"Aaand...fight!"

Xander dropped back, assuming the Form. The idea of facing off against Fred was more than a little unnerving. Sure, he'd gotten used to the idea that Buffy could kick his ass, but that was when he was Joe Sixpack, not the Dread Pirate Roberts, Zenith caste and scourge of the West. He didn't hit beanpole girls like Fred.

Fred's body shimmered and rippled. Was she going to change shape? But all that happened was that patterns of light and shadow slithered across her form. Xander squinted. She was still there, just a lot harder to keep his eyes on.

"Good, good. One Wire Among Many," Nelumbo intoned. She was a hell of a lot better at this than Giles. Which wasn't his doing, of course. He wasn't a cyborg with centuries of past lives. Just a highly-trained member of a centuries-old organization that had no idea they were training Exalts. Life was surreal.

While he was thinking all that, Fred had vanished. Great. Xander spun, searching for her...nothing. Where...? Fred's fists slammed into his face as she pivoted down from the ceiling on weblines.

"Good, Fred! Xander, pay attention! You're better than this!" Nelumbo had sounded almost offended when Fred questioned whether she really needed to know how to fight. No, skip the 'almost'; there was no question about it. Fred might not fight with her fists as often, Nelumbo said, but she had better know how.

He had to do it. Xander pretended she was Ebon Siaka and drove both fists into Fred's back, sending her flying out of the web and into the wall. "Heaven Thunder Hammer!" Nelumbo called out. "Good!"

Nelumbo didn't believe in singling out power moves from one style except in solo practice. Once you knew them well enough to spar, you sparred with everything you had. The only exception was if your weapon didn't fit into the style, or he'd have his daiklaive out too. Thank God he didn't have to worry about beheading Fred on top of everything else.

Fred rose without apparent effort, her anima flaring into a bubble of silvery light surrounding a core of shadow. The light compressed itself into a flattened disc, just wide enough to surround her body. "Light-Treading Technique! Good form!" Nelumbo called. Fred lunged at him, moving much faster than before. If only he knew what the kind of martial art Fred was being trained in was...and now he was the one sent flying. "Put them together, Fred. Give me Flashing Passage!"

Fred dashed toward him as he rose, but if she was doing anything new he couldn't see it. He countered with a Thunderbolt Rush punch and was appalled to feel the bones of her nose give way. "Ahh! Fred! Are you ok?"

"She's fine," Nelumbo snapped. "Try again, Fred. Flashing Passage!"

Fred staggered for a moment, blood trickling from her nostrils, and hurtled sideways. Again, though-nothing new.

"Nelumbo, I broke her nose!" He kept his guard up, though. She had drilled that in.

The sifu looked at him as if he were wearing a dunce cap. "You broke her nose. Roberts, the two of you are Exalted. You're on a First Age city-ship with unimaginable medical supplies. There's no immediate threat from outside. I want to see you fight till one or both of you gets their chest caved in! You'll get over it, I promise." She couldn't be serious. "Fred, again! Flashing Passage, damn it!"

Before he could protest further, Fred lunged at him...and vanished. Where...? Something latched onto his arm and dragged him backwards. Webline! He started to spin, and Fred's armored fist caught him on the side of the head, hard, staggering him.

"She's not that good, Roberts!" Nelumbo sounded annoyed. "You're a Solar and she's not even in beast form! Wipe the floor with her!"

No one else seemed to agree with Nelumbo's assessment. Of course, he was surrounded by Lunars. Nearest were Fred's new friends Kolohi and Renjin, but the gym was full of half-naked-or completely-naked!-Exalts. (It seemed to be a Lunar thing.) Fred was no better right now; her bone carapace was like most of the super-armors in the armories here, molded to match the contours of her body. Fred hadn't been bad-looking before, and now she'd deliberately amped up her curves with her shapeshifting powers. So far he hadn't yet been able to make himself put on a suit that gave him pecs and a sixpack and molded lovingly to his crotch and butt. Wasn't that supposed to be bad construction, with all those inward folds? Armor needed to be solid.

Forgoing fancy moves, Fred began to simply pummel him from behind with considerably greater strength than he had thought she had. They weren't bone-breaking blows-she couldn't make herself nearly as strong as Buffy-but they hurt. The Lunars cheered her on.

"Not good enough, Fred, he's recovering! Beast form now, Lunar!" Fred sighed and stepped back. It wouldn't take long. At least she wouldn't be so pretty. From the sidelines, someone hooted approval as she changed. Raksi. Even Raksi was watching!

Xander took a deep breath, and golden light radiated from him. He heard Fred's breath catch. Oohs and ahs from some of the Lunars. (Though from Raksi he detected only a bored grunt.)

"Shake it off, Fred! He's-Fred?" Xander turned and saw only Nelumbo, left hand on her forehead. "I thought she was going to shake it. Then she took off like a rabbit. Better check on her."

"Go after her," Kolohi agreed. "Luna has her. Probably she'll be ok, but find out what she's up to."

Murmurs rose behind him as he left. "...Solar...told you they weren't so bad..." "...bad? He was..." "...say Anja's his mate..." "...lucky girl!" Jesus, he was popular! When had he ever been popular guy?

"Luna has her?" Nelumbo's voice rose behind him for a moment, but then he turned a corner that blocked much of the sound.

Ahead of him an elevator was going up. These things were fast; it was already passing deck ten, still rising. She was heading for her cabin...if you could give that name to a swanky place like hers. He called another lift.

Fred's door was open. Furniture that would have looked improbably fancy in Bill Gates' mansion filled the vestibule. Bedroom, maybe? He put his hand to the doorplate. Locked.

"Go away!" Fred shouted.

"You ok in there?" Her voice should have sounded nasal from the injury-no, she was probably still half-squid. She did sound strange, but the door muffled her voice.

"I'm fine! I'm busy! Stay out, I'd rather not hurt you!" Xander groaned. No telling what she was up to.

"Towers of Azure, this is Admiral Harris. Queen Fred is injured. Can I get a military override?" He pressed his hand to the door again, uselessly.

"Override granted, Amyana. See to her." Much better voice quality than he typically heard at home. A little loopy in the CPU, though. Towers called Fred Amyana sometimes too. The door hissed open.

Fred had a stylus in each tentacle pad, frantically covering the walls in writing that was half English, half Old Realm, and all math, mumbling to herself about home. She heard the door and turned an alien gaze on him. "I told you to stay out!"

Then, tentacles flailing, she attacked.

Chapter 21: Horizons

In the first few moments it was all Xander could do to keep Fred's tentacles from wrapping around his neck or clawing off his face with knife-ringed suckers. He seized them only to have them writhe around as if he had no hold at all. Jointed rings of bone surrounded them right now, so even slicing at them wouldn't have accomplished much.

Lacking better options, he let go with his right hand, balled up a fist, and drove it into her gnashing beak. Fred's head snapped back so hard that for a moment he thought he'd broken her neck, but she swung bone-edged tentacle pads blindly at his face and he managed to kick her off and roll away.

"Fred? What the hell?" Xander rolled to his feet. Neither of them was much of a combat monster. If they'd been ordinary people he was sure he'd have an edge from fighting vampires longer, but shapeshifting turned that on its ear.

"I just want to be left alone," she snarled. He'd have been glad to leave her alone at this point, but somehow they'd gotten swapped around so that now she was between him and the door. If she even noticed, it didn't show. "I can get us all home, but you have to get out!"

She lunged at him then, tentacles raised to slash at his throat with knife-edged bone. Listening to Nelumbo in his head, he dropped back a step or two, then planted a foot in Fred's midsection. With an explosive sound like cracking stone, fragments of bone burst from her body, vanishing even as they flew in all directions.

That gave her a moment's pause as she realized she was naked, but only a moment's. She was all ropy and a bit slimy anyway, he figured. He needed to end this and end it now.

Fred vanished in a blur, and suddenly he was wrestling with a spider-silk garotte. He couldn't get ahold of it to tear it out of her hands. Trying to pry at her fingers was useless; the tentacle pads gave way without loosening their grip. Xander forced himself to lean forward into the choking strands, then heaved backwards. Her beak clacked shut as his head struck it; he felt its edges tear into his scalp. Then her tentacles went limp, and she slipped free and collapsed on the floor.

"Sorry," he whispered. Something was clearly off about her state of mind. "I wish we could've let you stay home. You didn't belong here." That was careless of him, but no demon-genies cackled and murmured "done", so he figured it would pass this once.

Nelumbo appeared at the door. "Great Maker! Why didn't you come back and finish in the ring?"

Xander took her by the arm. "We weren't sparring anymore. Come on, let's give her some space. She'll be okay."

"Her armor..." Nelumbo trailed off as he led her out. "Someday you'll have to show me these missing techniques and how they work. You hear me, Roberts?"

A weary chuckle escaped from his lips. "Sure thing. When I figure it out myself. Towers of Azure, lock the door again. Keep it that way unless she'll die without help."

"Unlikely," Nelumbo murmured.

"As you request, Amyana," the AI responded.

"Who is this Amyana he keeps calling you?" Nelumbo wondered.

"Queen Amyana, used to rule the city. It's nothing. She calls everyone that."

"Only you and Fred, that I've noticed," Nelumbo said quizzically. "And Fred rules the city now, so I can understand the mistake there."

Xander shook his head. "It's the least of my worries. Let's get back and let her friends know she's ok." He turned down a corridor to get to the nearest elevators.

"You seem to know this place like the back of your hand," Nelumbo said thoughtfully. "Do you know whose Exaltation you inherited? I understand Creation's Exalts pass them along."

"Don't look at me," he said with a shrug. "I don't remember any past lives, if that's what you're asking." She punched the wrong button. "Hey, no, Deck 34. Don't get us lost."

She frowned at him. "I'm not worried."

The next day Fred was fine. Well, better. She seemed a little skittish. Gavrane Tomazri asked after her, deferentially, and she lectured him on being too dependent. He seemed confused, at first. Finally, though, he nodded and started to leave the audience chamber.

"Dread Pirate," he asked as he turned, "might I ask the name of your blade?"

Xander could only shrug in confusion. "It doesn't seem to have one. I hunted through the computer files for it but it just said 'wavecleaver'. It's just a generic wavecleaver daiklaive."

Fred stared at him, Tomazri frowned in confusion, and Peleps Kolohi began to snicker. "Roberts," Kolohi explained, "there's no such thing as a generic daiklaive of any kind. Maybe for a little while in the First Age there were generic jade daiklaives, but I guarantee you that nowadays even the jade ones are either storied family heirlooms or the work of a famous master smith."

"It'd be like saying a Stradivarius violin was generic because it's not unique," Fred said helpfully.

"And anyway, that thing is orichalcum," Kolohi reminded him. "That'd be enough to guarantee it had a name, and nobody I've ever talked to has seen an orichalcum wavecleaver. Heard of a couple, but they're rare as hen's teeth."

"So why isn't the name in the computers?" Xander wasn't really sure why it mattered. He pulled the blade from its sheath and swung it around a bit. Despite its immense size it felt right in his hands.

-fighting, retreating, had to reach the command center, but the treacherous Dragonblooded were swarming her like rats-

Xander staggered, and Kolohi caught him. "What was that? I...I was here, fighting, and...I dunno." That hadn't been him. For one thing, it hadn't been a him.

"Past life memories," Kolohi suggested. "Maybe you know this blade, and that's why it has returned to you."

"Towers of Azure," Fred asked, "can you identify the daiklaive Admiral Harris has?"

"Wavecleaver," the AI said, unhelpfully.

"Yes," Fred grumbled. "We know it's a wavecleaver daiklaive. Can you tell us its name?"

"Admiral Amyana is holding Wavecleaver," Towers said, a trace of irritation in his voice. "First of that design, clementine, adenine...pardon, my queen. All subsequent models are named for this one, the sword of Luthe's queen, wife of Admiral Arkadi."

"What?" Xander nearly dropped it. "Wait, is it saying I was a girl?"

Kolohi snorted with laughter. "There are worse things, Roberts, I promise."

Fred climbed down off the throne. "Not you exactly. Just your Exaltation. Celestial Exaltations don't much care who they empower except for their basic programming, and they carry memories. Sometimes more, sometimes less."

"Lytek was supposed to prune those memories," said someone whose voice Xander didn't recognize. Fred leapt instantly back to her seat. "Relax, girl. I won't harm you." The speaker was a mountain of a man with bronzed skin and jet-black hair. He was- "I suppose for the Solars who died in the Usurpation, he never had the chance."

"Leviathan," Fred breathed. "Stay back."

"Still a Lunar Elder, girl." Leviathan stepped forward. "Keep the throne. Keep the city. I've held on far too long. The Gathering is winding down, and I'm here for Amyana."

"Rule it as best you can," Leviathan said. "Deal the justice I never could." He barely fit behind the conference table with the chair jammed against the wall. Had it always fit him that poorly? "Tomazri has my seat," he said, seeing Xander looking at him. The Dragon-Blood's chair was at the corner next to Fred, across from Xander and much further from the wall. "Keep it, keep it. I can manage."

"You mean-?" Fred stammered. "I, uh, I..."

The huge man looked her in the eyes. "Dreamer-of-Reason, I wasted a millennium and a half on an obsession. I could blame Luna, I suppose, but the Fickle Lady would no doubt laugh in my face. I thank you for bringing me to my senses."

Fred began to doodle on the table with her finger. "Then did I really...?"

"You defeated me, quite fairly," Leviathan said, "which is not to say you bested me in open combat. You took my city from me, and that was defeat enough by far.

"I began to realize what was happening during the battle," the huge man explained. "With every vessel I wrecked I was shattering a bit more of my own kingdom. At first it merely enraged me. But when even the Sage fought me openly I began to truly consider what I was doing. I was about to withdraw when he seized me in his coils."

"You still looked enraged when we faced you in the throne room," Tomazri said skeptically.

"Oh, I was," Leviathan said. "At least, a part of me was. It just so happens that was the part of me you faced...and very nearly slew."

"I...I did what?" Fred shrank back a little.

"It is an advanced shapehifter's trick," Leviathan explained. "To become more than one body. I needed to see what you would do. Again, you have nothing to fear from me. Your defeat of me was real. My debt is real. It simply did not entail exactly what you thought it did. I have all my wits about me now for the first time in an Age, so perhaps the debt is all the greater."

"And the Luthea?" Fred asked warily.

"Are your subjects now, along with the Scionborn." Leviathan said. "I will start again. I could not trust myself to rule them fairly after nursing my grudge so long. I will not be seen here, in any form the people of Luthe might recognize, ever again." He turned to face Xander. "When the Dragon-Blooded and the Sidereals rose up against us, I had to choose between Amyana, my love, and my best friend, my Lunar mate Kendik Arkadi. And, perhaps foolishly, I chose love. Perhaps I thought...never mind. Amyana died in my arms."

Xander shivered. For a moment he felt it happening-the life bleeding from him as this mountain of a man cradled him...her...in immense arms. "Um. I...I remember. A little, anyway."

"I do not know if you can care for me. Arkadi could not, not in the way Amyana could. If you wish, I will teach and aid you, and no more. But I have lived an Age since then, and I have learned many things." Leviathan tilted his head, and his body altered. "Perhaps this is more to your liking?" The last was spoken in a deep contralto. Leviathan was only slightly smaller, certainly no less muscular-

"You're a girl?"

Leviathan shrugged massively. "Your Tya friends might have something to say on that matter. I say only that I have no objection to this shape if it better pleases your eyes, Amyana. I have been an orca for centuries, and many other things in my time as well. Truth told, I can hardly see the difference any longer."

Xander rubbed his forehead. What was it with him and strange relationships anyway? "I, ah, I'd be honored to have you as a teacher. Beyond that, ah, we'll have to see. I'm accumulating quite a harem here."

Leviathan raised an eyebrow. "Your own mate, the cat-girl spy. The martial artist with the crystal hair. And your fiancee, the Sidereal elder. That was hardly a harem worth speaking of in my day."

"Elder?" Xander frowned at the idea.

Leviathan laughed thunderously. "Boy, you said yourself that she was over a thousand years old! Even when I was young that was enough to make her an elder, though not of the most ancient cohort, to be sure."

"I just meant she's only been Exalted about a month," Xander mumbled. He thought that was right. Might have to calculate it out.

Even Leviathan's eyes widened momentarily at that. "You'll have to tell me how that happened. I'm sure the leaders are pleased to have an instant elder in their midst. Still, she is one. Be that as it may, I'm sure she'll catch up fast."

The huge Lunar turned to Fred. "You are a clever child. Take advice, but no abuse. I will have my eyes on you." He...she? Xander really would have to bring this up with Captain Redfang...gave Tomazri a regretful look. "My sorrow is inadequate for your suffering. Nonetheless, I am sorry. Ask my aid and I shall come. Otherwise I shall stay away from this place."

Leviathan rose from the table. "Come with me, Amyana. We have much to discuss...and I should show you the source of those hearthstones. They will be difficult for you to reach alone."

Xander shrugged and rose. "Can we stick with 'Dread Pirate' for now?"

Fred watched Xander and Leviathan walk out of the room with a quiver in her stomach. Realistically, she knew that if the elder was lying about holding a grudge, there wasn't a thing she could do. She'd beaten him in an all-out war, and apparently less thoroughly than she'd thought; trying to fight him one-on-one would be something else entirely Maybe the huge number of Lunars on board Luthe right now could take him-but only if they all stood against him, and how likely was that?

Leviathan bowed slightly to someone as he strode out. The door stayed open. And Raksi strolled into the conference room. "Come with me," she said, "Dreamer."

Fred kept her seat. "That's Queen Dreamer to you." It was an empty show of defiance.

Raksi saw through it at once. "And Queen of Fangs to you...Queen Dreamer. Don't worry, I won't bite. Yet."

Nerves still fluttering, Fred stood. "What's this about?"

"We have the Jasmine Gems, Dreamer-of-Reason. If you want to learn sorcery, come." Raksi sneered. "Or stay in your shaky throne, if you prefer."

Fred strode up to her. "You're on."

Raksi led her back down into the bowels of Luthe, down where most of the gathered Lunars had stayed. Many were departing now; a few were already gone. Anja popped out of a lift to join them, giving Raksi nervous looks. "Last-minute replacement," she said. "The real bearer of the peridot's taking my place spying on Thorns."

A Lunar with faint scales across his face emerged from the hangar bay soon after, followed by an older woman with a tuft of feathers who'd been studying the Essence engines.

On the lowest level, the Sage of the Depths waited. "Dreamer-of-Reason. Welcome. Mishiko awaits you. Do you come to us with open mind and heart?"

That was easy. "I do. I am ready to learn." Amid the thrum of engines, Fred crossed her legs and sat down on the floor.

Raksi put down her gem first, a crystal with a jasmine flower encased. Anja put the peridot next to it. The bird woman sat a jasmine azurite down to make a right angle, and the serpent man added a flower-shaped carnelian to make a square. Finally the Sage placed a jasmine-scented agate in the middle.

In that place of metal and surging electric force, a wind sprang up, scented with jasmine. More than scented. Flowers blew on the breeze. And the shining silhouette of a young woman shimmered into being over the stones.

Hear now the Lore of Journey:

Where have you not wandered/

Daughter of the Secret Fire?/

To you the doors stand open/

And at your will they close/

I have seen where you come from/

Where you are going the Maidens themselves cannot tell/

And why you travel/

Only your own heart can know./

This door you have passed./

"Mishiko declares that she has undergone the Initiation of Journey," Anja said. The Sage grimaced faintly; Anja was no sorceror. But she knew enough of the lore to stand in one's place, for this.

The Lunars patiently reshuffled the stones into a line. Mishiko shimmered and spoke again.

Hear now the Lore of Tutelage:

The Dreamer knows not the names you know/

Yet names you have never heard she can speak/

Tremble, shinma, for I am become Death, destroyer of worlds/

Of which she knows their boundary condition: to be unbounded/

Where shall you sit, oh Dreamer/

On the stove or in my lap/

And for how long?/

I say unto you: stand on the shoulders of giants/

And become one yourself/

This door you have passed.

"Mishiko declares that she has undergone the Initiation of Tutelage," the Sage said, somehow managing to sound both smug and confused. And why not? There was no way for him to recognize Oppenheimer, Hawking, Einstein, or even Newton.

This time the sorcerors made a spiral from the gems. The breeze grew chill, and Mishiko spoke again.

Hear now the Lore of Humility:

Savant in one world/

Slave in another/

Long have you labored/

For you were betrayed/

Your Judas shall go unpunished/

Your studies shall go unpublished/

For now you have exceeded their grasp/

And their reach/

Cow your enemies, oh Dreamer/

This door also you have passed.

"Mishiko declares that she has undergone the Initiation of Humility," Bird Woman said. "I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't just pull out the spellbooks."

Another pattern, like a pentagon. And Mishiko's voice grew harsher, though not unkind.

Hear now the Lore of Fear:

The sleep of reason breeds monsters, Dreamer/

Place now the gems in the Station of Sacrifice.

"Huh?" Anja looked around. "She didn't say Fred passed this one. How do we go on to Sacrifice?"

The others exchanged confused stares. Abruptly Raksi spoke up. "Of course. The sacrifice is what she fears. These two stations will be one."

The Sage looked embarrassed. "Right, naturally. It's not a situation I'd encountered while using the gems before."

Raksi grinned with a mouth full of fangs. "I suspect I'm going to enjoy this." She placed her gem in front of Fred. One by one the others encircled her.

And Mishiko wept.

You must be free, Dreamer-of-Reason/

Why do you cross the threshold and then look back?/

You have opened the doorway and stepped out of the past/

Into your only true home, the future/

Your dreams will transform this world/

And every world that is or may be/

You must not become a pillar of salt/

But a signpost pointing ever onward/

Choose, Dreamer, and act.

"What?" Raksi spat. "What is she talking about?"

Fred should have been relieved, especially after Raksi's grin of triumph. Or Mishiko's offhanded reference to breeding monsters, which was not somewhere she wanted to go no matter what other Lunars did here. Hopefully it was just a figure of speech?

But that was evading the issue. All that fancy talk. She should have been excited for the glorious future Mishiko kept talking about. It was all dust and ashes in her mouth now.

"Dreamer-of-Reason?" The Sage crouched down before her.

"Her eyes...they're so empty," Anja said. "Fred? Do you understand what she means?"

Winifred Burkle of Texas forced her mouth to form the words. "She means I'm never going home." And a ring of silver light flared on Dreamer-of-Reason's forehead, swallowing the blackness within.

The submersible came to rest on the ocean bed.

"I helped construct this manse," Leviathan rumbled, "if only by shaping the raw materials. It powers the lesser of your two hearthstones. It has never seen the sun or breathed air. Not easy to attune to unless you don't need the stone to begin with, but there you are."

Xander unfastened his restraints and began donning the Tiger Shark armor he'd brought. He could've just swum down in it, but the submersible had given them time to talk. "You know you don't have to look like that for me, right?"

Leviathan's eyes narrowed. "Of course I do not have to. I choose to. For your comfort. If you would rather, we could always reverse roles."

"Reverse-? Leviathan, I can't-" What was the Lunar trying to say?

"Of course you can't. I can." Leviathan raked a short blade across his arm. "Here. Drink and see."

Drink blood? Generally not one of the good options. Leviathan was demonstrably not a vampire, though. "Ahhh...is that how it works?" He bent down over Leviathan's bleeding arm.

"That is how it works," Leviathan agreed. "Go on, if you will. Don't waste it."

What the hell. It couldn't be any weirder than blowing on the sails to make a ship sail faster. He put his mouth to the wound and drank. Copper penny taste. How did vampires stand it?

The world turned itself inside out, and Xander felt huge hands seize his arms. "This is what Amyana looked like when we met. If you don't like it, I'll never ask you to do this again. I just thought you should have the opportunity. Viewscreen, mirror mode."

His first thought was that his hair wasn't any different. A bit wavier, he realized after a sec. The same color, no longer...just styled a little differently. His face was a little darker, but not so much he could be sure it wasn't the sun. A long, thin scar ran down his left forehead. Then he started to notice facial structure. Higher cheekbones, narrower chin...he took all that in in a second or two.

And then... "Holy shit! I have boobs!" To his surprise, Leviathan sighed. "What? This isn't so bad."

"Generally someone who gives it that reaction isn't going to enjoy the shape so much in a few hours. Too much focus on how different and alien it is. Don't get me wrong, Danica reacted that way too not long after she Exalted and she made a gorgeous lesbian. She wasn't exactly the rule, though." Leviathan rubbed his forehead. "Come on, let's get your suit on and get inside. Those armors are more universal inside than out. You've got about an hour to see how you like the body."

Xander started to don the breastplate and paused. "...lesbian?"

Leviathan threw up his hands. "Solars!"

"Before enlightenment," Fred said, "chopping wood and hauling water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and hauling water." If she stayed busy, she didn't have to think so much about what she was giving up.

The Sage chuckled. "True enough. Some of that will change as you grow more powerful. But as long as you are queen-as long as you are human-some things remain fundamentally the same. Tomorrow we will practice countermagic. Today...well, you have been through some shocks in the last few days, and doing little besides training. Normality-to the extent you can attain it-will be good for you."

Fred leaned back in the throne of Luthe. "Yeah. Send in Tomazri. We have things to discuss."

The Sage raised an eyebrow. "Let me see," was all he said. "Have Towers of Azure bring up the prayer records while you wait."

"Prayer records?"

"Yes, my queen," the AI said without letting her finish. Hologlyphic images rose before her eyes: worshippers. Hers.

"O Queen, watch over us, protect us, and care for us."

"Please let the hydroponic farms be repaired soon."

"Dreamer, take care of thyself so that thou canst take care of us."

"Mercy, oh queen, mercy. My husband is a good man." The image was of a shark-woman. Regrettably, Fred had had to dismiss far more of the Shadow Swimmers from their posts in positions of authority than anyone else. "We meant no harm."

"Can you be tired? Are not the Exalted gods among us? If you can tire, Dreamer, then rest."

Fred waved the images away. It was a heady thing hearing people pray to her, not to mention she'd grown up Baptist. Only- "Towers, are you trying to send me a message?"

"The Sage of the Depths believes you are working yourself too hard even for an Exalt, my Queen. He says you still have most of your human limitations."

Fred took a deep breath. Sleep was more refreshing lately, but she did feel tired. "I'll just have to surpass them, then. I've got a ton to do." Hearing critical petitions, rearranging a society, training in multiple fields at once...

"There is only so much you can learn at a time," the Sage warned, coming back into the room without Tomazri. "And one of those you must learn first: delegate. Work through proxies. You cannot do it all at once. Fred...go eat, at the very least."

Fred put her head down for a moment before sitting up again. "I guess you're right. Man does not live by prayer alone."

"All right, I suppose you know how to meditate after all," Leviathan murmured. "I admit I thought I'd have to explain. And then we'd be down here all night while you tried to concentrate in armor."

"I have to say it's not my forte," Xander admitted. "But trying to be Mr. Non-Occult Guy doesn't work so well atop a hellmouth. Besides, it helped me keep from blowing my stack at Dad after I learned to fight." Anyway, the grotto's flowing, sinuous curves were actually pretty soothing.

"Body give you any trouble the first hour or so?" Leviathan looked totally incapable of sitting on the floor with legs crossed, but somehow he'd folded himself into a perfect lotus position.

Xander shrugged. "A little distracting. It wasn't a good time to explore."

"What I meant about Solars earlier...your powers change your body the least. Dragon-Blooded have their affinity with the elements, Sidereals these days can look like whatever they want without half-trying, even these damned Deathknights generally end up sculpted from bone and rotten flesh. Solars tend toward the image of human perfection, and that's generally where it ends." He rose casually to his feet, avoiding the low ceiling. "I mean, I heard strange things about K'tula, but she was just one person. Anyway, if an Exalt has body image issues at all, ten to one they're Solar."

"Really?" Xander thought he ought to be stiff after sitting so long, but his joints were just fine. "I guess Lunars aren't ever bothered by that sort of thing?"

"Not commonly. Rare enough that we all did a double-take when Lilith finally told us how much she hated being male. Long story there. Anyway, it happens. Take off the helmet."

"Huh?" And drown? Oh, wait. That was the point of this exercise, wasn't it? Xander undid the catches and breached the seal.. Water began to pour in under pressure before he could even get his head out. A deep breath filled his lungs with it. He ought to be choking, coughing, desperately trying to get the cold heavy stuff out of him. Instead, he breathed out. Easy as pie.

"Looks like you got it. The pressure didn't crush your skull like an egg."

Xander laughed weakly. "Lucky me."

Fred turned on the heating element and closed the door. "You don't understand, do you, Renjin?"

"Sorcery doesn't interest me, but I understand why you'd want to go back to a family that actually cares about you." He frowned at the oven. "Lucky you. I ran away from home myself."

"Care to talk about it?" She adjusted the makeshift skillet.

"No." Renjin poured himself a cup of water. "Sometimes, it's yourself that needs protecting. That's all I'm saying on the subject."

Fred just nodded and scraped up the roasting fish with a spatula. "I know something about that too. It's your own business."

"You know, some people think you're strange for liking this...city." Renjin prodded experimentally at some of the kitchen equipment. "I see you can handle yourself, but..."

Fred opened the oven, nodded once, and slid out the flat circle of bread. "Spend a few years living in the woods, and you'll learn to survive there. Doesn't mean you don't miss the comfort." She raked the fish onto her tortilla, folded it up, and took a taste. "Not bad. Needs spices. What, no fish taco jokes?"

Renjin produced only a confused frown. "I'm sorry?"

"Never mind. Cultural thing." She tore into the food. "Yay for my first successful home-cooked taco. Guess I really am a wizard now. The point is, being a Lunar is what you make of it, right? This is what I make of it. What good is change if you only ever make the same things?"

"Don't let the Wardens hear you say it, but it sounds valid to me. May I?" Fred let him take a bite. "You're just more...civilized than I'm used to. Huh. You're right. It's a little bland. Not bad though. I suppose Leviathan, the Sage, and Swims-in-Shadow made this place before you were ever here."

Fred made as if to spit out her taco. "Maybe Leviathan's not beyond hope, and the Sage helped me. But they made a city where almost nobody really knows how things work. That's not what I want Luthe to look like. That's not protecting people, it's putting them in danger. Leviathan made his own little copy of the First Age here, where instead of a few hundred Celestials who understood the city, it was just him and his couple of flunkies. And that was his contribution to the River?"

"When you put it that way," Renjin said.

"I want the people of Luthe to understand as much as they can about the world and their city. Then even if the Realm rolls over me personally, my people won't lose much." She waved her arms a little. Well, maybe a lot. "There are things I only understand because I'm Exalted, and maybe we should do without those. But most of Luthe isn't that different from where I grew up, and we didn't have Exalted there at all. People can have that and not lose it if something happens to us."

Renjin smiled. "You do want to protect your people. I like that. It'll be good to see what you can do."

What could she say to that? "Thanks. Another taco?"

"Sounds good to me. Say, you've never said a thing about Swims-in-Shadow."

"Nothing to say. He was gone when I got here. Didn't turn up for the Gathering. I guess he has his own fish to fry."

Renjin choked on his first bite of taco.

"I must say I'm looking forward to this." The voice was cultured, the tone cool and educated. Swims-in-Shadow wasn't in much of a position to appreciate it. "In fairness, I don't know what it'll do to you. It was never designed for your sort. But perhaps we can make it function. Or at worst, I'm sure you'll die in an interesting way."

The Silver Prince smiled at him through the bars. Swims-in-Shadow gritted his teeth and tried not to scream. If this was what had happened to the Deathknights, death was the best he could hope for.

"What the bleedin' 'ell is that?" The sailors were gathering on the quarterdeck, staring at something rising out of the sea in the distance. "There's nothin' on our charts."

She pushed forward for a better look. "What we're looking for, I expect. Tell the men to prepare." Cynis Megara smiled.

It was so much better than she'd imagined.