It was wet. The land was faintly purple with recent rain, and there were puddles, pools, and ponds in all the hollows. They had to navigate carefully to find a route between them, and their feet were sticky with mud. Purplish clouds hovered low, as if awaiting their chance to strike when least convenient. Nydia thought of Fracto, back in Xanth, who reveled in raining on parades. Could he have a cousin here?

  “Uh-oh,” Vinia said. “Mischief we can’t avoid.”

  “We can’t back off and take another route?” Nydia asked, dismayed.

  “No. The paths are mixed, but there’s one that can’t be denied. We have to take it.” She took a breath. “It’s not dangerous to us, just complicated.”

  “We trust your paths,” Noe said encouragingly.

  Yes, they did. “We’ll take it,” Nydia said.

  Ahead loomed a dense, deep purple storm. Nerine nudged her companion. “I can abate that,” Flood said.

  “No,” Vinia said. “The green says we have to go into it.”

  Flood shrugged. He had offered.

  They had no choice but to forge through it, getting soaked in rain that looked like fresh grape juice. Water coursed to either side, and they had to splash through shallow purple puddles. Fortunately, Vinia was able to keep them on a safe route. There were no hungry monsters. Maybe they didn’t like to get wet.

  There was a faint flash ahead. “That’s a Drom,” Favew flashed. “In trouble. It’s a distress signal.”

  “That’s where the path goes,” Vinia said.

  They came to a rushing river. It seemed to have two channels. A Drom was trapped on a kind of island between them. The water was eating away at the sand. Soon the Drom would be caught and washed away.

  “A damsel in distress,” Moonroe said with a faint echo of his former smile. The Droms were unisexual, but this did seem to fit the case.

  Vinia glanced at Flood. “Now use your power.”

  “Gladly.” He gestured and the storm froze between them and the trapped Drom. The river also halted as if abruptly frozen. They walked across, tramping on solidified warm water, Favew leading. He flashed to the other Drom. She flashed back. Nydia was glad yet again that a native was with them because otherwise the other Drom would have feared an alien invasion.

  They reached the island. Favew had a flashing dialog with the other Drom, the translator picking up only fragments. Then he addressed the group. “This is Wavef. She studies the environment. Her town of Metro is threatened by flooding, so she went out to investigate, trying to determine what is causing the disruption. She got so absorbed in the study that she forgot to make sure she had a safe escape route, and got caught when the river sprouted a second channel behind her. She was afraid she was doomed until we came. She is amazed by the way you froze the water in place without it being cold; she knew then that you were no ordinary creatures. I explained that you are friends from another galaxy with peculiar powers. She is partly reassured.”

  Which made sense, Nydia realized. It was hardly possible to trust outright alien creatures at the outset. They could be anything from curious passersby to downright killers. How could she reassure this person?

  Noe stepped up to join them. “Hello. I am Noe, a person of no account. I assure you that we mean you no harm, Wavef. We are up against the same problem you are in our galaxy, and came here in significant part to discover the cause and deal with it. We’re really on the same team. We can certainly use your expertise, and hope you will agree to help us.”

  Nydia saw Santo faintly nodding, and Favew, too, in subdued flashing. Just as Noe had helped them relate to Favew, she was now helping them with Wavef. Noe’s name might mean nothing, but that was deceptive. She was something. She was doing what Nydia herself should have done: establishing what they all had in common.

  Meanwhile, Flood gestured at the storm surrounding their position, and it grudgingly faded out. The landscape remained soaked, but no more water was falling.

  Soon Wavef was indeed merging with the group. Still, she stayed close to Favew, the one familiar person there, although they had no prior acquaintance. She had studied the larger situation and clarified it for them, approximately assisted by Rob’s telepathy. “The planet of GEH has five main sections, each dominated by an Element. At one end it is Fire, followed by ours, Water, then Air, Earth, and Void. Hitherto we have coped with mainly background phenomena, but recently, they have magnified and are causing us real distress. We need to discover what is agitating them before they do us significant harm.” Her flashes paused briefly. “This is true elsewhere in the galaxy too. We observe and are in touch with other planets, which are similarly changing. I believe that something is affecting the black hole that is the center of our galaxy, causing it to flicker. That effect may be minor for the black hole, but it is devastating to we folk on the fringe of it.”

  Now Nydia spoke. “I am Nydia Nymph, the leader of our Quest, oriented on the same purpose. Are you familiar with the Andromeda mythology?”

  There was a dark flash. “I place no credence in mythology. It attempts to explain natural phenomena in a manner that appeals to the more ignorant among us, but I am a scientist.”

  Already Nydia liked this person better. “We agree, in general. But our home world is governed by magic rather than science, and it is possible that magic is significant in this galaxy of yours also. Mythology relates more closely to magic than to science. The story of Princess Andromeda chained as a sacrifice to a monster becomes more persuasive in this context. The approach of the monster might account for the fluxes in the black hole.”

  Wavef paused thoughtfully. “This is an alternate manner of thinking. If I assume that magic is like a different kind of science, I can begin to make sense of it. But what kind of monster could it be?”

  “A giant black hole. Its approach could be disturbing the existing black holes in our vicinity, making them flicker.”

  “So it could,” Wavef agreed in flashing wonder. “But it seems demented to think that such a phenomenon could be sent here because of personal spite. The universe is not a living thing.”

  “Can we be sure it’s not? We know so little of what is beyond our immediate grasp, let alone beyond our world or galaxy.”

  There were more thoughtful flashes. “We do indeed! We cannot afford to be limited by our ignorance. Assuming for the sake of this dialog that this myth is the case, what possible way could there be to save Andromeda?”

  Nydia saw the others staying out of it. It was up to her to suggest an answer, however far-fetched it might be. Fortunately, the effect of the elixir of the Ein Stein remained, keeping her smart. She was able to draw from her template, assembling incidental facts into a larger speculation whose complexities would have wiped out her belief had she paused for sensible consideration. So she didn’t pause. “Five of the members of this Quest are personifications of Elements. One remained in this planet’s fire section to control the fires there, saving the people. Another is Water, whose power you have witnessed. The chained maiden, Andromeda, is the personification of Change or Flux. She is outstandingly beautiful. The monster could even be the black hole from which the universe itself sprang long ago. Perhaps it is hungry for the kind of beauty it lacks. Maybe we need to persuade it not to consume, but instead to marry Andromeda, making that beauty its own. In the mythology, she married her rescuer, but we can try to make the monster her rescuer instead. Once it is satisfied, the local fluxes should stop, saving the rest of us.”

  “Marry?”

  Uh-oh. “It is a long-term commitment our kind makes, wherein two people agree to associate closely and raise a family together.”

  “Oh, we do something similar. Because juveniles require protection and attention.”

  “Exactly. If the monster marries Andromeda, it won’t consume her. Instead, it would become her protector.”

  “And you mentioned personifications of Elements. This does not make sense to me.”

  “I have a special wand that can conjure the essence or spirit of something into a selected body, providing it with intelligence and feeling. My companion Vol is the personification of the Void. Voids still exist, here and in our own galaxy, but lack that awareness.”

  Wavef’s lens flickered briefly on Vol. “Perhaps it is best that those other Voids remain bodyless and unconscious.”

  “I agree. Vol is all I can handle.”

  Wavef’s lens tilted slightly as she looked at Nydia, evidently an expression of marvel. “You interest me. You are making nonsense almost palatable.”

  Indeed. “Meanwhile, we have more immediate problems to handle. Such as seeing to the survival of your species and ours. Should we visit your town and see what we can do for your folk?”

  “Maybe we should,” Wavef flashed.

  They set off for the town of Metro, Wavef and Favew leading the way with the agreement of Vinia’s green paths. The route was devious because of the pools collected all around, but there was always a way through.

  They came to a massive dam that was barely containing its brimming water. “This is the last of a series of dikes we use to shield our town,” Wavef explained. “Recent heavy rains have filled the others to their bursting points, literally. When this one goes, there will be no further protection for Metro.”

  Flood stared at it. The water sank until the lakebed was empty. It did not drain, it simply faded. “That should help for a few days,” he said.

  “But what about thereafter? The rains have been almost continuous.”

  “What indeed,” Nerine said thoughtfully

  Nydia saw the way of it. Flood and Nerine would be staying here to protect the town while the others moved on.

  They came to the settlement. The outer wall resembled the dam they had passed, massive and tight. There was no entrance gate, but rather an elevated track that rose up over the wall and on down inside. Water could not use that to get in. But if it ever did get in, perhaps by spilling over the lowest section, the town would become a vast bowl of purple soup.

  Wavef and Favew ascended the track and met with the guards at the top. Then they flashed back to the Quest members. “Come on over!”

  Yes, it was really good to have natives representing them.

  There followed a meeting with the equivalent of the town elders, facilitated by the improving translator and Rob’s telepathy. Wavef described Flood’s magic with water, and Favew told of the visitors’ origin in the other galaxy. Then Nydia described their mission to ease the fluxes in the black holes and make the survival of all creatures in both galaxies more likely. It was apparent that Wavef was held in high esteem, and her endorsement of the visitors was potent. But there were, of course, those who doubted, as their persistent flashes showed.

  Then another storm surged toward the town, raining with such ferocity that water coursed everywhere inside and outside the wall. The indications were that it would continue indefinitely. Wavef was concerned. It was perfect timing for a demonstration.

  Flood and Nerine walked out to the ramp and up to the top of the wall, shielded from the deluge by a seemingly invisible curtain of dryness that surrounded them. Then he raised his arms as if in prayer, and the torrent ceased. The cloud shrank like a punctured balloon and disappeared. The starshine of day resumed.

  They returned to the meeting. Now Nerine spoke. “We realize that the rains will return when Flood departs. We love being part of the Quest, but as with Flame and Noletta, we are obliged to support it by making this sacrifice. So we are prepared to stay here with you, suppressing the weather, until the others succeed in eliminating the larger problem. Then we can return as a group to our home galaxy and world. Are you amenable?”

  There was no hesitation, even from the prior naysayers. They wanted the protection that had been so dramatically demonstrated, and they would treat the couple like the honored guests they were.

  Wavef elected to remain with the Quest, assisting with Drom contacts in the other sections. Nydia suspected she liked Favew, as well as the chance to do something positive about the weather.

  They were given a suite similar to the one they had used in the prior town, and set about relaxing. Then Favew approached Nydia while the others were busy. She turned on the translator. “We have a private problem we do not wish to discuss in public,” he flashed. “May we acquaint you with it and seek your input?”

  “Of course,” Nydia agreed, hoping it was not that he and Wavef had had second thoughts and decided to remain after all here in her home zone, deserting the Quest. Even in this brief acquaintance, she had come to know and like the Droms, and to value their assistance. But their participation in the Quest had to be voluntary. She braced herself to be accepting of their choice. “Come in.”

  Favew flashed backwards, and Wavef came forward to join him. They entered the apartment Nydia was sharing with Vol, who stood in the background observing. He was still learning the ways of human social interaction, much as the Droms were, and taking his cues from Nydia.

  Now Wavef flashed. “First, background. As I understand it, our social conventions roughly parallel yours. We form couple bonds with those we find compatible and maintain them until the offspring we generate mature sufficiently to function independently. It is what you term romance; couples do enjoy the process of generating progeny. Other members of the community do not interfere with such commitments, lest they cause annoyance or a scandal. But those others do judge the likely viability of individual couples and treat them as they seem to deserve. Social approval is important.”

  “I understand,” Nydia said. “The social aspect can be overwhelming.” As with the general condemnation of nymphs as wantons good for Only One Thing. She still smarted from that former disapproval, though she had been unaware of it until she left the Retreat and learned of the larger realm. She did not like being a second-class citizen, even in retrospect.

  “Normally, Droms remain with their peer groups until two are attracted to each other and become a couple. As a couple, they can travel from group to group, accepted. But two Droms who are not a couple do not associate closely outside the group. We both wish to travel with your unit, to assist in completing your Quest, as it affects all of us. This means we should become a couple to avoid social censure. But we hardly know each other, and prefer to remain apart until we understand each other well enough to decide on coupledom. We might discover differences that would negate a more personal relationship. We prefer to keep it a business association for the interim. This is a problem. We do not wish to have to choose between the mission and social acceptance.”

  Nydia realized that this would be like an unrelated human man and woman sharing a house without being married. They might have perfectly sensible reasons to do so. But that would be severely frowned on by the community, and the dread Adult Conspiracy, if the Droms had the equivalent, might strike in some awful way. It was a legitimate problem.

  “We hope you can draw on your alien culture for some guidance,” Wavef flashed. “You should be relatively objective, as we may not be.”

  Her supposed objectivity was turning out to be no help at all. Nydia simply had virtually no practical experience with social nuances, local or alien. Her commitment to Vol had been based on her need to recruit him as an Element and his need for supportive company. That had rapidly become love, but only because they were lucky. Luck was by definition chancy. These two needed more certainty, which they were sensible to seek. What to say to them?

  “Clarify details,” Anthem Ant suggested inaudibly. “Stall until something occurs.” There was encouraging background music.

  “Look for some new attack on the problem from an alternate direction, thus slaying it,” Knight Knife said.

  “Explore for something perhaps concealed by illusion,” Wanda Wand said. “The problem itself may be illusory.” She didn’t think much of the Conspiracy, which she saw as a construct by folk who liked imposing their foibles on others.

  Nydia considered their suggestions, which made sense according to their perspectives but not necessarily to hers, trying to meld them into a viable whole.

  “Consider the larger picture,” Vol said. “There may be special aspects that change its nature when considered.” He had learned to pick up on her private companions, and got along with them. Anthem was reading his thoughts and presenting them as silent speech.

  The larger picture included several couples, one of which was more apparent than real: Santo and Noe, and their social convenience. Where was there a useful analogy? Nydia was stumped.

  Then the elements, as it were, connected. She knew what to say.

  She said it. “On occasion, appearance may be more important than reality. For example, our culture’s usual couples consist of one man and one woman. Remember, we have two sexes. But some relationships have two men or two women. Some folk condemn that, and that complicates general acceptance. So sometimes they, well, fake it. That is, they pretend. This is the case with Santo and Noe. Both of you know Noe, who is very accepting of unusual folk, as you are to us.”

  “Noe,” the two flashed almost together. They liked her.

  “We are all very much concerned with the salvation of our cultures and our worlds,” Nydia continued. “If these are lost, the approval or disapproval of other members of our species will hardly matter. So the Quest really is more important. But appearances do count. So I recommend that you do as Santo and Noe do, and fake it until such time as you are able to make an informed couple decision. Even if you are not romantic in private, you both need understanding and support, and you can provide that for each other. Your relationship can be real, just not exactly what others assume it is.”