clean cup for the purpose.'
'Do, Patera. Please do.' Quetzal smiled. 'While you were gone, I
was contemplating the nature of humor. Have you ever considered it?'
Remora resumed his seat. 'i fear not, Your Cognizance.'
'What's become of young Incus? You hadn't expected him to be
gone so long?'
'No, Your Cognizance. I dispatched him to Limna.' Remora spooned beef salts
into the clean cup and added water from the small copper kettle he had
brought, producing a fine plume of steam. 'I am--ah--moderately
concerned. An, um, modicum of civil unrest last night, eh?' He stirred
vigorously. 'This--ah--stripling Silk. Patera Silk, alas. I know him.'
'My prothonotary told me.' With the slightest of nods, Quetzal
accepted the steaming cup. 'I'd have thought Limna would be safer.'
'As would I, Your Cognizance. As did I.'
A cautious sip. Quetzal held the hot, salty fluid in his mouth,
drawing it deliciously through folded fangs.
'I sent him in search of a--ah, um--individual, Your Cognizance.
A, er, acquaintance of this Patera Silk's. The Civil Guard is
searching for Patera himself, hey? As are, er, certain others.
Other--ah--parties. So I am told. This morning, Your Cognizance, I
dispatched still others to look for young Incus. The rain, however,
ah, necessitous, will hamper them all, hum?'
'Do you swim, Patera?'
'I, Your Cognizance? At the--um--lakeside, you mean? No. Or
at least, not for many years.
'Nor I.'
Remora groped toward a point he had yet to discern. 'A healthful
exercise, however. For those of, um, unaugmented years, eh? A hot
bath before sacrifice, Your Cognizance? Or--I have it!--springs.
There are, er, reborant springs at Urbs. Healing springs, most
healthful. Possibly, while--affairs are so--ah--unsettled here, eh?'
Quetzal shook himself. He had a way of quivering like a fat man
when he did that, although on the few occasions when Remora had
been obliged to lift him into bed, his body had in fact been light and
sinuous. 'The gods...' He smiled.
'Must be served, to be sure, Your Cognizance. I would be on the
spot--ah--ensuring that the Chapter's interests were vigilantly
safeguarded, hey?' Remora tossed lank black hair away from his
eyes. 'Each rite carried out with--um--'
'You must recall the story, Patera.' Quetzal swayed from side to
side, perhaps with silent mirth. 'A-man and Wo-man like rabbits in
a garden. The--what do you call them?' He held up a thin,
blue-veined hand, palm cupped.
'A cobra, Your Cognizance?'
'The cobra persuaded Wo-man to eat fruit from his tree, miraculous
fruit whose taste conferred wisdom.'
Remora nodded, wondering how he might reintroduce the
springs. 'I recollect the--um--allegory.'
Quetzal nodded more vigorously, a wise teacher proffering praise
to a small boy. 'It's all in the Writings. Or nearly all. A god called
Ah Lah barred Wo-man and her husband from the garden.' He
ceased to speak, apparently wandering among thoughts. 'We seem
to have lost sight of Ah Lah, by the way. I can't recall a single
sacrifice to him. No one ever asks why the cobra wanted Wo-man to
eat his fruit.'
'From sheer, er, wickedness, Your Cognizance? That is what I
had always supposed.'
Quetzal swayed faster, his face solemn. 'In order that she would
ditrib his tree, Patera. The man likewise. Their story's not over
because they haven't climbed down. That's why I asked if you had
considered the nature of humor. Is Patera Incus a strong swimmer?'
'Why, I've--ah--no notion, Your Cognizance.'
'Because you think you know why the woman you sent him to
look for visited the lake with our scamp Silk, whose name I see on
walls.'
'Why, er, Your Cognizance is--ah--great penetration, as always.'
Remora fidgeted.
'I saw it scratched on one five floors up, yesterday,' Quetzal
continued as though he had not heard, 'and went wide.'
'Disgraceful, Your Cognizance!'
'Respect for our cloth, Patera. I myself swim well. Not so well as a
fish, but very well indeed. Or I did.'
'I'm pleased to hear it, Your Cognizance.'
'The jokes of gods are long in telling. That's why you ought to sift
the records of the past on Hieraxdays, Patera. Today's Hieraxday.
You'll learn to think in new and better ways. Thank you for my beef
tea. Now go.'
Remora rose and bowed. 'As Your Cognizance desires.'
His Cognizance stared past him, lost in speculation.
Greatly daring, Remora ventured, 'I have often observed that
your own way of thinking is somewhat--ah--unlike, as well as much
more, um, select than that of most men.'
There was no reply. Remora took a step backward. 'Upon every--ah--topic
whatsoever, Your Cognizance's information is quite, um, marvelous.'
'Wait.' Quetzal had made his decision. 'The riots. Has the
Alambrera fallen?'
'What's that? The Alambrera? Why--ah--no. Not to my
knowledge, Your Cognizance.'
'Tonight.' Quetzal reached for his beef tea. 'Sit down, Patera.
You're always jumping about. You make me nervous. It can't be
good for you. Lemur's dead. Did you know it?'
Remora's mouth gaped, then snapped shut. He sat.
'You weren't. It's your responsibility to learn things.'
Remora acknowledged his responsibility with a shamefaced nod.
'May I inquire, Your Cognizance--?'
'How I know? In the same way I knew the woman you sent Incus
after had gone to Lake Limna with Patera Calde Silk.'
'Your Cognizance!'
Once again, Quetzal favored Rernora with his lipless smile. 'Are
