reached out with one grass-stained little foot, placed it on nothing at all and calmly walked down a non-existent stairway to the alabaster floor of her temple. She sank down on it, crossed her feet at the ankles and lifted her pipes again. âWill it disturb your sour musings if I play?â
âJust what do you think youâre doing?â he demanded.
She shrugged. âYou seem to have this obscure need for penance of some kind, and thereâs no time for it. I wouldnât be much of a Goddess if I couldnât satisfy both needs at the same time, now would I?â She raised her pipes. âDo you have any favorites youâd like to hear?â
âYouâre actually serious, arenât you?â
âYes.â She breathed another little trill into the pipes.
He glared at her for a moment, and then he gave up. âCan we talk about this?â he asked her.
âYouâve come to your senses? Already? Amazing.â
He looked around at the island. âWhere is this place?â he asked curiously.
The Child Goddess shrugged. âWherever I want it to be. I carry it with me everyplace I go. Were you serious about what you were just thinking, Sparhawk? Were you really going to snatch up Bhelliom, grab Khalad by the scruff of the neck, leap onto Faranâs back and try to ride off in three directions at the same time?â
âAll Vanion and the others are doing is talking, Aphrael, and the talk isnât going anywhere.â
âDid you speak with Bhelliom about this notion of yours?â
âThe decision is
mine,
Aphrael. Ehlanaâs
my
wife.â
âHow brave you are, Sparhawk. Youâre making a decision that involves the Bhelliom without even consulting it. Donât be misled by its seeming politeness, Father. Thatâs just a reflection of its archaic speech. It
wonât
do something it knows is wrong, no matter how sorry youâre feeling for yourself, and if you grow
too
insistent, it might just decide to create a new sun â about six inches from your heart.â
âI have the rings, Aphrael. Iâm still the one giving the orders.â
She laughed at him. âDo you
really
think the rings mean anything, Sparhawk? They have no control over Bhelliom at all. That was just a subterfuge that concealed the fact that it has an awareness â and a will and purpose of its own. It can ignore the rings any time it wants to.â
âThen why did it need me?â
âBecause youâre a necessity, Sparhawk â like wind or tide or rain. Youâre as necessary as Klæl is â or Bhelliom â or me, for that matter. Someday weâll have to come back here and have a long talk about necessity, but weâre a little pressed for time right now.â
âAnd was that little virtuoso performance of yours yesterday another necessity as well? Would the world have come to an end if you hadnât held that public conversation with yourself?â
âWhat I did yesterday was useful, Father, not necessary. I am who I am, and I canât change that. When Iâm going through one of these transitions, there are usually people around who know both of the little girls, and they start noticing the similarities. I always make it a point to have the girls meet each other in public. It puts off tiresome questions and lays unwanted suspicions to rest.â
âYou terrified Mmrr, you know.â
She nodded. âIâll make it up to her. Thatâs always been a problem. Animals can see right through my disguises. They donât look at us in the way that we look at each other.â
He sighed. âWhat am I going to do, Aphrael?â
âI was hoping that a visit here would bring you back to your senses. A stopover in reality usually has that effect.â
He looked up at her private, rainbow-colored sky.
âThis
is your notion of reality?â
âDonât you like my
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