"No, no, Methydia said. It wasn't what I did, but how I did it. You used magic to make the smoke. I used this"

She opened her hand, displaying a small green pellet. She made a fleshy fold with her thumb, gripping and hiding the pellet in the fold. Then she rolled her hand over, made a graceful gesture with her forefinger and once again there was crack! and green smoke rose up.

"I used a device, she said, to cause an effect that looked like magic. You used real magic, but so clumsily it looked more like a device. The audience would have guessedwrongly, as it may bethat you had something hidden in your hand. The point is, you would have spoiled it for them."

"What about the coin part? Safar asked.

"Same thing, Methydia said. You threw it in a corner. People will think you did that to divert their attention away from the real trick. Whereas I threw it up into the air, where it appeared to remain in plain sight while I worked my other diversions."

He remembered the jabbing finger that drew his eyes and the near kiss that clouded his view. I think I see what you mean, he said. But you could have used real magic, not fakery, to accomplish the same thing."

"Not for two shows a day, I couldn't, Methydia said. Plus two and a matinee on Godsday. You have to pace yourself in this business. You need as much energy for the last act of the last show as you did when you started out. In entertainment, my sweet, that's what separates the green from the ripe."

But Safar was young and stubborn. It seems to me, he said, I did well enough with real magic when I conjured the coin into that little girl's hand. The crowd certainly acted impressed. And they bought out every seat in the tent to prove it."

"They thought she was a plant, Methydia said. A part of the show. I overheard some of them talking afterwards."

"Oh."

"It was the spirit of the trick that impressed them, she said. The poor little waif and her young mother. She smiled at Safar and patted his knee, saying, Even so, I have to give you credit for the idea. It was a certain crowd pleaser and I think we should make it a permanent part of our act."

Safar was as thrilled as if the praise had come from a master wizard instead of a circus witch.

"You have good instincts, my sweet, she said. And if you pay close attention to what your Auntie Methydia says, you'll make a marvelous showman."

The days that followed were among the most joyful in Safar's life. His heart was as serene as the skies they sailed through. His troubles seemed far offlike the dark storm clouds edging the horizon behind them.

As a mountain lad he'd spent many a hour perched on high peaks pondering the mysteries of the skies. He'd watched birds wing overhead and dreamed he was flying with them. In Methydia's Cloudship those dreams came true. Although his fellow passengers of the air could be a boisterous lot at time, especially during rehearsals when there was much joking and leg-pulling, at other times they seemed to treasure silence as much as he did. Hours would pass without a sound.

Each member of the troupe and crew had favorite solitary spots where they could watch the world pass by. Only the occasional hiss of the furnace and pumping of bellows intruded. After a time these faint sounds blended into the song of the winds that carried them above the lands where poor earth-bound creatures dwelled.

Safar was exhilarated by his new life. He threw all his efforts into soaking up everything Methydia and her troupe could teach him. He learned about trick boxes and trapdoors, smoke and mirrors, and wires so thin they couldn't be seen against a dark background, yet could hold hundreds of pounds suspended above the arena. Methydia helped him work up a mind reading act and he amazed the crowds during intermissions with details of their lives that seemed to be snatched from their thoughts. He used two sharp-eyed and big-eared roustabouts to gather the information before he staged his act.

Along with the illusions Methydia also added to his store of real magic. He learned subtle spells that enhanced his performance. Some caused a grumpy crowd to feel humor. Others heightened wonder, increased tension or stirred romance in cold hearts. She taught him how to make the magical charms and potions they sold after every performance. Safar added his potter's skills to this job, pinching out marvelous little vials to hold the potions and creating charms made of colorful potsherd necklaces and jewelry.

He learned how to read a fortune in a palm, instead of casting bones. Methydia said this kind of foretelling was more personal and therefore more accurate than dead bones rattling around and scaring people half to death. Besides palmistry, he was taught how to cast a simple starchart in five minutes, rather than the hours and even days it took Umurhan and his priests.

"Those scholarly castings are so complicated, so ugly with all their mathematical squiggles, only a rich man would want one, Methydia said. To show he was wealthy enough to hire such a wise dream catcher.

"But ordinary peoplereal peoplewant to know now, not days from now. And they want to be able to read the chart for themselves so they can hang it over the mantle and show it off to their friends by pointing out the highlights."

The other members of the troupe also pitched in with his showcraft education. The brawny dwarf, Biner, taught him the delicate art of applying makeup and altering his features so he could play many different kinds of characters. Arlain and Kairo showed him how to do simple acrobatics. They ran him through heart-stopping exercises and plied him with strengthening powders until his muscles vibrated with power. Elgy coached him on timing, getting Rabix to play rhythmic music as Safar performed his acts over and over again until his delivery was as natural as the mental beat Rabix drummed into his head.

To Methydia's amazementand his ownSafar's magical powers increased with each passing day. It wasn't a gradual strengthening, like his muscles, but leap after leap from one pinnacle to the next. For the first time since he was a boy he actually enjoyed doing magic. The roar of the audiences swept away the shame his father had accidentally instilled in him. He delighted in their amazement. Especiallyas Biner had said it wouldthe wonderment of the children.

As he became stronger and more skilled he even started dispensing with some of Methydia's tricks. His illusions became almost entirely magical, although he still used showmanship to sell it, as Methydia would say. True, the performances drained him, just as Methydia predicted. Yet never so much he couldn't deliver as many encores as the crowd desired.

For a time Methydia kept herself at a slight distance from him. She still teased him and made suggestive jokes that made him blush. But that was her nature. Mainly she behaved like a kindly teacher or mentor, correcting him when he needed it and praising him when he deserved it. Although Safar was powerfully attracted to her, it never occurred to him that she might feel the same. Why, she was old enough to be his mother. Perhaps even older. He ought to be ashamed of himself for thinking of such disrespectful thoughts.

During that time Safar noticed a small tension building among the troupe and crew, as if they were waiting for something long overdue. Occasionally when he and Methydia were out on the deck togetherrunning through a new twist in the acthe'd noticed people glancing at the two of them. Then there'd be little smiles, whispered asides and shakes of the head.

Once he overheard the roustabouts wondering aloud if maybe Methydia's lost her sweet tooth. Safar didn't know what that meant. He was doubly mystified when the men saw him and turned away, shamefaced.