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group would not cohere for long. “Where shall we meet when all our shopping is done?”
    â€œAt the stables,” Eleazar suggested. “In four hours.”
    There was much protest at this. “Five hours?” Bartholomew said.
    â€œMake it six,” said Keren. It was now a couple of hours before noon.
    â€œA very long day for very young ones,” Bartholomew warned.
    â€œIt will be light until quite late,” Dathan said carelessly. “One of us can carry Amram before us if he falls asleep in the saddle.”
    â€œI won’t fall asleep! I never sleep!” Amram declared.
    â€œI can attest to that,” Susannah said.
    â€œSix hours, then,” Bartholomew said, and they all agreed.And in a few moments, everyone had scattered into the plentiful attractions of the city.
    Susannah at first had thought she and Dathan might walk together through the delights of Luminaux. But, “Eleazar and I have to go to the ironmonger’s and look for new braces,” Dathan had said in a very important voice. That particular tone always meant he was lying, though he did not seem to be aware others knew. Susannah guessed that they might spend half an hour at the ironmonger’s, and then the rest of the afternoon at some of the taverns, sampling the excellent wine of the Luminaux vintners.
    â€œYovah guard you,” she said with a faint smile, and let them go on their way. She did sigh a little as she watched them go.
    As for herself, she had no real chores to accomplish, and no burning desire to sell her single item of some value, so she just wandered at random across the blue cobblestoned streets. She spent a great deal of time moving through the open-air market at the heart of the city, fingering the fine silk cloth and wondering how anyone could ever create garments so beautiful. She knew without a doubt that Bartholomew would purchase some purple coloring for Anna, but when she happened upon the dyemaker’s shop, she could not resist going in and seeing if there were any pink or cinnamon or cerulean color samples she could buy with the few coins she had in her pocket. She could not resist a very bright yellow dye that was being sold at a discount because of some flaking in the cake, and the shopkeeper gave her some hints on how to mix it with other colors to make garments of many hues.
    At lunchtime, she stopped at a bakery run by an Edori woman and her daughters. Frida refused to let Susannah pay for her meal—“Except in gossip,” the baker added. So they spent a wonderful hour talking about all the friends they had in common. Frida’s shop was busy, though, and Susannah did not want to take up too much of her time, so she did not linger long. Wandering back out into the streets, she continued her slow, happy tour of the city. When she grew tired, she rested in one of the many small parks lining the lovely boulevards, and when she grew thirsty, she drank some of the colored water spuming up from the fountains. It tastedlike springwater, only bluer. She hoped it would not tint her mouth, and she bent down to take another swallow.
    The day passed slowly but in magical contentment, and Susannah could not believe it when the hour came around to meet the others at the stables. She hurried to arrive on time, but she was not the last one to put in an appearance. Eleazar and Dathan showed up a few minutes after she did, while Bartholomew grew impatient and the other women in the group showed one another their day’s purchases. The two latecomers were laughing and happy, and when Dathan kissed Susannah, she could taste the wine on his breath. But he was so cheerful and affectionate that she could not be angry at him, and so she smiled and kissed him back.
    â€œGood. We’re all together. Let’s waste no more time here,” Bartholomew said, and in a very few minutes they were back on the road.
    Susannah brought her playful mare alongside Dathan’s,