House Hesson does the creative thing.

It felt decidedly odd to be cuddling after that, but no more than he could handle. He was a bit grateful to be tired.

There was time to reflect on what had been said during the night; everyone woke late, but Cole was among the first to do so. They knew where the device was being taken when Giulietta escaped: the nearest major town by her former home. Retrieving it seemed the next order of business. It would all be so blessedly uncomplicated if not for one fact: She'd lived near the Fell.

The efficacy of magic zeroed out as one approached the Fell from this side, as it did at the same point in each of the other eight planets in the solar system. Purely mundane technology was used to the same effect as it was used in Atlantikon - the reason why technology held such appeal on the upper surface. The efficacy of technology zeroed out and the land became much more bizarre as one approached the Fell from the opposite side, at the lower surface. Atlantikon was the pinnacle of magical activity on the upper surface; the Shadow Labyrinth might have been the pinnacle of technology on the opposite side, but for the fact that that land's inhabitants were not so interested in such things.

This, he'd explained to the folk who'd never been on the lower surface the night before. It was also the cleverest part of Sebastian's plan in relocating to the lower surface. The fact that he'd come out in a land with a fae majority was merely a happy coincedence, given his attitude toward affairs was one of, "What they don't know won't hurt them."

Sebastian was the only one of them who'd traversed the Fell, a distinction that might become very important to them. Cole was inclined to simply get there the old fashioned way; he didn't like the idea of sending a test pack to that side of the Fell or jumping through to the opposite side and traveling the Fell. He felt sure the latter would never be agreed upon; most folk from the upper world had no idea what was in the Fell and attached an appropriate level of superstition to the traversing of it. But they might still risk a pack on the former, and not know whether a failure meant that the device had misfired or that a suspicious local had met it with a shotgun.

Going to the opposite side of this surface of the world, however, was not a well liked option in some quarters. Ragnar and his crew were for it; Mina, Riley, and Dorena did not want to spend so much time aloft. They could do without Riley and Dorena, for this part of the journey, but leaving Mina behind seemed like it could be a poor choice and replacing her would mean another human being made privy to their secrets.

The argument escalated to screaming before Mina left the room, red faced and trembling in upset. Sebastian went after her; Cole couldn't decide if that was likely a good thing or not.

Finally, Eibon rapped zir mug against the table and everyone quickly fell silent.

"I empathize with the desire not to risk our very expensive equipment," zie said, and Cole ached with the feeling that a but was not far behind. "I also remember that time may be of the essence, perhaps to save Queen Elysse's life, perhaps to save Bryn's."

Then came the part that gave Cole the worst feeling of all: "I think we've neglected to ask Mr. Shang about the details of his trip through the Fell."

Cole gawped at zir; so did quite a few others, including Sebastian, who seemed to have given up the cause. Then Ragnar's voice boomed out: "Ragnar is not afraid of the Fell! Ragnar is not afraid of anything!"

"It's not so much afraid I'm worried about as... uh... having our minds implode or something. That place is like the anti-pooka," Sebastian said, speaking fast and faster as he continued. "It's like a thousand hangovers. I was in one of my automaton cars. I had to pedal it the whole way because the motor gave out. And let me tell you, when I got out to piss, it was ten times worse."

"Ten thousand hangovers," Ragnar whispered in awe.

"I don't know for sure how long it took but I went in during springtime and came out during springtime. I ate fourteen times and slept five, so my body says just short of five days. I'd do it again but not if someone wasn't maybe dying if we took longer."

"Five days of ten thousand hangovers! Ragnar has been preparing for this his whole life!"

"The rest of us haven't," Cole murmured.

"I say we do it," said a voice from the doorway. It was Mina. "I can take it if the equipment can."

"I'll go, if that's what we agree upon," Antoine said. Eibon nodded and looked at Cole.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to..."

"Good man," Ragnar said. "Ragnar starts training you tonight. Late is better than never!"

"Oh, gods," Cole said.