_sure_ that's all, my daughter?'
'That's everything since Patera Silk shrived me, like I said,'
Chenille declared, 'everything that I remember, anyhow.' Apologetically
she added, 'That was Sphixday, so there wasn't time for a lot, and you
said things I did when I was Kypris or Scylla don't count.'
'Nor _do_ they. The gods _can_ do no evil. At least, not on _our_ level.'
Incus cleared his throat and made sure that he was holding his
prayer beads correctly. 'That being the case, I bring to you, my
daughter, the pardon of all the gods. In the name of _Lord Pas_, you
are forgiven. In the name of _Divine Echidna_, you are forgiven. In
the _glorious ever-efficacious_ name of _Sparkling Scylla, loveliest_ of
goddesses and _firstborn of the Seven and ineffable patroness_ of _this_,
our--'
'I'm not her any more, Patera. That's lily.'
Incus, who had been seized by a sudden, though erroneous,
presentiment, relaxed. 'You are forgiven. In the name of _Molpe_,
you are forgiven. In the name of _Tartaros_, you are forgiven. In the
name of _Hierax_, you are forgiven.'
He took a deep breath. 'In the name of _Thelxiepeia_, you are
forgiven. In the name of _Phaea_, you are forgiven. In the name of
_Sphigx_, you are forgiven. And in the name of _all lesser gods_,
you are forgiven. Kneel now, my daughter. I must trace the sign of addition
over your head.'
'I'd sooner Auk didn't see. Couldn't you just--'
'_Kneel!_' Incus told her severely, and by way of merited discipline
added, '_Bow_ your head!' She did, and he swung his beads forward
and back, then from side to side.
'I hope he didn't see me,' Chenille whispered as she got to her
feet, 'I don't think he's jump for religion.'
'I dare say _not_.' Incus thrust his beads back into his pocket. 'While
you _are_, my daughter? If that's so, you've deceived me most
completely.'
'I thought I'd better, Patera. Get you to shrive me, I mean. We
could've been killed back there when our talus fought the soldiers.
Auk just about was, and the soldiers could have killed us afterwards.
I don't think they knew we were on his back, and when he
caught fire they were afraid he'd blow up, maybe. If they'd been
right, we'd have got killed by that.'
'They will return for their _dead_, eventually. I must say the
prospect _concerns_ me. What if we _encounter_ them?'
'Yeah. We're supposed to get rid of the councillors?'
Incus nodded. 'So _you_, possessed by Scylla, instructed us, my
daughter. We are to displace _His Cognizance_ as well.' Incus permitted
himself a smile, or perhaps could not resist it. 'I am to have the office.'
'You know what happens to people that go up against the
Ayuntamiento, Patera? They get killed or thrown in the pits. All of
them I ever heard of.'
Incus nodded gloomily.
'So I thought I'd better get you to do it. Shrive me. I've got a day
left, maybe. That's not a whole lot of time.'
'Women, and _augurs_, are usually spared the ignominy of execution,
my daughter.'
'When they go up against the Ayuntamiento? I don't think so.
Anyhow, I'd be locked up in the Alambrera or tossed in a pit. They
eat the weak ones in the pits.'
Incus, a full head shorter than she, looked up at her. 'You've
_never_ struck me as _weak_, my daughter. And you _have_ struck me,
you know.'
'I'm sorry, Patera. It wasn't personal, and anyhow you said it
doesn't count.' She glanced over her shoulder at Auk, Dace, and
Hammerstone. 'Maybe we'd better slow down, huh?'
'Gladly!' He had been hard put to keep up with her. 'As I said,
my daughter, what you did to me is not to be accounted _evil. Scylla_
has every right to strike me, as a mother her child. Contrast that
with that man _Auk's_ behavior toward me. He seized me _bodily_ and
cast me into the lake.'
'I don't remember that.'
'_Scylla_ did not order it, my daughter. He acted upon his own _evil
impulse_, and were I to be asked to shrive him for it _again_, I am _far_
from confident I could bring myself to do so. Do you find him
attractive?'
'Auk? Sure.'
'I confess _I_ thought him a fine specimen when I first saw him. His
features are _by no means_ handsome, yet his _muscular masculinity_ is
both real and impressive.' Incus sighed. 'One _dreams_...I mean _a
young woman_ such as yourself, my daughter, not infrequently
dreams of such a man. _Rough_, yet, one hopes, not entirely lacking
inner _sensitivity_. When the _actual object_ is encountered, however,
one is _invariably_ disappointed.'
'He lumped me a couple of times while we were hoofing out to
that shrine. Did he tell you about that?'
'About visiting a _shrine?_' Incus's eyebrows shot up. 'Auk and
yourself? No _indeed_.'
'Lumping me, I meant. I thought maybe... Never mind. Once I
sat down on one of those white rocks, and he kicked me. Kicked my
leg, you know. I got pretty sore about that.'
Incus shook his head, dismayed at Auk's brutality. 'I should
imagine _so_, my daughter. I, for one, am disinclined to criticize you
for it.'
'Only by-and-by I figured it out. See, Kypris had--you know,
what Scylla did. It was at Orpine's funeral. Orpine's a dell I used to
know.' Transfering the launcher to her other hand, Chenille wiped
her eyes. 'I still feel really bad about her. I always will.'
'Your grief does you _credit_, my daughter.'
'Now she's lying in a box in the ground, and I'm walking in this
one, only mine's a whole lot deeper. I wonder whether this is what
being dead seems like to her? Maybe it is.'
'Her _spirit_ has doubtless united itself with the gods in Mainframe,'
Incus said kindly.
