to be quite certain, with women.  There
was something odd about her head.

"Princess Ida, this is Forrest Faun," Electra said.  "Mare Imbri is with
him, as his guide and companion."

"Any friend of Imbri is a friend of mine," Ida said graciously. "Please
have a seat and tell me your concern."

Forrest took the indicated chair.  "I need to find a faun to associate
with the neighboring clog tree.  The Good Magician told me to look in
Ptero.  Mare Irnbri has been there, so can show me the way."

Imbri?" the Princess said.  It wasn't exactly a question; she was
addressing the day mare.  Her eyes went halfway blank and she seemed to
be listening.  After a moment she smiled.  Imbri must have given her an
explanatory daydream.  "Ah, I see; that's interesting."

"So if you can just tell me where-"

Ida raised a hand in gentle negation.  "I will, but there are things you
must first understand.  Consider the Tapestry."

He looked where she indicated and saw a large Tapestry hanging on the
wall.  It was filled with intricately sewn pictures of Xanthly scenes.
They were so realistic that they almost seemed to be moving. In fact
they were moving!  "This is magic," he said.

" It shows all the scenes of Xanth," she explained.  "In all times or
Xanth, up to the present.  Here is your glade."

The scenes changed, and one part expanded to fill the whole Tap estry.
It was a picture of his own neighborhood!  There was his sadalwood tree,
and the nearby clog tree across the glade.  He even saw the little disk
set in his tree.  "This is as it is right now!" he said, amazed.

"Here is yesterday," she said.  The Tapestry became blank.  She looked
surprised.  "Now that's odd; it has never done that before."

"Maybe it's because of what Chlorine did with my time."

"Chlorine is involved in this?"

He explained about the lovely woman and the dragon ass, and how it
always seemed to be morning when he traveled.  "I think she had
something to do with it."

Ida nodded.  "That would explain it.  Nimby has strange powers. She must
have asked him to rerun your mornings, so you could travel better.  The
Tapestry doesn't know how to account for that."

"Maybe if you try someone else's yesterday, like maybe my tree's, it
would work better."

She smiled.  "Yes, I'm sure it will."

The scene shifted.  The trees remained, but now there were fauns and a
nymph.  Soon the nymph ran away, and one faun chased her off the
picture.  The other faun retired to the sandalwood tree.  "You cati see
everything!" he said, twice as amazed.

"Yes, if we know where to look.  But it is too complicated to try to
watch all Xanth through all time, so we look only when we have reason."
She turned to face him.  "Ptero is like that, only more so.  It would be
difficult to explore, and perhaps dangerous."

"But I have to find that faun, or the tree will fade!  It was bad enough
losing my friend, without losing his tree too."

"Yes, of course.  I just want you to understand that this is no ordinary
mission.  It is stranger than anything you may have experienced."

"Whatever it is, it is better than letting my friend's tree fade."

"But if you should be lost, then your own tree would fade too."

That made him pause.  "Do you think that will happen?"

"I don't know.  I assume the Good Magician made sure you were capable of
handling the situation, to the extent anyone could be."

"No, he didn't even talk to me," Forrest said crossly.

"Did you go through the Challenges?"

"Yes!  And then he refused to hear my Question."

"What were the Challenges like?"

He described them to her, as she seemed genuinely interested, though he
saw little point in this.  Still, it was best not to be impolite to a
princess.  As he described each scene, it appeared on the Tapestry, just
as it had happened.

"So in each case, there was a physical Challenge," she said, which you
surmounted by using the talent of a person who happened to be there."

"Yes, actually.  The psychologist, the dot girl, and the wood changing
man.  I found a way to get them each to help me."

"I think this is the kind of ability that would be required on Ptero,"
the princess said.  "Surely this was the Good Magician's conclusion."

"But he didn't-"

"He always has good reason for his actions, though they are seldom
immediately apparent to others.  I believe he is trying to help you, in
his fashion.  He did put you in touch with Mare Imbri, after all."

"Yes.  But-"

"Now I think you are ready to see Ptero.  It is my moon."

"Your what'?"

Then he saw something even more surprising than the Tapestry.  A tiny
ball was swinging around the Princess' head.  It must have been hiding
before, because until this time all he had seen was a flicker of
something not quite there.  It was about the size of a large eyeball. As
it came closer to him, it brightened.

"This is Ptero," Ida said.  "It orbits my head, and reacts to my moods.
But it is more than just a tiny moon.  It is an idea."

"It looks pretty solid to me."

" It is, in its fashion.  You see, I am a Sorceress, and my talent is
the Idea.  Ptero is a condensation of all the ideas of Xanth, as they
were too numerous and complicated to fit inside my head.  So it would
appear that the faun you seek is no more than an idea, not yet
formulated in Xanth."

"But how can I find a faun who doesn't exist?"

"He does exist.  Just not in tangible form.  You will have to locate
him, and cause him to exist."

She had said this was strange.  He was beginning to appreciate how
serious she was.  "You mean that the idea of him is-is there in that
ball?"

"Yes.  The idea of everything is there.  It seems you will have to go
there to find the idea you need."

"But I can't go there!" he protested.  "It's tiny!"

"Mare Imbri has a spell to make you small enough, in a manner."

He didn't much like the sound of this.  "In a manner?"

"Your body will have to remain behind.  Only your soul can go. As you
said, Ptero is tiny."

"But suppose something happened to my soul?"

She nodded gravely.  "This is the risk you take.  I think it will be all
right, because the Good Magician evidently thinks so, but there are
always risks when the unknown is braved.  We don't know what you may
find on Ptero.  So it might after all be best if-"

"No!  I must save that tree."

"Then we shall have to prepare you for your journey.  Your body will
rest in this room while your soul visits Ptero.  I will be going around
the castle, but once you and Imbri are there, that will be no problem. I
will return every few hours, so that your soul can find your body when
it needs to.  And of course Imbri will be guiding you. She has visited
Ptero before, so has a small notion of its nature.  But none of us will
be able to help you if you have trouble.  In fact we won't even know
what you are doing.  The Tapestry doesn't orient on Ptero, because it
isn't part of Xanth.  It's a derivative.  So you will truly be on your
own."

Forrest swallowed.  "And nobody knows exactly what I'll find there?  But
if Imbri has been there-"

"I went to deliver only brief daydreams," Imbri said, appearing beside
him.  He realized that she couldn't speak to two people at the same
time, because she wasn't physically real.  She had to be in the dream of
one or the other, so she had disappeared when she talked to Ida.  "I had
a specific summons.  It was like going toward a light. I don't actually
know the geography.  I caught only glimpses.  Enough to know that it's a
whole world in itself, bigger than Xanth, and maybe more varied.  And
that time is strange, there."

"I'm sure Mare Imbri will be a great help," Ida said.

He glanced at her.  "How did you know that Imbri had finished speaking
to me'?"

"I waited for your blank look to pass.  It isn't polite to interrupt a
daydream."

"She says she doesn't know a whole lot about Ptero, and that time is
strange there.

"She will be able to locate friendly folk there, because she is used to
entering minds.  That may be your most important asset.  And she is
always good company, because of the nature of her business."

"Yes, of course." But he was being polite.  He had expected a competent
guide, and it seemed that Imbri was going to be something less than
that.

"I'm sorry," Imbri said.  "I will do my very best.  But it's true; I
can't guide you perfectly.  I think that I turned out to be the best of
a bad lot, as far as the Good Magician was concerned."

There wasn't much he could say to that.  It would be dishonest to deny
what she said.

"I must ask you again," Princess Ida said.  "Do you really wish to make
this excursion?  Realistically, I think we have to say that your chances
of success are no better than half, and if you fail, both trees may
fade.  This is at best a doubtful endeavor."

He knew she was making sense.  But the thought of giving up, of breaking
his promise to his friend's clog tree, appalled him.  "No.  I must do
it."

"As you wish.  Are there any arrangements you wish to make before you
go?"

"No.  I just want to get it done, and return to my tree."

"Then lie on this bed, and sniff from the bottle the Good Magician gave
you.  Its spell will free your soul from your body, so that it can go to
Ptero.  I will remain close until you arrive there."

"But how will you know?" Now that he had decided, he was finding new
things to worry about.

 Imbri will tell me.  She will guide you there, then make a quick trip
to let me know."

He was already becoming happier to have the day mare with him. The
notion of losing his soul halfway between his body and the little moon
did not appeal.

He sat on the bed, then removed his knapsack and lay on it.  It was very
comfortable, but he was unable to relax.  This was the weirdest kind of
journey he had never before imagined.  Still, he had to do it. He
reached into the knapsack, which he now had beside him on the bed, and
brought out the Good Magician's bottle.  He nerved himself, took hold of
the stopper, and pulled.  It came loose with a pop, and he held the
bottle to his nose and sniffed.

Suddenly he felt quite alien.  He was half caught in a cloying, clinging
swamp, truly bogged down.  He fought to haul himself free of it. He
needed expansion room.

"Be easy," a voice said.  "You don't want to tear off any."

He looked, but his eyes didn't focus.  In fact, he didn't seem to have
any eyes.  He tried to speak, but he didn't seem to have a mouth either.

"Just float," the voice said.  "Let your soul coalesce."

His soul?  He followed the advice, and found that he didn't have to
struggle; he just floated out of the swamp, and as the rest of him came
free, it drew in together so that he was a single cloud.

"Now form an eye, so you can see better."

He focused, and the eyeball formed.  It focused, and he was able to see
a large whitish wall.

"You are looking at the celling.  Look down."

He rotated his eye, and saw his body lying on the bed, asleep.  He tried
to exclaim in surprise, but couldn't.  So he formed a mouth. "Oh!" For
he realized that that was the bog he had just hauled himself out of.

"Now make yourself small."

He willed himself small.  That improved his focus.  He saw a horse
standing beside him.  Her hoofs were planted firmly in mid-air.  "Mare
Imbri!  "

"Yes.  Follow me to Ptero." She walked away.

He tried to walk, but had no legs, so he just floated in her wake. She
was going toward a huge statue.  In a moment he realized that it wasn 't
a statue, but was Princess Ida.  They were gong toward her head.

"Keep getting smaller," Imbri said.  "We have a long way to go."

He realized that he wasn't actually hearing her, for he hadn't formed an
ear; he was simply aware of her thoughts.  He saw that she was getting
smaller herself, so he did the same.

Ida's head seemed to grow enormous.  Then he saw a small object, like a
white ball.  It was coming toward them, or they were going toward it.
It, too, grew, or seemed to, becoming more like a boulder. Then it was
like an island.  In fact, it was looming like a moon, which was perhaps
unsurprising.  Finally it seemed more like a whole world, filling his
entire view.  It was no longer pure white; he saw that the white was in
patches, which seemed to be clouds.  Their designs were much more
interesting from above than clouds usually seemed from below, because
they weren't flat, they were mountainous.

Now they were falling toward the planet, and it became ever larger. The
spaces between the clouds expanded, and he could see green land and blue
sea below.  He realized that he and Imbri were still getting smaller,
because Ptero was still looking larger.  It was amazing how big it
seemed, as they plunged toward its varied surface.

"Time to slow," Imbri cautioned him.  "We don't want to land too hard."

"But we're just souls, aren't we?  We have no solidity."

"That's not true.  There is a small amount of substance in a soul, and
on a world as small as Ptero, that becomes significant.  We will be
assuming solid form there."

He thought of the size of Ptero when he had seen it as a tiny moon
circling Princess Ida's head.  Now it seemed larger than all Xanth.
Which meant that they were so small as to be invisible specks.  Maybe it
was possible for their souls to take physical form on that scale. That
was a relief, because he wasn't at all comfortable as a nebulous blob
that had to form an eyeball just to see anything.

He tried to slow, but it didn't work.  He was plunging faster than ever.
"How do I do it?"

"Just form into a wide, flat shape, like a leaf or feather.  Then the
air will catch you, and you'll drift down."

He tried that, but was still falling uncomfortably fast.  "It's not
working very well."

"Oh, I forgot: you have a whole soul.  It's twice as dense as my half
soul.  So you are twice as heavy.  See if you can form into a
parachute."

"What kind of a parrot?"

"Like this." She became a kind of upside-down cup, with strings leading
down to a lump of herself below.  "It's a Mundane concept. The canopy
catches the air, and the blob guides it down."

He emulated her form, and it began to work.  His broad cloth-like upper
section caught the air, and dragged, and slowed the descent of the
compact lower part of him.  Even so, they were coming down a good deal
faster than he liked.  He expanded his mantle, but before it was able to
do much good, he plunged into the blue sea near the white coast of the
green land.

He descended way down below the surface of the water.  He held his
breath and spread his hands, trying to swim toward the surface. Then he
heard Imbri: "Be a fish!"

Oh.  He formed into a fish, and then he had no problem.  She formed into
a sea horse beside him.  "Swim to land.  I must tell Ida that we are
safely here."

"But-" But she was already gone.

So he strengthened his tall and fins and swam as strongly as he could
toward land.  He hoped there weren't any sea- nonsters here, because one
of them could gobble him up.  Though probably he could change into
something else, like a stink horn, and get away.

He saw the sand of the bottom rising beneath him.  The water was getting
shallow; he was nearing the beach.  He was glad; this business of
shifting shapes did not come naturally to him, though he supposed it
could be fun if he learned it well enough.

The water became too shallow to swim in.  Now what should he do?  Try to
become a flatter fish?  But it would keep on getting shallower, until no
amount of flatness would work.

Then he laughed at his own stupidity.  He was there!  He was at the
shore.  He no longer needed to be a fish.  He could assume his own
shape.

He did so.  In a moment he was standing ankle deep in the surf, complete
with his knapsack.  His knapsack?  How had he managed to bring that
along'?  He reached into it, and found everything there, including the
stoppered spell bottle and his spare pair of sandals.  Apparently his
soul was equipped with whatever his body had.  That was reassuring.

Something plunged down to splash in the water behind him.  Then the
figure of a horse appeared.  "I have told her," Mare Imbri said. "Now we
are safely on Ptero, and can go about your mission."

"Great," he said.  "And exactly how do we do that?"

"I have no idea."

Forrest gazed at the beach ahead of them.  This was indeed going to be a
challenge.

hey waded the rest of the way out of the water and stood on the shore.
Forrest splashed, while Imbri's feet moved through the water
splashlessly.  The beach was a pretty white ribbon of sand, curving
around so as to stay between the water and the land with remarkable
precision.  The air was comfortably warm.

Forrest mulled over what Imbri had said.  "If you have no idea what to
do, and I have no idea, how are we going to do it?"

"Maybe we can ask someone."

Something was bothering him slightly, and he managed to figure out what
it was.  "When you talk, your mouth doesn't move."

"That's because mares can't talk well with their mouths.  They can only
neigh.  So I talk in your head, in dreamiets."

"But now I'm using my mouth to talk to you.  I can hear the sound."

"That's because you are physical."

"Physical?  But only my soul came here."

"The soul has a very small amount of substance.  Just enough to make a
solid body here, where everything is very small.  So you have naturally
assumed your regular form, complete with sandals and knapsack."

"And you have assumed yours," he said, catching on.  "But you look a bit
hazy."

"That's because I have only half a soul, while my mare body is several
times as massive as your faun body.  So I have less than a tenth of your
solidity.  If you touch me, your hand will pass through me." I

"It will?" He reached out to pat her shoulder-and his hand sank into her
body with only faint resistance.  He snatched it out.  "Sorry."

She shrugged her shoulders, an interesting maneuver.  "It doesn't hurt.
As long as you can see me and hear me, it's all right."

"I wonder-if you don't mind-could you become all the way solid, here? If
you assumed a smaller form?  So you could use your mouth to speak?"

"Certainly, if you prefer." She shrank, becoming a small human woman or
girl, in a close black dress.  "Will this do?" she asked, using her
mouth.  "I have only about half your mass, so I can't be any larger
without diffusing."

"That's fine.  You look great." He meant that her form was satisfactory
in the solid sense, but actually it was more than satisfactory. She
looked just like a rather pretty girl, or a nymph, with lustrous black
hair.  Except for the slightly equine set of her nose, which was
understandable.  She was, after all, a type of horse.

Imbri took a step-and tripped, falling on her face.  "Neigh!" she
exclaimed, chagrined.  "I'm not used to being physical."

Forrest realized that that made sense.  She had been a half soul,
seemingly without substance, for thirty years, and when she had been a
night mare before that, she had had four feet.  She wasn't used to
handling a real human body.  "My fault," he said.  "Maybe you had better
return to mare form."

"But I don't want to make you feel awkward because I don't talk with my
mouth," she said.  "I'm sure I can learn to handle this form, if I
concentrate."

But she had a scratch on her cheek, from a shell on the beach.  That
made him feel guilty.  "I would rather feel awkward, than have you
falling and scratching your face."

She looked alarmed.  "Oh!  Did I do that?"

He dug into his knapsack and pulled out a mirror.  He gave it to her,
and she held it up so she could see her face.  "I did!  Oh, that's
embarrassing." She brushed her fingers across the scratch, wiping it
out, so that her face was smooth again.  That surprised him, but he
realized that since she had shaped the body to begin with, she could
readily re-shape it to eliminate an imperfection.  Like most females,
she was sensitive about her appearance, even in a form that was
unnatural for her.

She returned the mirror, and he put it back into the knapsack.  It
banged into something, and he realized that it was his spare pair of
sandals.  That gave him an idea.  "You can wear my other sandals!

They'll protect you from tripping!" He dug them out and offered them to
her.

"They will?" She looked dubious.

"Yes.  They are magic.  They protect the feet.  They won't let you
misstep."

"But those are faun sandals.  I'm having enough trouble balancing on
these human feet; I don't think I could do it at all with hoofs.  Of
course I'm used to hoofs, but only when I have four of them."

"Sandals from my tree fit anyone.  That's their nature.  Try them."

So she sat down and lifted her knees so she could reach her feet. In the
process she showed a very nymphly pair of legs almost up to the panty
line, in much the way the Demoness Sire would have done on purpose.  He
wondered if he should mention that, because it was clear that Imbri was
not accustomed to the ways of a physical human body.  Then she got the
sandals on, discovering that they did indeed fit her human feet-and the
position of her legs shifted so that much less showed.  He realized that
the sandals were now protecting her feet from harming the rest of her
legs by undue exposure.  Because the legs connected to the feet, and
missteps were not merely of the ground.  So he didn't have to say
anything.

She stood.  "Oh, I feel far more secure!  These sandals are helping even
now."

He had already come to that conclusion.  "I'm glad." Actually he could
have lived with the exposure of her legs, but there didn't geem to be
much point in saying that.

She looked around.  "I'm supposed to guide you, and I haven't done a
good job.  Maybe we can ask someone."

That seemed like a fair idea.  "All right.  Is there anyone to ask?"

"There are countless slews of folk here.  I'm sure one of them must be
close by.  Let's walk along the beach and see."

So they walked along.  After a time Forrest noticed that there was
something odd about the air.  It smelled all right, but it had colors.
It seemed to be green ahead, and blue to their right.  But there didn't
seem to be any source.

He paused, turning around.  "Do you see colors?" he asked.

"Yes," Imbri said, surprised.  "It is yellow behind us, and red over the
sea."

"Do you think it means anything?"

"It must.  But I don't know what."

"And there just doesn't seem to be anyone to ask," he said, frustrated.
"If there are so many folk here, where are they all?"

linbri pondered, then brightened.  "I think I remember, from one of the
dreamers: folk have to be requested.  Otherwise they stay away. If they
are courteous.  So that no one gets crowded."

"But how do we request someone, when there's no one to ask?"

"I think you just do it."

He shrugged.  "Okay." He stood straight.  "I hereby request the company
of someone."

There was a sound, and in a moment a large figure appeared, flying over
the trees.  It came to a solid landing on the sand before him.

"Yes?" It was a winged unicorn.

Taken aback, Forrest looked at Imbri.  She looked as baffled as he.

So he turned to the unicorn.  "Hello.  I was just wondering-"

"With no introduction?" the unicorn asked.  He spoke without moving his
mouth.

"Uh, I am Forrest Faun."

"I am Kero Unicorn."

"I was just wondering-"

"What service do you have to trade?"

"What'?"

"You are impaired of hearing?"

"No.  I just don't understand.  What service?"

"Precisely."

"I don't understand."

The unicorn looked more closely at him.  "You are impaired of
intellect?"

Forrest was getting frustrated.  "I am just new to this region.  I don't
know what you mean."

"Oh.  You must have traveled far, to be so out of touch."

"Very far," Forrest agreed.

"I suppose I can explain that much without violating protocol.  In this
region we trade services.  So if you want to know something I can tell
you, you must trade me a service for my service in abating your
ignorance.  What service do you offer?"

This was new to him.  "What service do you want?"

"I have no idea.  You summoned me, so I assumed you had something in
mind."

"I had a question in mind."

"That's not a service.  My answer is a service.  What other service will
you trade for it?"

This wasn't getting anywhere very rapidly, so he tried something silly.
"An entertaining jig."

"Done.  What is your question?"

"What do the colors of the air mean?"

"They indicate direction, since we have no sun or moon or stars to mark
it.  Blue is north, because it is cold; red is south, because it is hot;
green is To; and yellow is From."

Forrest waited, but that appeared to be the extent of the answer. So he
brought his panpipe from his knapsack, played a lively melody, and
proceeded to dance his jig.  Fauns were good at jigs, so he knew it was
competent.  The unicorn watched with seeming interest.

When he thought he had jigged enough, he stopped.  Kero nodded,
satisfied, then spread his wings and flew back over the forest.

"I guess we learned something," Forrest said, watching the creature
disappear.

"Yes," Imbri agreed.  "We learned two things: that colors indicate
directions, and that it is necessary to trade services on Ptero.  So we
got the better bargain."

"Maybe so.  But what is this To and From business?"

"I suppose we could trade for that information.  But maybe we'll figure
it out for ourselves, soon.  Let me see if I can trade for useful
information."

Forrest shrugged.  "I hope you can."

Imbri faced the air.  "I request someone to trade with."

A dark creature faded into view.  It was a black centaur mare. "Yes?"
What startled Forrest was that she spoke both physically and mentally.

Imbri's delicate jaw dropped.  "You're a night mare!"

"Not exactly.  Are you curious about my derivation?"

"Yes!" Forrest and Imbri said together.

"I am Chemare.  It all started when my sire, who was horribly prejudiced
against zombies, was scheduled to have a bad dream in which he and a
really rotten female zombie drank from a love spring. But somehow the
night mare who was carrying the dream got confused, or maybe she had a
secret thing for the centaur, who was rather handsome for his kind, and
she fell into the dream herself and drank from the spring instead.  The
elixir overwhelmed them both, and they promptly indulged in an encounter
of love that heated the spring so much it almost evaporated.  Then the
mare departed and the dream dissipated, leaving the centaur considerably
more satisfied than the authentic dream would have left him.  In due
course the mare bore a foal with half a soul, black as night but with
the form of a centaur. That was me.  But because I derive from an
illicit dream, I came not to Xanth proper, but to Ptero, where I bring
bad dreams to those 'dents who deserve them.  It's not the best
existence, but 't will resi do.

"Oh, Chemare!" Imbri exclaimed.  "How well I understand.  I was a night
mare for many decades."

"I thought you looked somehow familiar.  But you're in human form.

"Yes, so I can be substantial for my companion, Forrest Faun, whom I am
trying to help.  Would you like to exchange a service?"

"I would love to.  But I'm not sure what we could do for each other.

"Is there anything you need?" Forrest asked.

"No.  I came only because I was closest when the call went out.

So I truly regret this, because it's so rare to encounter someone with
experience nightmaring, but I must go." She faded out.

"Wait!" Forrest cried, too late.  She was gone.

"We are slow on the uptake," Imbri remarked.  "We had better be prepared
to render some service before the next one disappears."

"Yes.  They don't seem to wait around long without reason."

There was the sound of running hoofs.  A centaur came galloping from the
green direction, followed by two centaur foals.  She had a white mane
and white body, but blue eyes.  Forrest tried not to stare at her
rippling bare chest, knowing that centaurs paid no attention to certain
effects, but he was impressed.

She came to a stop before Imbri.  "Hello, mare in human form.  I am
Ilura Centaur, and these are my foals.  We apologize for our tardiness."

"Tardiness?"

"We were some distance when we heard your call, and the foals couldn't
move at adult speed."

Forrest realized that more than one creature had answered Imbri's call.
But Imbri was already handling it.

"I am Mare Imbri, and this is my companion."

"What have you to trade?"

"A pleasant daydream."

"What do you wish in return?"

"Information on the person on Ptero who can best help us to find what we
seek."

"What do you seek?"

"A faun for a vacant tree."

"That would be Cathryn Centaur.  She is the one who best knows where to
find fauns."

There was a pause.  Then Imbri, realizing that she had her answer,
looked directly at Ilura.  The centaur's eyes went blank in a manner
Forrest recognized.  She was having a daydream.

He looked at the two foals.  One was a dark furred male, the other a
light furred female.  The male was stoic, while the female was
impatiently stamping her feet.  "Hello, foals.  I'm Forrest Faun.  You
must be dissimilar twins."

The female looked quickly at him.  "I'm in a hurry," she replied.

The male looked slowly at him.  "I'm in no hurry," he said.

"Well, I'm sure your dam will be finished here soon."

The female reacted rapidly.  She used a forefoot to scratch letters in
the sand.  THE HURRY TWINS: IMINA AND IMINO.

Oh.  "My apology for misunderstanding," Forrest said.

"Don't be," Imina said quickly.  "It happens all the time."

"We're used to it," Imino added slowly.  "It's probably a good thing we
don't exist."

"But how can I be talking to you, if you don't exist?"

" We're might-he's, " Imina replied rapidly.  "It would take a freakish
set of circumstances to make us real.  For one thing, our dam isn't real
either."

"Only our sire, Hurry Centaur, is real," Imino said tardily.

Forrest was starting to catch on.  "Your sire lives in Xanth proper, and
the rest of you don't."

"That's it exactly," Imina agreed swiftly.  "We can only come to exist
if our dam gets real, and encounters our sire, and performs a certain
ritual that makes human folk uncomfortable to contemplate. All that
seems extremely unlikely."

"I'm sorry."

"It doesn't really- natter," Ii-nino said deliberately.  "There are far
too many might-he's for Xanth to accommodate."

Ilura had completed her daydream.  "Come foals; we must be off."

"Already'?" Imino asked.

"About time!" Imina said.

"I had a very nice dream of your sire," Ilura said.  "I think he may be
almost ready to consider something."

They galloped off into the yellow color.  Forrest and Imbri watched them
go.  "Those were might-he's," he said.

"Yes.  It's a shame they aren't real."

"How do we find Cathryn Centaur?"

"I think we just ask for her."

"Can we just ask for the faun I need?"

She turned to him, startled.  "We could certainly try."

He faced nothing.  "I want to trade with the faun I need."

Nothin, happened.

"I suspect he isn't close enough to hear," Imbri said.  "Have you
noticed that all the creatures we have encountered here are equine
crossbreeds?"

"I hadn't noticed," he said, surprised.  "Could it be coincidence?"

"It could be.  But I think there must be sections of Ptero for different
types of creatures, and this happens to be the equine section. That
would explain why we landed here: I'm equine, so was drawn here.  So
there would be no fauns close by.  Cathryn Centaur must know where they
are."

"That makes sense to me.  Very well, let's trade with Cathryn."

Imbri stood facing nowhere.  "I would like to trade with Cathryn
Centaur."

Another lady centaur appeared, emerging from the forest.  She was brown
of mane and fur, with large white wings.  "Why hello, mare," she said.
"I never expected to be summoned."

"Why not?" Imbri asked.

"Because there is no service anyone can do me, so I can't trade. Didn't
you know that?"

" I am from far away.  I know very little about this region."

"But the conventions are similar throughout our world.  You don't mean
to say-" She broke off, looking startled.

"Yes, we are from Xanth," Imbri said.

"That is extremely unusual, as there is virtually no physical contact
between Xanth and Ptero."

"But considerable emotional contact."

Cathryn nodded agreement.  "All we might-he's long to achieve Xanth
proper.  But so few of us ever do.  Now I suppose if you offer me some
way to cro there, then we can indeed deal.  But as it is impossible to
travel there physically, I suspect that your mission is of some other
nature."

"Yes.  We need to locate a suitable faun to become the spirit of a
vacant tree."

"Ah.  That's why you summoned me: because I know the best route to the
faunhold."

I 'Yes." I

"I am really sorry that we can't exchange services, because I can
certainly start you on your way there."

"Start us?  You can't direct us all the way there?"

"Correct: I can't.  It is beyond my range."

"Range?"

"Oh, I see," Cathryn said sympathetically.  "You are from afar, and
don't understand our system."

"Yes, I don't.  But I am willing to trade, if it's a matter of that."

"I'm afraid it is.  We are unable to interact significantly without the
exchange of equivalent services."

Forrest stepped into the dialogue.  "There must be some service you need
or desire, that we might do."

Cathryn glanced at him.  "I doubt it.  I am really quite satisfied,
apart from my natural longing to become real.  This is a pleasant enough
realm, and far better than utter nonexistence.  I would gladly show you
around it, If-"

"If we could do you some service in exchange," he finished.

"Exactly.  But as it is, I see no cause for further association.  So if
you will excuse me, I shall take off." She spread her wings.

"Walt!" Imbri cried.  "There must be something!"

Cathryn paused.  "I would be pleased if there were, for you seem like
interesting folk, and il-n sure your need must be extreme, for you to
make the (,reat effort to coi-timehere.  But it would be unkind to
pretend there is anything feasible."

"Every creature has some secret deep desire," Imbri said.  "I am in a
position to know."

The centaur seemed genuinely curious.  "How could you be in such a
position?"

"I was a night mare for a hundred and seventy years, punishing folk for
their darkest desires, and a day mare for thirty years, rewarding their
brightest desires.  I have never encountered anyone who was wholly
satisfied with his lot.  Some don't know their deepest desires, but all
have them."

"And maybe some demons prey on that," Forrest said, thinking of D. Sire.

"Then I think I must be the exception," Cathryn said, "becituse I am
satisfied, as satisfied as it is possible for a might-be to be."

They seemed to be getting nowhere.  But Forrest remembered something.
"The Good Magician's list," he said.  "Maybe that has the answer." He
dug into his knapsack and brought it out.

Now he thought he could almost read the first two words of the Good
Magician's illegible scribble.  "Dear Horn," he said, squinting. "Does
that make any sense?"

"Oh!" Cathryn said, putting a hand to her ample breast.

"You have found your secret desire," Imbri said.

"I suppose I have," the centaur confessed.  "I never realized it
before."

Forrest put the paper away.  "What is the dear horn?"

"It is a special horn that when blown will locate a person's True Love.
I have no True Love; I did not realize until you spoke that I missed
him."

"Then we must find this horn for you," Imbri said.

"That may be no easy thing.  I have no idea where it may be.  I
understand it tends to get left wherever last used, forgotten.  So
though you have indeed discovered a service you might render me, I fear
it is an impossible service."

Forrest found himself becoming canny.  "Suppose we agreed to help you
find that horn.  Would that be a sufficient service so that we could
talk freely while we were doing it""

"Why yes, I suppose it would be.  But you may still be wasting your
time, because it may not be possible to find it, and in that case I will
not be able to guide you toward the region of the fauns."

Forrest shrugged.  "We'll take that chance.  Are we agreed?"

"Yes," Cathryn said, smiling.

"Then let's proceed.  I'm not much, but Mare Imbri can tune in on
dreams, and that may help, as the dear horn is surely an instrument for
the fulfillment of dreams."

Both mares looked at him.  "You're not as empty headed as the average
faun," the centaur remarked.

"It's a luxury I can't afford at the moment.  I must save that tree, and
return to my own tree." Forrest turned to Imbri.  "Can you orient on
some person wtio knows where the dear horn is?"

"I'm not sure.  But I suppose the Good Magician wouldn't have asked me
to guide you, if he didn't think I had some way to do it. Let me
concentrate." She closed her eyes.  She looked much like a nymph that
way, except that she was clothed.  "Yes-I am getting a faint glimmering.
It's like the colors of the directions, only it's more like I'ght from a
distant flickering candle.  I think I will be able to find it.  But we
will have to go straight to it, because it's very faint, and I may lose
it if we delay or deviate."

"Then let's go!" Forrest said, gratified.

They set off to the north, and slightly to the east.  There were
numerous tracks, all hoofmarks.  That reminded him of the conjecture
they had made about regions.  They had encountered only equine folk in
this region: a unicorn, a centaur, and a winged centaur.  That could be
coincidence, but he doubted it, because in regular Xanth he had seldom
seen such creatures.  "Is this equine country?" he inquired.

"Yes," Cathryn answered.  "Creatures of a kind tend to congregate, being
more comfortable with similar types.  There's no rule; it just happens."

"So elsewhere there will be regions of dragons, or of elves, or of human
folk'?"

"Or of fauns," she agreed.  "Actually there may be several regions of
each type, because of the time."

, 'Time?"

"Time is geography, so there are limits."

"I don't understand.  Will I have to exchange a service in order to find
out what that means'?"

She laughed.  "No.  We are in the process of exchanging our services
now.  It is to my interest to facilitate your search for the dear horn,
and you can surely do that better if you understand our system. I had
forgotten for the moment that you are from Outside.  Have you noticed
something about me?"

He glanced at her.  "Only that you somehow seem younger than I took you
for.  I was probably distracted by your-there are aspects of you that
resemble a generously endowed nymph, and-"

She laughed again, making those aspects shake.  "I think I- night even
guess which aspects you mean.  But you are not imagining it.  I am
growing younger.  I was foaled only twenty years before we met, so even
a small distance to the east makes me noticeably younger."

"How can that be?  Is there youth elixir in the airs"

"No.  It's the direction.  When we travel into the From, we become
younger.  If the dear horn is very far in this direction, not only will
we be in ogre territory, I will be too young to take you there.  I would
regret that, because then we could not complete our agreement "But how
can that be?  East is a direction, not a time."

"Perhaps that is true where you come from.  Here east is From, or what
you might call the Past.  It's all the same to us, of course, but I
suppose it might seem odd to outsiders."

"Are you saying that if we go one direction, we get younger, and if we
go the other direction, we get older?"

"That is exactly what I am saying.  So I am able to go twenty years
east, from where we meet, and seventy years west.  For reasons of vanity
I prefer to remain mostly in the early maturity section.  Neither
extreme youth nor extreme age appeal to me particularly."

He was amazed.  "Does this apply to us too?"

"I should certainly think so.  Do you feel yourself getting younger.

"No.  But I wouldn't notice five or ten years, and neither would Imbri.
We're both two hundred years old."

"You are that age where?"

He was nonplumed.  "Why, here, of course."

"But you must be five or six years younger than you were.  See, I am
becoming a teen, and younger."

He looked at her again.  Indeed, now her breasts were smaller, her
flanks were less solid, and she had acne on her face.  Her mane, which
had been loose, was now bound into a pony tail.

He checked himself.  "No, I remain much the same faun as ever. But I
would be only a hundred and ninety or so, instead of two hundred.  I
would have to go a long way back to get really young."

"So I gather.  How far can you go in To?"

"Into what?"

"The future."

"Why, I don't know.  It depends on how long my tree lives.  Perhaps four
hundred years."

"You are a long-lived species!"

"Well, we draw our vitality from our trees.  If my tree should be
chopped down, I would fade out right then."

"I see.  So you should have a wide range of geography, here on Ptero.
That is surely an advantage, in case your faun is long removed."

Forrest suffered a revelation.  "The Good Magician must have known!
That's why Imbri and I are the same age, and both long lived. So we can
search farther, together."

"That does seem to make sense.  Every person's territory is limited by
her life span.  That is not usually a problem, but I confess that at
times I do wonder at what must be beyond my territory." She was now
smaller, with no chest development, and her mane was in pigtails.  "I
hope it isn't much farther."

Imbri, who had been walking with a removed expression, looked at her.
"Not far now, I think.  The glow is stronger.  But it is still
flickering.  I don't want to pause, lest something happen to it."

" But we may have to pause," Cathryn said.  "We are approaching the edge
of equine territory." I There was the sound of hoofs, and two adult
centaurs came into sight. The hide of one was dark, with a spiral
pattern of spots like thickly clustered stars.  The other was the
opposite, with a white hide speckled with black dots.  Both carried
bows.  "Ho, ladies," the dark one called. "Are you aware that you are
near the boundary?"

Forrest saw that the land ahead did change.  They had been walking
through a fairly level open forest, the kind that hoofed creatures
preferred, but before them was a tangle of oddities.

"Yes, thank you, Alpha," Cathryn said.  "These folk are from Xanth, on a
mission to locate the dear horn, which it seems is in the adjacent
territory." Then she turned to the others.  "This is Alpha Centauri,
guardian of the boundary.  His name got mangled by a passing galaxy, but
he is nevertheless one of us."

"To be sure," Alpha agreed gruffly.  "But this is a bad section to cross
out.  The puns have completely overgrown it, and are horrible."

The other centaur spoke.  "You are visitors from Xanth proper?

You will be returning there in due course?"

"Yes, within a month," Forrest replied.

"I am Vision Centaur.  I would like to exchange a service with you."

"Well, I don't know if we have anything to exchange."

"Surely we do.  I have a message I would like you to deliver to certain
parties in Xanth."

"I can do that," Imbri said.  "I can visit almost anyone in Xanth, in my
capacity as a day mare."

"In return I offer my service in helping to protect you from an
incipient attack."

"Attack?" Cathryn asked, concerned.

"I'll make that deal," Imbri said.  "What is the message?"

"It is for Jenny Elf and Chief Gwendolyn Goblin.  It is that if they
will seek out a special type of tick, the gen-e-tic, they can use it to
cause their myopic gene to recede, that is, to become recessive.  That
will render their sight normal, so they will no longer need to use
spectacles."

"But this is great news for them!" Imbri said.  "They will not be able
to perform a return service for it."

"Creatures of Xanth proper are not necessarily bound by our conventions.
I merely wish them to have the information."

"I will deliver the message to them," Imbri said.

"Thank you.  Now I suggest that you make a detour, because your present
course is not wise."

"I don't dare deviate, lest I lose the glow," Imbri said.  "I must go
straight ahead."

Cathryn sighed.  "Then we shall accompany you.  We don't have time for a
gallop poll on the issue.  Perhaps my staff will help." In her hands
appeared a long stout pole.  "If that is not sufficient, perhaps my
talent will avail."

"You have a magic talent?" Forrest asked, surprised.

"Oh, didn't I mention that?  My talent is blankets.  They can be very
useful on occasion."

Forrest did not comment.  It was interesting that a winged centaur had a
magic talent other than flying, though of course as a might-be she
wasn't limited by the conventions of ordinary creatures of her kind. But
nice as a blanket could be on a cold night, he doubted it would be much
help against horrible puns.

Alpha looked into the sky.  "Oh, no!  I fear the dragons are staging a
border raid."

"Precisely," Vision said.  "I saw them from afar."

Cathryn followed his gaze, alarmed.  "I'm too young to use my bow
effectively."

"Then you and your friends had better flee From or To," Alpha

'd.  "Vision and I will cover your retreat."

sal Now Forrest heard the beat of a number of heavy wings.  "Dragons
raid equine territory?"

"Yes," Alpha said tersely.  "They have a taste for equine flesh.  Of
course we just dissolve and reform when eaten, but it's an exceedingly
uncomfortable process." He unslung his bow and nocked an arrow. "I will
hold them off.  Flee-and stay out of the air."

"How can we outrun flying dragons?" Forrest asked Cathryn.

"It's a matter of moving out of their time range," she explained,
looking worried.  "If they are young dragons, we can move From and force
them to become too young to fly well.  If they are mature dragons, we
flee To, hoping they will become too old to fly well."

"Unfortunately it is a mixed squadron," Alpha said, squintin, into the
sky as dark shapes appeared.  "Some will follow effectively,
regardiess."

"I will make a security blanket," Cathryn decided.

"You are too young to make a really effective one," Alpha warned her.

"I know.  But it must do." She gestured, and something spread out from
her hands and floated above them.  It slowly settled, covering all of
them except Alpha.  Forrest realized that her talent was not preesely
what he had understood.

I will defend the outer perimeter of the blanket," Alpha said, aiming
his first arrow at the first dragon.  "Stay low, and perhaps it will
suffice."

" The glow is flickering," Imbri said.  "I am going on."

"I recommend against this," Alpha said grimly.  "Attila the Pun passed
by here recently, and left a disgusting trail.  It is simply not safe. I
sug est that you fly over this section, or run around it, after the
dragons depart.  Especially since you are quite young, here, Cathryn,
and your friends look inexperienced."

But linbri was already forging into the pun region.  So naturally
FoiTest and Cathryn had to follow.

"This is very bad judgment," Alpha called after them.  Forrest was sure
he was correct.

"Well, at least the dragons won't attack us within the pun strip,"
Cathryn said.  "They don't like it any better than we do."

Forrest heard the bow twang behind them.  Alpha or Vision was firing at
a dragon.  Could puns really be worse than dragons?

There was a rustle ahead, and something thumped past them.  It looked
like a man, except that it had only one arm-and one leg. Then it turned
its head toward them, and Forrest saw that it had only half a head, with
one eye and half a mouth.  "Et ut f y ay!" it screamed in half
syllables.

Cathryn raised her staff.  "No, you get out of our way, half brother,"
she retorted.  Her threat must have been effective, because the thing
ran away.  Forrest saw as it retreated that it was half-reared, too. Now
they passed a sign saying MALL.  It was an open section winding through
the tangled puns, with shops along the sides.  The central strip was
clear and firm, so they ran along it rather than across it, making
better time.

Then Imbri started pulling at her clothing.  Forrest's feet felt
confined.  He just had to get them out of the sandals.

"Oh, no," Cathryn exclaimed, ripping off her backpack.  "A strip mall! "

Forrest realized that that made sense, in a pun strip.  He took off his
sandals and backpack and felt free.  Meanwhile Imbri had stripped to
complete nudity, and now looked exactly like a nymph.  It wasn't so bad;
they held their things and ran on along the strip.

Another truncated figure ran by, going the opposite direction.  This one
was female: a half sister.  But while the half brother had been sliced
vertically, so that he had to jump rather than run, this one was halved
across the middle.  She had two nice legs, and was topless. Forrest
wondered how the other half of her got along.

But his brief distraction caused him to misstep.  Suddenly his foot was
in a fish-shaped blob of jelly.  It slid out from under, causing him to
fall on his rear.  He saw that Imbri had taken a similar fall.  They
were no longer wearing their magic sandals, so their feet could take bad
steps.  "We'd better get off the strip and get dressed again," he
called.  "We need to run safely."

Imbri agreed.  They scrambled off the strip and donned their things. He
was surprised to note that she put her upper clothing on before her
sandals.  But of course she wasn't really a nymph, however she might
look; she was a mare.  When she was in girl form, she evidently adopted
the conventions of girls, and didn't like to show her whole body.  Yet
it was a beautiful body.  Human beings had funny attitudes.

But again his distraction caused mischief.  Suddenly he was struck a
blow on the foot.  He looked, and discovered that he had tried to put on
a sock instead of his sandal.  The sock had punched him.  Or rather,
socked him.  He tossed it away and found his sandal instead.

"We must keep moving," Cathryn said behind him.  "We're off the mall
strip, but not out of the comic strip.  These abysmal puns will ruin us
if we don't get clear of them soon."

Forrest massaged his struck foot, agreeing.  Then he got up and followed
Imbri, his steps more confident now that they were protected by the
sandals.

They passed a big turtle.  "Hey, watch where you're going!" the creature
snapped.  It was of course a snapping turtle.

"My apology," Forrest said politely, though they really hadn't gone that
close to it.

They passed a big tree with a bee sitting on its lowest branch. Suddenly
Forrest felt his eyes watering.

"A bay-bee," Cathryn cried.  "It makes you cry." Again, he had already
discovered that.

Now he was stumbling despite his sandals, because the ground was getting
marshy from the tears of those who had gone before.  He lurched past a
large plant and almost tripped over one of its square roots.  "A
polynomial plant," Cathryn said.  "Attila really did his worst this
time."

Then several creatures charged toward them.  Their bodies looked human,
but their heads were closed fists.  On some the thumbs were on the
right, and on others on the left.  All of them looked vile.

"Knuckleheads!" Cathryn said.  "They're not the smartest creatures, but
they're mean.  Run!"

They ran toward what looked like a hanging curtain made up of thin
slices of wood.  "Avoid those!" Cathryn cried.  They tried to duck down
under it, but as they did, they slid into deeper swamp and got bogged
down.

"I can't see!" Forrest cried.

"Those were Venetian blinds," Cathryn said.  "They made us-"

"I get it," Forrest said.  "How do we get our vision back?"

"I think I saw some see weed.  If we can find that-"

They blundered about, making big splashes.  "You won't find it that
way," a voice came.

"Who are you?" Forrest asked, hoping it wasn't a knucklehead. "I am the
anonymous turtle you passed without notice.  I can direct you to the see
weeds, though I haven't seen them in days."

"Then how can you do it?" Forrest demanded.

"I have turtle recall."

That did seem to make sense.  "What do you want in exchange?"

"Something nice to recall.  I'm tired of recalling abysmal puns."

"I'll do it," Imbri said.  "I will give you a dream of sweet turtle
doves."

"Bear to your left.  You were headed for the see-an-enemy, which is more
trouble than you would care for at the moment.  Keep going. There: the
see weed is right before you."

Forrest couldn't see anything, but in a moment he heard a pleased
exclamation from Imbri.  Then she came to him, and touched him with the
see weed, and suddenly he could see again.  She touched Cathryn. Then
she went to do her service for the turtle.

But more B's were flying by.  One stung Cathryn.  "Well, you took long
enough to get to it," she said crossly.  "In fact you didn't do it at
all!  You just stood there stupidly while your friend fetched the see
weed."

"Well, yes, I suppose-"

"Not that you ever were much of a creature," she continued.  "I don't
know why I'm even bothering to help you in your stupid quest. You-" Then
a second B stung her.  "Oh, you wonderful friend!"

she exclaimed, suddenly hugging him.  He would have liked it better if
she had been at her mature stage.  "You're just so great to have around.
I don't know how I ever survived without you."

Then something stung Forrest on the leg.  He looked down and saw it was
a tic marked TAC.  He pulled it off, but it was already having its
effect.  He was realizing how to manage things better.  Those B's were
from a Have; their stings made folk B-have differently.  One must have
been a B-little, and the other a B-friend.

A third B was already stinging Cathryn.  She pushed Forrest away.
"B-gone!" she exclaimed.

"Tell it to the B's," he told her.  "Loudly."

Comprehension crossed her face from upper right to lower left.  She
turned to face the remaining milling B's.  "Begone!"

The B's buzzed rapidly away, heeding the voice of authority.

Cathryn turned back to him.  "Oh, thank you.  I really didn't mean those
things I said; it was just that-"

"You got stung," he said.  "Fortunately I got bitten by a tactic, so I
figured out what to do."

Imbri returned.  "The turtle is satisfied," she reported.  "Now we must
move on; the glow is flickering again." She plunged on ahead.

They followed-and suddenly they were out of the comic strip, and the
dreadful puns were gone.  Ahead of them was a tree twisted into the form
of a pretzel.  "We are in ogre territory," Cathry said nervously.

Shapes loomed in the sky.  "And the dragons are still hunting us,"
Forrest added, just as nervously.

athryn Centaur glanced at the sky.  "I'll throw a blan ket of fog," she
said, raising her hands.

"You can make another kind of blanket?" Forrest asked, surprised.  "Not
just security?"

"Yes.  My talent is blankets, not just one kind.  But I'm only about
eight years old now, and it won't be very big." From her hands poured
patches of mist, which spread out and sank around them.  Unfortunately
it sank too low, so that their heads poked out, and the dragons spied
them.  "This is the best I can do," Cathryn said.  "We'll have to duck
down in order to hide in it."

They ducked down.  The blanket of fog closed over their heads,
concealing them from the air.  Unfortunately it also made it hard for
them to see their way.

Then there was a great thudding sound.  "An ogre!" Cathryn whispered,
frightened.  Forrest realized that as a child she was much more fearful
of monsters than she would have been as an adult.

He poked his head cautiously up through the top of the cloud blanket and
peeked at the sky.  The dragons were circling, looking for their prey.
They were smaller than he remembered, but he realized that this was
because they were now younger.  As the ogre approached, huge and awful,
the dragons peered down at him.

"Stay here no, dragons go!" the ogre cried, shaking one hamfist. But the
dragons knew lie couldn't reach them.  They were young and foolish.  One
of them flew over the ogre and dropped a ball of dung. It splatted
close, and some of it flew out to speckle the ogre's hairy hide.

The ogre growled.  It wasn't that dirt bothered him, but he was not

'd enough not to know he was being insulted.  Ogres were quite stupi
justifiably proud of their stupidity, but there were limits. He stooped,
picked up a rock, and hurled it at the dragon.  The dragon tried to
swerve, but the rock clipped it on the tail, knocking it upside down.
The dragon gyrated desperately to prevent itself from falling to the
ground, then flew quickly away.  In a moment the other dragons followed;
they didn't care to tangle with an ogre in ogre territory.

Satisfied, the ogre tramped on.  He was evidently the border guard. It
was just as well, because the cloud blanket was thinning.  Soon they
would have been exposed, and the ogre wasn't a much better bet than the
dragons, as far as their safety went.  Cathryn could have spread her
wings and flown away, of course, but she was too courteous to do that.

Cathryn stood and reculled her blanket.  The wisps of cloud funneled
into her hands, and the round was clear again.

Ibri- esui-ned her determined trek.  "It is getting close," she said.

"That's good," Cathryn said, because as they walked she was looking more
like seven than eight.  It was clear that she would be unable to go
beyond her limit.

They crested a hill, and looked down on an enormous castle.  It had no
moat, and evidently didn't need one, because the bashed and splintered
state of the trees around it showed it to be the home of an ogre.

What else, here in ogre country?

"It's in there," Imbri said.  "The one who knows where the dear horn
is."

"don't think there's anything in there but the ogre," Cathryn said.  "I
don't think it's a good idea to go in."

" But if he's the one who knows, we'll have to ask him," Forrest said.

Ogres eat other folk, and crunch their bones," Cathryn reminded him,
shivering.  As a child she lacked courage.

"But that's temporary, here, isn't it?" Imbri asked.  "Because all folk
are just spirits, so can't be truly killed or destroyed?"

"Yes.  But it's awful getting crunched.  It hurts.  And if he crunches
you, you'll be gone from that region.  You can never return to where you
died, any more than you can go beyond your regions of delivery or
ending."

"You mean folk can die here?" Forrest asked, alarmed.

"Not exactly.  We can die, but it is limited."

"How can death be limited?"

"Limited to the region where the death occurs.  That means that though a
person reconstitutes, he can never return to that spot, or ever come
close to it.  The limit is about six months on a side, From and To, and
equivalent distances north and south."

Both Forrest and Imbri were perplexed.  "But why can't a person just go
there anyway?" Imbri asked.

"He just can't.  It no longer exists for him.  He can see the limit, but
can't cross it."

"You mean it exists, only he can't go there?" Forrest asked.  "Others
can go, but not the one who died there'?"

"Yes."

They pondered that a moment.  Then Forrest had another question:
"Suppose I get killed by the ogre, so I can't go back there, but then
the ogre comes out here'?  Beyond the six month range?  Could I have at
him again?"

"Yes.  When two folk fight, and one kills the other, he has to be
careful when he leaves that area, because the other may be lurking for
him, to kill him back.  Sometimes two enemies leave a whole series of
holes in each other's existences, making things difficult.  So as a
general rule, folk try not to kill or be killed, because it's such a
nuisance."

"What about dragons or ogres?"

"That's another matter.  They are so dull that they don't worry about
such complications.  Dragons don't kill their own, and don't care about
others.  If an ogre crunches you once, he'll do it again.  It isn't easy
to talk to an ogre; they're too stupid.  I think maybe this a bad idea."

"But if we don't talk to him, we can't find out where the dear horn is,"
Forrest said.  "Then we won't be able to complete our service to you,
and you won't be able to help us find faun country."

"That is true," she agreed sadly.

Forrest pondered.  "It occurs to me that this is like one of the Good
Magician's Challenges.  We just have to figure out the way through."

"But we have no guarantee that there is a way through," Imbri said.
"This isn't a carefully crafted test.  This is real."

"Still, even real challenges often have solutions." He gazed at the
castle.  "Maybe animal psychology will help.  What is the basic nature
of ogres?"

"Everyone knows that," Cathryn said.  "They are the strongest, ugliest,
and stupidest creatures around."

He nodded.  "That's my understanding.  I hear they even have contests in
those categories.  But I also hear that they're not bad folk, when you
get to know them."

"Who would want to get to know an ogre?" Cathryn inquired.

"We would," Imbri said.  "So we can ask him where the dear horn is.

Oh, that's right; I forgot.  I don't have much memory at this age."

But Forrest was working on his notion.  "Ogres have pride, don't they?
Suppose we challenged him to an ugly contest'?"

"But we couldn't possibly win that," Cathryn said.  "None of us is even
remotely uglier than the handsomest ogre."

"So we would lose," Forrest said.

"Yes.  Instantly.  Then he would crunch us."

But Imbri was catching on.  "Would he crunch folk he had just bested,
and who admitted it?  Who maybe even praised his superior ugliness?"

Cathryn stared at her.  "What a notion!  You mean his ogre pride in
victory would make him generous?"

Forrest nodded.  "Yes.  We could rally make him proud."

Imbri remained doubtful.  "But if it doesn't work, we get crunched."

Forrest nodded.  "So I guess I'd better go 'n alone."

Both fillies reacted.  "We didn't say that," Imbri protested.

"No, we didn't," Cathryn agreed.

"But it's my idea, and there's no sense in having two or three of us get
crunched, when one will do."

The two exchanged a generous glance.  "We're not sure this is best,"
Imbri said.

"Consider it this way: if I get crunched, you will still be here to try
it, if you wish to, perhaps with more success.  If it works for me, then
I can ask the ogre to let the two of you in.  So you don't need to take
the risk either way, unless you decide to."

"I hate to say it," Cathryn said.  "But he's making sense."

"Fauns are more sensible than I thought," Imbri agreed.

"And have more courage than I thought."

"Well, we don't just chase nymphs, you know," Forrest said, embarrassed.
"Now, how can I make myself ugly?"

"Why even try?" Imbri asked.  "Just challenge him, and lose.  He won't
know the difference."

He nodded.  "I'll do it." He squared himself, and marched on toward the
castle.

"Wait!" Imbri called.  "If you get crunched, where will you
reconstitute?"

He paused.  "How far is half a year?"

Cathryn considered.  "Back about where we emerged from the comic strip."

"Then I'll t'orm there, just this side ot' it."

"All right," Imbri said.  "But be careful, Forrest."

He laughed.  "If I was careful, I wouldn't walk into an ogre's den."

He resumed his march.

The castle loomed larger and uglier as he approached it.  It was huge
and squat, with dull thatch for the roof, and mildew on the stone walls.
The big front door was well over twice his own height, made of ironwood.

He came to a stop before the door.  Entry was a daunting prospect, but
he raised one fist and knocked on the wood iron.

There was no response.  So he knocked harder.  Still nothing.  He
realized that the ogre probably couldn't hear him.  For one thing, there
was a constant rumbling or crashing from within the castle, as if
something huge and violent were bashing down walls.

He looked around and saw a big bell.  On it was printed the word
WEATHER.  Beside it was a solid metal bar.  So he picked up the ba.r,
hefted it high, and swung it at the bell-weather.

There was a loud gong, followed by a crack of thunder.  A storm cloud
formed over the bell, shooting out bolts of lightning.  The lightning
struck the bell, adding to the sound.  Then a bucket of rain dropped
from the cloud and doused the bell.  The sound faded, and the cloud
evaporated.

There was a rumbling behind the door.  Then it jerked violently inward,
so that the suction of the air blew Forrest inside.  He stumbled and
caught his footing, helped by his magic sandals.

There stood the ogre: twice the height of a man, hairy, and
disproportionately muscular.  "Who you?" the thing demanded.

"I- I'm Forrest Faun.  I come to have an ugly contest."

The ogre thought about that.  Forrest knew he was thinking, because the
unusual effort was heating his head, and huge fleas were *umping off
lest their feet get burned.  Then he decided to introduce himself. "See
me: Orgy."

So far, so good.  "I'm uglier than you."

Orgy Ogre stared down at him.  "Ugly faun?  'Tis to yawn."

"I'll prove it.  Do you have a mirror?"

Oi-gy shook his shaggy head.  "Mirror lack.  Ogre crack."

He meant th;it his I-ace was so ugly that any mirror that reflected it
broke.  This was a complication.  How could Forrest lose a contest if
they couldn't compare their faces'!  But maybe they could do it with
water.  "Do you have a pool?"

"Sure, pool.  It cool."

"Then let's compare faces in the pool.  Then we'll see who is uglier."

Orgy considered, and more fleas jumped off.  Then he decided.  "Me say
okay." He turned and led the way into the castle.

Forrest followed.  He noticed that much of the castle was in ruins. The
walls had been bashed down, and the stones were scattered across the
floor.  The ogre simply kicked them out of the way, not even noticing,
though some were pretty solid chunks.

They came to an inner courtyard where water had collected.  It was
dirty, but it would do.

Forrest bent lorward so that he could see his reflection.  He looked
just exactly like a faun.  "Ugly," he said.

Orgy Ogre bent over.  The water quivered and shrank away.  Orgy
grimaced.  The water made waves as it fled to the edges of the pool.
Orgy smiled.  The water turned muddy and splashed right out of the pool
on the far side.

"I'm impressed," Forrest said.  "I was never able to make water do that.
You are uglier than I am, by far.  You must be a legend among your
kind." He was sincere; the ogre had truly impressed him.

"No, I am merely an average ogre," Orgy said sadly.  "But thank you for
the compliment."

Forrest stared.  "You're not rhyming!"

"I never did rhyme.  No ogre does.  It is merely your perception that
changed."

"But you still look like an ogre to me."

"But now you see me as an individual, instead of a monster.  You have
achieved respect.  So you are able to hear me as I am."

"I never realized!  Do you mean that all ogres are cultured, instead of
being stupid?"

"That depends entirely on your perception."

"I was afraid you were going to crunch me."

"I was, until you showed that you had discovered respect.  We ogres
crunch only the ignorant." , "This is an education," Forrest said. "I'll
never view ogres the same a am."

"Excellent.  You should have no further fear of us.  But why did you
come here?"

"I need your help.  I'm looking for the dear horn."

"Olio!  You wish to trade services."

"Yes.  Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I'm afraid not.  I am completely satisfied.  I am sorry you came here
for nothing."

Forrest had been afraid of this.  "I came here with two companions. They
remained apart, for fear of getting crunched.  They might be able to
figure out a service that you need.  Then we could trade.  Would it be
all right if they 'sined me here?"

"That depends on their perspective.  If they are ordinary, I'll be
obliged to crunch them.  Protocol., you know."

"Suppose I explain to them about respect?"

"They may not listen.  Most folk are sure they know the nature of
ogres."

"But if I can make them understand?"

"Then they will be welcome to the hospitality of the castle."

"Let me go fetch them.  Maybe we can do each other some good after all."

"As you wish.  Meanwhile, I shall return to my bashing."

As Forrest walked out of the castle, Orgy Ogre waded into the nearest
wall, bashing it into rubble with his two hamfists.  The whole structure
shuddered.  Such was the ogre's ferocity that it was a wonder that any
of the castle remained standing.  Forrest realized that this was the
sound he had heard before, when he stood outside the door.  No wonder it
required the bell-weather to get the ogre's attention.  .

He went out the door, which remained open.  But it swung closed once he
was clear; apparently it was set to let visitors out, but not to let
them in.  So it was a magic door.  He departed the bleak castle
environs, and walked on across the blasted terrain to where the two
inai-es stood.  They looked amazed and relieved to see him.

"You may enter the ogre's den," he said.  "But there is a caution."

"That's a severe understatement," Catliryn said.  "Are you sure t's
safe?"

]t will be safe if you have the right attitude."

Both mares looked at him doubtfully.  "How can attitude save a person
from being crunched by a monster'?" Imbri asked.

"You have to leave your prejudice behind, and have proper respect.

"For an ogre?" Cathryn asked incredulously.

Forrest realized that there was a problem.  "He's really a very cultured
creature.  You just have to see him as such."

The two mares exchanged a Significant Glance.  "I suppose even a stink
horn has its culture," Imbri remarked to no one in particular.

They were locked into their prejudice.  He had to get rid of it, or it
would not be safe for them to enter the ogre's den.  "Remember how you
viewed me, at first?  As just another faun looking for a nymph to
chase?"

They nodded.

"Do you still view me that way?"

"No," Cathryn said.  "You have a lot more character than I originally
supposed."

"So can you appreciate that originally you were operating on prejudice?"

"Nonsense!  Centaurs aren't prejudiced." Then she reconsidered. "But I'm
very young now, so maybe you do have a point."

"So can you appreciate that the ogre may have qualities to be respected,
if you viewed him without prejudice?"

"An ogre?" Then she heard herself, and laughed.  "You wouldn't be
teasing a centaur foal, would you?"

"No.  I am serious.  It is a matter of life or crunching.  The ogre
doesn't crunch those who respect him."

Imbri was havin her own problem.  "Respecting an ogre is an oxymoron, a
contradiction in terms.  They are sheer brutes."

"Then respect his brutishness.  But see him as worthy in his own right."

"Well, I suppose I can make the effort."

"So can I," Cathryn said.  "Even if I do get crunched."

They walked back to the castle.  They came to a stop before the great
door.  "Now remember: he's an individual.  You will know this by his
speech: it doesn't rhyme."

"All ogres speak in stupid rhyming couplets," Cathryn said.

"No.  They are merely heard that way by ignorant outsiders.  If you hear
him rhyming, don't speak, because he'll know you don't respect him.

"This is we'trd," the centaur said.

Forrest picked up the rod and banged the bell-weather.  The fierce
little storm formed, and the commotion summoned the ogre to the door.
This time all three of them were sucked inward by the swoosh of air. The
ogre stood there, as huge and brutish as ever.

"OrGy, these are my friends Mare Imbrium and Cathryn Centaur," Forrest
said.  "Mares, this is Orgy Ogre, master of this castle."

"Hello, Orgy," Imbri said bravely.

"Likewise," Cathryn said, looking as if she were ready to spread her
wings and fly away.

"I am glad to make your acquaintance, fair mares," Orgy said graciously.

Imbri hesitated, then smiled.  "And I yours, ugly ogre," she replied.
But Cathryn kept her mouth shut.  Forrest knew that was trouble. Orgy
stared down at the centaur.  "Please repeat what I just said to you," he
requested.

Cathryn took a step back with each hoof, looking twice as nervous as
before.

"But all he said was-" Forrest began, but stopped when a severe glance
from the ogre cut him off.  He realized that this was a test the centaur
had to pass on her own.

"You said 'Who cares, she mares?"

" she said.  Then, after half a pause, she reconsidered.  "Wait, that
isn't quite it.  You said-you said you were glad to make our
acquaintance, and you called us fair mares."

Forrest breathed a silent sigh of relief.  "Then welcome into my
castle," Orgy said grandly, and led the way down the hall.

"You're- ight," Cathryn inuri-nui-ed as she walked beside Forrest. "He
doesn't- hyme, when I listen with an open- mind."

Forrest noticed thitt one of the w;tils he had thought was in rubhle was
actually solid.  Maybe this was a difl'erent passage, though it seemed
to be the only one available.

They came to a central hall that had some spare furnishings.  "You must
be hungry," Orgy said.  "Come sit at my iliagic table."

Actually the rough-hewn tree-trunk timber table was way too big and hi,h
for any of them.  But the ogre found blocks to put on the seats of the
huge chairs, for Forrest and Imbri, and gently lifted them up so that
they could sit at the level of the table.  Cathryn was able to stand on
her chair so that her head was high enough.

Food appeared.  Steaming pots emerged from a window in the wall at the
end of the table and walked on stout little legs to the center, and a
big cocoa pot arrived similarly.  Plates and utensils slid along 'I they
took their proper places before each person.  Then the pots unti lifted
serving spoons and plopped stew onto each plate, wlille the cocoa pot
siphoned steaming cocoa into each mug.

Orgy dived into his stew with gusto, slurping and splashing.  But then
Forrest reminded himselt- about attitude, and looked again, more
carefully-and saw that the ogre was using a big spoon in the
conventional human manner, and neither slurping nor splashing.  His
prejudice had tried to reassert itself.

They tried their own portions.  Forrest found the substance in his stew
to be almost nut-like, and quite good.  The mares seemed to be enjoying
theirs too.

"If I may inquire," Cathryn said, "what kind of stew is this?"

"Horse dropping stew," Orgy said.

She blinked.  The stew was brown and lumpy.  Then she smiled,
surmounting her prejudice.  "Horse chestnuts," she said.

"Yes.  The chests and nuts drop from the horse trees, and we collect the
chests and the nut droppings too."

"And the cook makes stew from them," Imbri said.  "How nice."

Then, as they ate, Forrest got down to business.  "We need to find a
service we can render Org)/, in return for information about the
location of the dear horn.  Do either Of you have any ideas'?"

"Not at the moment," Cathryn said.  "But perhaps if we knew more about
Orgy and this castle, we would get an idea."

"That is too simple to be interesting," the ogre said.

"Even the most stupid thing becomes interesting, when there is a need,"
Forrest said.

He had uttered a magic word.  "Stupid," Orgy said.  "I am as stupid as
any ogre.  Very well, I will tell you about me and this castle.  Two
years ago I was "just another ogre, happily bashing rocks, tying trees
in knots, and teaching young dragons the meaning of fear.  I mean, it's
what ogres do.  Then I happened across an odd looking horn that someone
had left lying around.  Dimly curious, I picked it up and iffed it, but
it had no particular sme I b't 't, but it didn't taste sn particularly
edible.  In short, it didn't seem to be very useful.  The scorn this
horn," I said, or words to that effect; after all, there might be
someone listening.  Then I put it to my mouth and blew."

He paused.  "Are you sure you want to hear more?  This is so stupid that
even I am being bored."

"I don't want to be a spoilsport," Forrest said, "but I find it
fascinating.  Please do go on."

"Oh," Orgy said.  "Well, it gets duller.  When I blew the horn, it made
a noise like none other I had heard.  It was, if you can imagine this,
the sound of utter longing.  When I heard that, I wanted something so
badly that I could think of nothing else.  I didn't even know what it
was, just that I had to have it.  So I blew the horn again, and this
time I heard an echo from afar, and my longing focused on that distant
response.  So I trudged toward it, and when I began to lose my way, I
blew it again, and got another echo.  Gradually I realized that I was
the only one who heard either the horn or the echo; other creatures I
passed paid no attention, apart from getting hastily out of my way. They
did not realize that I was on a mission; they thought I had come to
maraud as usual.

"I continued in this manner for some time, until at last I hove into
view of this castle.  The echo came from it.  It seemed to be
unoccupied, so I entered.  Naturally I bashed down a wall or two, and
found it very bashable, so I continued.  It was a real thrill, once
again destroying something solid.  Eventually, pleasantly exercised, I
dropped to the floor and snored valiantly for a 1ew hours.  When I woke,
there was a table loaded with victuals.  So I got up and gobbled them
down, then resuect- ny bashing of the walls.

"So it continued for several days, before I realized that the walls did
not stay bashed.  They- estoi-ed themselves overnight, oi- even sooner.
This pleased me iensely, I'oi- it meant that I could bash them down
again.  And indeed, so it has been ever since.  Bash, eat, sleep, bash,
in a perpetual routine.  I love it; it is an ogre's heaven.  Since I had
no more use for the liorn, I threw it out a window.  After a t-time-
several months-I realized that this was the purpose of the horn: to lead
me to my heart's delight.  A perpetually bashable castle.  So this is
surely the dear horn you seek, and I know exactly where I threw
it-memory being inversely proportional to intelligence-and will be glad
to tell you, if you can find any equivalent service to trade for the
information.  But I doubt that you can, as I am completely happy as I
am."

"It does seem as if this castle was designed with an ogre in mind,"
Cathryn- earked.  "Perpetual bashing."

"With I-easting in between," Imbri agreed.  "There doesn't seem to be
anything missing."

"Yet I, too, thought I had everything I wanted," the centaur said. "Now
I realize that I simply had not thought of my missing desire."

Orgy looked at her.  "You have a missing desire?"

"Yes.  That's why I seek the dear horn."

"To find your True Love?"

"Yes.  A companion to be with, to love and cherish and breed with-" She
paused.  "Oh, that's it for you!"

Orgy was taken aback.  "I don't think I would be a good companion for
you."

She laughed.  "Surely not.  I favor intelligence and wings.  I mean that
maybe you could use a companion of your own kind.  An ogress."

"I'm not sure.  She might be uglier than I am.  Then the castle might
like her better than me."

"Maybe a merely moderately ugly ogress?" Imbri inquired.

"Who would want a merely moderately ugly ogress?"

Forrest saw that this wasn't getting anywhere.  But it did suggest a
line of investigation.  "What about one who is distinctly inferior to
you in strength, ugliness, and stupidity, but who really appreciates
your ogrish qualities?"

Orgy pondered, and the teas began 'Limping.  "There is something
appealing there."

It fell into place.  They had sought to applaud the ogi-e, letting him
win an ugly contest.  That had worked, in a manner.  An ogress could
surely do it much better.  "Someone to admire your achievement in
continuously bashing down the walls.  Where's the fun of a job well
done, if nobody notices?"

The fleas jumped higher, as if their feet were getting burned.  "Yes, I
hadn't thought of that."

"Naturally not," Forrest said triumphantly.  "You are too stupid. But we
who can't compare to you in that respect were able to think of it, and
this must be what we can do for you.  We can find you such an ogress."

Orgy nodded, and the few remaining fleas hung on.  "For that I would
tell you where the dear horn is.  Find me that ogress."

ell, if you tell us where the dear horn is, we can use it to find her.

Orgy shook his head, and the fleas were hurled into the nearest unbroken
wall.  "I am too stupid to understand why you wouldn't simply use the
dear horn for your own quest, once you had it.  So I'll wait for you to
bring the ogress."

The three of them exchanged a somewhat stretched glance.  Naturally it
would not be expedient to question the stupidity of their host. "We'll
search for her without the dear horn," Forrest agreed.

"Do you have any notion who would know where such an ogress might be?"
Cathryn asked with something less than full stupidity. "Ogle Ogre might
know.  He sees everything."

"How can we find Ogle?"

Orgy put his last remaining fleas to flight.  "He especially likes to
look at esthetic females.  Maybe if you stood on a mountain and looked
esthetic, he would spy you and come to ogle you."

This time Cathryn and Imbri shared a female type glance, excluding
Forrest.  Then they shrugged.  "Maybe so," one of them agreed.

Thus, in due course, they departed the ogre's castle on a new mission:
to discover a suitable ogress.  They headed for the nearest barren peak.
"I hope we are able to compliment Ogle Ogre before he crunches us,"
Cathryn muttered.

"If he comes to ogle you, he shouldn't crunch you," Forrest pointed out.

"And that's another thing," Imbri said.  "Do you suppose all females
exist just to be ogled?"

"Why no, of course not," Forrest said, taken aback.  "A number of them
exist to be chased and celebrated."

For some obscure impenetrable reason she turned a dark glare on him. "He
is a faun," Cathryn reminded her, for some similarly unfathomable
motive.

Since they had nothing important on their minds, Forrest shared a
concern of his: "If I am the size I am because of the solidified mass of
my soul, and Imbri is the size she is because of the mass of her half
soul, how is it that creatures like Cathryn and Orgy have so much more
mass?  Are their souls so much larger?"

"Now that's an intelligent question," Cathryn said.  "Just when we
thought you had used up your supply of intelligence.  No, souls don't
vary in size like that.  In fact, we of Ptero really don't have souls.
They come only when we assume reality.  We have inferior substitute
filler material that assumes the semblance but not the essence of souls.

Thus we are limited to our life spans, and have no existence beyond
them.  It is one reason each of us hopes to come into genuine existence.
So we amass as much material as we require to fill out our standard
forms, and that's it."

"You mean I could assume larger size, by adding some of that filler
substance?" Imbri asked.

"You could.  But why would you want to?  You are pure soul now; what
higher aspiration can there be?"

"To be fully souled.  To be fully real.  I am only a day mare; I was
fully real only briefly, when I had a mission in Xanth, and was king for
a moment.  Ever since, I have longed to be fully real again.  And once I
complete my Service to the Good Magician, by enabling Forrest to find
his tree spirit, I will be, perhaps."

"I envy you your chance at reality.  All of us here on Ptero hope for
it, but most of us know that we will never achieve it."

"How do you know that any of you achieve it?" Forrest asked. "Could you
all be victims of a cruel hoax?"

"No, we do know the chance is real, because some of us are real. We see
them, and know it can theoretically happen for others."

' 'But didn't you say that none of you actually have souls?"

"I said that all of us hope for genuine existence, and gain souls only
when we assume reality.  Some of us do achieve it, and the rest of us
envy them despite the inconvenience it brings them."

"Inconvenience?"

"There is a year-wide swath missing from their lives, corresponding to
the period they are in Xanth.  It is similar to the excluded regions of
death, but broader.  Because a creature can't be both here and in Xanth
at the same time."

Forrest shook his head.  "I don't understand that."

"Neither do I," Imbri agreed.

"Well, it is rather complicated to appreciate, until you see it,"
Cathryn said.  "Perhaps we shall encounter a living person before we
separate." I Forrest hoped so, because this was one peculiar thing she
was describing.  Souled folk with missing year-wide bands?

They reached the top of the peak, which really wasn't all that high, but
it made up for it in barrenness.  As far as they could see, there was
nothing except dirt and rocks and stunted weeds that didn't dare grow
bold for fear of the ogres.  So visibility was good, which was what they
wanted.

"Now we shall have to give him something to ogle," Cathryn said
distastefully.  "I understand males like to look at forbidden female
anatomy.  But centaurs, being more sensible, have no forbidden anatomy.
So it may be up to you, Imbri."

"But I'm a mare," Imbri protested.  "I assumed this form only because
it's all that my half soul can substantiate, and because it facilitates
physical verbal speech.  I wear a dress only because otherwise I would
be confused for a nymph."

"But nymphs are mindless creatures," Cathryn said.  "While you clearly
have a mind."

"Not unless I speak."

The centaur nodded.  "Point made.  From afar, Ogle would take you for a
nymph, unless you are clothed.  So he would ignore you, because ogling
just doesn't work unless the subject is embarrassed.  So you wouldn't be
of interest, clothed or unclothed."

"Maybe if Cathryn put on clothing," Forrest suggested.  "Since centaurs
don't normally wear anything, that might make her interesting."

"I doubt it," Cathryn said.  "Even straight human beings, who have the
worst hang-ups about exposure, don't worry much about children, and I am
now seven years old."

He had to admit that was true.  A clothed juvenile centaur would not be
worth ogling, because even an ogre would know she had nothing to
conceal.  But he refused to give up on the quest.  "We'll just have to
establish that Imbri is an adult human female, and then have her remove
her clothing."

"But that would be improper," Imbri protested.  "A human woman
wouldn't."

"Precisely," Cathryn said.  "That makes it ogleable."

The logic was impeccable.  So, reluctantly, Imbri agreed.  She reformed
her dress, which was made of her own soul-stuff, so that it had a number
of pieces.  Then Forrest and Cathryn stood on either side of the peak,
serving as an audience.  Imbri, who had experience with male dreams,
explained what was required, so that they could make suitable comments
that would help attract the ogre's notice. Then Imbri stood on the
highest knoll and lifted her arms.

"Behold!" Cathryn said loudly.  "A modest human style female woman lady
is about to do a naughty strip tease dance, that no decent person should
observe."

"Great!" Forrest exclaimed, just as loudly.  "As an improper male type
faun I can hardly wait."

Then Imbri began her dance.  She stepped around, wiggling her bottom.
She was pretty good at it; her experience making daydreams must have
helped.  Then she kicked one foot high, so that her leg showed all the
way to the knee.  Her sandals were still protecting her from moving her
feet incorrectly, so that she managed to show only as much as she meant
to.

"Disgusting!" Cathryn pronounced.

"More!  More!" Forrest cried.

Imbri whirled, so that her skirt flared out and lifted, showing both
knees.

"Stop this vile display at once!" Cathryn said in her best imitation of
an adult voice.  "Don't you realize that a child might see?"

"Who cares?" Forrest demanded irresponsibly.

There was a faint shudder in the ground.  Either the earth itself was
disgusted at the display, or an ogre was stirring far away.

Imbri took hold of the kerchief she had formed and drew it from her
head.  She tossed it into the air, where it fluttered a moment, then
dissolved into vapor.

"Indecent exposure!" Cathryn protested.

"Take it off!  Take it off!  " Forrest insisted wickedly as he sat down
on the Ground.

The ground rumbled.  Something huge was trudging in their direction.

Imbri worked off her blouse and threw it at Forrest, who caught it and
sniffed it in as vulgar a manner as he could imagine.  Actually it was a
very nice blouse, with a faint smell of fresh hay.  It was Mare Imbri's
natural soul substance.  Then it dissolved, because of course she
couldn't afford to get fragmented.

"Absolutely revolting," Cathryn proclaimed.

"Divine," he countered sincerely.

Imbri was now dancing in a bright red halter and skirt, and really did
look nice.  She was small, because of her lack of much soul substance,
but well formed, and the tight halter offered a strong hint of even
better things to come.  Especially when it bounced with the vigor of her
motions.  Forrest was intrigued despite knowing that this was only an
act.  There was something about clothing that enhanced interesting
aspects into exciting aspects.

Imbri kicked up a leg, and one of her slippers went flying.  Then she
danced closer and kicked off the other, and such was her position that
Forrest saw halfway beyond the knee.  That was dangerously close to
panty territory!  "Awesome!"

But as he sat, half stunned by the prospect, the slipper hit him on the
forehead.  It didn't hurt him; it felt more like a kiss as it dropped
and dissolved.

Then the ogre arrived.  "Who she me see?" he demanded.

Startled, Forrest turned to him.  "You must be Ogle Ogre," he said. It
was a good guess, because the ogre's eyes seemed to bulge halfway out of
their sockets.  There was something else about him, but Forrest wasn't
certain what it was.

"From dawn to dawn, me ogre, you faun," he agreed.

"Oh, come off it, Ogle," Forrest said.  "We know you don't really talk
in stupid rhymes."

The ogre looked crestfallen.  "What gave me away?"

"Nothing.  It was Orgy Ogre who let slip the secret.  We want to make a
deal with you."

"I am not interested in any deal.  I came merely to get a closer look at
your dancing maiden.  She was just about to reveal something
interesting."

"No I wasn't," Imbri said as her blouse, kerchief, and shoes reappeared
on her body.

"Then I'm out of here," the ogre said crossly.  "I can't crunch you
because you know my nature, and if I can't ogle you, then any further
dalliance here becomes pointless."

"He has a soul," Imbri murmured.  "See that faint glow."

That was the oddity Forrest had noted.  What an unlikely place to
encounter a soul!

Imbri reconsidered.  "Suppose I dance while you negotiate with the
faun?"

Ogle considered, and his eyeballs heated to a dull red.  I 'Okay," he
concluded in due course.

So Imbri resumed her dance, with all her clothing in place.  She did not
look perfectly pleased, but yielded to necessity.  Also, she seemed to
enjoy dancing, and might have done it for pleasure, if it were not for
the ogling.

"We need to know where to find a suitable ogress to go stay with Orgy in
his bashable castle and applaud his heroic efforts," Forrest said.

"That would be 016 Ogress.  She's not phenomenally ugly, but she is
extremely enthusiastic." The ogre's eyeballs were unwaveringly oriented
on Imbri, who was twirling her skirt dangerously high.

Forrest tore his own eyes away, realizing that he could probably make a
better deal while Ogle was distracted.  "What can we do for you in
return for this information?"

Ogle considered again.  This time his eyeballs turned white hot. Maybe
that was mostly because Imbri was drawing off her blouse again.  That
might not seem like much, but the ogre probably had forgotten that there
was a halter under it, and the centaur was frowning so determinedly that
it was obvious that something truly naughty was happening.  "Nothing,"
he concluded.  "I don't need anything."

Forrest had a notion, based on what he had recently learned from
Cathryn.  "You like to see things," he said.  "Especially things you're
not supposed to see, like human pantomiming," he continued, emphasizing
the first syllable of the last word, so that it sounded as if he were
about to say the P word.  Cathryn's sudden shocked intake of breath
aided the effect.

"Yeah, yeah," Ogle agreed, his eyeballs bulging as if he actually had
seen the forbidden thing.  It was clear that being souled did not change
his fundamental nature.

"Well, the one thing you can't see is what is within your blanked out
year."

"Yeah.  I can see everything on this side, and everything on the far
side, but when I try to go into it, I just slide right across and my age
changes a year in a single moment.  It is exceedingly frustrating."

Now Imbri's shoes were coming off.  Forrest knew that he had to get on
with it quickly, lest she be forced to show something really naughty.
"Well, we can go there, because we aren't you.  We can tell you what is
happening in your forbidden section."

That prospect actually brought the ogre's eyes from Imbri, which meant
that she was able to dance without removing any more items, giving her
more time.  "But only souled folk can see souls," he said.

"I am souled," Forrest said.  "Don't you see my glow?"

"So I do," Ogle agreed, surprised.  He glanced at Imbri.  "And hers,
too.  That makes her even more interesting.  A naughty view of a souled
creature is much more effective than of an unsouled one.  So it seems
you can indeed go into my barred region.  Very well: if you will tell me
what I am doing in there, I will tell you where to find Old Ogress."

"Agreed!  We'll go now." Then Forrest realized that it wasn't quite that
simple.  "Uh, where is it?"

"R'Ight this way." The ogre led the way east.

As they progressed, Cathryn continued to grow younger.  Soon she was
dancing along like a yearling foal.  Fortunately the ogre stopped before
she hit the limit of her range.  "Here," he said.  "Right now it's when
I am twenty four years old, and moving slowly forward.  I don't seem to
be much changed on either side of it, but I sure am curious about what's
in there."

"We will go in and observe carefully," Forrest said.  "And when we come
out, we'll make a full report."

"I don't think I'd have the patience for that.  How about half a
report?"

"Half," Forrest agreed amicably.  "Or even a quarter, if you prefer."

"Wow!  That's great." Then a slow thought percolated through what passed
for the ogre's brain.  "But what will I do, with nothing to ogle?  My
attention span is very short."

Cathryn stepped in.  "I will tell you a foal's story I know.  "The Ogre
and the Three Bares." At my present age, it's the only one I know, but I
think it's a good one."

"I love that story!" Ogle said.  "I haven't heard it since I was in my
ogret range."

"I will refresh your memory.  Once there was an ogre who was lost in the
forest.  Of course he could simply have bashed all the trees to
smithereens, but of course he was too stupid to realize that."

"Of course," Ogle agreed appreciatively.

"So he stumbled about until he saw this odd house.  He bashed down the
door and went in, and there were three bowls of really icky gruel.  So
he gulped down the first, but it was too hot......

Forrest and Imbri quietly departed as the story enraptured the ogre. It
seemed that forbidden adventures were almost as compelling as forbidden
sights.  The story wouldn't last long, so they had to get to the center
and see what there was to be seen and get back.

As it happened, there wasn't much.  The vegetation was much thicker,
because it had had a chance to grow up during the year's absence by the
ogre, but since other ogres occasionally passed this way, large patches
of damage remained.  Forrest could appreciate how Orgy Ogre liked the
perpetually bashable walls of the castle, because it was obvious that
natural terrain simply could not stand up long to an ogre's presence.
The undergrowth gradually thinned as they progressed east, because in
that direction it had had less time to recover.

Then Forrest saw a hulking figure ahead.  "That looks like an ogre, sort
of," he said.

"Sort of," Imbri agreed.  "But it's insubstantial."

"Who ever heard of an insubstantial ogre!"

But lo, it was true.  The figure was bashing a small mountain into a
molehill, and they could see through its outline as well as the
mountain's outline.  What could this be?

"It's Ogle," Imbri said, surprised.  "See those bulging eyeballs."

She was right.  The faint image was their ogre.  "And that must be a
mountain on Xanth, because it's flat here," Forrest said, walking
through both ogre and mountain.

They paused to study the figure.  Soon the ogre stopped bashing and
stepped up on the top of the large molehill he had made.  He turned
around, looking in all directions.  Then his eyes bulged and his jaw
went slack.  He remained frozen in place.

"He's ogling something," Imbri said.

"I wonder what it is?" Forrest walked around the figure.  He discovered
that at the right angle, he could see a reflection in one of the
eyeballs.  It seemed to be a white square, inside of which was pink
material, bulging in two places.

Then Forrest freaked out.  He found himself lying on the ground with
small planets spinning above his head.  Imbri was kneeling beside him,
trying to help.  "Forrest!  What happened?"

He tried to speak, but his mouth had not yet recovered from the
freakout.  Imbri sat on the ground, picked up his head, and cushioned it
in her lap.  She stroked his forehead, her soft hand passing pleasantly
across his horns.  "It's all right," she said.  "Just relax.  You don't
seem to be physically hurt."

He finally got his tongue unfreaked.  "How could I be, in soul form?" he
asked.

"Forrest!" she exclaimed.  "You're recovering!" She leaned down and
kissed him.  It was a surprisingly nice kiss, and the way her soft yet
resilient blouse nudged his face enhanced the effect.

"I am getting good care," he said.  "I can't remember when I've been so
comfortable."

She hugged him, in her fashion, and that bordered on delightful. "I was
concerned.  You were looking at the ghost ogre, and then you abruptly
collapsed.  What did you see?"

Then he remembered.  "I saw the reflection of what he saw.  What he was
ogling in Xanth.  It was-"

I 'Yes?"

"A panty.  In a window."

Imbri dumped Is head on the ground.  "You're not supposed to look!  "

"I'm sorry," he said, as he waited for another tiny planet to clear
away.  "I didn't know what it was, until I saw it.  And it was just a
reflection, not the real thing."

"Well," she said, faintly mollified.  "Just don't do it again."

He sat up, then made his way back to his feet.  The ogre was still
standing like a statue.  "I guess now we know why he was bashing down
that mountain.  It was to make a platform so he could see something
better, inside that house.  When he saw in the window-"

"He saw a woman changing her clothing," Imbri finished, disapprovingly.

Suddenly the ghost ogre fell off his platform.  He lay on his back, and
ghost planets spun over his head, just as they had with Forrest. The
woman must have moved away from the window, breaking the freakout view.

"We have more than enough to report, I think," Forrest said. "Let's go
back, before Cathryn runs out of story."

"Yes," she said tightly.  She was becoming more like a woman and less
like a mare in attitude as well as appearance.  Forrest wasn't sure that
was a complete improvement.

They left the ghost ogre to recover on his own, and hurried back west.
They emerged just as the centaur foal was finishing:

"And so the ogre bashed his way out of that house, and never went there
again.  And he never ate icky gruel again, either."

"Yeah, yeah!" Ogle agreed.

"We have returned," Forrest said.

Both centaur and o re looked at ttiem.  "You look as if you are
recovering from a freakout," Cathryn said to Forrest.

"And you look as if you are recovering from awful outrage," Ogle said to
Imbri.

"Right on both counts," Forrest said grimly.  "We saw the image of your
Xanthine self."

"Bashing a mountain into a molehill," Imbri continued.

"Until he could look in a window and see a panty," Forrest concluded.

Ogle was amazed.  "I ogled a panty?"

"That is correct," Imbri said primly.  "It was outrageous.  You should
be horribly ashamed."

Ogle tried to wipe the amazement, awe, and delight off his puss.
"Horribly," he agreed.  "No wonder I feel so high near that border."

He glanced at Forrest with a women-don't-understand expression. Forrest
could only nod slightly hoping the females wouldn't catch it.

"So now you can tell us where Old Ogress is," Cathryn said.  As a foal
she did not seem as upset about the report as she might have been, but
it plainly set her back somewhat.

"Right this way," Ogle agreed, and began tramping northwest.

They followed, with Cathryn rapidly aging, and with each step her
expression became firmer.  She was achieving adult female human
perspective on the report, unfortunately, even though centaurs normally
didn't care about human hang-ups.  Forrest knew there would be no point
in discussing the matter.  The ogre was right: women just didn't
understand some things.  Maybe that was to prevent them from getting
freaked out by their own apparel.

They passed the general vicinity of the knoll where they had met Ogle
and went on.  They entered a region of tumbled timber trees, and there
in a crudely fashioned pig sty was an ogress.  She was covered with
stinking mud.

"Hey, what are you doing, Old?" Orgy asked.

"I'm trying to make myself ugly," she responded dolefully.  "Usng bad
smelling mud packs."

"Maybe you don't need to be ugly.  These folk have a deal for you." Then
Ogle, having fulfilled his part of the exchange, tramped away, looking
at everything except the not-ugly-enough ogress.

She noticed Forrest, Imbri, and Cathryn for the first time.  "Faun,
mares-who cares?" she inquired.

Forrest leaned over the rail ot." her sty.  "How would you like to live
in a castle with all the food you want, and an ogre who heeds your every
word and doesn't care how you look?"

"Me think me-oh, phooey on the rhymes!  I'd love it.  What deeply
disgusting thing do I have to do to get it?"

"Just make sure your every word is praise for the ogre's accomplishment
in knocking down the walls so well."

"But that comes naturally!  Normally I have to stifle it, lest I be
unogressly nice."

"Come with us, and we'll take you to castle and ogre."

She lurched out of the sty, shedding squishes of manure.  "Let's go!  "

"You don't even need to wear the mud," Forrest said.

"Excellent." She tramped to a nearby well, hauled out a huge bucket, and
doused herself with cold water.  In a moment she was wet but clean.

They set off for the castle.  "Out of curiosity," Imbri said, "why is it
that Ogle stares at attractive human women, and their clothing, but
wants an uglier ogress?"

"I have wondered that myself," 016 said.  "I think there is something
wrong with his vision, so that he thinks human women are somehow uglier
than ogresses.  It's a sad case."

"Very sad," Imbri agreed, satisfied.

They reached the castle and stood at the closed door.  Old glared at the
bell-weather, and it immediately sounded the alarm.  In a moment the
door opened and Orgy stood there.

"Are you the ogre who so successfully bashes down walls?" the ogress
asked.

'Yes." Orgy looked pleased, for an ogre.

"Show me how you perform this great art.  I can never see enough of
superior wall bashing."

Soon it was apparent that they would get along.  Orgy was bashing down
walls at twice his prior pace, and Old was waxing ever more delighted in
his accomplishmedt as she feasted at the well stocked table.  The
visitors had fulfilled their service.

Orgy paused in his bashing and pointed out through the hole in the wall
he had just made.  "Fifty three of your paces straight out that way," he
said.  "Good fortune on your quest."

"Thank you," Forrest replied, and the three of them stepped through the
wall and started counting paces.  It required three paces to get beyond
the castle.  Sure enough, just fifty of Forrest's paces out from the
wall lay a glowing horn.

Forrest picked it up and gave it to Cathryn.  "Now you can show us where
the faun territory is," he said.

She considered.  "No, I think not.  This is merely the means to the end;
the exchange will not be satisfied until the end is achieved."

Forrest sighed inwardly.  She was right.  They would have to complete
that aspect before moving on.  Still, this was progress.

hey returned toward Cathryn's adult range, as she was not comfortable as
a juvenile.  They came to the comic strip.  There was nothing to do but
plunge on in, hoping to make it through without suffering permanent
damage to their dignities.

There was a wall.  On it were the words PUNNSYLVANIA PUNITENTIARY:
ABANDON SANITY, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE.

"We have no choice," Cathryn said grimly as she scrambled over.

"How I hate the comic section!"

Forrest and Imbri followed her.  He was used to puns in Xanth, but here
on Ptero they seemed to be festering out of control.  But he knew the
strip wasn't deep; they would soon be out of it.

They almost crashed into a billbored.  It seemed to have been fashioned
from unpaid bills that had gotten bored with their inaction, so had
clumped together to form a sign saying BORING.  "Don't touch that!"
Cathryn warned.  "You will have to pay any bill you get."

But she was too late.  Forrest had already touched a corner, and a bill
had stuck to his hand.  It formed into a face.  "Pay me!" it cried.

"Why should I?  I don't even know you."

"Because otherwise I'll turn you over to a collection agency." And it
indicated a horrendous hooded ogre shape labeled YOUR MONEY OR YOUR
LIFE.  It held a huge bone in its paws, which it snapped in half.

Imbri burst out laughing.  "It's not funny," Forrest said.  "I'm about
to get my bones broken."

'I'm not laughing at you," she chortled.  "I'm stuck in this arti cle.

He looked.  She was indeed caught in a bush whose twigs resembled little
R's.  They were tickling her unmercifully.  It was an R-tickle plant.

"How did that happen?" he asked her.

"I followed that head line." She gestured back, where there was a line
of heads on the ground.

He took a step toward her, but stumbled into a plant that looked like a
tangle of spaghetti.  "Use your noodle!" it exclaimed angrily.

So he did.  He reached across and plucked a handful of R's from Imbri's
bush.  "Here is your pay," he told the bill, rubbing the R's against it.

"Oh, ho ho, hee hee!" it squealed.  "That's not-ha ha!-what I meant."

"Then blame it on the Retickle bush, there; that's where I got this
ticklish business."

"Collector-hoo hoo!-take care of it," the bill cried as it slid off his
hand.

The hooded ogre tramped to the bush and began pounding it with two
hamfists.  R's flew all over.  Soon the ogre was laughing as it
flattened the bush.  Imbri escaped, but didn't manage to stop laughing.

"I'm not getting-hee hee-tickled any more," she explained.  "It's that
it serves it so right."

They lurched away from the bushes.  Cathryn was trying to work her way
past a counter made of packed beans.  "I can't get by this bean
counter," she complained.

A head formed from the counter.  "Of course you can't," it said.

"Nothing gets by me."

But Forrest saw something else.  It looked like a huge man, bigger than
an ogre, but it was standing quite still.  His feet seemed to become
roots, and his hands sprouted coin sized mints.  "What is that?"

The centaur glanced at it.  "A Man-Age-Mint, I think," she said.

Then she brightened.  She plucked a mint from the tree and stuffed it
into the mouth of the bean counter's head.  "Take that," she said with
satisfaction.

The bean counter beGan to fade.  His beans became shriveled.  A vile
odor of indigestion issued from him.  "Help, I'm genuinely aging!" he
cried.

"That's because you ate the mint," Cathryn informed him.  "Now you will
age rapidly into stinking extinction, unless you do whatever the
Man-Age-Mint plant demands."

"What does it demand?" the bean counter asked.

"Count its mints," she said.

" But I'm a bean counter.  I don't count mints."

"Too bad.  I hope you fade out before your odor of spoiled beans
permeates the entire neighborhood."

"I suppose I could count some mints," he said dolefully.  "One, two,
buckle my shoe; three, four.  .  ."

Then, while the counter was distracted, they squeezed by it and out to
decent terrain.  They had gotten back through the comic strip without
quite going crazy.

"Some day I'm going to gather a posse and stamp out every pun in
existence," Cathryn muttered.

They went to the section where they had first met the centaur.  It was
interesting to see her age as she walked, progressing from foal to
gangly juvenile to early filly and finally to fully flushed young
female.  Her mass changed, but didn't seem to affect her directly; she
evidently didn't have to eat to add weight, any more than she had had to
eliminate to lose it.  He knew that he and Imbri were aging the same
amount in years, but it didn't make as much difference to them.

Then Cathryn stopped.  "Are we ready for the next adventure?"

she inquired.  When there was no objection, she lifted the dear horn and
blew on it.

There was no sound.  Yet the centaur stood as if enraptured.
"Marvelous!" she breathed.

"But it didn't work," Forrest protested.

She didn't even waste a glance on him.  "You forget that only the one
who blows it can hear it.  The echo is from that direction." She pointed
due east.

They set off east.  That was a relief, because it was open range and
ordinary trees as far as the eye could see; no pun strip to struggle
through.

But Cathryn was getting young again.  That was mischief of another
nature.  Suppose her True Love were beyond her range?  That would make
him truly inaccessible.

And that was what happened.  The centaur grew smaller than either of
them, and had to pause.  "This is near the limit of my range," she said.
"I can go farther, but I won't be able to talk, because I didn't learn
until I was two.  You will have to go on without me."

"But we can't hear the echo," Forrest protested.

"You won't have to.  Just continue in a straight line, and you will
encounter him.  He hasn't moved in some time, so he may be sleeping.
Bring him here, and your service will be complete.  I'll wait."

Forrest exchanged a look with Imbri, but since it was the same look,
neither gained anything from it.  So they walked forward, following the
direction.

" Suppose the limit of his range is beyond hers?" Forrest asked Imbri
when they were beyond the hearing of the centaur.  "So that they can
never meet?"

"I don't think the dear horn works that way," she said.  "The ideal
'True Love has to be one you can be with.  I hope."

He hoped that was true.  But things were so odd here on Ptero that he
lacked confidence.

They saw an odd region to the south.  It was somewhat foggy, but they
could see a number of figures standing there, like statues.  "Do you
suppose her True Love could be there?" Imbri asked.

"It's not the right direction.  But we could ask." He used a hoof to
mark a line pointing the right direction, so they could resume travel
without going astray, then walked south.  They entered the fog somewhat
warily, but it seemed to be harmless.

Forrest approached a glowing young woman.  "May we talk to you?" he
asked her.

"Sure," she replied.  "That's what we're here for."

"All the people are here to be talked to?" Imbri asked.

"Yes.  This is a section of limbo.  We are the characters who aren't
even might-he's.  I'm Astride"

"But what kind of existence do you have, then?"

"A very feeble kind," the woman said sadly.  "We all long to achieve
regular might-be status, but we can't until someone takes an interest in
us and recognizes our talents."

Imbri exchanged half a look with Forrest.  Characters who weren't even
might-he's?

"If we talk to you and identify your talent, will you become a
might-be?" Forrest asked.

"Yes!  Please do that.  I would do anything to become might-bereal.  Do
you need a girlfriend?  I'm rather metallic, but I can be very soft when
I want to be, in the manner of my mother's side of the family."

"I don't need a girlfriend.  I'm a faun.  I just chase nymphs.  No
relationships last longer than a day, and most are merely minutes.  But
I'll be glad to help you.  How do I recognize your talent?"

"You just talk with me and ask me questions until you are able to figure
it out.  I can't tell you, because I don't know it, but I can tell you
anything else about me."

"How can you know about yourself, if you aren't yet real, or even
theoretical?"

"Well, I haven't done anything, of course, because limbo is the place of
nothing doing.  But every person has an origin, so I have a family
history.  I can't tell you that on my own, but will do so if you ask."

That seemed straightforward, or at least not too far angled.  "Who is
your father?"

"Esk Ogre.  His father is Smash Ogre, and his mother is Tandy Nymph."

"Oh, you have some nymphly ancestry," Forrest said, becoming more
interested.

"Yes.  About a quarter.  So I'm sure I could run and scream in the
nymphly way, and do what nymphs do, if you are interested."

Forrest was interested.  "Can you kick your feet cutely, and fling your
hair about?" For these were specialties of nymphs, and such actions
really delighted fauns.

"I'm sure I can.  How's this?" She flung her hair so violently that her
feet left the ground, and she kicked her bare legs in a fetching manner.

"Well, perhaps-" But then he saw Imbri frowning, and realized that he
was drifting from business.  He was just trying to find out about this
region, in case it held a clue to the whereabouts of Cathryn's True
Love.  "Who is your mother?"

"Bria Brassie.  That's where I inherit my metallic nature from. She's
made wholly of brass, but I'm only half brass.  So I can become halfway
hard, but that's not my talent.  I'm also fairly strong, from my ogre
heritage, and not too bright."

Something connected.  A bulb flashed over Forrest's head, exactly as in
Xanth proper.  "I think you're mistaken, Astrid.  You are bright. Your
talent must be shining."

"Oh!" she cried, suddenly glowing more brightly.  "Yes that's it!

I know it now.  Oh, thank you, faun." She grabbed him and kissed him,
and she was right: she was surprisingly soft beneath her coppery sheen.
"I'm halfway real now!"

"You're welcome," Forrest said.

"Oh, I think I'll kiss you again, and maybe even-"

"There is no need," Imbri said quickly.

Actually Forrest wouldn't have minded, as he hadn't celebrated with a
nymph since his arrival oil Ptero.  But of course Imbri was right: they
had to get on with their business.

So Astrid ran off to find her proper territory.  Forrest and Imbri
returned to the line he had drawn in the dirt, to resume their quest, as
there didn't seem to be much help in limbo.  How could the folk there
know about Cathryn's True Love, when they had no experience as
might-he's?

Before long they came to a small forest of normal pines.  It would have
been better to avoid them, but then they would have lost their
direction, so they went straight.  Tears ran down their cheeks as they
brushed by the trunks of the sad trees.  Then they entered a gladeand
there was a juvenile centaur.

"Young," Imbri whispered.  "Maybe eight years old.  So he can go forward
and overlap Cathryn's range.  Eight years isn't too much of an age
difference."

"Yes.  The dear horn knew what it was doing." But then he had a bad
thought.  "If this is the one."

"It has to be.  We wouldn't have encountered him otherwise. There's
always reason for folk to meet, in Ptero."

That did seem to be the case.  So they approached the centaur.  He was
standing within a circle of fourteen crosses set upright on the ground.

He looked out at them.  "Hey, want to play crosses?" he asked.

"Actually, we have come on a more serious matter," Forrest said. "We
would prefer to talk."

"Well, I want to play crosses."

Forrest saw that this was in the nature of an exchange of services.
"Suppose we talk while we play crosses?"

"Well, okay, I guess." He sounded just like a human boy of that age,
which was surprising, because centaurs were generally far more
intelligent and adult than humans.  How could this be the ideal love for
Cathryn, who was a true centaur in attitude?

"Very good," Forrest said, though he was afraid it wasn't.  "I am
FotTest Faun, and my companion is Mare Imbrium."

" so?  "

"So what's your name?"

' 'Oh.  Contrary."

That figured.  "Well, Contrary Centaur, let's play the game and talk.

You will have to explain the rules to me."

So they played the game while Imbri quietly watched.  "It's like this,"
Contrary said.  "We take turns standing inside the circle of crosses.
The one outside takes a cross and throws it at the one inside, and he
can't dodge or anything."

Forrest was not especially pleased with this.  The crosses were small,
but what if one hit an eye?  It could hurt.  "And what then?"

"That's it.  Ends when we run out of crosses."

Forrest remained uneasy, but there was nothing for it but to play the
game so he could talk.  He hoped that he could ascertain whether this
was the correct centaur, and he hoped the answer was no.  "Who starts in
the circle?"

"You do.  You're the challenger."

Forrest stepped into the center and stood still.  Contrary walked around
outside, eyeing Forrest from every angle.  Then he pulled a cross out of
the ground and threw it at Forrest's face.

If the centaur expected his target to flinch, maybe forfeiting the game,
he was disappointed.  The cross struck Forrest between the eyes. It
didn't hurt; in fact it disappeared.  But his eyes felt funny.

He looked around.  He saw two images of the surroundings, and a lot of
fuzziness.  What had happened?

Two young centaurs trotted up.  "Okay, your turn."

Forrest knew there was only one centaur.  Why did he see two?  He made
his way out of the circle as much by feel as by sight.  He saw two
Imbri's sitting just far enough from the pine trees so she wouldn't cry.
"What-?"

"You're cross-eyed," she murmured.

Then he caught on.  The cross had made him cross-eyed!  So he couldn't
properly focus on things.

He turned to face the centaurs.  He closed one eye, and one image
disappeared.  It would be harder to aim, but he could do it; tree fauns
were good with wood.  So now he could throw a cross at Contrary and make
him cross-eyed too.  Or were there other choices?

He decided to experiment.  He pulled up a cross, aimed very carefully,
and threw.  Contrary did not flinch, and the cross struck him on the
back of the head.

Nothing visible happened.  Then the centaur spoke, frowning.

"What you do that for?" he demanded crossly.

It had worked: now Contrary was really cross.  "I want to know something
about you," Forrest said, as he came in to exchange places. "Do you ever
go west?"

"What's it to you, goat hoof?" the centaur demanded angrily.

"I am merely curious.  You must know that you will age as you go,
achieving maturity.  Why do you remain here in your youth?"

" 'Cause I don't want to grow up!" Contrary snapped.  Then he hurled a
cross at Forrest's legs.  It struck one knee, and suddenly he was
crossing his knees, though he was standing.  It was awkward, but in a
moment he found he was still able to move about, if he did so carefully.

He wobbled his way to the outside, while Contrary stomped crossly
inside.  He was catching on to the game, but he still didn't have all
the information he wanted.  "Why don't you want to grow up?" he asked.

" 'Cause there's a stupid filly out there I don't want to meet.  Now
throw your stupid cross."

That sounded like Cathryn.  Forrest threw his cross at the centaur's
arms.  It struck and disappeared, and Contrary uttered an illegible
syllable and crossed his arms.  With luck, he wouldn't be able to throw
well.

"Why don't you want to meet her?" Forrest asked as they exchanged places
again.

" 'Cause I played a game of crosses for stakes with someone from the far
west, and he had seen my future, and he told me that this stupid filly
would completely change my attitude on everything, and get me to liking
mushy stuff, and make me a responsible adult.  Yuck!

So I'm staying right here, sensibly young.  What's it to you?" And he
kicked his cross with a foreleg, sending it hurtling into Forrest's
torso.

Forrest twisted around so that his head faced the opposite way from his
hoofs.  His body was crossed.  This made it even more awkward to stand.
But he was still able to walk, moving his knee-crossed legs backward. He
was coming to the conclusion that he didn't really like this game.

At least now he knew the problem.  The 'llvenile centaur didn't want to
grow up.  So he was able, in the unique environment of Ptero, to avoi 'd
adulthood.  Because time was geography, and the creatures had freedom of
geography.  As an adult, in love with a responsible centaur filly, he
would become a responsible citizen.  Children of any species lacked the
experience to appreciate the qualities and satisfactions of maturity. So
how could he persuade the errant juvenile to approach his later life?

Meanwhile he was reaching the outside, and Contrary was inside. Where
should he throw his next cross?  Would the centaur quit playing if
struck on the ear?  Would that prevent him from hearing?  Forrest wasn't
sure, but decided to try it.  He just wanted to finish this game, so he
could recover his faculties and consult with Imbri.  Maybe she would
have a notion how to get Contrary into his adult territory.

He oriented carefully, and threw his next cross at the centaur's ear. He
scored.  But nothing seemed to happen.  "How are you doing?" he asked.

Contrary looked the opposite way.  "Where are you?"

So that was the effect: the centaur was cross-eared, and heard things
crossed, so that sounds seemed to come from the opposite direction.
"Look away from my voice," he said.

Contrary turned around.  "Oh, yeah," he said crossly.  "Crossed hearing.
I should have remembered.  Well, get ready, because I'll really get you
with the next one."

Forrest didn't like the sound of that, but had to go back into the
circle.  They had used up only six of the crosses; this game had a long
way to go, unfortunately.

Contrary hurled his cross.  It struck Forrest on the chest, right over
the heart.  The feeling was strange, but not bad; it wasn't making his
heart malfunction.  So what was the point?

"I crossed your heart," the centaur said with satisfaction.  "Now you
have to tell the truth."

'l always tell the truth," Forrest said, annoyed.

"Not this way.  Tell me your most embarrassing experience."

"I don't have to do that!"

"Yes you do.  Now talk."

And he found that he did have to do it; his crossed heart compelled him.
The thing he hated most to confess.  This game had abruptly gotten
worse.

"I was in my tree when a flock of harpies passed," he said.  "They were
noxious creatures with the heads and breasts of women and the bodies of
birds, and foul of aspect and language.  They liked to soil the leaves
and branches of my tree with their droppings, and snatch away sandals,
for which they had no use; they just dropped them in the nearest bog. So
I did my best to drive them off, throwing sticks and stones at them.  I
didn't try to curse them, because no one has a mouth as fowl as a harpy.
They love to indulge in swearing contests, and can make an ogre blush
with a bad series of expletives.  They were just out for mischief, and I
just wanted to be rid of them.

"Then I heard a maidenly scream.  The dirty birds had gotten hold of a
nymph, and were dragging her away.  I leaped from my tree and ran to her
rescue, beating off the clustered harpies.  They cursed me so
villainously that the nearby foliage wilted and my poor ears turned
bright red.  But I rescued her, and the harpies flew away, screeching
imprecations.  'You'll be sorry!" the last one cried as she flapped
skyward.

eanwhile the nymph was excruciatingly grateful.  'My hero!' she cried,
throwing her fair arms about me and kissing me ardently. Naturally I
returned the favors, and proceeded to that celebration for which fauns
and nymphs are justly known.  She was unusually eager to complete the
celebration, and I assumed it was because of her joy at her deliverance
from the horrors of capture by the harpies.  So it was an even more
delightful experience than usual.  She kissed me repe atedly, seeming
unable to get enough, even after the culmination. But at last she
relaxed, and I made ready to return to my tree.

"But then I saw that the harpies had returned and utterly befouled it.
Their stinking manure drenched every branch, and the leaves were
wilting, and the sandals were rotting.  My brief distraction had allowed
them free access, and they had taken full advantage of it.  I looked
back at the nymph, and saw that she was changing form.  She was not a
true nymph; she had been changed by a spell of illusion, and now was
revealing her real nature.  She was a harpy herself, one of the filthy
flock.  'Hee, heee, heeee!" she screeched as she spread her dirty wings,
which had only seemed like arms, and flapped away.

"I was sick.  Not only had I failed to protect my tree from befowlment,
I had celebrated with a noxious harpy hen.  They had tricked me doubly,
and made me as squalid as my tree.  Of course I went to work cleaning
the tree with buckets of water I hauled from a nearby spring; the job
took days, and it was weeks before the smell faded.  But I couldn't
similarly clean myself.  And thereafter that harpy hen would flap by and
chortle at me, reminding me of my folly.  It took me half a century to
live down that humiliation, and I hoped no one would ever again hear of
it."

Forrest stopped talking.  He had done what he had to do, telling his
deepest shame.  Because of the compulsion of the cross, which would not
be denied.

"It wasn't your fault," Imbri said.  "They tricked you."

"I'll tell everyone!" Contrary exclaimed.  "What a great story!"

There was definitely something about this juvenile centaur that Forrest
didn't like.  So this time he threw his cross at Contrary's mouth.

It worked.  The centaur brat got so tongue twisted that he couldn't
speak at all intelligibly.  "I think I'm ready to quit this game,"
Forrest said, getting a reasonably smart notion.  "Don't you agree,
Contrary?"

"Fftbbabble#ughh."

"That's what I thought.  Then we are agreed: this game is done."

At that point his body untwisted, and the missing crosses returned to
their places in the circle.

"That's not what I said!" Contrary protested.

"Oh?  It sounded like it to me.  I suppose we'll have to play another
game, then."

"You bet!  And this time I'll play to win."

"But not crosses," Forrest said.  "I have a better game in mind."

"There is no better game than crosses!"

"Yes there is.  Let's have a contest to see who can free more folk in
limbo."

"But there aren't any penalties, so that's no fun.  They just run off to
their territories."

"We can make our own penalties.  If you lose, you must come with us west
untiL you reach age thirty."

"But I told you, I don't go into the green.  I stay here in the yellow."

"That's why it's a good penalty.  You really don't want to do it,
because you know that filly might catch you and make you disgustingly
adult and responsible."

"Yeah.  A horrible fate."

"And of course you might escape it, if you can run back east fast
enough.  You don't have to do anything there, just go and touch the spot
where you are thirty."

"Yeah.  Then I can close my eyes and gallop back into the From before
the fatal female shows up." Then he glanced cannily at Forrest.  "But
what's your penalty, if you lose?"

Forrest gulped.  "A day of playing crosses with you."

"A year!"

"A week."

"A month."

Forrest yielded to horrible necessity.  "A month."

"Done!  Let's go play." Then he paused again.  "But how will we know who
wins?"

"We'll take turns questioning limbo folk.  Whoever guesses more talents,
so as to free more folk, wins."

"But what if we miss?"

"If one of us misses, he loses a point.  Then the other can question
that same person, and if he succeeds, he wins a point.  A two point
advantage wins the contest."

Contrary remained canny, seeking the catch.  "How much time to question
each?  I mean, someone might not be able to guess, so he would just keep
asking questions indefinitely."

"Good point.  We need a timer."

There's some baby hourglasses growing nearby.  We can harvest one that
goes for five minutes."

"Agreed.  When its sand runs out, time is done."

"Let's go.  I'll really enjoy tromping you at Crosses for a month
straight."

"I hope you know what you're doing," Imbri murmured as they went to
harvest a minute glass.  "If you get stuck for a month, you'll be too
late returning to your tree."

"I know.  But we have to get him into her range.  I'll just have to make
sure to win the contest."

They reached the hourglasses, which were actually the fruits of a large
thyme plant.  They were in all sizes, from two seconds to several days.
Contrary plucked one of the smallest.  "This should do for three
minutes."

"How do you know?"

"See, it's got the number on it." He held up the little timer, and sure
enough, there was a 3 on it.

Then they went to the section of limbo, which wasn't far away. "Who goes
first?" Forrest asked.

The centaur considered, trying to figure out where the advantage was.
The one who went first might win and be ahead-or might lose and be
behind.  The confidence of youth won.  "I'll go first."

"As you wish."

They entered the fog.  "How do we decide which one to start with?"
Contrary asked.

"Each of you choose the subjects for the other," Imbri suggested.

Both centaur and faun were startled by the notion.  Then both agreed. It
made a certain sense.

So Forrest got to choose for Contrary.  He saw a number of statues; it
seemed that they weren't allowed to speak until spoken to.  Maybe that
was what gave them their first suggestion of potential reality. One was
a halfway handsome young man of almost princely mien. Forrest shrugged
and indicated that one.

Contrary approached the figure.  "Hi, you.  What's your name?" As he
spoke, Imbri set down the minute glass, and its sand began sifting to
the lower section.

The figure came to life.  "I am Crescendo."

"Whose son are you?"

"I am the son of Prince Dolph and Princess Electra."

That startled Forrest, because he knew only of the twins, Dawn & Eve.
But he realized that a given set of parents could have additional
children-and in any event, the folk here were merely might-he's, who
might never actually be delivered to Xanth parents.  There could be
hundreds of such children; there might be no limit.

"What's your talent?" Contrary asked.

It was a clever try, but it didn't work.  "I regret I don't know it.  If
I did, I wouldn't be here."

"Is there anything about your ancestry that would suggest your talent?"

" Yes.  All the descendants of Bink, my great grandfather, have Magician
caliber talents.  So I must be a Magician."

"But that's just a matter of opinion, isn't it?  There's no way to be
sure how a given talent will be judged."

"True.  But mine should be a good one."

Forrest, watching, began to get a notion.  That name, Crescendo, sounded
like growing force, or something musical.  When he played his panpipes,
he sometimes crescendoed.  Could this person's talent be associated with
music?

"Your name sounds like a word," Contrary remarked.  "To what does it
apply?"

"As a word?  I wouldn't know."

"Why wouldn't you know?"

"I don't know."

"Is it because it relates to your talent?"

"I can't say."

"If it doesn't relate to your talent, you ought to know.  So it must
relate to powerful music."

"Why, I suppose so," the figure said, surprised.  Forrest saw that
Crescendo had not been able to think of that himself, but could see it
now that it had been suggested by an outside party.

"Can you play music?"

"I don't know."

Contrary looked at Forrest.  "May I borrow your panpipes?"

Forrest hesitated, but realized that it would not be fair to interfere.
He dug out his panpipes and handed them over.  As he did so, a piece of
paper fluttered away in the breeze; it must have been stuck to the
panpipes.  Contrary in turn handed the pipes to Crescendo.  "Play this."

The pipes began to play beautiful panpipe music.  But Crescendo wasn't
playing them; he was just holding them.  They were playing themselves.

Contrary took the pipes back and returned them to Forrest.  Then he
picked up a stone.  "Play this."

Crescendo took the stone, and it immediately played rock music. Contrary
gave him a cup of water, and it made water music.  He gave him a handful
of air, and it made air music.  Crescendo's talent was coming c lear.
"You have the talent of touching anything and making it make music,"
Contrary said.  "That's must be close to Magician level, considering the
beauty and power of the music."

"Yes!" Crescendo exclaimed, and suddenly the very ground around him was
playing earth music.  "That's it!  Oh, thank you!  What can I do for you
in return for enabling me to become halfway real?"

The centaur considered, but Imbri intervened.  "He has done you a
service already, by giving you a point."

"Oh, yeah," Contrary agreed, remembering.  "Depart, Crescendo; you are
free."

The man needed no further urging.  He took off at a run for wherever his
territory was.  Forrest realized that the geography/time effect must be
suspended for the limbo folk, until they took their places where they
belonged.  Bit by bit, he was learningthe devious ways of the Idea
planet.

But now it was his turn.  Contrary walked among the statues, and stopped
by one that looked much like the last.  "This," he told Forrest.

Imbri turned the minute glass over, and the sand started sifting.
Forrest addressed the figure.  "Who are you, and what is your lineage?"
It was best to be efficient, so as to conserve time for more questions.

"I am Revy, son of Magician Grey and Sorceress Ivy."

Another Magician, then!  Powerful magic should be easier to guess, as it
was more comprehensive.  Still, this wasn't easy.  So he borrowed a
device the centaur had employed.  "Does your name suggest your talent?"

"I can't answer that."

He was getting warm.  What could "Revy" mean?  Revered?  That didn't
seem quite like a talent.  Revelry?  Again, it didn't seem apt. Reverse?
Aha!  "Could your talent be to reverse things?"

"It could."

That helped.  "Can you make hot things cold?"

"No." Interesting; a talent couldn't be confirmed, but it could be
denied if wrong.  No-it could be confirmed; the centaur had done so.  It
was just necessary to find the right thing to confirm.

"Can you reverse the flow of a river?"

'No."

Hm.  This was trickier than anticipated.  Revy could probably reverse
something, but not ordinary things.  How could it be a Magician caliber
talent, if it was so limited?  Unless "Can you reverse magic itself?"

"Yes!" Revy exclaimed with happy realization.  "My father can nullify
magic, so I can reverse it.  He prevents magic from happening; I can
send it in the opposite direction."

"Good for you," Forrest said, well satisfied.  "Go find your range."

"Thank you!" The man ran off.

"You're welcome," Forrest murmured.  He hoped he was getting the hang of
this.

But now he had to select another candidate for the centaur.  What might
be tough enough for Contrary to miss, but easy enough for Forrest to
get?  He wasn't sure.  So he looked for something different-and found a
demon child, The figure was male, with small horns, and looked about
five years old.  Of course apparent age didn't matter much, because of
the time/geography factor.  Still, this one might do. 'This."

Contrary approached the child.  "Who are you, and what is your
derivation?"

"I am Demos, and I am the son of Prince Demon Vore and Princess Nada
Naga, Xanth's most handsome couple.  Also the brother of DeMonica, who
had the undeserved fortune to make it to Xanth instead of me.

"So you are not a descendant of Bink," the centaur remarked.

"Of who?"

"Never mind.  Demons generally don't have magic talents, other than
their demonly qualities, and neither do the naga folk, because they can
already shift from full human to full serpent to their natural
combination form.  So you may not have an actual talent."

"Oh, but I do!  I'm sure of it.  I just don't know what it is."

"Curses," the centaur muttered.  "Then it could be anything."

"Yes.  I hope you can discover it."

The centaur considered, as the sand ran through the minute glass. "Could
it relate to the changeability of your parents?"

'Yes.

"Ha!  So you can change yourself.?"

"Oh, sure.  To human or naga or serpent form, or any other, because of
my half demon heritage."

"That doesn't count," Contrary muttered, disappointed.  "A magic talent
isn't quite that way.  Can you affect other things with your magic?"

"I wouldn't know."

The centaur pondered again.  Forrest saw the sand running low.
Unfortunately he couldn't figure this one out either.  "Can you take
magic away from things?"

'No.

"Then can you give magic to things?"

"Yes."

That meant he was suddenly very close.  The centaur oriented on it with
greater precision than he had shown thus far.  "Can you make a non-magic
object in some way magic?"

"Yes." I

"Like, for example, a candlestick: could you imbue it with the power to
burn without using up its wax?"

"Yes!  That's it!  I can do that."

Contrary looked surprised, then relieved.  Forrest realized that he had
been guessing more desperately than was apparent, and had been lucky.

But now it was Forrest's turn to guess.  The centaur walked among the
statues, and selected a boy with a fish's tail.  "This."

Then there was a sound overhead.  They all looked up.  "Oh no!"

Imbri exclaimed.  "The dragons are back."

"Dragons?" Contrary asked.  "Who stirred them up?"

"I think we did," Forrest said.  "When we were headed for ogre country."

"Well, get rid of them, then."

Forrest thought of something.  "Imbri, can you diffuse to dream form and
plant a thought in their minds?"

"Yes.  But what thought would distract them from us?"

"Maybe if you gave them something else to chase, like a wild goose.
Dragons like to eat geese."

"Because they don't like getting goosed," she agreed.  "So they try to
eat the geese first.  It's a personal thing.  I'll see what I can do."

She expanded, fading into mist as her density decreased.

The dragons had been drawing up their formation, about to go into
strafing mode.  Suddenly they hesitated.  Then they winged rapidly away.
Imbri had given them a dream of wild geese on the wing.

Soon Imbri reappeared, condensing into her small human form.

"That should hold them a while.  But we had better not dally, because I
won't be able to distract them that way again."

Forrest approached the figure Contrary had designated, as Imbri set the
minute glass again.  "Who are you, and what is your derivation?"

"I am Nigel, son of Prince Naldo Naga and Mela Merwoman."

"I don't know of your parents.  What are their qualities?"

"My father is a prince of the naga folk, who are a serpent/human
crossbreed whose natural form is a serpent with a human head.  My mother
is a human/fish crossbreed, like a mermaid only better developed in
front, and able to turn her tail into legs so she can walk on land.
There was some notoriety when she was advised to put on clothing, so she
went to a pantree and harvested a panty, and freaked out every male she
encountered."

"Oh, that one.  News of her did penetrate my corner of the forest. So
does your talent relate to either of your parents' natural abilities,
such as changing from human to serpent or fish form?"

"No."

"Is it a minor talent, of the spot on the wall variety?"

'No."

Forrest was getting the hang of this.  The folk of limbo knew what their
talents weren't, so it was the fast way to zero in on what they were.
"Is it a major talent, Magician class?"

'No."

"Then it must be a significant talent, neither major nor minor."

"I wouldn't know."

Uh-huh.  "Does it relate to yourself?"

"No."

"Does it relate to objects?"

'No."

"Does it relate to other people?"

"I wouldn't know."

Forrest paused.  "Does it relate to anything other than other people?"

"No.

He was definitely developing technique.  But he saw the sand running low
in the minute glass.  He needed to identify the talent readily. "Does it
affect other people?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Does it change their mood?"

'No.

"Does it change their appearance?"

Nigel hesitated.  "I'm not sure."

Now that was interesting.  A qualified response.  But the sand was
almost out, and he had to get it in the next couple of questions.  "Does
it change their nature?"

"Yes."

"Can it heal them?"

"No."

"Hurt them?"

"Maybe."

The last gasp of sand was going.  He had only one more chance. What
would change appearance without necessarily healing or hurting?  So he
took a halfway wild guess: "Can it change their age?"

"Yes!  I can rejuvenate others."

And there he had it, as the sand ran out.  It had been a close call.

"Hey, you cheated!" Contrary protested, looking at the minute glass.

"What are you talking about?"

"You got an extra minute."

Forrest looked at the glass.  It now had the number 4 on it.  Four
minutes.  How had that happened?

Imbri had the answer: "We moved west-toward the To.  So we got a little
older-and so did the minute glass.  So it's bigger."

The centaur nodded.  "Yeah, I guess so.  Maybe I got an extra minute
too.  Okay."

Forrest looked for another subject.  He needed to find one that would
stymie the centaur, because otherwise he would be stymied himself all
too soon.  He found a reasonably pretty young woman.  It was a foolish
notion, but maybe a woman would be trouble for Contrary, who was trying
to avoid meeting a filly centaur.  "This."

Contrary approached the woman.  "What is your name and heritage?"

"I am Scintilla.  My father is Crony and my mother is Vendetta.

They don't get along too well, so I'm not sure they'll ever get around
to signaling the stork to deliver me."

"Too bad," the centaur said without sympathy.  "Does your talent relate
to your name?"

'No.

The centaur continued to question her, establishing that her talent
affected herself rather than others, but not in any obvious way. Indeed,
it was not obvious to Contrary, who finally ran out of time without
establishing her talent.

Unfortunately Forrest was no better.  "Does your talent help you or
others?"

"Not usually."

"Does it hurt anyone?"

"Sometimes."

"Does it annoy you or anyone else?"

"Sometimes."

"Does it do anything physical?"

"Not really."

"Mental?"

"Possibly."

"Emotional?"

"Perhaps."

These indefinite answers were balking Forrest just as they had balked
Contrary.  He was unable to center on any particular talent, and time
ran out for him too.

The worst of it was, they couldn't even admit defeat and ask for the
correct answer, just to satisfy their curiosity.  They were left to
their infuriating ignorance.

"Whose turn is it to pick the next?" Forrest asked.

"You picked the last; now it's my turn." He scouted around, looking for
a winner for him.  "This."

It was a rather hairy old man.  Forrest wondered about the variation in
age among the folk of limbo, as they were all merely potential beings;
shouldn't they be ageless?  But maybe they could be any age they chose,
until they reached their territories, when they could control their age
by moving around.

Forrest approached him as Imbri set down the timer.  "Who are YOU and
what is your parentage?"

"I am Hugh Mongus, son of Scab and Svelte."

"Does your talent affect others?"

"In a manner."

"Does it affect you?"

"That depends."

This promised to be another frustrating interview.  Forrest soon
established that the talent didn't affect anything physical, but might
affect something mental.  "How do others feel about it?"

"That depends."

"Depends on what?"

"On how they feel about it."

Forrest suppressed his annoyance, because he didn't have time for
emotion; his glass was sifting sand.  But no matter how he tried, he
could never pin Mongus down, and finally he ran out of time.

Contrary, aware that he could win the contest by getting this one, did
his best, but the subject was just as balky for him.  "Does your talent
affect inanimate things?"

"That depends."

"Depends on what?" the centaur asked, in much the tone Forrest had found
himself using.

"On your definition of inanimate."

"You don't know what the word means?"

"I know what it means."

"Then give me your definition."

"Anything that isn't living or moving."

"Very well.  Does your talent affect anything that isn't living or
moving?"

"That depends."

"Depends on what?!"

"On how you see it."

"I see it the way you do!  Does it affect anything that isn't living?"

Hugh considered.  "Yes, I think it does."

"Good!  Does it affect any living thing?"

"That depends."

"Confound it!  Can't you say anything else?"

"Not if you don't ask a more relevant question."

The centaur seemed about to swell up to adult size, but then his time
ran out.  This candidate, too, had defeated both of them.

Now it was Forrest's turn to choose, again.  He spied a gnome woman. Did
gnomes have talents?  "This."

Contrary approached her as Imbri set down the timer.  "What is your name
and ancestry?"

"I am Miss Gnomer, of respectable but anonymous gnome stock."

"Miss No More?"

I'No."

"Miss Gnome?"

I'No."

The centaur looked a bit nettled, understandably.  "Well, whatever your
name is, do you have a magic talent?"

'Yes."

"Does it affect you?"

'Yes."

"Does it affect others?"

I'Yes." I

"Does it affect things?"

I'No."

"Does it help anyone?"

'No.

"Does it hurt anyone?"

'No.

Contrary paused.  "It is indifferent to the welfare of anyone?"

I'Yes."

"Is it under your conscious control?"

"No."

"Is it apparent to others?"

"Sometimes."

"When?"

"I can't answer that."

"Is it like a spot on the wall?"

?  "No."

The centaur paused again.  His time was running out and he was getting
nowhere.  Forrest was stumped too.

"Does it please anyone?"

.  "No.

"Does it displease anyone?"

"No."

"Confound it, woman, it has to be one or the other!"

"Does it?"

Contrary scratched his head, trying to think of a definitive question.
"Time," Imbri announced, showing the exhausted minute glass.

"Dam!" the centaur swore.  He had lost another, giving Forrest another
chance to win.

Forrest tackled the subject as Imbri turned over the glass.  Since he
had no idea how to proceed, he tackled a minor irritation.  "Exactly
what is your name?"

"Miss Gnomer."

"Miss Nomare?"

"No."

"Can you spell it?"

"No."

Forrest began to get a glimmering.  "Does your talent relate to your
name?"

"Yes."

"Is it that it is unspellable?"

"No."

"So you can't spell it because that would reveal your talent?"

"Maybe."

"Miss Gnoma," he said, but realized that he had gotten it wrong again.
"Miss Gnome." Still not right.  Then a light bulb flashed.  "Is it that
no one gets your name right?"

"Yes!" she cried with realization.  "Misnomer."

"That must be very frustrating."

"No, I am used to it.  May I go now?"

"Yes, of course."

Then, as the woman departed, Forrest realized that he had gotten two
points ahead, and won.  All because he had tried to get the name
straight, and failed.  He looked at Contrary.  "You must go to your age
thirty."

"Dam," the centaur repeated glumly.  "I should have guessed that
talent."

"This was a tougher game than I anticipated," Forrest said.  "It was
just luck that I won."

"It's just luck when any ordinary creature beats a centaur."

"Well, let's head west."

But then the dragons reappeared.  There was something about their flight
formation that looked angry.  "We had better hurry," Imbri said. "I
can't fool them again."

So they ran west, trying to find cover under stray boulders or trees.
But the dragons weren't fooled.  They oriented, and prepared to dive
down on their victims.

Contrary unslung his bow.  "Run for cover; I'll hold them off."

.  "You can't stop a whole flight of dragons!" Forrest protested.

"True.  But I can delay them.  I am older and stronger now.  Go!"

Indeed, he was now about twelve; they had come several years To. He
seemed to have matured somewhat in attitude, too.

For-rest hesitated, not wanting to desert the centaur.  But what else
could he do?  Then he had half a notion.  Maybe there would be a hint on
the Good Magician's list of words.

He dug into his knapsack, but couldn't find it.  Oh, no-that must have
been the paper that had fluttered away when he took out his panpipe!

"What's the matter?" Imbri asked.  "Aside from the dragons?"

"I lost the Good Magician's list of words."

She looked stricken, but she tried to put a good face on it.  "We'll get
through without it."

He hoped so.  They were really on their own, now.

The centaur fired an arrow upward.  It would have been a remarkable
shot, for anyone but a centaur.  It struck the lead dragon on the snout,
pinning it closed.  The dragon huffed and puffed, but couldn't dislodge
the barb, and wee-wawed out of control.  The flight of dragons followed
their leader, making a crazy display as they all weewowed across the
sky, huffing and puffing.

Then another dragon caught on.  Flying dragons were not known for their
intelligence, because the heat of their fire tended to fry their
lightweight brains, but they had some experience with injuries.  The
other dragon took the end of the arrow between its teeth and hauled it
out.  That freed the leader, who cauterized its wounds with fire, then
resumed the chase.

Meanwhile the fugitives had run farther west, and had a lead.  But the
dragons quickly caught up again, and there was still no cover.  So
Forrest took his turn.  He brought out his panpipes and played a
military melody: reveille.

The dragons were militaristic creatures.  They heard the music and
immediately fell into formation for review.  Then Forrest played a
marching tune, and the dragons proceeded to march across the sky, their
wing-beats keeping perfect step.

Then the leader, who had been a bit distracted by the fresh holes in its
snout, realized what was happening.  It roared, drowning out the melody.
The dragons milled about, then oriented once again on the targets.

But the desperate fugitives had made further progress west-and caught up
to Cathryn Centaur, who had cut south to intercept them.

She was about five years old at this point, with cute pigtails and a toy
bow and quiver.  Her white wings, too small at this age to enable her to
fly, were folded, forming a kind of cloak over her body.

Contrary, now thirteen, glanced at her with disdain.  "Go away, twirp. I
have no interest in you."

She stared at him.  "You mean you're the one?  My supposed ideal mate? A
wingless, landbound creature?  What a laugh!"

"For sure, brat.  Now get out of the way before you get toasted and
gobbled by a dragon."

"Don't quarrel, you two!" Forrest cried.  "Can you help, Cath ryn?"

"I think so.  There's a forest just north of us; run to that for cover."

She turned to show the way, her little hoofs galloping swiftly.

"The dragons will follow the sound of our hoofs, and close in on us
anyway," Contrary sneered.  But he turned to follow her, and For rest
and Imbri ran along behind.

The dragons wheeled in air and looped around to cut them off.  But the
fugitives had just enough time, and reached the cover of the edge of the
forest just ahead of the first blast of fire.  They turned west to go
into the center of the wood.

Cathryn raised her hands as if throwing something.  "What's the matter,
twirp?" Contrary demanded.  "Giving up already?  Don't worry; in a mo-'

His voice cut off.  Forrest looked, afraid something had happened, but
the centaur was still running and still talking.  His mouth was moving,
but no sound was emerging.  What had happened?

Then a dreamlet voice came 4.n his head.  Cathryn threw a blanket of
silence, Imbri explained.  Now the dragons can't hear us.  They can't
track us by sound.

And with the cover of the trees, the dragons couldn't track them by
sight, either.  Now the four of them could make good their escape.
Cathryn's remarkable talent was really helping.

But there were harpies in this forest.  The dirty birds came flapping
down, intent on mischief.  There were so many of them that there was no
way to avoid them.

Cathryn, now a size larger at age six, raised her hands, drawing in her
blanket.  Suddenly the harpies became audible.  "We've got you, you
$#&!!'s," one was screeching.  "We'll poop your faces!"

"I'd rather face the dragons," Contrary muttered.

"So would I," Forrest agreed.  One of the harpies looked a lot like the
one who had tricked him, a century ago, though of course she couldn't be
the same one.

Cathryn made a motion as of throwing something toward the harpies.  It
was another blanket, but it was hard to see.  It spread out and
surrounded them with a fine sparkling net.  At that point their cursing
was silenced, but it hadn't ceased.  They were all screeching worse than
ever; it just wasn't getting out.

"I threw a blankety blanket," Cathryn explained.  "Now their cussing is
reflecting back on themselves and smirching their own feathers."

Indeed, provocative symbols were appearing, of lightning strikes,
corkscrews, exploding cherry bombs, asterisks, and stars.  They were
striking the harpies, who were screeching worse than ever as they felt
themselves tagged by their own expletives.  This only intensified the
problem.  Scorch marks were appearing on their tail feathers.

"You can do that to harpies?" Contrary asked, amazed.  "That's not bad.

"Gee, thanks," little Cathryn said, blushing.

That reminded Contrary of his objection to her.  He shut up, so as not
to let slip any other compliment.

The four ran on by, leaving the harpies to their fate.  But now the
dragons could hear them again, for the blanket of silence was gone.

Cathryn could throw only one blanket at a time.  Still, she had really
helped them to move along.

Imbri ran beside Cathryn.  "I'm sure he's much more mature when he's
adult.  He has already shown some beginning signs of centaur decency."

"But the wings.  He has no wings."

"Nevertheless, I think he is the one.  Maybe we can verify it with the
dear horn."

Cathryn nodded as they ran.  She lifted the horn and blew on it.

Forrest heard nothing, but the filly nodded again.  "It echoes from
him."

"It must know," Imbri said.

"I suppose." But the filly seemed anything but certain.

The dragons were reorienting on their sounds.  But now Cathryn had to
draw in her last blanket, because she couldn't maintain it at a
distance, and the harpies were escaping too.  They were horrendously
furious.  "Wait till we catch up with you!" their fowl-mouthed leader
cried.  "We'll tear you to quivering stinking bits!"

A dragon, swooping down to spy out the fugitives, heard.  It roared. It
thought she was screeching at the dragons!  Soon several more dragons
came swooping down, ready to avenge their honor.  Dragons and harpies
didn't get along too well together at the best of times, and the dragons
were in no mood to be insulted.  So they shot fire first and saved the
questions for later.  But the harpies were in no mood to brook
interference either, and this was their forest.

Forrest and the others ran on, not staying to watch the developing fray.
But they heard the roars and curses as it worked its way into something
the forest would probably remember for a long time.

They emerged from the forest.  They were at this point a fair distance
west, and Contrary was a stallion in his twenties, readily taking the
lead.  Cathryn followed, now coming into her teens.  Her wings had
grown, and she was using them to add to her forward velocity. Then came
Forrest and Imbri.  They had been running for some time, but Forrest
didn't feel really tired; apparently soul-bodies didn't fatigue the same
way physical ones did.  So while the centaurs had to hold back somewhat
to keep from leaving the two more human figures behind, it remained a
fast pace.

Contrary put on a spurt and came to a line marked 30, stepped across it,
and stopped.  He was now a fine mature figure of a centaur, muscular and
handsome.  "There is my mark," he said.  "I have crossed it.  Now I must
flee before I get trapped." He turned as the others were catching up.

Cathryn drew to a halt.  They knew this was the turning point in a
second way.  If the stallion passed her and escaped back to his
childhood, she would never see him again.  But how could she stop him?

Contrary took a step back.  Forrest saw that the centaur's eyes were
closed.  He was refusing to look at the filly.  So that was how he
proposed to avoid the dread confrontation!  If he never saw her in her
mature aspect, he couldn't be impressed by her.

"Look at me," Cathryn cried.  "You owe me that much, I think."

"No I don't," Contrary retorted.  "I made a deal to cross my thirtieth
year.  That was all." He took another step.

"What can I do?" the filly asked, defeat looming.

"Kiss him," Imbri said succinctly.

Cathryn smiled.  "I'll give him fair warning." Then she called to the
stallion: "If you don't open your eyes and look at me, I'll intercept
you and kiss you."

Contrary took another step.  Cathryn took two steps.  She could travel
faster with her eyes open than he could do safely with his eyes closed.
The stallion heard her hoofbeats, which she was taking pains to make
loud.  His fine centaur mind processed that information, and he realized
that he would have to compromise.  "Very well.  One look. Then I'm gone,
and you can't inter--ept me."

"Agreed.  But I will throw one blanket at you."

He laughed.  "A blanket of silence?  Do your worst, foal."

Forrest realized that the stallion had not gotten a good.  look at her
Since the forest, and retained a mental picture of her as six or seven.

That was an understandable but foolish error.

Contrary faced Cathryn and opened his eyes.  His jaw dropped slightly.
Forrest looked at the filly, to see what the stallion saw. She was now a
lovely full-breasted, long-maned, white-winged centaur filly with a deep
brown hide and flowing tail.  She was panting slightly with her recent
exertion.  If she had been a nymph, she would have been stunningly
attractive.  She was surely similar for a centaur'

Then she threw a blanket.  Again, Forrest didn't see it directly, but
the scintillation of the air indicated that there was something flying
toward the stallion.  It reached his head.

Contrary blinked.  His eyes lost focus.  "What's this?" he asked,
confused.

"A blanket stare," Cathryn said.

"A blank stare?  I don't understand."

"That is its effect.  Why are you fleeing me?"

He looked at her again.  "I'm drawing a blank on that.  Is there some
reason?"

"There may be.  Why don't you blow this horn?" She stepped forward,
offering it to him.

He looked puzzled.  "What horn is this?"

  It will show you by its sound where your True Love is."

He frowned.  "Is that a challenge?"

"Is it?"

He took the horn and blew it hard.  There was no sound-but then he
stared at Cathryn in a new way.  "You are the one," he said in wonder.
"You really are the one!  I will sacrifice anything for you."

But now it was Cathryn who wasn't sure.  "If only you could fly,"

she said regretfully.

"Who said I can't fly?" And suddenly from his body two massive black
wings unfolded.  What they had taken for his body color was actually the
hue of the flattened wings.  "I never had use for them before, for they
would only have taken me where I didn't want to go, but now I want to
fly with you, you fantastic creature, forsaking my prior childishness."

Now it was Cathryn's jaw that dropped.  "The dear horn did know," she
breathed.  "It really did!"

Contrary dropped the horn.  "Come fly with me, my sudden love. We have
more than geography to explore."

"Oh, yes!  But first I must guide my friends to the territory of the
fauns, or as close as I can get to it."

"We will do it together," he said graciously.  "And to hurry it up, we
had better give them a ride there."

"Yes," Cathryn agreed.  Little hearts were forming around her head; she
was falling in love.

Forrest picked up the dear horn and put it in his knapsack.  Then he
climbed onto Contrary, behind the huge wings, and Imbri mounted Cathryn.
"It's funny to ride an equine," she said.  "I'm equine myself."

"The faun region is To," Cathryn said.  "I don't know whether it's
within my range, but I'll do my best to give you good directions if it
isn't."

The two centaurs galloped west.  Then they spread their wings and leaped
into the air, surprising Forrest.  This was indeed faster; he saw the
ground passing rapidly behind.  But as they gained elevation, the ground
became smaller and passed behind more slowly, as if annoyed at being
neglected.  The mixed fields and forests gave way to mixed mountains and
valleys, and then to mixed ponds and islands.  The landscape seemed to
be just as varied here as it was on Xanth.

After a time the two centaurs glided back to land.  "We're getting a bit
old for this," Contrary explained.  Then Forrest saw that the creatures'
hide had become mottled with age.  He was now nearing the old end of his
life, and was slowing down.  Forrest looked across at Cathryn and saw
she had aged too.  They had come a long way in a short time.

Then the centaurs stopped.  "This appears to be my limit," Contrary
said.  "I don't want to become so feeble that I fall."

Forrest hastily dismounted, and so did Imbri.  They were in rolling
country, and ahead, oh dread, was a comic strip.

"The faun territory is farther away than I thought," Cathryn said with
regret.  "But I can tell you who can take you farther: the human
princess twins, Dawn & Eve.  Continue straight To until you come to
Castle Roogna, and seek them out."

"But we are already in Castle Roogna," Imbri said.  "Ptero is a moon
circling Princess Ida's head."

"Perhaps in that larger frame.  But it is here, too, and this is the one
you need.  We have set you due From it, so you can't miss it if you stay
on course.  And if you return this way, send a signal and we will come
to pick you up again."

"Thank you," Forrest said.  He realized that Cathryn really had been a
big help; they had learned a whole lot about Ptero in her company.

"Oh-one more thing," she said.  "You have been more than accommodating
in our exchange of services, and I have not been able to complete my
exchange service adequately, so I feel I should provide you with
something extra.  Here is one of my blankets that a passing Magician
obligingly canned for me." She held out a small tin can.

"But I thought you had to invoke your spells yourself, and that they
fade after a while."

"True.  But this canned spell is special, thanks to the preservative
properties of the can.  You may invoke it at any time simply by saying
"Invoke' while holding it before you.  It is a blanket of obscurity."

"scurity?" Imbri asked.  "What effect does that have?"

"It makes you unlikely to be noticed," the centaur explained.  "It wears
off after an hour, but you can invoke it again thereafter.  It takes the
same time to recharge: an hour.  So don't try to invoke two blankets at
once.  I realize that this isn't much, but I have nothing better to give
you.  Please accept it with my thanks for your assistance to me." I

"Of course," Forrest said, moved by her gesture.  "I'm sure it will be
useful if we have to pass by a monster.  Thank you."

"You are most welcome." Cathryn's old eyes were bright.  It seemed she
had appreciated their association.

Then he and Imbri turned to the west for the next leg of their journey.
It was bound to be an adventure of its own.

o either side they could see nice solid land, but straight west was a
bog.  It was tempting to deviate, but then they might lose the line to
Castle Roogna.  So they went straight ahead, splashing into the shallow
water.  Forrest hoped that the puns would not be too bad this time.

Fortunately the land soon rose up, restoring their firm footing.  But no
sooner had they set foot and hoof on it when two odd birds marched up.
"Who are you?" the birds demanded in unison.

"We are visitors from afar, in search of Castle Roogna," Forrest
answered.  "We are named Forrest and Imbrium."

"We are a pair o' keets," the birds answered.  "Peet and Deet. Welcome
to Canary Island."

They didn't look much like canaries to Forrest, being more like small
parrots, but he didn't comment on that.  "Thank you.  We hope just to
cross it quickly and go on our way."

"Do that.  We don't like landbound folk to stay long." With that the two
birds marched on.

They came to a tree.  It was huge and globular, with feathery leaves,
and it was right in their way.  The trouble was, it was also astride the
only feasible path leading due west.  To the south was a section of what
looked a lot like slow sand, which would take forever to cross, and to
the north was a similar patch of what looked like quicksand, which had
risks of its own.  "I wish we could just go right through this tree,"
Forrest said.

"Maybe we can climb over it," Imbri said.

Then the tree opened a huge round eye.  That was followed by a second
eye, and a beak just below it, that they had taken for a broken off
limb.  "Hooo!" it hooted.

"It's an owl!" Forrest exclaimed.  "A huge owl!"

"An owl tree," Imbri agreed.

Then the owl spread its wings and took off.  "Well, this is Canary
Island," Forrest said, bemused.  "We have to expect birds, even if they
aren't all canaries."

Several white birds flew overhead.  Their bodies were in the shape of
the letter C.  "C-gulls," Imbri said, identifying them.

A ball of blackness approached.  Forrest paused, not sure whether it was
dangerous, but then he saw it was in the shape of a bird of prey.  "Oh,
it's just a night hawk," he said.  He stepped aside to let it pass, then
stepped back onto the path when the light returned.

But another bird flew up.  "What a weird set of characters," it said,
eyeing them.  "You are absolutely laughable.  Haw haw haw!"

"And a mockingbird," Imbri said.  "One of the more obnoxious avians, but
harmless."

They ignored the mockingbird, and of course that discomfited it so that
it flew away.  But another bird flew in to perch before them. "What are
you fools doing here?" it demanded harshly.  "You don't belong here!  Go
away!  Go away!"

"We are only crossing the island," Forrest explained.

"You are polluting it with your foul presence!" the bird raved.

"Get off our land!  Go away!  Go away!" The bird continued to shout at
them, going on and on.

"Now I recognize it," Imbri said.  "It's a rave-on."

Then a harpy appeared, dripping wet.  She smelled terrible.  "You're one
of the canaries?" Forrest asked, surprised.

"I'm a waterfoul," she answered.

"I should have known," he said, hurrying by.

They passed a large trunk.  A bird was pecking a big hole in it.  The
moment it spied them, it flew to a branch above them and pecked a shower
of sawdust and bits of bark, so that they were dirtied.  "Hey, what are
you doing?" Forrest demanded, annoyed.

For answer, a smelly bird dropping came down, just missing his head.

"That's a peccadillo," Imbri said.  "A bad mannered pecker."

Then there was the melodious cry of a lady bird to the north, and the
peccadillo flew off to have something to do with her.  "They especially
like the ladies," Imbri explained, with what might possibly have been
the hint of a smirk.

At last they got off Canary Island, and the edge of the comic strip was
there, so that they returned to regular land.  "I can see why not many
folk care to cross the boundaries," Forrest said.  "Those puns don't
really hurt you, but they're annoying as anything."

"I understand that some folk like them," Imbri said.

"Who would like anything like that?  Mundanes?"

"Maybe.  Mundania is a strange, repressed place."

"It must be, to have folk who like such junk."

The new region was hilly, and it was impossible to keep to a straight
line west.  But they oriented as well as they could, returning to the
correct direction and compensating for their deviations, hoping they
were close enough to find the castle.

They were rewarded: they crested a ridge, and there in a colorful valley
below was a picturesque castle.  "There it is," Forrest said, relieved.

Imbri wasn't so sure.  "That doesn't look like Castle Roogna."

"Things are different, here on Ptero.  Maybe the castles are different
too."

"Maybe," she agreed doubtfully.

They trekked on down the slope and reached the bowl-shaped valley where
the castle stood.  The trees closed in around them, each a distinct
color: brown, including the leaves; green, including the trunk; yellow,
blue, or white.  They were pretty, but so thick that the castle was now
hidden, with no clear path.

Then Forrest noticed that one white tree had a brown trunk.  It was
comparatively normal.  He went to that tree, and spied a blue tree with
a brown trunk.  Between them ran a straight brown path.  "This must be
the route," he said.

S.o they followed the path.  It turned at right angles, then turned
again, refusing to be rounded.  But it stayed between the brown trunked
trees.  So they followed it, despite its constant square turns, and in
due course it brought them to the bank of the square moat around the
castle.

From this vantage, the castle was much larger than it had seemed from
afar.  It had massive white stone walls, red roofs, and three squared
towers rising above the second story.  The drawbridge was up, and the
moat was deep.  There seemed to be no way in.

"This seems less like Castle Roogna," Forrest admitted.  "The landscape
is different, and there's no princess in blue jeans to greet us."

"It's the Good Magician's castle!" Imbri exclaimed.  "It's always
different, and always a Challenge to get into."

"Three Challenges," he agreed, remembering.  "So we did go astray, and
came to the wrong castle."

"I'm not surprised.  The path across Canary Island was somewhat crooked,
and there were distractions.  Then we had to guess at the direction when
we passed the hills."

"I suppose we'll just have to retrace our steps and try to find the
right direction."

They turned-but now the magic path was gone.  The forest had closed in
solidly behind them.  Forrest had experience with trees, and could see
immediately that these ones had no intention of allowing them to pass
back through; brambles, thorns, stickers, nettles, and sharp pointed
plants festooned the region between trees.

"It was a one way path," lmbri said.  "I should have thought of that.
I'm not used to being solid."

"I should have thought of it too," Forrest said ruefully.  "I'm supposed
to relate well to trees."

"Well, we'll just have to ask the Good Magician the way to Castle
Roogna."

Forrest eyed the moat.  "Does that mean we'll have to get through three
Challenges, and pay a year's Service?"

She nodded.  "I'm afraid it does.  Unless we can talk him into letting
us through without all that."

"Well, he didn't charge me before.  I'm still not sure why."

Imbri looked thoughtful, but didn't comment.

So they addressed the Challenge of getting into the castle.  There was
no sign of a moat monster, but they didn't trust that.  So Forrest
experimented: he picked up a pebble and flipped it into the smooth
water.

Enormous teeth snapped out of the water and caught the pebble before it
splashed.  Then the water was still again.  It had happened so quickly
that he wasn't sure he had actually seen it, but he concluded that
swimming would not be a good idea.

"We might dissolve into floating souls, and condense again on the other
side," Imbri suggested.

"I'm not sure that's in order.  I think we should stay with the rules of
this realm, while we are in it."

"I suppose so.  I suppose dissolving into vapor might count the same as
getting crunched by an ogre, and prevent us from returning to within
half a year of this spot."

"That, too," he agreed.  He had actually been thinking of the ethics of
it, assuming there were any.  Physically it seemed possible; after all,
she had dissolved to send the dragons their distracting dream.  But it
seemed unwise to tempt the limits.

He couldn't reach the drawbridge from this side, so couldn't cross that
way.  The moat looked way too deep to fill in, even if he had a shovel,
and the bank seemed too solid to dig anyway.  But if this was like the
castle in Xanth, there would be a way.  He simply had to find it.

He looked around.  There was a brief cleared area around the moat,
before the trees socked in tightly.  There was room to walk.  So he
walked around the larger square, to see what he could see.

Imbri walked with him.  "I never had to worry about moats," she said
apologetically.  "I just trotted across them, being insubstantial."

She looked at the nearest tree.  "I don't suppose you could cut down a
tree to make a bridge or raft?"

"Cut down a tree?" he asked, horrified.  "A living tree?  I could never
do that!  I am a tree protector."

"Sorry.  I wasn't thinking.  But maybe if there is some deadwood?"

"That would be fine.  But I don't see any."

"Neither do I.  But what's that over there?"

He looked.  "An upside-down bush.  Someone must have pulled it out.
Maybe we can help it."

They went to the bush, which was in an embarrassing predicament: its
roots were in the air, and its leaves halfway buried in the ground,
though it was a living plant.  Forrest lifted it carefully, and set it
down the right way up while Imbri used her hands to scrape dirt in
around its base.

But the moment Forrest let go, the bush flipped over, spraying dirt, and
was upside down again.

They contemplated this phenomenon.  "It can't live and grow that way,"
Forrest said.  "It's a regular plant.  It needs earth on its roots and
sun on its leaves."

"What would make it reverse itself like that?"

"Reverse," he murmured, an idea homing in on him.  Then he lifted the
plant up again.  "Dig down deep: there may be a piece of reverse wood
there."

Imbri dug in the earth, and in a moment found it: a fair sized stick.
She set it on the ground, and the green grass turned red in its
vicinity. Then she dug out a place for the bush, and Forrest set it in.
She packed the earth around it, and this time it stayed put.

"I'm sure it will be more comfortable now," Forrest said, satisfied.

"You really do have a feeling for plants," Imbri said.

"Yes.  It comes from associating so long with a tree.  I don't like to
see green growing things abused.  That's why I'm on this quest, after
all."

"Yes." She looked thoughtful again.

"We'll have to put this reverse wood where it won't do any more
mischief," Forrest said.  He picked up the wood.  It didn't affect him,
because he had no magic talent to reverse.  Of course reverse wood was
funny stuff; sometimes it did reverse things in unexpected ways.

Then another notion hovered around his head.  "Imbri-do you suppose
there could be any magic in that water?"

Magic?" she asked blankly.

"Let's find out." He tossed the stick into the water in front of the
lifted drawbridge.

Then water quivered, then solidified.  It wasn't frozen, just solid.

Forrest set one foot on it, then the other.  The water was now like
ground.  Its natural liquidity had been reversed, in this section.

Imbri joined him.  "You solved it!" she exclaimed.  "I would never have
thought of that."

"I almost didn't," he admitted.  "But usually things are as they are for
a reason, at least around the Good Magician's castle.  I'm glad the
reverse wood didn't turn the water into fire."

They reached the inner bank.  But the drawbridge remained up, and its
planks blocked off the main entrance.  So they walked to the left, which
had the green haze of To, and rounded the corner of the castle.

There was an odd procession of people garbed in black.  Several of them
were carrying a large long and evidently heavy box, which was closed.

"What is this?" Forrest asked, perplexed by the scene.

"I think I know," Imbri said.  "It's a funeral."

"A funeral?  Who died?"

"I don't know.  But that looks like a coffin."

"I don't want to get mixed up in death!"

"Then this must not be the right way."

They backed off, and went into the yellow haze of From.  They rounded
that corner.

There was an amazing assemblage of big white long-legged birds.
"Storks!" Imbri exclaimed, identifying them.  "What are they doing
here?"

"Same thing the funeral is doing here," Forrest suggested.  "When we
walked around outside the moat I didn't see either.  They appeared after
we crossed the moat.  It's another Challenge."

"It must be a Challenge," she agreed.  "But a strange one.  What are we
supposed to do with either a funeral or a group of storks?"

"I wonder.  There must be something.  Do you suppose we could question
them?"

"I suppose we could try.  They will cooperate to exactly the extent they
are supposed to."

So they stepped around and hailed the nearest stork.  "Will you talk
with us?" Forrest inquired.

"Sorry, don't have time.  I'm too busy watching the screen for blips.

"Blips?"

"Signals.  If I miss one, the supervisor will pull my tail feathers out.
One feather for each blip I miss.  That hurts."

"Well, could we help watch your screen while we talk?"

The stork considered.  "It's highly irregular."

"But not forbidden," Forrest said.  "We'll help, and the supervisor can
pull out one of our feathers, or whatever, if we miss any."

"Very well," the stork agreed.  "Hello: I am Stanley Stork.  You are?"

"Forrest Faun and Mare Imbrium."

"Imbri for short," Imbri said.

They joined him at the screen.  This was a large square panel with a
black background.  "What's a blip?" Imbri asked.

 "Three little points of light.  There's one now." Stanley pointed with
the tip of his wing.

Forrest saw them.  Three bright specks, like stars, in a row, moving
quickly across the screen from left to right.  In a moment they were
gone; it would have been easy to miss them.  "What are they?" he asked.

"A signal.  I have to record its exact azimuth and elevation, and relay
the information to Central Processing." The stork used the tip of his
beak to peck at several numbers on a keypad.

"There's another," Imbri said.

Stanley looked up quickly.  "Oh, thanks.  I would have missed that while
I was recording the other." He punched in more numbers.

"What kind of signals are they?" Forrest asked, still perplexed.

"You know.  Orders."

"Orders for what?"

"Babies, of course.  That's the only product we carry."

At last it dawned on him.  Signaling the stork!  This was the recelying
end of those signals.

"Do you get many signals?" Imbri asked.

"Just the right number.  The problem is the infernal bogies."

.  "Bogies?"

"The irrelevant signals.  There's one now." On the screen was a pattern
of two dots.  "Only one in ten is valid.  The others are spurious. We
have to weed them out."

"How does someone send a bogie?" Forrest asked, fearing that he knew the
answer.

"By going through the motions at the wrong time, or not completing
them," the stork said.  "Or when they aren't qualified.  Demonesses do
that a lot, and nymphs.  They think its funny to imitate the procedure,
when they aren't on the list for deliveries."

That was what he had feared.  All his celebrations with nymphs were just
cluttering the stork's screen.  He felt guilty.

"The valid ones are bad enouch," Stanley said, catching another blip.
"If those idiots had any idea how hard we have to work to prepare a
delivery, and get it exactly right.  I mean, suppose we delivered an
ogret to a human female?  Think of the notoriety that would cause.  But
no, they keep signaling merrily away all night, as if it's nothing at
all."

"How are babies actually made?" Forrest asked.  "I mean, once a valid
signal comes."

"Well, it's complicated.  We-" Then the stork glanced warily at him.
"Are you cleared for restricted information?"

"I guess not."

"Then move on.  I'm busy enough as it is."

Stanley seemed to have a case.  "Sorry," Forrest said, somewhat lamely.

They moved on.  Other storks were busy handling paperwork and sorting
and wrapping babies.  There was a loading dock where storks hooked their
long beaks into the top loop of the slings holding the babies, and with
much labor took off on their delivery routes.  It was a very busy scene.

They reached the far corner of the castle, and saw the straight and
narrow ledge crossing the back side.  "There must be some way to get
into the castle," Forrest said.  "But between the funeral and the
storks, I don't see it."

"I don't either," she agreed.  "We really don't belong to either the
beginning or the end of life; we're in the broad middle section.  Should
we cross to the other side and check out the funeral again?"

"I'm not sure what good that would do.  If only there were something
halfway between the extremes!" Then he paused.  "Do you think it could
be literal?"

"Literal?"

"Halfway between the two sides of the castle."

"That's so stupidly simple it can't be right."

"Right," he agreed, remembering how similarly stupidly simple the
solutions to the Challenges of the Good Magician's castle in Xanth had
been.  Yet none of them had been obvious ahead of time. Magician Humfrey
just seemed to have a way of making ordinary folk feel stupid.

They walked down the far side of the castle.  There, halfway, was a
small door.  They tried it, and it opened.  They had found the way in,
passing the second Challenge.

Inside was a large chamber with a raised stage at the far end.  There
was painted scenery, and several people before it.  A man was directing
the exact placement of the scenery, and giving the others admonitions
for their performances.  It was a rehearsal for a play, and it was just
beginning.

"I'm not sure we belong here," Forrest said.

The Director turned.  "Be silent and sit down, or I'll throw a curse at
you."

"Curse fiends!" Imbri whispered.  "Don't annoy them."

Forrest had heard about the curse fiends.  They lived in a castle under
Lake Ogre Chobee.  They all had the same talent, that of throwing
curses, and they put on plays.  They didn't like interference or
competition.  Sensible folk stayed well clear of them.

He looked at the door, but it had closed and barred itself.  They would
get hit by a barrage of curses if they tried to get out, because the
door would surely make a lot of noise, disturbing the play.  That was
the way of such things.  So he looked for the nearest chair, and Imbfi
looked also.  They would have to watch the play rehearsal. Maybe they
could get away when the intermission came.

There were two empty seats in the audience.  Unfortunately they were not
together.  So Forrest had to sit between two young men, while Imbri sat
between two women.

"Hello," the man on the left whispered.  "I am Justin Case.  My talent
is to always have just the thing someone needs."

"Hello," the man on the other side whispered.  "I am his twin brother
Justin Time.  My talent is to have my brother present just when he is
needed."

"I am Forrest Faun.  My talent is to care for my tree."

"Well, that is surely a worthy endeavor," Justin Case said in a
disparaging tone.  "At least it lacks the frustration I experience.  I
always have what others need, but never what I myself need."

"Our talents don't work on ourselves," Justin Time explained.  "I am
never in time to do myself any good, and I don't help my brother
either."

"I am sorry to hear that," Forrest said.  "I can see that it must be
very frustrating."

"Yes.  We'd give anything to have even one bit of selfish good fortune,
like marrying two lovely young women and living happily ever after."

Forrest wished he could help them, and wondered whether he should give
them the dear horn to use.  But then the stage was called to order, and
the play began, so that had to wait.

An old man stepped to the center of the stage.  "The Curse Fiends
present Raven, a play in one act by Sofia Socksorter, the Good
Magician's wife." fle stepped away.

A young man came on the stage and stood before a painted mountain.  "I
am called Son," he announced.  "I am the unacknowledged son of Magician
Grey and Sorceress Ivy." He looked at his feet.  "It seems they took too
long to marry, so when the stork brought me, they weren't ready.  So I
was raised in an orphanage, with no proper name.  But now I am eighteen,
and ready to claim my heritage.  But first I must perform some
significant service for the King, so that I may earn my recognition.  I
also want to prove that my talent of the ability to manipulate people's
minds is truly Magician caliber, because someone claims that it's not;
that my mother Ivy Enhanced it to make it seem greater than it is.  So
now I will go to Prove Myself and Seek my Fortune." Son marched in the
direction marked To, which was his near future.

Meanwhile the light on him faded, and another brightened on another part
of the stage, showing a painting of a fancy castle.  Inside the castle
sat a man on a throne.  The man wore a crown.  "I am King Dolph," he
announced.  "I am the human ruler of Xanth.  My talent is to assume any
form I wish to." He suddenly turned into a dragon, then into a male
harpy, then into a unicorn.  He returned to man form. "But today I am
receiving visitors, in case any member of my kingdom has a comment or
complaint." He glanced to the side.  "Queen Electra, who is here?"

A woman wearing blue jeans and a crown appeared.  "It's a man who claims
to be your real father."

"This should be interesting.  Send him in."

Electra pushed an electric buzzer.  A buzz sounded, and a door opened. A
man entered the royal chamber.  He looked somewhat scruffy "So you claim
to be my true father?" King Dolph inquired.  "Don't you know that I am
the son of King Emeritus Dor and Queen Emeritus Irene?  That was
established long ago."

"No it wasn't," the man said.  "You were delivered to me, but I was busy
cutting magic canes, so I set you under a cabbage leaf in the Castle
Roogna garden and went on with my work.  Before I could return for you,
Queen Irene discovered you, and claimed you for her own.  There wasn't
much I could do, because I had to deliver my load of canes to the local
store immediately or I wouldn't get paid for them.  By the time I had
done that, I had forgotten all about the matter. But now I have
remembered, so I have come to fetch you home and put you to work cutting
more canes, so I can retire."

King Dolph did not look entirely pleased by this news.  "It is true that
I was found under a cabbage leaf, but that's because the stork was
unable to get into the closed castle."

"No it wasn't," the man insisted.  "It's because I put you there. My
wife was most upset when I mentioned it this morning, and insisted that
I set the matter to rights immediately."

"I will have to ponder this," King Dolph said.  "Come back next week."

" My wife won't like the delay."

"Here is a pretty bead.  Give her that to distract her." King Dolph
plunged his hand into the Royal Treasury and fished out a sparkling
bead.  He gave it to the man.

"Gee, she'll like that," the man said, departing with the bead.

"Next," King Dolph said in a businesslike manner.

"That will be Son," Queen Electra said.  "He just arrived." She pressed
her buzzer.

Son entered.  "And what can I do for you?" King Dolph inquired politely.

"I am your unacknowledged cousin Son.  I want you to send me on a
significant quest, so I can prove myself and claim my rightful heritage
as a member of the royal family and maybe marry a nice princess."

"That's a worthy ambition," King Dolph agreed.  "Very well: go find out
whether the man with the bead really is my true father."

"Okay.  I'll go to Stork Headquarters and check the records."

"Do that."

Son exited.  The light faded on the King and followed Son.  He walked
slowly across the stage, and the scenery moved past him in the opposite
direction, showing his progress.  But before he got to the Stork Works
he encountered a pretty girl.  She had long dark hair with a matching
dark temper.

"I say," Son inquired, "are you by any chance a princess?" For he had
always been intrigued by dark-tempered girls; there was just something
about them.  His attitude on stage showed this clearly.

"No, I am merely Raven, an ordinary person whose talent is to change the
color of my eyes to match my moods." Her eyes brightened as she spoke.

"Too bad," he said with real regret.  "For I mean to marry a princess."

"Too bad," she agreed, her eyes darkening moodily.  "For you are a
handsome man with the look of a Magician about you.  I mean to marry a
Magician."

"Well, maybe you'll find one.  Are you going my way?"

"I believe I am.  Shall we travel together until we separate?" Her eyes
turned hopeful blue.

"That works for me." So they walked together, and the scenery moved on
behind them to show their joint progress.

"Shall I tell you my abbreviated life history as we travel?" Raven
inquired as the scrolling scenery threatened to become repetitive, and
therefore in need of distraction from.

"I am always interested in the life histories of pretty girls," Son
said.  "Even if they aren't princesses."

So she told him her story.  "My mother wanted me to be a powerful
Sorceress.  She wasn't much impressed with my eye colors." Her eyes
turned motley dull depressive brown.  "So she made a deal with a demon.
The demon gave me a bottle on a cord around my neck.  It enables me to
take snatches of other people's talents and store them inside the
bottle.  Then I can use these samples of magic."

"Oh, I say now-could I use any of those talents?  I can think of some
that would be really handy."

"No," she said regretfully, her eyes turning a gloomy gray.  "There is a
spell on it which allows only me to use it.  In return for this bottle,
which does on occasion give me Sorceress-like powers, my mother agreed
to give the demon her other child to be his slave.  She believed it to
be a good bargain, because she had no other children."

"One can never be certain of such a thing," Son said.  "I am the
unacknowledged first son of Magician Grey Murphy and Sorceress Ivy, and
now I have returned to make my status known.  I am on a quest to
ascertain whether King Dolph has an unacknowledged father.

"That's fascinating," Raven said, clearly unfascinated.  Her eyes turned
dishwater dull.  "I am now sixteen, and I have a lovely sister named
Robin.  I am afraid that the demon is going to take Robin away to be his
slave, especially if she grows up to be as pretty as I am. She is
fifteen, and shows every sign of it.  So I am traveling to Castle Roogna
to seek help."

"But I just came from Castle Roogna," Son said.

"Why didn't you say so?" Raven demanded angrily, her eyes turning
smoldery.

"You didn't ask."

"Oh.  Well, I suppose I had better turn around and go the other way."

"But you can't do that!" Son protested.

"Why can't I?"

"Because I have fallen in love with you."

This made her pause.  "But I'm not a princess," she protested.

"But you are beautiful."

"True," she said reasonably.  "But however persuasive that may be, it
still doesn't make me royal, unfortunately."

"Yet if I successfully claim my heritage, and am recognized as a prince,
and marry you, then you will become a princess," he pointed out with a
certain appealing logic.

Raven's eyes turned speculatively bright.  "I suppose if you prove to be
a Magician, it would be feasible.  You are, after all, a handsome man.

"Good.  Let's get on to the storks."

"The storks!" she exclaimed, alarmed.  "I wasn't ready to go quite that
far, that fast.  I think signaling even one stork is a very serious
thing, especially before marriage."

He realized the nature of her confusion.  "I am going to Stork
Headquarters, to check the records of deliveries, to ascertain whether
King Dolph was delivered to Dor and Irene, or to an anonymous cane
cutter.  For some reason, the King wishes to know."

Raven's eyes blushed beet red.  "Oh!  I'm so embarrassed.  I thought you
meant-"

"Well, I certainly wouldn't mind summoning the stork with you, so if you
prefer to take it that way-"

"No, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead," she decided, her eyes becoming
a peaceful green.  "Let's go question the storks."

So they continued on to the Stork Works, which were exactly as Forrest
and Imbri had seen them.  The stork in charge of Records didn't want to
show them to unauthorized personnel, but Son used his talent to chance
its mind and satisfy it that they were authorized. They looked on the
page listing Dolph.  "Delivered to Ruben and Rowena, cane cutters," it
said.

"Oh no!" Son said, somewhat dismayed.  "I fear I will have bad news for
ex-King Dolph."

"I fear I have even worse news for him," Raven said faintly.

He looked at her in surprise.  "What could be worse than suddenly never
having been a king?"

"Suddenly being enslaved to a demon."

He stared at he]- in wild surmise.  "You mean?"

"Yes!  Ruben and Rowena are my parents.  He is my Long-lost brother I
never knew I had."

"But how is this possible?  Dolph is thirty years older than you are.

Raven's eyes turned a nonplused color.  "Why, I never thought of that.
They aren't old enough.  This whole scene is impossible."

"Cut!" the curse fiend director cried.  "This is all wrong.  How did
that ending get in the play?"

"I'm sure I don't know," Raven said.

"Look, Madame Take, you spoke the line.  You-" :, My name is Miss Take,"
the actress said primly.

"Well, this is all your fault, Miss Take!  You got the line wrong."

"Don't yell at my sister like that!" another curse fiend exclaimed.

"You are the one who cast her in that role."

"As a favor to you, Out Take," the Director retorted.  "Now we're in a
prime picklement.  Tomorrow is the show; it's too late to get another
actress."

"Well, if you were a better director, you'd have had an understudy."

The director pulled out two handfuls of his hair.  "Oh, woe 'ts me!

The shame of it!  The play won't go on!

There was a silence.  Slowly Forrest realized that this wasn't really a
curse fiend play rehearsal, but a Challenge: he was supposed to figure
out what to do.  That meant that there must be something, if he could
just comprehend it.

He was getting half a notion how these things worked.  The elements of
the Challenge were always in plain view; it was just a matter of
understanding their relevance.  There usually wasn't much that was
extraneous; most of a given setting was pertinent.  That meant that the
play, the audience, and the chamber all related.  But how?

Suddenly he had it.  "You can fix the play!" he called.

The Director whirled to face him.  "What interference is this?"

"I am Forrest Faun, and I have a notion how you can fix it," Forrest
said, standing.  "But it may seem unusual."

"No idea is too unusual, if it saves the play.  What is it?"

"My neighbor on my left must marry the actress for Raven."

"What are you talking about, you foolish faun?" the Director demanded.
"The private lives of the actors and audience have nothing to do with
the play!"

"Yes they do," Forrest said.  "Your play went wrong because the actress,
Miss Take, has a talent that is bound to foul it up.  Since it is too
late to change the actress, you must change her name, so that it no
longer has a bad effect.  As it happens, Justin Case here can do that by
marrying her, so that her name becomes Mrs.  Case."

"But he doesn't want to marry a failed actress."

"Speak for yourself, Director," Justin Case said, standing.  "She's a
beautiful woman, in or out of the play."

"But she wouldn't want to--"

"I'd do anything to save my role," Miss Take said.

The Director nodded.  "Very well, then, but be quick about it.  We'll
have to stage another partial rehearsal, to be sure it's straight."

"But how can you marry and leave me alone?" Justin Time asked. "After I
have so loyally gotten you where you needed to be, at just the right
time?"

"That's right," Justin Case agreed.  "You deserve a lovely actress too."

Forrest thought quickly.  "Is Raven's beautiful sister Robin a character
in the play?"

"Yes, of course," the Director said.  "She has to be saved from the
dread demon."

"Then she can marry Justin Time."

"But Miss Inform wouldn't-"

"Speak for yourself, Director," a lovely young woman said, walking on
stage.  "Let me get a look at this man."

Justin Time stood.  He was a handsome man, appearing alr"ost ageless.

Miss Inform nodded.  "He'll do."

"But if you are only fifteen-" Justin Time began doubtfully.

"That is my role age," she replied with a smile.  "I am actually
slightly older, and a good deal more experienced."

"Good enough!" Justin Time agreed.

"Then let's get this done with," the Director said.  "The four of you
stand before me."

The two men and two women lined up before him.  "By the allthority
vested in me as Almighty Director, I now pronounce you men and wives.
Now get on with the play."

The men quickly kissed their brides and returned to their places in the
audience.  "Pick it up from Raven'.  "Yes' " the Director directed.
"Give her the cue, Son."

On the stage, Son stared at Raven in wild surmise.  "You mean?"

"Yes!" she replied, striking her dramatic pose.  "Ruben and Rowena are
my parents.  He is my long-lost brother I never knew I had."

"But how is this possible?  Dolph is thirty years older than you are." I

"That's right.  There must be some mistake.  Let's look at that record
again."

Son peered at the stork records.  "Oh, now I see that it is mismarked.
There's a note: ERROR: PROPER PARENTS ARE DOR & IRENE OF CASTLE ROOGNA."

"Oh, that's a relief," Son said.  "I liked King Dolph.  I'll be glad to
bring the good news to him." He paused.  "But then why did your father
say that the baby was his?"

"viously he lied, because he wanted a son instead of only daughters."

"That makes sense," Son agreed.

"But what about my sister, whom the demon will now claim as his slave?"

Son looked grim.  "I shall have to fight him, so as to keep your family
happy."

"But you can't fight a demon!" Raven protested.

"You forget my talent of manipulating men's minds.  He's male, so maybe
I can change his mind." He struck another pose.  "Demon, come here!"

There was a gout of fire and a puff of smoke.  When it cleared, there
was a horrendous figure of a demon.  "Who calls Demon Ize?"

"I do," Son said.  "I shall not let you make a slave of this woman's
lovely little sister."

"Lovely sister?" the demon asked.  "I thought it was a vastly older
brother."

"No, that was a clerical error.  Raven has no brother, only a sister."

"Hm.  What does she look like?"

"Here is her picture," Raven said, holding it forth.

D.  Ize peered at it.  "That could be airbrushed.  She's probably really
ugly.

"She is not!  Here, I'll conjure her in person, and prove it."

"You can conjure?" Son asked, surprised.

"It's one of the pieces of talents I have saved in my bottle," Raven
explained.  She brought out her bottle and popped the cork.  "Sister
Robin, come here," she intoned.

A bird with a red breast flew in.  It landed on the floor and became a
beautiful young woman.  "Yes, sister dear?"

"Demon Ize here thinks you're ugly," Raven said.

"Really?" Robin turned to the demon, inhaling.

"Not really," Ize said quickly.  "You are truly lovely."

"And he plans to make you his slave," Raven continued sourly.

"Really!" Robin said, frowning.  "Does that mean I won't be able to look
for a nice man to marry who will have the talent of changing form and
flying with me?"

"I can do that!" Ize cried, changing into a green jay.  "Suddenly I
don't want to enslave you, to my surprise; I want to marry you, you
lovely creature," the bird said.

"Gee-that's nice." Robin changed into her bird form, and the two of them
flew away.

"Well, I guess that solved your problem," Son said.  "And King Dolph's
problem.  Let's go back to Castle Roogna so I can gain my recognition as
a Magician."

"You changed Ize's mind?" Raven asked, impressed.

"Yes.  It really wasn't difficult, when he saw how pretty she is.  I
hope you don't mind having a demon in the family."

"Well, it does seem better than the alternative.  And it does seem like
a Magician caliber talent.  Let's go to Castle Roogna."

They linked arms and walked off stage.

"That works for me," the Director said.  "Be here tomorrow for the
official production." The members of the cast scattered, and the two
actresses went to join their husbands.  Meanwhile the Director's roving
eye fell on Forrest.  "What are you waiting for, Faun?  Go on in to see
the Good Magician." And a door opened beyond the stage.

Forrest and Imbri walked up to the door and through it.  "You figured it
out," Imbri said admiringly.  "You're a pretty smart faun."

"No, I just caught on to how these Challenges work.  In real life I
probably would have flubbed it." But he was pleased with her
appreciation.

An old, dull woman approached them in the next chamber.  Assorted socks
were tucked in her apron pockets.  "So you repaired my play!" she said.
"Thank you.  I am Sofia Socksorter, Designated Wife of the moment."

"Uh, yes," Forrest said.  "We came to-"

"Of course.  Himself will see you now.  Just follow the trail of socks."

They followed the trail of socks.  "He always had trouble keeping track
of his socks," Imbri murmured.  "That's why he married Mundania's best
sock sorter.  But even she can't keep up on a bad day."

"So I see-and smell."

The trail led up to the Good Magician's cramped study.  There was
Humfrey, as before, hunched over his monstrous tome.  "Uh-" Forrest
began.

The gnome-like figure looked up.  "Yes, yes, of course.  Your Service
will be to serve as adviser to the princesses Dawn & Eve, to enable them
to save the Human territory from marginalization.  The magic path will
take you directly to Castle Roogna."

"But I haven't even asked my-"

"You came to ask the way to Castle Roogna," Humfrey said irritably.  "I
have Answered." He returned to his tome.

They had been summarily dismissed.  Again.  But it was true: they had
only sought the way.  And for that they had to pay the equivalent of a
year's Service.  It didn't seem quite fair.

They went back down the dingy winding stairs.  "How can Humfrey be here,
the same as ever?" Forrest asked Imbri.

"He sips youth elixir to maintain his age at about one hundred," she
reminded him.

"No, I mean shouldn't he be banned from Ptero, since he's a real person
in Xanth?"

"Only a year, I think.  The rest of his life is unobstructed, as with
Ogle Ogre."

"Oh, yes, I suppose so.  It's strange, seeing someone I met there,
here."

"Yes.  But it will be stranger seeing Dawn & Eve."

Sofia gave them lunch, and showed them to the magic path.  "Be sure not
to stray from it," she warned.  "There are dragons out there."

"We will stay on it," Imbri promised.

"Himself does appreciate what you are doing, even if he doesn't show
it," Sofia said.  "If not for you, those two foolish princesses would be
off looking for husbands."

"Isn't that normal, for human beings?" Forrest asked.

"Not when their territory is being marginalized.  Save that, and then
they can do whatever else they want."

"But I don't even know what the term means."

"I'm sure you will find out.  Now off with you; the matter is urgent."
She shooed them out the door and toward the magic path. "This realm is
as strange as Xanth," Imbri murmured.

"It's stranger," Sofia called after them.

She was probably right.

he path brought them safely and conveniently through the forest.  But it
was a fair distance, just as it was in Xanth, so they stopped at a rest
station as night came. They knew that night had nothing to do with the
progress of the sun across the sky, because Ptero simply used the light
of Xanth.  Sometimes when Princess Ida put her head in shadow, the scene
dimmed.

Forrest wasn't sure whether he should be tired, but when darkness
closed, he found he wanted to sleep, so that was all right.  Sleeping
was no more unnatural here than eating; it seemed they could take or
leave either, depending on the local circumstance.

"What does it feel like, being solid?" he asked Imbri as she settled
down beside him.  "I mean, I'm used to it, but you aren't."

"Especially not in girl form," she agreed.  "But I find I am getting
used to it, and at times I rather like it.  I am even beginning to feel
solid girl emotions."

"Oh?  What are they?"

"Appreciation for the beauty of the forest, and the niceness of folk
like Cathryn.  Even things like eating and sleeping are interesting
experiences."

"I suppose so.  This world of Ptero seems all right, as I become
accustomed to it."

"Yes." Then sleepiness overtook him, and he faded out.

He woke later, feeling a motion near him.  He discovered that it was
Imbri, putting a conventional blanket on him.  "You looked cool," she
explained.

He had indeed become cool, but the blanket fixed it.  "Thank you."

"You are welcome, Forrest."

He started to drift back to sleep.  But then he realized that she had no
blanket of her own.  "Aren't you cool too?" he asked.

"It does not matter."

"Yes it does.  Isn't there another blanket?"

"I found only one.  Use it, and sleep in peace."

"But you must be sleepy too.  You should have it."

"But then you would be cold."

Forrest pondered briefly.  "We could share it."

She hesitated.

He had been afraid of that.  "If you are concerned that I view you as a
nymph-"

"No, it is clear that you do not.  You are a far more responsible faun
than I expected."

"Caring for my tree has made me that way.  Please do join me, Imbri; we
are both warm, and the blanket is large enough for us both."

"Thank you." She dissolved her clothing and joined him.

After an astonished instant, Forrest realized that she did not care to
sleep under a blanket in her clothing; it wouldn't feel comfortable. So
she had eliminated her dress.  It made sense.  But in that instant she
had indeed looked exactly like a nymph.  That had an effect on him that
he hoped he could conceal from her.  He did not want her to think that
he had tried to deceive her.

She settled down beside him.  Her body touched his at shoulder and hip.
She was soft and smooth and warm.  Just like a nymph.  But she was not a
nymph, he reminded himself forcefully.  She was a mare in girl form, and
an intelligent and thoughtful creature, not interested in nymphly
pursuits.  So he faced away from her and did his best to ignore her
presence.

It took some time, but at last he did manage to sleep again.  But later
he drifted awake to discover her nestled against his side, her nymphly
attributes very soft.  He didn't dare move.  But he wasn't quite sure he
dared sleep again, lest he dream of chasing and catching a nymph, and do
something that would appall her.  He wished he had anticipated this
situation, and avoided it.  Yet at the same time he also liked this
unexpected contact with her.  He knew that his awareness of her had
changed in a way that could not be undone.  She was still Imbri, his
helpful companion.  But now she was also somewhat more than that-in a
way he must not allow to show.

Forrest lay awake, struggling to adjust his thoughts, but they would not
fit back into their former simplicity.  He knew Imbri as a person, not a
nymph-but now he wished she could be both.  That was of course
impossible.

So it was a long night.  But in the morning he was not tired or logy;
apparently in this state he did not really need sleep.  It was just a
convenience during darkness.

As the light brightened, Imbri stiffed and woke.  She stretched, rubbing
against him, then sat up.  "Oh-of course," she said, glancing at him.
"We shared warmth.  For a moment I wondered what I was doing under the
blanket with you."

"Just sleeping," he said.

"Yes.  Thank you." She stood, lanced down at her bare body, and
concentrated.  Her dress formed from her substance, covering her.  "I
feel like a Sorceress when I do this," she confessed.  "But it's really
not magic, just reshaping of my soul material."

"Yes." But how different it was to see that nude body, when he knew she
was not a mindless nymph.  That awareness should have caused him not to
care how she looked, but instead it made him care even more.  Last night
he had wished she could be both nymph and friend, the two aspects
separate, taking turns; now he wished she could be both at once.  That
was a significant change in concept: the idea of celebrating with a real
person, a friend, instead of doing the mindless thing with one, and
respecting the other.  A human woman could have fit that description, as
humans had minds and bodies, but Imbri was not human and she had no
body, except in the present rather special situation.  So it was
pointless to dwell on it.

"You seem rather thoughtful this morning," Imbri remarked.  "Did you
sleep well?"

What could he say?  The truth was not appropriate, but he did not like
the notion of deception.  So he hesitated.

"Oh, you didn't!" she said, in brief anguish.  "I shouldn't have taken
part of your blanket!  You lacked room to sleep freely.  I must have
tossed and turned and poked you in the night."

"No, no, that's not it," he protested.  "You were perfect."

"I didn't poke you?"

"Not exactly." This struggle to find a compromise between accuracy and
discretion was awful.  It was not an exercise normally required of tree
s ' '

pirits.

"I don't understand.  Did I poke you or didn't I?  Did I disturb your
sleep or didn't I?"

Forrest decided that evasion was untenable.  He would have to be
forthright, and take the consequence.  "You did poke me, but it didn't
hurt.  You did disturb my sleep, but not because of any restlessness on
your part.  You slept quietly."

"But I poked you with my elbow?"

"No."

"My knee?"

"No."

"I don't understand.  What did I poke you with?"

"Your-" Still he hesitated.

She looked down at her body.  "I don't see how-" Then her human mouth
turned round.  "My maidenly bosom?  I poked you with that?"

Forrest felt himself blushing, a thing he had never done before.

Possibly no faun had managed it before.

"Oh, Forrest," she said, chagrined.  "I never thought-I look like a
nymph, don't I!  And you're a faun.

"Yes." Now it was out.

"And you had to hold yourself back from being a faun.  All night."

.  "Yes."

"I would never have-if I had realized-this isn't my natural form-it just
never occurred to me that-"

"It doesn't matter," he said, wanting to get off this embarrassing
subject.

"Yes it does!  I have treated you with discourtesy, and caused you
distress.  I don't know how I can make up for that.  I should have
understood-it's so obvious in retrospect-"

"Please.  It's not important.  Let's just resume our trek."

"I was just so thoughtless!  No apology can be enough.  But I must do
something-" Then a new expression crossed her face.  "Forrest, I keep
forgetting that I'm solid, here on Ptero.  Even when that makes
mischief, I forget that it can also abate it.  I can be a nymph for
you."

"No.  I don't want that."

"No, really.  It is no affront to me.  We animals don't take such things
seriously.  I can play the game perfectly, if you will just tell me how.
Let's see-nymphs run and scream cutely, and kick their feet, and fling
their hair about, and pretend to signal the stork." As she spoke, she
dissolved her dress, ran around in a little circle, kicked up one foot
and then the other, and flung her lengthening hair in a full circle.
Then she tried a cute scream: "Eeeeeek!"

"No!" Forrest cried.  "Stop it!"

She stopped immediately.  "I'm sorry, Forrest.  Do I have it wrong?"

"No.  I just don't want you as a nymph."

"But you said-in the night-"

"You're not mindless."

"Oh.  But I can pretend to be."

"I would know better."

She nodded sadly.  "So I can't be a nymph for you.  All I can do is
frustrate you."

.  "Yes."

"I truly apologize, Forrest.  If there is any other way I can make it up
to you-"

"No.  We must get on with our mission."

"Yes, of course," she agreed, chastened.

So they resumed their trek.  But in his mind he saw her again and again,
acting exactly like a nymph.  He had wanted so much to play that game
with her!  But to have her pretend to be mindless, and believe she was
satisfying him, when what he truly wanted was-no, he couldn't accept
that.  Neither would he ask her to do it while not pretending to be a
nymph, because that would imply some actual commitment on her part, and
he had no right to desire that.  She was just with him on an assignment,
to help him find a faun for a tree.  When this quest was done, she would
be free to go her own way, her service to the Good Magician fulfilled.

"Forrest, I see you are still depressed," Imbri said as they walked. "I
know it's my fault.  I wish-"

"No.  It's my fault." And he knew that was the truth.  He had no right
to soil her innocence with his unrealistic desire.  "I want to speak no
more of it."

"Of course," she agreed, chastened again.

No danger threatened them on the way, because the path was enchanted.
The scenery was mountainous, but the path wound around, remaining almost
level, so that this was no problem.  They could admire the view with
impunity.  Only when there was no alternative did the path climb to any
height.

In due course they came to Castle Roogna, which was in a forest in a
valley.  The path had climbed over a ridge, and the valley was laid out
for their view, like a large picture.  But there was something wrong
with that picture.  "What are all those lines?" Forrest asked, startled.
"I don't remember seeing them." For the valley was crisscrossed with
long colored lines that extended from hillside to hillside, as if some
giant had drawn them with a pencil.  Only the area immediately around
the castle itself was clear of the lines.

"I'm sure they weren't there in Xanth," Imbri agreed.  "But of course
this isn't Xanth; it's a smaller replica."

"Still, we haven't seen such lines elsewhere in Ptero.  I don't think it
can be normal."

"Do you think it could relate to the problem we are supposed to solve?"
she asked.  "Marginalization?"

"Marginalization," he repeated, pondering.  "They do look a bit like
margins.  As if somebody drew some lines to mark off the valley, then
drew some more lines 'ns'de those, and more farther inside, leaving less
space in the center.  It reminds me of a game I used to play as a faun."

She laughed.  "You aren't still a faun?"

Actually, he wondered.  The fauns of the Faun & Nymph Retreat were
shallow creatures, intent on only one thing, and the nymphs provided
that.  The fauns who left the retreat and sought useful employment
became deeper, but not by a whole lot; it was just that they now
realized that the pursuit of nymphs was not the only thing, though it
did remain the main thin .  Those fauns who chose to associate with
trees became deeper yet, but still were not by any means really serious
people.  On this quest Forrest had become far more thoughtful than ever
in his life before, and the episodes on Ptero had accelerated that
change.  Right up until last night, when he had actually held back from
doing what was natural, and this morning when he had declined Imbri's
offer to play nymph, despite considerable temptation.  No faun he had
ever heard of would have done that.  So he was certainly no longer a
normal member of his kind.  But that was too complicated to go into
right now.  "When I was young."

"What was the game?"

"We played it with stone knives.  We cleared a patch of dirt, and took
turns flipping our knives into it so that they stuck point first. Then
we extended the direction of the blade each way, making a line that
divided the patch into two sections.  Whoever missed the clear patch, or
didn't get his knife to stick in the ground, lost his turn.  The clear
patch kept getting smaller as it got subdivided, until finally it was
too small to hit.  The last one to get his knife into it was the
winner."

"But what was the point?"

"Just to win.  We had to have something to divert us when there were no
nymphs in sight.  That was it."

She glanced sidelong at him.  "Your horizons have broadened since then."

If only she knew how far!  "Yes.  Anyway, a game would look like that
valley.  It was hard to get the knife to fall just the right way, and it
got harder as the game progressed, so that usually just a slice was
taken off the edge of the remaining patch.  If this is a game, it's
about three quarters through."

"What kind of creatures could play such a game with the human territory
of Ptero?"

"Invisible giants?"

She nodded.  "If it is such a game, what does the winner get?"

"Castle Roogna," he said.  "And with it, dominion over all the human
beings of Ptero."

She nodded again.  "And you have to help Dawn & Eve save the human
territory from marginalization.  Now I think we know more about the
nature of the threat."

"Marginalization," he repeated.  "Pressing in of the margins.  Until
there is nothing left in the center.  That seems like something that
needs to be dealt with."

"Yet the King would be a Magician," Imbri said.  "How is it that he
could not fight this incursion?"

"Something must have happened to him.  We had better get down there
quickly, before it gets any worse."

"But won't the giants see us, and stop us from getting there? Especially
if they should suspect our mission?"

"Yes.  So we'll use Cathryn's blanket of obscurity." He reached into his
knapsack and brought out the little can.

"You are getting smarter all the time.  I wouldn't have thought of
that."

"Please don't compliment me."

She looked at him, surprised.  "Why not, when it's true?"

He would have bitten his tongue, but it was too late for that.  So he
told the truth.  "Because I already care too much for you, in your
present shape, and that just makes it worse."

She stared at him in astonishment.  Then she looked thoughtful.  "I w.
"II try to be more careful."

He held the can in front of him.  "I invoke you."

Nothing happened.  But that was the way it was supposed to be.  He put
the can away, and they started down the hill.

At the edge of the forest they came to their first line.  They halted
just short of it.  The thing was green, and marked the ground without
actually cutting into it, in the manner of a shadow.  It crossed rocks
and trees the same way.  It wasn't visible in the air, but its dark
green line showed against the leaves and branches above it, indicating
that it was a vertical plane.  "Do you think it's safe to cross it?"
Forrest asked.

"With the concealment of the blanket, it should be.  But maybe we should
move carefully, and not talk much, when we cross."

"I agree.  I'll go first."

.  "Why?"

"Because if it is dangerous, I don't want you hurt."

"But the quest is yours.  I should be protecting you, not you me."

Her logic was good, but it wasn't enough.  The thought of her in danger
because of him was not to be suffered.  "Please Imbri-let me go first."

"You idiot!" she cried.

That startled him.  "What?"

"Did it ever occur to you that I might feel the same way about you?"

He considered.  "No."

"I know I'm just a day mare, but I have feelings too.  I don't want you
to be hurt any more than you want me to be hurt.  And what would I do if
I didn't see you safely through this quest?"

She was right.  "I apologize, Imbri.  Suppose we take turns trying the
dangerous things?"

"All right.  I apologize too.  I shouldn't have blamed you for caring
for me." She stepped forward and crossed the line.

Nothing happened.  Apparently it was dangerous in itself, or the blanket
of obscurity was protecting them.  Forrest stepped across. There was no
sensation.  It was just a marking, not an actual barrier.

Forrest breathed a sigh of relief.  "I think we'll have to cross several
more lines, but it seems to be safe."

Imbri nodded, and they continued toward the castle.  They did cross
other lines, each a different color, without trouble.  He wasn't sure
whether this was because of the obscurity spell, or the enchanted path,
or because the lines weren't actually dangerous.  He didn't like the
idea of wasting magic, but he didn't like unnecessary risk either. Until
they understood exactly what was happening here, they had to be careful.

The path led through the great orchard, where pie trees and shoe trees
and many other types were cultivated.  It passed a cemetery with a sign
saying BEWARE OF ZOMBIES.  It led up to a deep moat where an old moat
monster eyed them warily.  In short, things were completely ordinary,
near the castle.  Even the monster was familiar: "Hello, souffle!" Imbri
called.

"But this monster is too old to be that one," Forrest said.

"You forget we have come far west, into the To," she reminded him. "Folk
are older here.  " She went up to pat the monster on the nose.

But Souffld shied away, not recognizing her.

"You're in the wrong form," Forrest murmured.

"Oh, yes." She faced the monster.  "In my natural form I look like
this." She fuzzed out and assumed her mare form.  It wasn't dense, but
it was clear enough to see.

Souffld's eyes brightened.  Now he recognized the day mare.  He lowered
his head as she returned to girl form, and this time suffered himself to
be patted on the nose.  "I have only enough mass to be this form," she
explained.  "Besides, I'm traveling with Forrest Faun, so it's easier to
be two footed.  But I'm still Mare Imbri."

They crossed the moat and came to the castle entrance.  A woman came to
meet them at the gate.  Something was orbiting her head. "Princess Ida"'
Imbri cried.

"Do we know each other?" the princess inquired politely.

"I'm Mare Imbrium, in human form because that's all the mass I have.
This is Forrest Faun.  We met a few days ago, in Xanth."

Forrest nodded as he was introduced.  But he wondered, because this
woman was older than the one they had met before.

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember.  About what age was I then?"

"Twenty eight, I think-the same as Princess Ivy."

"That explains it, then; that is in our blanked year.  Until that
passes, we won't know what happened therein."

"Blanked year?" Forrest asked.

"Remember Ogle Ogre," Imbri murmured.

Now he understood.  The year surrounding their "present" existence in
Xanth.

"What year is it now?" Imbri asked.

"We are forty now.  Twelve years after that."

That explained why she looked older.  But there was also something odd
about her moon.  "When we met you, your moon was round," Forrest said.

Princess Ida smiled.  "Of course.  My present existence here is a
derivative of that reality, so my moon differs." She angled her head so
that the moon swung into full view.  "This is Pyramid."

Now he saw that the moon was not round, but triangular.  Or at least had
a triangular outline.  It seemed to have four sides, each triangular. It
rotated around three, while the fourth faced down, becoming the base of
the figure.

Forrest found this a bit hard to assimilate.  "Is-is it also a world in
its own right?  The way Ptero is?"

"Of course.  Though we don't know what is on it.  No one has been there.
But we suspect that the ideas that never were are there."

"That makes sense," Forrest agreed.

"And what brings you folk of Xanth to our realm?" Ida inquired politely.
"We seldom if ever have visitors from there."

"Forrest has a quest to find a faun for a neighboring tree," Imbri
explained.

"Oh, you will have to go farther To for that; the faun territory is
there.

"But meanwhile I'm on a mission for the Good Magician," Forrest said. "I
have to advise Princesses Dawn & Eve, to help them save the human
territory from marginalization."

"Oh, that's wonderful!  We were so afraid that help would not come.  Now
I'm hopeful that it will be all right."

"But I hardly know what to do."

"The Good Magician would not have sent you unless he were sure you could
do the job.  Our situation is verging on desperate.  There are so few of
us left."

"So few?" Imbri asked.

"Come, you must meet King Ivy.  She will help explain."

"King who?"

"King Ivy.  She had to take over when King Dor was lost.  Right this
way."

"But what of King Dolph?" Imbri asked.

"Oh, he's not until later.  But he's lost too."

"Lost?"

"There are only six of us here now.  Ah, here we are."

They had arrived at the throne room.  Sure enough, a woman of forty sat
on the throne.  She rose to come to them as they entered.

"King Ivy, this is Forrest Faun, and Mare Imbrium, from Xanth,"

Princess Ida said.  "They are here to enable Dawn & Eve to handle the
margins."

"What a relief!" King Ivy said.  "Come, we must have a banquet."

"But is this the time for that?" Forrest asked.  "I mean, if the
situation is serious-"

"We can talk best then," Princess Ida explained.  "Everyone gets
together for a banquet."

Soon they were at the banquet hall.  The other members of the castle
arrived and were introduced: Consort Grey, a handsome man just beyond
forty, Princess Electra, who was 872 or 38 depending on whether
chronological or normal living time was counted, and her daughters Dawn
& Eve, who were a buxom eighteen.  Dawn had flame-red hair, green eyes,
and wore bright clothes.  Eve had jet black hair and eyes, and wore dark
clothing.  Both were startlingly beautiful.

"When I met you two, a few days ago, you were six years old"$ Forrest
said, bemused.

"Yes, that's our blank year," Dawn agreed.

"So we don't remember you," Eve said.  "But we're sure you're an
interesting person."

"Girls, don't be too forward," their mother Electra warned them.

"Oh, pooh!" Dawn said.  "He's a faun."

"It's impossible for us to embarrass him," Eve agreed.

Then they both leaned forward over the table, so that their ddcolletages
fell open, flashing four impressive hemispheres.  And for the second
time in his life Forrest blushed.

"Girls!" Electra exclaimed indignantly.

"See?" Dawn asked her sister as they straightened up.  "I told you it
was possible to embarrass a faun."

"You win," Eve agreed.  "But we probably couldn't do it again."

"You won't!" Electra cried before they could do it again.  "You'll have
to excuse my impetuous children."

The two girls shrugged in unison, looking halfway smug.  Forrest found
himself becoming a trifle nervous about having to advise them. While he
was trying to show them what to do, what would they be showing him?  It
would have been easier to work with the two six year olds, whose
naughtiness would have been more limited.

The banquet was good, with slices of buttered breadfruit and chipped
potatoes, and pitchers of drink.  Forrest spied one whose label seemed
to say Boot Rear, so he poured himself a mug of that, as he liked forest
products.  He took a sip, and it was very good.  But Dawn, sitting
across from him, looked alarmed.  "You're drinking Toot Rear?"

oops-had he taken the wrong drink?  He had seen only the latter part of
the label.  The last thing he wanted was to embarrass himself at the
King's banquet!  But then he saw that the pitcher did say Boot, not
Toot.  Both girls, seeing his face, burst out laughing.  They had fooled
him.

Electra glared at them, and the two subsided.  This was surely going to
be a long assignment.

"How can we help you perform your Service?" King Ivy inquired as they
proceeded to dessert.

"I admit that I have no idea how I should proceed," Forrest said. "I
don't think I have any qualifications."

"Oh, you are surely qualified," Consort Grey said.  "The Good Magician
always knows.  You just have to discover how you are qualified.

"But I don't even know anything about human women, let alone princesses.
How can I presume to advise them?"

"Your authority derives from that of the Good Magician," Ivy said.  "The
twins may pout-" As she spoke, Dawn & Eve pouted prettily.  "But they
know the mission is quite serious, and will do their best.  They know
that this is the only way to save their father, Prince Dolph." And at
that the twins were abruptly serious.

"Can you tell me just what the situation is?  We passed a number of
lines as we approached the castle, but don't know what they mean."

The King sighed.  "They mean that the human sector of Ptero is being
marginalized.  Some hostile force is laying siege to us, and has already
limited us to the immediate region of the castle, so that we can't range
through our lives and be-lome young or old as we choose. This means that
I am stuck at age forty, which is definitely not comfortable for a
woman, and so is my sister Ida.  But that's the least of it.  All the
human beings of this territory have been lost to the margins, so that
only the six of us you see here remain.  Soon all of us will be gone, if
you are not able to guide the twins successfully."

"All are gone?" Imbri asked, appalled.

"All," Ivy said firmly.  "At first we sent folk out to try to deal with
it, but none of them returned.  Even Magicians and Sorceresses were
lost.  Our daughters Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm are gone, and my
grandparents Magician Trent and Sorceress Iris, and Grey's parents
Magician Murphy and Sorceress Vadne.  They went out and got caught by
the margins."

"The margins," Forrest repeated.  "Those are the lines?"

"Yes.  They appear suddenly, and whatever is caught within them is lost.
Sometimes we can see their forms faintly within their enclosures, but we
can't reach them."

"You can't cross the lines?" Forrest asked.

"We can't cross.  They are like glass walls, impenetrable."

"But we crossed them without difficulty."

"They seem to be one way walls," Grey explained.  "My talent is to
nullify magic, but I have not been able to nullify the margins.  I think
it is because they are merely the effects of some distant magic, which I
can't reach.  Similarly Eve's talent is to know anything about anything
inanimate, but she can't discover anything about the margins.  So it may
be that they aren't really there, though their effects certainly are.
Did you try to cross any margins the other way?"

Forrest exchanged a chagrined glance with Imbri.  "No.  It didn't occur
to us.  But still, how can folk be trapped behind the walls, then?

Why don't they cross in toward the castle?"

"When the margins are laid down, they seem to exert control over
whatever they enclose," Grey said.  "The inanimate things remain as they
were, but the animate things become ghostly.  You are the first folk to
pass through them and reach us, since the marginalization began a few
weeks ago.  On occasion we have seen birds from elsewhere fly in, but
soon they drop into a marginalized segment and become ghostly."

"But then that should have happened to us, too," Imbri said.

"We would have thought so," Ivy agreed.  "But we are very glad you got
through."

"The blanket!" Forrest exclaimed.  "It must have helped."

"Blanket?" Princess Ida asked.

"He has a blanket of obscurity that Cathryn Centaur gave us," Imbri
said.

"Cathryn!" Eve said, her dark eyes brightening like stars.  "Is she all
right?"

"Yes, she's fine," Imbri answered.  "She's the one who told us to come
to you twins.  But how do you know her, since you live beyond her limit
of old age?"

Eve smiled.  "Our From limit comes close to her To limit.  We used to
explore that way, and we met her.  We were so small that we had gotten
lost, but she called out to us and directed us back To, so that we were
all right."

"So we like her, and feel that we owe her a service," Dawn said. "But we
have found no way to render it."

"That must be why she sent us to you," Forrest said.  "She knew that you
would help us in our search, since she couldn't."

"Search?" Eve asked.

"I am looking for a faun for a tree in Xanth.  That is what brought us
to Ptero.  Everything else constitutes the complications of that
search."

"Things do get complicated," King Ivy agreed.  "By any chance, did the
Good Magician in Xanth send you to Ptero?"

"Yes," Forrest agreed.  "And the Good Magician in Ptero sent us-" He
paused.  "Why, he must have chained himself, I mean, made a chain from
himself to himself, to get help to you from Xanth!

He sent us to his other self, here, and then-" He paused, momentarily
confused by the complication of it.

"It isn't easy to fathom Humfrey's ways," Grey agreed.  "But they always
make sense at the end.  I came to appreciate that during the years when
I worked for him."

"But I'm still just a faun," Forrest said.  "I can't do any special
magic, and I don't know a whole lot.  How could I possibly succeed,
where Magicians and Sorceresses have failed?"

"If the Good Magician believes you can succeed, then I'm sure it's
true," Grey said.  Then he looked thoughtful.  "Tell me, Forrest: do you
happen to know Princess Ida's talent?"

"Yes.  It's the Idea."

"Too bad," King Ivy muttered.

"What?" Forrest asked, startled.

Grey raised a hand.  "My wife was thinking of something else. Allow me,
if you will, to explore this just a bit further.  Do you know how Ida's
talent actually works?"

"Yes.  Her moon is a solidification of all the ideas associated with
Xanth.  It's where they are stored.  That's why we are here: in pursuit
of an idea.  The idea of a faun who can associate with my neighboring
tree."

Ivy looked up, seeming interested.

"And that is the extent of it?" Grey asked.  "It's just the moon?"

What was the point of this?  "Yes, as far as I know.  Am I being stupi
'd about something?"

"By no means," Grey said quickly.  "No one can be expected to know what
he hasn't seen and hasn't been told."

"I suppose so," Forrest agreed.  He glanced at Imbri, but she averted
her gaze.  That bothered him.  He looked at the twin girls, and they
averted their gazes too.  "There is something, isn't there!"

"There is something you don't know, but it is no fault in you," Grey
said carefully.

"So why don't you tell me what it is, so I won't be so stupid?"

"You are not stupid, you are merely ignorant of something, as anyone in
your situation would be.  I shall be glad to tell you, but I would like
to establish something first."

This was getting annoying.  Forrest didn't like games where everyone
else knew what he didn't, and shared a smug superiority because of it.
"Establish what?"

 "I would like to ascertain whether you agree with my point about the
Good Magician."

"That it isn't easy to fathom his ways?  Yes, I agree."

"And that since he seems to believe that you can succeed in this mission
to Ptero, it must be true."

"Yes, I suppose, though he seems more devious than he has to be."

"So you too believe that you will succeed."

What was with all this circuitous dialogue?  "Yes!  I don't know how
I'll succeed, but I probably will."

"I'm sure you will," Ida agreed.

"Thank you, Princess." Forrest turned his attention back to Magician
Consort Grey.  "So what is it I don't know, aside from how to live up to
the Good Magician's expectation?"

"The rest of the nature of Princess Ida's talent.  It is true that it is
the Idea, but that is not the whole of it.  It is that anything she
accepts as true, is true, and she is glad to agree with the beliefs of
others."

"That's nice," Forrest said, glancing at Ida.  "But isn't that true of
anybody?  I don't accept anything as true that I know is not true, after
all."

"But you could be mistaken."

"Yes.  Anyone could."

"Princess Ida is never mistaken."

This was odd.  "But anyone can be confused, or have wrong information,
at some point."

"Not Ida.  When she accepts an idea, it is true.  That is her talent."

"But-" Forrest looked again at the princess.  "No offense, Princess. But
so what?"

"Since she agrees that you will succeed in your mission, you will
succeed," Grey said.  "That is her talent.  Her reality becomes our
reality."

A pale gleam dawned.  "As a Sorceress, she makes things come true,"
Forrest said.  "That really helps.  But why didn't she just decide that
one of you could overcome this marginalization?  Why bring an ignorant
faun into it?"

"Because the idea has to come from someone who doesn't know her talent.

Forrest pondered that.  All of them obviously knew Princess Ida well.
Even Imbri had known the Princess before.  Only Forrest himself hadn't
known her talent, though he had thought he did.  So only his own belief
in the success of his mission counted.  His ignorance had been his
greatest asset.  "So now I will succeed," he said slowly. "But what I
believe after this won't count, because now I know the true nature of
Princess Ida's talent."

"That's it," Grey agreed.  "But it is enough.  That assurance guarantees
not only your personal success, but the salvation of the whole human
complement of Ptero.  Until this point, we have had to face the prospect
of extinction."

Forrest was amazed, and not completely pleased.  "So I was sent here
because of what I didn't know, so that you could persuade me that I
could succeed, so that it would become possible for me to succeed,
thanks to Princess Ida, so that you could escape your fate."

"Oh, don't be so poopy about it," Dawn said.

"We'll make it up to you," Eve added.  Both of them inhaled.

"You will not!" Electra snapped.

They burst into mirth.  Even Forrest had to laugh at that.  The prospect
of working with them was beginning to seem not so bad.  At least they
were cheerful, and surely their talents were worthwhile.

"So now it seems we all know where we stand," King Ivy said. "We have no
better notion than you do how to proceed from here, but we will give you
any support you need."

"Thank you," Forrest said.  "I suppose I should consult with the girls
and see if we can develop any strategy for dealing with the margins."

"Sure, let's go to the bedroom right away," Dawn said brightly.

"I'll turn down the sheets," Eve agreed darkly.

"Girls!" Electra said severely.  "When I was your age, at least I had
some manners."

"Mom, when you were our age, you were married," Dawn said. "And
exploring tfle Adult Conspiracy."

"And in blue jeans, too," Eve added.  "While we wear dresses."

She spun about, causing her skirt to rise dangerously.  "Now it's our
turn, while we're lush and full."

"Of all the ages to be stuck in," Electra moaned.  "You're imposs'ble.

"Oh come on Mom," Dawn said.  "You enjoyed signaling the stork to order
us.  Admit it."

"Maybe the Tapestry room," Imbri suggested.  "If it's not being used. So
you can show us exactly where things are."

"Oh, we can do that without the Tapestry," Dawn said serenely, tugging
at her blouse.  Eve tugged at her skirt.  But this time King Ivy added
her glare to that of Electra, and the two decided to behave.

They went to the Tapestry room.  Forrest was almost afraid that he would
see himself lying on the bed there, but it was empty.  The four of them
sat on the bed, facing the Tapestry.  Forrest found himself flanked by
Dawn & Eve, their soft hips touching his.  He was uncomfortable, but
pretended not to notice.  He knew they were having innocent fun with
him, and didn't mean what they hinted.

"Can the Tapestry show the margins?" he asked.

"Sure," Dawn said.  She was usually the first to speak, and Eve the
last.  "There they are."

A pattern of lines appeared on the picture.  They crisscrossed the
valley, forming a giant circle.  Castle Roogna was in the center of the
portion that remained clear.  The lines extended out to the pun strips
that bordered the human territory, and stopped there.  None seemed to be
near the Good Magician's castle, however.

"So the attack is limited to the human region," Forrest said, trying to
proceed intelligently despite his continuing awareness of the maidenly
hips touching him.  He tried to think of the girls as the little ones he
had first seen, but it just didn't work; they were big girls now.

"Yes," Eve agreed somberly.  "Even the margins can't stand the puns.

"Imbri and I thought the pattern resembles a game played by invisible
giants," he said.  "Tossing knives."

"Oh, you're so smart!" Dawn exclaimed, nudging him.

He was determined not to be falsely flattered.  "Do you have invisible
giants here?"

"Sure," Eve agreed soberly.  "But they haven't done anything like this
before."

"In any event, they wouldn't have magic like this," Imbri pointed out.

"Who would have magic like this?"

"We don't know," Dawn said.

"Maybe an evil Wizard," Eve added.

"Not a Magician or Sorcerer?" he asked.

"We don't think there are any left," Dawn explained.  "So it must be
something non-human."

Forrest nodded.  "That makes sense to me."

Both girls turned their heads to look at him.  "You mean you're taking
one of our suggestions seriously?" Eve asked.

Forrest was taken aback.  "Shouldn't I?  You both know more about this
situation than I do."

"Nobody ever took us seriously before," Dawn said.

Forrest began to get a glimmer why they tended to misbehave. "I'm
supposed to advise you how to handle the marginalization.  I can't do
that if I don't take you seriously."

The two exchanged a glance, on either side of his face.  It brushed his
head, feeling like a caress.  "You'll actually pay attention to our
ideas?" Eve asked.

"Yes, of course.  What are they?"

"We think the Wizard must be hiding in the hills somewhere, in an ugly
castle, hating human beings because he's not pretty like us," Dawn said.

"And he's casting out margins to hem us in so we can't escape, so he can
destroy us all," Eve said.

" Then we should find him and stop him," Forrest said.  "But how?"

"You got through the lines," Dawn said.  "So maybe you can take us
through, so we can sneak up on him."

"But the lines are one way."

"We can't be sure of that," Eve said uncertainly.  "Maybe it just seems
that way."

"But if even Grey Murphy couldn't dent them-"

"We think maybe the Wizard is watching, and does something to strengthen
a margin when one of us approaches it, to make us think we are trapped
more solidly than we are," Dawn said eagerly. "Maybe if we could go to a
line without being noticed, we could get through it, or do something to
it."

"Well, if my blanket of obscurity helps-"

They clapped their hands in perfect unison.  "Let's try it!" Eve said.
"The worst we can do is fail."

"By all means," Forrest agreed, pleased with the progress they were
making.  The twins were no longer trying to distract him; they were
genuinely interested in the project.

They went downstairs and to the front gate.  There Forrest brought out
the canned blanket and invoked it.  Nothing seemed to happen, but he
proceeded with confidence toward the margins.

They stopped before the nearest line, which was red.  "When Imbri and I
came through, the lines were visible, but we couldn't touch them," he
said.  "But we didn't try very hard.  If your theory is right, we should
be very quiet and careful, because the spell of obscurity may not be
very strong.  I don't know how far out it reaches, so we should remain
closely grouped, too."

They clustered in close, the twins touching him on either side, but this
time they were not trying to tease him.  "It might also be that it's the
margins themselves that react when people approach," Dawn said. "So that
you got through because they didn't know you were challenging them."

"That makes even more sense to me," Forrest said.  "The lines are here
all the time, and if they have any awareness-"

"The inanimate does have awareness," Eve said.  "I can talk to it,
though not the way Grandpa Dor can.  I will try to fathom the nature of
the margins, if I am able to get close enough to make contact."

"You couldn't touch it, before?" Forrest asked.

"It was just a blank nothing," she said.  "I reached out my hand, and it
stopped as if meeting a wall, but there was nothing there.  I can tell
anything about anything inanimate, but this wasn't a thing, it was a
force.  I couldn't reach its substance, if it has any."

"Let's see if we can cross the line," Forrest suggested.  "Then let's
explore it from the other side.  But if we do succeed in crossing it,
don't make any exclamations of joy or victory, because that might
attract the attention of whatever brings down those birds who fly in. We
don't want to be trapped as they were."

The two girls shuddered together.  "We'll be very subdued," Dawn said.

"I'll go first," Forrest decided.  "Then you follow me, Dawn.  Then Eve,
then Imbri."

"But shouldn't someone remain on the other side, in case we are
trapped?" Eve asked.  "So she can tell the others what happened?"

Forrest nodded.  "Good point.  Maybe Dawn should be last, so that both
of you aren't at ridk."

The twins exchanged another glance.  Forrest noticed that their glances
were identical, except that one was bright and the other dark, and met
exactly in the center of the space between them.  Then Dawn nodded.
"When there is something animate to check, I'll cross first," she said.

For-rest reached across the space over the line.  A faint shadow showed
on his arm, but there was no resistance.  He stepped across, and stood
on the other side.

Eve tried it next.  She reached to the invisible wall, and found
nothing, so she too stepped across.  She looked back at her sister. "Can
you hear me, Dawn?"

,,Yes," Dawn agreed.  "So we're doing it."

Imbri crossed.  "Now let's see if you can analyze it from this side,"
she said.

Eve squatted so that she could touch the line on the ground.  "It's
still not-wait, it's very faint, but I can feel something.  It's not the
thing, just the energy from it, which piles up at the ground.  It-it's
because it isn't projecting up from the ground, it's coming down from
above.

"Down from above!" Forrest echoed, surprised.  "But there's nothing up
there!

Imbri looked up.  "Nothing except Xanth.  Is this an idea coming from
Princess Ida in Xanth?"

"She wouldn't do anything mean like this," Dawn said.  "We know her;
she's nice."

"Then it must be from somewhere else," Forrest said.  "Can you trace
it?"

Eve moved her hand.  "Maybe.  It's energy, but I can feel the slightest
tingle.  It seems to go straight up from the shadow on the ground.

"If it comes from above, it must come from somewhere," Imbri said.
"Ptero is turning, so shouldn't the shadow be moving across the ground?"

The other three looked at her.  "It should," Dawn agreed.  "So maybe it
isn't coming from above."

"But it is," Eve said.  "I can tell."

"Maybe not from beyond Ptero," Forrest suggested.  "Could it curve or
bend?"

"That's it," Eve said.  "I can tell now; it turns a corner.  I can feel
that much from its nature.  A corner that way." She closed her eyes and
pointed.

"That's toward Castle Roogna!" Imbri said.

"The enemy menace is in Castle Roogna?" Dawn asked, appalled. "But
that's us."

"Could you have an enemy in your midst?" Forrest asked, feeling a chill.

"No," Dawn said.  "There's only King Ivy and Consort Grey; they would
never betray the human territory.  After all, they govern it. There's
mom-she'd never do it either.  And Aunt Ida is Ivy's twin sister; she'd
never do it.  It isn't the two of us, either.  And there's no one else
in the castle, now; we know."

Forrest got a weird notion.  "There could be others."

Eve looked at him.  "We have explored every cranny of the castle, with
our magic.  There's no one."

"Have you explored Pyramid?"

Both their mouths dropped open.  "Pyramid!" Dawn said.  "It's a whole
separate world in itself!  Anything could be there."

"Including even an evil Wizard," Eve agreed.  "We never thought of
that."

"It's Forrest's business to think of it," Imbri said.  "He must be
right.  We have seen how much there can be on a seemingly tiny moon.
Ptero is such a moon.  Pyramid is another, and there could be anything
at all there.  Including someone who wants to take over Ptero. Your evil
Wizard."

"It could be," Dawn breathed.  "That would explain everything. But what
can we do about it?"

"We can go to Pyramid," Forrest said.

"But can we?" Imbri asked.  "You and I came here by leaving our bodies
behind, and letting our souls become solid.  But our souls wouldn't fit
on Pyramid.  And what of Dawn & Eve?  Their souls are mostly tied up in
their living year in Xanth.  How could they go?"

Forrest pondered.  "Dawn & Eve must have small soul fragments here-maybe
about the same amount as we have, relative to Ptero. Enough to animate
their bodies on Pyramid."

"That's true," Dawn said.  "Souls are living, so I know.  We have just
that much.  But what of you two, who are all-soul here?"

"We'll just have to leave most of our souls behind," Forrest said. "And
use just enough for Ptero.  It should be similar to what we did in
Xanth, leaving our bodies lying in the Tapestry room."

The other three nodded.  "I think we shall have to go to Pyramid," Imbri
said.  "But first we'll have to tell the others."

"Mom's not going to like this much," Eve said darkly.

"But she'll get used to it," Dawn said brightly.  "She always does."

Forrest and Eve stepped back across the margin, and the four of them
walked back toward Castle Roogna.  Forrest was pleased with the progress
they had made, but nervous about what might be in store for them.  This
mission had just become more complicated than he had expected.

ou want to go where?" Electra demanded, appalled.

"Mother, we already explained," Dawn said, as if the woman were slow in
intellect.

"It's the only way to deal with the marginalization," Eve continued.
"The margins are coming from Pyramid, so we have to go there to stop
them."

"But it's just a decoration spinning around Princess Ida's head!

How could any of you fit there?" But the question was rhetorical,
because her next question was "Suppose you don't return?"

"I fear it is a risk they will have to take," King Ivy said.  "The
alternative is to allow ourselves to be marginalized out of existence.
Remember, they are going to succeed."

"Forrest Faun will succeed," Electra said.  "That says nothing about my
daughters."

"But his mission is to advise them how to accomplish it," Grey said. "So
if he succeeds, so do they."

"Yes, I'm sure they will," Ida agreed.  "And I confess to being curious
about who lives on Pyramid."

Electra seemed to have some continuing misgivings, but she knew that the
alternative was just as bad.  They went up to the Tapestry room with
Ida, and the four of them lay down on beds there.  "I will guide Dawn,"
Imbri said.  "And Forrest will guide Eve.  It will be somewhat strange
at first, but that will settle down once we are on Pyramid."

"It should be fun," Dawn said bravely, but she looked a smidgen
uncertain.

"If nothing goes wrong," Eve agreed, looking two smidgens uncertain.

Forrest was not at all certain that nothing would go wrong, but he
didn't care to say that.  He hoped that Ida's belief in their success
would make it true, but he had not seen her talent in action.  So he
proceeded with the program.  He sat up, dug out his bottle, and took it
to Dawn.  "Sniff this," he said, hoping that it worked the same way as
it did in Xanth.  He pulled out the stopper.

Dawn sniffed.  A strange look spread across her features.  She closed
her eyes and stopped breathing.

Forrest brought it to Eve.  She sniffed, and faded similarly out.  Then
he lay back on his own bed, the same one he had used in Xanth, and
sniffed it himself.

Soon he was floating, as before.  But this time it wasn't his soul
leaving his body, exactly; it was a tiny part of his soul detaching
itself from the main mass, and carrying his awareness with it.

"This way." It was Imbri's voice, directing Dawn.  She had not had to
use the elixir, perhaps because she was long accustomed to soul form.

Forrest concentrated, and formed his own eye and ear and mouth.

He oriented oti Eve, who was lying there with a haze drifting above her.
Rather, she was the haze, floating above her unused body.  The body was
dark and lovely, but looked dead.  "Form an eye," he told her.  "Pull
yourself together."

The mist quivered and coalesced.  A bulbous eye developed in its top.

"That's it," he said encouragingly.  "Now form a mouth and ear."

Slowly these things formed.  "This is weird," the mouth said.

"It will become familiar, once we land on Pyramid," he told her.

"See if you can form your own shape as we go.  In a moment we'll join
Imbri and Dawn, and fly to that world."

She shaped up, getting the hang of it, and became a somewhat tenuous
naked woman.

"You can use your substance to make clothing," he told her, realizing
that she was now going into what amounted to full-soul status. "Just
concentrate on it the same way."

"Oh." A clumsy dress formed around her.

"Now follow me." He made sure her eyeballs were aimed in his direction,
and started moving toward Imbri and Dawn.

Dawn had made similar progress.  Her form was lighter in color, with an
ill-fitting white dress, but her face was recognizably her. When Eve
caught up, the two gazed at each other-and burst out laughing.

"Easy," Forrest cautioned them, as they threatened to fragment into
cloudlets.

The two managed to stifle their mirth.  Actually it was probably a good
thing, because it meant they were adapting to their situation.

"This way," Imbri said.  She was in her mare form.  She started trotting
up a steep invisible hill.

They followed, using their legs to run up the same hill.  "Make
yourselves smaller as you go," Forrest said, doing it himself.  "Keep
condensing."

Soon Pyramid came into sight above and ahead.  It looked like a distant
moon with a sharp triangular outline.  It expanded as they contracted,
until it resembled a close planet.  Then it looked like a huge turning
world.  Each of its faces was a different color: blue, red, green, and
the bottom was gray.

"This is wild," Dawn remarked appreciatively.

"And perhaps fun," Eve agreed.

They oriented on the middle of the triangle they were headed for: the
blue face.  "Forrest, maybe you should use the obscurity spell again,"
Imbri suggested.

Good idea.  He reached back into his knapsack and brought out the can.
"Invoke," he said.  Nothing happened, but it was probably working.  Now
no evil wizard would notice their landing, maybe.

"ooooh, we're falling!" Dawn cried.

"But we can control it," Imbri said.  "Just focus on slowing, when you
wish to."

They came down onto a land that was surprisingly ragged, considering the
evenness of the outline.  There were mountains and ravines and tilted
plains, with lakes splashed between.  But what was Most remarkable was
the color: it was all in shades of blue.  Forrest hadn't marveled about
it before, being too distracted by the problem of landing safely.  But
now he realized that even the clouds they had passed were blue.  So this
was no special effect, like the blue sky of Xanth; it was the color of
the substance of this world on this side.

"I don't think we're on Ptero any more," Dawn murmured.  "That isn't the
blue of North; it's all over."

"The magic of Pyramid must be different from Ptero, just as Ptero's
magic is different from Xanth," Forrest said.  "It may take us a while
to adapt."

"I'm getting dizzy," Eve said.  "The idea of not knowing the direction
by color is awful!  How will we know From and To?"

"There may not be any," Forrest said.  "Age and geography may not be
linked, on this world."

"oooh, ugh!" Dawn said.

"I hope I don't get sick," Eve added.

"You may be feeling blue," Forrest said.

Both girls glanced at him sharply, and he realized that he had said
something funny.  He had been thinking of the loneliness of leaving one
world and trying to adjust to another, but he doubted that they would
believe that.

They had landed on a field between mountains.  It was covered with blue
grass and blue flowers.  It was also tilted: when they stood, they were
at an angle to the plain.  But they were safely down.  Imbri retained
her mare form; evidently she had enough soul mass to assume her natural
mode on this world.  She was a glistening blue-black, with a sleek hide
and nice mane and tail.

Dawn knelt to check the grass.  "This is natural and friendly," she
reported.  "It will produce seeds for us, if we're hungry."

Dawn got down beside a rock.  "This is natural and friendly too," she
said.  "It will make itself soft if someone wants to sit on it."

So far, so good, Forrest thought.  Given a choice, he preferred friendly
things.

Then a horde of little creatures came charging across the ground toward
them.  They were like squirrels, except that they ran on their hind two
legs.  They were light blue.

"Are they friendly?" Forrest asked, worried.

"The grass says no," Dawn said.

"The rock says yes," Eve said.

Forrest made a quick calculation.  "Does that mean that they eat grass
and don't eat rocks?"

"Yes," they said together.

Then the creatures were upon them.  They formed circles around each of
the four visitors, chirping avidly.  They all stood perpendicular to the
plane, in contrast to the visitors.

"These are lings," Dawn said as she touched one.  "A variety of a broad
species that appears in many places.  There are Earthlings, Xanthlings,
Prerolings, and Pyramidlings.  They can make the impossible possible.
They are widespread on Pyramid.  They noticed us because we stand skew
and aren't blue."

Forrest was impressed.  Her talent went beyond what he had imagined.
"Maybe we need to change, so that we aren't immediately obvious to folk
we might not want to be obvious to," he said.  "Also, I had better renew
the spell of obscurity; it must have worn off."

"But if the magic is different here, the spell won't work," Imbri
pointed out.  She didn't use her mouth; she used a dreamlet.  Evidently
she was able to do multiple dreamlets here, having more than enough soul
to go around, so they could all hear her at once.

"Unless the lings really can do the impossible," he replied.  "Can they
make us blue?"

"Yes," Dawn said after a moment.  "And they can make us tilt with the
land, the way they do.  But there's a cost."

"There always is," Imbri muttered.

"What cost?" Forrest asked warily.

Dawn touched the lings again, trying to understand.  "Whoever gives
anything away, on this world, gains equivalently." She looked up.  "Does
that makes sense?  It seems impossible."

"And they are creatures of the impossible," Forrest said.  "So it must
be true.  So maybe we don't want to accept anything until we understand
its consequence.  If the giver gains, what does the receiver lose?"

Dawn's brow furrowed as she concentrated on the little creatures. "The
receiver gets smaller," she said.  "The giver gets larger."

"Weird," Eve said.

"How much larger and smaller?" Forrest asked.

"Not a lot.  But some.  For an individual gift.  Those who give a lot
can become giants, eventually.  But those who accept a lot can get
rather small in time, and even disappear."

"Then let's choose carefully," Forrest said.  "I think we do need to
merge with the natives, and if the obscurity spell doesn't work-" He
paused.  "Can they fix that?  It seems impossible, so-"

"Yes, they can," Dawn said.

"Then let's accept three things from them: the ability to stand at right
angles to the terrain, as they do, and blue color, and a working
obscurity spell.  I don't think we need more.  After all, Dawn's & Eve's
talents are working, so maybe our direct personal magic isn't lost."

"They'll do it," Dawn said.

The lings closed in around the four, and suddenly they all changed color
and tilted to conform to the terrain.  The lings looked a size
larger-and maybe the four visitors were a size smaller.

Forrest brought out his canned spell and invoked it.  Then the lings
lost interest, roaming on across the field, nibbling on stalks of grass.
So the blanket of obscurity was working again.

The four surveyed each other.  Their tilt did not seem odd, because now
they matched the lay of the land.  But their color was something else.
Dawn's red hair was now purple, and her white dress was pale blue. Eve's
black hair was midnight blue, and her dark dress was perhaps two hours
off midnight, while her skin was light blue.  Mare Imbri was also
midnight blue.  Forrest was medium blue, his furred legs darker than his
upper torso, and his hoofs darker yet.

,"Actually, we don't look bad," Dawn said, smiling.  Her teeth were
metallic blue.

"And now we fit in," Eve agreed.  "This isn't so bad, so far."

"So far," Forrest agreed.  "But we know there are mean folk here,
because of what they're doing to Ptero, and we don't know their full
powers.  That's why I felt it was worth a price to become halfway
anonymous."

"So now that we're halfway anonymous, what next?" Imbri asked.

Forrest found decision making awkward, but that was his job now, so he
pondered briefly.  "We need to find the source of the margins.

I think the blue ones must come from this side of Pyramid.  Maybe the
center.

Dawn nodded.  "Makes sense to me.  So let's go to the center.  Do we
know which way that is?"

Eve knelt down and touched the ground with one hand.  "Yes.  That way."
She pointed a direction.

"You can tell direction by feeling the ground?" Forrest asked.

"I can tell anything about anything inanimate.  The ground is inanimate.
So I just selected for its orientation.  The center of this face is that
way."

"You girls really do have formidable talents," he said.  "I didn't
realize how useful such magic could be."

Eve looked at Dawn.  "He appreciates us.  Shall I blush, or shall you?"

"It's my turn, I think," Dawn said.  Whereupon she turned as red as her
hair.  But since her hair was no longer red, but a shade of blue, her
blush was blue too.  However, it was a redder shade than the rest of
her.

Forrest wasn't sure whether they were teasing him again, and decided not
to inquire.  They might decide to make him blush again. They were being
helpful now, but they remained mischievous girls.

They set off for the center of the blue triangle.  However, they soon
encountered a body of water.  It was on the slope, and it sloped the
same way, but this no longer seemed odd, because the four of them were
oriented at the same angle.

"Oh, good, I'm thirsty," Dawn said.  "Is it safe to drink?"

 Eve lay down at the edge of the water.  She touched its surface with
one finger.  "How come you got to be the one to blush?" she demanded
suddenly.  "I'm sure it was my turn."

Dawn was evidently surprised.  "Well, you can have the next turn. I
didn't realize-"

"And how come you rate the bright red hair and green eyes, while I'm
dull shades of black?"

"Well, we're both blue now, but-"

"And how come you always get to speak first, and I always have to be
second?  Ever since we were children-"

"Eve, I don't understand-"

"The water!" Forrest exclaimed.  "It did something to her."

Dawn nodded.  "Eve, what's with the water?"

Eve concentrated.  "This is the jealous sea.  It makes anyone who drinks
it or touches it jealous." Then she heard herself talk5ing, and was
startled.  "Oh, no!"

"Oh, yes," Dawn said.  "That's why you're suddenly jealous of me, when
you never were before.  That water's no good."

"Right," Eve agreed.  "Still, I don't see why you-" Then she stifled
herself, realizing what was happening.

"We had better not drink this water," Forrest decided.  "We'll wa Ik
around it.  There's bound to be other water."

"This way," Imbri said in a dreamlet, and trotted around to the side.

Soon the jealous sea gave way, and they came to another large body of
blue water.

"Should I try this first?" Dawn asked.

"Oh, now you're trying to do my work," Eve grumped.  She squatted at the
edge and touched the water.

Then she stood.  "I feel like doing something new," she said.  "Forrest,
look at this." She pulled off her blue blouse.  She dropped it, and it
dissolved into soul substance as it left her hand.  She was left wearing
a blue bra that hardly seemed up to the chore of containing her bosom.

"That must be the Indecen Sea," Imbri said, catching on to the symptom.

"You bet it is," Eve said, pulling off her skirt and letting it dissolve
similarly.  She wore a blue slip that seemed hardly better than nothing.

Forrest had been slow to react, but now he turned to face away from her.
He had had enough trouble when Imbri was in girl form; the last thing he
needed was trouble with an indecent princess.

"What, don't you like me?" Eve demanded, coming up behind him.  "Let's
do something really outrageous."

"Let's go find another sea!" Dawn cried.

"Why?  I like this one." Eve put her arms around Forrest from behind.
"Hey, I asked you a question, Forrest Faun."

"I think you're beautiful," Forrest said, struggling to free himself.

But the more he struggled, the tighter she clung to him, and the more
her body flattened against him.  She wasn't small, the way Imbri had
been on Ptero; she was almost his own height, and almost his mass, but
the distribution was way different.

"Let go of him, sister dear, or I'll-" Dawn started, tugging at Eve.

"You'll what, sister dear?" Eve demanded challengingly.

"I'll jump in that water!"

Eve paused.  Then she let go.  She knew that if Dawn jumped in, she
would suddenly be twice as indecent as Eve, and therefore twice the
competition.  She didn't want that.

Forrest took advantage of his release to move quickly away.  Eve's
indecent proposal had interested him more than he dared admit.  He
needed to stay well away from her, until the effect of the water passed.

Imbri approached him.  "Maybe you should ride me," she suggested in a
dreamlet.

"Thanks." He hopped onto her back.  She was big and solid enough now so
it was no problem for her, and this would keep him pretty much out of
the Princess' reach.  That was of course why Imbri had suggested it.

They moved on, leaving the Indecen Sea behind.  They hurried, because
all of them were getting thirsty, and they didn't want to give Eve any
time to think of anything else to do.  As it was she remained without
her outer clothing, and was trying to catch Forrest's eye.  It was
obvious that the effect of the water had not yet worn off.

Then they came to a large blue rock.  It extended to the edge of the
sea, so that they had either to splash through the edge of the sea to
get around it, or make a long detour the other way.

They stopped before it, considering.  "Maybe we could climb over it,"
Forrest suggested.

"Maybe you could," Imbri said.  "But I would have to change form."

Which would put her back in girl form.  He knew she had adopted her
natural form so as not to tease him any more.  Her shape shifting
ability seemed to be pretty much limited to going between her two
"natural" forms.  He preferred to keep her as a mare.  "Maybe we could
make a ramp high enough to cross it," he said.

But there was nothing from which to make a ramp.  So Eve approached the
rock.  "I'll find out if there is any good way to get past it," she
said.  "But first, how about a little kiss, faun?"

That was more mischief.  Forrest faced away from her.  He didn't want to
offend her, but he knew that it was only the water that made her so
forward.

"Well, maybe after I get the answer," Eve said.  She bent over to touch
the rock, after making sure that Forrest was looking.  Her slip was
becoming shorter as time passed.  She was getting smarter about
herindecency.

Her hand passed through the rock.  She fell into it and disappeared.

"Hey!" she cried.  "This isn't real rock.  It's sham rock!"

Dawn tittered.  "You must be lying, then."

"It's not that kind of sham rock," Eve retorted.  "But you can lie if
you want to."

"Very well.  I don't want to kiss someone all over his fur."

"Neither do I," Eve said.  "I really hate the notion."

"Enough lying," Dawn said.  Then she walked into the rock to rescue her
sister.  In a moment they both emerged.  "We can walk right through it,"
Dawn called.  "Come on."

Imbri walked cautiously forward, carrying Forrest.  The blue darkness of
the rock closed about them.  In a moment they emerged from the other
side.

And there ahead of them was a third body of water.  Forrest hoped that
this one was good.

Eve walked toward it.  "Are you sure you should-?" Dawn asked nervously.

"Better than you risking it," Eve said, flopping indecently down on the
ground with her legs spread.  Forrest managed to avert his eyes just
before disaster.

She touched the surface.  A beatific smile crossed her face and drifted
some distance beyond.  "Oh, I feel so relieved!"

"What is it?" Dawn asked.

"It's a Mer Sea," she said in kindly fashion.  "It forgives everything."

"Then we'd better drink it," Imbri said.

Forrest jumped off her back, and they went to drink.  As soon as he
touched the water, a marvelous feeling of compassion washed through him.

Eve approached him.  "Forrest, I apologize for my unfortunate behavior.
I really should not have-"

"That's all right," he said quickly.  "It was the water."

"Yes.  But you still look doubtful."

41t, s just that, if you don't mind-"

.  "Yes?"

"If you would put your clothing back on."

"Oh." It must have been her turn to blush, because she did so to the
waist before reforming her outer apparel.

After that they walked more comfortably on toward the center of the
triangle.  But the blue landscape darkened.  Night was coming.  That
probably meant that Xanth was darkening, and with it Ptero, and with it,
Pyramid.  It had nothing to do with the spin of this world.  So they
looked for a suitable place to spend the night.

The darkness wasn't complete.  This was awkward, because the blue
landscape remained somewhat strange to their eyes, and made relaxation
for sleep difficult.

"That looks like a nightshade tree," lmbri said.  "That should help."

Sure enough, under the blue tree there was a pool of darkness.  It was
midnight blue-black, the same as Imbri's hide, and impenetrable.  Beside
it was a sweetgum tree.  So they picked a number of the leaves and
twigs, which were made of sweet gum with a slightly woody flavor.  This
was enough to satisfy their incidental hunger. Their renewed thirst was
satisfied by several small local ponds which turned out to be teas:
serendipi, sereni, punctuali, joviali, and naugh. They were especially
tempted by the last one, but after the experiences of the seas,
concluded that discretion was best.  Farther along they spied calami,
adversi, frail, and pomposi, which were worse, so they gave up on their
search for anything better.  They drank the sereni-tea and soon relaxed
into sleep in the pleasant darkness of the nightshade.  Imbri remained
in her mare form, needing no blanket, while the girls lay close together
and were warm.  That left Forrest alone, thinking thoughts that made him
feel guilty.  It had been bad enough when Imbri was in girl form; now
there were two genuine girls.

Next morning they took turns bathing in the pool with punctualitea, then
promptly got on their way.  This was just as well, because the terrain
became much rougher.  They were no longer walking tilted, relative to
the larger landscape, which suggested that they were approaching the
center of the blue triangle, and Eve's testing of the ground verified
this.  But this levelness of the underlying land seemed to encourage the
surface features to splurge, and the landscape was like tumbled blue
blocks left by a giant.  They had to scramble over and under and around,
and squeeze through reluctant crevices, so that it took them most of a
day to travel what might otherwise have been a two-hour walk.

Then, as they finally cleared the blue blocks, they came to a jungle
inhabited by cat people.  Fortunately Forrest had remembered to reinvoke
the blanket of obscurity, so the cats didn't notice them.  That was just
as well, because when they changed from cat to people form, and various
combinations of the two, they probably wouldn't like being spied on.

"But maybe I can approach one separately, and get her advice on the
local situation," Dawn said brightly.  "Because there must be something
to send out the blue lines, and we had better know what we are looking
for before we blunder into it."

The others agreed.  But when Dawn located an isolated blue cat woman,
and approached her, she had a problem.  "Please, miss-can you tell me
about this region?"

The woman ignored her, and went about her business of scratching out
blue catnip.

"I just want to know what is ahead," Dawn said, trying again.  "Is there
any special danger?"

The cat walked away.

"It's the blanket of obscurity," Forrest said, catching on.  "It makes
you unnoticeable."

Dawn sighed.  "That's right.  And I'm sure it has protected us from much
mischief.  But how can I talk with this feline?"

"Just touch her and learn all about her, dummy," Eve said.

A dim bulb flickered over Dawn's head.  She touched the cat woman's arm.
"She is Catrina," she announced.  "Of the category of Feline Folk who
cater to the catacombs.  She had a whole collection of cat combs she has
made for the ones who live in maze-like tunnels. On occasion she brings
some combs to the Blue Wizard's castle.  It's very forbidding, and no
one can get in who isn't invited.  It's guarded by all manner of
monsters."

"You can tell all that from one touch of the cat woman?" Forrest asked.

"Yes.  It's part of everything about her.  But I can't get beyond her
personal experience.  She's never actually been inside the castle, and
knows nothing about its content.  But she's afraid of the Wizard, who
has given so much away that he has become enormous."

Forrest took a moment to work that out, remembering that on this world
creatures gained size and power by being generous.  "But how can he give
so much away?" he asked.  "I mean, where does he get anything to give
away?  It must come from somewhere."

"From Ptero," Imbri said in a dreamlet.

"That's right!" Eve agreed.  "See if he gives away any talents."

Dawn checked.  "Yes, he has given away many talents-and I recognize some
from people I know on Ptero.  One cat woman got the talent of changing
things to strawberry jam, for all that it comes out blue.  Another got
the talent of Charisma, which becomes purrsuasion; now she is queen of
the cat people.  Another got the talent of spell-checking."

"Hey, isn't that Com Pewter's talent?" Imbri asked.

"No, his talent is changing local reality to suit himself," Forrest
said.  "But checking spells-that's a strong one.  If that belonged to
one of the folk captured by the margins, it is becoming clear where all
the magic is going.  The Blue Wizard is getting it and giving it away to
add to his power."

"Another got the talent of changing the color of the sky," Dawn
continued, checking the cat woman.  "So she can make it any shade of
blue.  Another got the talent of throwing his voice with his hand, so he
can make it go anywhere."

"So the Wizard is stealing talents from Ptero to give away hers," Imbri
said indignantly.  "How can he get away with that?"

"Apparently Pyramid's rules don't take account of the outside realm,"
Eve said thoughtfully.  "So he has a dandy way to become all-powerful."

"And there must be other Wizards on the other faces of Pyramid," Forrest
said.  "Doing the same thing."

"And we have to stop them," Dawn said, letting the cat woman go on her
way.  "Does anyone have any idea how?"

There was a silence that bobbled around from one to another.  None of
them knew what to do.

Which meant it was up to Forrest.  "I suppose we should approach the
Blue Wizard's castle and see what we can do," he suggested feebly.

"Now I am just a na:fve girl," Eve said.  "With barely a notion of the
Adult Conspiracy, and no experience." Her sister smirked at that. "But
even I know that we'd probably get hauled in and executed without
trial."

"I couldn't have said it better, even if you did usurp my turn," Dawn
said.

"It wasn't your turn.  You spoke last before me."

"But this is a new subject.  I always comment first on new things."

"Girls, girls," Forrest said, finding himself shoved into a role their
mother had played on Ptero.

Both turned to him, their motions so well coordinated that he knew he
had been had.  Imbri faced away, letting him handle it in his own
fashion.  "And what are you going to do about it?" Dawn inquired. "Spank
us?"

"Shall we hoist our skirts for it?" Eve continued.  "So you can smack
our pan-"

"Girls!" he cried in boldface.  Then, more quietly: "After this mission
is done, and your friends have been saved, and we are no longer in
danger of being executed, then you may tease me as much as you want, and
maybe even make me blush again.  You are both extremely attractive young
women, and I am a faun, and I would love to play games with you in my
natural fashion.  But at present we are in danger, and any mistake we
make could cost us not only our lives, but imperil the fate of all the
human folk remaining on Ptero.  So though you may regard me as
unqualified, and perhaps laughable, I hope you will allow me to do the
best I can in the role that the Good Magician requires of me.  That is
to guide you to success in saving yoL,r land from marginalization."

The two exchanged a glance.  Then they turned together to look at
Forrest.  All four of their eyes were bright.  "We apologize most
abjectly," Dawn said.  "We were indeed forgetting our mission." She
wiped a tear from her right eye.

"But we ask you to understand that we do take the mission seriously,"
Eve continued.  "We tend to joke around when we are under tension,
because it is better than crying." She wiped a tear from her left eye.

Forrest was chagrined.  "I didn't realize.  I apologize for-"

"We will behave from now on," Dawn said.  "Until the mission is done."

"But thereafter," Eve said, "we may indeed tease you in fun, and play
with you in the manner of nymphs."

"That isn't necessary," he said quickly.  "I never meant to suggest-"

"We are of age," Dawn said.

"And we are learning respect for you," Eve added.

"But-"

"So now we will apologize to you in the manner of the gourd-"

"And leave you with a moderate notion of what we have in mind."

"But the gourd apologies are excessively-" he began, alarmed.

But he was cut off by Dawn, who stepped into him, embraced him closely,
and kissed him with such passion that his head seemed in danger of
floating away.  It was as if the sun were rising and blinding him with
its warm, delightful light.  Then she released him, and Eve hugged him
so firmly that he needed no eyes to appreciate her every contour, and
kissed him even more passionately.  This time it was as if the sun were
setting and carrying him into the lovely encompassing night.

Then she let him go, and he stood stunned, with little suns and moons
circling his head.  Dawn had primed him, and Eve had wiped him out.

From what seemed like a far distance he heard them speaking again.  "We
do like you, Forrest," Dawn murmured in his left ear.

"And when we do show you our panties, we won't be fooling," Eve murmured
in his right ear.

Then they kissed his pointed ears, simultaneously.

Forrest found himself lying on the ground, with little hearts and
planets spinning crazily over his face.  The girls were fanning him and
brushing off his fur.  "I guess we overdid it," Dawn said.  "He
fainted."

"But we'll be more careful from now on," Eve agreed.

"We had better change to blue jeans."

"And not too tight."

"But once this is done-"

.  "We'll show him everything."

This had gone on more than long enough.  Forrest opened his eyes. "I
think I'm all right," he said.  "I-"

"We double-teamed you," Dawn said.  "We apologize."

"No!" he exclaimed desperately.

They both laughed.  "Not gourd fashion, silly," Eve said.  "We've
already done that." Then they helped him up.  They were now in baggy
blue jeans and blue plaid shirts that cut their feminine appeal in half.
Since there were two of them, that was still more than enough.

" We thought you were being gallant," Eve said.  "Now we realize that
you really do like us, as we like you."

"I'm a faun," he repeated.  "I like nymphs.  Recently I have been
learning to like real folk too.  But I'm not used to the emotions."

"So we gather," Dawn said.  "You have surely had far more physical
experience than we, as delicate maidens, would care to imagine. While we
have had more emotional experience than you have been equipped to
comprehend.  It will be fun merging experiences, in due course."

"But it is true that we face what may be a deadly challenge, here,"

Eve said.

"So while maybe we shouldn't have teased you," Dawn said, "we do feel
that you were being na:fve about the approach to the Wizard's castle."

"And while we don't want to interfere with your role as assigned by the
Good Magician," Eve said, "we hope you will reconsider."

"I think I had better," he agreed ruefully.  "Suppose we approach the
castle cautiously, staying out of sight, and see what we can make of
it?"

Imbri returned to the dialogue.  She had been so still that he had
almost forgotten her.  "The girls can explore the castle to a degree
without even approaching it."

"That's better," he agreed.  "If we can find someone who goes in and out
of the castle, or some object that has been inside-"

"We can watch and see," Imbri said.

So they made their way on toward the castle.  Forrest refreshed the
blanket of obscurity; that was proving to be a big help, because they
might otherwise already have been noticed and surrounded by the Wizard's
minions, if he had minions.

The castle was a huge, grim structure of mottled blue.  There was an
odor waiting from it.  "I know that smell," Imbri said.  "I have
encountered it on the moon.  Blue cheese!"

"But isn't that squishy?" Dawn asked.

"Not when it's old enough.  The cheese of the moon ranges from almost
liquid brie to rock hard cheddar.  Any cheese gets firm when exposed to
the sun for a few years."

"And magic could stiffen it," Eve said.

A guard marched around the castle.  He didn't see or notice them, thanks
to the obscurity and their care in hiding, and passed quite close. "Look
at that!" Dawn whispered.  "His hand is metal!"

"Silly-that's a hand gun," Eve pointed out.  "It makes sense for a
guard."

The man marched on past them, and Forrest saw that his hand really was a
gun.  He wondered what happened when the man wanted to shake hands with
anyone.

A light came on at the side door of the castle.  It was a special shade
of bright blue.  "Oh, I wouldn't want to smear that UltraViolent light
bulb," Eve said.  "Those are mean when messed with."

Then the door opened and a man emerged.  He was carrying a bag of
something.  He walked to a pit some distance from the castle, and tossed
the bag in.  Then he returned and reentered the castle.

"Garbage!" Dawn said.  "Ugh!"

"But it's been inside the castle," Forrest pointed out.  " So-'

"Ugh!" Eve said.

"Well, maybe it's not a good idea."

Eve sighed.  "No, it makes sense.  It's just not very romantic."

So they circled the castle at a distance, until they came to the pit. It
had every type of refuse, and it stank.  But they climbed down into it,
looking for the most recent bag.

"Ah, here it is," Eve said, putting her hand on it.  "Recently carried
by Jan Itor.  It contains trash and kitchen leavings collected by the
night watchman, A.  Lert.  They are from all over the castle."

"Just what we need," Dawn said.  "I know you'll just love sinking your
hands in all that, sister dear."

"With luck, some of it isn't dead yet, sister dear," Eve agreed,
wrinkling her nose.  "So you will also have the pleasure." She opened
the bag and pulled out a tube.  "Toothpaste that pastes the mouth
closed.  No wonder they threw it out."

Dawn spied a large ant struggling to escape the bag.  She let it walk on
her hand.  "This is a de-odor-ant.  It can make a person lose the sedse
of smell.  I guess they threw it out because they like the smell of blue
cheese."

Eve pulled out an old pen.  "This is what is left of an invisible ink
pen," she said.  "Originally the pen held several large ugly animals,
but each animal used up some of the ink, and the pen gradually shrank,
until it was too small to be of use."

"What about the layout of the castle?" Forrest asked.  "Is there a
secret entrance?  Whe.-e does the Wizard stay?"

In due course, piecing through the thrown away junk, they were able to
work out a fair notion of the castle plan.  The Wizard lived in the
highest chamber, through which the blue lines passed.  The lines
actually seemed to come from below, however: the dungeon. That was
entirely sealed off from outside, and only the Wizard had access from
inside.  There was no refuse from it; evidently it had its own internal
garbage dump.  So the riddle of the lines remained.

"We need more information than we can get from outside," Forrest said.
"But if even the servants don't know what's in that dungeon, who else
will know?"

"Only the Wizard," Imbri said.  "And he keeps the secret, so that no one
else can steal talents from Ptero and give them away for power."

"But someone else must know," Forrest said.  "Because there are three
other Wizards with the secret."

"And they used it to make themselves supreme in their triangles," Dawn
said.

"And they won't tell us either," Eve agreed.

"We need a better idea," Imbri said.

Something flirted with Forrest's attention, and slid away.  He pursued
it, and managed to nab it before it escaped.  It was an idea. "Idea!" he
exclaimed.  "Ida-her talent is the Idea.  Maybe she would have an idea."

"But Ida's far away," Dawn said.

"That is, her head is-and huge," Eve agreed.

"No-I mean the Ida who must be here.  Your world of Ptero orbits Ida of
Xanth; this world of Pyramid orbits Ida of Ptero.  So there must be an
Ida here with another world, and maybe she would know the secrets of the
worlds."

The girls exchanged another glance.  "This is weird," Dawn said.

"But maybe true," Eve said.

"And worth a try," Imbri said.  "If there's any chance she's here, and
she would know -she's a nice person, and surely would help us."

They climbed out of the pit and walked away from the castle.  They found
a lake that didn't have any objectionable magic and washed up.  The
girls simply waded in with their clothing on, and after a startled
moment Forrest realized that since their clothing was part of their
soul-stuff, it didn't matter.

Then they pondered how to locate Ida.  "I can learn much from living
folk," Dawn said.  "But it's sort of random; finding out whether they
know a particular person could take a long time."

"Same for the inanimate," Eve said.  "I could see whether a rock had
ever seen a particular person pass, but first I'd have to go through its
entire list of people, which could be hundreds.  And it might not
recognize a particular person anyway; rocks aren't very smart."

"Grandpa Dor could make them talk," Dawn said.  "That made it much
easier."

"Of course we had to watch our skirts when Grandpa Dor was around," Eve
said.  "Any rock we stepped over would blab about what it saw."

"Unless Grandma Irene was there," Dawn said.  "She could glare a rock
into silence from far away."

:, We miss them," Eve concluded sadly.

.  "I think we'll have to ask someone," Forrest decided.  "That means
letting the blanket of obscurity wear off."

"Which in turn is risky," Imbri said.

"I know it.  So maybe the three of you should remain protected by it,
while I stay apart, so I can become evident alone."

"Maybe you should ride me, so that if there is trouble, I can gallop
away with you."

Forrest thought of protesting, but realized that she wanted to take the
same risk he did.  "Good notion." He looked around.  It seemed to be
getting late in the day.  "Let's find a place to sleep, and in the
morning the girls can take the canned blanket spell while we go out."

They looked for a good place to settle.  Soon they found a small range
of blue mountains.  Very small: they were hardly waist high. But the
mini-peaks should serve to conceal them from the view of the main path,
when they lay down.

But as they approached the range, it got up and walked away. Astonished,
they watched it depart.  Then Dawn laughed.  "A mountain goat!" she
said.  "I should have recognized it."

They found another place, near blue berry bushes, which made it handy
for supper.  As they ate, the wind came up, whistling softly through the
trees.  It made a sad melody.  "I always liked the blues," Eve remarked.

But as darkness closed, the temperature dropped.  Forrest realized that
he hadn't thought to bring a second blanket.  So he dug out the one he
had and gave it to the girls.  "This will do for the two of you," he
said.

They looked at him.  "I wish this wasn't a serious mission," Dawn said.

"Because then we could share the blanket with you," Eve said.

"I'm sorry too," he said.  "But I will join Imbri." For Imbri in mare
form was both warm and safe.  So things worked out after all.

He lay down beside Imbri.  "You really are a nice person," she murmured
in a dreamlet for him alone.

"No I'm not.  I really wanted to sleep with them."

"I know you did.  Right between them.  Knowing that they would probably
dissolve their clothing under the blanket, just as I did.  But you
refused to do it.  That's what makes you nice, just as you were with
me."

"But I should not even be wanting to do such things!"

"You are a faun.  It's your nature."

"And what of you?" he demanded.  "What do you think, when you see me
reacting to those pretty girls?"

"It makes me feel less guilty for what I did to you."

"You didn't do anything to me!"

"Yes I did.  And I will make it up to you, when I figure out how."

"You know I can't really do anything with those girls.  They're
princesses.

"They are of a slightly different culture than the one we encountered in
Xanth.  Maybe it's all right for them to play with fauns, if they want
to."

"I doubt their mother would approve."

"Mothers never do.  In the old days I delivered thousands of bad dreams
to worried mothers.  They think their daughters must be pristine and
never do what the mothers did when they were young.  So the daughters
simply don't tell their mothers." She chuckled, in the dreamlet.  "Now
that Queen Iris has been rejuvenated to her twenties, she doesn't tell
her daughter Irene, who would Not Approve Iris's present activities.
Folk seldom approve the fun others have."

"Still-"

"Forrest, those two girls know their own minds, and they know your
nature.  If they decide to celebrate with you, you should feel free."

"Well, I don't feel free.  I mean, I would love it, but I don't think
it's proper."

Her dreamlet image shook her head.  "Because you have been placed in the
role of adviser, which implies parental authority.  So you act as a
parent would, though you wish you could act as a normal faun would."

"That's it!" he agreed as a bulb flashed over his head.  "How well you
understand."

"Well, I have had some experience in dreams, and what you feel for the
girls is a dream."

"Thank you, Imbri!  You have helped me to clarify my mixed feelings."

"Maybe that's what I'm here for." The dreamlet image walked across to
the fading bulb and planted a kiss on it.  Forrest felt the kiss on his
face.

He was startled.  "Imbri-"

"I will change to maiden form, if you ask me.  I know my own mind too."

Suddenly he was horribly tempted.  Imbri was definitely of sufficient
age and experience, and she surely did know her own mind.  But he had to
demur.  "I- can't ask you to do that."

"I know, Forrest, I know.  You don't feel free to be a faun, or free to
make commitments of that nature, so you are caught in a personal limbo.
I wish I could free you from it.  And I will, if I ever find the way.
Meanwhile, I respect your stance, and I respect you."

"Uh, thank you."

"Would it help if I sent you a wish-fulfillment dream?"

"It might.  But I think I need to focus on my mission, now, and not
waste imagination on anything else."

"Then I will send you a dream of deep sleep."

In his mind's eye he saw a pale blue cloud floating toward him. The
words DEEP SLEEP were embossed on its surface.  It loomed large,
smelling of gentle music, and encompassed him, and he sank into it with
relief.

He woke much refreshed.  His head was against Imbri's gently heaving
side.  Dawn & Eve were up and picking blue berries, wearing blue skirts
and slippers.  In a moment they spied his flickering eyelids and came to
join him.

"Have a berry, Forrest," Dawn said, plumping herself down crosslegged
beside him.

"Yes, they are very good," Eve said, doing the same.  Their firm legs
showed well beyond the knees.  Were they teasing him again?

He opened his mouth to say, "But I can pick my own berries."

But before the first word popped out, Eve leaned dangerously forward and
popped a berry in.  It was delicious.  He chewed it, then opened his
mouth to thank her-and she popped in another.

He gave up the unequal struggle, and ate the berries he was given. There
was something to be said for being catered to by willing maidens.

But they had a day ahead of them.  Forrest dug into his knapsack and
brought out the canned blanket.  "Don't invoke this until after Imbri
and I are out of range," he told them.  "And don't do anything too wild;
we don't know the limit of the obscurity."

"Yes, Master," they said together, and laughed, their tightly bloused
bosoms heaving.

"And get out of those nuisance clothes before something freaks me out."

They glanced down, startled.  "oops, we forgot," Dawn said.  Her pale
blue blouse rippled and became a heavy blue plaid shirt.

"We just naturally dressed our usual way, when we woke," Eve said.  Her
blue-black skirt twisted and formed itself into baggy dark blue jeans.

"After just naturally sleeping nude."

"And dreaming of fun with a faun."

Then they stood, together.  Dawn's light blue skirt changed to pale blue
jeans just a bare instant before it would have shown Too Much, and Eve's
dark blouse changed to a dark shirt just a transparent instant after it
had shown More Than Enough.

They were definitely teasing him.  Apparently they just couldn't help
themselves.  He would simply have to try to ignore it.  He wished
himself success.  Already he was wondering just how blue their panties
might be.

Then he mounted Imbri, and she walked out onto the path.  She didn't
hurry, because they weren't trying to go anywhere, just to meet someone
they could ask directions of.  He glanced back, but didn't notice
anyone.  Good; that meant that the girls had invoked the blanket of
obscurity, and unless they did something foolish, like dancing naked and
screaming, he wouldn't notice them.

Soon they approached a woman who was walking along the path in the
opposite direction.  "Hello," Forrest called, hoping that this was the
right way to address a Pyramid native.

She looked sharply at him.  "Do you want something from me, faun?"

He reminded himself that the folk here always looked for chances to get
ahead by giving things away.  "Yes, actually."

"Who are you and what do you want?"

This seemed surprisingly easy.  "I am Forrest Faun, and I want to locate
Princess Ida."

"We don't have any princesses here."

"Maybe she's not a princess here.  She has a moon orbiting her head."

The woman shook her head.  "Never heard of her.  So I can't help you. So
I might as well harass you."

"Harass me?"

"I am Polly Motph, and I can change myself into what I can imagine.
Today I am irritable, so I shall become a dragon and gobble you and your
stupid horse up, hoping you don't taste too bad." Her face stretched out
to become a dragon's snout, and her body burst out of its clothes to
become serpentine.

"But we haven't done anything to you," Forrest protested.

"Precisely," the dragon said, snapping at them.

Imbri leaped into the air to avoid the teeth.  She landed at a full
gallop, getting out of there.

Unfortunately Forrest wasn't used to riding, and wasn't ready.  When the
mare shot forward, Forrest didn't.  He landed on his butt in the path.

"Well, now," the dragon said.  "You're too small for a dragon, but just
right for a griffin." She warped into a griffin.

Forrest scrambled to his feet and ran.  But the griffin's beak darted
forward and caught his tail.  His hoofs were moving, but he wasn't
getting anywhere.

Imbri turned and came charging back.  "Naaaay!" she neighed.  She
leaped, her forehoofs aiming for the griffin's body.

"Curses," the griffin muttered, in the process releasing Forrest. Then
it twisted into a flying snake and wriggled out of the way.

Imbri landed and galloped on, unable to halt on such short notice. But
she had given For-rest the reprieve he needed.  He ran after her, hoping
to get enough of a lead so that the monster couldn't catch him.

But Polly morphed back into the griffin, and took flight.  Forrest heard
the wing-beats as she gained on him.

Then, suddenly, he collided with something remarkably soft.  He landed
in a tangle of limbs.  He blinked, and saw what he hadn't noticed
before, though she was up against his chest: "Dawn!"

"Hey, I finally got your attention," she said, drawing her face from his
ear and fluffing out her red hair.

"But the griffin-"

"Has lost track of you," Eve said.

He looked at his legs, and discovered what else he hadn't noticed: they
were tangled up with another girl's legs.  "Eve!"

She drew her face from his belly and fluffed out her tangled black
tresses.  "I really didn't think we would get to this stage until after
the mission," she confessed.

"What are you girls doing?"

"We are saving you from getting chomped," Dawn said, prying her
flattened bosom from his chest.

"With the help of the blanket of obscurity," Eve said, unwrapping her
cramped legs from his thighs.

"Because we really don't want you to be hurt."

"Even if you would simply be launched back to Ptero."

"Because without your guidance, we would not be able to complete our
mission."

"And we really do like your company."

By this time they had unstuck the rest of themselves from his body. Both
girls were disheveled, but still pretty in a wild sort of way.

"Uh, thank you," Forrest said, realizing that he could indeed have been
gobbled and banished from this region for whatever period was required
by the framework of Pyramid.  They had saved him from that by
intervening in the only way they could, considering that he was not
aware of their presence: by tackling him and bringing him into the
coverage of the blanket.

Dawn gave him a direct green eyed glance, as bright as sunshine. "You
are welcome."

Eve gave him a sidelong black eyed glance, as mysterious as night.

"It was our pleasure."

Forrest tried once more to get through to them.  "You know, your teasing
ways are very difficult for me to handle."

Dawn shook her head.  "Some of what you take for teasing is merely our
natural flair."

Eve frowned.  "And in this particular instance, we were not teasing. We
really did want to save you, and we really do like you."

Forrest was nonplused.  "I mean, you really are two very lovely and
provocative young women, and I-"

"We know," Dawn said seriously.  "We know our nature, and what kind of
reaction is to be expected from a male of any type."

"And we are ready," Eve said, just as seriously, "to make absolutely
plain our readiness to accommodate that reaction, in due course."

Every time he tried to reason with them, it just got worse!  "But I told
you, this mission-"

"We understand," Dawn began.

"But we are falling 'n love with you,"

I   ' Eve concluded.

Then tears dropped from all four of their eyes.

Forrest's jaw dropped.  "But you were just flirting, and I knew that. It
wasn't serious.  You are princesses, and I'm just a faun."

"We are girls who have never been certain whether any given man's
interest in us was because of our royalty," Dawn said.

"Or because of our physical appeal," Eve continued.

"Or our Sorceress caliber magic."

"Or our novelty as morning and evening twins."

"And we cared for none of these kinds of interest, in themselves."

"We wanted to be valued for ourselves."

"But I do know of your royalty, and appreciate your beauty, and your
magic, and your novelty," Forrest protested.  "I am fascinated by all of
them.  So I am no better than any of those you have encountered.  And I
am just a faun of no particular autho.,ity or ability. So-"

"So you have no ambition with respect to us," Dawn said.

"Just a healthy desire to celebrate with us in your quaint fashion," Eve
said.

"And accomplish your mission."

"And go your way."

"Yes.  I can't remain in your world.  I must return to my tree.  And
since I know that true human beings don't believe in dalliance for its
own sake, I am trying to avoid it."

"Which is our point," Dawn said.  "You know us, and appreciate all our
points, yet have no ulterior motive."

"You are the first male outside our family," Eve said, "whom we can
truly trust.  Therefore we love you."

"But trust is only one element of a meaningful relationship," he
protested.  "And it is a property of fauns to make the females they
touch want to celebrate.  So your emotions may not be genuine, or at
least not natural."

"But we are young and fickle, and our love will not endure."

"So we hope to indulge it with you during this window of opportunity."

"And then we will go our separate ways," Dawn said.

"And remember each other with a certain wistful fondness," Eve said.

"With delight in the memory of the experience."

"Which was our very first of this type."

"And no regrets."

"And no regrets."

Forrest was overwhelmed.  Maybe they were influenced by his faunish
effect on females, but they had understanding too.  "This-this is not an
offer I can decline.  But while we are on the mission-"

"It would be an abuse of the trust placed in all of us to play certain
fauny games," Dawn said.

"And such faun & games might interfere with our pursuit of the mission,"
Eve agreed.

"So for now we will pretend that this dialogue has not yet occurred."

"But we will never doubt that it will occur in due course."

"Uh, yes," Forrest agreed.  He was deeply touched, but knew that this
was no time to be distracted from the mission.  "Where's Imbri?"

They looked out at the rest of the region.  Polly Morph, in whatever
form, was gone.  Imbri was walking along the path, looking around as if
seeking something she had lost.

Forrest disengaged from the girls and approached the mare, hoping that
the spell of obscurity was not actually on him, since he had not been
present when it had been invoked.  He needed to be visible to Imbri.

"Hey!" he called.

She whirled, orienting on him.  "Where were you?" her dreamlet query
came.

"The girls hauled me under the obscurity blanket."

"But you were gone for some time."

"We had something we needed to work out."

"Oh?"

"They are in temporary love with me."

"Oh."

"They don't get to meet many males who don't want something from them."

"Don't you want something?"

"Nothing that would diminish them or commit them.  "It seems."

"And did you get it?"

"Not yet.  Right now the mission is more urgent."

Imbri might have inquired further, but at that point another creature
appeared on the path.  Forrest quickly mounted Imbri so that they could
appear as faun and horse, and they walked toward the new arrival.  It
didn't resemble Polly Morph, fortunately.

In fact, it didn't resemble anything Forrest remembered seeing before,
anywhere.  It seemed to be a mass of curving projections, some furry,
some bare, some pointed, some floppy, and some vaguely like nothing
specific.

"Hello!" Forrest called.

The thing cringed away.  "Don't yell!" it exclaimed from somewhere
within, faintly.

"Sorry," Forrest whispered.  "I just wanted to ask-"

"No, no, questions are too loud," it said, sidling away.

"Just what kind of creature are you?" Forrest asked, mildly annoyed.

"I'm all ears," it said, disappearing around a curve.

"That's true," Imbri said in a dreamlet.  "Now I recognize the different
shapes of ears.  It must be very sensitive to sound."

"Maybe we'll have better luck with the next one," Forrest said.

"And here he comes," Imbri said.  "Maybe this time I should try
addressing him."

"My technique hasn't been getting us far, for sure."

The man looked to be about thirty two, wearing an elegant blue royal
robe and a blue crown.  He was smiling, and looked friendly.

"Hello," Imbri said in a dreamlet directed to both Forrest and the man.

He looked at her, startled.  "Why, it's a night mare!" he exclaimed.

"Former night mare, now a day mare," Imbri's dreamlet figure clarified.
"How did you recognize me?"

"Oh, I have had many deliveries!  I was originally from an awful place
called Mundania.  I have my Mundane name to prove it: Todd Loren."

"Mundania!  How did you get here?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it was my imagination.  I dreamed of a
special world, where I was a royal character and could do magic, and
suddenly I was here, with my talent of being able to direct wind to blow
to particular places.  It may not be much, but I enjoy it."

"Do you happen to know a woman called Ida?"

"The one with the moon?"

"That's the one.  Can you tell us how to find her?"

"No, but I can direct you to her.  Just follow that gust of wind."

Todd gestured, and wind stirred up some dust, becoming visible as a
fuzzy ball.

"Thank you!" Imbri's dreamlet figure cried as they pursued the wind.

"You are welcome.  I'm always glad to gain size."

"That's right," Forrest said as they moved on.  "Folk grow and gain
power as they give things away.  But I don't think I lost any mass."

"I did, because the favor was to me," Imbri said.  "But I have plenty of
mass, now.  If I lose too much, I'll have to resume maiden shape, is
all."

"I hope you get it back, when we leave Pyramid."

"Pyramid is so small that whatever we lose here is surely unmeasurable
elsewhere."

He realized that this was probably the case.  This was the moon of a
moon, as it were, and its entire mass was much less than that of either
of their condensed souls on Ptero.

They followed the wind along the path, glad that it wasn't zooming
wildly cross-country the way most winds did.  Forrest hoped that Dawn &
Eve were keeping up, because the wind didn't pause.

But then it did pause.  It hovered in place, barely hanging on to the
blue dust that made it visible.  It was beside a young woman.  Her hair
and eyes were a silver shade of blue, and there was even a sprinkling of
blue snow on her head.  She was pretty, but looked hard.

"That's not Ida," Forrest murmured.

"There must be a reason the wind is waiting," Imbri said in a private
dreamlet.  "We had better inquire."

"I'll do it." He looked at the woman.  "Hello."

She looked coldly at him.  "Do I know you?"

"No.  And I mean no harm.  But we are following a wind, and it is
pausing by you, so I wondered whether there is a reason.  I am Forrest
Faun, and this is Mare Imbri."

The woman turned deep blue eyes on him.  "I am the Lady Winter,
otherwise known as Winter Lee Cheryl Jacobs.  I don't know why I am
here, but I don't think it is to dance with the wind."

"That name-are you Mundane?"

"Yes.  At least I was, before I came on this trip."

"Maybe that's why the wind is pausing.  It was sent by another Mundane,
and maybe it's curious, because there can't be many Mundanes here."

"Another Mundane?" Winter asked, interested.

"Yes.  A man.  He wears a crown.  He seemed nice."

"Maybe I should meet him.  At least he would understand why I find this
place so strange."

The wind divided, and one gust swept back up the path.  "Just follow
that wind," Forrest said.  "It should lead you right to him."

"Thank you," Winter said, smiling so brilliantly that it seemed like
sunrise.  She followed the gust.

"Hey-I feel heavier," Forrest said, surprised.

"You just did someone a favor," Imbri said.  "I think the wind did
recognize her as a Mundane, and felt an affinity because Todd Loren was
Mundane.  They should like each other: he's mature and nice, and she's
young and pretty."

"I guess so," he agreed.

The half gust of wind resumed its motion, and they followed it as the
path wound around blue hills, across blue fields, through blue forests,
past blue lakes, and under blue skies.  Then it paused again, by what
looked like a cemetery.

"This is just a field full of crosses," Forrest said.  "They must be
marking graves." Indeed, there were big crosses and little ones, each
one carved from wood and slightly different from all the others.  Some
were fairly straight, but others were curvaceous.  In fact they seemed
to be about as individual for crosses as people were for people. Forrest
had a vested appreciation for wood, and found it intriguing in its own
right whatever form it might be carved into, but he didn't recognize
this particular variety.

"But in Xanth graves aren't marked by crosses," Imbri said.

"This isn't Xanth.  In fact, it isn't even Ptero.  Who knows what the
rules may be on Pyramid?" He was suspicious, because of the way the
crosses had been used in Contrary Centaur's game on Ptero. If these were
anything like that, he wanted no part of them.

"Maybe so," she agreed.  "Let me send a dreamlet down to see whether
there's a body."

"Dreamlets can explore?"

"Not exactly.  But I can send them to anyone, including the dead."

She concentrated, and he saw a dreamlet in a little cloud float down and
disappear into the ground below a cross.  In a moment it bobbed up
again, its dream figure looking perplexed.  "No, there's nothing there,"
Imbri said in a separate dreamlet to Forrest.

"So they are just stuck in the ground," Forrest said.  "They aren't
alive.  I suppose Eve could tell us all about them, if she were here."

"Perhaps we should wait for the girls to catch up.  I'd like to be sure
they are all right, as long as the wind is willing to wait."

"All right.  It does seem to be a smart gust." At that the swirling wind
darkened, blushing; though it could not speak to them, it evidently
understood what they said.

That gave him a notion.  "While we wait, Gust-is there anything to eat
around here?"

The gust swept across to a billboard on the far side of the field.  It
had a painting of a grand assortment of berries.  All were in shades of
blue, of course, but seemed to be of many varieties.  They looked
delicious.

"But this is just a picture," Forrest said.

The gust brushed up against the picture, and it almost seemed that some
of the berries moved.  So Forrest reached out to touch a berryand it was
round, not flat.  He picked it and put it to his mouth.  "A bill-berry!"
he exclaimed.  "I should have known."

Imbri trotted over.  "Bill-berries?  They are very good for you."

She put her mouth to the billboard and took a bite of berries.  But then
she spat something out.  "I got a billfold by accident," her dreamlet
figure said, making a face.

Forrest saw the oh ect on the ground.  It was a wad of folded paper,
gray on the front, green on the back.  It did look inedible.  Apparently
the billboard wasn't perfect; there was some contamination.

Something tapped him on the shoulder.  He jumped.  There was a vague
female shape smelling faintly of morning.  "Oh-Dawn," he said, relieved.
"I hadn't noticed you."

"Because of the blanket of obscurity," her voice breathed in his ear. "I
can see you quite clearly."

"And so can I," Eve's voice murmured in his other ear.  Then they both
nibbled on the tips of his ears.

"Stop that!" he exclaimed.

Imbri looked around.  "Did I swish you with my tail?  I didn't mean to.

"No.  The girls are here."

She squinted.  "Why so they are.  That obscurity is effective.  Now that
I know what to look for, I can see them."

So could Forrest.  "Eve, would you check one of those crosses and learn
what it's all about?  The wind brought us here, so there must be some
reason."

"I'll be glad to." Her vague form kissed his cheek and departed.

"That wind must like you," Dawn said, kissing his other cheek.

"I think it's just doing its job.  Maybe it appreciates the way I
cooperated with it to send Lady Winter to Todd.  It has been very
helpful."

"Eve is signaling.  We had better go there."

Forrest looked, but no longer saw Eve.  The blanket had covered her.

"I'll lead you," Dawn said.  She took his hand in hers, squeezing his
fingers in a way that reminded him exactly how female she was. These
girls might be young, but they had learned a good deal already.

In a few steps they approached a gradually clarifying figure holding a
cross.  As Forrest concentrated, Eve became recognizable.  "These
crosses enable folk to cross things," she said.  "Eyes, T's, mountains,
rivers, people-anything."

"Then they could be useful," Forrest said, relieved.  The function of
Pyramid crosses was different from Ptero crosses.

"Indeed.  They are put out here for anyone to take and use.  But when
one is used, their maker gains the benefit of a given favor, and the one
who uses them loses mass.  So we don't want to take too many."

"Can one cross enable more than one person to cross something?"

"A big one can.  A small one is limited both in person and distance.
Four small ones would enable four people to cross one mountain, while
one big one might enable all four people to cross a whole range of
mountains.  But the big one will exact a greater amount of mass, so we
don't want to use any of them more than we need to."

"Suppose we take several crosses, but don't use them?"

"Then there is no price.  It doesn't matter where the crosses are, only
how they are used."

"Then we should take a fair collection of them, and not use them unless
we have to," he decided.

"How intelligent," Eve said.

"Are you trying to tease me again?"

"No, just to remind you."

He walked among the crosses.  That was when he discovered that he was
still holding Dawn's hand.  She had not reminded him.  He let go,
embarrassed, and heard her obscure chuckle.  "I think we should each
carry two small ones and one big one.  Can we do that?  I mean, I have
room in my knapsack, but do the rest of you have a way to carry things?"

.  "Sure," Dawn said.  "In our purses."

"And I have a pack," Imbri said.

Forrest leaned down to take a cross, but now Eve's hand stayed him.  "I
wouldn't," she murmured.

"Why not?"

"Because that particular one is made of petrified wood."

Forrest froze.  Then he moved his hand very slowly down, barely touching
the cross.  Fear coursed through him.  It was true; this cross made
anyone who touched it terrified.

"But I might be able to use this too," he said.  "If I got caught by a
monster I couldn't escape."

"But how can you take it with you, if it frightens you?" Imbri asked.

"It shouldn't frighten me once I'm not directly touching it." He reached
into his knapsack and pulled out a handkerchief.  He wrapped this around
the cross so that he could pick it up without touching it. The
handkerchief was thin, so his fright was there, but he was able to
handle the cross until it dropped into his knapsack.

"That was a brave thing to do," Dawn said, taking his hand again."

"No it wasn't.  I was scared, but I knew there was no danger."

"It's not handling danger, but handling fear that makes a person brave,
isn't it?"

Forrest hadn't thought of it that way.  "Maybe.  But it had to be done,
if I wanted that cross."

They each took two small crosses, which disappeared into their various
packs and purses without trouble.  But the large crosses were too big to
fit.  Finally Eve found one folding cross, and they fit that into
Imbri's pack, which was larger than the others.  That would have to do.

Now the wind, having dallied all this time, amusing itself by whirling
up dry blue leaves and grass and making funnel-shapes of them, resumed
its forward progress.  They followed.  The blanket of obscurity was
fading, so that the girls remained fairly clear.

The path led past several huge blue bee hives.  They had been
constructed in the shape of wooden boats with closed tops, and these
were arranged in a giant semi-circle.  The bees were very large, and
they were flying in with blue books.

Forrest paused to take in this scene.  "I never knew that bees collected
books," he said, surprised.

Eve went up cautiously to touch one of the fancy hives.  It seemed that
enough of the blanket of obscurity remained on her to keep the bees from
being disturbed.  Then she laughed.  "These are Ark-hives," she
explained.  "Where the bees store books, so they won't be lost. That
must be why these bees are so large; they are constantly doing good
deeds for this region, by saving all these good references."

They went on, hurrying to catch up with the gust.  But now they came to
a wide blue lake, and the wind was moving right across it, toward a blue
island.

Forrest considered the water.  "Do you suppose we could swim?"

Eve touched the surface with a finger.  "I think not.  This water
contains all manner of horrible blue monsters."

"Then this must be what we have the crosses for.  We had better each use
one small one, saving the other for the return trip."

They dug out their small crosses and held them up.  "Uh, how do they
work?" Forrest asked, belatedly.

"Just describe where you wish to cross, and say 'invoke,"

" Eve said.

"To that island," Forrest said, looking at it.  "Invoke."

Suddenly he was there, and the cross was gone.  He felt lighter, though
that might have been his imagination.  He turned to look back-and the
others arrived.  They made streaks as they crossed the water in half an
instant.

"That was fun," Dawn said.

"But we don't want to do it too many times," Eve said.

The wind was waiting for them.  They followed it along a winding path to
a blue ridge of mountains.  On the ridge was a house built of blue
stone.  As they approached it, a woman emerged.  "Aunt Ida!"

Dawn cried, going up to hug her.

"You haven't changed at all," Eve said, doing the same.

Ida returned their hugs, then inquired, "You seem like such fine girls.
Do I know you?"

orrest approached.  "I must explain.  We are from the world of-of Ptero.
Do you understand?"

"Oh, my, yes!  But I have never had visitors from there before.  How
nice."

"I am Forrest Faun, and this is Mare Imbrium, and these are Dawn & Eve,
the daughters of Prince Dolph and Electra."

"I am so glad to meet you."

"Do you have nieces here?" Dawn asked.

"I don't think I do.  But this is not the same world as Ptero."

"Yes," Eve said.  "We have been trying to get used to its rules.

We have come to stop its Wizards from hurting our people on Ptero."

"Oh, are they doing that?  I didn't know."

"I'm afraid they are," Forrest said.  "We hoped that you would know how
to stop them."

Ida shook her head.  This caused her moon to wobble and careen into
view.  Apparently it had been hiding behind her head until now.

"Look at that!" Dawn exclaimed.

"A doughnut!" Eve said.

The moon zipped back into hiding.

"Please don't use that word," Ida said.  "The correct term is Torus."

"Oh, we're sorry," Dawn said, blushing a modest blue.

"Extremely sorry," Eve agreed, blushing an immodest blue. "We're so
ignorant."

Forrest knew that this was at least in part an act, similar to their
flirtation with him, but it was nevertheless impressive.  The twins were
very good at manners.

"Well, I suppose you couldn't know," Ida said.  "Being from another
world."

"Yes, but we want so much to learn," Dawn said.

"And never to make the same mistake again," Eve said.

Ida glanced at Forrest in a way that indicated that she was not being
much fooled.  "At any rate, I was saying to my regret that I don't know
the answer to your problem.  The Blue Wizard has confined me to this
island, to keep me, as he puts it, out of mischief.  I am surprised that
you were able to locate me so readily."

"We asked around," Forrest said.  "We thought that since you have the
Sorceress talent of the Idea, you might have an idea about how we might
proceed."

"Why yes, of course."

"You mean you do know how to stop the Wizards?"

"No.  But I do know how you should proceed."

They looked at her blankly.

"You see," Ida explained, "I know where the answer is to be found.  I
don't have it, because I can't go there." Her eyes fixed momentar.  "Iy
on her moon.

Oh, no!  "On Torus?" Forrest asked weakly.

"Yes.  I'm sure that the Ida who lives there has the answer.  That's why
the Wizard confined me: to be sure that no one had access to my moon.
And no creature of this world is able to come here; a powerful spell
repels them.  But perhaps he didn't reckon on visitors from another
world."

It was beginning to make sense.  "We are certainly from other worlds,"
Forrest said.  "The girls are from Ptero, but Imbri and I derive
originally from Xanth."

"Xanth?  What realm is that?"

Forrest exchanged half a glance with Imbri.  Ida didn't know about
Xanth?  "It is a larger land," Imbri said in a dreamlet.  "On it is
Princess Ida, about whose head Ptero orbits."

"Fascinating!  And what larger land does Xanth orbit on?"

"Larger land?" Forrest asked blankly.

"Since Pyramid orbits the Ida on Ptero, and Ptero orbits the Ida on
Xanth, what land's Ida does Xanth orbit?"

Forrest found his jaw hanging as low as Imbri's jaw, which was
surprising, because her mare's mouth was larger than his.  "Why, we
don't know," he said.

Ida smiled.  "Maybe after your mission here is done, you can descend to
that world and find out.  I wonder whether it's an infinite
progression?"

"I wonder too," Imbri said.

"But now you will want to visit Torus," Ida said.  "You will have to
leave much of yourselves here, however.  Fortunately I have room in my
house.  But I am obliged by our nature to take some of your mass for the
favor of facilitating your trip.  Unless you can do me a return
service."

"We hope to free you from this island, and free Pyramid from the tyranny
of the Wizards," Dawn said.

Ida shook her head.  "These are hopes rather than realities."

"We can tell you all about what we find on Torus," Eve said.  "So that
you will know it as well as if you had been there yourself."

Ida smiled.  "Now that is a service no one else can do me, that I would
very much value.  So though I may gain some of your masses when you go,
you won't miss it because your bodies will be asleep, here.  And you
will recover it when you tell me about Torus.  Do come this way."

She led them into her blue stone house, which was neatly kept. There
were two beds there, and a couch.  The girls lay on the beds, and
Forrest took the couch, and Imbri lay comfortably on the floor. Then Ida
sat between them, in her chair.

Forrest brought out his bottle.  He gave each girl a sniff, and lay back
on the couch and sniffed it himself One by one they dropped into
unconsciousness, as their soul fragments drew free.

The process was becoming more familiar with experience.  This was the
third time for Forrest and Imbri, and the second time for the girls.
Efficiently they waited up, forming into floating shapes, making
eyeballs and ears and mouths.  Soon they looked reasonably like
themselves.  Then they flew toward Torus, condensing as they moved.

The world loomed larger, its doughnut shape becoming dramatic.

Where should they land on it?

Imbri seemed to know, so they followed her horse form.  She headed first
for the center of the hole, then to the inner surface.  The world was
variegated, which was a relief; that meant that they would not be
confined to shades of a single color.

"I am orienting on Ida's identity," Imbri said in a dreamlet.  "It is an
ability of night mares, to locate the sleepers who need their dreams.

it's not very accurate when folk are awake, so it didn't help on
Pyramid, but I think we'll be reasonably close to her when we land."

They were drifting toward a forest.  In the forest was a glade, and in
the center of the glade was a single large tree.  That did seem like the
best place to land, as their navigation was a bit unsteady and a clear
spot was best.

Indeed, they came down somewhat hard, having misjudged the oddly
contoured terrain of Torus, which curved away to east and west and
upward to north and south.  Imbri landed solidly on her four hoofs, but
Forrest fell on his back, and the two girls tumbled in spreadlimbed
disarray that would have been embarrassing if they hadn't been in blue
jeans.

As they got to their assorted feet, they discovered that the glade was
not nearly as nice as it had seemed from afar.  It was bare of grass,
and littered with bones.  "What kind of place is this?" Dawn asked
nervously.

Eve touched a bone.  "Uh-oh," she said.  "This bone belonged to an
animal that was eaten by a tangle tree."

"But that means-" Dawn said, looking quickly around.

Now they all saw it: the single tree in the center was the largest,
awfullest tangle tree Forrest had ever seen.  It had an enormous number
of tentacles, and these were now quivering as the tree realized that
prey was near.

"We have about half an instant to get out of here," Forrest said,
starting to run.

But a tentacle lashed out and struck his knapsack.  There was a dragon
claw on the end that hooked right in.  In only a quarter of an instant
Forrest was hauled into the air.

Imbri galloped over.  "I'll rescue you," she cried in a dreamlet. "I'll
bite through the vine before it hauls you into the maw."

"You can't!" Dawn cried.  "That tentacle is antiored with dragon scales!
"

She was correct.  Imbri reared up on her hind feet and clamped her teeth
on the tentacle just over For-rest's head.  There was a clang as enamel
ground against metal.  Then Imbri dropped down, unsuccessful.

"Get away from here, the rest of you!" Forrest cried.

"Not while you're in trouble," Eve said.  "We'll stop it somehow."

"You can't stop an armored tangle tree!"

But the two girls, heedless of their own safety, drew two sharp little
knives he hadn't known they carried, and reached up to stab at the
tentacle from either side.  One must have gotten a point past the armor,
because suddenly the tree squealed in pain or outrage, and the tentacle
hauled Forrest up twice as high.  Then two more tentacles whipped out
and wrapped around the girls.  They screamed as they too were hauled
into the air.

"oooh, this is worse than I thought," Eve cried, as she reached up to
touch a metal scale.  "The tree has eaten many dragons, and saved their
scales to make it impervious."

Dawn reached up similarly.  "And it has healing elixir in its sap, so
that it heals as fast as it is injured."

"Look at that trunk!" Eve cried.  "It has mirrors to make it almost
invisible."

"And it has the strength of a sphinx," Dawn said, gleaning more
information from the living part of the tentacle she touched.

"If the trunk is also protected by dragon scales," Eve said, "then it
can't be burned, even by salamander fire."

"And it has a voice, and can talk," Dawn said.

"For sure," the tree said.  "Now which of you delectable creatures shall
I chomp first?"

"None of them!" Imbri cried in a dreamlet.  "I'll kick your bark in.

"Oh, sure." Three more tentacles whipped out and wrapped around the
mare.  Soon she was dangling in air too.

"I'll send you Torus's worst dream," Imbri threatened.

"I am Torus's worst dream!"

Then Forrest got halfway smart.  He reached into his pack and brought
out the canned blanket of obscurity spell.  "Invoke!" he cried.

The blanket waited out and covered him and part of the tentacle that
held him.  The tree for ot about both.  The tentacle went limp, letting
Forrest drop to the ground.

"Ha ha-the faun got away!" Dawn cried gleefully.

"What faun?" the tree demanded.

"The one you caught," Eve said.  "Now you can't eat him."

"I'll find him!" And the tree wrenched its roots from the ground and
began writhing across the glade, searching for its missing prey. It shot
tentacles out to circle the edge of the glade, so that no one could
escape, even if unseen.

All four of them stared, astonished.  "This truly is the worst tangle
tree ever," Imbri said.

Now a tentacle reached into the tree's central foliage and brought out a
sword.  "Where are you, faun?" the voice rasped.  "Come taste this steel
I liberated from a human fool who attacked me. He didn't taste very
good, but I love his sword."

That sword was whipping around so swiftly that Forrest had to stay well
back to avoid it.  Even if the tree couldn't locate him directly, it
knew there was a faun somewhere, and was bound to get him eventually. He
could feel the merest tingle of the blanket covering him, and realized
that he could move it about if he handled it carefully. That explained
Cathryn Centaur's throwing motions; she really did have hold of her
blankets.

Then Dawn tried a new tack.  "I know all about you, tangler," she
called.  "You lied.  You're not Torus's worst dream.  What about the
Golem King?"

The whole tree shuddered.  "I will eat you first, you impertinent
creature," it said.  "You look delicious." The tentacle started to swing
toward the trunk.

"I am delicious," Dawn retorted.  "But you don't deserve )the, because
the Golem King is worse than you, and he should get me."

The tentacle hesitated.  "You're bluffing," the tree said.  "You don't
know anything about the Golem King."

Forrest made his way toward her.  If he could throw the blanket over her
before she got eaten, the tree would lose track of her too.

"Yes I do!" Dawn said.  The tree didn't know that she was reading all
this information from its own partly living wooden flesh.  "The Golem
King can make golems in a second.  He can make golems like people, and
like tangle trees, and like dragons, and he can make them life size or
gnat size.  He's a golem himself-and so are you, you big fake!

"Aieeee!" the tree screamed.

"And if he ever got hold of a pretty living girl like me, he wouldn't
eat me, he'd marry me," Dawn concluded triumphantly.  "Because he's
lonely down in the earth region where he lives, because nobody else will
go there.  He's cunning and can change his form instantly, but he has no
company, and that's what he wants most of all.  So when he finds out
that you caught me and ate me, instead of turning me over to him, he'll
destroy you with one flick of his finger.  Or maybe turn you into a
golem privy potty."

"Or a golem sphinx dropping," Eve added, tittering.

It almost worked.  The tree shuddered, and the three captives were
lowered toward the ground.  But then it recovered some of its wooden
cunning.  "But I'll make sure he never finds out.  I'll gobble all of
you down immediately and bury your bones where they'll never be found."
The tentacle started moving again.

Forrest leaped the last few steps toward Dawn, and flung the blanket
over her head.  He couldn't see it, and hoped it didn't hang up on the
tentacle-vine holding her.

Then she dropped slowly to the ground.  It had worked!  The tangler had
forgotten about her.

"oooo, thank you!" she exclaimed, kissing him firmly on the right eye.
"I was afraid you wouldn't be in time."

"You were great," he said.  "You made it pause long enough."

She kissed him again.  "Say, I have an idea-"

"Not now!" he cried, realizing that her contact with him was affecting
her in the usual way.  "We have to save the others."

"Oh, yes," she agreed, remembering.  "I'll help."

They ran after Eve as the tangler hesitated, realizing that it had been
about to do something but not remembering quite what.  Forrest realized
that the blanket of obscurity must work as much on the mind of any
person or creature who might notice, as on the folk being covered. It
was an excellent spell.

They held two ends of the blanket, and tossed it over Eve.  In a moment
she dropped to the ground, joining them in their coverage. "Get Imbri,"
she said urgently.

Indeed, it was time, for Imbri had been carried almost to the gaping
wooden maw in the trunk of the tree.  The mirrors had been moved aside
so that its complete horror was evident.

The several tentacles holding Imbri swung her back and forth, getting
ready to heave her into the maw.  Forrest and the girls ran close and
heaved the blanket with all their force.

It sailed over the mare and into the maw.  Oh, no!

The maw creaked closed.  There was a crunching sound.  The blanket had
been consumed.

Now they were exposed.  The tree became aware of all of them.

"There you are!" it creaked.  "Now

"Has it been an hour?" Imbri asked.

"I don't think so." For it took an hour for the canned blanket spell to
recharge.  They had to find their own way out, if they were going to.

"It seems to be in doubt," Imbri remarked.  "Let me see if I can peek
into its vegetable brain."

They waited, while the tentacles flailed.  "Why isn't it attacking us?"
Dawn asked, shuddering.

"Maybe the blanket tastes funny," Eve said.

Then Imbri had it.  "It's forgotten its mouth!" her dreamlet exclaimed.
"It can't eat us because it has lost track of how!"

"The blanket saved us after all," Forrest said, relieved.

They walked slowly out, and the tree ignored them, obsessed with its own
problem.  It knew it wanted to do something, but couldn't figure out
what it was.  Its wooden mind wasn't very sharp, and it couldn't focus
well on more than one thing at a time.  So they were escaping.  But it
was no sure thing.

They made it to the edge of the glade.  The tree was still distracted.
They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"And let's stay clear of the Golem King, too," Dawn murmured.

Forrest looked around.  The glade was surrounded by thickly meshed
thorny brambles, except for several paths.  Above loomed the vast shape
of the other side of Torus, curving around and downward north and south
like a massive rainbow.  It made him feel dizzy, as if he were about to
fall upward toward it, so he pulled his eyes back to the ground.  The
girls, following his gaze, looked similarly giddy.

"Just out of curiosity," Dawn began.

"Why didn't you use the petrified wood cross to scare the tree off?" Eve
finished.

Ouch!  He had a ready answer: "I never thought of it."

"Neither did the rest of us," Imbri pointed out.

They followed a path out.  It was intended to bring prey into the
tangler's glade, but it was a two way track.  It led, in due course, to
a village.

"Do we want to meet any people?" Forrest asked the others.

"Has it been an hour yet?" Dawn asked.

"Almost, I think."

"Then maybe we can use it if we get into more trouble.  Let's talk with
the people.  I can learn a lot if I can touch one of them."

That seemed good, because though Ida should be reasonably nearby, they
had no idea in which direction.  The villagers might know.

They walked on in.  There was a banner flying in the center.  It said
HOLLOWDAY.

"A holiday?" Imbri asked.  "They don't seem to be celebrating."

Eve approached a wan villager.  "Excuse me sir," she said prettily.
"What are you celebrating?"

He glowered at her.  "Nothing!"

"But you have the big banner up."

"It's Hollow Day.  It's empty.  We have nothing to do on it.  We hate
it."

"Then maybe you should find something good to do," Eve suggested.  "That
would brighten the day."

"Like what?" the man demanded grumpily.

"Like helping a group of strangers to find Ida, the lady with a moon."

He considered.  "Very well.  Take that path." He pointed out one they
wouldn't otherwise have noticed.

"Thank you so kindly," Dawn said, flashing him a smile and a bit more as
she bowed slightly.

"So very very kindly," Eve added, doing much the same.

"It doesn't matter," the man said.  "We exchanged." He faced away from
them.  "Hey villagers!  We have something to celebrate!"

There was a cheer.

Forrest and the others moved on along the path.  "Do you think this is
really the way?" Forrest asked.  "I don't want to be unduly suspicious,
but-"

"He was telling the truth," Imbri said in a dreamlet.  "I can tell, when
a person isn't guarded.  They really were looking for something to
celebrate."

"And couldn't think of it themselves," Dawn said, shaking her head.

"This is a very small world," Eve said.  "Maybe they don't have much
sense."

"Which is our good fortune," Forrest said.

Soon the path brought them to a large lake or small sea.  It curved up
at the end and down at the sides, in the manner of this world. They
stood at the bank and gazed across it.  Barely in sight was an island.
"On Pyramid she was on an island," Imbri remarked.  "Do you suppose it's
the same here?"

"It could be," Dawn said brightly.

"Or it might not be," Eve said darkly.

Forrest sent a grizzled glance at them.  "You girls are not being really
helpful."

They exchanged one of their own glances.  Forrest wasn't sure why, as
they pretty well knew what was on each other's minds before they spoke.

"Should we be helpful?" Dawn inquired.

"Maybe in exchange for a kiss," Eve answered.

"No physical contact!" Forrest cried.

"Aw," they said together.

"We do have a mission," Imbri reminded them with just the merest hint of
annoyance suggested by the background image of her dream let: a horse
kicking two girls in the rear so hard that they went flying through the
air to land with a double splash in the lake.

"I think that means no kiss," Dawn said with faintly feigned regret.

"We'll have to help without repayment," Eve agreed with mock irritation.

"It's your turn."

"It's my turn." Eve walked to the edge of the water and poked her finger
in.  "This is the Sarah Sea, containing the Isle of Niffen, which is a
large island with white beaches and lush, colorful foliage. Sparkling
streams run in all directions, and there is one huge flat rock right
smack dab in the middle of the island.  It's inhabited by unicorns,
dragons, Pegasus, griffins, mermaids, elves, winged goblins, harpies,
genies, and assorted crossbreeds, all living in harmony.  Especially
Niffy Gliff, who is half dragon, half Pegasus, with a unicorn horn from
somewhere in her ancestry.  They don't much trust strangers, because
once hunters came in an ugly little boat, wanting to capture and kill
the people and animals and beild a squat commercial tourist hotel
instead.  Fortunately Niffy and his friend Cliffy put on their scariest
costumes, snuck up on the hunters, cried.  "Neee'

1999hhhoooooouuuuu!!!" and scared them out of their skins, saving the
isle." She stood and came to take Forrest's hand.

Forrest was impressed.  "You can tell all that, just from sticking your
finger in the water?"

"It's my talent," Eve said.  "Just as my sister could tell all about
every nymph you ever chased and caught, just from touching one of your
fingers.  Including the one who turned out to be a harpy.  But of course
she wouldn't tell anybody about that, or about the way the leaves of the
neglected tree got disgustingly soiled with-"

"Thank you," Forrest said tightly.  "Your talents are indeed impressive.
So is Ida on that isle?"

"oops, I didn't check for that." Eve let his hand go, knelt, and stuck
her finger back in the water.  "Yes, she lives on the flat rock, and
goes each day to fetch water from the nearest sparkling stream."

She stood again, and took his hand again.  What was she up to now?

"How do you know about the living creatures on the Isle?" Imbri
inquired.  "Isn't that Dawn's talent?"

"Not exactly," Dawn said.  "Our talents overlap somewhat.  So when I
tell everything about some living thing, I also know what it is wearing,
where it lives, and what the weather around it is, even though these are
inanimate, because they relate to the creature I'm examining.  Similarly
Dawn knows about the living things that relate to the inanimate thing
she is examining.  So if I touched a pool, and she touched a fish in the
pool, we would both learn most of the same things."

"That does make sense," Imbri agreed.

Forrest didn't comment.  He was embarrassed because of the discovery of
just how much the girls had fathomed of his past history. He had thought
of them as provocative but essentially innocent creatures; now he knew
that they knew everything they wanted to know, of whatever nature.
Probably the dread Adult Conspiracy of Silence had never had much effect
on them, though they would have been careful to seem properly innocent.

"So what should we do now, adviser dear?" Dawn asked brightly.

" Now that we know where Ida is, Forrest darling," Eve added darkly,
giving his hand a tweak.

"We go see her," he said gruffly.  "We'll have to use our other small
crosses."

"oooh, suppose we get trapped on the Isle of Niffen," Dawn said.

"And there's nothing to do but live there forever and raise our
children," Eve said.

"Which we will no doubt have to signal the stork for many times."

"Somehow coaxing the cooperation of a reluctant faun."

Imbri sent a dreamlet of two lovely nymphs, one fair and one dark,
tugging a reluctant faun toward a love spring.  His hoofs were leaving
drag-marks in the soil.  The mare was evidently enjoying the way the
twins constantly put him on the defensive.  Both girls laughed,
appreciating the apt image.

"We won't get trapped," Forrest said, trying to sound neither intrigued
nor grumpy.  "We'll have the one big cross left, and anyway, once we
talk with Ida, we can return directly to Pyramid to pursue our mission."

The two girls exchanged yet another unnecessary glance.  "Are we losing
our teasing skill?" Dawn inquired of no one in particular.

"Or is he losing his teasability?" Eve asked of the same person. Once
more she squeezed his hand.

.  "He just wants to get the job done," Forrest said, finally freeing
his hand and taking his small cross from his knapsack.

The girls dug theirs out of their purses.  Forrest was never sure what
happened to those purses when they weren't in use; they just seemed to
disappear.  Imbri used her teeth to get hers.  Then they invoked them,
almost together, and zoomed across the lake to the Isle of Niffen.

It was exactly as described.  The beach was white, and the foliage was
lush and colorful.  And there, gliding in, was Niffy Gliff, the
combination griffin Pegasus with the horn.  He looked threatening.

"We aren't hunters!" Imbri cried in a dreamlet.  "We are visitors from
another world who must talk with Ida."

"Neigh?" Niffy inquired.

"Well, we're not exactly friends of hers," Imbri said in the dreamlet.
"But we know her-her cousin on the other world, and she sent us to talk
with Ida.  So I'm sure we'll be friends the moment we meet."

Niffy considered, and decided that that was good enough. "Neigh," he
said, and led the way.

They followed him along a nice path that wound through the lush foliage
to a sparkling steam.  The lushes looked a bit tipsy, but the sparkles
were beautiful.  They came to the huge flat rock, which had steps at one
edge, so they could climb to the flattop.  And there was a nice little
house with a pleasant little garden.

Ida came out to meet them.  She looked just the same, except that her
moon was in the shape of a cone.  "I am told you know my cousin," she
said.  "What cousin would that be?"

A number of creatures had gathered around the house.  Evidently news of
the visitors had spread rapidly across the Isle.  They seemed to be in a
state of readiness.  Forrest realized that if the creatures thought the
visitors were not on the level, they would be quickly leveled.

"Cousin may not be exactly the right word," Forrest said.  "She is your
analog on the world of Pyramid, about whose head this world of Torus
orbits.  She thought you could help us learn what we must know to save
Pyramid from cruel exploitation by the colorful Wizards." I

"Why I suppose I could," Ida said.  "I don't know the answer myself, but
I believe it's on Cone."

Forrest quailed.  "We have to go to another moon?  We're already on the
moon of a moon of a moon."

Ida smiled.  "I suppose that would get confusing.  No, I can take a come
section and get the information.  Let me concentrate."

She concentrated.  The moon took note, as its point pointed straight up
for a full orbit.  "Yes, I have your information," Ida said.  "But there
is a complication you may not have considered."

"There always is," Imbri muttered in a dreamlet sent to Forrest alone.

"What complication is that?" he asked Ida.

"It is that here on Torus, anyone who does another a favor or a service
incurs a burden of emotion.  The greater the service, the greater the
emotion.  So we are rather careful about the services we render, and to
whom."

"Emotion," Forrest said.  "As in happiness or sadness?"

"Not exactly.  As in liking or loving."

"Uh-oh," Dawn murmured.

"Mischief," Eve agreed.

Forrest agreed.  "Does this mean that if you do me the service of
telling me what I need to know, you will-that is-"

"Exactly.  Considering the importance of the information to your
mission, I will be in love with you.  And without meaning any affront to
you, I must say that I do not care to be in love with a creature who
will immediately leave me forever."

"I would not care to have that happen either," Forrest said.  "Even if I
were staying here, I am not at all sure it would be proper.  You surely
have some prince who will seek you out at some time."

"That would be nice," Ida agreed.

"Is there any way to counter or nullify the effect?" Imbri asked in a
general dreamlet.

"Yes there is.  People can exchange equivalent favors, so that the
effect cancels out.  These must occur at about the same time.  If one
favor is done at one time, and the other at another time, both will
incur the penalties.  In fact this is the way marriages are made: by the
exchange of favors on consecutive days.  So if you have some favor you
can do me in return, that is as valuable to me as my information is to
you, we shall be all right."

"Oh, wow," Dawn said.  "We were all doing each other favors, trying to
escape that tangle tree."

"So they canceled out," Eve agreed.  "But then I got a favor from that
villager."

"No, you did him the favor of showing him how to have a good day," Imbri
said in a dreamlet.  "It was a fair exchange."

"oooo, that's what he meant!" Dawn exclaimed, clapping her hands.  "When
we thanked him, and gave him something to see."

"He said.  "It doesn't matter-we exchanged," and we didn't understand,"
Eve agreed.  "He meant that we didn't love him, and he didn't love us,
so there was no point in showing him anything interesting."

"But he was interested, or he wouldn't have said that."

es.  It's nice to know that our stuff works here, too."

"You girls seem to enjoy impressing men," Ida remarked. They both
smiled, acknowledging it.

"But then you did a service for Forrest," Dawn said.  "Telling him all
about the lake and Isle."

Which had enhanced her feeling for him, Forrest realized ruefully. That
explained some things.  But there seemed to be no point in discussing
that now.

At least they could balance things, with Ida.  This was looking better.
"What information do you want, that is this valuable?"

"Unfortunately, what I most desire is knowledge of something I fear you
would be even less in a position to know than I.  As you may have
noticed, the Isle of Niffen is on a small sea.  I would like to know all
about this sea, from its name to its deepest creatures.  I already know
all about the Isle, but the water has eluded me."

"I can-" Eve started, but Forrest cut her off with a sharp glance.  Her
sister wiped the cut off her face; the glance had been too sharp.

"You don't want to do that," Forrest said.  "Because then you would love
Ida."

"Then Eve would love Ida, and Ida would love Forrest," Dawn said.
"That's no good."

"But suppose Eve gave Forrest the information?" Imbri asked.

"And then he gave it to Ida in exchange?"

"Then Eve would love Forrest," Dawn protested.

"Doesn't she already?"

Eve's mouth formed a pretty round 0.  "I do!"

"We both do," Dawn said.  "But wouldn't she love him more than I do?"

"I think I already do," Eve said.  "Because it was for him I got the
information on the lake and Isle.  I didn't realize the effect it would
have on me."

"Oh, my," Dawn said, dismayed.  "That's why you were holding his hand."

"Was I?  I suppose I was.  I didn't realize."

"You could do him a favor some other time, Dawn," Imbri suggested.

"Maybe so," Dawn agreed thoughtfully.  "I will keep it in mind."

Forrest wished he had known of this complication before asking Eve for
the information on the lake.  He had wondered about the hand holding,
because up until that time the two girls had done things evenly.  But he
hadn't understood, so had done her no return favor.

But that complication would have to wait.  Forrest faced Ida.  "Eve can
tell anything about anything inanimate.  She will learn all about the
lake, and tell me, and I will exchange that information with you. Does
this seem fair?"

"Yes, remarkably fair," Ida agreed.

"Then Eve and I will go to the water and learn what we need. Meanwhile
Dawn and Mare Imbri can chat with you, if you like.  I'm sure there are
incidental things you could exchange, keeping them in balance." Even as
he spoke, he wondered why he had set it up that way.  Surely he didn't
want to be alone with Eve at this time!  Or did he?

"Yes, surely," Ida agreed.

So Forrest and Eve followed the path back to the water.  The assorted
animals of the Isle let them be, knowing that they were not hunters. Eve
insisted on holding his hand again.  "If I am going to be even more in
love with you, I want to grab every moment I can," she explained.

"But such contact with me will only increase your desire to-to do what
we should not."

"It can't," she said dreamily.

Forrest decided not to argue, though he was not entirely at ease with
this.  For one thing, this was the first time he had been really alone
with either girl, so the inhibition of numbers was gone.  Eve was
evidently working up to more than just information.  And he was
evidently facilitating it, though he knew he should not.  The
complications of relationships with normymphly women were both confusing
and tantalizing.

They reached the water, and she knelt down, ready to stick her finger
in.  Then she stood.  "No, I have a better notion," she said,
approaching him.

"What is that?" he asked warily.

"This." She lurched suddenly, and pushed him into the water. When he
tried to catch his balance, she flung her arms around him and hauled him
down.  They both made a great splash as they fell in.

"But there may be water monsters!" he cried, trying to scramble back
out.

She just clung more tightly.  "No there aren't.  Not at this beach. Now
let me tell you all about it."

"But you don't have to hold me while you tell me," he protested.

"Yes I do," she said firmly.  Very firmly, for she was plastered against
him, and she had dissolved all her clothing.

"You are taking advantage of the situation," he informed her.  And he
was letting her, he realized.

"I certainly am.  This is almost as good as a love spring."

"But what's the point?  You know I'm not going to-not until the mission
is done."

"I know.  But you will be sorely tempted, and you will remember what I
feel like, this close, and when the time comes, you will not try to find
a pretext to avoid it."

She was eerily accurate.  Already it took most of his willpower to
maintain his nominal diffidence.  "How do you know so much about me,
when it's Dawn's talent to know all about living creatures, not Yours?"
He was trying to distract her; they had already explained about the
overlapping of their talents.

"She told me."

"But doesn't she have a-an equal interest?  Why should she tell you how
to-"

"When her chance comes, she'll do the same.  My chance just happened to
come first.  So she didn't interfere, and I won't interfere during her
turn."

"But how does she know you won't-"

"Our agreement is up to, but not including, the stork.  We must be
together for that.  So I'll give her the chance to do you an equivalent
favor before then, so we'll be even again.  And we'll both give you
opportunity to do us favors, on other days, so your interest will match
ours.  We will keep you quite busy, for a while."

"You girls are almost frightening in your cooperation."

"Never trust a Sorceress," she agreed.  "Let alone two of us."

Forrest resigned himself.  These girls had his number, and knew it. He,
eally didn't need to do them any favors, to find them dangerously
appealing.  "Tell me all about this lake."

She started talking, punctuating her sentences with kisses on his ears.
It took some time.

At last they emerged from the water.  Forrest was shaky, not from the
information, but from Eve's kisses.  There might not be magic in them,
but they nevertheless had extraordinary force.  She was right: he would
be dreaming of her during whatever off moments were available, and when
the time came, he would not make any excuses. She had captured his
desire.  The irony was that his weakness of the moment gave her the
pretext to put her arm around him and help support him.  She hadn't
bothered to form clothing, and her touch remained electric.

"If you had been a nymph, all this would have been abated in seconds,"
he muttered.  "With no emotional complications.  Instead you have
chained me."

"I know," she said smugly.  "You're not used to dealing with women with
minds.  We're dangerous.  We are aware of consequences, and we know how
to make a temporary interest permanent." She nudged him without using an
elbow.  "But somehow this session hasn't changed my feeling for you."

"It couldn't increase what was already complete," he said glumly.

"Maybe." I He decided not to inquire what she meant.  She surely
understood further aspects that would only alarm him worse.  He had
anticipated problems with terrain, monsters, magic, and people, but
never with emotions.  He had hardly known what emotions were, before all
this began.  Now he knew that they were the most formidable of the lot.

They returned to the central plateau.  Along the way Forrest recovered
his steadiness, and his fur dried, and Eve shifted to dry clothing.
Their immersion in the water was not obvious.  She released his hand, so
that even that aspect disappeared.  He was struggling to keep his face
and manner straight, and was privately amazed at how readily Eve made
herself look cool, as if nothing of any kind had even been thought
oLviously girls were better at this than men.  Or fauns, at least.

"That was one close call," Imbri said in a dreamlet.  "If she had kissed
you on the mouth instead of the ears-"

Dawn also looked knowingly at them, without comment.

Forrest approached Ida.  "The name of the lake is the Sarah Sea," he
began.  He went on to describe its depths in meticulous detail.  As he
spoke, he found himself becoming increasingly interested in Ida. She was
an attractive woman, with a remarkable talent, and now he was in a
position to know how special her moon was.  Eve had tempted him
wickedly, but he knew it was desire rather than love. Ida did not tempt
him in that manner, but his feeling for her was becoming encompassing.
He wanted to stay with her forever, and bask in the delight of her mere
presence.  This, he realized, was love, an emotion he had never before
experienced.  It was different from desire, though there were
connections between the two.  Should Ida express any interest at all in
desire, he realized it would spring fully formed from the broad base of
the larger emotion.  Fortunately she gave no such indication, though her
moon angled to observe him better.

"Now it is my turn," Ida said when he finished.  "You have delivered in
full measure, and satisfied my lifelong curiosity.  Do not be concerned
about your present emotion; it will shortly pass.  Here is the
information you need.  You have to talk to the margins, and explain to
them that they have been deceived.  That they are not giving favors,
they are stealing them, and will be diminished thereby."

"Margins?" Forrest asked.  "The lines?"

"The creatures who generate the lines," Ida said.  "They are kept in the
cellars, and not told much of anything that is true."

A bulb flashed over Forrest's head.  "So if they learn the truth,
they'll stop generating the lines, and the power of the Wizards will
collapse!

Ida smiled.  "I'm glad that this information is useful to you."

"It certainly is!"

"But how can we get into the castles, to tell the margins?" Imbri asked.

Forrest relayed the question.

"You have merely to locate Ghina, whose talent is to put people to
sleep," Ida said.  "She is somewhere on Pyramid's red face, and will
help if you ask her.  Also Jfraya, whose talent is to draw a door that
opens.

"But how do we find Gina and Jeffrey?"

"Ghina, the daughter of Graeboe Giant and Gloha Goblin-Harpy, I believe.
A large invisible winged goblin girl.  And Jfraya, of uncertain origin,
on Pyramid's green face.  I fear you will have to accept some favors
there, and be accordingly diminished."

"I can do that," Imbri said.

"So we have it," Forrest said.  "Thank you so much."

"No thanks necessary; it is a fair exchange."

Then he realized something.  "My emotion-it has faded.  I don't love you
any more.  Not that you are unworthy.  It's just that-"

"Yes.  It abated when I returned the favor.  But I trust you can
appreciate why I demurred, before."

"Yes!  It's a great emotion, but it must be invoked suitably."

"That is correct.  I am glad we were able to arrange our exchange of
information, for we both profit handsomely thereby."

"So am l." he said, much relieved.  If only Eve could be similarly
turned off.  But he knew of no favor he could do her at the moment.

"Now we must return to Pyramid.  Do you have any objection if we go
directly from here?"

"None.  I have not before observed travel between worlds.  It should be
interesting."

"Maybe so." He looked at the others.  "Are we ready?"

"No," Dawn said.  "I haven't had the chance to do you a favor to match
Eve's."

"Better yet," Forrest suggested, "why don't I do Eve an equivalent
favor, so that her emotion abates?  I can't think of one, but maybe you
can."

"Maybe I can," Dawn said.

.  "Nuh-uh!" Eve protested.  "I like it this way."

"But we have to be even," Dawn said.

"How long has it been since Eve did her favor for Forrest?" Ida asked.

"An hour," Dawn said.

"Then it's too late.  Favors have to be exchanged soon, before the
emotion sets in place."

"Then I'll just have to do Forrest some favor," Dawn said.  "Forrest,
what do you really, truly, most want to know about some living thing?"

"Where to find a faun for my neighboring tree.  That's my whole mission
here."

"But I have to touch a living thing to know about it.  I can't find your
faun from a distance, unless I can touch someone who knows where he is."

"I wish you could do me that favor," Forrest said.  "But it is evident
that you can't."

"Maybe one of us knows," Dawn said.  "Without knowing she knows, I mean.
So I could find out."

"I do not," Ida said.  "I would have to query Cone again, and that would
mean-"

"Don't do that!" Forrest said.  "It's Dawn's favor I must have."

Ida smiled.  "I understand."

"Let's hold hands," Dawn said desperately.  "If the information is among
us, I can get it."

"I can't hold hands," Imbri said in a dreamlet.

"But you can touch us," Eve pointed out.

So they formed another circle, with the two girls holding Forrest's
hands, and touching Imbri on the other side.  There was a pause.

"There is something," Dawn said.  "Not the faun.  Somethingsomething
better, I think.  Oh!" She let go.

"What happened?" Eve asked.  "Is something wrong?"

Dawn looked awed.  "H don't think so.  But I don't know what to do. It's
all-all mixed up."

Forrest was getting impatient.  "Do you have the answer or don't you?"

Dawn turned to Ida.  "Aunt Ida-where I come from, that's what you
are-you always had good advice for us.  I really need it now.  Is there
any way-without complicating things-"

Ida nodded.  "There may be, dear.  If you care to tell me what is on
your mind, I would be free to offer an opinion, which you would be free
to ignore.  So there would be no actual service.  Would that do?"

"Yes!'

"Then we shall do that.  Let's take a little walk into my house."

The two went into the house.  The remaining three looped a glance
around.  "What do you think she saw?" Eve asked.

"It must have been something that one of us knows, or maybe has seen and
not realized its significance," Imbri said.

"She knows just about everything I know," Eve said.  "So I don't think
it's me."

"I have seen too many things to remember," Imbri said.  "In the course
of my delivery of bad dreams.  So one of them could relate. But why
wouldn't she tell us, or at least Forrest?"

"All I know I learned in the vicinity of my tree," Forrest said. "This
adventure has shown me more new things than I ever saw before.  So
unless I saw a faun in passing and didn't realize it-and why wouldn't
Dawn tell me that?"

"She said it wasn't a faun, but maybe better," Eve said.  "But that
still doesn't explain why she's so confused."

Dawn and Ida emerged from the house.  Dawn looked radiant.  She marched
right up to Forrest.  "I love you as much as Eve does, now,"

she said, embracing him and kissing him ardently on the mouth.  He
realized that it must be so, for her passion was heating him, making him
desire her as much as he desired Eve.  Her body was pressing him in all
the places Eve's body had, just as urgently.  "So we're even, again."
She gave him a final squeeze, and turned him loose.

He reeled, and would have fallen, had not Imbri alertly intercepted him
and supported him with her solid shoulder.  "We had better complete this
mission soon," Imbri said in a dreamlet.  "Those girls are too much for
you."

True words!  He put his arm across her shoulder, gradually regaining his
equilibrium.  "I'm just not used to this sort of thing," he said.

"But what favor did you do him?" Eve was asking Dawn.

"Sister, I can't tell you.  And I can't tell you why I can't tell you.

But believe me, you would do the same, in my situation."

"I don't understand!"

"I know.  I'm sorry.  But so it must be, for now."

Eve looked at Ida.  "So it seems it must be," Ida agreed.  "And now I
think you are ready to return to Pyramid and complete your mission."

"But how can she have done me a favor, and I not know it?"

Forrest asked, as perplexed as Eve.

"In time you will understand."

Forrest exchanged a glance of mottled frustration with Eve.  "Don't you
hate it when someone says that?" Eve asked.

"Yes.  It makes me feel like a teenager."

"Exactly," she agreed.  Then she came across and kissed him on the
mouth.  "If Dawn can do it, so can I."

"But I didn't get to press my bare body against him in the water," Dawn
retorted.

"How do you know about that?" Eve demanded.

"When we held hands, I fathomed everything."

"Including what you're not telling us."

"Yes," Dawn said smugly.

"It's time to go," Forrest said, before it could erupt into a sisterly
fight.

"Yes," Imbri agreed, her dreamlet figure sounding no more pleased than
Forrest or Eve.  "Time to go."

"Let's hold hands," Eve suggested.

"Just to be sure no one gets lost," Dawn said.

At another time Forrest might have objected.  But at the moment his main
concern was that they make a safe return to Pyramid before anything else
happened to confuse the issue.  So he didn't argue.

Eve took hold of his left hand, and Dawn took his right hand, and the
two of them caught Imbri's mane on either side with their other hands.
Each of the girls squeezed his fingers with knowing implication.  They
were even, all right-but what of him?  Then all of them diluted their
bodies.

"This is impressive," Ida remarked as they expanded and thinned. "I wish
all of you the very best.  Give my regards to Ida of Pyramid."

Then they became too diffuse to hear her.  They were drifting up into
the sky, which was the hole in the center of Torus.  They had to move
out of it, so as not to collide with the world again as they continued
to expand.

The lakes, forests, fields, and mountains spread out below and around
them as they went.  Forrest peered at the inner side of the dou,hnut,
until he located the Sarah Sea, with its island in the center. He hoped
Ida wasn't lonely.  It would not have been a bad place to reside.

They moved well clear of Torus, growing impossibly large.  Then Forrest
saw a far larger shape beyond, and realized that it was Ida's head.  Ida
of Pyramid.  They would have some interesting things to tell her, too!

It became easier as they oriented on the larger world.  They were too
diffuse to continue holding hands; their substances passed right through
each other.  But now there was no danger of getting lost.  Still, one
nebulous figure clung to his left extremity.  That would be Eve. Or was
it?  What was he to do about her, whichever one it was?  When the two
girls had been equally interested, it had been awkward, and worse when
Eve was more interested, but now it was worse yet. Because now he was
wishing that the mission could be finished, so that he and they could do
whatever they had in mind.  He would have to play no favorites, but that
would be a lie; Eve had become his favorite.  She had aroused emotions
of a scope and complexity he had not before experienced.  Yet Dawn had
the capacity to even it up, as her last embrace had shown.  Just what
had she done, to increase her emotion?

When their own monstrous bodies came into view, they separated, each
descending toward his or her own.  Even Eve's empty body intrigued him
now; it looked lovely in its dark perfection.  He would have to
dissipate that feeling, if he could.

Mare Imbri was the first to reach her body.  She landed on it with her
hoofs and sank in.  So that was how it was done!  Forrest moved his own
feet toward that landing.  But he hung back somewhat, wanting to make
sure that the others docked successfully before he did. He didn't know
what he would do if anything went wrong, but he felt it was his
responsibility.

He saw Dawn reach her body.  She elected to swan-dive into it, her
soul-self assuming the form of the bird just before it disappeared into
the flesh.  Actually her whole body was condensed soul, but that didn't
seem to matter in this circumstance.  Her head faced him at the last
instant, and winked.  What did she know?

Then Eve reached her body.  She assumed the form of a perfect image of
herself, only without the clothing, and sank down on her back.  She
glanced lingeringly at him as she disappeared, and smiled. Oh, yes, she
remained aware of him!

Then it was his turn.  He dropped in feet first, trusting Imbri's
technique, and felt his feet and legs encounter slow resistance.  He
arranged himself and lay down across his body, sinking in.

Then it became stifling.  He was suffocating.  He wanted to pull out, to
escape, to win free, but couldn't.  The body had hold of him, and was
sucking him into itself, in all its solid parts and aspects.  But he
reminded himself that this really was his body, in this world, and that
he would like it as soon as he truly got back into it.  It merely felt a
bit corroded from disuse at the moment.

Then the melding was complete.  He opened his eyes.  Around him the
others were stirring.  "What an experience!" Dawn said.  She looked at
Forrest as if pondering experience of another kind.

"Yes indeed," Eve agreed.  Then she sent a sultry glance in Forrest's
direction.  "In more respects than one."

For sure.

da helped them reorient.  "Are all of you all right?" she asked.  "You
were gone for several hours."

Forrest looked at the tiny Torus orbiting her head.  So much had
happened there!  "Yes, I think we are, physically," he said.

Both girls laughed.  "Emotionally, we changed," Dawn said.  "The two of
us fell in love with him, and he became fascinated with us."

"But we learned what we need to know," Eve said.  "Your persona there
was very nice."

"And now we will share it with you," Forrest said.  "We will tell you
all about Torus."

"I'm so glad," Ida said, bringing a plate of cookies.

And for the next two hours they told her everything they could remember
that they deemed important or interesting.  Ida was fascinated,
especially with the revised rules of services and emotions there, and
with the information about the other Ida's come moon.  "How I wish I
could meet her!" she said.

"That, I fear, is impossible," Imbri said.  "How could you take your
moon along-when going to that moon?"

"How, indeed," Ida agreed sadly.  "But this detailed knowledge of it is
the next best thing.  I'm glad she has a nice residence."

"She sent her regards to you," Forrest said, remembering.

"Oh!  How nice."

"She's a nice person," Dawn said.

"Just like you," Eve said.

"Oh!" Ida blushed.

Then it was time to resume their mission.  "We must locate Ghina on the
red face, and Jfraya on the green face," Forrest said.  "With their
help, we can nullify the Wizards.  Then you will be free."

"That will be nice," Ida agreed.  "But do be careful, because the
Wizards may not take kindly to your effort."

"As long as nobody tells them what we are up to, we should be all
right," Imbri said in a dreamlet.

"I will certainly never tell," Ida said.  "Farewell, good visitors."

Dawn & Eve hugged her.  Then the four of them left her blue stone house,
and walked off the blue ridge to the blue lake.  There Forrest took the
large cross from Imbri's pack.  They clustered together, and shot across
the water in a bundle.

They landed tumbled together on the far shore.  Dawn was plastered
across Forrest's front, and Eve across his back, all of them on top of
Imbri.  But no one was hurt.  He wondered to what extent the girls had
arranged things that way.  Did it matter?

They disentangled, and resumed their trek.  The red face was in the
direction they thought of as west, though such a designation was
meaningless here.  A straight march in that direction would get them
there.  Forrest invoked the blanket of obscurity so that they would not
be bothered by natives.

But night was coming.  They needed a place to spend the night. They were
in deep woods, and weren't sure how safe it would be, because the
blanket would wear off long before the night ended.  Already they heard
the howling of the hunting wolf spiders.  They didn't want to blunder
into a wolf web.

Dawn went from tree to tree, touching their trunks.  "This is a tea
tree," she said of one.  "It grows all kinds of teas: Mediocri,
subversi, adverse, propensi, versatili, priori, supertori, monstrosi-"

"We get the point," Eve said.  "We won't be drinking any of those.

Dawn circled around it.  "And on this side it's a Tree Tea," she
announced.  "When enemies meet here, they can make a peace agreement."

"There's a house," Eve said.  "Maybe we can stay there."

"How long has the blanket been invoked?" Imbri asked. "Over an hour,"
Forrest said.  "But what we want is friendly accommodation.  So if we
find that, we won't need the blanket."

"So who inquires at that house?"

"I will.  We all have our own value, so none of us are more at risk than
the others."

"But we love you," Dawn said.  "We don't want anything to happen to you.

"And I don't want anything to happen to any of you." He glanced at
Imbri.  "If an ogre or something answers the door, throw a bad dreamlet
at him to distract him until I can get away."

The others nodded, realizing that this was probably sufficient
protection.

He went up to the blue house and knocked on the door.  A young woman
with blue hair answered.  She reminded him of someone. "Hello," he said.
"I am Forrest Faun, from another world, and I and my friends need a
place to stay the night.  We wondered if you-"

"Another world?" she asked.  "Do you mean Ptero?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact.  We are on our way to the red face, and-"

"You are welcome.  We haven't had visitors from there for a long time.
In fact, we've never had them.  I am Ilene, and this is my brother
Gerrod." She indicated the man who came up behind her.  He looked
familiar too.

"Don't you want to meet my companions, to be sure-"

"Certainly.  Bring them in."

Forrest turned and beckoned the others.  They came to the house.

.  "You look familiar," Ilene said, looking at the twins.

"I am Dawn."

"I am Eve."

"We are the twin daughters of Prince Dolph and Princess Electra."

"That's it!" Ilene cried.  "You are our cousins!  We are the children of
Grey and Ivy.

"Oh, more cousins," Dawn said.  "How nice."

"Do you have Magician caliber talents?" Eve asked.

"Of course.  I control storms, and Geffod communicates with water."

"Fascinating," Dawn said.  "I know about living things."

"And I know about inanimate things."

"Let's compare notes," Ilene said.

Soon Gerrod and Eve were telling each other about all manner of aspects
of a cup of water, and it was clear that their talents were genuine.
Similarly Ilene and Dawn were demonstrating storm clouds and information
about living things.  Then they all settled down inside, including
Imbri, for a nice supper and more talking.  Forrest realized that on
these worlds, where the might-he's resided, it was easy for them to
accept alternate folk.  Dawn & Eve knew all their cousins on Ptero, and
Ilene and Gerrod knew all their cousins on Pyramid.  They considered it
a fair exchange of information, and no one gained or lost size.  Imbri
paid her way by demonstrating her ability to project dreamlets, and
Forrest brought out his panpipes and played a merry melody for their
hosts.  So it was a good night.

In the morning, refreshed, they set off again.  Ilene and Gerrod did not
know what was to be found on the red face; it seemed that the folk on
one face kept pretty much to their own color, and those who tried to
cross over stood out like sore big toes.  But Geffod gave them several
packaged storms to use in case of need.  Imbri accepted them, and did
lose some mass, but it seemed worth it.

As they progressed, the ground tilted.  It didn't bother them, since
they tilted with it, but they were aware that they were getting near the
edge of the blue triangle.

When they reached it, the demarcation was striking.  The border was like
the ridge of a mountain range, blue on one side, red on the other.

"We'll have to change color," Forrest said.

"Maybe not," Imbri said.  "With the blanket of obscurity, we may not be
noticed."

He hadn't thought of that.  "Then let's go ahead.  You can ask
directions with dreamlets that show the correct color."

They crossed the ridge-and abruptly their tilt was wrong.  It was geared
to the blue face, which was sharply different from the red face.  They
were now at a steep angle to the terrain.  In fact their heads wanted to
collide with the ground at a slight angle, while their bodies wanted to
point slightly into the air.

"We are oriented ninety degrees to the blue face," Imbri said.

"The red face differs from the blue face by a hundred and twenty
degrees.  We shall have to crawl on our hands.  I don't feel comfortable
with that." Indeed, she was lying on her side with two feet in the air.

"Maybe I can figure it out," Eve said.  She touched a finger to the red
rock.  "Aha!  There's a colony of lings near the edge.  We can make a
deal with them."

That was a relief.  They crossed back to the blue face and walked along
the edge until they were near the lings.  This happened to be by the
shore of a blue lake that went right up to the boundary, bent around the
corner, and became a red lake at the new angle.  Then they waited for
the obscurity to wear off, so that Forrest could crawl to the lings'
camp.  But as the spell faded, a large canine creature loped toward them
from the blue side.

"What is it?" Eve asked, concerned.

"That looks like a dire wolf," Dawn said.  "Get well away from it!  "

"Maybe I had better invoke the blanket of obscurity again," Forrest
said, taking it out of his knapsack.

.  "No, just cross to the red side," Dawn said urgently.  She and Eve
were already doing so, while Imbri stood warily by.

A deep bass note sounded from the lake, almost under Forrest's elbow. He
jumped-and the can flew out of his hand.  It splashed into the water,
where a big fish swallowed it.

"Oh, no!" Dawn cried.  "That's a largemouth bass.  It swallowed the
can."

Meanwhile the dire wolf was coming close.  Forrest quickly brought out a
storm package and opened it.  Dark clouds swirled out, making sheets of
rain and peals of thunder.  The wolf got a blast of spray in the snoot,
reconsidered, passed close by them, and ran on, not attacking.  "Of all
the bad luck," Forrest said.

"That's the thing about a dire wolf," Dawn said.  "Wherever it goes,
disaster follows.  That's why we had to get away from it."

And he hadn't done so, not realizing what she meant.  Now their main
protection from hostile interest, the blanket of obscurity, was gone. If
only he had understood in time!

There was nothing to do but dry off and proceed with their mission,
hoping they could get along without the obscurity.  Forrest crossed to
the red and crawled to the place where the lings were.  They were easy
to deal with; they flocked to the edge, and treated each person as she
crossed.  Imbri was the one who made the actual deals, so she lost
several more bits of her substance and became a smaller horse. But now
they were able to walk at the correct angle.  They were also red; they
had had to deal for that too.  Things were looking better, but they were
paying a price.  If only they hadn't lost their main protection!  Maybe
they were blundering because of the prior loss of the Good Magician's
list of words.

Dawn touched the plants, and Eve touched the objects, and soon they had
a notion where a sleep-talented woman had been.  They followed her
trail, being watchful for any dangers, and in due course located her.

Except that when they found her, they couldn't see her.  There was her
nice little red brick house, but no woman.  They had not wanted to be
sneaky, but their awareness of danger made them careful, so they peeked
in a window first.  And saw nothing.

"But she's there," Imbri insisted.  "I can feel her fleeting dreams."

Then Forrest made a connection.  "She's the daughter of Graeboe Giant.
Is he an invisible giant?"

"Not any more," Imbri said.  "He's a winged goblin now."

"But he has the invisible heritage.  She's invisible!"

Eve touched the house.  "Why so she is!  This is the house of an
invisible woman."

"So maybe we should just knock on the door and introduce ourselves,"
Forrest said.  "Instead of generating our own complications."

The others, abashed, agreed.  So Forrest knocked-and in a moment a
red-cloaked woman answered.  "Yes?" she inquired from the depths of her
cowl.

"I am Forrest Faun.  I have come to ask a favor from Ghina."

"I am she.  I am glad to give favors, for they increase my stature.

What is your wish?"

"My friends and I need your help to nullify the four Wizards of
,)Yramid."

"Oh, my!" she exclaimed.  "That is a very dangerous undertaking.

"Yes.  But if we succeed, the tyranny of the Wizards will be ended, and
you will be free."

"Free?  We're free now.  The Wizards have done a great many favors for
us."

oops.  He had forgotten that though the Wizards were oppressing the folk
of Ptero, it was the opposite for the folk of Pyramid.  Ghina might not
want to cooperate.

He pondered as swiftly as he could, and decided that the truth was best,
though it was dangerous to utter.  "We are from another world. The
Wizards are harming that world, in order to do favors here."

She considered.  "Are any of my friends being harmed?"

"They could be.  There are many might-be folk there, and surely some of
them are relatives of yours." He wasn't quite sure what system there
was, as there seemed to be might-he's on all the worlds, but it seemed a
safe assumption that there were invisible giants, goblins, and harpies
on Ptero.  So her ancestry was surely well represented.

"Well, then, I suppose I had better help.  And if I am helping my
relatives, it isn't really a favor to you."

"It's a fair exchange of favors," he said, relieved.

"Very well.  I'll help." She stepped out the door.

"But don't you have to close up your house, or anything?"

"It will keep until Mom and Dad fly home.  Or until my brother Geddy
walks home; he's out charming the ladies with his songs. Where are your
friends?"

"Here they are." The three others were stepping forward.  "This is Mare
Imbri, who speaks in dreamlets."

Imbri sent a dreamlet of a winged goblin girl.  "Hello."

"And these are Dawn & Eve Human, whose talents are to know all about
living and inanimate things." The twins in red jeans nodded. Forrest
noticed, irrelevantly, that Dawn's hair color had returned to its
natural flame hue, while Eve's hair was now midnight red.  Both girls
remained infernally attractive.

Ghina's cowl looked thoughtful.  "Are you related to Magician Trent?"

"He's our great grandfather," Dawn said.

"Now rejuvenated to his twenties," Eve said.  "So he's not much older
than we are."

"That's the one!  Mother knew him." The cowl looked down, as if
blushing.  "In fact, Mother rather liked him.  If he had been willing,
she would have ordered me from the Stork Works with him, instead of with
Graeboe, and I might have been visible.  Not that I have any objection
to Graeboe; he's a fine father.  It's just that sometimes I wonder what
I might have looked like."

"Like this," Imbri said.  In the dreamlet, her human figure conjured a
bucket of red paint and flung it at the cowled Ghina figure.  The paint
splashed all over, washing off the cowl and leaving a red winged goblin
girl.

"Oh!" Ghina cried, delighted.  "I'm pretty!"

"Just like your mother," Imbri agreed.

They started off.  "I suppose we should do the Red Wizard first, since
we're here," Forrest said.  "Do you know where his castle is?"

in the center of the red triangle," Ghina said.  "But I don't know the
best way there.  I'll ask the chess nut."

"Chestnuts talk?" Forrest asked.

She must have smiled.  "You're funny." She led the way through the
forest to a glade wherein stood assorted life sized redwood figures of
men, women, horses, towers, and children.  The floor of the glade was
marked in squares: light red and dark red.  As they approached, a figure
of a light red man with a pointed hat slid across a diagonal and grabbed
a dark red child figure.  It tossed the child to the edge of the glade,
where it joined a tumbled collection of figures.

"Uncle Kerby!" Ghina called.

There was a stirring.  "Yes, Niece Ghina," a voice came from the air.

"Oh-an invisible giant, of course," Dawn murmured.

"From her father's side of the family," Eve agreed.

Imbri made a dreamlet showing the glade with its wooden figures, and the
outline of ap invisible giant standing over them, ready to move another
piece.  The giant seemed to be of about average size for his type, with
unruly brown hair and green eyes.  Apparently his invisibility allowed
him to be normal colors, instead of shades of red.

"Where is the center of the triangle?" Ghina asked.

"All paths lead to it," Kerby replied, moving another chess piece.

"Thank you, Uncle!"

"But we're forgetting something," Dawn said.

"That's right: Jfraya," Eve agreed.

So they were.  They needed both people to do the job.  "We'll have to go
to the green face first," Forrest said with regret.

Kerby overheard him.  "That will be a harder trip."

"Uncle, could you help us?" Ghina asked.

"I could, but I don't want to take any mass from you, sweet thing."

"I will trade you this smile," she said, turning her invisible face in
Kerby's direction.

Forrest couldn't see the smile, but the glade brightened.  The giant
must have seen it, being also invisible.

"Climb on," he said.

Imbri's dreamlet showed a huge hand being laid on the ground before
them.  They climbed on and took hold of the fingers, and Imbri lay in
the palm.  Then the hand lifted above the trees, and the red terrain
whizzed by below.

It didn't take long.  Kerby lowered them at the corner between the red
and the green faces.  "Actually I could reach across, if you know where
your friend is," the giant offered.

"Let me touch a tree," Dawn said.  "Maybe she walked past it once."

"Let me touch the ground," Eve said.  "Maybe a path leads to her home."

They scrambled off the invisible hand.  They had the usual trouble with
the changed angle of the green face, but crawled to a green tree and
green stone.

Soon they returned.  "Someone once opened a door near here," Dawn
reported.  "The trees were astonished, for it was a door into the
ground.

"And the ground knows of other doors that opened in it, in that
direction," Eve said, pointing.

"I will reach as far as I can in that direction," Kerby said.

The girls scrambled back onto his hand.  Then they rode way out across
the green terrain, until the giant's reach reached its farthest reaches,
and he lowered them to the greensward.

"Thank you, Uncle!" Ghina called, flashing another gladebrightening
invisible smile as they slid to the ground.

"Welcome, Niece," he called back, as he started back toward his chess
game, his voice sounding lower because of the special magic of Doppler.
It occurred to Forrest that Doppler must have been an interesting
Magician, though it wasn't clear why he wanted to fool with sounds.

Now they had to struggle with the terrain.  It was possible for them to
walk erect, if they clung to trees and other features of the greenscape,
but not easy.  There seemed to be no lings in the vicinity.  So they
were stuck in the greenery, being both red and grounded.

"Maybe we can brace each other," Dawn gasped.  "So we can walk more or
less upright."

"Or tie ourselves together," Eve added.  "So we can be braced without
using our hands."

They found some greenbriar vines, but they were too thorny to use. Then
they saw a green rope leaping around.  Forrest managed to snag it as it
jumped over him.  The rope struggled, wanting to be free to leap some
more, but the girls grabbed hold of its ends and subdued it.  "It's a
jump rope," Eve gasped.  They wound it around, and tied themselves into
a clumsy mass.  It worked, not well, but better than nothing, and the
rope's natural inclination to jump helped.  Imbri was the center, and
the other four clustered around her, their feet bracing outward.  It was
uncomfortable, but feasible, for now.

Forrest was wedged against Ghina, because there needed to be two people
to a side and the twins couldn't agree which one of them would get to
press against the faun.  Ghina was invisible within her cloak and cowl,
and quickly shed those so as to be entirely invisible and less
noticeable.  But her body was solid.  Forrest felt her wings brushing
him every so often, and he was aware of other parts of her. He realized
that he was in close contact with yet another healthy young woman.  How
did he keep getting into these situations?

"She's that way," Eve said, after touching the ground for information.
"Not far."

So they trundled along in that direction.  Forrest had no idea what they
would do if something unfriendly spied them.  They weren't in any
condition to fend anything off.  Maybe another storm package would drive
it away, but maybe not.

"Say, I never realized that fauns were so interesting," Ghina murmured.
"Do you suppose we could-?"

"Unfeasible," he said.  Was there any point trying to explain about the
effect faunish contact had on females?

"Oh," she said regretfully.

They half dragged, half jumped onward until they came to the greenhouse
residence that Eve indicated was the one.  Rather than knock on the
glass door, and possibly freak someone out, they decided to let Imbri
contact the woman with a dreamlet.

"Jfraya!" Imbri's joint dreamlet called, showing Imbri's human form in a
green dress, properly upright.  "May we speak with you?"

A woman appeared in the dreamlet.  She was of course green, especially
her thumbs, and carried a green watering can.  "Who are You?"

"I am Mare Imbri, from another world.  My friends and I need your help
to stop the Wizards."

"But the Wizards haven't done us any harm," Jfraya protested.

"But they are doing others harm, by stealing from another world," Imbri
responded.  "We have in our group two people from that world, whose
people are sorely suffering."

"What makes you think I can help?"

"Ida of the world of Torus said you could."

"Ida?  But she's confined to an island on the blue face."

"Yes.  She's Ida of Pyramid.  The Ida I mean is on the world of Torus,
which orbits her head." Imbri made an image of blue Ida and her doughnut
shaped moon.

"This is too complicated to argue," Jfraya said.  "So I suppose I'd
better help you."

"Very good.  I think your world will be better off without raiding other
worlds.  After all, you wouldn't want other worlds raiding yours.

"I suppose."

Then Imbri introduced the others of their party, in the dreamlet.

"But why are they all tied together?  Are they prisoners?"

Imbri explained about the difficulty of walking on this face.

"Oh, I can fix that," Jfraya said.  "Where do you want to go?"

"To the Green Wizard's castle, first."

Jfraya stepped outside her greenhouse.  "Open this door," she said. She
brought out a large pen and drew a crude door on the ground, with hinges
on one side and a handle on the other.  Then she went back into her
house to finish watering her plants.

The group trundled up.  For-rest reached down for the drawn handle. To
his half surprise, he caught hold of it.  He hauled on it, and the door
opened, folding out of the ground.  Below was a passage slanting down.
It had a floor, a ceiling, and two sides.  There was a faint green glow,
so that it did not become dark deeper in.  "You know, we could walk on
one of the walls," Forrest said.

They untied themselves, one by one, and climbed down into the passage.
Dawn went first, and stood on the slanting wall, which was about right
for her orientation.  Then Eve joined her.  Their upper bodies were
pointing slightly downward, so the wall was close to right angles to
them.  Their four dainty feet were aimed almost directly at Forrest.

"Say, we'd look good in skirts," Dawn said.

"Yes, considering the angle," Eve agreed.

Their red jeans fuzzed and became flaring red skirts.  Forrest quickly
clapped a hand to his eyes before he saw very far beyond their four nice
knees.  "Stop it!" he cried.

"Aw," they said together, laughing.

"I wish I could do that," Ghina murmured.

That intrigued him, though he knew it shouldn't.  "Couldn't you, if you
put on stockings and panties?"

" No.  They're too close to my body.  They turn invisible.  Only the
thicker material can retain its opacity."

"I'm sure it's for the best," he said insincerely.

"Their jeans are back," she informed him.

He ventured a look.  Sure enough, it was safe.  And probably the
mischievous girls had not really let anything show.  They knew that the
mission wouldn't get far if they freaked him out in the middle of it.

Now he and Ghina climbed down into the hole and stood on the wall.
Finally Imbri rolled over and in, and they were all there. Fortunately
it was a large passage, with room, though there wasn't much clearance
for their heads.

Then Jfraya emerged.  "I think my greens have enough water for a few
days," she said.  She entered the passage, standing in its floor. This
was awkward, because she was about at right angles to them, and their
upper bodies were at cross purposes.  But they would just have to give
her space and make do.

They walked along the passage, giving each other sufficient room. "This
goes to the Wizard's castle?" Forrest asked.

"It should.  But I should warn you that one never can be quite certain
what one will find along the way."

"But if you made this passage, there shouldn't be anything else along
it, should there?"

"I made the door, not the passage.  I made a door into a passage that
goes to the Wizard's castle."

"Oh." That meant that they might not be safe, after all.  "Are there
likely to be dangers?"

"There could be.  But I could make another door, to escape the passage."

Eve touched the floor, which was her wall.  "This is a goblin tunnel!"
she exclaimed.

"Why yes, so it is," Ghina said.  "I should have recognized it, from my
goblin heritage."

"But it is deserted," Dawn said.

"Good," Jfraya said.  "I tried to pick an empty one."

They proceeded onward with greater confidence.  In due course the
passage opened into a series of galleries.  In one some metallic green
plants grew, with fierce straight spikes.  "A steel plant!" Eve
exclaimed.  "They make swords from these." She touched one of the
spikes.  "Too bad we delicate girls don't know how to use swords."

They knew how to use whatever else they had, though, Forrest thought
darkly.

The next chamber was encrusted with green gems.  "Now these we might
use," Eve said, touching one.  "They are strata-gems, from the
stratosphere.  They help folk devise plans."

Forrest agreed.  "Let's harvest some and keep them for use when we need
them."

So they pried several of the gems free, and each person put one in purse
or pack.

The next chamber was filled with bouncing orange-green balls.
"Basketballs," Eve said after checking.  "For storage."

"Storage?"

She caught a ball and pulled at its binding.  It opened out into a
basket.  "Put whatever it is inside, then close it up and let it bounce.
It will keep until you open the basket ball again."

"Too bad we don't need to store anything," Ghina said.  She had
recovered her red cloak from somewhere and was wearing it, so they could
see her general form.

They moved on.  Before long they approached the surface.  "No passages
actually enter the castle," Jfraya said.  "The Wizard saw to that.  But
they should exit in sight of it, and I can make a door through the wall.
But it won't be safe; I understand that the Wizard has monsters and
things guarding his premises."

"Leave them to me," Ghina said.  "My talent is making folk sleep. When I
was young, I thought I was just boring, but then I learned it was
magic."

"And you will be able to approach them, because they can't see you,"
Jfraya said.  "That's nice."

"Actually, they can smell me.  But I'll put them to sleep before they
can do us any harm."

"Still," Forrest said, "they could give the alarm.  So we had better
approach carefully."

, , Let's wait until night," Dawn suggested.  "Then we'll all be halfway
invisible."

He nodded.  "We might as well rest.  We don't know exactly what we'll
face inside the castle."

They foraged for something to eat.  The first plant they found had
berries like big green toes.  "Well, maybe," Dawn said, touching it.
"These fruits make a special kind of jam." She paused.  "Toe jam."

"Ugh," Eve said, wrinkling her nose.

Then they found a sweetie Pi tree, with 3.14 sweetie pies, and feasted
on them.  After that they settled down in a chamber to which Jfraya
opened a door, and found a number of nice pillows therein.  It was
wonderful to relax for a while.

Forrest woke to find himself extraordinarily comfortable.  Dawn was
stroking his hair, Eve was polishing his hoofs, and Ghina and Jfraya
were buffing his fingernails.  He couldn't actually see Ghina, for she
had evidently doffed her red cloak, but he felt her touch on his right
hand.

"Uh-" he said, intelligently.

"Oh, you're awake," Dawn said.

"Then we had better get on with our mission," Eve said.

"Which is to get into the Green Wizard's castle," Ghina said.

"And inform the margins," Jfraya concluded.

Then they all laughed.  They had had their little joke, making like
quadruplets.

"I didn't mean to sleep," he said, embarrassed.  "Just to rest."

Ghina squeezed his hand.  "You forget my talent."

"We didn't want a male overhearing our Girl Talk," Jfraya said.

Oh.  Well, at least that demonstrated that her talent was effective.

It also left him curious about what they had talked about.

"The magic of fauns," Dawn said, answering his thought, to his further
embarrassment.

"How they may not look like much, but their touch makes a girl think of
long-legged birds."

"It's similar to the magic of nymphs," he said.  "Just the sight of them
running makes a male think of the same birds."

"But the magic of fauns also works on other females," Ghina said.

"So does the sight of other women running also work on fauns?"

Jfraya asked.

"Yes," he said.  "As does their soft touch, and their pretty speech.

So if you girls don't mind-" They laughed again, and let go of his
extremities.  Their Girl Talk must have established that this one faun
was harmless.

"Yes," Imbri said, in a private dreamlet.  "But they do like you,
Forrest."

And he liked them.  But they all had business to accomplish.

They organized themselves, then quietly exited the chamber.  It was dark
outside, but the green castle was illuminated from within, the pale
green light spilling out through the green glass of the windows at each
story.  Several large, ugly, grotesque, and generally unpleasant green
monsters patrolled the premises.

Unfortunately, they still could not stand on the green surface.  Their
feet wanted to be just slightly higher than their heads.  In the ease of
walking along the tunnel wall, they had forgotten the problem.  Only
Jfraya was properly upright.

"We will just have to crawl," Forrest decided.  "It won't be
comfortable, but it will get us there."

"Maybe I can fly," Ghina said.  She tried it-and promptly flew sideways,
almost colliding with a tree.  They couldn't see her, but saw the
disturbance in the air.

"Try flying up at a steep angle, or diving down," Forrest suggested.

Ghina experimented, and after a while managed to get the right
onentation.  "I think I'm flying almost straight up, but I'm really
flying more or less level," she said.  "I have room to make mistakes, if
I stay high enough."

"I don't think I can crawl well enou h," Imbri said.  "But I think I can
project my dreamlets as far as the castle.  Why don't I remain here, and
be with you in dreams?"

"Then we are ready," Forrest said.  He started crawling mostly on his
hands, pulling a foot down frequently to give a push.  He was getting
the clumsy hang of it.  The others did similar maneuvers.  The twins
made intriguing outlines, with their jeans mostly in the air.  He
noticed that their hair fell to the side, instead of toward the ground.
It was clearer than ever why few creatures crossed to faces of Pyramid
not their own.

Ghina went first, spreading her invisible red wings and flying toward
the nearest monster, which resembled a corpulent tangle tree with
tentacle rot.  In a moment that monster lay down to sleep; Ghina had
exercised her talent.

In two and a half more moments, another monster lay down.  That one was
a cross between a huge green slug and a crushed caterpillar. Then the
third and fourth, which were too ill-favored to describe.  Now the six
of them could approach the castle without being challenged.

But they were careful, because the folk inside the castle were not
asleep, and if any of them looked out and saw the sleeping monsters,
they might give the alarm.  So there was no hurry, so that they would
not stumble in the darkness, and no talking; they knew what they were
doing.  Any communication between them was to be handled by joint
dreamlet.

There was no moat; apparently the Green Wizard believed that the
monsters and wall sufficed.  They reached the wall, and Forrest put his
sensitive ear to it, instead of to the ground where it had been
dragging, and listened.  There was a faint sound to the side.  That
should be the margins.  Eve touched the wall, and verified it; the
little creatures were working inside.  They went to the portion of the
wall closest to that sound, and Jfraya drew a door.  They opened it and
stepped inside.

There were perhaps a dozen little green pyramids with triangular faces,
sitting on the stone floor.  From several of them green lines projected
upward.

"Are these the margins?" Forrest asked mentally, his thought taking the
form of a dreamlet that Imbri shared with the others.  "Are they alive?"

"They are alive," Dawn replied in her own dreamlet as she touched the
nearest pyramid.  "But clothed in green stone.  They live in the
fissures of the stone.  They can't move of their own accord, but can be
moved by others.  The Green Wizard brought them here."

"Can you establish contact with them?" he asked Imbri.

"I think so." Imbri formed a picture of a green pyramid.  "Hello. I am a
visitor from another world."

"Hello!" several pyramids chorused.

"Would you tell me what you are doing?"

"We are marginalizing a segment of Ptero, so as to improve it, and thus
gain mass."

Dawn & Eve put their hands over their mouths, so as not to exclaim in
maidenly indignation.

"How does marginalizing it improve it?" Imbri asked.

"There are bad folk there.  Marginalizing captures them, and takes away
their magic, so they can't do any more harm."

Dawn opened her mouth to protest, but Eve stifled her.

"Who told you this?"

"The Green Wizard."

"Let me show you how it really is," Imbri said.  In the dreamlet, the
world of Ptero appeared and expanded.  There were happy people all
across the human section.  Then colored lines appeared, cutting people
off, making the others afraid and unhappy.  "Those are not bad folk,"
Imbri said.  "They are good folk.  They are being harmed by your
margins."

"But how can this be so?  The Green Wizard said we were doing great
favors, and would grow greatly in size."

"And have you grown in size?"

"Not yet.  We were wondering-"

"Yet you know you have captured many folk on Ptero.  The change occurs
instantly.  So you must see that you are not doing favors.  It is the
Green Wizard who is growing in size-by giving away those stolen
talents."

"It is true.  He has become enormous."

" While you have not.  So wouldn't it be better to stop helping him?"

The pyramids consulted.  It seemed that however strong their magic might
be, they were not phenomenally smart.  "Yes," they decided. "We'll
stop."

"Wait!" Forrest cried in his share of the dreamlet.  "If the Green
Wizard is stopped now, the other Wizards will be warned, and will be on
guard.  We need to delay it."

"It would be better if you waited three days," Imbri said.  "Could you
stop then?"

.  "Yes."

"Thank you." Then Imbri thought of something.  "What will happen to you,
if the Wizard is mad at you?"

"Nothing.  If he bothers us, we'll marginalize him."

"Very good," Imbri said.  "We thank you, and the world of Ptero will
surely thank you, in due course."

They left the dungeon, well satisfied.  The four monsters were beginning
to twitch.  Ghina didn't bother to put them to sleep again; it was
better to have them wake and resume their guard duty, with the Green
Wizard none the wiser.  They were able to crawl fast enough to get clear
before any monster actually woke.

"Well, that part of the mission went well," Forrest said.  "But now we
have three days to do the other three Wizards.  I hope you can open
doors to passages that go there, Jfraya."

"Oh, yes."

"Then let's do the Red Wizard next; I think that's the closest one."

"Actually they are all the same distance from each other," Eve said.
"Because each is in the center of its triangle."

"But since we're red, we might as well do that one," Dawn said.

Jfraya opened a door to a passage slanting to the center of the red
face, and they walked along its wall.  That was a relief, after their
struggle on the surface.  This one was unused, like the other, but not
perfect.  They passed a gallery supported by pillars that resembled
feline creatures: cat-l-pillars.  There was what appeared to be a prison
cell there, wherein was a comely young woman.  "Look," Ghina said. "The
goblins left a prisoner behind.  We should rescue her."

 I 11 don't trust this," Forrest said.  "We had better first find out
why they imprisoned her and left her, and why she seems healthy despite
this neglect."

Eve touched a pillar, learning what it had seen.  "That is a geis-a
girl," she said, pronouncing it GAYSH-A.  "Anyone who gets close to her
may be caught by her geis, and have to do whatever she says."

They paused, reconsidering.  "That's dangerous," Forrest said. "We don't
know what she might demand.  The goblins must have isolated her here
deliberately, so she couldn't do them any mischief."

"Pretty girls are mischief," Dawn said.

"Especially those with strong magic," Eve added.

"I think we had better just leave her there," Forrest said regretfully.
"We can't risk being diverted from our mission."

The others reluctantly agreed.  "Uncle Grey Murphy could take away her
magic, as punishment, if she did anything wrong on Ptero," Dawn said.

"But Uncle Grey is trapped in the margins," Eve said.  "Caught before he
could nullify their magic."

"Then maybe Mother Electra could use an Outlet to free her when no one
else was near," Dawn suggested.

"Which is a secret passage only Mother Electra can open," Eve explained.

.  "That's interesting," Jfraya said.  "I'd like to meet your mother."

"I don't know if that's possible," Forrest said.  "We of larger worlds
can travel to smaller ones by leaving most of our mass behind, but I
think it would be more difficult for those of the smaller worlds to go
to the larger ones.  They would probably be insubstantial, and seem like
ghosts."

"Maybe someone with the talent of blessing could reverse the curse of
the geis-a girl's compulsion," Ghina said as they moved on.

Another chamber was filled with snakes.  "I wish we had the blanket of
obscurity now," For-rest said.  "Those look poisonous."

Indeed, in a moment they were surrounded by very poisonous looking
snakes.  The snakes were on the floor, while most of the people were on
a wall, but in the confines of the passage they were close enough.
"There are too many for me to put to sleep," Ghina said.

"And they could follow if I made another door," Jfraya said.

Forrest couldn't think of anything intelligent to do, so he tried
something stupid: "Take us to your leader!"

The snakes made a path through their number toward a special cave.
Forrest and his party walked the nearest wall in that direction. Here
lay a large snake wearing a crown.  "It's the King Cobra," Dawn
whispered.

Forrest had another idea, not nearly as stupid as the last one.  "O King
Cobra, we crave a favor," he said.  "We need to proceed quickly to the
Red Wizard's castle."

The king nodded.  Several monstrous snakes slithered up.  The travelers,
including Imbri, climbed onto these snakes, and were carried swiftly
onward.  They rode at a considerable angle, but the snakes seemed to
understand.

Forrest looked back.  Sure enough, the King Cobra looked a size larger.

Soon they were at the end of the tunnel.  They slid off the snakes, who
seemed even larger than before, and moved back out onto the red surface.
Now they were correctly oriented, except for Jfraya.  She had to lie on
Imbri's back, because she couldn't stand on the ground.

It was still night.  They proceeded directly to the Red Castle, and
Ghina put its guardian monsters to sleep.  Except for one.  This was an
animated angle.

"I recognize that," Eve said.  "It's a guardian angle.  It protects folk
against math courses."

"But we aren't math courses," Forrest said.

"Right." She approached the guardian.  "Please don't let any math
courses get us," she beseeched it.

The angle nodded its acute point graciously.  It would protect them from
that threat.

They entered the castle in the same manner as they had the other, and
explained things to the red margins inside.  The margins agreed to cease
operations in two and a half days.

They emerged, and passed through a door to a passage leading directly to
the blue face.  This one, however, was not completely desetted.  "But
there aren't any really bad folk on it," Eve said, after touching its
wall.  "Except maybe the cuss today."

"A toad that swears?" Forrest asked.

"Not exactly.  It is found in the grounds for divorce.  If we avoid the
chamber where those grounds are, it shouldn't bother us."

They avoided that chamber by taking a detour.  On the alternate passage
they encountered a man of many colors.  His skin was not blue, red,
green, or gray, which explained why he wasn't walking the surface of
Pyramid.  Instead it was rainbow colored.

"Hello," the man said.  "I am Hue Man."

The six of them introduced themselves, then moved on.  It wasn't that
there seemed to be anything wrong with Hue Man, who seemed completely
human, but that they were in a hurry to complete their mission, and
didn't care to advertise it, lest word get to the Wizards.

It was a long trip to the blue face, and by the time they reached it the
night was done.  They had to remain in the passage.  Forrest still had
some food in his knapsack, and Ghina had some invisible sandwiches, so
they ate lightly and relaxed.

When night arrived, they went out onto another face where they couldn't
walk.  This time they tilted the opposite way, but it hardly mattered;
their feet still wanted to be slightly above their heads. Jfraya's feet
went the opposite direction from theirs.  But again Ghina was able to
adjust her flying, and she put the monsters to sleep so that the group
could crawl in and alert the margins.

This time they learned something new.  The blue margins mentioned that
they were able to communicate along their lines.  That was how they
identified people trapped within the enclosures formed by the lines.  So
if anyone got in the line of sight of a line, between the margin and the
world of Ptero, he or she would be able to talk to the margin generating
it.  The lines did not become solid barriers until they were close to
the surface of Ptero, because there was no sense wasting magic.
Actually, the whole of Pyramid was close to the surface of Ptero, but
Forrest understood what they meant.  The lines went up to the top of
Castle Roogna, then bent at right angles, and came down after another
bend to intercept the ground.  Only with that last bend did they become
actual walls.

So if we climbed to the top of the Wizard's castle, we could intercept
the lines and talk to you," Forrest said, getting it straight.

"Yes.  That is how the Blue Wizard does it."

However, it seemed enough of a challenge just to crawl into the dungeon
from the ground.  Trying to get to the top of the castle seemed
pointless.

They got the margins to agree to stop in a day and a half, and crawled
back out.  One Wizard to go!

Outside, Jfraya cast about uncertainly.  "I can't find a suitable
passage to open a door to," she complained.  "There just don't seem to
be passages to the bottom face."

"It wasn't a place the goblins wanted to go to," Ghina said. "Mother
commented about that.  It's all stormy and cold."

"That's right," Jfraya agreed, remembering.  "Because it never gets any
direct sunlight, and 's always in shadow.  By most accounts, it's this
world's dullest face.

"But trying to trek all across this face to the edge, and then all
across the gray face, would take days," Forrest said.  "We have to move
faster than that."

"It will have to be on the surface," Jfraya said.  "There aren't any
safe passages."

"Maybe we could get rides," Dawn suggested.

"On cooperative centaurs," Eve added.

"Can you locate such centaurs, quickly?" Forrest asked, feeling halfway
desperate.

"I think so," Dawn said, touching a tree.  "They pass by here often
enough."

"And their prints form paths," Eve said, touching the ground.

"So let's go and ask them a favor," Forrest said.

"Is that wise?" Imbri asked.  "We are all smaller than we were."

"If we don't accomplish the mission, our size won't much matter," he
pointed out.

The others nodded.  "I'm sorry I couldn't find a suitable door to make,"
Jfraya said.  "This seems to be the best alternative."

"They are said to live in the Atlas Mountains," Dawn said, reading her
tree.

"Which are beyond the tropical depression," Eve said, reading her
ground.

"Are they within ready crawling distance?"

"Yes, if we go straight there," Dawn said.

"Which means going through the depression, which isn't fun," Eve said.

"We aren't here for fun," Forrest said.

They started crawling in the indicated direction.  Imbri, who just
couldn't crawl well, decided to wait where she was; they would arrange
to pick her up later.

Soon the ground sank lower as they entered the depression.  Exotic warm
weather plants grew in it.  But Forrest started feeling extremely sad.
Was any of this worthwhile?  Or would it be better just to quit trying?

"Oh, I'm depressed!" Jfraya complained.

"That's because of the tropical depression," Eve said.  "Just crawl on
through it."

Forrest was glad he hadn't spoken.  He had assumed that it was just a
warm low place.  Now he knew better.

Beyond the depression rose the peaks of mountains, shown outlined
against the dimly illuminated sky.  Then they reached the base of the
first mountain-and discovered that it consisted of piled books. Atlases.
What else had he expected?

"Watch out for the bookworm," Eve warned.

They paused in their crawling as a large worm crawled across their
route.  Its segments consisted of books.

At last they reached the centaur village.  Centaurs came bearing
torches.  "Don't you folk of the red face know you can't travel redily
here?" one demanded.  "You're just not red-dy for the blue."

Forrest dispensed with explanations.  "We need to be carried to the gray
face," he said.  "There is also a mare who will require several to carry
her."

"Are you asking for favors?"

I'Yes."I "And you know the consequence?"

I'Yes."I

"Then we are glad to help.  I am Chaz Centaur." He looked around.

"Chalice-you take the faun."

An earthy brown-blue mare trotted up.  She was as well endowed as the
usual centaur filly, which was impressive by the standards of lesser
females.  Forrest tried to mount her back, but couldn't; his angle was
wrong.  Finally she picked him up with her arms, pressed him to her
ample bare bosom, twisted him around, and plopped him on her back.  Once
firmly set there, he was able to hang on and maintain his position.

"Chafe and Chide-take the girls."

Two sneering young stallions trotted up.  The sneers faded when they got
two good looks at the girls.  Then they became very helpful. One picked
up Dawn and set her on the other's back; then the other picked up Eve
and set her on the first one's back.  The girls, quickly zeroing in on
the situation, were very appreciative and flattering.  Two males who
might have been annoying were quickly being tamed.

"Checkers-take the green lady."

A dappled stallion trotted up, and managed to get Jfraya on his back.

Chaz looked around.  "Is that all?"

"No," Ghina called.  She donned her red cloak so as to become partly
visible.  "I am a winged goblin girl from the red face."

"Chenille-take her."

A centaur filly trotted up, and managed to get Ghina aboard.

"Now where is this mare?"

"Across the tropical depression, toward the Blue Wizard's castle,"
Forrest said.

"We'll go around that." The centaurs got moving, while their passengers
hung on.  Soon they reached Imbri.  "Chicory, Chiffon, Chime, Chip,"
Chaz said, and four more centaurs trotted up.  "Chenille, sew a sling."

Ghina's filly brought out cloth, and with magical speed formed a sling
suitable for a horse.  The four other centaurs lifted Imbri onto it,
then picked up the four corners, which had been fashioned into
harnesses.  These harnesses went over their heads and around their human
torsos, so that they did not need to use their hands to hold on. They
took up their positions and stretched the harness taut.  Imbri was
hauled into the air.

"To the Gray border: march," Chaz said.  All ten centaurs set off in
perfect step.

They were on their way.  But Forrest felt lighter; he and the others
were paying a price for this invaluable assistance.

"How is it that a red faun is traveling here?" Chalice asked him.

"My companions and I are trying to carry out an important mission," he
explained.  "Several of us are actually from another world."

Then, to divert her attention, he asked about her.  "Where I come from,
not all centaurs have magic talents.  Do-"

"Certainly.  My talent is with pottery.  I can fashion blue-brown clay
into excellent utensils.  The other centaurs have talent too.  You saw
Chenille's ability as a seamstress.  Checkers has great ability with
board games.  Chicory is a herbalist.  Chiffon can make things
transparent.  Chime is an excellent minstrel.  And Chip can shatter
objects. He's my foal," she added proudly.  "We discovered his talent at
the expense of a vase."

Thus the time passed amicably enough.  Soon they came to the edge.  "You
know, it's cold around the corner," Chaz said.  "Would you like warm
garments?"

Forrest looked at the bleak landscape beyond.  "Yes, I think we had
better have that favor too," he agreed with resignation.

In moments Chenille had made warm caps and jackets and trousers for all
of them, including Imbri.  The six members of their party were surely
slightly smaller, because of this favor, and Chenille became the largest
of the centaurs.  "Thank you," Forrest said.

"You are all welcome," Chaz replied.  Then he produced a horn from his
pack.  "Here is a bull horn.  If you return this way and need more
favors, blow it."

"A bull horn summons centaurs?"

"No.  It summons bulls, of course.  They graze at the bull market. But
we will hear the stampede of their hoofs, and come to investigate. You
would not want to ask favors of the bulls."

"Are bulls bad folk?"

"No worse than the bears, generally.  But these ones can be.  Edi and
Para Bull are all right, with their food and stories, but Stum is
clumsy, Trem is fearful, and you wouldn't want to encounter Trou or
Terri.  You wouldn't believe Incredi Bull."

"Surely not," Forrest agreed.

They bid parting to the centaurs, and crawled over the edge onto the
gray face.  Immediately a chill wind rose, stirred by their presence,
and blew snow in their faces.  They were at a different angle here, but
it was no better than the other angles; they were unable to walk. They
could slide somewhat on the snow, which facilitated things, but this
promised to be a difficult journey.

"Do you think we could get more help traveling?" Forrest asked. "I fear
we'll never make it, at this rate."

"I'm checking the snow," Eve said.  "But it's freshly fallen, and
doesn't have much experience of this region."

And there don't seem to be any living creatures or plants here," Dawn
said.

So they slogged on.  They found that they could slide Imbri across the
snow, especially if they braced each other so as to get good temporary
footholds.  So progress improved.  But it was still too slow.

At last, as the day faded, worn out with the struggle, they had Jfraya
open a door into an isolated cave.  It was blessedly warm, and they were
able to stand comfortably on the walls, but Dawn and Eve were doubtful.
"There are mites," Dawn said.  "Stalag mites."

"And they stop anyone from using this cave," Eve added.

Too bad," Forrest said.  "We need to rest here.  We're protected by our
clothing." For all of them were wearing closely fitting jackets and
pants that kept them warm despite the weather.  They did not remove them
right away, preferring to be sure the cave was safe.

Forrest looked at the stone spikes hanging from the cave ceiling, and
rising from the floor.  "What are these called?"

"Stalactites and stalagmites," Eve said, touching them.  "The first
descend from the ceiling, and the second rise from the floor."

"How can we keep that straight?" Jfraya asked.  "They sound so much
alike."

Suddenly Forrest jumped.  "Something bit my leg!" he said, trying to
scratch at it through the tight trousers.  It was not a problem he had
had before, because he normally did not wear clothing on his tuffed
lower half Then the twins jumped.  "ooo!" Dawn cried.  "Something bit my
calf."

"And something bit my thigh," Eve said.  "It's the mites.  They are
crawling up under our tights."

Then all of them were jumping and trying to scratch.

"We have to get them off," Jfraya said, yanking down her own pants.

Forrest turned away from her, as a matter of courtesy, but that turned
him toward the twins, who were yanking down theirs.  Their bare legs
were astonishingly nice, but he tried not to notice.  In any event he
was busy pulling down his own, so as to be able to get at the biting
mites.

In two thirds of a moment all o]' them were bare-legged and scratching
off the mites.  Then Ghina managed to fill the cave with her sleep
spell, and the remaining mites fell asleep and dropped off.  However,
the spell also affected the rest of them, though more slowly because
they were more massive.  So they lay down to sleep.

The last thing Forrest remembered was Imbri's dreamlet.  "Now we know
how to remember the stone columns," she said.  "when the mites go up,
the tites come down." He groaned and tried to forget it.

After some time, he woke, and so did the others.  The mites seemed to
have given up, or maybe they remained stunned by the sleep spell. But it
was time to resume travel.  So they pulled their leggings back on,
tightened their jackets, and braved the snow above.

It wasn't as bad as they remembered it.  It was worse.  The snow had
piled up until it was chest high on Forrest, and it was dense and hard.
This promised to be absolutely awful.

"Say," Imbri said in a joint dreamlet.  "Why can't we use the snow the
same way as we do the cave walls?"

The others turned to her, not understanding.  But then she made a
dreamlet picture, showing a path being trampled into the snowsidewise.
So that five of them could walk on it, sidewise, and the sixth, Jfraya,
could walk on the other side of it.

Suddenly it made sense.  Jfraya and Dawn held each other, their heads
going in opposite directions, and used their feet to stomp banks of snow
to either side.  When they tired, Eve and Forrest tried it, she using
her feet to stomp while using her hands to hold him in place so he could
use his own hands to beat the snow into shape on the other side.

It worked, to a degree: Imbri was able to walk on the sideways path, her
body scraping the snow of the center.  But it was too slow. They needed
not merely to use the path quickly, but to make it quickly.  So they
simplified it.  Since only Jfraya faced the other way, her path was for
her alone, and she hardly needed it once she had made it.  So she became
a brace instead, stabilizing the others without wearing herself out.
That allowed the others to take turns, with one tramping out the path
while the others followed, walking normally.

So their progress improved.  Still, they had a long way to go, and the
terrain was rough, and their time was limited.  They needed to reach the
Gray Wizard's castle by dusk, to be sure of their success. When they
encountered steep hills, they were able to tramp their sidewise path
more readily.  When they came to a frozen lake, they slid rapidly across
it.  But as the day passed, it slowly became clear that they were not
going to make it in time.

Worse, Jfraya slipped and injured one foot.  Now she had to hop,
following the path at the rear, and leaning on Imbri for support.

"So do we plow on through the night, hoping the Wizard has not gotten
the word about the other Wizards?" Forrest asked.  "Or do we take our
time, recover our strength, and hope we can handle him anyway?"

The others exchanged a circular glance.  "We plow on," Jfraya said.
Since she was the injured one, that was enough.

They plowed on, and in the night they finally spied the gray light of
the Wizard's castle.  It was surrounded by snow-covered trees and looked
peaceful.  "Maybe he doesn't know," Eve breathed.

But as they made their way to the castle's outer wall, passing the ring
of trees, Eve stiffened.  She signaled Dawn, who brushed by the tree Eve
had just touched.  Then came a joint dreamlet: "Those are ore trees."

Forrest felt a chill not of the landscape.  Ore trees were actually huge
vicious animals that resembled trees only when in repose.  They were the
most dangerous of guardians.  They might be snoozing now, but if they
came alert, they might pounce too suddenly for Ghina to put to sleep. It
would be impossible for them to flee these monsters at any speed,
because of their sidewise orientation.  The party had to hope that the
orcs were not alert.  So far that seemed to be the case.

They fetched up against the castle wall, at last able to stand almost
normally.  What a relief that was!

Eve touched the stone with a finger.  "There is no disturbance within,"
she announced via dreamlet.  "A number of living creatures are on the
other side."

Forrest nodded.  JJraya drew a door on the base of the castle wall, and
opened it.  They entered the dark chamber.  It looked as if they were
going to win after all.  They found an inner wall to stand on, Jfraya
still leaning on Imbri.

Suddenly lights came on.  They were surrounded by creatures, and none of
them looked friendly.  It was a trap.

"So you come at last, my pets," a huge dark woman said.  "But where is
your last member?"

This must be the Wizard-or Wizardess.  It hadn't occurred to Forrest
that the Wizard could be female, but of course it was possible. More
than possible.  It hardly mattered; they had walked into a trap, with
the orcs outside and the Wizard's guards inside.  All the Wizard had had
to do was wait.

"Last member?" Forrest asked blankly.

"It was reported that there were six in your party.  Where is the last
one hiding?"

"No one is hiding," Forrest said.  "We are all here." For Ghina was
visible, in her heavy winter clothing.

The huge woman frowned.  "So you think to deceive me.  We shall see
about that.  Cerci!"

Two servants pushed forward a large tank of water.  In it was a mermaid,
her tail in the water, her head above the surface.  "Yes, mistress," the
mermaid said.

"Change-" The Wizard looked around.  "That one." She pointed to Ghina.

The mermaid reached her arm toward Ghina.  "Oink!" she said.

And Ghina became a visible pig.

Forrest was appalled.  So was Ghina.  She squealed as her clothing
dropped off.  She ran around the floor.  She was clearly horrified.

Guards circled the pig and prodded it into a cage.  It looked out, tears
welling from its eyes, understanding its plight.

The Wizard turned back to Forrest.  "Now I ask you again, faun: where is
your sixth member?  Where is she hiding?"

"But no one is hiding," Forrest said.

The Wizard pointed to Jfraya.  "That one."

The mermaid gestured again.  "Olnk."

And Jfraya became another pig.  She was just as chagrined as Ghina.

"It will be kinder if you tell me," the Wizard said.  "Otherwise, after
all of you are swine, we shall just have to hunt her down and kill her.
Now where is she?"

Suddenly Dawn caught on.  "She thinks Imbri's an animal!" she said in a
dreamlet.

"So one person is missing," Eve added.

And the Wizard was going to turn them all into pigs, trying to find that
missing member of their party.  She was really taking this matter
seriously.

But that gave him the key to victory.  "Imbri!" he said in the dreamlet.
"Locate the margins, with your dreamlets.  Tell them.  Now."

Then he spoke aloud to the Wizard.  "She is hidden where you will never
think to look.  She will destroy your power.  You can turn us all into
pigs, but she will get you."

"So now you are ready to deal," the Wizard said, satisfied.  "Turn her
over to me, and I will let all of you live."

"As prisoners?" he asked.  Actually he knew she would kill them, thus
effectively banning them from this region.  But he was stalling for
time.

"Perhaps," the Wizard said.  "Unless you agree to use your talents on my
behalf, so I can take over the provinces of the three lost Wizards."

So that was why she even bothered to negotiate!  She wanted to increase
her power yet more.

"We won't do anything as pigs," he said.  He glanced at Jfraya's
cage-and saw that she had opened a door in it and was escaping. Neither
the Wizard nor the guard monsters had noticed.

That gave him another notion.  "Ghina," he said in a dreamlet. "Put the
mermaid to sleep."

The Wizard considered.  "It will be double or nothing.  If you serve me,
you can have your natural forms back.  If you don't, you can be fed to
my hungry orcs."

"How do I know you won't feed us to the orcs anyway?"

"You're stalling.  Cerci!  That one." The Wizard pointed to Dawn. There
was no response.  The mei-ryiaid had fallen asleep. The Wizard glanced
at her.  "Cerci!" she snapped. The mermaid was jolted awake.  She looked
surprised. The Wizard squinted.  "So one of you has the ability to
induce sleep.  Then we shall delay no more.  Polly!"

Another young woman approached, coming from the far chamber.

"Polly Graph, tell me the truth," the Wizard said.  She faced Forrest
again.  "Where is your sixth member?"

Polly's talent had to be to know when a person lied.  So Forrest was
careful.  "She is here."

The Wizard looked at Polly.  "It's true," Polly said.

But Polly couldn't read the whole truth in the subject's mind.  So as
long as he told part of the truth, while evading what the Wizard wanted
to know, he could get away with it.  Still stalling for time.

"Where is she here?"

oops.  The Wizard was too sharp.  What could he say?  He said nothing.

"Cerci.  That one."

This time the mermaid did it, and Dawn became a very pretty light
colored pig.

" The answer," the Wizard said.  "Now."

Could Imbri still communicate with the margins, if she were changed into
a pig?  Probably so.  The Wizard didn't realize that animals had
intelligence.  But if he identified Imbri, the Wizard might have her
immediately killed.  He couldn't risk it.  "I won't tell you," he said.

"That one." And Eve was a lovely dark pig.

Now there was only Forrest and Imbri.  And only very limited time before
they were finished.  If the Wizard had them all killed now, she would
win.  Maybe it was time to tell the truth.  He hoped that would give
Imbri the time she needed.

, ,She is here," he said.  "She is this one." He indicated the mare.

"Impossible!  That's just a beast of burden."

"It's true, mistress," Polly said.

The Wizard stared at her.  "This beast?"

"Yes, mistress.  He is speaking the truth."

"So I have them all.  None are still out there."

"You have us all," Forrest said.

"Good.  Now I need to know how you destroyed the other Wiz S.

So she knew only the fact, not the detail.  "We stopped the margins.

"True," Polly said.

"Idiot!  Of course they stopped the margins!  But how?"

"We talked to them," Forrest said.  "We told them the truth." The Wizard
nodded.  "So I think I know enough.  Guards, take all these creatures
out to the orcs."

The guards closed in.  But then a strange look crossed the Wizard's
face.  Something was happening to her.  "Oh, I'm shrinking!  I'm
shrinking!" she wailed.  "You horrible faun!  Look what you've done!

In half a moment the Wizard was the size of an elf.  Imbri had gotten
through, and the margins had cut off their lines.  All the Wizard's
stolen favors had been canceled, and she had reverted to her original
size.

"You've destroyed the Wizard's power!" Polly said, amazed.

"True," Forrest said.  "She will never again be able to exert such
magic."

"Hey, that's great!" Cerci said.  "But who will rule in her place?"

"All of you who served her are now free." He hoped they wanted to be
free.

"Gee.  Do you want your friends depigmented?"

"Yes, if you please.  Then we shall have to go home-as I hope the rest
of you will do." Actually, once they left this world, they would be able
to form their natural shapes.  But Ghina and Jfraya wouldn't.  So it was
better to get them changed back now.

They had won.  And it was time to return to Ptero.

just a moment." It was the former Gray Wizard, who was now a gray elf.
Polly had grabbed her before she could escape.

Forrest looked at her.  "You are hoping for better treatment than you
accorded us?"

"Yes.  Because you are kinder people than I was."

"True," Polly said.

 "Why shouldn't we just have you changed into a piglet and put outside
with the orcs?"

"Because you are too soft hearted, and I can be useful to you."

Forrest looked around.  Cerci had changed all his companions back to
their original forms.  So no permanent damage had been done. "How can
you be useful?"

"I can tell the orcs to obey the new mistress of the castle, so you
won't have any trouble."

"Mistress?"

"Your green door opener.  She would like the cushy lifestyle available
as mistress of the Gray Castle."

"True," Polly said.

"But I never-" Jfraya protested.

"The folk here are a unit," the Gray Elf said.  "They like working here.
They just don't like me.  If you treat them well, they will serve you
well."

"True," Polly said.

"But I assumed they were all captives," Forrest said.

"True," Polly said.  "You did so assume, but it is false.  We were
better off serving the Gray Wizard than we would have been out in the
snow."

Jfraya remained bemused.  "You, Cerci-you don't want to go home to the
sea?"

"Well, maybe for visits," the mermaid said.  "To see my parents, Cyrus
and Merci.  But the truth is that the water out there is cold, and I am
more comfortable here in the heated pool."

Forrest realized that the elf was performing a useful service.  She had
gotten huge by doing services for many people, so was good at it, even
if she had stolen what she gave away.  "How about Ghina?" he asked.

"I know where there is a winged male goblin of relatively sweet
disposition, on the blue face, where she never would have found him."

Ghina's outfit stood up straight.  "How does he feel about appeara.nee?"

"It is a matter of indifference to him.  He is blind.  This has severely
restricted his flight and his social life.  However, if he had a
companion willing to guide him, he would be most grateful."

The elf was scoring.  "What do you want in return?" Forrest asked.
"Because we are not going to let you do too many favors and regain your
size."

"Only to be returned to my home elf village, where they have no idea of
my career after departing."

Forrest looked at the two women.  "Are you amenable?"

"Yes," they agreed, almost together.

"Then I leave the premises in your charge, Jfraya, provided you will see
to Ghina's trip to the blue face, the Gray Elf's safe return to her
village, and any visits elsewhere that other members of this household
desire."

"Gladly," Jfraya said.

"True," Polly said.

He looked at the twins and Imbri, who were standing on the wall.

"Then let's return to Pyramid."

"But will you visit?" Jfraya asked.  "I haven't known you long, but it
has been thrilling."

The twins exchanged a glance.  "We'll try," Dawn said.

"Now that we know how to do it."

"But that requires the Good Magician's bottle of soul dissolving
elixir," Forrest said.

"We didn't need it to return from Torus," Imbri reminded him.

She was right; he had never thought of using the bottle.  They had just
expanded.  So it seemed it was needed only for the "up" loading, not the
"down" loading.

"I'll leave the bottle with you," Forrest said.  "Since it seems that
Imbri and I don't need it to return to Xanth."

Then they held hands and touched Imbri, and expanded their substance,
diffusing into vapor and thence into spirituality.  The castle shrank
around them, and they drifted out through its substance.

The world of Ptero was below them, or rather, around them, shrouded in
night.  They headed for it, expanding as they went.  Pyramid became a
triangle-faceted world behind them, and the monstrous outline of Ida's
bead became apparent before them.  They were more experienced at this
than they had been, and quickly zeroed in on the star-like candle that
Princess Ida had set out to guide them.  There were their bodies, in
repose.  He was surprised to see that Imbri's was in girl form, until he
remembered that this was all that she had mass for, here.

They went through the somewhat unpleasant business of reentering their
bodies.  Forrest wondered briefly what would happen if anyone tried to
enter the wrong body by mistake.  Would he find himself in Dawn's body,
or would Eve be in Imbri's?  He hoped not. Surely there was some magical
safeguard against it.

He opened his eyes and sat up.  The others were doing the same. He
glanced at the Tapestry, and saw that no lines were marked on it. "Well,
we're back," Dawn said.

"Which means the faun will soon be moving on," Eve agreed.

"Now that our mission with him is complete."

"So we had better get to our other business before he escapes."

The two of them stood, somewhat unsteadily, and converged on Forrest.

"But we don't yet know the outcome," he protested.  It wasn't that he
objected to the sort of dalliance the girls had in mind, but that this
did not seem like the proper place for it.  Fauns normally chased nymphs
in pleasant glades, not castles.

"There is an outcome," Ida said.  "Follow me." She stood and walked to
the door.

They did so.  They went down the stairs and through the hall to the main
ballroom.  Ida opened the door.

The room was packed with people.  "Thank you!" they cried in one mighty
voice.

Forrest, Imbri, and the twins stood amazed.  Then the twins made twin
shrieks of delight.  "Everyone's back," Dawn said.

"Daddy!" Eve cried.

They ran to embrace their father, Prince Dolph.

"You see, your Service was for the Good Magician," Ida said. "So none of
the incidental beneficiaries owe you exchange services. But they are
nevertheless most grateful."

King Ivy approached.  "The rescued folk wish to meet you and thank you.
Perhaps we should form a receiving line.  This way."

They followed her through the crowd to the stage section of the room.
Forrest and Imbri stood there while the line formed.  He still was
having trouble getting used to her as a small dark woman, rather than a
dark horse.

King Ivy snapped her fingers.  There was immediate silence.  "Forrest
Faun and Mare Imbrium will meet each of you in turn.  Please introduce
yourselves as you approach, and do not dally unduly.  They are surely
tired from their unusual journey.  There will be a banquet at-" She
paused to look at her left wrist, where a collection of eyes resided.
Then she looked at her right wrist, where a pack of tiny dogs were
sitting.  "At dawn, according to my watch band, and my watch dogs," she
concluded.

The first in the line was a young woman.  "I am Wigo, daughter of Hugo
and Wira.  My talent is draining magic, but I could not prevail against
the margins.  I am so grateful to you for doing it and rescuing us all!"

"Uh, sure, thank you," Forrest said, taken aback by such gratitude.

"We were glad to do it," Imbri said in a dreamlet.

The next one approached, a very small woman.  "I am Glitter Golem,
daughter of Grundy and Rapunzel.  My talent is the sparkle."

She illustrated by issuing a shower of sparkles.  "Thank you so much for
saving us!"

"Uh-" Forrest began.

"It was so nice meeting you," Imbri's dreamlet said.

Next were two young folk.  One was a handsome young man in a gray suit.
"I am Prince Grant, with the talent of reading minds," he said.

The other was a young woman with green eyes and brown hair, in a green
dress.  "I am Princess Isabella Emily Carolyn, with the talent of
borrowing talents, for an hour," she said.

"We are children of Grey and Ivy," Grant added.

"But aren't there already-?" Forrest began.

"There are many of us, in this realm of might-be," Isabella explained.
"And my 1riend Arien has a similar talent.  Might-be covers a lot."

Oh.  Of course Forrest knew that.  How stupid he had been to forget.

"No, we understand about the difference in your world," Grant said.

"We would be similarly confused, there," Isabella agreed.

"Uh, you two remind me of-"

"Our cousins Dawn & Eve."

"So nice to meet both of you," Imbri's dreamlet cut in.

The two laughed and moved on.  Forrest realized that Imbri had a much
better notion of how to meet people than he did.  She was preventing him
from hopelessly embarrassing himself worse than he already was.

A child approached.  "I am Nora Naga, daughter of Nina Naga and Briskil,
son of Esk Ogre and Bria Brassier" she said.  "I am twelve years old and
my talent is to teleport folk or things anywhere.  I wish I had someone
to play with.  Maybe now that everyone is back, I'll find someone."

The next one came up, a grown man.  "I am Trenris, the son of Magician
Trent and Sorceress Iris, following their rejuvenation."

"But they were rejuvenated only three or four years ago," Imbri said,
this time speaking directly in her surprise.  "How can you be full
grown?"

"Well, of course I can be, on Ptero, where geography is time," he said.
"But I take it that you mean I should be no more than about fourteen
years old at this particular site.  And the answer is that I am
fourteen, but that I age rapidly, because they are both actually much
older than they look.  My talent is that of reversing the effect of
other talents, thus making illusions literal or magical spots on the
wall fade. But I wish someone could reverse my aging, before I become
decrepit in my youth.  However, that is neither here nor there; I came
to congratulate you on the success of your mission, and to thank you for
saving all of us from the dread marginalization."

"Wait," Imbri said.  "Have you met Surprise?"

"I have been surprised by many things."

"No, I mean Surprise Golem, daughter of Grundy and Rapunzel. She has
multiple talents, each of which she can use only once.  Maybe she would
change your rate of aging, if you helped her in some way."

"This sounds interesting.  I will look for her."

"We met her sister Glitter," Forrest said.  "She should know where to
find Surprise."

"I do know Glitter," he said.  "I will ask her.  Thank you for something
more."

"You're welcome," Imbri said.

A severe looking woman approached.  "I am Misty Meanor, a curse fiend,"
she said.  "I come to thank you not merely for myself, but for two who
cannot be here directly: Gim and Gine giant, the children of Girard and
Gina Giant.  They are too big to enter the castle."

"But I thought the marginalization affected only the regular human
section," Forrest said.

"The giants happened to be within it, and were caught.  Now they are
free, and hope to return a favor to you if they can."

Forrest looked at Imbri.  "We will be traveling west, that is, To,
tomorrow.  If they could carry us some of the way-"

"I'm sure they would be glad to," Misty said, moving on.

A dusky youth stepped up.  "I am Chaos, son of D.  Metria after

"But they were rejuvenated only three or four years ago," Imbri said,
this time speaking directly in her surprise.  "How can you be full
grown?"

"Well, of course I can be, on Ptero, where geography is time," he said.
"But I take it that you mean I should be no more than about fourteen
years old at this particular site.  And the answer is that I am
fourteen, but that I age rapidly, because they are both actually much
older than they look.  My talent is that of reversing the effect of
other talents, thus making illusions literal or magical spots on the
wall fade. But I wish someone could reverse my aging, before I become
decrepit in my youth.  However, that is neither here nor there; I came
to congratulate you on the success of your mission, and to thank you for
saving all of us from the dread marginalization."

"Wait," Imbri said.  "Have you met Surprise?"

"I have been surprised by many things."

"No, I mean Surprise Golem, daughter of Grundy and Rapunzel. She has
multiple talents, each of which she can use only once.  Maybe she would
change your rate of aging, if you helped her in some way."

"This sounds interesting.  I will look for her."

"We met her sister Glitter," Forrest said.  "She should know where to
find Surprise."

"I do know Glitter," he said.  "I will ask her.  Thank you for something
more."

"You're welcome," Imbri said.

A severe looking woman approached.  "I am Misty Meanor, a curse fiend,"
she said.  "I come to thank you not merely for myself, but for two who
cannot be here directly: Gim and Gine giant, the children of Girard and
Gina Giant.  They are too big to enter the castle."

"But I thought the marginalization affected only the regular human
section," Forrest said.

"The giants happened to be within it, and were caught.  Now they are
free, and hope to return a favor to you if they can."

Forrest looked at Imbri.  "We will be traveling west, that is, To,
tomorrow.  If they could carry us some of the way-"

"I'm sure they would be glad to," Misty said, moving on.

A dusky youth stepped up.  "I am Chaos, son of D.  Metria after she
discovered how to summon the stork effectively.  I turn things
transparent."

The line continued, until Forrest lost track of all the names and
talents.  The folk were all duly grateful, but he wished that this could
just end, so that they could go to the banquet, and then be on their
way.

Then, suddenly, the end of the line came.  There were two handsome young
princes.  "We are Mourning & Knight," one said.

"The sons of Prince Naldo Naga and Mela Merwoman," the other added.

"We don't have talents as such, but we are extremely virile princes."

Something jogged in Forrest's tired mind.  "Have you met the princesses
Dawn & Eve?"

"We haven't had that pleasure, but we did catch a glimpse of them from
across the room when the four of you entered.  They look lovely."

"I will send them a dreamlet," Imbri said.

It was effective.  In a moment the two princesses came up.

"I thought you might want to meet Princes Mourning & Knight," Forrest
said.  "The sons of-" He broke off, because they were no longer paying
him any attention.

The two princes were gazing at the two princesses, and steam was
starting to rise from them.  The two princesses were glancing at the two
princes, and little hearts were floating out from them.  In about three
quarters of a, moment, the four linked hands and walked away together.

"I think we won't be seeing them again," Imbri murmured.

"But we were going to-that is, the girls and I-"

"Did you really want to?"

"Yes!  That is-"

"Do you really feel you should?"

"No." And he realized that along with his disdppointment was a
significant admixture of relief.  After all, they were princesses, and
he was just a faun.  Their parents surely would Not Approve.

Imbri took his arm.  "It's time for the banquet."

"I'll leave the bottle for them, so they can visit Pyramid again if they
want to," he said.

"Princess Ida will surely keep it safe."

"Indeed I will," Ida said, taking the bottle.

The banquet was formidable, but Forrest was distracted.  He remembered
that all this was but a diversion from his main mission, which was to
find a faun for his neighbor's tree.  He wasn't sure how much time had
passed in Xanth, but surely a fair amount.  He needed to get on with it.

"Of course," Imbri murmured, understanding his concern.  "The giants are
waiting outside."

So they were.  They were invisible, but Imbri located them by their
minds.  The two of them climbed into Gim or Gine's hand-it was a bit
hard to tell the brother giants apart-and were lifted high.

"To the faun territory," Imbri told the giants in a dreamlet.  "Or as
close to it as you can go."

4'Our territory borders theirs," a giant boomed.  "But it will take a
few hours, because we must step carefully in human territory, lest we
squish somebody."

"That's all right," Forrest said.  "I need some rest anyway." For after
meeting all the people, and the banquet, he was quite tired.

"Sleep," lmbri told him, sitting down and taking his head into her lap.
"I will send you sweet dreams." She stroked his hair.

Her dreams were very nice, and he reveled in them.  This was the way to
travel!

Then the trip ended.  "We are too old to take you farther," a giant
said.  Indeed, his hand was wrinkled.  "But immediately To is the faun
section.  We wish you success."

"Thank you," Forrest said, sitting up and sliding off the huge old hand.
He felt much refreshed; Imbri's lap and dream had helped greatly.  When
his hoofs touched the ground, he turned and reached up to help Imbri
down.  Her slight girl form was pleasantly light.

They heard the Shudder of the ground as the giants departed. Immediately
west was a comic strip.  Oh, no!  If only the giants had been able to
set them just beyond it.

There was nothing to do but plow through it.  They braced themselves and
did that.  The first part of it was a paved section that looked
deceptively innocent, but as soon as they stepped on it, there was a
horrendous barking, as of dozens of fierce dogs.  They jumped back, and
the noise stopped.

"But I don't see any dogs," Forrest said.

Imbri explored with her dream mind.  "There don't seem to be any." I So
they tried again-and the barking resumed.  No dogs, just the sounds.

"It's a barking lot!" Imbri cried, catching on.

Forrest groaned.  "They should outlaw these zones."

"But then the puns would be infesting everything else, just as they do
in Xanth."

That made him pause.  "Maybe I can live with the comic strips after
all."

As they came to the far edge of the lot, there was a deep dark pool.
There was a narrow path around it.  But the path was blocked by a
many-toothed monster.  "Can you guess my talent?" the monster enunciated
precisely.

"Why should I?" Forrest asked.

"Because I won t let you use this path otherwise."

"Then maybe I'll just go around the other way, or swim across the pond,"
Forrest said.

"Suit yourself, if you can handle the rays."

They circled the pool in the other direction.  But blocking that path
was a squat box with a grill on the front.  As they approached, it shot
out rays of bad music.  The closer they got, the worse the music got,
until it was so utterly obnoxious that they had to fall back, with their
hands over their ears.

"What is that thing?" Forrest demanded as the music faded to merely
annoying.

"It's a Ray D 0, stupid," the monster called.  "The ray's letters stand
for Deafening andnoxious.  Only teenagers can approach it."

So it seemed.  They returned to the monster.  "What's your name?"

Forrest inquired.

"Airy.  Can you guess my talent?"

"Chomping folk?"

"One guess wrong.  You evidently can't find the right words."

"Evidently not," Forrest agreed sourly.

He looked again at the pool.  It seemed clear.  He touched the surface
with a hoot Immediately a ray slanted up, almost catching his foot
before he jerked it back.  "What's that?"

"A ray," Airy said.  "Can you guess my talent?"

"What kind of ray is it?"

"A ray of sunshine."

Forrest touched the water again.  The ray shot out, and this time he saw
that it came from a large, flat creature deep under the surface. Was it
safe to swim there?  He doubted it.  Maybe the ray just liked to
illuminate the depths-but maybe that light was so it could better see
its prey.

"I think I know the monster's talent," Imbri said in a dreamlet.

Did you notice how clearly it speaks?  Its talent must be diction."

"Diction, Airy," Forrest cried.  "That's your talent!  You pronounce
words."

" Curses, foiled again," the monster said, and retreated.

They walked on around the pond.  But they weren't yet out of the comic
strip.  There was a thicket ahead, and as they tried to make their way
through it, two puny orange imps dropped onto their shoulders. They were
invisible, but Imbri made a dreamlet that showed them.

"Who are you," Forrest demanded, trying to shake off his imp' " We are
pun-kins," the one on his shoulder replied.  "We are pundits who live in
the punk trees of the punkin patch and punch out anyone who dasts try to
cross it, until he groans from the punishment. We are very punctual.

It figured.  At least the imps seemed reasonably harmless.  They plowed
on, ignoring the imps' comments, and finally lunged out of the comic
strip.  The imps jumped off, not caring to be carried out of their
element.  "But you'll never know when we may strike again!"

they called.

Now at last they were in the region of the fauns.  But was there a
suitable faun for his purpose.

Forrest stared, for there, running up to meet them, was something he
tiad never seen or even imagined before.  It had goat's hoofs, a tail,
and the upper section of a human being.  But it was female.

"Hello," she said, bouncing to a stop.  She had a huge head of blond
hair that flared out and down, framing her upper torso to the waist
without covering anything.  "I am Deanna Fauna.  How may I help you,
visitor from afar?"

"Fauna?" he echoed numbly.  Yet it made sense.  Fauns were crosses
between humans and goats.  Why shouldn't there be any female crosses? He
had never heard of any, but this was the world of might he's, and
indeed, there might be such creatures.

"I-am Forrest Faun from Xanth.  I came to ask-" he faltered, halfway
mesmerized by her bare front as she breathed.  A true female of his
species!  What a discovery!

"Yes?" Her eyes were big and blue.

"H need a faun-or maybe a fauna-to come to be the spirit of the tree
next to mine.  So it won't fade.  Do you-would you consider-"

"To be with you?" she finished.  "Why of course; that's what faunas do.
You must have been horribly unhappy, with only nymphs to chase, instead
of the real thing."

Forrest hadn't thought of it quite that way, but realized that the case
could be made.  This did seem to be the answer to his quest. "Well, then
you can come to Xanth, and-" He paused, realizing that he wasn't sure
how she could do that, since she didn't have a body already in Xanth.

"It is done by going back in time," Imbri said.  "The Good Magician
explained it to me.  He gave me a spell to enable me to take my spirit
back to the conjugation of a faun and nymph, to enable them to have
their signal actually reach the Stork Works.  Then the stork would
deliver Deanna as a baby fauna, and in due course she would grow to her
present age and appearance.  So she would be there, waiting for Deanna's
spirit to animate her, at the same time as you return to re-animate your
own body."

"Then she can become a real person," Forrest said.  "Bound to her tree,
remembering her past, growing gracefully older."

"Ugh!" Deanna exclaimed.  "I didn't know there would be such penalties.

"But this is the nature of life in Xanth," he said.  "Fauns and nymphs
who adopt trees lose their shallowness and become real people."

"Yuck!  I couldn't stand it."

"But you would be real.  You would have substance.  Xanth has different
rules than Ptero.  For example, time is not geography; no one can change
his or her age just by traveling."

"I would be stuck at one age all the time?  I couldn't get old and wise
or young and sexy any time I wanted?"

"Not without youth elixir."

"Gross!"

Forrest stared at her, this time seeing her nature rather than her
front.  She was so shallow that she liked shallowness.  This was no
fault in an ordinary faun or nymph, but he discovered that he no longer
cared for that type of association.  He had learned too much of full
human ways to ever return to contented mindlessness.

"I guess it wouldn't work out," he said with real regret.  "Are there
any other fauns or faunas here who might feel otherwise?"

Deanna considered.  "There's Faust Faun.  He's a bit odd.  He chases
fauns and hates trees." She ran off, her limited attention span
exhausted.

That wouldn't do either.  "Then I guess what I'm looking for isn't
here," Forrest said with regret.  He looked at Imbri.  "Is there any
point in remaining here any longer?"

"I'm afraid not," she said.  "I'm really sorry, Forrest."

"Yet the Good Magician said-" He paused again.  Humfrey hadn't actually
said anything, because he had refused even to hear the Question.  Had
this entire adventure been for nothing?

"I'm sure he meant to help you," Imbri said consolingly.

"He has a funny way of doing it!" he retorted bitterly.  "And he even
made you assist me, wasting your time too."

"He always knows what he is doing.  Maybe he refused your Question
because there was no Answer for you.  But he accepted mine, and I'm sure
he will deliver."

"You want a new pasture to gallop in," he said, remembering. "Maybe this
is that pasture, and you should stay here."

"But I don't have enough mass to gallop," she reminded him. "That's why
I'm in nymph form."

"Well, maybe on Pyramid, where you can be a full mare."

"And leave most of my soul here on Ptero?  I would be nervous about
that, as a permanent thing."

He sighed.  "I guess so.  Well, I will be glad to have your company a
while longer.  I hope the Good Magician has the very best pasture for
you."

"I hope so too," she said.  But she seemed less than enthusiastic.

They dissolved their bodies, becoming large vague shapes, then clouds,
then growing blobs of thinning souls.  They drifted into the sky.
Forrest saw the patchwork world of Ptero spreading out below, and felt
nostalgia.  It had been a remarkable adventure, and he had enjoyed much
of it.  Especially the interaction with Dawn & Eve.  But he had known
that that relationship wouldn't last, and maybe it had been best that it
had ended as abruptly as it had, with their discovery of princes of
their own world.  Unfortunately they had left their mark on him, leaving
him forever disappointed with mere nymphs, as the scene with Deanna
Fauna had shown.  So this adventure had spoiled him; he would never be
satisfied with the type of existence he had known before.  Thank you,
Good Magician!  he thought with irony.

Now he saw Princess Ida's huge face.  He continued to expand, orienting
on his reposing body in the Tapestry chamber of Castle Roogna.  But he
didn't see Imbri's body.  What had happened to it?

Then he realized that she didn't have a body in Xanth.  She had only her
half soul.  Imbri did not exist as a living person here.  The wonderful,
supportive guide who had traveled with him through three weird worlds
could not truly do so in this one.  That was a loss of another nature.

He landed on his body and spread into it, animating it.  But it was no
glad homecoming.  What did he have to return to?  A failed quest, and
what promised to be an insoluble loneliness of intellect.

He opened his eyes and sat up.  "Oh, you are back!" Princess Ida said.
"Do you have your answer?"

"No."

"But how can that be?  I'm sure there was something there for you.
Humfrey would not have sent you there otherwise."

He was too weary of it all to argue.  "Maybe not.  I'd better get on
home now."

They went downstairs.  There was a commotion, and two six year old
children dashed around a corner, spied them, and skidded to a stop.
"Aunt Ida!" Dawn cried.

"Fof-rest Faun!" Eve echoed.

Then both girls looked intently at Forrest, and split a smile between
them.  They looked eerily knowing.

Could these children have any notion of their adult association with him
on other worlds?

"Don't let them bother you," Ida murmured.  "Dawn can't really tell
what's in your mind unless she touches you, and Eve can't tell where
you've been unless she touches some object that was with you.

That was a reliel And in a moment the two dashed off, each hurling back
half of a "Bye-bye." So he was safe from a potentially embarrassing
scene.

Ida saw him to the front door.  "I'm sure you have your answer," she
said.  "Perhaps you just don't yet know it."

Forrest shrugged.  "Thank you for the use of your worlds," he said.

"You must return and tell me all about it," she said.  "I am really
curious to know what happened on Ptero."

"I'll do that," he said.  "Once I am sure that my tree is well."

Then he faced outward and headed for home, feeling desolate.

"May I accompany you?"

"Imbri!" he exclaimed.  "I thought you were gone."

Her faint human form appeared beside him.  "No, I prefer to see you
safely to your tree.  I don't know when my assignment ends, but I think
it's all right to do that much."

"But don't you want to go to the Good Magician for your new pasture?"

"Somehow that pasture has lost its appeal."

"I know the feeling.  Did the adventure on the little worlds spoil you
for regular existence, as it did me?"

"I fear it did, Forrest."

"I'm sorry.  I never meant to ruin your life too."

"I really don't have a life.  Just half a soul.  So there wasn't much to
be ruined."

He turned to her.  "Oh, Imbri, I wish it hadn't happened!  I was
satisfied, until this."

"I wasn't satisfied.  So my loss is less than yours.  I wish I could
console you, Forrest."

"If I could go back to Ptero, I'd let you console me.  In fact-" He
hesitated, surprised.  "I wish I had played Faun & Nymph with you, on
Ptero, when you offered.  Now I never can."

"But you wanted a real nymph."

"No.  I wanted a real person.  And you are that, Imbri."

"But I'm an animal."

"In the same sense I am.  Somewhere in my ancestry the human and caprine
stocks got together, so I am mostly human at the top and goat at the
bottom.  You are equine in body, but human in mind, as your nice
animation of the nymph form showed."

"Thank you," she said sadly.  "I would gladly have played with you, when
I had solidity."

They encountered two folk going along the path, looking lost: a young
man and a short haired, green eyed cat.  In fact they looked about the
way Forrest felt, so he paused to address them.  "Are you looking for
something?"

"The Region of Madness," the man said.  "I'm Christophe.  "Joker'
Justino.  I think I'm either coming from it or going to It, I'm not sure
which.  I thought Bluejay knew the way, but now I think she's lost."

"You're from Mundania!" Forrest said.

"I guess."

"Tell him to keep going the way they're going," Imbri said.  "The Region
of Madness is shrinking, but there's still plenty of it to the south.

Forrest remembered that others couldn't see or hear Imbri, unless she
planted a dreamlet in their minds.  So he relayed the message. Man and
cat thanked him and moved on.

Then Forrest realized something.  "They're like us!" he exclaimed.
"Without bearings, depressed, not knowing or much caring where they're
going."

"Because they can't go back to where they were, and wouldn't want to
anyway," Imbri agreed.  "Oh, Forrest, if it weren't for your obligation
to your tree, I would truly wish we could go back to Ptero."

"Maybe to keep company with Cathryn Centaur, or on Pyramid," he agreed.

"Or even on Torus, if Ida cared to share the Isle of Niffen," she said
dreamily.  As a day mare, she was very good at dreams.

"I remember how that odd beautiful woman Chlorine with the ugly dragon
ass said that when I got back, I would be happier than I have ever been.
Instead I am sadder."

"You surely are," she agreed.  "At least I will be able to make Jenny
Elf happier, when I deliver Vision Centaur's message about the gen-e-tic
to fix her vision."

"Oh, yes, I had forgotten about that.  That's nice."

Something swirled ahead of them.  It coalesced into a familiar demoness.
"So you're back!  But where is your fellow faun?"

"Please don't tease me, demoness," he said tiredly.  "I'm really not in
the mood for it."

"I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to."

He glanced sharply at her.  "You are apologizing?"

"I am the Demoness Metria.  I have a quarter of a soul.  So I do care
somewhat."

"But it was the Demoness Mentia I talked to before."

"Yes, my worser half.  She's baby-sitting Demon Ted while I stretch my
substance.  So I came to check on you, following her report. What
happened?"

"My quest failed."

"Oh, no!  What then of the clog tree?"

"I don't know."

:, But didn't the Good Magician help you?"

,:Not that I know of."     u Well, I feel a quarter bad about this, so
I'll help you slightly.  I'll g've you a lift back to your tree."

That isn't necessary."

But she was already firming her hands under his elbows and lifting him
up.  In a moment he was flying above the trees, and then over the Gap
Chasm.  Actually this did help, because he would have had a problem
crossing the Gap on his own.  He did need to get back to his sandalwood
tree promptly, because he wasn't sure how much time had passed.  There
was -no sense losing two trees instead of one.

She set him down in the glade between the trees, where in the past he
had celebrated with nymphs.  "Bye," she said, and faded out.

"Wait!" he cried.

She faded back in.  "Eyb?" she asked.

"I met your son Chaos.  His talent is to make things transparent."

"But I don't have such a son."

"Not yet.  But I think he's on the way.  Did you signal the stork
again?"

She toted up the count on her fingertips.  "Seven hundred and fifty
times in the ast year."

p

"One of the signals must have gotten through."

"Fancy that," she said, pleased, and faded out again.

"That was nice of her, giving you the lift," Imbri said.  "She's a
different creature since she got that half soul.  So am I, since I got
mine."

Forrest ran to his tree.  It was all right; the spell had maintained it.
He hugged it, then nerved himself for the unpleasant chore.

"Where are you going?" Imbri asked.

"To tell the clog tree that I have failed.  I hate this, but it wouldn't
be right to let it fade without knowing."

"You're a nice person."

"No.  I'm a failed person."

The clog tree, too, was in good order, thanks to the spell.  But Forrest
knew it wouldn't be, after he told it his bad news.  So he dawdled,
feeling ashamed, but unable to squeeze the unkind words out just yet.

Imbri walked up to the tree.  "I like your clogs," she said.

Then something strange happened.  Misty colors flitted through the
foliage of the tree, forming into an image.  It looked like a woodland
scene, a lovely little glade in the morning.  Flowers blossomed around
its edges, and water flowed into a pool in its center.  A lovely
darkhaired nymph sat sunning herself on a slab of sandstone, running a
crystal comb through her lustrous tresses.

A figure appeared behind her.  It was a man, no, a faun.  He put his
hands over the nymph's eyes, then bent down and kissed her on the mouth.

Then he brought out his panpipes and played a merry melody; the little
black notes rose up, scattering across the scene.  Some of them turned
white, assuming the form of little storks.  As he played, he danced.  In
a moment she got up and danced with him.  They moved around the glade,
in a mock chase, kicking their feet high to the music. But his dance was
faster than hers, and soon he caught up to her.  The panpipes
disappeared as they joyously embraced and celebrated.

Then they adjourned to the meal she had evidently prepared: lemon herbal
tea, oatcakes, and an assortment of creamy goat cheeses.  He teasingly
offered her a horse nut, but she declined any more after the first bite.
Tiny hummingbirds flew in to perch on the stones and on the faun and
nymph.  They were all colors, scintillating like gems: topaz, ruby,
opal, and lapis lazuli.

Suddenly Forrest recognized the figures.  They were himself and Imbri in
her nymph form.  But what were they doing in a picture in the foliage of
the tree?

He tried to make sense of it.  Imbr'l had gone to stand close to the
tree, and then the scene had formed.  With the two of them in it. Loving
each other.  As if the tree had somehow picked up Imbri's secret
thoughts and animated them.  The dreams of a night mare.

A glorious suspicion washed through him.  He reached over his shoulder
and plunged his hand into his knapsack.  He found the dear horn and
hauled it out.  As he did so, a fragment of paper fluttered down.  It
must have been caught in the horn.  He reached down to pick it up. Could
it be the lost notes of the Good Magician?

No, it was a different piece, royally embossed.  A single word was
written on it, in a princessly script: Imbri.

Suddenly he remembered when Dawn had touched them, on Torus, and learned
something she wouldn't tell.  She had talked with Ida, and then hugged
and kissed Forrest, her special favor done.  But she had 'd what 't was.
She must have slipped this note into his knapnever sal sack, under the
cover of her embrace.  Her answer about the identity of the creature he
was looking for.

But why hadn't she just told him?  Now that came clear too.  If she had,
his quest would have ended right there-and his mission with Dawn & Eve
wasn't yet complete.  It might have been out of his control; he and
Imbri might have dissolved into soul substance and gone back to Xanth,
unable to stop themselves.  Leaving the human section of Ptero to its
fate of marginalization.  So Dawn couldn't tell him, until after that
was done.  But she wanted to tell him immediately, so that her love for
him would be equal to Eve's.  So she had done so, in her fashion, giving
him a note that he would be sure to see eventually.

He lifted the dear horn and blew.  The delightful sound went out, and
echoed from Imbri, though she had no substance.  She was indeed the one.

She had turned and was looking at him, not understanding.  "Imbri-I saw
your dream.  Of you and me, together.  The tree animated it."

"Oh!" she said, blushing.

"Are you willing to become the spirit of the tree, to share its fate
until the end?"

"But I can't.  I have no substance."

"Yes you can.  And if you do, the tree will lend you enough substance to
make a solid body.  A nymph-or a mare, so you can gallop in new
pastures.  Spirits help trees; trees help spirits.  They are bound
together.  And you and I can be to either physically.  As in your
dream."

"But I never thought-"

"Why did you do so much more for me than was required by your Service to
the Good Magician?"

"I wanted to be sure you succeeded."

"What about when the twin princesses were seducing me?  You never
interfered."

"I wanted you to be happy."

"But don't you see-that's true love!  You were doing everything for me,
with no thought for yourself."

She blushed again, unable to deny it.

"And why didn't you return to the Good Magician for your Answer, when
your Service was done?  Because it was done, even if my part of it
seemed unsuccessful."

"I just-didn't want to leave you," she said.

"And you thought there was no way that the two of us could be together
in Xanth.  You didn't know about what trees offer."

"I didn't know," she agreed.

"But the tree knew.  As soon as you came near, it knew.  Its spirit
interacted with yours.  It was that interaction I saw."

She nodded.  "But the Good Magician surely knew.  Why didn't he tell
me?"

"Because I wasn't ready.  I thought that all I wanted was a faun for the
tree.  But in the course of the adventure I learned some of the human
breadth and depth of mind and emotion.  That left me forever unsatisfied
with less.  The Good Magician wouldn't take my Question because he knew
it was the wrong one.  He knew that I was your Answer-for you didn't
know your real desire either.  It wasn't for a new pasture, it was for
true love.  And I could be that love-once I learned how.  And now I know
that neither nymph nor human woman is what is right for me.  What I need
is a companion who has a similar length of life to my own.  Who truly
understands.  Who I can love and be loved by.  And that is you, Imbri.
It was always you.  It just wasn't always me."

"This is so hard to believe."

"Just adopt the clog tree.  Then we will play out your dream scene.
While you learn to believe, I will learn to love you.  I am already
failing." For he saw the little hearts forming, orbiting his head like
tiny moons.  They were shaping into gem-like hummingbirds.  She was
perfect for him, and not only because they had shared an experience like
no other.

"Oh, you mustn't fall and crash," she said.  She turned to the tree,
stretching out her arms.  As she did so, the foliage became brilliant,
and her body became solid, in the form of a lovely nymph: small but
perfect.

Then she turned back to Forrest, to catch him before he fell too far.

When I wrote this novel, I was reminded of the fifth novel, Ogre, Ogre,
because that one introduced a wild new setting of Xanth: the world of
dreams, inside the gourd.  This twenty-first Xanth novel, Faun & Games,
introduces the wild new settings of Ida's moons.  I love them, and I
hope that my readers do too.  Whether there will be more adventures
there I don't know; not 'immediately, as the next novel will relate to
zombies.

When I started on this one in Jamboree 1996 I checked my list of reader
sent notions, and discovered there were 300-and more were piling in.  It
wasn't possible to use them all.  There are limits, even to Xanth, and
the story comes first.  Readers seem to be unable to stifle their urge
to emit puns.  But not all readers like puns.  So I try to maintain a
healthy, or at least tolerable, balance.  The problem can be shown by
this example, which occurred while I was writing Faun: a reader wrote to
suggest that too many puns were degrading Xanth, so I should slow them
down.  Then he concluded his letter with a page and a half of more puns.
Any questions?

Some readers send me multi-page notions for future Xanth stories. I
consider these, but often they just don't fit in the framework I have.
It's much easier to invent my own story than to work from notions
suggested by others.  The idea most often suggested is the talent of
borrowing talents from others.  I finally have reference to it in this
novel, and do give a credit, but at the risk of alienating hundreds of
readers who suggested it before and haven't been credited.

This time I used reader notions dating from 1993-96, trying to give
preference to older ones, and managed to catch up on most of them
through FeBlueberry 1995, and scattered ones thereafter.  So there are
over 100 waiting for the next novel.  I'm still making notes of good
ones, but this seems to be a losing race; each novel I am further
behind.  So for those of you who hoped to see your notions here, and
didn't: maybe next time.  I'm really in the business of writing novels,
not publishing lists of names.  It's not that your notions are bad, just
that there are too many of them.

Meanwhile, my dull mundane life continued as I wrote this novel. I am
not entirely sure why readers want to know about my personal existence,
but they complain when I don't mention it, and on occasion I'll get a
letter inquiring whether I have died.  No, not that I know of. I gave a
talk for the "Last Lecture" series at the University of South Florida,
the theme of this series being that if you knew it was to be your last
lecture ever, what would you say?  I thought about it, and concluded
that I would want to let others know what I had learned, in the course
of my researches for my serious writing-the GEODYSSEY historical fiction
series-about the nature of mankind.  So I told of the evolution of our
species from Australopithecus to the present, of the complications
entailed by learning to walk two-footed, of the "triple ploy" women use
to capture and hold men, and the true nature of dreams, which are
actually the brain's "downtime" processing of the experiences of the day
for cross-referencing and long-term memory.  The following month I
talked at the American Humanist convention in Florida, telling a love
story adapted from the third GEODYSSEY novel, relating to the global
crisis we face and the manner in which two communities, survivalist and
pacifist, manage to work together to survive it, despite their opposite
philosophies. No, not many laughs in these talks; both were deadly
serious.  For laughs, come to Xanth.

This was the first novel I wrote completely on Windows 95 and Word 7 on
my new Pentium system.  These are powerful programs, and slowly I am
coming to like them, and especially the ergonomic keyboard, which looks
like a Salvador Dali painting.  The programs were the least
user-friendly to learn, compared to CP/M and DOS and many applications
thereon, but the most powerful.  I remain irritated that I can no longer
use the number-pad "Enter" key to do my Saves, and that the keyboard
cursor, renamed the vaguely obscene "Insertion Point," is almost
invisible and can't be made into a visible square as in DOS, and that
there is no ongoing indication which files are Saved or Unsaved (you
have to do a special check on each, which Unsaves it; only an idiot
would set it up that way, but other features are beautiful, such as the
Auto-Correct that fixes things as I type; TrueType that enables me to
ensure that it will print exactly as it looks on-screen, with a wide
variety of fonts; and the range of views and colors and sizes I can have
on-screen for convenience.  So now I have green Courier New 12 print on
a brown background for my novel text, and yellow Times New Roman 10
print for related notes, so I know instantly what text I'm in. Revisions
stand out in cyan, and deletions in purple.  I made a 42 keystroke macro
that splits the screen, puts postage stamp sized images of my pages in
the upper pane, and 140% size type in the lower pane, so I can see the
whole page format at the same time as reading the comfortable magnified
print, with alternate views on tap when I want them.  Ain't magic
wonderful!

Some years back I had a problem with my tongue: it got sore when it
touched one place in my mouth.  A host of specialists could not fix the
problem.  I remember one: he listened carefully to my description, then
checked it by pulling my tongue about a foot from my face and poking his
finger two inches through the bottom of my mouth.  Okay, so this is a
subjective impression; still, it gives me a notion how a horse feels
when the vet grabs its tongue.  I think my dentist thought the problem
was elsewhere in my head, but he made me a stint to protect my tongue
from that place, and it works.  I still use it.  Once I was at a party,
and it came out when I was eating, so I put it on the napkin; then my
wife threw the napkin away.  No, it was an accident; she went and fished
through the garbage until she recovered it.  And, yes, I did wash it
before I put it back in my mouth.  I do keep my mouth clean, whatever
critics may think; I brush my teeth carefully three times a day, use a
special little brush shaped like a Christmas tree once a day, and toss
once a week.  I also watch my diet, staying generally clear of sweets
and alcohol, and of course I am a vegetarian.  Yet still my gums recede,
making my teeth sensitive and at risk for decay.  During this novel it
got worse; my gum was festering in one place and the tooth and bone
structure were deteriorating.  What was the matter?  So my dentist sent
me to a periodontist, who discovered that it was a specific problem in
an otherwise healthy mouth: one root of a root canal job had gotten
unsealed, and infection had weaseled in. So he in turn is sending me on
to an endodontist, to see if it can be repaired.  It seems it's easier
to do a root canal than to repair a bad one.  Thus my continuing
adventures in dentistry, strictly of the mundane kind.

I also exercise.  For over a decade I ran three miles cross country,
three times a week, but finally the sand-spurs (Florida's version of
curse-burrs), sugar sand, thorny blackberry bushes, biting flies, and
vicissitudes of weather got to me, and I moved it indoors.  I used a
stationary cycle with connected handles to exercise the arms as well as
the legs, and I read publications like Liberal Opinion Week and New
Scientist and several health newsletters while doing so, so it didn't
get dull.  But those machines wear out or break down, and it happened
again during this novel.  This time we bought a self-powered treadmill
with arm handles.  But how could I read?  So we bought a music stand to
hold the magazines, but it was too short.  So we set it up on a stool
with a square of plywood on top, but then it was too far away.  So my
wife brought out her needlework stretcher frame stand, which is a weird
multi-jointed wooden device, and clamped it below the top section of the
music stand.  It was unbalanced, so we put a small roll of fence wire on
its feet to stabilize it.  And it worked!

Now I can read again while exercising.  All it takes is a treadmill,
stool, plywood, fence wire, needlework apparatus, music stand, and a
magazine.

In other respects, life had some unusual aspects.  The hottest year on
record, 1995, was followed by our coldest winter in some time. As I
finished the novel, the Comet Hyakutake passed; my wife and I went out
at odd hours of the night to try to outsmart the ornery trees and clouds
and moon so as to catch a glimpse of it.  I mean, if the brightest comet
in five centuries comes to celebrate the completion of my novel, the
least I can do is look at it.

Folk also ask about Jenny, my paralyzed correspondent who had

been hit at age twelve by a drunk driver, as described in Letters to
Jenny.  I still write to her every week.  At this writing she's
nineteen, and still mostly paralyzed, but she can say several words in
one breath, can walk several steps when buttressed by leg braces and a
wraparound walker, and uses a computer to facilitate communication. She
hopes to go to college, if it can be arranged.  But her life is
complicated by continuing bouts of jaw surgery and the need for constant
attendance.  All because one drunk just couldn't wait for schoolchildren
with the right of way to get out of his way.

At this time I also read a book, Robert A.  Heinlein's Grumbles from the
Grave.  Heinlein was arguably the science fiction genre's greatest
writer.  It's a collection of his letters, mostly to his literary agent
Lurton Blassingame, who was also my agent, describing his reactions to
idiot editing, critics who pretended to know what was in his mind, the
demands of fans who thought he should drop everything and give them his
full time, requests for attendance at numerous functions, his travels,
and thoughts on life.  I relate to it very well, having encountered the
same problems.  It's as if other folk believe that a writer's novels
spring full-blown from the head of Zeus, requiring no effort, so that
the writer's time has no value.  One reader angrily stopped reading my
novels when he learned that I normally work from 9 A.M.  to 8 P.m.,
seven days a week, catching up on reading during meals and exercise,
always behind on the mail and whatever else is demanding my attention. I
love writing, but it has been decades since I had actual free time; the
mail has taken all of it away.  I simply do the things I need to do, and
try to catch up after.

But that mail has its rewards.  I have been credited with saving a
number of lives, simply by responding to those who are suicidally
depressive, and with teaching a number of children the joys of reading,
because they found my funny fantasy the first interesting books. I have
grown because of what I have learned from my readers.  It is also clear
that I will never run out of ideas; my readers are eager to share theirs
with me.

Here, at any rate, is the list of credits for this novel, roughly in
order of appearance.  One of them I am unable to credit, because it
dates from a decade or so back and I no longer have the correspondence,
but it still deserves a mention.  It was a letter from a girl in the
neighborhood of twelve who sent me a picture of her ideal planet for a
fantasy setting: a triangle.  I pointed out that probably it wasn't
flat, but three dimensional, like a pyramid with four triangular faces,
and she agreed.  That was it; she has since disappeared into adulthood,
I'm sure.  But the notion remained, and finally I decided to use it.  So
if by chance that vanished girl is still reading Xanth, this is my
credit for the notion.  Thank you for Pyramid.

Shorter shrift to the others, though they are similarly deserving: Kara
0ke-Sarah P.  Bennett.  Gladiolas, horse radishes, Ray D 0, Alpha
Centauri, Attila the Pun-Katie Leonard.  ComPassion-Gordon Johnson.
Compatible female computer for Com Pewter; Cathyrn Centaur, with talent
of blankets-Karla Sussman.  Pewter chipsDana Bates, Gregory Masseau,
Andrew Graff.  Cereal port for the mouse-Thomas-Dwight, Sawyer, Dorr.
Demoness Sire, Deanna Fauna-Sarah Curran.  Doughnut-Nicole R.  Fuller.
Psychologist shrinks folk-Rachel Gutin.  Mer-dragon-Thomas Ferguson.
Locomotive, Rave-on, talent of changing things to strawberry jam, talent
of charisma, Ark-hives with books-K.  Benjamin Perilstein.  Dot, with
spots on wall talent-Eugene Laubert.  Talent of frightening folk-Danny
Barton.  LA as a name-Chris Seagrave.  Air mattresses in the Nameless
Castle-Adam Ross.  Kero, winged unicorn-Vickie Roberts.  Chemare,
centaur night mare-Lizzy Prosser.  Ilura, centaur filly-Ilura Windus.
Imina and Imino Hurry-Rich Frazier.  Dear horn, invisible ink pen-Jennie
Metcalf.  Vision Centaur, gene-ticPatrick M.  Burns.  Gallop poll-Misty
Zaebst.  Half brother, Glitter Golem-Mandy Owston.  Jelly fish; cat
people-Nick Lawton. Sock that punches, jump rope-Lara Petredis and Amy
Baniecki. Bay-bee-Robert Cobb.  Polynomial plant with square roots,
turtle recall-Kenneth Cain.  Knuckleheads-Carl A Snodgrass.  Venetian
blinds-Thomas Sawyer Dorr.  See weed-Erin Hoffman. See-an-enemy-Jake
Watters.  B's, tactic-Stephen Monteith. Punnsylvania punitentiary-Neil
Ballou.  R-tickle bush, head lineAri S.  Rapport.  Spaghetti plant-Ken
"Wirehead" Wronkiewicz. Man-Age-Mint-Liz Driver.  Fourteen crosses, and
the "crossing" cros ses; petri 'lied wood-Robert Charles Pickthall.
Revy-Jamie Mastros.  Demos; Wigo, Hugo and Wira's daughter-Kenneth D.

Hardy.  Nigel-Star Nicholson.  Talent of being the exception (Scin
tills)-Sarah Gordon.  Talent of entering books and changing their story
lines (Hugh Mongus)-Brian J.  Laughman.  Miss GnomerRichard Vallence.
Canary Island, C-gulls, night hawk, mockingbirdMalcolm Jones.  Owl
Tree-Patrick J.  Hall.  Waterfoul-Debby Enloe. Good Magician's castle on
Ptero-Ray Koenig.  A funeral procession in Xanth-Seth Poor.  The stork's
view-Nick Kiefel.  Justin CaseMike Weber, Meghan Jones, Laura Petredis,
Amy Baniecki.  Justin Time-Brandon Eller, Laura Petredis, Amy Baniecki.
The play Raven, Sonata Socksorter.  Miss Take, Out Take-Dale Saunders.
Dawn & Eve description: Dawn Mynatt.  Dawn & Eve go on a quest-Emily
Ashcroft.  Lings who do the impossible-Adam Williams.  The seas:
jealous, Indecen, Mer; sham rock-Wayne Gile. Sham rock makes you
deceitful; Cat-l-pillar-Kirsten Slotter.  Nightshade and sweetgum
trees-Tyler Merchant.  Assorted teas-served by June Bugg, a character in
the fiction of Don Edward Davis.  Spellcheck-Vicky Peterson.  Talent:
changing the color of the sky-Michael Feffeira.  Throwing the voice,
Hand gun-Kate McCrimmon. Ultra-Violent light bulb-Mat Powerman Powers.
Jan Itor, A.  Lert, talent of sending the wind-Matt Trost.  Tooth-paste,
Electra's outlet-Meghan Jones.  De-odor-ant-Benny Irizarry.  Mountain
goat, Polly Morph, Ghina-Jennifer Gregory.  All ears creature-Chris
Higgins.  Todd Loren-Lori Munion.  Lady Winter-Mike Feffeira. The super
tangle tree, the Golem King-Jay W.  Harmon.  Hollow Day-Dale Saunders,
Saaun Kline.  Isle of Niffen-Sarah Schmidt. Talent of putting folk to
sleep-Chris Robinson.  Geddy GoblinStacy Ksenzakovic.  Jfraya-Cheryle
Koch.  Talent of drawing a door that opens-Johnny Fink.  Wolf spider
howling-Sasha Skinner.  Tea tree, Tree Tea-Brandon Eller.  More fancy
teas, seven bulls-Samantha Parsons.  Ilene, Gerrod-Angella Castellano.
Dire wolf, King Cobra-Robin Tang.  Largemouth bass-Kris Stroup.  Chess
nut, Hu Man-Gregory Masseau.  Kerby-Robin Jeffreys.  Steel plant,
stratagems-Carl A.  Snodgrass.  Basketball-Katie Leonard, Daniel
Chambers.  Toe jam from toe berries-Caroline Wilson.  Pi tree with 3.14
pies, Guardian angle, Polly Graph-Eric Steiger.  Geis-a girl-Kirsten
Slotter's dad.  Grey Murphy taking away magic, as punishment-Veronica
Frank.  Talent of blessing-Trista Casey.  Grounds for divorce; cuss
toady-Sue DiCamillo.  Trqpidal depression-Donovan Lee Bee son.  Atlas
Mountains-Daniel Chambers.  Bookworm-Shelly Robichard.  Ten centaurs (of
thirty-five)-Christopher "Joker" Justino. Bluejay-Angela C. Moerschell.
Bull horn-Larry Hombaker.  When mites go up, tites come down-Mr.
Ferguson or Professor Martin, relayed by Sheryl Stewart, who isn't sure
which man told it.  Ore tree, Cerci-Jamie Malos.  Watch band-Nathan
Paquette.  Watch dogsRichard A.  Medlin.  Grant & Isabella, Grey & Ivy's
children-Amy Whitacre and Brookie Butler.  Emily Carolyn, with talent of
borrowing talent for an hour-Carolyn Bernhard.  Arien, talent of
borrowing talents-Robyn Fitkin.  Nora Naga-Katie Green.  Son of Trent
and Iris ages rapidly; talent of reversing talents-Zod Marriott.  Misty
Meanor-Margaret Fitzgerald.  Children of Girard & Gina Giant(anonymous
because I forgot to list the credit).  Chaos, son of Metria-Devon
Prewitt.  Talent of making things transparent-Emily Waddy. Mourning &
Knight Naga-Dwayne E.  Favors.  Barking lot, Airy with diction-Liz
Homsy.  Ray of sunshine-Ray Koenig.  Punkins-Cliff Roberts. Faun & nymph
glade scene-Barbara Hay Hummel.

I'll try to use up more of the pun backlog in the next one, Zombie
Lover, a year hence, if they don't rot first.