To Visit the Queen by Diane Duane Read Free Book Online Page A

gave Rhiow a look of pure pleasure: if his whiskers had gone any farther forward, they would have fallen off in the street.
    She had to smile back: there were moods in which this kit was, unfortunately, irresistible. "Go on, then— tell her goodbye for a few days: you're going to be busy. And Arhu— "
    "I know, 'Be careful.' " He was laughing at her. " 'Luck, Rhiow."
    " 'Luck," she said as he bounded off across the traffic running down Forty-third, narrowly being missed by a taxi taking the corner.
    She breathed out. Next to her, Urruah laughed softly as they slipped into the door of the post office to sidle, then waited for the light to change. "You worry too much about that kit. He'll be all right."
    "Oh, his survival is between him and the Powers now," she said, "I know. But still..."
    "You still feel responsible for him," Urruah said as the light turned and they trotted out to cross the street, "because for a while he was our responsibility. Well, he's passed his Ordeal, and we're off that hook. But now we have to teach him teamwork."
    "It's going to make the last month look like ten dead birds and no one to share them with," Rhiow said. She peered up Lexington, trying to see past the hurrying ehhif. Humans could not see into that neighboring universe where cats went when sidled and in which string structure was obvious, but she could just make out Arhu's little black-and-white shape, trailing radiance from passing resonated hyperstrings as he ran.
    "At least he's willing," Urruah said. "More than he was before."
    "Well, we owe a lot of that to you... your good example."
    Urruah put his whiskers forward, pleased, as they came to the next corner and went across the side street at a trot. "Feels a little odd sometimes," he said.
    "What?" Rhiow said, putting hers forward too. "That the original breaker of every available rule should now be the big, stern, tough— "
    "I didn't break that many rules."
    "Oh? What about that dog, last month?"
    "Come on, that was just a little fun."
    "Not for the dog. And the sausage guy on Thirty-third..."
    "That was an intervention. Those sausages were terrible."
    "As you found after tricking him into dropping one. And last year, the lady with the— "
    "All right, all right!" Urruah was laughing as they came to Forty-fifth. "So I like the occasional practical joke. Rhi, I don't break any of the real rules. I do my job."
    She sighed, and then bumped her head against his as they stood by the corner of the building at Forty-fifth and Lex, waiting for the light to change. "You do," she said. "You are a wizard's wizard, for all your jokes. Now get out of here and do whatever you have to do with your Dumpster."
    "I thought you weren't going to mention that," Urruah said, and grinned. " 'Luck, Rhi."
    He galloped off across the street and down Forty-fifth as the light changed, leaving her looking after him in mild bemusement.
    He heard me thinking.
    Well, wizards did occasionally overhear one another's private thoughts when they had worked closely together for long enough. She and Saash had sometimes "underheard" each other this way: usually without warning, but not always at times of stress. It had been happening a little more frequently since Arhu came. Something to do with the change in the makeup of the team? she thought. There was no way to tell.
    And no time to spend worrying about it now. But even as Rhiow set off for her own lair, trotting on up Lex toward the Upper East Side, she had to smile ironically at that. It was precisely because she was so good at worrying that she was the leader of this particular team. Losing the habit could mean losing the team... or worse.
    For the time being, she would stick to worrying.

    The way home was straightforward, this time of day: up Lex to Seventieth, then eastward to the block between First and Second. The street was fairly quiet for a change. Mostly it was old converted brownstones, though the corner apartment buildings were newer ones, and