"Wo," Nita's mother said. "Forget it. We'll send enough pocket money for you to get along with; you'll have plenty of kids to play with. . ." Play with, Nita thought, and groaned inwardly."Come on, Neets, cheer up a little! It should be interesting, going to a foreign country for the first time."I've been to foreign galaxies, Nita thought. But this I'm not so sure about. However, further argument wasn't going to help her. No matter: there were ways around this problem, if she would just keep her mouth shut. "OK," she said." I'll go – but I won't like it."Her mother gazed at her thoughtfully. "I thought you were the one who told me that wizardry wasabout doing what you had to, whether you liked it or not?""It's true," Nita said, and got up to go out."And Nita," her mother said."What, Mum?""I want your promise that you will not be popping back here on the sly to visit Kit. That little "beam-me-up-Scotty" spell that he's so fond of, and that I see you two using when you want to save your train fare for ice cream."Nita went white, then flushed hot. That was the one option she had been counting on to make this whole thing tolerable. "Mum! But Mum, it's easy, I can just. . .""You can not just. We want you to take a break from each other for a while. Now I want you to promise me."Nita let out a long breath. Her mother had her, and knew she did; for a wizard's promise had to be kept. When you spend your life working with words that describe and explain, and even change, the way the Universe is, you can't play around with those words, and you can't lie. at least not without major and unpleasant consequences. "I promise," Nita said, hating it. "But this is going to be miserable."
