“All by ourselves? You must think a lot of us,” Ming commented. “We may be two minds, but we’re only one body.” And you’re sure painting a target on us, she added to herself.

“You will have an easier time if you do not take a crowd,” Core told them. “You will not, however, be alone in this endeavor. Others are working on this. It is best that none of you know who the others are, not names or even races, until and unless it is necessary to know. That way, no one can betray anyone else. However, anyone you feel you can trust would be welcome. Simply watch your back.”

“I assume that O’Leary and Nakitt will have things going on,” Ari said thoughtfully. “What about the angel girl?”

“O’Leary, Nakitt, and their people are not water breathers. They cannot do what you can, but will be doing much the same on land. And as for the angel, unexpected as that was, I believe that she is evolving. And whether or not she will be a help, a hindrance, or an entirely separate problem has yet to reveal itself.”

“Huh?”

“If you look at the histories and the old guides, you’ll find that even the creatures here—all 1,560 races of both north and south—are not the same as they were in past times. Oh, they’re close, but the sleek centaurs of Dillia, for example, seem almost like streamlined, stylized idealizations of their coarse, muscular, and far more brutishly equine ancestors. The same goes for almost every race here. The Kalindan of yesteryear could not breathe air at all for any length of time. They were quite rough, mottled, and more leathery than scaly. There may have been a point after that when we were primarily air breathers, and we are now in the process of losing that ability. Certainly we are primarily of the water. Unlike the mermaidlike race of the west, our tails are vertical, not horizontal, and we have never lost the dorsal. I can give you almost as many examples as races, save for some of the northern ones where nobody could tell. Evolution did not stop simply because it was a limited population. Given enough time, it continues.