This story is no longer available in the Strange Horizons Archive by request of the author.

Ellen Kushner weaves together multiple careers as a writer, radio host and performer. In 1996 she created PRI's award-winning weekly series, Sound & Spirit, now heard on over 125 stations nationwide. Her novels are Thomas the Rhymer, Swordspoint, and (with Delia Sherman) The Fall of the Kings. Kushner is an active member of the Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts. For more about her, see her Web site.

Swordspoint will be reprinted by Bantam in February, 2003, with all three of the short stories that connect it to The Fall of the Kings, including this one.