Chance nodded. “Both. Power and vulnerability. Both.” He uncurled a hand and extended wisps of dark blue, weaving them expertly among her wavering threads of dark, dusty gold. “This is true for everyone. None of us is alone in this.”

“Patience—isn’t she alone? Who can match her? She must be lonely.”

“She might have been a little at first, but now less and less, I believe,” he said. “She has created many threads to weave a larger and more colorful tapestry, and now she includes borrowed lines.”

“Is that what I am? New yarn, sourced from beyond to improve the weft?”

“Or a new instrument for an old song, or a path to a different destination?” he countered almost jovially. “There is no certainty; there are no answers. And I suspect there will also be no risk of boredom.”

In spite of his attempt to speak lightly, her face grew more solemn. “What of—what about the other one? That part of you . . . ?”

“Resolved.” he replied. “Resolved in my future so that in this present I may at last be fully myself. You know.”

A part of her, that new part that saw time and existence very differently, did know, but there were still no words in her human brain to begin to explain it. “And the angels?” she asked instead.

“They watch, as always,” he said.

If both the query and the reply were spoken softly with a hint of fear, who could blame them? Immortal Chance and Miranda might be, experimental without doubt, but invulnerable? Never.

She looked away and said with gentle reproach, “I expected to see you and Ajit sooner. What kept you?”

He tried to answer, but she began to laugh. The floating trails of amber thinned and vanished as her focus and control disintegrated. He smiled, realizing he was being teased. “It wasn’t time. You had a lot to do.”

“I did,” she said proudly. “Perhaps I don’t know yet how to be anything more than human, but I’m being the best human I can be. Would you like to see what I’ve been doing?”

His eyes widened. He was still young, still awakening, still human, and he could still be surprised. “Yes.”

—

Miranda took him to her office and residence at Midhaven, a place located three hours’ drive from the City. The journey was comfortable—Khabir in his stubborn generosity kept a car and driver at her disposal—and there was plenty of time to explain on the way.