The walk back to my quarters was quiet, Sassafras trotting along at my feet. I expected my grandfather to appear and try to bully me, but he remained absent, much to my happiness. Not that I was left alone, though. When I entered my appointed suite, I immediately went to Bakari who waited for me by the large, square window looking out over the city.
"They are here," he said without preamble.
His pronouncement brought me to a halt as I tried to fathom what he was talking about. My mind lingered, still in the mine, worrying about -
"The Planeless." I spoke the name in a gasp of escaping air. "How many?"
He shrugged, the graceful act of an irritated animal. "Not many," he said. "Yet. They remain thin and scattered in number. But the incidents of this new nectar use are climbing and, I fe
