House Hesson does the creative thing.

Later, when he wasn't feeling so tongue tied, he decided to share his dream with Eibon. "It was terribly normal," he said, "But I'm not sure that doesn't mean they weren't involved. Besides, it's an idea for disguises. We'll sweat, but the smell will make us seem more realistic, won't it?"

"I've had a good look around and there don't seem to be any other Gebeans in the area," Eibon said. "It's a good idea in principle, but not realistic here. We might see if they're willing to sell us some clothing, or if we can buy or hunt some pelts, for use in other places. I'll ask if anyone's free to work on it."

That made him terribly proud. It wasn't as if he'd thought his way to the idea intellectually but he'd still come up with something that Eibon thought reasonable. He didn't so much care for the idea of wearing it but, then, it was no more embarrassing than the Mornathian robes.

She didn't come back. Where she slept, he didn't care to know. The equipment was built and then tested with a pigeon in a wire crate, the device strapped onto the top of the crate. A camera was strapped on top of that and set on a timer. They got back some absolutely uninterpretable splashes of color and a very good picture of the outskirts of the Shadow Labyrinth.

"Now, then, all we need are the figures to calibrate for other locations," Mina said.

Cole looked at Eibon nervously. They could very easily obtain calibration based on the portals used by the People, at least for common destinations, but there was still the fact that they didn't know what she'd been told about her ancestry and people. And Eibon at least somewhat recognized the script on her back.

"I believe we can manage for now," zie told her. "If there are any abnormalities or parts in need of replacement, we will call you."

"Oh, you will?" This time she looked cocky, rather than angry. "What if it happens while someone is out exploring? Do you want to waste that time when lives might be in danger?"

Eibon looked back at Cole. "I suppose not. We've tracked Giulietta to the demon city, so we will start there. No difficulty in obtaining the numbers. Subsequently, however, we have much to discuss before you see any of the other numbers I can obtain."

That put a bit of an edge back into her expression but she let it go for the time. It was time to fetch Riley and be gone.

The packs were surprisingly light, but then a majority of their mass could be stored in another plane. The pookas gave them a wide enough berth that Cole suspected they had greater dimension in full than what was apparent to him.

It was a bit uncomfortable but not much different from a pooka-fueled dream. He couldn't take in any more detail than he did in the dreams, after all. And it was over, blessedly, in an eyeblink.

They passed the time at a tavern while Riley went to do his work, Cole and Sebastian and Eibon. Before long, he noticed a robed woman intently watching the table where they sat dicing. He prodded Eibon's leg with his foot but Eibon only murmured in their language, "I know."

Some time later, she approached. "May I join you? You've room for another, I see."

He and Sebastian looked at Eibon, simultaneously; zie nodded and leaned back in the chair. Cole saw a tanned complexion beneath the hood, brown eyes and black hair. She was quite beautiful and her ornate gold earrings, inlaid with turquoise and malachite, suggested she was rather wealthy too.

They were betting on flat glass cabochons that had emerged from a bag in Eibon's overcloak; zie gave her a handful and they played out two more games before there was any talk but light discussion. Then she said, "I heard you're looking for Giulietta. I have an idea where she might be these days, if you care to hear it."

"We'd of course be grateful, lady, but I cannot promise much of a reward," Eibon said.

"I'm not concerned about money, only about the well-being of my home." She smiled. "You see, there are not many places in this world other than Atlantikon where I would be at comfort and I am very sympathetic to the wishes of your employer."

"Perhaps we should take this discussion to a booth," Eibon suggested. She nodded and they made to move. Jewelry beneath her robe tinkled gently; she might be wearing a Gebean dancer's costume, by the sound of it. The sudden mental link to their cohorts back at the city put Cole on edge and he made sure to note it for later.

It was then that Riley came through the door, followed by a woman in northern garb - definitely northern this time - wearing an ornate amber necklace and a cloak made of falcon feathers. Her ears, marking her as one of their own, were uncovered. There was no questioning who this could be.

The robed woman ran for the other side of the tavern and quickly out. The goddess, for that she must be, made her way to the bar as if nothing untoward had happened and struck up a conversation with the barkeep.

"What was that?" Riley said.

"We'll see, I imagine," Eibon said. "Is it settled? We should go, if so."

Riley nodded. "Free to stay as long as we like, and a subsidized apartment in the city if we wish to take her terrible majesty's hospitality. She knew roughly whereabouts our friend is, too. Said so without my asking."

"Then let's take this apartment."

When they were in it, Eibon recounted the story for Riley's benefit. "She was Gebean, by ethnicity, at least," he said, confirming Cole's suspicions. "She wore the makeup and jewelry to befit it, too, which suggests she's native born. The jingle of her clothing could be jewelry or mechanical; I'm not sure."

There was an idea Cole hadn't had, but some were ostentatious about their personal devices. They were almost jewelry in and of themselves, some of these gadgets.

"I already had some idea of where to find Giulietta, actually; I made inquiries shortly after Elysse asked us to find her. She's been down here the whole time, led on a search after a part for her device and given the runaround by Raisela. Is that what you were told?"

Riley nodded.

"Then that's where we start. I'll see what I can find out about the Gebean woman, meanwhile."

"Her companion cut a deal with Raisela, a year's service by Giulietta in exchange for their passage through. She's paid it and then some in entertainment for her majesty."

Eibon laughed. "Who's this companion, then?"

"An elf, with long black hair and near-black eyes, wearing leathers and an obsidian pendant."

Zie said nothing for a long while.

"Someone you've met?"

"Oh, yes," zie said quietly. Mist. It had to be.

Zie insisted on going alone to start investigating the details. Cole suspected zie was going back to Atlantikon to question Mist. They never learned for certain, though; he and Sebastian and Riley gamed for four days straight while Eibon only came back to the apartment to eat and sleep and occasionally steal more kisses. Zie never asked for anything more than that.

On the fifth afternoon, he returned with two humans in tow. It seemed too easy to Cole, but he reminded himself that it was likely anything but for Eibon.

There were introductions all round; Giulietta and Eldon were both members of the Arcanists' Guild, but rather close-lipped about their local affiliations. Perhaps a secret society within the guild, Cole suspected.

So it was that Giulietta began to tell their story. She'd been seeking protection in Atlantikon after horrified locals blamed her for the malfunction of her machine. It had been intended to raise vital energy in those still living but, she suspected, suffused the unwitting victims with an incompatible frequency of energy that killed them, then revived them with a completely converted energy frequency and signature.

There was no way to tell the difference at a glance, save if one had witnessed the death and reanimation; they retained their memories and faculties. Only an energetic reading could tell the difference, and that would not be automatically be taken as evidence of reanimation. Not even the inhabitants of that little town had fully understood what she did, and to the best of her knowledge no one with the necessary expertise had inspected it and determined its inner workings since she fled.

Once in town, yes, she'd met with Mist, who was curiously interested in her work. And who led her on a merry chase in the demonic plane, losing and then finding the key widget she'd removed and hidden so that no one could use the reanimating device without her.

The fact remained, though, that it had been lost and perhaps could have been taken back to the device - especially if the possessor could travel like the pookas did, Cole thought. He of course wouldn't say anything about it to her or her companion until he'd discussed it with Eibon.

Mist had helped her survive among the demons, yes, and even helped her out of a maze of tunnels that she suspected was non-Euclidean. It would have been a delightful puzzle to recount, Cole imagined, if not for the horror of being caught in a place where every branch of the tunnel seemed to lead back to the same point impossibly, left without food or drinkable water. But that didn't mean Giulietta, or Cole, trusted the woman in the least little bit.