“Then take me back to Alf.”

“We have things to learn,” said Hermia. “Let’s go spying.”

“Shouldn’t we change clothing first?” asked Gerd. “I’m betting these outfits will stand out.”

“The shoes are certainly impractical,” said Hermia. “You really walked around Taiwan in those?”

“I walked around my house,” said Gerd. “And with you holding on to me, I don’t expect I will actually have to do much outdoor walking here, either.”

“Danny has a point about the arrogance of the Families,” said Hermia.

“Beginning with you, my dear,” said Gerd. “Let’s find a place where we can go shopping.”

“None of them take American Express.”

“But all of them accept the five-finger discount,” said Gerd. “As long as we can make a clean getaway. What do you think of our chances?”

“I wonder how bad our accents are,” said Hermia.

“You gatemages have such a way with languages that I’m betting yours will be superbly local within moments,” said Gerd. “And I’m content to let you do all the talking.”

By nightfall, they had the costumes of ladies of high station in the riverport city of Ny, the capital of Nefyryd, and knew a surprisingly large amount of interesting but probably useless information about the cotton and weaving trades, and the shipping and overland routes that brought wealth into Nefyryd from all the other kingdoms.

Alone in a very rich house that Hermia had learned was standing empty, the two of them began to figure out their next move.

“We can assume,” said Hermia, “that the rumors of a great Tempester in Hetterwee are true, and that Danny has somehow managed to curtail the depredations of the Orphan Cedric who didn’t come back from the first Great Gate he made.”

“It still doesn’t tell us where Danny is,” said Gerd. “I’m surprised he hasn’t come to us already.”

“We didn’t make a gate,” said Hermia. “Not the kind that he and Loki would instantly recognize. The kind of jump we did, maybe Danny can detect it or maybe he can’t. Loki almost certainly can’t. And if Danny can, maybe he’s just waiting to see what we do.”

“Or maybe he’s busy,” said Gerd.

“More to the point,” said Hermia, “how do you assess your potential power here on Westil?”

“The machinery is trifling,” said Gerd. “Not even a good clock. And no indication that there’s any higher technology elsewhere, because they have enough wealth here to import anything of real value or interest from anywhere else in the world.”

“Comfortable climate,” said Hermia. “We’re almost in the tropics here, if that term applies, but it’s not as suffocatingly hot as, say, Manaus, or even Havana.”

“I have no interest in this city in particular,” said Gerd.

“Ny rules over one of the largest nations of Westil, and one of the richest,” said Hermia.

“A one-crop economy,” said Gerd.