“Superman Two,” said Pat. Then she waved her hand to erase the comment. Nobody cared about a movie from 1980. Nobody had seen the movie except her and Danny, and he watched it only because Hal and Wheeler made them all watch every superhero movie.

“Marion and I don’t watch comic book movies, dear,” said Leslie. “But we get the point. Having really powerful mages pop up all over Mittlegard is extremely disruptive, but everybody in Westil knows what’s going on.”

“We already know that we’ve got to keep American military hardware out of Westil,” said Danny. “But Ced, I think you’re right. The Mithermages have to come home to Westil.”

“It isn’t home,” said Stone. “We’ve lived on Earth for fifteen centuries.”

“More to the point, we’re used to indoor plumbing,” said Marion.

“Drowther inventions,” said Danny. “I’m sure Gyish and Zog will prefer whatever they do with pee and poo here.”

“Gyish and Zog think people should worship their pee and poo,” said Marion. “And there are bound to be mages just as arrogant in all the other Families.”

“With the power they have, they’ll all become arrogant,” said Danny. “It’s like doctors. They don’t have any magic, of course, but people believe they have powers. Healing powers. So people treat them like gods, and a lot of doctors get sucked into the mystique and start acting like gods. It makes them bad doctors and it makes them bad people. Same with politicians. Bureaucrats. Rich people. It’s human nature. If people treat you like an alpha, you think you are an alpha, and other people’s feelings and choices don’t matter.”

“So let me see if I get what you’re suggesting,” said Loki. “You want to protect Mittlegard from arrogant people who think their power gives them the right to decide for other people, without consulting them.”

“Irony noted,” said Danny. “But we’re gathered here because this is the group that controls access between the worlds, and because we have the power to move people from one world to the other and make them stay there.”

“And therefore we have the right to choose.”

“No,” said Danny. “We got manipulated into letting them all go through Great Gates. It was a mistake, and we knew it. What we’re deciding is how to undo it. How to protect drowthers from people who have way too much power.”

“Like us,” said Loki.

“You can go back to stealing gates from every gatemage who’s ever born,” said Danny. “Once we’ve sorted things out.”

“I’m not going back into the tree,” said Loki.