Only it wasn’t the same place. This was supposed to be Vortex #4, not Vortex #1.
Inside the old building it became clear that we were in a slightly different place. This time, instead of being bare, the inside of the log cabin was filled with branches and some old furniture, and there was no sign of the fire I had built.
“Did you see them this time?” Tanda demanded.
“See what?” Aahz frowned.
“Out there in the storm.” she said. “This time I got a good look at them.”
“What was it?”
“Dust bunnies. A whole pack of them.” She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and shuddered.
Aahz and I looked at each other and shrugged. Again we seemed to be oblivious to whatever it was that was setting Tanda on edge.
By the time I got a new fire going and Tanda had put a containment protection around the cabin to keep the wind out, my lips had unsealed. They were chapped and sore, but at least they were loose.
“So Vortex #4 is a lot like Vortex #1,” I said.
“Makes sense,” Tanda said. “Otherwise, why give them the same names with only different numbers?”
“Any other dimensions so similar that they could be numbered like this?”
“More than likely,” Tanda said, “but I’ve never seen or heard about any.”
“So we paid another five percent to that thief for this?” Aahz said, dearly disgusted. “We could have found this on our own.”
I had no idea how he thought we could have done that, but since I didn’t know much about dimension-hopping, I said nothing.
“Not likely,” Tanda said. “We are a long, long way from Vortex #1. We’re farther away in number of dimensions from the Bazaar at Deva than I have ever been before.”