institution that needs no defense. Neither I nor Generalissimo Oosik nor
General Mint desires to destroy it. So why shouldn't
there be peace? Help us make peace!
'The second is that the Ayuntamiento was created by our Charter.
Were it not for our Charter, it would have no right to exist, and
wouldn't exist. Our Charter grants to you--to you, the people of
Viron, and not to any official--the right to choose a new calde
whenever the position is vacant. It then makes the Ayuntamiento
subject to the calde you have chosen. I need not tell you that our
Charter proceeds from the immortal gods. All of you know that.
Generalissimo Oosik and I have been consulting His Cognizance the
Prolocutor on this matter of the calde and the Ayuntamiento. He is
here with us, and if I have misinformed you he will correct me, I feel
certain.'
With his left hand Quetzal accepted the ear; his right traced a
trembling sign of addition. 'Blessed be you in the Most Sacred
Name of Pas, the Father of the Gods, in that of Gracious Echidna,
His consort, in those of the Sons and their Daughters alike, this day
and forever, in the name of their eldest child, Scylla, Patroness of
this--'
He continued to speak, but Silk's attention deserted him; the
door of the dressing room had opened. Hyacinth stepped through it,
radiantly lovely in a flowing gown of scarlet silk. In a low voice she
said, 'The glass in there just told me the Ayuntamiento's offering
ten thousand to anybody who kills you and two thousand each for
Oosie and His Cognizance. I thought you should know.'
Silk nodded and thanked her; Oosik muttered, 'It was only to be
expected.'
'Consider, my children,' Quetzal was saying, 'how painful it must
be to Succoring Scylla to see the sons and daughters of the city that
she founded clawing one another's eyes. She has provided everything
we require. First of all our Charter, the foundation of peace
and justice. If we wish to regain her favor we need only return to it.
If we wish to reclaim the peace we have lost, again we need only
return to her Charter. We wish justice, I know. I wish it myself, and
the wish for it has been planted in every bosom by Great Pas. Even
the worst of us wish to live in holiness, too. Perhaps there are a few
ingrates who don't, but they are very few. We wish all these things,
and we can make them ours by one simple act. Let us return to our
Charter. That is what the gods desire. Let us accept this anointed
augur, Patera Calde Silk. The gods desire that, too. To conform to
Sustaining Scylla's Charter, we must have a calde, and the smallest
of our children know on whom the choice has fallen. If you have any
doubts on these topics, my children, I beg you to consult the
anointed augur into whose care you are given. There is one, you
know, in every quarter. Or you may consult the next you see, or any
holy sibyl. They will tell you that the path of duty is not difficult but
simple and plain.'
Quetzal paused, exhaling with a slight hiss. 'Now, my children, a
most painful matter. Word has come to me that devils in human
shape are seeking our destruction. Falsely and evilly. they promise
money they have not got and will not pay, for our blood. Do not
believe their lies. Their lies offend the gods. Anyone who slays good
men for money is worse than a devil, and anyone who slays for
money he will never see is a fool. Worse than a fool, a dupe.'
Oosik reached for the ear, but Quetzal shook his head.
'My children, it will soon be shadeup. A new day. Let it be a day
of peace. Let us stand together. Let us stand by the gods, by their
Charter, and by the calde they have chosen for us. I bid you farewell
for the present, but soon I hope to talk to you face-to-face and bless
you for the peace you've given our city. Now I believe Generalissimo
Oosik wants to speak to you again.'
Oosik cleared his throat. 'This is the Generalissimo. Operations
against the rebels are canceled, effective at once. Every officer will
be held responsible for his obedience to my order and for the actions
of his troopers or soldiers, as the case may be. Calde Silk and His
Cognizance are going through the city on one of our floaters. I
expect every officer, every trooper, and every soldier to receive
them in a manner fully in accordance with loyalty and good discipline.
'My Calde, have you anything further to say?'
'Yes, I do.' Silk leaned toward him, speaking into the ear. 'Please
stop fighting. It was needful, as I said; but it's become senseless.
Stop them if you can, Maytera Mint. General Mint, please stop
them. Peace is within our grasp--from the moment we accept it, all
of us have won.'
He straightened up, savoring the wonder of the ear. It really does
look like a black flower, he thought, a flower meant to bloom at
night; and because it's bloomed, shadeup is on the way, even if the
night looks nearly as dark as ever.
To the ear he added, 'We'll be with you in a few minutes, on the
floater Generalissimo Oosik told you about. Don't shoot us, please.
We certainly won't shoot you. No one will.' He turned to Oosik for
confirmation, and Oosik nodded vigorously.
'Not even if you shoot me. I'll stand up if I can, so you can see
me.' He paused. Was there more to say?
Attenuated like distant thunder, his words flew back to him
through the window, an ebbing storm: '_Can see me_.'
'Those who fought for Viron will be rewarded, regardless of the
side on which they fought. Maytera Marble, if you can hear this,
please come to the floater. I need you badly, so please come. Auk,
too, and Chenille.' Had Kypris possessed Hyacinth, rendering her
irresistible? Could she possess two women simultaneously? For a
second he pondered the question among the remembered faces of
his teachers at the schola. He ought to end this, he thought, by
invoking the gods; but the time-worn honorifics caught in his throat.
'Until I see you,' he said at last, 'please pray for me--for our city,
and for all of us. Pray to Kind Kypris, who is love. Pray especially to
the Outsider, because he is the god whose time is coming and I am
the help he's sent us.'
