Anaera swiftly resheathed her katana in the weird space. She didn’t need to be arrested at the moment. She needed to get someplace to think. She reached up to her hair and pet Orpheus. "Let’s go someplace quiet," she said to him.

She swiftly followed her senses to the nearest park and sat in the grass beneath a tree. She reached out and felt the life energies of everything around her. It felt different. She cleared her mind and reached out for the spirit of the park... and found nothing! As far as her extrasensory perceptions were concerned, this park didn’t really exist! "Orpheus, I don’t think we’re in London anymore.

The illusion shattered around Anaera. She saw now that she sat in the dust of an unfamiliar country. She stood up and brushed her pants off... Hey! What was she wearing!?! When she had boarded that plane (and still had her sanity), she had worn black jeans and a purple blouse. Now, she was clad in a tight, black, long-sleeved catsuit, knee-high black leather fighting boots, studded black leather gloves, and a dark purple armored tunic. Well, at least the armor covered the tight fit of the suit! And she still had her hilt necklace. She reached behind her and felt her katana strapped in place and then checked her hair. If something had cut it off... but, no. It was still there and now her braids were secured with familiar silver bands. She smiled, remembering when Persephone had given them to her. 'Sephie had thought of everything, because there were tiny blades fitted in the band and they were decorated with onyx. "Do you think there’s a mirror in that weird space, Orpheus? I bet I look awesome!"

It sounded as if the mouse was giggling as Anaera once more put her hand into nothing. First, she pulled out... a rubber rat! "Ugh," she cried and threw it down. For some reason, the word "nakago" came to mind at the sight of the rat, but she didn’t have time to think about it. Orpheus was definitely laughing! She could hear it. "Squeak!" She pulled the rude rodent out of her hair and brought him in front of her face. "Orpheus?"

"Yes, apparently I can talk now!" the mouse said in a startlingly deep voice. "And the stories I will tell!"

"Don’t you dare!" How many times had she thought aloud to the mouse? It was her worst nightmare! With nary a thought she pulled a piece of string out of the weird space. "This’ll keep you quiet!"

"Mercy, please. I like talking! I promise I won’t tell your secrets, though! Promise, promise!" Orpheus chattered on. "If you’re not nice, I won’t tell you what I packed in your HammerSpace... I put some really NEAT stuff in there!"

Great, her mouse sounded like a junior high student! "Is HammerSpace... that place my sword was? Did you put a mirror in there?"

"Yes, and yes. Of course, I put the mirror in there for me... I could meet someone!"

Great, a vain, chatty mouse with hormonal problems! Anaera put the thought aside and dug through the HammerSpace. "Let’s see... clean underwear, a TV, a VCR, a generator to plug them into, my copy of the Star Wars trilogy... Orpheus! You thought of EVERYTHING! Hmm... my souvenir from the fall of the Roman Empire, my bimiko robes, and here’s the mirror!" She pulled out a large brown-gray compact. "Genuine Bishounen Sparkle" was written on the outside.

"Don’t use that, it’s mine! Just use the mirror."

"You put stuff for you in my Hammerspace? Brat!" Anaera looked herself over. "Hmm, NOT BAD ____"

"One more thing and we’re ready to go," the verbose rodent said.