[ This is far from the first time Paul has ended up in a different place than he expected to end up when he passed a threshold. He's developed a set of responses and rules to handle them.

Most of them are an extension of the first sets of rules his mother and father instilled in him. Rules for entering another person's home, rules for stepping into unknown territory. Rules for swimming in strange waters.

The garden-maze is beautiful. It reminds him of other gardens, other mazes. He is contemplating an arrangement of rose bushes at the corner of one turn peacefully when Ruby approaches, his dark coat folded over his arm and no sign of anything in his expression beyond mild curiosity. ]

Hello, Lady Rose. [ He smiles back at her, a little, old joke in the too-formal naming. ] I'm all right. I only stopped by to say hello. See how things were.

This is a very beautiful place. The Omni didn't do it justice.