#bart aes

“Just the echo of his faith was powerful enough to win me over when Kitty repeated his great gesture, and came across to meet me.”

"Why do you do it? Take on his shape, I mean." "Because I promised myself," the djinni said. "I'm showing him how he was. Before he changed."

Ms. Lutyens paused, and looked back over her shoulder. Her face had lost its anger. “No, I think I do understand,” she said. “And I am pleased to know it. But you mistake yourself. It was the boy who was grateful to me, and you are no longer that boy. You do not speak for him.”

“I won’t be there to see it -- but who knows, perhaps you will.” His passion won me over. I nodded. “Let’s hope you’re right.” He didn’t answer, only snapped his fingers and spoke the Dismissal. The last thing I saw as I departed was his face gazing after me, confident, serene.

“Great magicians lived here,” I reminded him. “That was then,” he said, sourly. “This is now.”