cried in bewilderment, "Woe! Will never civilize same when beautiful lady rewards crudeness with heart-stopping smile."
"You're new here, aren't you?" The girl directed the question to Mocker.
"Came to town three days passing, lately from east, beyond Mountains of M'Hand."
"So far! I've never even been to Vorgreberg. I thought when I married Wulf... . But it's silly to worry about might-have-beens, isn't it?"
"Assuredly. Tomorrow too full of just-could-be to chase might-have-been lost in yesterday."
First Puppet hid behind his little arms. "You hear that, Polo? Big guy is spouting philosophical nonsense again."
"Will make first class fertilizer when spread on cabbage patch, Tubal," Polo replied. "We ignore him, eh? Hey, lady, you hear joke about priest and magic staff?"
Tubal sputtered. "Polo, peasant like you would disgust devil himself. Behave. Or I ask big guy to feed you to skull."
"Skull ain't biting," said a third voice as Mocker cast his into the prop's mouth. "On diet. Have to lose weight."
Mocker himself said, "Being mere street mummer, have no right to pry. But self sense great despair in lady and am saddened. Day is too fair for grief."
"Oh. My husband... Sir Wulf Heerboth. He died last night. I didn't sleep at all."
Tubal and Polo exchanged glances. They turned to peer at Mocker. He shrugged. He was at a loss. "Is great pity one so fair should be widowed so young."
"We had such precious little time... What am I saying? I'm almost glad. He was a beast. My father arranged the marriage. It was two years of torment, that's what it was. Now I'm free of that."
Mocker began to see the parameters. In part she was grieving because she was supposed to, in part feeling guilty for feeling released, and in part feeling insecure in the face of a future without a protector.
"Beautiful lady like you, knight's lady... Noblemen will come swarming when mourning period elapses. Self, guarantee it. Certain as self is magus primus of Occlidian Circle. Be not afraid, lady. And be not ashamed for glad feelings for freedom from slavery to wicked husband. Never, never make self into what family and friends expect. Is road to misery absolute. Self, speak from certain knowledge."
"Oh-oh," said Polo. "Here we go. Tall tale time."
"That seems like awfully deep thinking for someone your age."
Mocker doubted that she was more than a year older than he, but he did not protest.
Tubal replied, "Big guy was born in hole in ground. Deep hole."
The girl smiled. "Well... "
"Is deep subject, too. Of varying depth. In Shoustal-Wotka... "
"What's your name, mummer?"
He could not generate one on the spur of the moment, so confessed, "Self, am ashamed. Don't know. Call self Mocker in own mind."
"What about your parents?"
"Never knew same."
"You were an orphan?"
He shrugged. He did not think so. He liked to believe that Sajac had carried him off out of spite for his parents, that even now they were looking for him. He might be a missing prince, or the lost son of a great mercantile house. "Maybeso."
"That's awful. Don't you have anybody?"
"Old man, once. Travelled with same for while. He died."
A tiny fraction of his mind kept telling him that he was getting himself into trouble. There were two kinds of people in his world: marks, and people he left alone because they could stir more trouble than he could handle. This woman fit neither category neatly. That made her doubly dangerous. He did not know which way to jump.
"That's sad," she said. "My father is still alive, and that's kind of sad too. I just know he's going to try to get his hands on everything Wulf left me."
Ping!
went a little something in the back of Mocker's mind. "This father... Same is superstitious? Self, being most skilled of tricksters... "
"I couldn't do anything to my own father! Even if he did marry me off hoping Wulf would get himself killed. It wouldn't be right... "
Tubal interrupted. "Was remark made, not too long passing, to effect don't allow
"You're new here, aren't you?" The girl directed the question to Mocker.
"Came to town three days passing, lately from east, beyond Mountains of M'Hand."
"So far! I've never even been to Vorgreberg. I thought when I married Wulf... . But it's silly to worry about might-have-beens, isn't it?"
"Assuredly. Tomorrow too full of just-could-be to chase might-have-been lost in yesterday."
First Puppet hid behind his little arms. "You hear that, Polo? Big guy is spouting philosophical nonsense again."
"Will make first class fertilizer when spread on cabbage patch, Tubal," Polo replied. "We ignore him, eh? Hey, lady, you hear joke about priest and magic staff?"
Tubal sputtered. "Polo, peasant like you would disgust devil himself. Behave. Or I ask big guy to feed you to skull."
"Skull ain't biting," said a third voice as Mocker cast his into the prop's mouth. "On diet. Have to lose weight."
Mocker himself said, "Being mere street mummer, have no right to pry. But self sense great despair in lady and am saddened. Day is too fair for grief."
"Oh. My husband... Sir Wulf Heerboth. He died last night. I didn't sleep at all."
Tubal and Polo exchanged glances. They turned to peer at Mocker. He shrugged. He was at a loss. "Is great pity one so fair should be widowed so young."
"We had such precious little time... What am I saying? I'm almost glad. He was a beast. My father arranged the marriage. It was two years of torment, that's what it was. Now I'm free of that."
Mocker began to see the parameters. In part she was grieving because she was supposed to, in part feeling guilty for feeling released, and in part feeling insecure in the face of a future without a protector.
"Beautiful lady like you, knight's lady... Noblemen will come swarming when mourning period elapses. Self, guarantee it. Certain as self is magus primus of Occlidian Circle. Be not afraid, lady. And be not ashamed for glad feelings for freedom from slavery to wicked husband. Never, never make self into what family and friends expect. Is road to misery absolute. Self, speak from certain knowledge."
"Oh-oh," said Polo. "Here we go. Tall tale time."
"That seems like awfully deep thinking for someone your age."
Mocker doubted that she was more than a year older than he, but he did not protest.
Tubal replied, "Big guy was born in hole in ground. Deep hole."
The girl smiled. "Well... "
"Is deep subject, too. Of varying depth. In Shoustal-Wotka... "
"What's your name, mummer?"
He could not generate one on the spur of the moment, so confessed, "Self, am ashamed. Don't know. Call self Mocker in own mind."
"What about your parents?"
"Never knew same."
"You were an orphan?"
He shrugged. He did not think so. He liked to believe that Sajac had carried him off out of spite for his parents, that even now they were looking for him. He might be a missing prince, or the lost son of a great mercantile house. "Maybeso."
"That's awful. Don't you have anybody?"
"Old man, once. Travelled with same for while. He died."
A tiny fraction of his mind kept telling him that he was getting himself into trouble. There were two kinds of people in his world: marks, and people he left alone because they could stir more trouble than he could handle. This woman fit neither category neatly. That made her doubly dangerous. He did not know which way to jump.
"That's sad," she said. "My father is still alive, and that's kind of sad too. I just know he's going to try to get his hands on everything Wulf left me."
Ping!
went a little something in the back of Mocker's mind. "This father... Same is superstitious? Self, being most skilled of tricksters... "
"I couldn't do anything to my own father! Even if he did marry me off hoping Wulf would get himself killed. It wouldn't be right... "
Tubal interrupted. "Was remark made, not too long passing, to effect don't allow
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