chance, one in a thousand or ten million--if there was any chance at
all--he had to go. He made himself stand, picked up the bag,
coughed, spat, and stumbled away. The path wound right then left,
dropped into a tiny vale, and forked. White as ghosts, enormous
blossoms dripped moisture. 'I'm coming, Oreb. Tell her I'm coming.'
'Here, here!'
The bird sounded very near. He stepped off the glittering path,
his feet sinking in soft soil, and parted the leaves; the face that
stared into his own might have been that of a corpse, hollow-cheeked
and dull-eyed. He gasped, and saw its bloodless lips part. Oreb flew
to him, becoming two birds.
He advanced another step, sparing the crowding plants as much
as he could, and found himself standing upon red stones that
bordered a clear pool no bigger than a tablecloth, which a path
approached from the opposite side.
'Here girl!' Oreb hopped to the wooden figure's head and rapped
it smartly with his beak.
'Yes,' Silk said, 'that's Thelxiepeia.' No other goddess had those
tilted eyes, and a carved marmoset perched upon the figure's
shoulder. He tapped his reflected face with a finger and clapped his
hands, but no monitor appeared in the silvered globe she held. 'It's
just a mirror,' he told Oreb. 'I hoped it might be a glass--that
Hyacinth might call me on it.'
'No call?'
'No call on this, alas.' With help from a friendly tree, he walked
the stony rim of the pool to a swinging seat facing the water. Here,
as Oosik had said, one saw the pool reflected in Thelxiepeia's
mirror, and her mirror reflected in it.
Hieraxday had been the day for dying and for honoring the dead.
Crane had died; but he, Silk, had done neither. Today, Thelxday,
was the day for crystal gazing and casting fortunes, for tricks and
spells, and for hunting and trapping animals; he resolved to do none
of those things, leaned back in the swing, and closed his eyes.
Thelxiepeia was at once the cruelest and kindest of goddesses, more
mercurial even than Molpe, though she was said--it would be why
her image was here--to favor lovers. Love was the greatest of
enchantments; if Echidna and her children succeeded in killing
Kypris, Thelxiepeia would no doubt, would doubtless...
_Become the goddess of love in a century or less_, said the Outsider,
standing not behind Silk as he had in the ball court, but before
him--standing on the still water of the pool, tall and wise and kind, with a
face that nearly came into focus. _I would claim her in that case, long
before the end. As I have so many others. As I am claiming Kypris
even now because love always proceeds from me, real love, true love.
First romance_.
The Outsider was the dancing man on a toy, and the water the
polished toy-top on which he danced with Kypris, who was Hyacinth
and Mother, too. _First romance_, sang the Outsider with the music
box. _First romance_. It was why he was called the Outsider. He was
outside--
'I, er, hope and--ah--trust I'm not disturbing you?'
Silk woke with a start and looked around wildly.
'Man come,' Oreb remarked. 'Bad man.' Oreb was perched on a
stone beside Thelxiepeia's pool; when he had concluded his
remarks, he pecked experimentally at a shining silver minnow that
darted away in terror.
'Names are not--um--requisite, eh? I know who you are. You
know me, hey? Let that be enough for both of us.'
Silk recognized his swaying visitor, started to speak, and assimilating
what had been said remained silent.
'Capital. I--ah--we are taking a risk, you and I. An--ah--rash
gamble. Simply by, urp, being where we belong. Here on the hill, eh?'
'Won't you sit down?' Silk struggled to his feet.
'No. I--ah--no.' His visitor belched again, softly. 'Thank you. I
have been waiting in the--ah--bar. Where, ump, I have been
compelled to buy drinks. And--um--drink. Standing's best. Um, at
present, eh? I'll just, er, lean on this, if I may. But please--ah--be
seated yourself, Pa--' He covered his mouth with his hand. 'Seated
by all means. It is I who should--and I do. I, um, am. As you see, eh?'
Silk resumed his place in the swing. 'May I ask--'
His visitor raised a hand. 'How I knew I should find you here? I did not,
Pa--Did not. Nothing of the sort. But while I was--rup!--sitting in
that, er, whatchamacallit, I observed you to enter the
room. Not the--um--one I sat in, that, ah, darksome and paneled
drinking place, hey? The other. The outer room, much bigger.'
'The sellaria,' Silk supplied.
'Ah--quite. I, um, went to the door. Spied upon you.'
The visitor shook his head in self-reproach.
'It was excusable, surely, under the circumstances. I have recently
done far worse things.'
'Good of you to say so. I--um--waylaid that waiter. You spoke
with him.'
Silk nodded.
'I had, um, observed you to pass under--ah--through the arch. I
had never had the, er, pleasure myself, eh? I, ah, apprehended that
it was--ah, is--some sort of garden, however. I inquired about it.
He, um, indicated that it was--is, I surmise--employed for, um,
discussions of a--ah--amorous nature.'
'You knew that I would be here, at this particular spot.' Silk
found it extremely inconvenient to be unable to say _Your Eminence_.
'You told him to look for me here.'
'No, no!' His visitor shook his head emphatically. 'I, ah, anticipated
you might, um, possibly have an appointment. As he had,
um, inadverted. But I--ah--in addition, um, however, ah,
considered that you might wish to, um, petition the immortal gods.
As I, ah, myself. I inquired about such a place in this, um,
conservatory. He mentioned the present, ah, xylograph.' The visitor
smiled 'That's the spot, I told him. That's where you'll find him.
Would you mind if I, um, sat myself, now? There by you? I'm--ah--quite
