Page 24 of Up in Smoke

“Is the boundary already getting to you?”

“Oh, the boundary was getting to me about five steps after crossing through. I’ll be all right for a few more days. Sometimes, surges can reset the timer, but sometimes, they make the problem worse. I’ve never had a significant problem as long as I’m through in four to five days. That’s when things start getting really sketchy.”

Huh. “I guess it never really occurred to me how good I have it when in the boundary,” I admitted.

“Boundary walkers are even rarer than quadrant masters. Just how good is your tolerance in the boundary?”

“I get a little queasy at worst for a few hours, and then it’s business as usual for the most part.”

Sandro whistled. “If anyone knew you can walk the boundary with that little issue, you would have cost my mother a lot more than you did. I’m grateful nobody clued in you’re that adaptable. Have you been to South America?”

I shook my head. While I’d heard other continents had an easier time with the magic fluxes, I’d never braved crossing the boundary dividing the South from South America. “I’ve heard rumors, but I never went that far south. Have you?”

“I’ve been to Mexico a few times. I wanted to test my luck there. In some ways, it reminds me of the East, although most folks speak Spanish. The boundary does a good job of keeping us divided. It’s a pretty rough crossing. Once I got through, I found out most fly out; flying is a lot safer than trying the crossing on foot. I hadn’t realized there are flights from the South, East, and West into Mexico and beyond. I just assumed. My mother had a great deal of fun chiding me over my assumption, especially when she realized I’d about botched that run.”

I could see Sandro’s mother flipping her lid at the idea of her baby boy getting into trouble. “What went wrong?”

“Well, let’s just say it’s like all the quadrants, plus some bonuses are surging through that boundary line. I could access all branches of my magic, and I had new abilities I had to cope with figuring out. Considering the nature of my magic, that made it a little tricky. I didn’t seem to have the exhaustion problems of the regular boundaries, but the magic is constantly in flux. There’s also storms constantly brewing, so you have to contend with the weather. It’s not like the Alley, though. High winds and rain are the norm. It’s a muddy hike to the other side of the boundary. Once across, I had access to all of my magic, though weaker than in the quadrants. Not much weaker, but weak enough it was easier to manage, honestly. I just had to take care.”

“Poetry and music in the same quadrant could be a problem, since most songs are poems?” I guessed.

“Yeah. I studied in Mexico for six months, learned enough Spanish to get by, and then returned—by plane. I returned to the East, where my mother sent me to my room for a week.” Shaking his head and laughing, he went to work spreading out the sleeping bag over the inflated mat. “I didn’t mind being sent to my room for a week, honestly. I needed the break.”

“Your mom seems like a really nice woman. A little crazy, but she’s nice.”

Sandro chuckled. “A little? I mean, I think she’s nice, but she’s a lot crazy. Dad is definitely the grounding influence in that relationship. My grandparents wrangled Dad for Mom because my mom? Not precisely the most sensible of people when it comes to money.”

“As evidenced by spending how much on me?” I asked, joining him in laughing.

“Yeah. Dad doesn’t even mind, honestly. When he realized you actually tolerate my existence, he liked the general math. It’s a lot cheaper to marry me off to someone sensible and street wise. You’re not going to run the accounts to death. You’re too practical. My mother went overboard on my necklace because she figures you won’t buy anything like that for yourself.”

“She seems to understand how scavengers operate.” I laughed at the idea of going to a jewelry store when I could head to the Alley and search for abandoned treasures in the ruins of storm-ravaged cities. “I do have a question for you.”

“Ask away.”

“Will you come scavenging with me?”

Sandro’s bark of laughter startled me. “If you want to go searching through ruins for valuables, I have no problems following you around and making sure you stay out of trouble. You’ll have to wait until after we keep our word to the Voodoo queens, but if you want to go hunting for treasures, I’m certainly not going to stop you.”

“There are a few city ruins in the West, too! The desert put up a fight and won. I haven’t been to those sites yet, but it would be fun. The West is really pretty, too.”

“We can go sightseeing along with our treasure hunting, sure. We’ll have to do some work between our various adventures, but I think we can handle it.”

“Working together means we work faster, which means we can go exploring faster.” I tested the mat to find it pleasantly soft despite its thinness. I took my shoes off, set them aside, and crawled onto the sleeping bag. “Okay, I could get used to this.”

“Which part? The cozy little nest or the company?”

I flicked one ear forward and the other ear back, debating how best to answer him. “Both,” I finally confessed. “My fox hates being lonely.”

“Foxes are social animals, and there’s enough evidence that even wild foxes will keep and maintain family groups. Well, depending on species. Wild foxes can survive on their own, but they’re happiest with a small family group. I was rather pleased to discover that there are several examples of vixens preferring to mate with the same male repeatedly.” Sandro took off his shoes and joined me on the mat. “Of course, there’s a lot of evidence of hybrids being inclined to keep a singular partner, though there isn’t enough information on whether or not the hybrid sticks around after the children are grown.”

“Yeah. That’s the impression I’ve gotten from my fox. She views men one of two ways. Either he’s only useful for itch scratching, or he’s father material. And she’s inclined to keep the father types and drive off the others once they’ve outlived their usefulness.”

“Well, not quite what I expected to hear, but I’m hopeful as you haven’t driven me out of your territory yet.”

“You have been put in the fatherly category by my fox,” I informed him. “She’s also a little confused by the fact it isn’t winter yet.”

He snickered at that. “Conflict between human and fox nature? Since humans don’t really have a season?”