"I've been trying to piece it together," Buffy said as they trudged through the hills. "My best guess is that the idea that the Old Ones were banished by the Exalted as a group, not by a single Slayer. That makes more sense to me anyway. But the Exaltations all ended up here, not on Earth-except for one."

"The Slayer powers," Willow suggested.

"Right. But the thing is, there *were* no Infernals exactly until five years ago, here anyway. The Slayers are an Infernal caste. That leaves us with a few options. One is that we're in the past. Another is that this is another world in the present, and the Slayer's Exaltation was somehow sent *into* the past. Either way, it's come to us the hard way, which might explain how I got it. Infernal Exaltation is supposed to work by a demon coming and tempting you."

"Ah!" Cordelia spoke up. "Maybe the, the...First Watchers caught that demon and used it to empower the First Slayer. They might not even have known what they had."

"Sounds plausible enough," Wesley agreed. "Still, it doesn't explain why the Exaltation would then pass directly from one girl to the next."

"Well," Buffy explained, "the Infernal and Abyssal Exaltations, according to Cyan, were both made by tampering with Solar Exaltations. So they can be altered. Somehow. By the Old Ones. Anyway, the other possibility is that mine is...something else. That someone else, from here or from our universe or wherever, made it. But it's still an Exaltation, just like a Bug and a Rolls are both cars."

"What I'm not understanding," Fred asked, "is where these superpowers came from in the first place."

Buffy threw up her hands. "Cyan said the Primordials-the Old Ones-made them, but I'm pretty sure she was lying, or at least holding something back. And she said the gods, who are lesser beings, tampered with them and betrayed their makers."

"Glory didn't seem like any kind of lesser being to me." Dawn fidgeted, looking everywhere except at Buffy. In fairness, the mountains off to the east were pretty cool-looking.

Giles nodded. "Still, that could be a matter of linguistic difference. In most Western countries, we traditionally use 'God' to refer to a hypothetical supreme being. And in many non-monotheistic faiths, a 'god' still tends to be very powerful. Brahma, for instance, or Odin. But in some religions a 'god' is simply any spirit to which one might pray. Even the Greeks had many lesser gods of individual streams and such."

"That seems to be how it works here," Buffy agreed. "Cyan talked as if everything had a god, but gods of things like individual pebbles and things might as well be germs."

"So are there gods of gods?" Gunn asked.

"Turtles all the way down," said Fred with a laugh.

"I...uh, I don't think so. We didn't discuss it. But there are also powerful gods, like Ignis Divine and Luna-the sun and the moon."

"You spoke of Solar Exalted," Giles said. "Are there Lunar Exalted also?"

Buffy sighed. "Again, I got that impression, but, uh...we didn't get that far."

"I'm sorry for doubting you," Cyan said, holding a cold compress to her own ribs. "Though in all honesty you gave me cause."

"Sorry. I just...I wasn't expecting this at all. There aren't any other Exalted in my world...or if there are, they're doing a good job of hiding." Buffy shifted uneasily. In spite of Buffy having broken the other woman's bones-in spite of saying she was going to kill her!-Cyan had immediately resumed her friendly demeanor the moment the sparring was done. The guilt had crept up on her, and the next thing Buffy knew she was trying to make up and be friends. Something didn't seem right there. Somehow.

"Either could be the truth. I've arranged for you to have a refresher course, on a great many things." She folded her hands and looked at Buffy. "As much as I've enjoyed having you over, I think it's time you saw your own place."

"My own place?" Somehow she didn't think Cyan was sending her home.

"Every Green Sun Prince has a townhouse in this area of Malfeas. Until a few days ago, there were only fifty. Now there are fifty-one. Malfeas himself has accepted the new situation, it seems, which is something he doesn't do easily. Assuming you don't die or break out the Yozis in the next few weeks, you can have a mansion built to your specifications as well, more or less where you like."

"A m-mansion?" That should *not* tempt her as much as it did. "Here in Malfeas, though, right?"

Cyan spread her hands in a shrug. "I'm sure that one way or another you will be able to build a mansion in Creation soon, if you like. But let me make my point. We're expected to work together for the good of the Reclamation, but you also need to learn to stand on your own, so that you have something to offer the rest of us. Take a week. Read up. Practice your fighting. Practice your charms. And then, well...more than any of the rest of us, you don't know what it's like out there. I can't order you around, but my advice to you is to find a spot in Creation-not too close to the Blessed Isle, not just yet-and get a feel for the terrain and the people. I don't think it's anything like what you're used to."

"Do I need to hide?" Somehow Buffy doubted Infernals were accepted in polite society.

"Yes and no." Cyan held out her right hand. "Don't break cover in a place full of Exalts, like the Blessed Isle, unless you're ready for the fight of your life. You've finally seen what happens when you really bring up the power. That's called an anima banner, and it's distinctive, both for you and for Infernals in general. Also, don't do anything against the interests of the Reclamation. You'll have to read up on what's what, but mainly don't actually start marching your armies just yet. Building up armies is fine, and you'll have to skirmish a bit to do that, but don't attack any major nations."

"And we're talking about armies already? I just got here."

"Buffy, sweet child...trust me on this. If you want an army, you can produce one. Not on the instant, no, but much faster than you seem to be thinking." Cyan smiled indulgently and held up her left hand. "But what you should do-anywhere in the Threshold you like-is practice your charms. Toss green fire about. Smash cities to flinders. Move things-or people, if you prefer-with your mind. Drink, dance, and fuck. Hell, build things, if you like. Paint, sculpt, create magic artifacts-the Reclamation isn't about making humanity miserable, it's about making life better for everyone, demons included. in short, enjoy yourself. There isn't anything you can do that can't be done more effectively with an Exaltation, and there are some things you can do that no one else can."

"Just don't go wild on or near the Blessed Isle. I got it." Better for everyone including demons? Buffy was pretty sure that wasn't possible.

"And that was that. We parted on pretty good terms. I decorated my townhouse and even picked out a plan for my mansion." Cordelia gave her a goggle-eyed look, and she added, "I have to make it look good at least. Right? Anyway I visited a couple of times, but mostly I studied ancient scrolls." This time Giles, Wesley, and Willow all looked skeptical. "Hey, these weren't about demon guts. Mostly. Giles, have you ever heard of Slayers who could do more than fight well?"

Giles and Wesley looked at each other. After a moment, Giles said hesitantly, "Slayers have manifested mystical talents of various sorts in the past. Testing you on crystals was more than just a ruse to mesmerize you. For the most part, these abilities have been quite minor, or variations on the theme of physical prowess, but there are older stories-legends, really, usually-of Slayers who were telekinetic, who could burn vampires with their touch, even one who supposedly could fly."

Buffy tried to decide whether she felt thrilled at the idea or just ill. "All of it sounds really exciting, but...Giles, do I really have any business using these powers? If they come from demons...what if they start doing things to me? Changing me?"

The pair of Watchers exchanged glances again. This time it was Wesley who answered. "I understand your apprehension, but evidently the powers in question are the same in nature as the Slayer abilities you've been using for five years, and that girls have been passing down for thousands. I'd be cautious, but not fearful."

Buffy gave a slow, skeptical nod. "Anyway, I left like she wanted. The Yozis can't get out, and demons usually can't either, but people can go in and out whenever they want as long as you know the way. I went to a little town in the South, and tried to do at least part of what she wanted-mostly to learn. Except I came down with something nasty, and I was afraid I was going to die if I didn't get rid of it."

"Looks like Blight Terminal Transition has its drawbacks," Cordelia said offhandedly.

"You're not joking," Buffy said with a shudder. "I wasn't any less sick just because I couldn't die of it. And right as it was getting bad, something called the Wyld Hunt rode into town. I'm not sure I know what it is, except they hunt down Exalted. I barely managed to hide, and I kept getting worse for a day or two at least."

"We thought you were dying," Fred put in. "I don't know how you survived something like that."

Buffy shrugged. "Magic."

"I could wish that you'd paid more attention to the politics of this place," Wesley ventured. "There seem to be several different types of Exalted, all at odds with one another, but I can't make out from your descriptions who is who. Is this Wyld Hunt-?"

"If they are," Buffy said with a grumble, "they're a different kind of Exalted from all the rest. They seem to have superpowers too, but they call all the rest of us Anathema and Zerg rush us cause they're not as strong. I'm not even sure if they're wrong or right. Cyan talked about a golden age a long time ago, but then she worships the Old Ones, so even if she's being honest that doesn't make her right."

"We need to at least make sure if Xander's all right or if he's dead," Anya grumbled. "I'm going to be so angry at him if he's dead."

Buffy sighed. "The Wyld Hunt probably left him alone unless he made trouble," she said quietly. "But it's not a guarantee. The Dynasts are pretty classic nobility. Some of them are, well, noble, but most of them think they're entitled to whatever they want and to hell with everyone else. Cyan's not even really that different herself. The nicer she got, the more obvious it was that she was lying and the more it seemed like she was lying about."

"Can you trust anything she said?" Willow's nervousness kept her stumbling along the rocky ground.

"I have a pretty good idea what kind of things she was telling the truth about," Buffy murmured. "She has a genuine interest in helping me succeed, but she wants to be sure that I do what the Yozis want, and she'll lie like a rug to make that happen."

Giles peered off into the distance at a rugged mesa. "Good that you've kept your head about you. We're drifting to the east, by the way." He led the way up and over one of the dry, rocky hills toward a different valley.

"How did you know where to come looking for me?" Buffy offered Dawn a hand up a particularly steep embankment. "This isn't exactly the land of Oz."

Angel waved in Fred's direction. "Fred knows a lot about interdimensional portals. She and Dawn fished about where the rift was until Fred worked out what words to use to come get you."

"No biggie," Fred added. "Just got out of one hell dimension, so coming here isn't even really a change of scenery. Sorry about the extra side of crazy."

Buffy nodded. "There's been a lot of that going around since Glory. I'm used to it. Thanks for coming to look. But to be honest, I'm not sure you should have come here. This world is a lot more dangerous than ours. We need to get you all back as soon as possible."

Xander let them open the door. There was no point trying to hold a dozen people back. "Heya. You looking for something?"

The tallest of them, a pale Asian-looking woman with a graceful sway in her step and a strange blue cast to her face, which was all he could see of her skin under the armor she was wearing. "We are. There are reports of Anathema in the area. Have you seen them?"

"Anathema?" That meant something like "cursed", he thought. "I, uh...I don't think so. Is that one of those ceremonial knives?"

The willowy woman scowled and took his chin roughly in her hand. "Listen to me carefully, boy. I am Peleps Weylan, and this is my subordinate Mnemon Yudani." She gestured toward a squat, dark man with most of his features hidden behind his helmet, who grunted. "You may think that my detachment here is nothing to speak of, if you are a fool, but if I succeed in finding the Anathema I can call on the outpost and have assistance in less than an hour. In the meanwhile, *you* are barely even a nuisance. Or you can tell me what you know and be an asset, and I will ride away and leave you unharmed."

"What if I don't know anything?"

Peleps weighed him with her eyes. "The Anathema do not easily hide. You know something, even if it is only that there was a pillar of green light three days ago. That much, you have seen, since you are not blind. Peasants here do not travel, and you are no nomad."

"No," Xander allowed. "No nomad. No be mad? No nomad here."

Some of the soldiers snickered uneasily, but Peleps glared at them and they wiped the grins off their faces. "Behave like a fool, and I will paint you like one and carry you off. After I cut your tongue out. I will ask you once more. What do you know about the Anathema? Such vile creatures cannot be allowed to wander the world unchecked. I have a duty to stop them."

Wait, was she talking about demons? Maybe he was misunderstanding something. Only, the rumors they'd heard passing through the villages had spoken of a blond girl who was plainly Buffy. No mention of demons. "You aren't by any chance a Slayer, are you?"

Peleps poked him in the chest. "I am a slayer of Anathema. I ride with the Wyld Hunt. You are trying my patience, peasant!"

Well, if he was trying her patience, then he was giving the others time to get away. He looked over at the soldiers and raised his eyebrows. "Help, help! I'm being repressed!" Peleps seized him by the collar and lifted him. "Now you see the violence inherent in the system!" The others looked at each other quizzically. There was a little nervous laughter. Why couldn't they know his best material?

Peleps snarled under her breath. "You have not yet seen anything of violence, little man. But you are about to." With a vicious glare, she kneed Xander in the groin and dropped him to the floor, where he tried not to curl up in agony. "Take charge of this one while I search the area. We'll make him talk later."

He'd had no time to do more than pull a bundle of straw over the trap door. If she searched the area now she'd find the tunnel in moments. "Wait," Xander gasped. "I'll talk. Give me just a second to...catch my breath. I'll talk."

Peleps gave an imperious gesture and a pair of soldiers dragged him to his feet. "Had enough? Tell me what you know."

"I know about being a soldier," he groaned. "I know about fighting monsters. I know about a thousand movies you've never seen. I know about fifty different sexual positions, and that only ten or so are remotely practical."

Peleps kneed him again. "None of them, now, not for you. You're trying to delay me. Rough him-"

"Yes!" Xander shouted, half-strangling. "Yes, I'm trying to delay you. You don't want to miss my act when I perform in front of the Duchess of San Francisco! You need to stay so you can watch, it'll be the best night of your lives."

Finally he got a reaction from Peleps other than anger. She rolled her eyes. "Just kill him." She pulled out a heavy, serrated knife.

"You realize that blade's no good for cutting meat," he choked out. "That'd be more of a bread knife." Buy the Scoobies every second he could. He was going to die from the infection in his gut no matter what they did. If these guys wanted to torture him, well, he'd been there and done that.

"A pity the Anathema has so thoroughly compelled your loyalty," Peleps said with a shake of her head. "Someone with your tenacity should have come to a better end." She put the knife to his throat.

Tenacity you have in plenty, child of the faraway.

Okay, what the hell was that? Peleps applied pressure to the blade, piercing his skin.

Loyalty and courage as well, and the will to stand.

Yet you have long been the weakest of your comrades

Though great of heart and soul.

The knife sliced through an artery. If you're offering help, whoever you are, can we skip the long-winded speech? Blood came gushing from the wound.

Would you wield power in measure

According to your strengths?

This I give to you, if you desire it.

Behind the knife, the flesh closed up again. Peleps' distant curse echoed in his ears.

Rise, child of noonday. Rise and burn with light.

Mend what has been torn

While yet there is time.

"I should have known," Peleps growled. "I was certain you were a lackey of some sort."

Xander shrugged. "You weren't exactly wrong. Only you picked the wrong lackey to cut the throat of, Peleps."

"The name is Weylan, Anathema. Peleps *Weylan*. Remember it, if you live so long." She dropped the knife and raised her hands.

"Sorry," he deadpanned. "Wrong naming convention. I didn't realize the Wyld Hunt was Bajoran." The soldiers stared at each other and began to snicker again. "Anyway, I thought you wanted me to talk, not stand here while you beat me to a pulp." Mnemon Yudani, with his stone face, glared, but the rest laughed louder. "Look, I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, but from the looks of you guys I'm out of ass. Mind if I just step outside for a sec? I'm sure I can find some people your own size to pick on." The laughter built to a crescendo. Six of the ten remaining soldiers began to guffaw and slap their thighs. Was he that good?

Wait, had he been made that good?

Just then Weylan slammed a fist into his stomach. And then things really got hairy.

The trip through the tunnel had been short and uneventful; the trip back over more rugged terrain was long and kinda painful. Dawn's feet were sore by the time they clambered over an outcrop and saw the village beneath them. The sun was about to come up, and Spike and Angel were getting extremely antsy about it. Finally Mr. Giles got annoyed and handed them a bundle of blankets that had been with Buffy's litter and told them to wrap up their heads and hands.

"I don't see any sign of trouble down there," Buffy said, peering over the ridge, "but I'm pretty sure there is."

"Are you sensing something?" Wesley asked. Like Giles, he'd been frustrated for months by Buffy's general failure to develop her Slayersense.

"No," Buffy said, scowling, "I'm seeing horses that weren't here before. In armor. Horse armor."

"Barding," Angel said, muffled behind the blankets.

"Barding," Buffy agreed. "The Hunt's still here. I can take them. Backup won't hurt, but stay away from anyone tossing energy bolts or glowing." As if she'd never even been ill, she swung her feet over the ridge and dropped twenty feet to the ground, then took off running toward the buildings, leaving them to scramble down on their own.

"How are we s'posed to back her up," Spike muttered, his voice muffled by blankets, "when she leaves us behind like that?"

Dawn wasn't sure it mattered. There weren't any ooofs or bangs or crashes coming from the sickhouse, where she was pretty sure Buffy had gone back in. There weren't any fight sounds at all, and now that they were down, people started coming out of their mud brick houses to stare at the intruders.

Spike stopped in the doorway of the sickhouse, blocking Angel, who shoved him on in. "Hey! Bloody ask me to move next time!"

"You'd have said no," Angel said as Dawn caught up. She saw why they had stopped. Three piles of armor lay against the wall, coated in ash. And on the bed sat Xander, shirtless, while Buffy studied the faint scratches on his side where a lethal wound had been. The rest of the Scoobies began to crowd their way in behind her.

A whirlwind slammed Spike aside as Anya dashed into the room and launched herself at Xander, wrapping herself around him. "Jesus, Mary, and sweet muppety Odin, you're all right!"

Xander responded by sweeping her down and around into his arms and bending down to kiss her forcefully on the lips. Anya's eyes went wide and she clung to his neck. For a moment Dawn thought she was only stunned by the kiss, but Anya's muffled groans got louder and louder and her face turned flushed before she finally broke away gasping.

"I knew you were good with your tongue, but Xander, that's ridiculous! Do it again!"

"What?" Xander sat down with her on the bed again. "Do what again?"

"Xander! More orgasms! Please?"

"Er...in a little while when we're alone, honey. Is that okay?" Anya made a grumpy noise in her throat, but she nodded. "So are we making the loop again?" Xander raised his eyebrows. "We're not lost, are we? Buffy was just about to tell me how neither of us is dead yet."

"I don't know about you," Buffy said, "but I was never actually dying in the first place. Didn't mean to fool you, sorry. Now you tell me how you beat a Wyld Hunt squad."

Xander shrugged. "Got lucky. There were only two superheroes in this one, and their team turned on them when Weylan and Yudani tried to stop me from telling jokes. I guess I'm just that funny."

"You...what?" Buffy squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them. "Tell me again from the top."

"Peleps Weylan tried to drown me with a punch to the guts-don't ask me how that worked, I don't know-and then her quiet buddy Mnemon Yudani opened a crevice under my feet. Then the rest of the unit turned on them and saved my butt. Those three died, over there, and spontaneously combusted." Xander turned and stuck his head into the next room. "Hey, guys, one of you come explain this mess to my friends!"

A short, stocky woman finished washing her hands and came through the door. "I was wrong to think of you as Anathema, Illuminated One. Truly the Sun shines on you and sanctifies you. I was a fool. Forgive me?"

Xander waved a hand dismissively. "It's no big. These are my friends. Be nice."

"The Sun?" Buffy sounded puzzled and, strangely, envious.

"Big important voice in my head," Xander said. "My jokes got better and then suddenly when Weylan and Yudani started the fight I started glowing. Also somehow they didn't kill me before the rest of the team could make a move. Hey, Mylin, how come again your friends burned up when they died?"

Mylin stared at him. "I told you, it was no natural occurrence. You did that."

"How?"

Mylin threw up her hands. "I know nothing of the powers of the Illuminated, Xander. I regret having wasted my life opposing you. Perhaps I could tell you, otherwise. Please, may I go back and see to the patients?"

Xander nodded. "Of course. Be sure to wash your hands! Kill those germs so you don't spread the infections." She left, and he added to Buffy, "So I'm in the dark here, Illuminated or not."

"You're a Solar," Buffy said, looking down. Looking weirdly sulky. "You're a hero."

"Wait," Xander said, looking around at the Scoobies. "I don't get it. This is bad?"

"Where are Weylan and Yudani?" Buffy asked, evading his question.

"Hogtied and under guard," Xander said. "The squad said they'd probably get away eventually, but I'm not going to make it easy on them. Why is it bad that I'm a Solar whatever?"

Buffy stood up, her face crumpling, and she stomped outside.

"Hey, uh...was it something I said?"

"Ignis Divine stole the designs of the Exaltations," Cyan explained. "He modified some of them to oppose the Primordials and set them against their creators. Others, he gave to other gods to modify, to aid in his rebellion. The Exaltations were designed to challenge the bounds of possibility, and one impossibility was that the Primordials could be defeated."

"So these...infinite improbability weapons made it possible for humans to beat the Primordials. And kill some of them?" There was a disturbing sort of sense falling into place with this story, though Cyan was definitely not telling the whole truth.

"The Neverborn, yes, as they are now known. But when the gods saw that killing the Primordials was destroying Creation-surprise, surprise, given that the Primordials *made* Creation-they forced the rest to surrender and mutilated them by killing some of their souls. These became the Yozis, who were imprisoned in the new body of their former king, Malfeas." Cyan didn't seem to enjoy these lectures. She hurried through them impatiently as if they were something Buffy should have learned long ago.

"Then how did there get to be Infernal Exaltations?" The war at the beginning of the world was familiar, but how did any of this fit in with the future as she knew it? Or was she in some alternate present in some other dimension?

"The Solars ruled the world as mad tyrants for thousands of years, but eventually the other Exalted rebelled and imprisoned their Exaltations. Very recently the Primordials' servants freed the Exaltations from their jade prison in order to alter them. Some escaped, loosing the Solars on the world again. The other half were split between the Neverborn, who modified the Solars into Abyssals, and the Yozis, who made the Infernals. The Neverborn just want to destroy the world so they can finish dying. But the Yozis want us to free them and set the world right again."

"So I...used to be a Solar? Could have been a Solar?" The Solars' rule was the most likely thing for Cyan to be lying about. They'd probably been more like King Arthur with superpowers, wise and fair. And she could have been one of them, instead of...what she was. The idea made her want to sick up.

"I promise you, Buffy. It's better this way. You'd have been corrupted like all the other Solars. So would I have been. They were mad beasts who needed to be put down." Cyan put a gentle hand on Buffy's shoulder. She didn't *seem* evil. But then it was the subtlest, creepiest kinds of evil that didn't.

"I thought I was one of the good guys, that's all." But she was the Slayer! She fought the demons and the forces of darkness! Only, so did Spike, and she knew he wasn't really a hero. Even Angel would go back to being a monster without the curse of his soul. So what was she?

"Of course you're one of the good guys," Cyan said with a faint, disturbing smile. "Just like me." Lying again. God, she was lying. Buffy could feel it.

What was going to happen to her?

Willow came out to find Buffy staring out over a cliff. It was a beautiful sight, with the sun rising in the distance, turning the sky from dim purples and orangey-red clouds to a brilliant blue. The clouds faded away before it, carrying any potential rain with them. Great mesas rose toward the sky out there, twisting stone into fantastic shapes-dinosaur heads, giant ladders, treelike knobs.

Willow didn't think Buffy was here for the view.

"You remember when we fought Ms. Madison?"

"Not really," Buffy muttered. "I was out of it most of that fight. I think the blood in my alcohol stream was starting to run low."

"She was the first witch we ever met. Giles knew a few spells, but he made them sound dangerous and scary to keep us from being tempted. He even claimed it was his first casting ever. Going by Catherine Madison's example, you'd think being a witch was just inherently evil. Only, not that long after we met Jenny, and then I started learning magic too. And it turned out magic could be evil or good, it was all in how you used it."

Buffy gave her a level look. "Have you ever invoked Korsheth?"

Willow coughed, trying not to look embarrassed. "Well, no. Um...do you have to actually invoke the Yozis to use your powers?" That might not be so good. She'd have to get their approval, and they probably wouldn't give that for nice things.

"No. Not so far, anyway. But it's their raw demony energy. Essence, it's called here."

"I thought you said it was the same power you've always used, though. The same power that makes you a Slayer."

"Well, yeah. In its simplest form. I can make myself stronger and tougher and faster. Cyan said I could do more than that, things I mostly haven't tried yet, but still basic stuff. She also made hellfire burst out of my wounds. Is it a good idea to go around stabbing people with hellfire?" Buffy turned back to gaze out into the distance again. "I wonder if I could even do it. She said Sacheverell was never wrong."

"Maybe you shouldn't use hellfire," Willow said, trying to be reasonable. Also to not talk about what Buffy seemed to be hinting at. "But what other things did she talk about? Can you move things with your mind? Can you fly?"

"I don't know. I think there was something about flying. Move things with my mind, definitely, but it's a fairly advanced charm. She said before I even tried to do that, I should try to fortify my basic abilities in other ways."

"What ways?"

"She said I could be more persuasive, prettier...even smarter. Just by doing it the right way. I...don't know if I understood her exactly." Buffy kept staring off into the distance, refusing to meet her eyes. "At the really advanced end, some of the texts mentioned 'shintai' charms. I'm not sure what that meant, but they seemed to be transformations of some kind."

Willow furrowed her brow. "'Shintai' in our world is something like 'god-body'. In Japanese. Maybe it means taking on an aspect of the Yozis. You might be right about that being a bad idea."

"Is any of it a good idea?"

"An awful lot of spells are totally harmless, Buffy. If we'd taken Ms. Madison as our example of what a witch has to be, Glory would have destroyed the universe. And remember when Tara's family told her she was part demon and that's where her magic came from?"

Buffy sighed. "Yeah. But would you say the same thing about vampire powers? Spike is evil. He can't be otherwise. We can make him...tame, maybe, but we can't make him *want* to do good things. Even Angel is stuck with Angelus inside him, forever. I don't want to be like that."

"Have you done anything that would make you think you'd be like that?" Buffy turned away from her entirely. "Buffy...what did you do?"

It really wasn't that much of a town, but it was more than a village. The locals called it Red Rock, which wasn't too imaginative given the surrounding mesas. Still, given that it lay in the shadow of that immense statue, it didn't really require too much of a unique name. Every day at three the shadow of the Supplicant's head passed through, covering the town for about an hour.

Red Rock had a general store and three inns, a temple to some kind of "immaculate" faith and a couple of smithies. It had a bank that doubled as the storefront of a gem merchant. It had a rather sleepy-looking military outpost that mostly enforced local law.

In short, it was a nice place for Buffy to be a wanderer passing through, to hang out for a while and experiment.

She helped out a couple of farmers who were struggling with a broken plow. That much was easy, though; all it took was strength. So as an experiment-nothing more!-she flirted with the better-looking of the farmers, a young man with a small burn scar on his cheek. A little alarmed by the results, she flirted with his wife, then with the pair of them together. A couple of rounds of shared kisses later she pleaded business at the store and scooted outside.

She tried to haggle at the general store without much success, wondering what she was doing wrong. Finally she put her foot down and demanded lunch for a couple of small coins. Sweating nervously, the merchant handed over twice what she had asked for half the price. Feeling guilty, she scarfed it down before it could spoil in the heat.

She slipped a diamond ring into her pocket at the bank-again, just as an experiment, of course! None of the bankers spotted her. She swiped another ring, and a bracelet, and finally a pocketful of gold nuggets. Finally, she tried sliding them casually back into their places and was promptly caught in the act. She bluffed, claiming to be attached to a security firm. There were terrible gaps in their security. Thieves could rob them blind at any time. All she'd done was demonstrate the fact. Buffy wasn't even sure security firms existed in this world. They bought her story anyway and asked her price for helping them out. She told them she'd get back to them later.

At the inn, Buffy claimed to be a traveling entertainer. Under the innkeeper's skeptical eye, she climbed onstage to sing and dance. In moments the crowd was cheering and throwing her money, despite the fact that she was performing an a capella rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody". She was a little surprised at remembering all the words, but they simply flowed out of her with hardly an effort.

Cyan had implied she didn't actually need to sleep at all. The little town rolled up its streets shortly after sundown, so she slipped out of the inn and went patrolling.

Red Rock was just as sleepy as she'd expected, so it was no surprise to find it asleep, its streets rolled up and its lights out, except that there was still a little partying going on in the inns. Even that was dying down. She tried to reach out with her Slayer senses, but found nothing. Cyan had made a distinction between Insignificant Embers Intuition, which she knew, and Hellscry Chakra, which she didn't. Plus there were several other sensory Charms. Which one it was Slayers were supposed to have known for centuries was something Buffy was still trying to work out-or maybe it was several of them working at once? Maybe it was that very confusion that was keeping her from learning it.

What she did notice was something creeping into town from further south, where the desert grew even more extreme. These things looked like massive gorillas, except for the great spurs of bone jutting from their backs. She could smell a miasma of blood about the creatures. They might have been natural predators from this world, for all she knew-except that suddenly she *did* know. These were no ordinary animals, and somehow Buffy didn't think they were gods.

"So tell me," she said, striking a pose, "are you guys working for Bowser or Donkey Kong? The uniform's making it less than clear." The demon-apes grunted at each other and charged.

There were maybe a dozen of them, and that seemed like a lot, but their tactics left something to be desired. She leapt into the air and came down nimbly between the spurs on the lead ape's back, a single stake already out. It couldn't kill these creatures so easily as a vampire, but a piece of sharp wood driven hard into the eye ruined it and pierced the interior of the skull, scrambling its brains, and it lurched hard against a building and fell.

Of course there were plenty left. Rather than try and grab her former weapon from its body, she yanked another stake from under her jacket and leapt again and again. Another five of the simple creatures went down the same way before the one she was trying to leap onto stumbled over a corpse. She landed on its back all the same, but one foot came down hard on the spur of bone jutting from its shoulder. She could handle pain-she had known worse pain before-yet pain mixed with anger this time. Anger at finding the same task here that she'd spent her whole life both carrying out and running from. Anger at the gall of people who thought she might somehow join the side she'd been fighting against. Anger and pain, and the world went red.

"So you lost control fighting some demons," Willow said quietly. "I don't know that that's so bad. You didn't kill any people, did you?"

"I don't know what I killed," Buffy answered. "I came to miles away, in the morning. All I know is, something I did got the Wyld Hunt's attention. For all I know I killed some of them that night. Either way, I left town, and whatever I did freaked me out enough that I ran for miles before passing out in the middle of the desert. And when I woke up I didn't remember what I'd done."

Willow sighed. "Buffy, you can't just assume that you hurt someone. You're freaking out just over finding out that you're an Infernal, so there's no reason to think fugueing that way means you killed anyone."

"Buffy," said Tara, and Willow jumped. Buffy barely seemed to react to her presence at all, though Tara had come up right behind her. "She's right, Buffy. And you need to try to stop thinking that being an Infernal is somehow horrible in itself. You're not any less a hero because of the particular kind of power you're using. Wesley's right-be careful of side effects, but don't just run away from what you can do. Trust me on this."

"I don't suppose you guys would try, er...meditating with me. And I just mean meditating, um, nothing, you know..."

"Sexual?" Tara asked, her voice perfectly level.

Buffy blushed bright red. "Right. I don't think what you can do is the same exactly, you're not Exalted, but according to Cyan sorcery works by manipulating Essence, the same as regular Charms do. And there are powers I need to try meditating on before I access them, things that don't come as natural to me as the stuff I'm used to."

"I don't see any reason why not," Tara said after a moment, with Willow nodding immediately after. "Let us know what you're planning to do, though. There are things that might be best left alone."

"And you can probably tell me about some of those," Buffy agreed. "That is...I mean...there might be things that are a problem from the way I'm doing them even though they don't sound wrong. Like...I never understood why it was worse for Luke to Force-choke his enemies than to stab them with his lightsaber until Willow told me it was because he was turning life energy against life." She still didn't quite understand that one, but it made some sense.

"I understand," Tara said, putting a hand on Buffy's shoulder. "We'll try it whenever you're ready."

"Okay," Buffy said. "Here we go. This is something called 'Viridian Legend Exoskeleton'. It's supposed to give me a suit of brass armor, if I read it right. I'm still learning the language here."

"*Brass* armor?" Willow asked in a quizzical tone. "No steel plate?"

Buffy shrugged. "Malfeas is made of brass and basalt. Brass is a big thing, apparently. Cyan once said something disrespectful about his big brass balls too."

Tara laughed. "Well, we don't have any of those here. It doesn't sound dangerous." She dropped to a cross-legged position. "Sit across from me and Willow. We'll hold hands."

"Just hold hands, right?" Buffy curled her legs up. "Sorry, I'm kidding...mostly. I know some of the magic stuff involves sexy fun times."

Willow glanced at Tara. "More of it is, um, sensual than sexual. There are some things, though. Most of those I learned from Tara. I promise, Buffy, you have nothing to worry about. I'm not into threesomes." Tara raised an eyebrow. "Um, Tara's not either." She offered her hands to the other women.

Tara took Buffy and Willow's hands. "All right, Buffy. We're going to close our eyes and breathe deeply together. You know your deep breathing exercises, right?"

"Giles taught me when we were working with crystals." Buffy inhaled deeply and held the breath for a few seconds before releasing it.

"That's right. Now, I apologize in advance if I start looking uneasy. The power you're handling is gonna be different from what I'm used to, and it may feel...er, yucky." Tara joined in the deep breathing, with Willow falling in last.

They remained that way in silence for a few moments before Buffy peeked. Tara was, in fact, looking a little green. Willow was having less trouble, but there was a frown on her face. Buffy sighed. She must be connecting with the power if it was making Tara ill, but she didn't feel anything happening. Maybe her mindset was wrong; the brass armor was supposed to defend her from something, and she wasn't in any danger.

Sooner or later Cyan was going to send someone looking for her if she didn't get back to Malfeas. It might be weeks or months, but not too long. If she didn't learn some things before then, there would probably be trouble when they arrived. Regarding Xander, for one thing. If Xander didn't decide he needed to turn on her.

Something crystallized in Buffy's head. She stared down at her hands, but nothing seemed to be happening. Maybe it really just didn't work this way. Maybe she had to actually be fighting. Wait...something was spreading across her arms. Tara gave a little gasp and opened her eyes. A nasty greenish tarnish made its way down over her hands, across her legs-she could feel it growing over her face, even her eyes. Great, she'd screwed it up and now she was probably going to end up with radiation poisoning again, only this time for real.

Willow stared at her as well. "Buffy, you look-"

She broke off as the tarnish began to flake away from Buffy's skin. Beneath it was brass, all right. Not a suit of armor, though, not the way she'd been thinking. There were no joints to the metal, which seemed to have grown over or maybe even replaced her skin. The tarnish peeled away and broke into bits that crumbled into dust, then into nothing at all. Buffy lifted her shirt. Her abs were brass. Her legs were brass. She tapped a finger against her chest with a clinking sound. If she pressed down, she could feel a little give, and all her joints seemed to work fine, but she was definitely coated in metal. Maybe even made of metal. "Guys, um...my eyes? Am I...?"

Willow nodded mutely. Tara opened her purse and pulled out a compact for Buffy, who could only stare. Her eyes were brass, too, with a slight green glow in the pupils. Even her hair looked like spun metal threads. A fine line of script wound its way around her arms, glowing faintly green. She tapped at the soles of her feet, the back of her head. More clinking. After a moment of embarrassment, she peered into the ruined remnants of her shorts. Brass. All brass. "I don't think this is quite what I was expecting."

"Well, it *is* armor," Willow said. "More like Colossus than 'knight in shining', but still just armor."

"Just my luck if I run into a firebreathing dragon," Buffy said grumpily.

"W-we wouldn't m-mind," Tara said with a nervous giggle. "That is, we hope you don't b-but I'm sure you're n-nice to look at."

Buffy let out a long sigh. "Shiny, no doubt about it. Brass butt and all." Looking herself over one last time, she added, "That reminds me. I've got to find some new clothes. These are trashed, and there's no telling when I'll find my way back to my apartment."

"The one in Malfeas, you mean? How do you get back there?" Tara frowned worriedly.

"In theory, the way I got in. In practice...I really don't know. There are portals scattered here and there, but they're just not that common, and I got turned around while I was in combat fugue mode. They're called 'gates of inauspicious passage', and asking about them is a good way to get a mob to come after you."

"You said you brought a little money with you," Willow pointed out. "Now that the Wyld Hunt's out of the way...for now...could you buy some clothes?"

Buffy nodded. "Probably. This is a sleepy little farming village, but if nothing else I can probably get something second-hand." She made a little grumpy noise about that; Buffy had long since accepted that she wasn't rich any more, but she still liked her nice clothes. "We'll go looking after I change back." She looked herself over and stretched, flexing the muscles of her torso. "I'm pretty conspicuous right now, but hey...at least this is a good look for me."

"Niblet, you all right?" Spike was antsy, pacing back and forth in the confines of the tiny room. Sooner or later the sun would go down and he could head out and get something to eat...somewhere. This world's humans seemed to be just as off-limits as Earth's.

Dawn seemed just as on edge, but it showed up differently in her. She kept looking over her shoulder. After a few hours of being forced to watch her, he'd realized that she was looking south. Always south, and that worried him. Buffy had said there was nothing much to the south, just more desert, and after that, some sort of chaos called the Wyld. Which was only vaguely related to the Wyld Hunt, and that made little sense to him, but eh. Humans were all mad. And that particular part of the Wyld was called the Elemental Pole of Fire. Definitely not a good place for a vampire.

"I don't know," Dawn said nervously. "Something about this place...I feel off. But not really. It's hard to explain. I want to go home."

"We all do, bit."

"I know that, Spike, it's just that..." She turned deliberately toward the south again and pointed. "It feels like home is thataway."