"Perfect!" and lunged for him. He resisted his reflex to roll away, and she had him. She squeezed him so hard he gasped, then she threw him to the floor. Only his training allowed him to take the fall without breaking an arm or his back. The woman apparently had little regard for others' servants. Tebora looked back at Ususi, Iahn stretched out at her feet. "See! Despite his boasts, I knocked him down easily, because I'm a plangent. You could be the same as me, or choose some other attribute mix. You could…" The woman's voice trailed off as she gazed at Iahn gathering himself on the floor. The illusory facets of his disguise were boiling away like mist in the sun, leaving gaps and fissures through which his true appearance began to wink. He had but a moment. If the presence he had seen outside the Imaskaran ruin lived in Datharathi crystal, then it probably also lived in the plangent. If the presence within her crystal limbs caught sight of his real shape, he feared every other plangent in Vaelan would also know a Deep Imaskari vengeance taker was in town. He thrust himself from the floor, his legs like great springs. As he rose, he cocked his left hand into a fist and delivered an uppercut, perfectly timed with the assumption of his full height. The blow, which impacted perfectly on Tebora's most vulnerable bone and nerve plexus, might have taken her head clean off if she were a normal, unenhanced woman.

Against Tebora, it was merely sufficient. The saleswoman gasped at the impact, then slumped down, unconscious. The luminosity of the woman's artificial limbs dimmed and went out. "Well," said Ususi, one hand fumbling inside her disguise, perhaps seeking her wand in a reaction too late in coming, "I… I'm relieved to see plangents are no match for a vengeance taker." Tebora's limbs relit with an electric crackle, and lavender radiance started to pulse anew in the chamber. "Go!" yelled Iahn. His disguise was in utter tatters. Ususi went. He raced after her out the door and into the street. As soon as the door closed, they slowed to a regular gait, like others who walked nearby.

Iahn surreptitiously stripped away the dregs of his ruined disguise.

He followed Ususi, assuming a position as a bodyguard instead of a manservant, especially with his dragonfly blade once more in hand instead of strapped uncomfortably to his back. "Where to?" the wizard asked him as she walked down the street. The hairs on Iahn's neck prickled-one of the protective enchantments he cast daily on himself was alerting him he was under unseen observation. The vengeance taker pointed toward the closest alley. He considered telling Ususi how foolish she'd been in agreeing to the saleswoman's suggestion of a fight. But she was a wizard-she could figure it out on her own. The most important thing now was to deal with whomever was following them.

Ususi walked into the alley and Iahn ducked in after her. In Vaelan, alleys were usually small side streets, but in this case, Iahn and Ususi were granted a stroke of luck-the passage was so narrow that relatively little light illuminated it from above. Plus, the alley was jammed with enormous jars and vases belonging to a nearby retailer. He motioned Ususi to continue walking. She shrugged and acquiesced, moving ahead of him. Iahn secreted himself behind a large vat filled with white beans and waited. Not ten heartbeats later, a shape with a hood drawn low over its face and a blue sash tied around its waist stepped around the corner and into the alley. As the spy passed Iahn, the taker grabbed the hood and pulled it back. "Hold, plangent!" he cried. "No!" It was a woman, but not the one Iahn was expecting. She wasn't a plangent. Iahn breathed a small sigh of relief. The woman didn't struggle in his grip. Instead, she pulled her hood down over her face again. She said, "I am not your enemy." Ususi turned and rushed back. Iahn said, "I don't know if you are my enemy or not. Why were you following us?" "I watched you enter and leave the Body Shop, the first people I've seen from outside Vaelan to do so. I wanted to warn you to stay away from there-if you take the crystal, you'll never be the same!" Ususi interjected. "The same?" The woman shrugged.

"Different… not yourself." "What's your name?" asked Iahn. "My name is Eined Datharathi."

The door opened, and carts filled with delicacies rolled into the room, pushed by kitchen staff. As was customary for Datharathi family council meetings, exquisite foods were brought up from the kitchens to fortify the hearts and stomachs of meeting-goers. One cart bore stacks of engraved plates, slender wooden utensils, goblets, and linens. Two more carts were covered with platters of food. Warian was suddenly hungry as he noted sliced clary peppers, salted ham shavings, curried nuts, pale cheeses, and many plates filled with masterfully cut slices of raw fish on rice. More platters bore fried breads, fruits sliced into fanciful shapes, apples in cream, and a tureen of thick fish soup. Warian recalled that this was an aspect of Datharathi Minerals that he didn't altogether detest. He got up, grabbed a plate, and loaded up on all his old favorites. His uncles, aunts, and cousins, who hadn't had to go five years without being feted with such a glorious spread, gave the food little notice. Xaemar asked Zeltaebar,

"Zel, please tell me where Eined's run off to! You've pulled enough money out of discretionary funds to find an entire family. One woman hiding in Vaelan shouldn't be able to elude you." Warian cursed mentally, stuffed a handful of salted ham shavings into his mouth, and interrupted Zeltaebar's explanation. "Wait. Zel told me Eined was kidnapped." Xaemar looked nonplussed. "I sincerely doubt that. I think the girl absconded." Warian put down his plate, eyeing it somewhat regretfully. But the conversation demanded his undivided attention. He threw an accusatory glance at Zeltaebar. Zel spread his hands. "We don't know what happened to her. She could have been kidnapped, whether Xaemar thinks so or not." "Doubtful," said Xaemar. "Let me get this straight," Warian said, "You think she ran off on her own? Why would she do that?" "The girl is ill," said Xaemar. "Not physically.

Mentally." He tapped his temple with one finger by way of demonstration. "Over the last few years, she has become more and more unbalanced, more paranoid. I think she finally suffered some sort of nervous breakdown." "Paranoid about what?" It wasn't like his no-nonsense sister Eined to entertain paranoid fantasies. "Us!" broke in Aunt Sevaera, her voice incredulous. "The poor thing started making wild claims against her own family. Of course, her claims didn't seem too different from the kinds of things you used to say, Nephew." She fixed him with a reproving glare. "I used to say you were all cold-hearted gnomes who cared more about money than anything else. Is that the kind of thing she said?" "No," answered Zel. "Well, not just that. She thought the crystal was cursed. She liked to tell people that those who exchanged their flesh for Datharathi crystal would never sleep without nightmares again. She thought the crystal threatened the sanity of those who accepted it." Warian tipped his head back slightly, absorbing Zel's words. Xaemar continued. "Zel describes the situation accurately. She was fixated on Datharathi crystal and the Body Shop." "Any truth to what she was saying?" asked Warian. In his own recollection, he couldn't recall an increase in bad dreams since he'd received his artificial arm. "Of course not," replied Xaemar with a dismissive hand wave. "But truthful or not, her words were beginning to hurt the plangent project. She was talking down our most important new business venture to anyone who would listen. As kindhearted as we are, we couldn't stand for that." "You couldn't 'stand for it'? What does that mean? What did you do? Is that why she ran?" Xaemar said, "We did nothing. We merely offered to heal her misconceptions. We told her all infirmities of body and mind are healed for those who become plangents. We told her we had scheduled an appointment for her at the Body Shop." "The next thing we knew," said Sevaera, "she was gone. Flew the coop." "You were going to make her?" accused Warian. "With the very thing she most feared? None of you have changed at all, have you? The same old Datharathis, willing to use force if they can't get their way." "Force? No…" objected Xaemar "You threatened to cut off her stipend if she didn't take the improvement," volunteered Zel in an off-hand tone. Warian nodded.