"It is as I suspected,"

Vernier elaborated.  "Your powers are much more potent if you focus.  It seems you just aren't accustomed to maintaining that level of concentration.  This bears further investigation, but for now, you have a working pair of scry orbs.  It should be possible to communicate with Ash.  Is there anything else we need to do?"

"Actually, yes," I replied.  "We need to make sure they work past the edge of the forest.  Do you mind walking out there?  A path will open for you."

I instructed the trees to guide Vernier along the easiest route to the forest's edge.

"I wish I had known about this path sooner," Vernier remarked into the orb after walking for a few minutes.  "It's a pleasant little stroll."

"Now that you're a bit away, we can speak privately," I whispered, not really knowing what to say, but following some sort of Elfly Intuition.  "You seem rather uncomfortable, my dear.  Would you care to tell me why?  Is everything all right?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," she answered.  "But this seems like something we should discuss face-to-face, not over the orb.  Meanwhile, I'm very interested in determining exactly what are the limits of your power.  It seems that you actually can conjure items from nothing, or bring them forth from somewhere without knowing their location in advance."

"That's theoretically impossible," I pointed out.

"How else can you explain the pair of orbs we're using right now?"

I thought about that for a few seconds, and was about to add another remark, when suddenly the orb went blank.

"VERNIER!" I yelled.  "CAN YOU HEAR ME?  COME IN, VERNIER!  Blast it, she must have reached the edge of the woods.  It's as I feared!  The rabbits' stupid prayers are preventing me from scrying beyond that boundary, even with a set of matched scry-orbs."

I turned and commanded the trees:  "Tell her to come back!  Oh wait, she's not an elf.  She can't hear the Voice of the Forest.  Beckon her to return along the same trail."

While I sat there wondering what to do now, and hoping Vernier had the sense to turn around and come back as soon as she saw the orb go blank, I began to think.  Why had nobody told me it was possible to conjure items up out of thin air, with no raw materials and no hidden stockpile?  Sure, the old tales had made it SEEM that elves of the Long Ago had performed such feats, granting the wishes of lowfolk and whatnot ... but I had been repeatedly assured that these were all just cunning tricks and there were definite limits to what magick could do.  Did my teachers simply not know, or were they deliberately hiding the truth from me?  Had I simply been their pawn the entire time?

Well, yes, of course I had been a pawn.  That fact was clearly established.  BUT WAS THE DECEPTION EVEN DEEPER THAN I HAD HERETOFORE SUSPECTED??  I began to hyperventilate as I contemplated the newfound magnitude of the conspiracy against me.

I was brought back to my senses by an angry cry of "CHEAT!!"

"THOU CHEATEST!!" an Ixie yelled furiously.  "I caught thee meddling with the raccoon monster, and thy wager is forfeit!  She must waken of her own accord, without thy interference."  Several others joined in, heckling one who was hovering timidly behind Burnside.

"Unfair!" the other Ixie protested.  "I merely brushed some stray hair from her face, for verily she looketh quite fetching."

"LIAR AND A CHEAT!" the Ixies clamored.  "Forsooth, no one in their right mind would think she looketh good in those clothes and that garish makeup."

"Hey!" Rebecca interjected.

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