There won’t be much for them to see at the rate you’re going,” Urruah said.

“Ehhif don’t see wizardry half the time, even when it’s hanging right in front of their weak little noses,” Rhiow said. “The odds against having anyone notice anything, down here in the dark and the noise, are well in your favor—if you ever get on with it. If you’re really all that concerned, rotate the gate matrix a hundred and eighty degrees and specify one-side-only visual patency. But I don’t think you need to bother. These are New Yorkers, and no trains of interest to them are due on these side tracks, so for all that it matters, we and the gate and this whole side of the station might as well be on the Moon.”

“Not a bad idea,” Arhu muttered, putting his whiskers forward in the slightest smile, and reached more deeply into the weft of the gate matrix.

He fell over backwards as Urruah clouted him upside the head. “No gatings into vacuum,” he said. “Or under water, or below ground level, or into any other environment which would be bad if mixed freely with this one.”

Arhu got to his feet, shook himself and glared at Urruah. “Aw, I was just thinking …”

“Yes, and I heard you. No off-planet work for you until you’re better with handling the structural spells for these gates.”

“But other wizards can just get the spell from their manuals, or the Whispering, or whatever way they access wizardry, and go—”

“You’re not ‘other wizards’,” Rhiow said, pacing over to sit down beside Urruah as a more obvious gesture of support. “You are part of a gating team. You have to understand the theory and nature of these structures from the bottom up. And as regards the established gates like this one, you’ve got to be able to fix them when they break—take them apart and put them back together again—not just use them for rapid transit like “other wizards”. Yes, it’s specialized work, and the details are a nuisance to learn. And yes, the structure is incredibly complex: Aaurh Herself made the gates, Iau only knows how long ago -what do you expect? But you’ve got to know this information from the inside, without having to consult the Whisperer every thirty seconds for advice. What if She’s busy?”