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best of times, and the dust of madness made it worse, and night made it worse yet, and the addition of
that winged girl, however nice a person she undoubtedly was, made it even more so. She loved Sean,
without doubt; the human signs were all over her. But that was its own complication. Was she getting
up, to go out for a solitary flying session, or to be alone with Sean? There was little doubt what the two
would do, if they got alone together. So maybe Mary should follow them out, just making her presence
known, and scotch that at the start.
The side door opened, amazingly quietly, and closed. Someone had exited the RV. Who? She thought
by the sounds that it was just one; there had been no whispered dialogue. That argued against Sean and
Willow. Then who was it? And why?
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There was a light tap at her window. She jumped, caught by surprise. The person, far from hiding, was
signaling her!
She looked. It was Nimby. Oh. He followed his own rules, and certainly wasn't bound by theirs. But
what then of Chlorine? If Nimby and Chlorine wanted to indulge themselves together, it certainly wasn't
Mary's place to oppose it, as long as it wasn't in sight of the children. But Chlorine hadn't left her bed;
Mary could recognize her particular pattern of breathing.
Nimby beckoned. What could he want? Well, she would find out. He was a strange one, and she knew
he was really a dragon, but she had no fear of him. Had he wished to do them any ill, he had had
countless opportunities. Certainly he wouldn't find her a romantic object-not with Chlorine there. So it
was something else.
She opened the door carefully and got out, closing it as carefully behind her. Then she turned to face
Nimby. "Yes?" she inquired in a low whisper.
For answer, he became the donkey-headed diagonally striped dragon. This time she noticed two things
she hadn't noticed before; either she had been unobservant, or he had changed. She suspected the latter.
One change was that his scales were glowing, outlining him in the darkness so that she had no trouble
seeing him. The other was that the scales in his center portion were formed into the shape of a saddle.
"You want me to ride you?" she asked.
The equine head nodded.
He surely had a reason. He seemed to know everything that went on in the vicinity. So he must know
something now...
The head nodded again.
"Why, you can read my thoughts!" she exclaimed.
Another nod.
So he had known she was awake and listening, and had come for her. But why? Was there some danger?
One more nod.
And they could alleviate it? By taking action now?
Nod.
Then they had better get busy. She approached him and climbed into the saddle. It was surprisingly
comfortable. There were projecting scales in front that served as perfect handholds, surely by no
coincidence. Even some below for her feet to rest on. Nimby was the perfect mount.
The pastel pink stripes turned red. "Why, Nimby, you're blushing!" she murmured. "Because I
complimented your status as a mount."
Embarrassed nod.
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Then Nimby moved. Mary had had her youthful fling with horses, so had a fair amount of experience
riding. Nothing fancy, but she was competent. Nimby's gait was odd-then less odd-arid finally exactly
like that of a good horse. He was accommodating her memory of riding. He was certainly easy to get
along with.
They got up speed. Mary strained to see where they were going in the darkness-and then Nimby's eyes
glowed brightly, sending out beams of light as if they were headlights, showing her everything ahead.
"Thank you," she murmured, patting a scale. No wonder Chlorine kept company with this versatile
creature. And he had made Chlorine look the way she did. He was really a remarkable entity. Just how
powerful was his magic?
For a moment the dragon seemed nervous about something. Mary looked around, but saw nothing
dangerous, and knew that Nimby wouldn't let anything bad approach. She returned to her chain of
thought. No, potent magic wasn't necessary to explain Nimby. He was making the most of his shape-
changing and mind-reading abilities, so seemed much more talented than he perhaps was. Possibly he
drew on the mental powers of the person he was with, thus enhancing his abilities. That would explain a
good deal. He was probably a very specially talented animal, who became more than that when
associated with a human being.
Nimby seemed to relax. And now he reached his destination. There was a big old dead tree with a
splintered trunk. The wood looked firm and dry, not rotten despite its evident age. In fact, it looked a bit
like those two pieces of reverse wood that Chlorine had reported using to nullify that nuisance machine
that had captured Woofer and Tweeter.
Nimby nodded.
"Reverse wood?" she asked, startled. "You brought me here to fetch reverse wood?"
Nod.
Mentia appeared. "What are you two up to, in the dead of night?" she asked. Then she spied the tree.
"Oops-I can't touch that!" She vanished.
"And as a Mundane, I can handle it without suffering reversal of my magic," Mary said. "While you
might be in trouble. Very well; how much do you need?"
It turned out that he needed a bundle. She pulled fragments from the tree and bound them together with a
vine, then held the bundle in her arms as Nimby carried her back toward the RV. Then she laid pieces of
wood in a large circle around the RV, spaced only a few feet apart. That should be one insidiously
effective defense perimeter, she thought.
Nimby nodded.
Mentia reappeared. "Deadly," she remarked.
They finished the job and returned to the RV. Before she climbed back in, Mary kissed one donkey ear.
"It's nice to have you looking out for us," she said. "Even if it is just to help Chlorine complete her
assignment." The ear blushed.
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