One struck my cheek like a freezing tear.

The vessel must have come recently from the river, for it sprinkled the air with droplets. Wonder overwhelmed me when I looked up to see little witch-children peering curiously at me through the boat’s glass floor. Their beautiful boats, adorned with batlike wings, are as happy among the clouds as on the water the first time the shadow of one of these gliding marvels passed over me, I shivered, for I thought it must be some giant bird of prey. In the Land of Witches, everything tends skyward. Outside the window, the stars would shrink and vanish like ice. No sooner had he climbed onto me than he would roll off again. Once I had begun to practice the Dream Science myself, I was able to reduce my time be-neath my master to almost nothing. This molding of time, like all their miracles, is achieved through the Dream Science. In the pastry shops, they drizzle time over the cakes.

The smallest child can roll time into a ball and chase it down the stairs or fashion it into elaborate paper chains. I have seen Ygasit, the proprietress of our hotel, wash every dish in the place in the time it takes her to bend her full cheek slightly toward one shoulder, while Verken, the musician who became my particular friend, told me she once played a single note for a year without tiring of its beauty. I have never seen a people so rested and happy for them, time runs opposite to the way it runs for us: onerous tasks pass swiftly, while a pleasure may last for weeks or, indeed, forever. This shaping of time is one of the marvels of the Land of Witches. Ascending to our room presented no difficulties, however, for the steps were endowed with a charm that eroded time. This building consists of a single spire that twists up into the greenish, iridescent sky. The sun shone, banks of chilly foam lay piled up in the streets, and the river emitted groans day and night as the ice broke into pieces, setting free the witches’ colorful winged boats. I arrived in the Land of Witches at the end of the season of furs.

Eve out of her ruins