"I suppose as long as you are so hot I shall get no interesting conversation." He waves a hand and Zoe feels pleasantly cool.

He walks closer to her. His feet do not leave footprints on the desert sand.

Zoe is practically melting in relief. "How did you just..?" She has not noticed the lack of footprints yet.

She brings herself to her feet.

"Magic. Or I'm a hallucination. Your choice, really. Could be either."

"I suppose I'm all right with either, at this point." She is very much not sure which one seems more likely to her, either.

Zoe is not entirely sure what to talk about, here. "How... are you doing? Did you come to Ethiopia just to do magic to me? Not that I'm complaining. I feel better than I have in... weeks, I think."

"All places are one place to me."

"That sounds like it would get terribly confusing."

"Assuming I'm not a figment of your imagination, of course."

"If you're a figment of my imagination then you may as well be an omnipresent figment with pleasant magical powers."

"Humans are so terribly... limited. It is a joy to watch you run around like ants with no idea of the boot approaching."

"I can't say I ever took much joy in crushing ants. But humans do look so small from high up."

"It is lucky that I have pleasant magical powers, isn't it? Lucky, lucky Zoe. You've always been so lucky."

"...I get by."

Zoe thinks of all the not-quite-misses she's had on the trapeze, and wonders if that's more or less than anyone else would have. Probably more, but that's good, right?

"Everything has always worked out well for you, hasn't it? Like magic. Not so well for those around you. For Carrie, or Lacie, or Anemone, or even Magnifience... but lucky, lucky Zoe escapes with nothing but a cut on her hand."

"I-- I'm not magic. I just--" It didn't work out well for any of them, though. And here she still is, even though any of them would have been better.

"For great power, you must make great sacrifices." He smiles. "Well. Not you. You have gotten everyone around you to pay them, while you fly on your trapeze... Very clever." He sounds approving.

"I don't have great power."

"And yet you're alive."

"I haven't... none of them..." She keeps wanting to object that it's not her fault, she didn't do anything, things just happened that way. But that's his point, isn't it?

"I have a word of advice for you, clever Zoe, lucky Zoe. Don't go to Dallol villlage. There is nothing for you there. You will not learn anything important and you may be in danger."

"Where else is there to go? There's nothing for miles."

"You could always teach acrobatics to children in Kolluli."

Zoe tries to figure whether she has enough water to get to Kolluli. Where is everyone else? Didn't they need water too..?

He smiles. "But of course you shouldn't trust me. For all you know, I am a hallucination. And I may be a Liar."

"Why warn me against yourself?"

"Because sometimes children poke the ants with a stick to see how they squirm." He disappears. There are no footprints, and Zoe finds herself clutching the warding stone.