Myth-Chief

"Wasn't real?" I realized I was echoing her. "What was it?"

"It's a kind of fairy illusion," she explained. "I can do hundreds of them, all completely accurate. They feel real, but you can't keep them. Once you touch them, they go pop."

"Really?" I asked. So that was why Gleep was casting around and looking confused. "Wow. That is a special talent."

"But useless," Fli

"Let's see if I can find someplace for you," I said, rising and extending my hand. "I know a lot of people here in the Bazaar."

The Geek stroked his chin. The wily Deveel and I had been on opposite sides in several deals. As far as I could tell, he still owed me for some shady dealing that nearly killed some students of mine.4

"I don't know, Skeeve," he said, watching Fli

Fli

"Do you know anyone who is hiring?" I asked, feeling just as dismayed but refusing to show it. "She's willing to travel."

"Hmm," he said, and resumed chin-stroking. "Well, you could talk to Hyam. He's got a variety show heading for the provinces. The pay's so-so, but you get expenses and meals."

"We'll try him," I said, rising and offering my hand. "You still owe me, but thanks."

"Hey, glad to help, glad to help," the Geek said. "Don't hurry back, huh?" He leaned out and pinched the plumply pretty Deveel at his reception desk on the cheek. "Marlys, send in my next appointment."

We sat in the second row of the huge, echoing theater. Fli

"Ya gotta be able to do it either way," the green-ski

"Well, I don't know much about show business," I admitted.

"No kiddin'," Hyam said, stubbing his cigar out on the back of the chair ahead of him. He bent forward to yell at the voluptuous female on the stage. "Honey, either shake it or get out of here! I'm a busy man!" He leaned back. "If you knew anything, you wouldn'a gone to the Geek for advice. He don't know nothin'."

"He seems to be successful," I said.

"Smoke and minors," Hyam said. "Just don't invest money with him." He turned to Fli

Fli

The flower fairy started producing her illusions. I heard murmurs from the other acts sitting in the dark behind us that rose to startled exclamations of pleasure as wrens, robins, jays, finches, canaries, and juncos flew from her hands. She moved on to bigger species: owls, falcons, gulls and a huge, brown-winged pelican. The air was full of them. She spread her hands farther apart. I was agog as Fli

I turned to Hyam, who was trembling, too. but with rage. His face had turned an ugly purple. He glared at Fli

"For that, the Geek sent you to me?" he bellowed. "That's all you do? Bird imitations?" He stood up and leveled a finger toward the exit. "Geddada here!"

"I don't believe it," I said, trying to cheer her up as we trudged out of the theater. "I think he was just jealous. I have never seen anything like that. And did you hear the others? They loved it."

"They don't matter," Fli

"Oh, yes, you will" I said, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "We just haven't made the right co

I took her back to my office. I left her petting Gleep and went to talk to Bu

"I admit that there probably isn't a lot of call for insubstantial bird images," Bu

Thanks to advances in magik, most of them pioneered by the Kobolds, reading crystal balls was no longer reserved for people with their own talent, or even in magikal dimensions. Crystals and related philosophical devices like Bytina seemed to generate their own auras. As a result, a virtual industry had sprung up to provide readers with something to look at when they weren't predicting the future. Theatrically minded wizards put on plays. People of every race with way too much time on their hands made images of themselves or their pets. Naturally, Deveels and Perverts figured out a way of promoting commerce through the ether. Practical as ever, the Kobolds themselves began to solicit lists of needs and wants, gathered across the dimensions, which one could read as clearly as a scroll on one's own tabletop. It was through these want ads that we read now.

"Wouldst thou see the universe as more beautiful? Become a traveling peddler in Avalon goods and render those you encounter more fair."

"Troll seek pretty girl. Marry and have babies."

"Earn five hundred gold coins every week in your spare time! Send a nonrefundable twenty-coin deposit for information and a free kit to Evondell, the Bazaar, Deva."

"... Here we go," I said, pointing to an image in crabbed green handwriting in one corner of the image.

The ad read, "Ecologically minded game warden to oversee target range on royal estate. Must love animals. Preserve endangered species for the sake of the royal hunt."

I frowned. "Gee. it sounds like they don't know what they want."

"Don't you know this name?" Bu

I frowned, it sounded familiar. Yes, Massha had told me about him. She had borrowed Gleep to do a favor for a friend, who had ended up married to Prince Bosheer.5

"Yes. I do," I said. "Massha said he's a good guy."

"Should we answer this ad?"

"Oh. I don't know," Fli

I gave her an encouraging smile.

"Why not? It's worth a try. He can always say no. Well cheek with Massha to see what she thinks."

Massha was enthusiastic about the idea of introducing Fli

"He'll think it's a hoot," she promised, so we bamfed over to Whelmet.

4

A complete account can be found in that irreplaceable volume Class Dis-Mythed.

5

The exciting details appear in "Myth-ter Right," one of the many fine stories in Myth-Told Tales.