height. Industry had always been kept out. That, combined with the city's altitude and climate, gave it air

that was free from dust and pollution and the low humidity kept down the mist. The result was a natural

light that had attracted artists from all over the world.

height. Industry had always been kept out. That, combined with the city's altitude and climate, gave it air

that was free from dust and pollution and the low humidity kept down the mist. The result was a natural

light that had attracted artists from all over the world.

The city's ethnic mix, primarily Hispanic, Indian, and Anglo, had given birth to what became known as

the "Santa Fe Style," a fusion of the cultures that expressed itself in the way the people dressed and lived.

Boots and long, flowing skirts; gold, silver, and turquoise jewelry; western dress and urban chic; Navajo

rugs and black Santa Clara pottery; sand paintings and bronze sculpture; brick sidewalks and lovely little

placitas with Spanish fountains; kiva fireplaces and oak plank floors; mesquite-broiled steak and blue

corn tortillas; mission-style furniture and intricately carved oak doors, all combined to give the city a

timeless atmosphere of casual, yet refined southwestern living.

Over the years, Santa Fe had managed to survive the curse of places that are suddenly found to be chic

and had kept its essential identity intact. It had grown, but it had not exploded in an uncontrolled

paroxysm of development, though the price of real estate had skyrocketed. In the days prior to the

Collapse, its many festivals had attracted thousands of tourists every year and numerous hotels had

sprung up on the outskirts of the city to house them. However, unlike other towns and cities that suddenly

became considered "in," Santa Fe stubbornly remained unspoiled. Even the condos that sprang up in the

late twentieth century were built along an architectural design that blended in with the city's classic, old

adobe structures.

During the Collapse at the end of the twenty-second century when most of the world was plunged into

anarchy, the residents of Santa Fe closed ranks and pulled together. The city had escaped much of the

violence that had occurred elsewhere, due in part to its location and relatively small population, and partly

to its citizens banding together to preserve their way of life. It wasn't easy, but in some ways, the people

of Santa Fe were more fortunate than the citizens of many other cities. Because its people had been

resolute in preserving their relaxed, unspoiled way of life, there had never been any industry in Santa Fe

and the collapse of technology had not affected them as severely. Those who came in search of refuge

were welcomed, while those who came to plunder were repelled by a united, well-armed citizenry.

Many of the city's residents departed, but many more stayed, with Hispanics, Indians, and Anglos all

pitching in together and reverting to a simpler way of life from which, in many respects, they had never

really strayed too far. The city's artisans found a life of barter, craft, and communal farming far easier to

adapt to than those who had become so dependent upon factories and the sophisticated commerce of

technology. Many of them found it relatively easy to abandon their cars, for which no more fuel remained,

for bicycles and horses. Santa Fe gradually became once more a peaceful tranquil, almost forgotten little

city nestled at the foot of the Sangre de Cristos, an oasis of sanity in a world that had gone mad.

Paul Ramirez had been born after the end of the Collapse, when the old forces of technology had been

replaced by magic. Part Indian, part Hispanic, and part Anglo, Ramirez had grown up in Santa Fe, the

only son of a widowed blacksmith, farrier, and saddlemaker. From early childhood, Paul had known that