Mary Malone ructing a mirror. Not out of vanity, for stle of t, but because sed to test an idea sed to try and catc truments in ory so improvise erials at hand.

    Mulefa tectle use for metal. traordinary tone and als tive nuggets of copper and otals t toolmaking. tal. Mulefa couples, for example, on entering marriage, he same meaning as a wedding ring.

    So ted by t  valuable possession.

    Atal, tif onis one day tac ure magnifying glass, o burn a design onto a dry branc  w  Shadows.

    t time, but t  t lie across ter and sat on talked, until Mary sae surface. So ted Atal; but as ted up from t ouc: If tist in ten million years found it, till find S, because Ive .

    Sed into a sun-doped reverie until Atal asked:

    are you dreaming?

    Mary tried to explain about ory, ticles, tastical revelation t tale gripping  so be back among .

    S expect Atal to folloly because of  command of t partly because tical, so strongly rooted in t sical; but Atal surprised her by saying,

    Yes, ... and t sounded like t.

    Mary said, Light?

    Atal said, Not lig... and said to catc on er  sunset, and t comes off in brig t, but it is a make-like.

    Make-like erm for metaphor, Mary had discovered.

    So s is not realty lig you see it and it looks like t liger at sunset?

    Atal said, Yes. All too. t is  like t . Even t  Mary couldnt e clearly enougo say: sometrunk.

    Mary ed. So keep o find t words.

    do you kno it!  come from?

    From us, and from tals reply, and Mary kne seedpod wheels.

    From you?

    trees it  vanis stays among us.

    o keep . One of to suspect about S cs reacted to tly, or attracted different kinds of Sivity.  Lyra said t tists in  about Dust, w was again.

    And it ed to o er screen just before s ever it ion, it o do  cory symbolized in tory of Adam and Eve; emptation, tigations among fossil skulls,  around ty t increase aken place in ticles associated  in evolution, to make ts.

    So Atal:

    here been mulefa.

    And Atal said:

    ty-thousand years.

    So read Marys expressions by time, or t obvious of t least, and s ter ious t Mary usually o join in, but now sounded and said:

    ly? Do you ory of all those years?

    Oal. Ever since hing.

    o give you the sraf?

    e discovered o use ture o play, and as she played she…

    She?

    Sself the snake said...

    to her?

    No, no! It is a make-like. tory tells t t; do you kno; So t;Put your foot t; So s a foot in  range and pleasant t sed to s at once h

    e took t t grazers. tree, and all tures and plants.

    Because t, said Mary.

    Yes, to use to ride to generate tayed  to plant more seedpod trees for t t ted. So t mulefa sa do to rees, rees ogether.

    Mary directly understood about a quarter of al  by questioning and guessing s t quite accurately; and ime. t it became, as eac suggested ions, eac direction.

    But ser t of sraf, because t ; and t  the mirror.

    It o ter t suggested it. Reflected lig mig ticles, oo.

    I cant see sraf as you can, s I o make a mirror out of t mig.

    Atal ed by t at once and began to gat Mary needed. As a token of good luck t.

    t of anotree, ed for t purpose. By boiling t in tilled fruit juice, tance like milk in consistency, and delicate amber in color, o ty coats on a base of ing eac clot, and gradually build up a surface of great  opaque  sometimes t it transparent, and t ed Mary: because ty as t split lig w you saw double.

    S sure o do, except t s if s fretting, or nagging . Sing t Keats to Lyra, and Lyras understanding at once t t e of mind  was w Mary o find now.

    So s piece of a  tone (no metal: no planes) until it  as s. t  .

    ted tal,  sending, and asked permission to take some sap. to let  too busy to be concerned. itals icky, resinous sap, and til to use.

    ttony fiber from anot to apply it, and folloructions of a craftsman, sed ime as t letting it cure un ted on over forty coats, s count, but by time , t least five millimeters thick.

    After tly, in smoots, until he labor no more.

    t.

    Next morning t to  s , tiger ticks ighter spaces.

    It urned to ttlement, t Mary could begin to experiment, or rato play, since sill didnt  she was doing.

    First sried using t simply as a mirror, but for lack of a silvered back, all sion faintly in the wood.

    t t  s t;  flat  a backing anyway?

    tting to leave t ake time, too, but at least sting it very delicately from taking test of care not to scratc eventually removing most of torn and splintered uck immovably to the pane of clear, hard varnish.

    S er. Did ten if it got ? No, said er in t, it  like t in a stone bo looked and smelled to Mary like an acid.

    t  all, rigued by  and o sely onto telling  by grinding and dissolving and distilling a mineral t t yet visited. Gradually tened and came free, and Mary   of clear bro the size of a page from a paperback book.

    Sop, until bot and smoot mirror.

    And w...

    Noticular. It ly clear, but it s one quite close to t and about fifteen degrees upward.

    S op of ther.

    So sook tried to score a line across t so s it in tone, so score a line deep enougo risk snapping t. Sick under tting glass, and it worked: now swo ss.

    S togetograper it emply different cast to t t there was no sign of Shadows.

    S, c a , a curious ts normal color, but brighter and more vivid.

    At t point Atal came along to see w she was doing.

    Can you see sraf now? she said.

    No, but I can see otried to show her.

    Atal erested, but politely, not  ing Mary, and presently tired of looking ttled doo maintain imes t of pure sociability, and once or tal ed Mary to attend to urn, let Atal tidy  trunk lifted it and let it fall, stroking and massaging her scalp.

    S Atal ed t do surface smooteflon t rested on tral urned. tours matcly, of course, and as Mary ran exture: it ure,  itself together again.

    Atal act. o marry a zalif from outside; but contact  easy, and sometimes Mary t t Atal  ure. So s begrudge time s o clean t and grime t accumulated t oil gently over als trunk lifted and straightened her hair.

    al  o urned back to  at once she made her discovery.

    Ses a  so t t clear, brig something had happened.

    As sal. t of t t point souc h her oily fingers.

    Atal, she called. Quick! Come back!

    Atal turned and wheeled back.

    Let me take a little oil, Mary said, just enougo put on the lacquer.

    Atal  ced one of t substance.

    tes togeto spread t once more.

    And ograms . Everyal : sparkles of liging and drifting and sometimes moving in a current of purpose. Among it all rees; but . It didnt obscure t made them clearer.

    I didnt kno iful, Mary said to Atal.

    is,  is strange to t you couldnt see it. Look at ttle one...

    Sed one of ter grassopping to examine a leaf, falling over, scrambling up again to rusell racted again by a piece of stick, trying to pick it up, finding ants on runk and ing ation. ters, ts, tronger t by muc unlike t tle ss of intention t eddied and broke off and drifted about, to disappear as new ones were born.

    Around ronger, and ts ttled and poone, making tis or tortillas, c time; and t, t baty and wise care.

    So at last you can see, said Atal. ell, no come h me.

    Mary looked at . Atal’s tone range: it  change.

    And ot of ters, from along t strangers, too, mulefa eady.

    I go? Mary said. hey all coming here?

    Dont al, come   you.

    It seemed to ing, for to go and o expect. t t  least, Mary estimated, o. tting sun spread its o oil, part warm fles horselike smell.

    Atal urged ohe mound.

    Mary said,  is ell me!

    No, no... Not me. Sattamax will speak...

    Mary didnt knotamax, and tal indicated ranger to  trunk ter of ole a glance t Mary  respect, even ttle of  meant.

    tamax o speak, t of t. Mary stood close to tal nearby for reassurance; but s as if s school.

    Sattamax began to speak. ones ricures of runk low and graceful.

    e ogeto greet tranger Mary. to be grateful for ivities since sed until s especially tal, tranger Mary can noand us.

    But to understand, and t , but s see it as il srument to look through.

    And no o help us.

    Mary, come here and join me.

    S dizzy, self-conscious, bemused, but so and stepped up beside t ster speak, so she began:

    You able. I came from a  some of us are aeful for your . If to do it.

    Sal, and s made her meaning

    clear. It ure as  to understand.

    Sattamax said, It is good to o , I cannot see ualapi  of ty-t taken care of trees prospered, tualapi came, our numbers and tant.

    But trees began to sicken. e cended till  of season, and some of trig find a cause for this.

    to be sure, t so is t kno until you came. e terflies and birds, but trange as you seem; but you are s and immediate, like birds, like butterflies. You realize to antly, out of terials ogetrument to do so. Beside us, you t  is  seems, w our ro you.

    But t fact is our  , you can see connections and possibilities and alternatives t are invisible to us, just as sraf o you. And o survive, ly to trees sickness and find a cure; ualapi, who are so numerous and so powerful.

    And we hope you can do so soon, or we shall all die.

    t and approval from t Mary, and s more t a scations of  a strange flattery: t and darting and birdlike , because s of  along  came t t it terribly ; t understand at all; s possibly fulfill te heirs.

    But equally, s. ting.

    Sattamax, s your trust in me and I s. You iful and I ry very o  it is t I am doing. trusting me.

    troked runks as sepped down. Sed by w so do.

    At t very moment in ttagazze, t Fatrack in tains beted trunks of olive trees. t slanted ts and cicadas.

    Atle farmered among vines, ed and a spring trickled dotending to some task beside t toool and a bucket.

    In told  t salked of going up into tains; per least t be co buy, and springer to drink. Fate used to living frugally, and ty of time.