Kiara returned to the real world. The zombie queen and I walked back to the village. She didn’t speak much to me. She asked me if I would like a separate chamber of my own in her house or if I would prefer to shift to a different house of my own. I opted for the former.

I still liked the kids and being in the house would allow me to remain close to them, at least till I left the village altogether, which was bound to happen at one point or another. Kanim and Tulip had meanwhile abandoned seeking me and gone to sleep. The servants of the house were puzzled why I was moving to a different chamber. However they refrained from being nosy and didn’t ask questions.

I slept fitfully that night. My thoughts were centerd on the town and the mysterious liquid that covered it now. The idea of making a boat with stones kept coming back to me. Could I ask the zombies to make a wall and carry it all the way to the town?

If stones floated then a wall should float too, right, like a raft? Or maybe even a raft of wood would do the job too? I should have tested the liquid by dropping a piece of wood in it.

But a journey to the town required a lot of physical exertion, not to forget you needed to swim across the big river now, and going there just for a small experiment didn’t seem worth it.

My train of thoughts arrived at Kiara station. She possessed an exchange spell. And she had another one that she could use to alter the proportions of her body parts. It had come in handy once when hiding from the Smartians, but otherwise she used it only for past time, playing with her looks. Perhaps she could exchange it for another spell? One that could be used to construct a boat of stone?

Lady luck was smiling, for the next day was a holiday in the real world. Kiara was free from her office chores. I brought her into Dharti early in the morning.

“I want you to use that exchange spell you have,” I told her. “You have never used it before, have you?”

“Which one of my spells should I get rid of, and to get what?” she asked me, intrigued. I spilled out all that I had in mind.

“That makes sense,” Kiara said. “But remember, the new spell would be weaker than the old one. Anyway, let’s give it a shot.”

Her eyes became focused as she concentrated at the icons in her vision.

“Okay,” she said, “There are two spells that I am being offered. With one spell I can sculpt a boat from a boulder. And with the other spell, I can fuse rocks together to form a boat. The bigger rocks I work on the tougher it’ll be for me. And the more rocks I fuse, the more time and effort it is going to take.”

Smaller rocks would be easier to find than big boulders. And the fusing spell might have other utilities too. Then I reconsidered the third option: Asking the zombies to build a wall.

“I think the fusing spell would be better,” I said to Kiara, “But, could we just ask the zombies to build a wall for us to see if it can be used as a raft?”

“And you are going to carry that wall to the town? Because I wouldn’t help you in that,” Kiara said.

I could smell some jealousy in the air. Kiara liked me to be as less dependent on the undead and their queen as possible.

“And isn’t it enough that the zombies are allowing you to stay and take their evilese? I am exchanging my old spell for the fusing one,” Kiara continued. “Here we go… and now I have it!”

Kiara searched the room for something on which to try out her brand new spell.

I shook a finger at Kiara. I wouldn’t want her to mess with the zombie queen’s house.

“Why don’t we go outside? We can try it on some stones.”

We bumped against Kanim and Tulip. They had been eavesdropping on us apparently after hearing Kiara’s voice in my room.

“Who is she?” Tulip asked me.

“She is my friend,” I told the boys.

“So these are your boys?” Kiara asked me, flashing her teeth in a tease.

“They are,” I said, feeling a bit odd.

“They look cute,” Kiara said. “What are your names, boys?”

The boys introduced themselves to Kiara.

“We thought we could play with you,” Kanim said to me, coiling around my leg.

“We can play,” I told him.

“We can?” Kiara asked, arching a brow. There were more important things to do. But then, life is a play, is it not?

“Why not make them stone toys with your fusing spell?” I told her.

We went to the courtyard. I turned towards the queen’s chamber and caught her peeking at us through the window. However, when she saw me looking at her, she quickly pulled the curtains.

We placed a bunch of small stones together. The boys watched with awe, as the stones became red hot, and melted and fused with one another. Kiara wasn’t particularly skilled at giving proper shapes to the stone toys. She tried making a miniature man, but a bump on his crotch looked dangerously like an oversized wanger. I began to titter, even though the boys couldn’t make out what was so wrong with the toy.

Kiara had to melt the toy and redesign it. It was her third try that finally set things right. The miniature man was barely the size of a forefinger so it was unlikely that the boys could hurt themselves with it. We gave the toy to the boys and left the village, seeking bigger stones to truly test Kiara’s new ability.

We found some larger stones not far from the village. But they were all scattered and far from each other so we had to roll them to one spot. Furthermore I arranged the stones roughly in the shape of a boat, placing one above the other so that it would be easier for Kiara to shape the boat.

“Here we go,” Kiara said, waggling her fingers at the stones. One by one the stones began to heat up and become red.

It was a demanding task for Kiara. The veins of her forehead and neck popped up. Suddenly, her feet gave way as she swooned. I caught her in the nick of time before her head could crack open on the stones.

“You all right?” I asked her.

Kiara stirred. I gingerly placed her down.

“I think I can take a small break,” she whispered.