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  “I didn’t come here seeking your sympathy,” Shad said sharply, breaking her train of thought. “I am well used to being alone in life. I need your help—a repayment of the debt you owe.”

  “Very well.” The Master forger inclined his head gravely. “It has been many years since I had dealings with your fathers, and yet the debt still stands.”

  “Yes, I know—I have their memories,” Shad said. “Which is why I came to you, although what I have to ask may seem impossible at first.”

  The Master’s golden eyes gleamed.

  “I specialize in the impossible. Name it.”

  Shad took a deep breath and Harper had the feeling he was trying to think how to word his request. Finally, he just said it.

  “I need you to work a forgery so elaborate…so real that it will even fool She Who Alters.”

  “She Who Alters?” The Master sprang to his feet in apparent agitation. “But She Who Alters sees through all subterfuge and punishes any who attempts to deceive her.” He melted into the boy and then the panther-lion again—which made Harper jumpy because it was huge—before reforming as the old man once more.

  “Yes,” Shad said steadily. “I know that. But can you do it?”

  “I had never even considered it before,” Master Yll-no admitted. “My life-forgeries are good—the best in the galaxy. But I never thought to fool an All Seeing One.”

  “Who is this She Who Alters, anyway?” Harper asked, wanting to get some answers herself. “You said she can change me—take away the part of me that makes the Hive want me. But how?”

  “Her methods are unknowable but always effective,” Shad said, which wasn’t much of an answer in Harper’s opinion. “And she is a semi-divine being. A Goddess almost as great as The Mother of All Life, whom we Kindred worship.”

  “And we’re going to try and fool her—try and fool a Goddess?” Harper asked. “Why? Why can’t we just go as we are and ask for her help?”

  “Because she is a Goddess—common people can’t even get near her,” Shad explained patiently. “There are many layers of bureaucracy surrounding her that have to be penetrated before she will even lay eyes on us—on you, Harper.”

  “If those around She Who Alters shield her from everyone but only the most important and influential people, then you must have a forgery that makes you someone to be reckoned with. A great power—or at least, someone of supreme interest.” Master Yll-no sounded thoughtful.

  “So you’ll do it?” Shad asked. There was a look of cautious optimism on his face.

  “I will indeed.” The forger nodded decisively. “I have always enjoyed a challenge and these last few millennia as I have reached the top of my skills, there has been little to challenge me.” He looked at Harper. “My dear, we will transform you completely.”

  “Into what?” Harper felt distinctly nervous when he talked about transformation. She kept thinking about the way the Master himself had changed forms so many times, melting from a woman to a boy to an animal to a man. Even now she wasn’t sure if he was showing them his true shape. After all, why should he if he could be so many other things? And what would he turn her into?

  Master Yll-no seemed to read her thoughts on her face because he smiled gently.

  “Do not worry, my dear. You will not lose your lovely shape or any part of your beauty. We will forge a new life and identity for you—not a new appearance. Now let me see…” He began pacing in front of the fireplace, clearly deep in thought. “Someone important…someone influential…”

  Suddenly from the coat tree, the cloak of thorns hissed angrily. A little blue moth-like insect had been fluttering around the fireplace while they talked and then, apparently attracted to the light shimmering on the cloak’s long, rainbow-colored quills, it had gotten too close.

  Harper shivered as she saw the quills come together to form jaws and snap at the intruding moth, which barely got away. For the first time she wondered if she was supposed to feed her new item of clothing. And if so, what exactly did it eat?

  But the incident seemed to give Master Yll-no an idea because he snapped his fingers excitedly.

  “That’s it! You’ll be an empress. Empress Kyreella of Gobesh Prime of the Chavesh-Hie System. You’ve already got the royal cloth to wear—it’s perfect.”

  “The which of the who?” Harper frowned. “You want me to pretend to be the Empress of an entire planet?”

  “Oh no, no, my dear—of an entire solar system,” Master Yll-no emphasized. “But of course, Gobesh Prime is the only inhabited planet in it. I don’t have time to forge more than one world and all its cultures and topography if you’re planning to go to see She Who Alters at once.”

  “We are—as soon as possible,” Shad said.

  “Then one inhabited planet it is. The rest can be ice balls or gas giants.” Master Yll-no closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. When he spoke again, there was an echo of power in his words that Harper had never heard before. “Gobesh Prime a small world, but a rich one,” he said.

  In the air before him, a globe about as big as a beach ball appeared, glowing faintly gold around its circumference.

  “It has oceans filled with fish and unknowable sea beasts in its depths. There are high purple mountains, majestic in their grandeur, and fertile valleys where the common people plant crops of fruit and grains.”

  As Master Yll-no spoke, what he was saying actually came to pass. Harper watched in amazement as the globe colored itself in, the oceans becoming a deep green, majestic royal purple mountains rising, and fields and valleys popping up too. Tiny people appeared as well, working hard with what looked like harvesting and planting machines among rows of crops.

  “There are cities filled with tall buildings, marvelous inventions and rich culture…as well as rural areas with rich farmland and beautiful scenery.”

  Cities appeared over the purple land masses and tiny vehicles traversed roads which unrolled in front of them like silvery ribbons.

  “You, my Empress, live in a golden castle by the sea,” Yll-no continued and a small golden palace with tall spires rose at the edge of the green ocean. “You have been raised to rule but you long for someone by your side. A royal alliance from beyond the stars. But there is something about you—something which must be Altered in order for you to find this love—this is why you are going to seek out She Who Alters.”

  As he spoke, a miniature Harper came out to stand on a miniscule balcony. She lifted her face as though looking out at the night sky. Though she was barely as big as Harper’s pinky finger, Harper could plainly see the look of longing on her tiny doppelganger’s face.

  “This is amazing,” she whispered to Shad. “How is he doing all this?”

  “It is the forger’s craft—to speak things into being. To weave dreams into reality,” Shad murmured back.

  “Is it just an optical illusion?” Harper asked.

  This time it was Master Yll-no who answered.

  “Assuredly not, my dear. It is real, as are all my forgeries. Go on—touch it. I can tell you want to.” Master Yll-no gestured expansively at the globe which still hovered in mid-air before him.

  Hesitantly, Harper raised up on her knees and put out a hand. She didn’t want to hurt all the little pinky-sized people, so she contented herself with dipping one finger into the deep green ocean. It came away wet and she stared at it in wonder.

  “But then…if everything you make is real, why do you call it a forgery?” she asked, looking at her wet finger and then back to the miniature world, perfect in every detail.

  A look of sorrow passed over the Master’s face.

  “Because, alas, they do not last. My forgeries are very good—some can endure for years—but they all, eventually, disintegrate into dust.”

  “Wow,” Harper murmured uneasily. “So how long will this…this new life you’re forging for me last?”

  She was afraid Master Yll-no would tell her it could only last a day or two which would make their schedule