Time was uninterrupted. It extended down the hill in one direction, while in the other it was lost amid a line of septs that streamed down like ants. The septs were brief, momentary, clans stretching across a handful of generations at best. They faded in and out, overlapping, conflicting, forming thickets and tangles that thinned out into broad reaches of individuality and isolation. At the peak of the hill they formed a great clot, and after that were gone forever.
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“In the Thick of Time”
About the story: Even mages fall in love.