Taerside was a city of red roofs and white walls, warm and welcoming in the last stages of autumn. It was situated on several hills, so that one could stand on top of a slope and see over rooftops close by. The houses clustered close together, tall with occasional touches of decoration, but the streets were wide, saving the city from feeling cramped. The mood in town was festive and cheerful, the citizens content as the seasons turned.

Winter came late this far south, and Kite and Saryth arrived in its vanguard, having hitched a ride for much of the way from Irshand. They had spent a good week before that hiding out in a handy forest, harvesting late berries and a couple of obscure mushrooms, and testing out the various concoctions until one worked. It had been a lot of effort, but now, looking sideways at her companion, Kite was satisfied with the effect. Saryth gawked at the tawny roofs and raised towers, the cobbled streets and balconies, the fruitsellers, the street entertainers and the beggars. But no-one paid the slightest attention to the blonde foreigner and her black-haired friend.

"Did you see something?" she asked after fifteen minutes of his staring around the town.

He turned to her with slight surprise, as though he'd forgotten she was there, and smiled. "Oh - no, I'm just not used to this."

"Does 'this' refer to the city, your hair, or not being stared at like you're a dangerous freak?"

"All of them. But mainly the latter." He looked briefly pensive, but was jolted from his reverie by a child running into him. She brushed herself down, looked up and giggled apologetically before running off. Saryth grinned after her, waving.

"Young man!" called the woman standing across the street with a tray of sweets. "Will you buy a sweetmeat for your girl?"

"My girl?" He looked momentarily nonplussed. "Oh -" and he bent over the tray. Kite watched, amused, as he selected two sweets, paid for them - with money she had given him - and came back over to her, holding one out.

"Enjoy your visit!" the sweet seller called after him.

Kite picked up the sweet - a pastry stuffed with molasses and nuts. "Thanks."

"How does she know we're visitors?"

"My clothes are unusual," Kite said, "and you're gaping like it's your first view of civilisation."

Saryth licked his fingers and looked out over the rooftops stacked up over the hill in front of them.

"Maybe it is."

They wandered down the hill at a leisurely pace, mingling with the crowds. It was nearly midday and the winter sun was surprisingly warm.

“Where are we going?” Saryth asked.

“To an inn. I want to find out what’s going on with the fire gems.”

“Why?”

“The flyers in Irshand and Eskandia are a bit too techological for this world’s current phase,” Kite said. “That kind of anomaly is characteristic of a sun’s influence.” She eyed her companion. How much of that had made sense? “It’s a bit like gravity, only with ideas.”

“Gravity?”

“It’s what makes things fall.”

“I thought things fell because they’re heavy,” Saryth said, as they reached the bottom of the hill and entered a wide square with trees around the edge and four fountains in the middle. Water danced in the cold clear air, splashing on the cobbles. A juggler stood on the far side performing to a small crowd.

“Gravity is what makes things heavy,” Kite said. “The world is so big, it exerts a lot of force on small things like us so we experience it as a downward pull.” This is going to need diagrams. She headed towards one of the trees. “The sun is even bigger, so it pulls the earth towards it.”

“So the earth is falling towards the sun?” Saryth frowned in concentration. Kite knelt down by the tree and drew a circle in the dirt. A small child came to join them, staring at the circle in fascination.

“The sun... the sun is a huge ball of burning gas,” Kite said, putting a dot in the centre of her circle. “The earth we’re standing on goes around the sun. It’s moving fast so it doesn’t fall in, but it can’t escape because of the sun’s gravity.”

“Doesn’t it slow down?”

“No, because there’s nothing to make it slow down.” Kite felt her diagram had stopped being useful. She dug in her belt bag, found the apple she’d bought earlier in the day, and held it up. “If this apple is the earth, then the skin is air.”

“But -”

“We can’t see the curve because it’s too big,” Kite said, anticipating his objection. “The sun is far away, and there’s nothing between it and the earth to slow it down.” Two more children had joined the first one.

“You’re telling me that the world is round and circles the sun?” Saryth asked.

“Yes. One circle is a year.”

“And that it’s pulled in by the sun and we’re pulled in by the earth?”

“Yes.”

“What about the moon?”

“That goes round the earth. It reflects the sun’s light.” Was his lack of understanding typical of the scientific knowledge of his culture, or the result of his lack of education? She eyed the small crowd who had gathered around them. Should I stop? Does it matter, really?

“And the sun doesn’t pull it in?” Saryth persisted.

“Not as much as the earth does. Everything affects everything else. It’s just that with small things it’s not as strong.”

“So what causes day and night? Is the world spinning?”

“Yes!” He did catch on quickly.

“That’s a grand story,” a new voice broke in, and Saryth flinched aside, reflexively hiding behind his hair.

“Um, thanks,” Kite said as the man tossed a coin to her. She fumbled the one tossed by the woman standing just behind him, and as she bent to gather it two or three more arrived, making little puffs in the dirt around the tree roots. She picked them up, bemused, as the small crowd drifted away, laughing and talking.

“Well, this will cover lunch.” Saryth was fiddling with his cloak, still looking nervous, and she couldn’t blame him.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s keep moving.”