Jedra sighed. It was all part of a bigger whole, he supposed, but that didn't make it any less depressing.

The sorcerer-kings cheated death with their magic, but if any of the legends were to be believed they usually died all the more horribly for it when their time finally came. And if Yoncalla was a fair representative of the ancients' method of achieving immortality, then that was hardly better. Immortality for Yoncalla seemed to be little more than the chance to go stir-crazy amid his own creations.

It might still beat the alternative. Jedra turned away from the tree and looked out across the sandy, rock-strewn ground to the steep canyon walls. Down here in the bottom of the gorge it was easy to forget that the rest of the world existed, but Jedra knew it carried on as usual. Someday he would have to venture back out into it, and even his psionic training couldn't guarantee him a better life than what he'd had living on the streets of Urik. The only certainty out there was the knowledge that the moment he let down his guard, someone or something would be waiting to exploit his moment of weakness.

His full bladder reminded him that he had come out here for a reason. He cast out with his danger sense, thinking wryly how ridiculous it would be to be caught with his pants down by some desert animal, but the only impression he got of life came from a couple hundred yards off, at the base of the canyon wall, and even that wasn't dangerous. In fact, its psionic impression was one of warmth and contentment.

This I've got to see, he thought as he finished his business and walked toward the consciousness he had sensed. He approached it cautiously, but his danger sense continued to tell him there was no threat so he climbed over the rocks near the base of the canyon wall until he found what he was looking for. There, in a tunnel burrowed beneath a boulder, was a jankx den, with two slender, golden babies curled up around each other, their long snouts tucked beneath their paws as they slept.

Jedra knelt there looking at the babies and wondering what to do with them. He had always thought of jankx as food animals, and relatively troublesome ones at that, since they had poison spurs in their paws, but he couldn't eat these two babies. Nor, he realized, could he just leave them to starve. But he couldn't bring them food in their den, because a scavenger would eventually find them and they wouldn't have any defense. He was just coming to the realization that he would have to build some kind of cage and take care of them until they matured when his danger sense finally twinged and he looked up to see a pair of lean, gray zhackals loping down the canyon toward him.

He immediately reached into the den with his tele-kinetic power and lifted the baby jankx out. They awoke and began to squirm, making tiny, high-pitched squeaks. The zhackals' ears perked up, and they increased their speed, running straight for Jedra. He took off toward the house, but he'd only gone a few steps before he realized that he wouldn't make it before they reached him. Not in the kind of shape he was in. He kept running anyway, trying to get as close as he could before he had to turn and fight.

When he looked over his shoulder again he saw three more zhackals emerging from farther up the canyon. There was no way he could stand up against that many. Maybe he and Kayan together could, but not now, not this quickly. He had time for only one thing, and he did it without hesitation: He threw the jankx babies into the path of the foremost two zhackals.

He was afraid they would ignore the smaller prey, but zhackals preferred not to fight when they didn't have to. These were content with a smaller meal; the two chasing Jedra skidded to a stop and grabbed the jankx by their tails, flipping them playfully into the air and catching them again in their fanged mouths.

Disgusted with himself as much as the zhackals, Jedra ran the last few yards to the house and stood by the door, panting, while the other zhackals caught up to the first two and joined in the fun. Jedra considered pelting them with rocks now that he was safe, but it was too late to save the baby jankx so it seemed a pointless gesture. Let the zhackals have their snack. The babies would have died anyway, so it really didn't matter. Except that Jedra felt even worse than if he had never known they existed. He glanced over at the downed tree, shook his head, and went back inside.

Kayan was in the kitchen, working the pump handle up and down to refill the jug they kept on the counter, but her arms were so frail she couldn't get up any speed and nothing was coming out of the spout.

"Here, let me get that for you," Jedra said, reaching down into the well psionically to lift some water out.

"I can do it," she snapped at him.

He reeled back as if she'd slapped him. "I was just trying to help."

"Yeah."

He considered telling her about the baby jankx and the zhackals outside, and about the tree, but with the mood she was in he decided to wait. He turned away, but realizing he couldn't stand the thought of another day of angry silence, he turned back around and said, "I'm sorry I got us in trouble again. You know I didn't mean to."

She nodded. "I know. But you still just about got us killed."

"Yes, I did," he said. "And you saved us both and I'm very grateful and I don't want to fight anymore. I can't stand it when you reject me like this."

Water finally started dribbling into the jug. Kayan kept pumping as she said, "It won't kill you."

"How do you know?"

"I'm a healer. I know these things." When the jug overflowed she stopped pumping and turned to face Jedra. "Look, I just need some time alone, all right? The last couple of days have been just as hard on me as they have on you. I'll be all right, but not if I have to hold your hand all the time."

"I wasn't asking you to hold my hand."

She shook her head. "Arrgh! Can't you get it through your thick head? That was a metaphor."

"All right, all right." Jedra shook his head and retreated into the bedroom.

He tried to rest and regain his strength, but when he lay back on the cushion he remained wide awake. He could hear every sound Kayan made in the kitchen, and he noticed every nook and bump in the arched stone ceiling overhead. He became aware of another nagging presence in the room, too: The crystals beckoned him like a marketplace prostitute. Yoncalla's tugged the strongest, but the other one held the allure of complete mystery. What kind of world might be inside it? Would it be another paradise, inhabited by another insane immortal, or might it be something completely different? Right now he was in the mood for different.

He ate a hearty meal first, just in case. He didn't think it would matter nearly as much this time since he wouldn't be linked with Kayan while he was gone, but it wouldn't hurt to stoke up anyway.

Assuming he went anywhere, of course. Without Kayan's extra power to help him, he might not be able to break through the crystal's barrier. Still, curiosity made him try. He lay back on the cushion so he wouldn't fall over this time when his mind left his body, set the crystal beside him, and concentrated on entering it.

Yoncalla's world was a continual distraction. Every time Jedra felt the unknown world's barrier weakening, he felt himself slipping toward Yoncalla's world instead. Finally he levitated the offending crystal into Kitarak's study just to put a little distance between him and it, and when he tried again the distraction seemed a little less. He still had to be very careful which crystal he entered, but when he finally felt the barrier give way, he was sure it was the new one.

There was the same moment of disorientation as before, then he opened his eyes to harsh blue light coming from rectangular panels overhead. He was in a cave of some sort-no, it was another enormous stone building. And this one was full of people.