gangs of aspiring adolescent ogres and trolls, and high-speed flying academies for the effervescent offspring of pixies and sprites, where pedantic dragonflies served as instructors.
And then there was the museum.
A structure grand even by the exalted standards of the illustrious Kingdom of Purple, it rambled off in all directions, adding rooms and displays, corridors and exhibits, according to Smegden, whenever it felt like it.
'You mean,' Oskar remarked, 'whenever the enchanted folk feel like adding to it.'
Reaching down, the mouse gripped the hair above Oskar's eyes to balance himself as he leaned forward to peer into one eye from a distance of little more than an inch. 'Did I say anything about the enchanted folk, bone- brain? When the museum is ready to grow, it grows. Do you think only flesh can grow? The museum is quite capable of supervising its own expansion.'
Indeed, the edifice they entered breathed and exhaled uncomfortably like a live thing, the tepid air rushing systematically in and out as if it were wheezing softly, the walls quivering in response to unseen stimuli. For all that, it looked like an ordinary building. Oskar resolved not to pee on the floor to test the resemblance further.
There were hundreds, thousands, of displays, all neatly mounted and labeled. None of them, he noted as they explored the myriad rooms and trotted past other visitors, were particularly well protected. As near as he and Mamakitty and Taj could tell, there were no guards. There was no need for any. In paradise, there was no reason to steal.
'This is a wonderful place,' Taj commented to their guide. 'Is it, perhaps, some kind of temple? A temple that contains examples of everything that is, and everything that can be imagined? Perhaps even such a rarity as—white light?' Recalling the words of the unlamented but knowledgeable Captain Covalt of the Kingdom of Red, the songster's friends held their collective breath.
'Not at all,' Smegden replied. 'Are you crazy? This is no temple!' Behind him, Mamakitty sighed heavily, Samm let out an attenuated hiss of disappointment, and Cezer, sensing among his companions an emotional line it was better not to cross, bit back the sarcastic observation that begged to be liberated from his lips.
Smegden drew himself up. 'Every citizen knows this place. It is not a temple but a museum. The Celebrated Grand Mystic Museum of the Exalted Faerie Kingdom of Purple. Wherein,' he concluded importantly, 'may be found examples of everything that is, or ever was, or can be imagined.'
Unable to stand it any longer, Cezer stepped forward to say something. Before the first word could escape from his lips, Cocoa reached over with her mouth, caught one of his long white whiskers in her teeth, and pulled. The resulting look of shock and pain on his face was more than sufficient to forestall his incipient comment.
'When does it close?' Mamakitty inquired quickly of their guide, adding thoughtfully, 'We'd like to get back to the Commons before dark.'
'The Celebrated Grand Mystic Museum never closes,' Smegden informed her. 'Nothing in the kingdom ever does. It wouldn't be fair, or appropriate. There are too many citizens of this land who sleep by day and live by night.'
'But the kingdom, the city, is not as busy at night,' Oskar speculated innocently.
'I don't believe so, no.' Smegden was not in the least suspicious. 'You asked about white light. As I said, the museum contains examples of everything that is or was or can be imagined. Compared to some of the exhibits here, white light is of comparative insignificance.' He sank deep in thought for a moment, then raised a diminutive foreleg and pointed. 'That way. Second left at the first long corridor, right after the special exhibition of embalmed censors and petrified lawyers.'
They followed the rodent's directions, trying not to hurry, fighting down their rising excitement. A few turns and twists past cases full of the inexplicable and on beyond the impossible—and there it was. After all they had endured, all they had survived, after the arduous crossing of multiple kingdoms of color, their goal gleamed brightly before them.
In an unremarkable room that was home to several dozen exhibits, there stood a tall cabinet of clear crystal containing nothing but glowing balls of color. All the colors were there, including many distinctive shades unfamiliar to the travelers. At the far end of the cabinet, almost as an afterthought, drifted a small globe of pure, unadulterated white light. Each of the diffuse, drifting orbs was clearly labeled as to its nature, pierced and fixed in place by a display rod that had been suitably ensorcelled.
Hopping from upcurled tail tip to head, Taj leaned forward between Mamakitty's ears and whispered, 'The problem of how to transport the light is solved. We simply lift up the stick to which it is fastened, and bring both with us.'
Mamakitty nodded, inadvertently forcing Taj to take to the air with a temporary fluttering of wings. 'I wonder why the individual lights are not all tinted with purple. It's quite unlike anything we've encountered before on our journey, where every object and creature in a specific kingdom of color takes on the tint of that land.'
'This is an enchanted museum run for the edification of enchanted folk,' the canary pointed out. 'What is the wonder in one more enchantment?'
'We have found what we came for,' Mamakitty hissed softly, as much to herself as to her diminutive passenger. Beside her, Cocoa was staring silently at the cabinet of wonders. Even Cezer, confronted at last by the object of their quest, was subdued. Louder, she said, 'We've taken up enough of your time, Smegden.'
'Indeed you have,' the mouse agreed readily. Once more the tiny paw indicated the way. 'The quickest exit is back that direction, then down a ramp.'
Mamakitty and Oskar exchanged a meaningful glance. 'If you don't mind,' Oskar responded, 'there are so many wonderful things to see here. We'll just wander around for a while. We can always ask others the way out.'
'That means a long run for me on these short legs, to get out of these endless corridors,' Smegden groused, 'but better, I suppose, than having to suffer any longer the abiding banalities of your clichйd conversation. If I hurry, I can still make the weekly hunt scheduled for this evening.' He drew himself up to his full five-inch height. 'Riding to cockroaches, you know.' Effortlessly, he leaped down from Oskar's head. From the floor, he turned to confront the trio.
'I wish you a pleasant afternoon of edification, with the added hope that we may never meet again—at least until you have shed your provincial demeanor and developed some sophistication. Fare thee well, O bearers of a benign befuddlement.' With that he spun round and, at high speed, scampered off down the corridor he had previously identified as leading to the quickest way out.
'What now?' wondered Cezer, reluctantly reconciled to pursuing their quest to its conclusion.
'We wait,' Mamakitty whispered. 'Mark this room well.' When Oskar raised his right hind leg, she hastened to forestall him. 'No, no—that's not what I meant, you idiot! Mentally, mentally! Use your human-augmented mind. At least, I think yours has been augmented.'
'Sorry.' Abashed, Oskar lowered his leg. 'Old habits, you know.'
She took a deep breath. 'I believe the best time to make our attempt will be at eventide, when the daytime inhabitants of this kingdom begin to retire and before the awakening night dwellers arrive. That time of day should find this measureless structure at its most deserted. We will take the white light from its resting place and slip quietly out of the city. Having once passed that way, the return journey will be easier and less dangerous for us at night.'
'You make it sound so easy,' Cezer grumbled.
'Every one of those globes of light is pretty bright.' Oskar kept his voice down lest he be overheard by a group of female faeries fluttering through the exhibition room. Stylish tiny purses dangled from their hands like pollen from the legs of bees. 'If only we had some magical means of temporarily muting their glow.'
Wings beating, Taj rose from between Mamakitty's ears. 'No sooner said than done. I'll be right back with something I recall seeing several rooms away.'
Risking the attention of other museumgoers, Oskar called out to the receding songster. 'You saw suitable sorcery just lying around?'
'Not exactly.' Taj called back to them just prior to banking a hard right. 'It was a very nice paper bag.'
And so it was. Retreating to a corner to examine the crumpled container without being observed, Oskar and Mamakitty determined that the sack would indeed fit snugly over the globe of white light. What effect the steady radiance would have on the opaque paper remained to be seen. Perhaps, Taj suggested, like so much else in this kingdom, the sack itself would be adequately enchanted for their purpose.
Feigning interest in every exhibit they passed, no matter how boring, they wandered through the labyrinthine
