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meditate, when I heard soft footsteps outside, and in a moment Master Caldrea entered alone. He closed the door behind him, and stood with his back to it, studying me.
    “Good morning,” I said. “You were quite right about the breakfast they serve here—I can’t remember a better one. Please pass my appreciation on to the cook.”
    “I will do that,” Master Caldrea replied. “Praise from Soukyan is praise indeed.”
    He smiled at me, and kept smiling, as I looked down at my woman’s body, unable to see any sign that my enchantment had dissolved. “No, have no fear—you are still the gracious and winning Madame Jalsa, as far as human eyes are concerned. But you may as well let the mask fall, don’t you think? It will serve you no further, I promise, and I would be greatly pleased to see young Soukyan in his own person again. I really was fond of the rascal, you know.” His voice was pensive, curiously regretful. “Speaking for myself, I privately respected his flight from what we offered him, and could not help applauding his success in avoiding so many trackers for so many years. You have all my admiration, my friend.” He bowed his head briefly over his clasped hands.
    “You knew,” I said. “From the beginning?”
    Master Caldrea smiled, a bit smugly, as he had every right to do. “Do you imagine yourself to be the first who has ever come here behind another face? Never underestimate the power of an old house, Soukyan. It was the house itself that recognized you—it was the house that told me who you were, before ever I came downstairs to greet you. The house knows its own.” He chuckled softly. “Actually, the house was quite pleased to see you. I think it has rather missed you, all these years.”
    The Jalsa-spell barely brushed my face as it slipped away as lightly as it had come. Master Caldrea regarded me thoughtfully, shaking his head very slightly. “Ah, they have been hard years, have they not?”
    “I was an ugly baby,” I said.
    Master Caldrea smiled. “I was not speaking of features, but of expressions. Man or woman, your eyes betray your life. Had you remained with us…” He did not finish.
    I said, “Had I accepted, I would have been like you. I’d have spent my life trafficking in pathetic secrets and fears, blackmail and lies and meaningless mysteries. It was not for me, none of it.”
    His smile hardened. “What was not for you was power. Not because you did not want it—oh, I do remember you, Soukyan—but because you wanted it too much, and you knew you did. In that sense, you were quite wise to run off—I only marvel that you dared to return, and in such a manner.” He paused, cocking his head. “Would you care to tell me your reason?”
    “I came to destroy the Hunters,” I said. “I am tired of them, and it is time for them all to be gone. That is my reason.”
    It should tell you something important about Master Caldrea that he neither laughed outright, nor gave any indication that he was doing so inwardly. Rather, he nodded slowly, as though I had confirmed a pet speculation of his, and responded after a moment, “How fortunate that you should have chosen just this moment to revisit us, then. How very fortunate for everyone involved.”
    I stared. Master Caldrea said, “You see, as you might imagine, the Hunters are extremely eager to rid themselves of you. Indeed, they are quite literally born with that desire burning in their veins. I cannot tell you how gratified I am that you will be able…well, to gratify them in their yearning, their hunger. “ He spread his hands, and his smile was gone. “It has been a long frustration, you will agree.”
    “And will be longer,” I said, though my blood had abruptly begun roiling in my own veins. “A pity to rouse their hopes. The Hunter has not yet been born who stands any chance against me.” Noise, all bluster, and I knew it. But Master Caldrea nodded again, more vigorously this time, as though he thoroughly