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. The swan
flapped its wings, boxing its rider's ears, while the lepre-
chaun pinched a passing matron and the unicorn bucked
its rider completely off.
"IknowIputoneinheresomewhere. Orwasthatonmy-
boatsharpeningmachine? Ohdearohdearohdear...."
Frantically, he began pulling even more switches, mak-
ing things worse with each tug.
"Maybe it's this one marked 'OFF,' " Tas suggested at
his side.
"Itcouldn'tbethat --" The gnome shook his head, but
before he could say more, Tasslehoff reached out and
flicked the lever down with his index finger. The ride
ground to a halt.
"Wellwhatdoyouknow?" The gnome's face stretched
into a surprised smile, which grew as he considered Tas-
slehoff.
"Your carousel is fantastic," Tas breathed, trying to de-
cide which animal to ride. "If you can fix a few things,
like the animals smashing their heads through the carou-
sel's ceiling, it will be perfect. Did you think this up your-
self? Is this your Life Quest?"
Tasslehoff knew that gnomes were born inventors.
Each was assigned a quest at birth -- or inherited it -- that
they were expected to complete before they died so that
they and their ancestors could sit next to their god Reorx
in the hereafter.
"You could say that," the gnome said, deliberately
slowing his speech for Tasslehoff's benefit. "You're a ken-
der, aren't you? I've never seen a kender around here be-
fore." The gnome smiled at Tasslehoff in a strange way,
until the kender began feeling like a bug under a glass.
"I've only seen pictures of dragons and
hippocampuses -- that's the one that looks like a horse
with a fish tail and flippers for feet, isn't it? Your animals
look so real, like you've actually seen them up close, but
of course that's impossible, since dragons exist only in
stories
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