"So, what did you bring me this time?" Kostas peered over his jeweler's glasses at her. He didn't stop digging at a black and green amulet in the shape of scarab. Though Kostas wasn't an old man, he had many lines around his eyes and mouth. After a moment, he returned to staring at the scarab under a brightly lit magnifying glass

Ginny moved the store sign from Open to Closed, and pulled the drape on the door. "Just a couple items." She described each artifact as she pulled it out of her large backpack. "These are opera glasses that allow you to see and hear far away. Here's a patch of cloth with the symbol of the Cult of the Yellow Sign. And…" Ginny fumbled in her pack a little bit. "That's it."

"You've been gone for what, half a year? Miss Hare, what haven't you brought me?"

"Oh, plenty of things, but they were mostly from AltEarth. It'd be like bringing you snowballs. They just melt away. There was a helmet, a broach of damaging force, oh, all kinds of neat things. None of them lasted long enough, though. I hadn't realized how few artifacts of substance I'd found." Ginny pulled off her trench coat and draped it over a chair.

"What's that?" Kostas pointed at something glimmering in the bag.

"Oh, that's mine. The Queen of Faerie gave me a necklace."

"I see, you brought me stories as well. Sit down." Kostas wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, getting dust on his face.

"It'll be in my report, but I'll tell you more. Is Danae around?" Ginny scooted back in her chair and put her shoes up on the table. She'd missed visiting the Makris family.

"Boots off the table," he said.

"Is Danae here?"

"Boots off the table!"

"Oh, but you know you love these boots!" Ginny said. She pulled her feet toward her, unlaced the boots, dropped them on the floor, and put her feet on the table.

"Feets off the table."

"Okay, fine."

"Danae is here any minute. You can start with me. And I love the boots, but not so much."

"I thought they were mine, now, anyway."

"Someone else might need them someday."

"Fair enough."

Kostas returned to his cleaning and grunted. "So, in, what, half a year, you have been to AltEarth and Arcadia. All this keeping an eye on the Shiro boy?"

"He's been very busy. He has a destiny, you know."

"Yes."

"He's a good kid, Kostas. He's got good instincts in a lot of areas and is amazingly powerful, if a little full of himself."

"I expect nothing less of a World Mage."

"He'll be all right if people help him."

"That's why we said, you stay with him, Ginny."

"I know, I know."

"Did you sleep with him?" Danae asked, entering the room. Slightly younger than Ginny, Danae was a tall, slender Greek, with thin lips, blue eyes, and straight black hair that fell past her shoulders.

"Dani!" Ginny jumped up to hug her friend.

"Ginny, how long has it been? No postcards, no calls! I'm sure father's been scolding you." Danae hugged the slightly shorter woman back.

"He hasn't, actually."

"He should have been." Danae mock-glared at her father. "We've been worried. We knew you'd left Earth."

"I was okay."

"You know, you should call George. Or at least Rupert, if not your parents. They hate having to ask your financial advisor and lawyer if you're still alive."

"They'll be okay. They're busy doing their -- their British lord activities." Ginny looked uncomfortable.

"If you say so," Danae said. "Last I heard, George was engaged."

"Bollocks!" Ginny said, looking delighted. "I promise I'll call them, now please, Dani, sit down."

"She comes with stories, but is few with the artifacts this time," said Kostas. He pushed Ginny's clutter to the side, making more room for his daughter at the table as the women sat down.

"Yes, you were talking about Shiro's grandson." Danae looked at Ginny expectantly.

"No, I did not sleep with Vincent, Dani. Dear lord, he's a teenager. What do you think me?"

"That wouldn't have stopped you before."

"That wouldn't have stopped me when I was twenty-two, Dani, I'm twenty-nine now."

"I hear he's quite good looking."

"He is that."

"What, do you think the World Mage's virginity is meant for some higher purpose?"

"Danae, Ginny has stories of substance to tell us." Kostas said sharply. He flipped over the scarab and started picking the dirt out of the ridges on its belly with his delicate pick.

Ginny proceeded to tell the two Greeks almost everything. She started with her first trip down the Shiro well and ended with the team's destruction of the succubus in hell, freeing Arcadia and humanity. She left out certain details the Unnaturals wouldn't want known, but left in enough to keep the story moving along. She provided the information the Makris pair would be most interested in -- the enemies and potential allies of AltEarth and Arcadia, any artifacts she saw along the way, the metaphysical state of all the worlds. During the telling, Kostas' expression was bland as he focused on the amulet. Danae was attentive, excited, and appalled, depending on the part of the story. They both often interrupted to ask questions.

"What about Sallah?"

"Oh, give it UP, Danae."

"What about Sallah."

"He's not gay but he's got an arranged marriage in the works. Probably has had it by now."

"And?"

"I would like to be welcome in the Eldritch house again, Danae. It's hard to do that if the wife of the butler suspects you of being a past fling."

"That's right, no complications." Danae nodded, feigning sagacity.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I know you won't stop bugging me, Danae. The only person I slept with in the past six months was a very handsome elf in Arcadia two nights ago -- well, two nights ago subjective time. And he was handsome the next day, thank you very much. You know, Titania saved my life twice, but I think I'm most grateful to her because she steered me clear of another fae before I met that one."

"Was he anyone I've heard of?"

"No, I don't think so. Robin Goodfellow is hopelessly smitten with Titania, and Oberon is her husband. Not good choices, either of them."

"GIRLS. Please save this talk for when I not in the room."

"Fine, dad. I wasn't going to tell Ginny anything until after we'd got away from you, anyway."

"Tell us more about this double, this... Virginia Hare." Kostas demanded.

Ginny proceeded to tell them all she knew about AltEarth's Virginia Hare, as well as what that meant the British government of AltEarth was probably up to. "In short, if I show up here and don't know how to use my aleithiometer, run away."

"You mean, kill you?" Danae asked.

"No, I mean, run away." Ginny looked at Danae with a bland expression but her voice was pinched. "Run. Away. As in, Flee. Say you're getting tea and slip out the back door, turn invisible, and bugger off like rabbits. Like frightened rabbits, I mean. I'm serious. She's very dangerous and thinks nothing of killing people. You can escape if you do it quickly. Use whatever you have in house to help you."

"Ginny, you have been busy." Kostas broke in, and started polishing the amulet with a rag and some kind of paste. "The Order will be happy with you. All your debts will be repaid, and more. Even without bringing us the artifacts."

"I should think so. Knowledge in, knowledge out." It was a catch-phrase of a certain branch of the Order, a branch of which Ginny was particularly fond.

"In fact, I think: It is time you took the next level of initiation."

"I was thinking the same thing, Kostas."

"Right. I will contact Leonara. Stay with us tonight, drink retsina, tomorrow meet her in Prague."

"There's just one thing, Kostas. I have brought you something else." Kostas and Danae looked at Ginny expectantly, saying nothing. "Vincent's sister. She and I left Arcadia together. I brought her here. She's sight-seeing at the Acropolis right now, but she's to meet me at a taverna in Monastiraki at 8 o'clock. She's -- she's accustomed to using magic very casually. She didn't pay for anything when we were in Tokyo."

"I can understand that," said Danae, and Ginny suspected that the lanky woman most certainly could. "I mean, it's so much easier," the girl added, and then trailed off, eyes shifting away from Ginny's. "How can we help?" she asked, with sudden focus.

"She needs to be with good people for a while, but people who won't be too self-righteous. People who've already walked a dark path and know how to come back." Ginny looked steadily at Danae and Kostas. "She doesn't need to be in Vincent's shadow, not after eighteen years of hating him. And she's more worldly than he is. She wouldn't be content to stay in some school. She needs someone who'll show her a more ethical way to be, without preaching."

"Sounds like she needs a big sister. Or maybe a friend. I can handle it. I've learned a lot since you've been away," said Danae.

"I'm not sure," Ginny said, glancing at Kostas. "She's very, very powerful -- she hurt Malador, remember? And she has focused on mind magic. She'd think nothing of erasing your memory or making you do something if it was more convenient for her. I've been lucky -- I haven't traveled with her very long, and she probably didn't dare do anything with Vincent around."

"Hum. She probably is well more powerful than me, then." Danae looked at her father. "Dad would lend me a little something, wouldn't you?"

"We just got this one. It is for the Order." Kostas's tone was suddenly curt, and he looked away from his daughter.

"Oh, come on, Dad. I'm an Initiate too. I'm sure they'd find it reasonable for me to borrow this so I can protect myself while I travel the world being a good influence on the twin sister of the World Mage, right?"

"That does sound reasonable, Kostas."

"And if not, I don't mind going into debt with them for a little while."

Kostas looked grumpy. "All right. I will register it first, though."

"Let's do it now," said Ginny. "If you aren't going to guide her, Kostas, I think it'd be safest if you didn't meet her. You know too much. That means I won't be staying with you all tonight," Ginny looked thoughtful. "Dani and I will have dinner with Aja. I think she'll find you very interesting, Dani, especially if you tell her about yourself. I'll stay in Athens for a couple days, and then go to Prague, if that's all right, Kostas. By that time, if what I know about you both is correct, Aja will probably prefer Dani's company to mine. Eventually she'll want to return to Japan to meet her parents, and she may not want you to join her -- you'll have to play that by ear. In the meantime, here's some cash. Show her Athens, show her Delphi, show her whatever she wants that you can afford. Try to teach her what a budget is, as a game or something at first, I don't know. However you were taught."

"I think we can figure it all out, Ginny." Danae looked patient. She'd seen Ginny plan things out before.

"Don't lie to her, ever. Don't manipulate her. I think she's had enough of that."

"I think I can guess what she needs right now."

"Yes, better than I can," Ginny looked relieved. "I was most worried about this. I didn't want her to wander the worlds alone while I initiated."

"Actually, Ginny," Danae looked carefully at Ginny, as if she'd just seen something out of the corner of her eye. She touched Ginny on the center of her forehead with her finger, and her eyes widened slightly. "I think there's something else you should be worried about."

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