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    hippogryph, and monsters mature faster than human folk,
    so she matured halfway faster than I did, and she's married
    now and has a foal, Che. And there's Volney Vole, who
    can't say his esses, only he thinks we're the ones who have
    it wrong. And—"
     
    "This book—it really describes where you think you're
    from?" he demanded incredulously.
     
    She faced him, baffled. "Where I think I'm from?"
     
    "This book—it's fantasy!"
     
    "Of course! Don't you believe me?"
     
    Damn! He had his foot in it now! Why hadn't he thought
    to avoid the issue? "I believe—you think you're from
    there," he said carefully.
     
    "I am from Xanth!" she retorted. "Look in the book!
    I'm in there, I know!" But she was perilously close to
    tears.
     
    Grey wavered. Should he get the book and check? But
    if she was in it, what would it prove? Simply that she had
    read the book and made it the focus of her delusion. Be-
    sides, he remained broke.
     
    "Uh, I'm sure you're right," he said. "I don't need to
    look in the book. '
     
    That was a half truth, but it mollified her. They contin-
    ued walking back to the apartment building.
     
    Grey's mind was seething with thoughts. Now he knew
    where Ivy thought she was from, but he didn't know
    whether to be relieved or alarmed. It wasn't a land of her
    own invention—but was it any better as a land someone
    else had invented? The delusion was the same. Still, it did
    offer some insight into her framework; if he got the book
    and read it, he would at least be able to relate to the things
    she did.
     
    Still, he wished that she had a better notion of the dis-
    tinction between fantasy and reality. She was such a nice
    girl in other respects, the perfect girl, really, and he could
    really like her a lot, if only—
     
    Could like her a lot? He already did! Which made it
    that much worse.
     
    In the hallway she stopped. "This can't be Mundania!"
    she exclaimed.
     
    "Where else would it be?" he asked warily.
     
    "Because we can understand each other!" she said ex-
    citedly. "We speak the same language!"
     
    "Well, sure, but—"
     
    "Mundanes speak gibberish! They can't be understood
    at all, unless there is magic to translate what they say into
    real speech. But you are perfectly intelligible!"
     
    "I should hope so." Was this the beginning of a break-
    through? Was she coming to terms with reality? "What
    language do they speak in Xanth?"
     
    "Well, it's the language. The human language, I mean.
    All human folk speak it, just as all dragon folk speak Dra-
    gonese, and all trees speak tree-talk. Grundy Golem can
    talk to any of them, and my little brother Dolph when he
    becomes one, but the rest of us can't, because our talents
    are different. Not that it matters much, usually, because
    all the partbreeds speak human too, like the centaurs and
    harpies and naga, and those are mostly whom we deal
    with. But the Mundanes are sort of crazy; they speak all
    different languages and can't even understand each other
    a lot of the time; it's as if each group of them is a different
    animal species. Only in Xanth do they speak the human
    language. So this has to be an aspect of Xanth. You almost
    had me fooled!''
     
    Just when he thought she was getting better, she got
    worse! But because he liked her, and knew how sensitive
    she was to criticism, he spoke cautiously. "How do you
    know that you aren't speaking Mundanian? I mean, that
    maybe this is Mundania, and you can speak our language
    when you really want to?"
     
    Ivy considered. Then she shook her head. "No, that's
    impossible. I've never been to Mundania, so I've had no
    way to learn its language. So this has to be an aspect of
    Xanth. What a relief!"
     
    "But if this is Xanth, then everything I've known all
    my life is a delusion!" Grey said, hoping to shock her into
    some awareness of the problem.
     
    "I know," she said sympathetically. "You're such a
     
     
     
     
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    Mgn from Mundania
     
    Man from Mundania
     
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    nice