Gabriel shook his head. "Steel's easy in a place like this; metal particles are everywhere in the rock." Still, he hadn't exactly put much into it, not enough to make them last--when he glanced behind, the first ring was already crumbling slowly. He'd timed it just right.

So he was feeling pleased with himself as he examined the track. "Steps might be a bit much," he said regretfully. It was a long path; he could only imagine how much that would take out of him, and this was the wrong time to get hit with another migraine. "But I can ..."

He frowned for a moment and then leaned against the wall to take a look at the soles of his boots. They were worn, grubby as anything, and a quick feel confirmed that the traction had been lost in both. Well, he could solve that. At first he didn't bother with a snap, and instead just laid his hand across the rubber, but when nothing happened he frowned and did it the other way.

This time it worked. Well, damn, that was a tad inconvenient, if his constructs actually relied on the fingersnaps. Used to be he only used 'em because they were annoying, irreverent and just the right kind of pointed showiness. With a shake of his head he slide down the wall to crouch and gestured at Re-l. "Lemme see the bottoms of your shoes; I'll traction 'em up a bit for the trail. The breaks are easy--I just need to make another foot or so of path to stand on. They only need to last a minute, tops."

He was, the archangel realised, going to be making more things in sequence than he ever had before on this trip. He only hoped he could hold out that long, even as small and simple as these things were.