"As the fire died down, and the pilgrims turned to sleep, Sharazade and I walked out into the desert, under the vast starblanketed night, Luna scything down towards the horizon. She was quiet, but seemed to have made some kind of decision, or peace for a moment with herself. She told me how she had received my message, and decided to come, and had made her way to Demershinnia through the complex byways I mapped out for her in case of trouble."

The Terran interrupted: "Sorry, but how did you send such a message, in such a situation?"

Boukey looked puzzled for an instant. "I don't remember somehow." And then a memory returned. "Oh, yes, I remember. We had arranged, Jack and I, for me to send a letter to his sheriff friend in Destarlillo Town, with a transcription of a song back to Calliopetey Jack in Calliokan notation, which had the message in musical code. That was how we were to keep track."

The Terran shook his head. "It all seems too easy. There is something wrong with all this."

Boukey agreed: "It was too easy, or so we found. They were following us, they had tracked her from at least Anteluna. She had missed my setting out by two days, but had caught up later. And she brought them with her."

The Elder said: "No, I don't think so. I think your original intuition was correct. They were already with you, and they were with her."

"All the time?"

"It is of course hard to know. Perhaps not."

Boukey said: "Well, we worried. We felt it was too easy. So we decided that after we reached Geosis, we would return by an alternative route, skirting the southern reaches of Darojn and striking out on our own. If we were followed, we would know, out there, in the open.

Meanwhile, we continued with the rest of the pilgrims, though the numbers began to thin. Another few days passed, and more and more pilgrims turned back or found their refuge. We were down to perhaps ten or more, when we reached Geosis."

"And here," said Boukey, "here my memory jags into fragments. I cannot remember anything except the beginning and the flight at the end. In the beginning, we made our way to the great Shrine, the Shrine to the wisdom of the embodied sphere of life -- the giant original version of the smaller shrine I saw here on the first day. And it was with great anticipation that we awaited the Turning Service, when the Earth Songs would be sung by the massed churchfolk and their leaders. Late in the afternoon they came from their small homes, and some from their monastic huts, some from work, some from play. And they entered the Shrine, and within moments they began to sing. The first song they sang, to an ancient modal melody, was When You Wish Upon A Star. This was followed by Someday My Prince Will Come. And so on. With great beauty, and intense belief, and devotion."

"From beneath her cowl, Sharazade looked at me in horror, and I looked back. It was then that the full dimensions of what was at stake struck both Sharazade and I. The entire remnant community of Geosis had been Mousewashed, and did not even know it. As if on a signal, we both arose, and moved to a subchapel on an aisle.

'What kind of people are these?' She whispered, her voice shaking. 'Can they do this?'"

"They can," I said, "And they have. When they did it, I don't know. But they have become more daring, more frightening with each passing day. "

" And THAT is just the beginning!" triumphed a voice from behind the subchapel altar. "You will come with us," ordered another harsh voice from the side. "Yes," said another voice behind us, "Your holiday time is up!"

Four figures, like all the rest, cloaked in Demershinnian blue, came out of the shadows and converged slowly upon us.

I had only a moment. I didn't know what to do. Out of nowhere, a thought came to me. I reached up and pulled off Sharazade's cowl. "PRAISES TO WALT!!" I screamed. "ALL PRAISES TO WALT!! THE WOMAN IS HEALED!!"

There was a murmur from the churchfolk. Heads began to turn.

"LOOK EVERYONE," I cried: "A MIRACLE!! THE WOMAN WHO WAS ONCE A CYBANIAN SLAVE HAS HAD HER SLASH HEALED!! IT WAS GEOSIS THAT DID IT!! LOOOOK, EVERYONE!!!" I pulled her past the four figures out into the blazing aisle, towards the main shrine, where a thousand faces looked at her. "SEE FOR YOURSELF!! SHE IS HEALED!! THE HEALING POOL AT AULD COULD NOT HEAL HER!! BUT GEOSIS HAS WORKED A MIRACLE!!!!" The four figures were engulfed by the crowd milling forward. "WALT BE PRAISED!!!!!!!!"

"But --" said someone in the front, "But she is not --"

"Yes," said someone else, "She is as beautiful as the dawn!!!"

And another said: "But I can see it. There, on her face!"

And at that moment, the elderly Cybanian woman who had remained as one of our party rushed forward, and saved our lives: "WALT BE PRAISED!!! She is free!!! I KNEW HER BEFORE!!!! Walt Save Me Too!! Me Too!!!" And she hurled herself before the crowd laughing and howling with berserk delight.

"A MIRACLE!!" they all cried. And we ran. How we got out of the Shrine I do not know. The crowd followed howling and praising for as long as they could through the streets of Geosis, and then, in the warren of turns and side alleys, we lost them.

We stood breathing for a moment. "I think we have lost them for a moment, Sharazade." I said. She looked at me, silent. "I am sorry," I said, "I couldn't think of anything else. I did not mean to use you like that. I am sorry."

And she reached over and for the first time ever she kissed me, and smiled, and said: "Fool, it was a miracle, if there ever was one. It did go away, for that brief moment. It was the first time it brought me anything but despair in my whole life. It saved us, oh my sweet Green Man, it saved us!"

And then the sandstorm hit.