“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I wish Umbo had ever done his slowing-down trick on me!”

“Every time he dragged you around in time, he was doing it,” said Rigg. “You just weren’t expecting it to turn your tunes into anything, so you didn’t notice.”

“I wish he were here to do it now!” said Param.

“He’ll be back, sooner or later,” said Noxon. “But maybe we can do something ourselves. Let’s stand here—beside this path. This tune. Look at my hand. Where I’m placing it. The tune is right there, isn’t it?”

Param looked at his hand, which he was holding out from his body. “I never realized how precisely I knew where they were. You don’t expect to know where sounds are, but yes, I always knew which way to go to get away from a particular noise, or the noisiest ones, anyway.”

“I’m going to use the facemask to help me see the actual person. I always see the people now, a little. But I’m going to see her clearly.”

“Her?”

“Some things are pretty obvious, the way I see paths now. General size and body shape. I’d say it’s an old woman. And I want to pick a moment when she’s already past this point. Say nothing, do nothing, so we don’t alert her and make her turn around and see us.”

“There’s nobody there.”

“I haven’t done it yet. But look toward where you know that tune is. Where it passes between those trees.”

“I’m looking.”

“I can see her now, very clearly, taking a single step. And now I’m bringing us into resonance with her, very precisely, so she’s frozen in midstep. You’re not going to do something stupid like letting go of my hand, are you?”

“Unless I feel like it.”

“No more talking now. We’re going to jump to her time.”

And with that, Noxon fixed himself on the woman and made the jump into the past.

Param must not have been able to help it. Her gasp was of pure startlement. The woman stopped and started to turn. In fact, she was whirling around to see what was so close behind her. But Noxon had facemask reflexes now, so he saw what she was doing and jumped back a little farther in time, before she could have caught even a glimpse of them. She would think she was startled at nothing, some random forest sound, and laugh at herself for thinking someone was there.

Noxon pulled Param away from the woman’s path. “You couldn’t have been that surprised,” said Noxon. “I told you that you’d see an old woman’s back. And she’s a Larfolder, so you can hardly have been surprised at her mantle.”