"Both of you should study the laws," Roxanne said to Serena. "While you do so, I have a few matters to take care of, including arranging accommodations for you." She paused, then asked diffidently, "Will he be permitted in your house?"

Serena wondered if Roxanne would ever address Merlin directly. "Yes. Will that be a problem?"

Roxanne frowned. "I don't know. I'll have to find out if special permission is required. If you'll wait here, I will return in a few minutes."

Serena looked after her as she headed toward what looked like an official building not far away. Every visible building was very plain and quite solid in appearance, with stone walls and slate or tile roofs. Doors were heavy wood, and windows used a kind of glass that was poorly made, thick, and warped.

From where they stood Serena couldn't see very many people, but those she glimpsed were almost all women. There were two men, both obviously powerless, standing near or walking with women, the couples too far away for her to determine if the women were wizards. And she saw one child, a little girl with carrot-color hair who was playing with a doll on the steps of one of the smaller buildings.

It was a very quiet city.

Despite being female, Serena didn't feel very welcome. She could only imagine how Merlin must have felt.

Turning her head, she looked at the wall and, for an instant, saw nothing but meaningless symbols. But then the writing seemed to shimmer faintly, and she found she could see the laws written neatly in English. Apparently Merlin had considered the possibility that they'd have to cope with an unfamiliar written, as well as spoken, language.

She began reading, not really surprised to find that most of them were specifically designed to restrict powerless men and male wizards.

"A city of women indeed," Merlin said quietly.

Serena glanced at him, saw that he was studying the laws and absently rubbing the back of his right hand with the fingers of his left, and then returned her gaze to the tersely written decrees. They were certainly clear, and quite simple.

No male, wizard or powerless, was allowed to touch any female in public unless she was his legal wife; in private, physical contact by any unmarried male was allowed only by prior arrangement. (Serena found that last bit somewhat unsettling.)

Every unmarried male and all male wizards were required to exit the city before the gates were closed one hour before sunset each day; any discovered in the city after the curfew would be subject to the most severe punishment (unnamed).

No unmarried male or male wizard could enter any private residence without an invitation issued and properly recorded in the presence of at least two witnesses. (The meticulous caution, Serena thought, was terribly sad and not a little tragic.)

And no Master wizard, male of female, was permitted to draw his or her staff inside the city walls.

There were a few more laws, most of them a bit more general and applicable to all the citizens of Sanctuary- the usual rules most societies eventually adopted about not stealing or destroying private or public property or hurting other people.

Serena could feel Merlin looking at her. They hadn't spoken directly to each other since that confrontation by the stream, and she was wary of talking to him now. He'd given her so much to think about, and there had been no chance for her to try to work through it all. All she was certain of was that she had never really known him, or the society of wizards she had longed for her entire life to be a part of.

"The law about Master wizards' drawing their staffs," she said finally without looking at him. "Does it mean using the staffs to focus power?"

"I assume so. Serena-"

She cut him off. "There must be quite a few Master wizards here-relative to the population, I mean. When we first came in, I saw a woman with a staff tucked in her belt."

"Yes, I saw her. With so many wizards in the population, I suppose an unusual number are Masters."

"Do you think being a Master wizard means the same thing here that it does in our time?"

Merlin didn't answer immediately, then said, "In substance, although the wizards here obviously have fewer and less-developed abilities."

She nodded, still not looking at him. "That's probably just as well. We're sort of outnumbered."

"Serena-"

Again she cut him off. "According to these laws, you won't be able to stay here in the city for more than a few hours before you'll have to leave. But I should stay, I think. That way I can find out how the people in the city cope with the night, and the Curtain."

"We probably shouldn't separate," he said quietly.

Serena turned to face him, lifting her chin and meeting his eyes directly. "I need some time away from you, Richard. I have a lot to think about. Maybe a few days on my own here in the city will give me the chance to…"

"To what? To decide if you still trust me?"

"I don't know. All right? I don't know what I think, or what I feel. I just have to find a quiet place and sit down and try to figure it all out."

"Serena, I have to tell you the rest of it. You can't understand the situation until you know all the facts."

Fiercely she said, "You had every opportunity to give me the facts before we left Seattle, and you refused to do it. Why? Why didn't you tell me then?"

"Because I knew this would happen," he told her. "I knew you'd begin questioning and doubting everything I had taught you or told you about wizards. I knew you'd doubt me. Serena, I had hoped we'd be able to observe this society without being affected by it, but I had a hunch it wouldn't be easy-and I wanted at least one of us to avoid being torn to pieces by the conflict here. So I didn't tell you any more than I had to. Was that so wrong?"

She didn't know how to answer that, reminding herself that all this must be as difficult for him as it was for her, if not more so. Serena had been virtually ignored- and discounted as mere property-by the men they had encountered, but Merlin had been viewed with open hatred and suspicion by the women. He was being treated as though he were guilty of unnamed but heinous crimes without being given any chance to defend himself. He had even been marked, branded, to make certain others knew what he was.

She glanced down to see that he was still rubbing the mark on the back of his right hand, and murmured, "That hurt, didn't it?"

"Yes, it hurt. Considering that male wizards are obvious from their appearance, I gather the point of the mark is to make us feel like lepers rather than warn the females. And I got the distinct impression that Nola made very sure it hurt."

Serena started to reach for his hand, but Merlin took a step back. "No, you mustn't touch me on a public street; we can't break any of their laws."

"The law says an unmarried male can't touch a female; it doesn't say anything about the other way around," she reminded him.

"In this case I think it's better to be safe than sorry. Besides, the pain's gone now. I just…" He hesitated, then shrugged. "I just don't much care for the way the mark feels."

"How does it feel?"

"Heavy. Cold. Obvious." He smiled slightly, a bit wry. "Now I have some idea of how Hester Prynne felt in The Scarlet Letter. It isn't a very pleasant thing to be branded a social outcast."

"Especially when you didn't do anything to earn it," Serena agreed. "I'm sorry, Richard, I keep forgetting that. Whatever other wizards do, or have done, I can hardly blame you for their sins. In fact, I think you've probably gone out on a very long limb to avoid being like the others in our time. You weren't supposed to accept me as your Apprentice, were you? That's why you got in trouble with the Council of Elders."

"You… deduced that from what's going on here?" he asked slowly.