There had been a leak. How? Did some scientist somewhere blab something to all of his assistants? It was impossible. But the alternative was that a politician had hid all of his thinking and all of his motives all of this time, and then immediately leaked the knowledge behind their backs. Who had it been? Or could some other scryer have found the same truth, realized the same solution, and started upon the exact same invention as the government had? No leaks, just a giant coincidence? Absurd. There had been a leak. Which meant someone didn't like what they were doing and wanted to break it up.

　　Why? Awesome didn't understand. Why, when the reasons were so obvious, so natural, to carry out this task? Why were there still people who disagreed, who wanted to do something else, who got in the way? This was so obviously clear cut. Were they insane?

　　The leak was twofold. One, everyone knew the world was coming to an end. Two, everyone knew about the new aliens and the folding device. Thank God, not everyone owned a folding device. It was complicated and expensive enough that, as far as the government knew, they had the only working prototype. But Wyrds were smart. Anything that could be made, could be replicated. Were there wyrd scientists right now getting classified information, building things in remote corners of etheric space, smuggling parts across the starways? To do what? Invade? Or maybe to live as tourists because it was fun. Or maybe they were so anxious to help out that they wanted to cut in line. Motives could range across the whole spectrum of good to silly to stupid to evil. Just one magic user in the wrong hands could do incalculable damage. I messed up. I thought if wyrds got involved, because we were so advanced and wise, blah blah, we'd be a blessing to these aliens. But what if we're a curse? They were doing just fine without us. I mean, not really. They barely had any Choice Givers left and almost all their paths led to dead ends. But compared to us they were doing just fine. And I just unleashed the whirlwind on them. I have to get down there. No one knows who is capable of what. I have to clean up after my own mess.

　　Awesome trusted exactly two people to carry out this mission. Cyan and Magnolia. Anyone else could be folding into the alien dimension for any reason at all. If only he had been able to make the folding device himself!

　　Meaningless. Another scryer would have eventually made the same discoveries, proposed the same device, and another scientist would have eventually built it. I'm not omnipotent. I'm not the only one allowed choices in the universe. I just. . .I was the first so it's all my fault somehow. But they wouldn't approve his folding. The government was so frustrating!

　　"We only have a prototype, we have to see if it's safe."

　　"Your scrying is invaluable to the Wyrd. We can't risk you."

　　"There are veterans, soldiers, who would be much better suited to this task. Professors of anthropology who can understand primitive cultures. Diplomats who can convince them to accept our help. People with endless qualifications that fit alien encounters and culture-building. Please let them do their job, just like you did yours by alerting us to the situation."

　　I told them in the speech I alerted them with that they had to let me go down there. If they're so grateful, why can't they show that gratitude and let me go where the choices are? Everything was down there! Wyrd space was probably going to become some slaughterhouse, some anarchic survival of the fittest. Life was down there. Let me, Cyan, and Magnolia go down there and enjoy our lives and our friendship where it's safe and new and exhilarating. He told them his price! They couldn't just edit his price out. Not that they had technically told him no. But not letting him be the first person folded? Trusting to 'explorers' and 'soldiers' who 'knew what they were about.' How can you know what you are about in a totally foreign world? How could anything we ever studied have prepared us for this task? This was stupid. Credentials were so stupid.

　　His phone rang. Awesome was excited, then despairing again the next second. It was just Cyan. "Hello?"

　　"Awesome, you'll want to see this. Turn your phone to channel five."

　　"Okay, but this had better not be a Bulls game." Awesome sighed and let his phone project a viewing screen.

　　It was live. A giant horde of journalists were waiting for a spokesman to come out from the Capitol building. The tension was obvious. Everyone knew the world was ending. But did that mean someone would resort to violence? They still had two hundred years left. Could everyone ignore the future and let things return to normal? Or was this just the calm before the storm? No one knew. Just like no one knew how a leak had occurred, who did it, or why someone else wanted a folding device.

　　A spokesman strode forward, smiling and confident. "Greetings, greetings. Everyone take a seat." He wanted for pictures to be taken and the journalists to settle down.

　　"As you know, it has come to the government's attention that the magic is running out. This is a grim, sad fate. But we all knew it was coming, someday. It just happened to be us. I've been advised that there are no good choices, but that doesn't mean we have to make evil ones. Violence is wrong. Murder is wrong. Greed is wrong. Hoarding is wrong. Magic was meant for all of us. No one has more right to it than anyone else. When the magic runs out, it runs out. I utterly abhor, I utterly reject any logic that says we should ration, or restrict magic to any smaller segment of the population. The government will do everything in its power to keep non-state actors in their place. If they think reaching a dead end is a license for murder and mayhem, they will be corrected. We stand ready to enforce the peace wherever violence breaks out." The spokesman let his grim glare fade and tried to relax a bit, to relax his audience a bit.

　　"But this isn't why we assembled you here today." The spokesman reassured the public. "We are here today to celebrate, to discuss a new hope. There are rumors, reports, of a project our government has embarked upon. Some part of them were true. We have found a new, fragile, weak and small sentient alien species. They don't feed on magic like we do. They could continue living and thriving forever, as far as we know. Their universe is brimming with possibilities. But if we don't help them when we have the chance, those possibilities might come to an end. They are an endangered species, though they don't realize it yet. They are in grave danger of flatlining. A handful of Choice Givers live within their society, a society of billions of Dead Enders. Almost every line the future can take leads to extinction or stagnation. To nothing ever changing again. Their society hasn't learned the lessons we have. They are young, silly, like children. They haven't fixed everything they could fix. They haven't invented everything their laws of physics allows them to invent. They don't even know how to scry.

　　"We must give them these gifts. We need to teach them the importance of choice, of possibility. We must show them that the true value of the world is Truth, Beauty, and Love. We must scry for them, tell them when they are going astray, what the consequences of their actions will be before they so foolishly embark upon them. They are blind children who don't know where to go or what to do. And we must protect their remaining Choice Givers, by force if necessary, with all the power we have. Maybe in the next two hundred years we can set them on the right course. By then, we should be able to see the fruits of our intervention. But this isn't just pure charity, they offer us something in return -- they can promise us that when we die, nothing vital dies with us. That some part of us lives on in their souls and their memories. That our civilization and our culture will have meant something, to someone. They can offer us an amazing gift, a chance to stand proudly when the magic runs out, when we all leave this place and meet our Creator. He will ask us, "I gave you these gifts, this long life, this power, and what did you do with it?"

　　"It's important that we answer him with something. Not -- "We killed each other so that we could hoard magic a bit longer for ourselves." Not "We slept in because there was no point doing anything anymore." What if we all went before God, every one of us, and with a clean heart, said, "We made sure that God's will suffused an entire new universe of possibilities. Out of nothing but love. Have we not done well?"

　　"Our government wanted a chance to tell God something like that. And so, we built the folding device. Today we are happy to announce our first pioneer to an alien world. Obviously, he's not here today. The mission and the device must be kept secret for reasons of public safety. But I can announce that we succeeded. The wyrd known as Xanadu is safely living among the aliens. Magic is funneling through his conduit from our world into theirs, so we know Xanadu must be alive and active. However, we have found no way to communicate, or, for that matter, to bring Xanadu back to the etheric plane. His life is with them now. Our scryers can detect the growth and paring of their world's branches. Whether the Choice Givers or the Dead Enders are winning. We will know if Xanadu has done his job without any reports from him. But naturally, we don't expect a single Wyrd to move mountains. We will be sending down more, one Wyrd for every Choice Giver. The best wyrds we have. And if any of those funnels stop and we have reason to believe a wyrd has died, we'll send in another. We won't let this world fail. Not when the hopes and prayers of the entire universe rest upon it. Updates on how the work is proceeding can be expected regularly. That is all."

　　The spokesman gathered up his papers, waited for a few more pictures, refused to answer questions, and walked back into the Capitol building. Awesome released the breath he had been holding. So it had started. It worked. One Wyrd for every Choice Giver. And maybe fifty Choice Givers in the world. Me, Cyan, and Magnolia. Somehow, all three of us have to be among those 50. Those 49. Some bastard 'expert' was already down there taking up a slot. How could he convince them to give up three of just 49 remaining slots? This was terrible.

　　"What do you think?" Cyan asked him over the phone.

　　"I think it was a good speech." Awesome sighed.

　　"Do you think they'll give us three open slots?" Cyan asked.

　　"I don't know." Awesome sighed. "I hope so."

　　"There isn't much time to wait and hope. 49 open slots. Those could all be filled tomorrow. They could all be filled tonight for all we know. Now that they know the folding device works, there's nothing stopping them."

　　Awesome's stomach felt sick again. "I know."

　　"So when are we sneaking in to the Capitol building?" Cyan asked nonchalantly.

　　"What?"

　　"When? Tonight or tomorrow? And are you calling Magnolia or am I?" Cyan followed up.

　　"I don't remember agreeing to sneak into the Capitol building."

　　"You just did. Now, are you going to call Magnolia, or am I?" Cyan repeated.

　　"The Capitol building will be full of security. The folding device may not be operable without enormous numbers of technicians. It could need a week to recharge and be useless even when we got there. Any number of things could go wrong!"

　　Cyan just waited silently on the phone. He had an unnerving ability to know when he'd already won an argument. Which seemed to be every single time. Awesome sat there, petulant, trying to outwait his friend.

　　"Alright. I'll call Magnolia. Let's get together this evening and find a way in. I hope you're secretly a spy or something, because I have no idea how to break in to the most secure building in the universe."

　　"Oh, we're not breaking in. We'll be invited in. You're their top scryer. Get us in, and then we bolt for the folding device room, flip a switch, and we're gone for life before they can say Jack Sesame. Easy, really."

　　"Of course." Awesome piled as much sarcasm as he could on the line. "I guess I can ask them to at least let us see the device being used, since I came up with the idea. They'll probably compromise that far. Then we just break the glass window or whatever and jump. Stupidly enough. . .it sounds like it will work."

　　"Now you're talking. Call Magnolia."

　　"Right. I'm hanging up here then. And Cyan, we don't move until we get that invitation and that tour. Even if it takes me a week." Awesome put his foot down.

　　"Roger that, captain." Cyan hung up.

　　Cyan was a genius. Hope was rushing through his blood again. These were his aliens and he was going to save them. I made first contact. So I'll be the one to meet a Choice Giver. My life story will go on.

* * *

　　Shiori Rin ran the rest of the way home. She needed to run more because the softball tournament was coming up. And she needed to get home in time to eat dinner before Taekwondo practice. It wasn't too far a walk from home to school, so she got back in a flash. She opened the door just by turning the knob and crashed in to the foyer -- her family never bothered to keep it locked because there hadn't been a theft in the neighborhood in living memory.

　　She kicked off her outdoor shoes and slid into her indoor slippers, not wanting to pollute her home with anything from outside, and announced "I'm home!" Between deep breaths from all her running.

　　"Welcome home." She heard from upstairs. Mother must have been on the computer upstairs. "Dinner's ready, but just take a snack or something until Father gets back from work."

　　"That's okay!" Shiori shouted up the stairs. "I had ice cream with Kotone and Chiharu on the way back. I'll hold until dinner."

　　"Oh? How are those two?" Mother called back down. "They were so sweet when we went to the beach together."

　　"They're fine, mother. I had so much fun today. We ate lunch together on the roof, and walked to school together, and everyone hugged me."

　　"Well I hope you hugged them back." Mother 's voice chided her humorously.

　　"Of course! Twice as hard." Shiori bragged. "Do you know when Daddy's coming home? I have Taekwondo practice in thirty minutes."

　　"Oh, that's right. I don't even have a car to drive you there until Father gets home." Mother sounded worried.

　　"That's okay! I can run there. My softball coach told us all to run everywhere until the Nationals."

　　"Oh, please come upstairs and stop yelling up at your mother like we're in a fight, Shiori. When is the National tournament starting?"

　　"Two weeks!" Shiori shouted up the stairs. "I have to go change. This is awful. Softball and Taekwondo in the summer sun, and all this running, and I can't take a bath until tonight."

　　"You could take a bath now." Mother reminded her.

　　"And then run to Taekwondo and back? What's the use?" Shiori griped.

　　"My poor Shiori. Every day is so full of problems."

　　"I really have to get changed and go. I love you Mom. Tell Dad I love him when he gets back and to eat dinner without me!" Shiori Rin rushed into her room and took off her school uniform, hanging it up carefully on her closet door where it wouldn't get wrinkled. Then she grabbed her Taekwondo uniform and pads and mouth guard and stuffed it into her duffel bag. She checked the mirror. Short hair because she was too busy with sports to let it get in her eyes. No figure at all. But she was definitely pretty. Nothing to worry about. Then she struggled into some loose street clothes she could run in, a t-shirt with frills at the bottom and shorts, got out her street shoes and carried them to the foyer in one hand and her duffel bag in the other. Her arm hurt from all those throws and it was pathetic how hard it was to hold her bag with just her arm muscles. But in a few seconds she had struggled into her shoes and properly secured the bundle across her back with tightened straps so it wouldn't bounce when she ran.

　　"I'm off!" Shiori called upstairs to her Mom again.

　　"Have a safe trip." Mother replied.

　　Shiori opened the door and started to bolt away when she practically bulled into her Father.

　　"Daddy!" Shiori's face lit up. "I had the most amazing day. I'm off to Taekwondo. Enjoy dinner."

　　"I can give you a ride." Her father was still trying to recover from the collision, much less the machine gun of sentences.

　　"No need! Love you!" Shiori dashed off before he could give any reply. He would be tired and hungry from work, he hadn't eaten two jumbo scoops of chocolate almond surprise like she had, and the meal was already ready. She bet Mom had been waiting hungrily too. Plus, running was fun. Exercise was fun in general.

　　Shiori paced herself once she was outside the sight of her house, and occasionally had to come to a complete stop to wait for a light to signal 'walk' across the streets. She wasn't tired at all by the time she got to the dojo, where she went to another changing room and got into her Taekwondo gi. It was red, her favorite color. The belt was black. Becoming an ace pitcher and a black belt wasn't that hard. All just manifestations of the same body. Motor control, reflexes, speed and strength. There were girls with black belts younger than her. But she knew all the skill in the world couldn't beat an adult. Her elbows and fists and kicks didn't have any weight behind them. Oh, she could break plywood boards, but it's not like muggers just sat there waiting for you to hit them, and their reach was so much further than hers that they'd probably just pick her up and dangle her by her legs the first kick she threw.

　　Shiori didn't train in Taekwondo to avoid muggings. There had never been any muggings in Inazumu. She didn't like hurting people either. It's just that it felt good to have such perfect control of your own body. She wasn't super bright, and she didn't want to study all day every day. So she practiced Taekwondo and asked Chiharu for help before tests. Chiharu Sakai was the smart one. She was always up at the top of the class rankings. She was also the one who chose what pitches Shiori should throw and where. It all worked out. She'd rather be pretty like Kotone than smart like Chiharu, but she had earned this black belt herself. With her own skill. This ability was hers alone. It was important that she was the best at something among her friends, or she'd start to feel like she didn't belong. She didn't want her friends to put up with her out of pity.

　　"Rin! Demonstrate the form at the front of the class."

　　"Yes, teacher!" Shiori rose from sitting on her heels. Here we go. "Kyaa!" Side kick. Step forward. Elbow. Punch punch punch. "Kyaa!" front kick. Axe kick. Left roundhouse. Reverse roundhouse. Jumping reverse roundhouse. Shiori smiled, still perfectly balanced and in the place from which she had launched herself. She took a guard stance and then left it, turning and bowing to her master.

　　"Good. You may sit."

　　"Yes, teacher." Shiori bowed again and walked back around the mat, trying to keep out of the limelight. But she couldn't stop smiling at how cool she must have looked.

　　Once lessons were done she was putting her shoes back on and strapping her duffel bag on her back. She was sweating horribly and it was still hot outside even with the sun down. Her casual clothes would be drenched. At least her school uniform would be clean in the morning. Mother would have seen to that. That or replaced it with another set. The uniform was cute. The dress shirt was white, while the skirt was plaid, with red and brown and green checkered squares, and hung below the knees. There was a little shield on her right breast with the initials of her school, and it was colored blue for her first year. They had a white beret, like the French wore, to cover their hair on the way to school, but you had to take it off once you actually arrived. High schoolers got much cuter uniforms, with overcoats and a ribbon tie on the front. But that was ages away.

　　"See you again Rin!" Futabe said as dusk fell in and she got into her parent's car.

　　"See you again Futabe!" Shiori waved.

　　"Byebye, Rin. See you again." Her other classmates vanished into the night. She waved and told them all goodbye. Then she started to jog again. A bath would feel so good.

　　I've got to get a more sane schedule. I can't stay late for club practices with softball and attend Taekwondo classes and do homework. I was just lucky because it was the first day and the teachers didn't want to assign us anything. I'll ask Mom to reassign my schedule to just the weekends now that school has begun. Shiori should have done this before summer break ended but it never occurred to her. She just slipped into vacations like a glove and never woke up until they were over.

　　The night was gorgeous. The city had lights everywhere, with billboards and store windows advertising everything. The streets were still pretty crowded with people trying to get back home. Just like me. They're probably thinking of me as a 'crowded street' and they're the only real human. Shiori smiled at the image. Vending machines were still offering cool drinks, in season for the summer, and various snacks. If she ate another snack without touching any of Mother's dinner Mother would kill her. She passed a few barking dogs out on walks, and paused to pet them all until they stopped barking and started liking her.

　　"Hi Mrs. Aede!" Shiori waved to her neighbor, who was watering her flower garden.

　　"Why hello Rin. First day back from school?"

　　"No, now I'm coming back from Taekwondo practice." Shiori ran in place, because she'd never brush off an adult who was talking to her.

　　"Well, hurry back to your parents. I'm sure they're worrying." Aede smiled at her.

　　"They won't worry. This neighborhood is completely safe." Shiori argued.

　　"Streets are never safe at night. And parents are always worried." Mrs. Aede took an extremely stern pose with her arms crossed. "If those two lost their only child, a tiny little daughter, what would become of them?"

　　Shiori felt a little awkward. She knew how fragile her parent's happiness was. Being an only daughter meant she couldn't mess up at anything. If she started using drugs, or failing school, or getting in fights, they couldn't rely on any other child to make them proud. It was all on her. If she hurt herself in any way, she'd ruin the entire meaning of their lives. They had spent their lives making her, so she had to make sure she didn't break. She always looked both ways before crossing a street, avoided anything that would catch a cold -- like Chiharu's puddle jumping! -- and stayed kilometers away from any bad influences. I'm their entire life. The pillar of their happiness. I know I have to be strong. All the way until they're eighty and I'm sixty and I'm taking care of them every day, I have to be strong for them. All the way. But I don't want to think about all that work at once. I just have to be strong one day at a time, do what's expected of me that day. If I tried to think about all the work I have to do for the rest of my life to not hurt them, I'd go crazy.

　　"I'll be careful Mrs. Aede. See you next time."

　　"See you next time, Rin dear." Mrs. Aede relaxed, the child properly lectured.

　　Shiori finally made it back home, unstrapping her duffel bag and kicking off her shoes, breathing heavily through her mouth. "I'm home." She called out.

　　"Welcome home," her mother replied again, this time from the kitchen. "Come fetch your dinner before I put away all the plates."

　　Shiori put her indoor slippers on. "Yes mother. Is the bath ready?"

　　"Yes, but your father's using it right now, so you may as well come eat."

　　"Fineeeeeeeeee." She had so wanted to take a bath.

　　"Do you have any homework?" Her mother asked as Shiori fetched herself a cup of tea, a bowl of rice and a bowl of soup full of tofu, vegetables, seaweed and pork or maybe beef. It looked delicious.

　　"Nothing, thank goodness. Mother, could you reschedule my Taekwondo to just Sunday? I can't possibly juggle all these activities at once."

　　"Of course dear. I'll call your instructor tomorrow and explain."

　　"Thanks. Itadakimasu." Shiori Rin properly recited before she took her first bite of food. She could snack on some ice cream without saying it in front of her friends, but she couldn't imagine eating dinner at a table in front of her Mother without showing any manners. She'd kill me.

　　Once dinner was over, Shiori got up to help with the dishes, but there weren't many left to do anymore and Mother shooed her away. "Go take your bath. Tell Father to get out if he hasn't already."

　　"Okay." Shiori walked to the bathroom and knocked politely on the door. "Daddy. Mother says to get out already."

　　"I'm already out, just give me a chance to dress." Father reported with a sense of being unjustly accused.

　　Shiori Rin stepped back into the living room and turned on the TV, politely waiting her turn. It was a news item on a guy supposedly performing miracles. Healing the sick. Summoning fishes and loaves of bread. Straight out of the story books. No one had figured out his trick. Some people thought he should be put in jail, but no one could point to any harm he was doing. He was just a really, really good magician. A new Houdini.

　　"This again?" Shiori's Father walked up behind her. "The office won't stop talking about it. The explosions, flashes of light. There have been videos of people flying in midair. And now miracles from the Bible. The same nonsense all over the world."

　　Shiori watched intently. "They must have been on wires or something. Or the tapes were doctored. It must be like some giant hacker worldwide project that they decided to do together for fun."

　　"Even so, it's strange. No one has figured out how they're doing it. People have been hurt. I don't like it." Her father sighed, as a journalist dug into the fish and showed it was real genuine food, not rubber or paper mache or something.

　　"Surely no one's been hurt by this one. He's healing the sick." Shiori said.

　　"He's pretending to heal the sick. And no, not this one. Others. A new one seems to show up every day." Father was patient, but he never let a mistake go uncorrected. He was very good at looking over her homework.

　　"I have to take a bath. Anyway, it's all very far away from here. This is like the safest city on Earth. No thieves in living memory." Shiori Rin reminded Daddy, because he seemed to genuinely be worrying.

　　"That's right. That's why we moved here, so our precious Shiori could grow up safe and sound. Nothing will happen here. It's probably just hacked footage anyway. Probably, nothing has happened anywhere." Shiori went to take her bath. Father didn't sound convinced. Father was trying to reassure himself. That was really strange.

　　Shiori undressed yet again, then showered down. Mother would want to use the tub after her, so she couldn't take too long. But she wanted a long time because today had been exhausting. Plus, she had had that heat stroke she wasn't about to tell her parents about. Relaxing in the bath tub was the best solution she had come up with. She hadn't felt thirsty at all, though she'd forced herself to drink a lot of water afterwards. Shiori rubbed her arms with a sponge until all the pain in her muscles was gone, then she got up, turned off the shower, and settled into the bathtub's warm water. There was no time to daydream. She just had to relax and soak as fast as possible. She wasn't sure how to relax quickly but she was sure she could get the hang of it.

　　Ten minutes or so had passed and she wondered if she'd dozed off when her mother knocked on the door and asked how she was doing.

　　"Five more minutes." Shiori raised her voice to reach beyond the door. She sat in the tub as long as she dared, then realized she hadn't shampooed her hair yet and got to work. She was still dressing when her mother knocked on the door again.

　　"Almost out! I promise!" Shiori jumped on one foot trying to put her sock on. Her hair could dry instantly because it was short. She checked for anything left over in the bathroom and then walked out in a stately manner.

　　"I swear. You certainly enjoy your baths." Mother had her arms crossed.

　　Shiori thought about something snide like, "Better than not taking any," but it wasn't lady-like, and it was rude to her Mother, who just wanted to take a bath like anyone else on Earth after a long day.

　　"I'm sorry, I think I dozed off." Shiori placed her hand in front vertically in front of her face and gave a little bow, closing her eyes. She'd stick her tongue out and bite it, but that was more for friends and less for dignified parents.

　　"It's okay dear. Go on to bed then." Mother closed the bathroom door behind her and Shiori was left to herself again. You see? Just be honest and thoughtful and I'll never have to get into any fights. I'm glad I didn't give the glib response.

　　Shiori was tired. She brushed her teeth in the bathroom upstairs, that just had a toilet and sink. Then she stared into the mirror wondering what she was supposed to do next. Had she packed her school swimsuit? I did that yesterday. It's still in my bag since I thought we would be swimming today. Shiori walked into her room and checked to see if her school uniform was clean. Then she checked to see if her alarm was set. She sat on her bed wondering what she'd forgotten, but she was simply too tired to guess. Maybe nothing. So she got back up, turned off the lights, undressed again, and got into bed. Half of every day was simply dressing and undressing. So tired.