"No, you wouldn't like that," Halmarain said. "You'd have to study magic and you'd find that boring. He might take something… like he took my staff and put magic into it."

"Show us! What will it do besides make light?" Ripple asked.

"Well, I don't like to clean the scullery," Halmarain said. "And it takes too much time, so Orander gave the staff some special magic that I haven't learned." She spoke a word of command. In an instant the cups, spoons, trenchers and pots were clean and they lifted off the table, sailing to their appropriate storage areas. With a clatter and clang, the pots hung themselves back on their hooks, the trenchers stacked themselves on the shelves and the spoons dipped, handles down, to stand in a crockery pot.

"Wow! Big jiggies!" Ripple jumped up from her stool and ran over to look at the clean pots. "If I make more pudding will you do that again?"

"Orander will think up something far more interesting for you if you help to return him to Krynn," the little wizard said as Ripple returned to her stool. She sat staring at Halmarain with sparkling eyes.

"Then I'll go," Trap said. "I want a-"

Ripple gave a yelp and threw herself halfway across the table as her stool collapsed. Beneath her swinging feet, Beglug chewed on one leg of her stool.

"Kender want," Grod prompted, reminding Trap he was about to make a request.

"I forget," Trap said, sliding off the stool to assist his sister. He took the remains of her former seat and used it to coax Beglug to the hearth. Then he pushed another stool under his sister.

"We'll have to disguise the merchesti," Halmarain said. "If we're going to send it home, we don't want it to attract too much interest here on Krynn."

"We won't let anyone kill him," Trap assured her.

"Maybe he'll catch the eye of someone who wouldn't want to kill him," Halmarain suggested slyly. "They might want to steal him, put a chain around his neck and pull him from town to town. Somebody could make a lot of money by exhibiting him to the curious."

"That would be cruel," Trap was shocked at the idea.

"If we're not careful, he will attract attention," the little wizard repeated her warning.

"So will a wizard," Ripple said with a grin.

"If the citizens learn I'm a wizard I'll be in more danger than the fiend," Halmarain said. "And my size-well- some consider me a freak." Her eyes darkened over some memory. "Children like to throw stones at what they don't understand…" Her voice trailed off in sadness.

"But that's not fair," Trap said. "We'd never throw anything at you, we like you, except when you're mad, but I don't think-"

"I know, we can all go as animals," Ripple announced.

"Wow! Great! I want to be a bird," Trap said, falling in with his sister's idea. "Halmarain can put a spell on me so I can fly. That would be fun."

"We could all fly," Ripple agreed. She held out her arms and flapped them. The gully dwarves looked doubtful, but they mimicked the female kender.

"No, I can't do flying spells," Halmarain said.

The kenders' hopes were dashed for only a moment before Trap's natural enthusiasm rose again.

"I know! We could be horses!"

"Then we could travel very fast," Ripple urged. "Could you make us horses?"

"No, and I can't make you wolves either, so don't suggest it. We use clothing, I suppose. Dwarves. Beglug and I are a little small, but we might pass as Neidar."

"We could all be dwarves," Trap said. "Umpth and Grod are going with us. We could be gully dwarves."

Halmarain stared at the kender as if they had lost their minds. "I won't do it," she announced. "Nothing would make me pretend to be a gully dwarf!"

Trap glanced uneasily at Umpth and Grod, but they had filled their stomachs and pushed their dishes aside. They sat, elbows on the table, chins propped in the palms of their hands. They were watching the kender and the wizard with an air of impersonal interest as if they had no idea they were the subjects under discussion. They turned their heads to speak to each other and proved they had heard every word.

"Maybe clan grow," Umpth said. "Beglug make good Aghar."

"More good than wizard," Grod agreed. "She too short."

"Got no clan magic," Umpth added. "Not much use."

"Kender got no clan magic," Grod said. "Much trouble. Only Aghar have good magic."

"Thank you very much, but I can handle myself," Halmarain bristled. "And I don't appreciate being talked about as if I wasn't here. It would be bad enough to pretend to be a Neidar, but an Aghar, no." Halmarain shook her head.

"Yes, you can do that," Ripple said. "That would be fun. You pretend to be Neidar… you, Beglug, Umpth and Grod. What could we be?" She gazed questioningly at her brother.

"Eagles? Unicorns?" he asked hopefully. He sighed as Halmarain shook her head. "How can the gulleys be Neidar?" he asked. "How will you keep them clean?"

"Not even my magic could handle that," Halmarain scoffed. "I'll need all my art to handle that thing." she pointed at Beglug.

"Wizard like no's," Umpth observed to his brother. "Have no yes's," Grod agreed.

"I can say yes as quickly as any other if someone suggests a workable solution," Halmarain snapped. "I refuse to look like a fool or a gully dwarf."

"I won't go if you won't stop being mean!" Ripple crossed her arms and pursed her mouth as she stared at the little wizard with tightened lips.

"See a fight," Umpth told Grod, wriggling in anticipation.

"Females fight good," Grod nodded.

"There will be no fight," Halmarain said with a sigh. "You're right, Ripple, I'm letting my concern for Orander override good sense. I'll do whatever it takes to get my master back through the portal. I really don't think I can travel as a gully dwarf, but if we can disguise them as Neidar, I'll try it. They'll need new clothing, and they'll have to bathe."

The decision made, they settled to planning the journey to Palanthus. Once the tiny wizard had decided to cooperate, she started to work. By a water clock in the passage, they knew the evening was well advanced. The shops would be closed, so they set to work doing what they could.

Halmarain decreed the Aghar had to be bathed and scrubbed until years of grime had been removed. Along with the gully dwarves and kender, she struggled with pails of water and armloads of wood as they filled a caldron and heated it. The gully dwarves became increasingly uneasy as the water heated, fearing the wizard would put them in the boiling caldron. They were only a little relieved when the water reached a temperature a bit beyond the best degree for soaking off the dirt and Trap raked away the fire. When the bottom was cool enough not to burn their feet and bottoms, Halmarain gave them a choice: they could climb in and bathe or she would turn them into frogs and throw them in.

"Frogs must wash?" Umpth said, considering the second option.

"Frogs stay in water," Grod said with a shudder and then turned his attention on the wizard. "Can no make fly, can no make horses. How make frogs?"

Umpth was sitting on the floor. He had removed one boot but he stopped and gazed at his brother as if he doubted such profound logic could come out of Grod. Umpth slowly nodded and put his boot on again.

"I can't make six people into horses but I can turn two gully dwarves into something, and that will be you, and you will be frogs. Now get in that tub!"

Umpth nodded and stripped off his clothing. Ripple and Halmarain turned their backs until the dwarves were in the caldron. Then, to the surprise and delight of the kender, Halmarain touched the dwarves' filthy, ragged clothing with her staff and spoke a word of command. In an instant the garments were clean, the original color restored and all the tears mended. The spell only restored the clothing, it did nothing for the length of the sleeves and the trousers that had been made for humans.