“So you have no ambition with respect to us,” Dawn said.
“Just a healthy desire to celebrate with us in your quaint fashion,” Eve said.
“And accomplish your mission.”
“And go your way.”
“Yes. I can't remain in your world. I must return to my tree. And since I know that true human beings don't believe in dalliance for its own sake, I am trying to avoid it.”
“Which is our point,” Dawn said. “You know us, and appreciate all our points, yet have no ulterior motive.”
“You are the first male outside our family,” Eve said, “whom we can truly trust. Therefore we love you.”
“But trust is only one element of a meaningful relationship,” he protested. “And it is a property of fauns to make the females they touch want to celebrate. So your emotions may not be genuine, or at least not natural.”
“But we are young and fickle, and our love will not endure.”
“So we hope to indulge it with you during this window of opportunity.”
“And then we will go our separate ways,” Dawn said.
“And remember each other with a certain wistful fondness,” Eve said.
“With delight in the memory of the experience.”
“Which was our very first of this type.”
“And no regrets.”
“And no regrets.”
Forrest was overwhelmed. Maybe they were influenced by his faunish effect on females, but they had understanding too. “This-this is not an offer I can decline. But while we are on the mission-”
“It would be an abuse of the trust placed in all of us to play certain fauny games,” Dawn said.
“And such faun & games might interfere with our pursuit of the mission,” Eve agreed.
“So for now we will pretend that this dialogue has not yet occurred.”
“But we will never doubt that it will occur in due course.”
“Uh, yes,” Forrest agreed. He was deeply touched, but knew that this was no time to be distracted from the mission. “Where's Imbri?”
They looked out at the rest of the region. Polly Morph, in whatever form, was gone. Imbri was walking along the path, looking around as if seeking something she had lost.
Forrest disengaged from the girls and approached the mare, hoping that the spell of obscurity was not actually on him, since he had not been present when it had been invoked. He needed to be visible to Imbri.
“Hey!” he called.
She whirled, orienting on him. “Where were you?” her dreamlet query came.
“The girls hauled me under the obscurity blanket.”
“But you were gone for some time.”
“We had something we needed to work out.”
“Oh?”
“They are in temporary love with me.”
“Oh.”
“They don't get to meet many males who don't want something from them.”
“Don't you want something?”
“Nothing that would diminish them or commit them. It seems.”
“And did you get it?”
“Not yet. Right now the mission is more urgent.”
Imbri might have inquired further, but at that point another creature appeared on the path. Forrest quickly mounted Imbri so that they could appear as faun and horse, and they walked toward the new arrival. It didn't resemble Polly Morph, fortunately.
In fact, it didn't resemble anything Forrest remembered seeing before, anywhere. It seemed to be a mass of curving projections, some furry, some bare, some pointed, some floppy, and some vaguely like nothing specific.
“Hello!” Forrest called.
The thing cringed away. “Don't yell!” it exclaimed from somewhere within, faintly.
“Sorry,” Forrest whispered. “I just wanted to ask-”
“No, no, questions are too loud,” it said, sidling away.
“Just what kind of creature are you?” Forrest asked, mildly annoyed.
“I'm all ears,” it said, disappearing around a curve.
“That's true,” Imbri said in a dreamlet. “Now I recognize the different shapes of ears. It must be very sensitive to sound.”
“Maybe we'll have better luck with the next one,” Forrest said.
“And here he comes,” Imbri said. “Maybe this time I should try addressing him.”
“My technique hasn't been getting us far, for sure.”
The man looked to be about thirty two, wearing an elegant blue royal robe and a blue crown. He was smiling, and looked friendly.
“Hello,” Imbri said in a dreamlet directed to both Forrest and the man.
He looked at her, startled. “Why, it's a night mare!” he exclaimed.
“Former night mare, now a day mare,” Imbri's dreamlet figure clarified.
“How did you recognize me?”
“Oh, I have had many deliveries! I was originally from an awful place called Mundania. I have my Mundane name to prove it: Todd Loren.”
“Mundania! How did you get here?”
“I'm not sure, but I think it was my imagination. I dreamed of a special world, where I was a royal character and could do magic, and suddenly I was here, with my talent of being able to direct wind to blow to particular places. It may not be much, but I enjoy it.”
“Do you happen to know a woman called Ida?”
“The one with the moon?”
“That's the one. Can you tell us how to find her?”
“No, but I can direct you to her. Just follow that gust of wind.”
Todd gestured, and wind stirred up some dust, becoming visible as a fuzzy ball.
“Thank you!” Imbri's dreamlet figure cried as they pursued the wind.
“You are welcome. I'm always glad to gain size.”
“That's right,” Forrest said as they moved on. “Folk grow and gain power as they give things away. But I don't think I lost any mass.”
“I did, because the favor was to me,” Imbri said. “But I have plenty of mass, now. If I lose too much, I'll have to resume maiden shape, is all.”
“I hope you get it back, when we leave Pyramid.”
“Pyramid is so small that whatever we lose here is surely unmeasurable elsewhere.”
He realized that this was probably the case. This was the moon of a moon, as it were, and its entire mass was much less than that of either of their condensed souls on Ptero.
They followed the wind along the path, glad that it wasn't zooming wildly cross-country the way most winds did. Forrest hoped that Dawn & Eve were keeping up, because the wind didn't pause.
But then it did pause. It hovered in place, barely hanging on to the blue dust that made it visible. It was beside a young woman. Her hair and eyes were a silver shade of blue, and there was even a sprinkling of blue snow on her head. She was pretty, but looked hard.
“That's not Ida,” Forrest murmured.
“There must be a reason the wind is waiting,” Imbri said in a private dreamlet. “We had better inquire.”
“I'll do it.” He looked at the woman. “Hello.”
She looked coldly at him. “Do I know you?”
“No. And I mean no harm. But we are following a wind, and it is pausing by you, so I wondered whether there is a reason. I am Forrest Faun, and this is Mare Imbri.”
The woman turned deep blue eyes on him. “I am the Lady Winter, otherwise known as Winter Lee Cheryl Jacobs. I don't know why I am here, but I don't think it is to dance with the wind.”
“That name-are you Mundane?”
“Yes. At least I was, before I came on this trip.”
“Maybe that's why the wind is pausing. It was sent by another Mundane, and maybe it's curious, because there can't be many Mundanes here.”
“Another Mundane?” Winter asked, interested.
“Yes. A man. He wears a crown. He seemed nice.”
“Maybe I should meet him. At least he would understand why I find this place so strange.”
The wind divided, and o
ne gust swept back up the path. “Just follow that wind,” Forrest said. “It should lead you right to him.”
“Thank you,” Winter said, smiling so brilliantly that it seemed like sunrise. She followed the gust.
“Hey-I feel heavier,” Forrest said, surprised.
“You just did someone a favor,” Imbri said. “I think the wind did recognize her as a Mundane, and felt an affinity because Todd Loren was Mundane. They should like each other: he's mature and nice, and she's young and pretty.”
“I guess so,” he agreed.
The half gust of wind resumed its motion, and they followed it as the path wound around blue hills, across blue fields, through blue forests, past blue lakes, and under blue skies. Then it paused again, by what looked like a cemetery.
“This is just a field full of crosses,” Forrest said. “They must be marking graves.” Indeed, there were big crosses and little ones, each one carved from wood and slightly different from all the others. Some were fairly straight, but others were curvaceous. In fact they seemed to be about as individual for crosses as people were for people. Forrest had a vested appreciation for wood, and found it intriguing in its own right whatever form it might be carved into, but he didn't recognize this particular variety.
“But in Xanth graves aren't marked by crosses,” Imbri said.
“This isn't Xanth. In fact, it isn't even Ptero. Who knows what the rules may be on Pyramid?” He was suspicious, because of the way the crosses had been used in Contrary Centaur's game on Ptero. If these were anything like that, he wanted no part of them.
“Maybe so,” she agreed. “Let me send a dreamlet down to see whether there's a body.”
“Dreamlets can explore?”
“Not exactly. But I can send them to anyone, including the dead.”
She concentrated, and he saw a dreamlet in a little cloud float down and disappear into the ground below a cross. In a moment it bobbed up again, its dream figure looking perplexed. “No, there's nothing there,”
Imbri said in a separate dreamlet to Forrest.
“So they are just stuck in the ground,” Forrest said. “They aren't alive. I suppose Eve could tell us all about them, if she were here.”
“Perhaps we should wait for the girls to catch up. I'd like to be sure they are all right, as long as the wind is willing to wait.”
“All right. It does seem to be a smart gust.” At that the swirling wind darkened, blushing; though it could not speak to them, it evidently understood what they said.
That gave him a notion. “While we wait, Gust-is there anything to eat around here?”
The gust swept across to a billboard on the far side of the field. It had a painting of a grand assortment of berries. All were in shades of blue, of course, but seemed to be of many varieties. They looked delicious.
“But this is just a picture,” Forrest said.
The gust brushed up against the picture, and it almost seemed that some of the berries moved. So Forrest reached out to touch a berry and it was round, not flat. He picked it and put it to his mouth. “A bill-berry!” he exclaimed. “I should have known.”
Imbri trotted over. “Bill-berries? They are very good for you.”
She put her mouth to the billboard and took a bite of berries. But then she spat something out. “I got a billfold by accident,” her dreamlet figure said, making a face.
Forrest saw the billfold on the ground. It was a wad of folded paper, gray on the front, green on the back. It did look inedible. Apparently the billboard wasn't perfect; there was some contamination.
Something tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped. There was a vague female shape smelling faintly of morning. “Oh-Dawn,” he said, relieved.
“I hadn't noticed you.”
“Because of the blanket of obscurity,” her voice breathed in his ear. “I can see you quite clearly.”
“And so can I,” Eve's voice murmured in his other ear. Then they both nibbled on the tips of his ears.
“Stop that!” he exclaimed.
Imbri looked around. “Did I swish you with my tail? I didn't mean to.”
“No. The girls are here.”
She squinted. “Why so they are. That obscurity is effective. Now that I know what to look for, I can see them.”
So could Forrest. “Eve, would you check one of those crosses and learn what it's all about? The wind brought us here, so there must be some reason.”
“I'll be glad to.” Her vague form kissed his cheek and departed.
“That wind must like you,” Dawn said, kissing his other cheek.
“I think it's just doing its job. Maybe it appreciates the way I cooperated with it to send Lady Winter to Todd. It has been very helpful.”
“Eve is signaling. We had better go there.”
Forrest looked, but no longer saw Eve. The blanket had covered her.
“I'll lead you,” Dawn said. She took his hand in hers, squeezing his fingers in a way that reminded him exactly how female she was. These girls might be young, but they had learned a good deal already.
In a few steps they approached a gradually clarifying figure holding a cross. As Forrest concentrated, Eve became recognizable. “These crosses enable folk to cross things,” she said. “Eyes, T's, mountains, rivers, people-anything.”
“Then they could be useful,” Forrest said, relieved. The function of Pyramid crosses was different from Ptero crosses.
“Indeed. They are put out here for anyone to take and use. But when one is used, their maker gains the benefit of a given favor, and the one who uses them loses mass. So we don't want to take too many.”
“Can one cross enable more than one person to cross something?”
“A big one can. A small one is limited both in person and distance.
Four small ones would enable four people to cross one mountain, while one big one might enable all four people to cross a whole range of mountains. But the big one will exact a greater amount of mass, so we don't want to use any of them more than we need to.”
“Suppose we take several crosses, but don't use them?”
“Then there is no price. It doesn't matter where the crosses are, only how they are used.”
“Then we should take a fair collection of them, and not use them unless we have to,” he decided.
“How intelligent,” Eve said.
“Are you trying to tease me again?”
“No, just to remind you.”
He walked among the crosses. That was when he discovered that he was still holding Dawn's hand. She had not reminded him. He let go, embarrassed, and heard her obscure chuckle. “I think we should each carry two small ones and one big one. Can we do that? I mean, I have room in my knapsack, but do the rest of you have a way to carry things?”
“Sure,” Dawn said. “In our purses.”
“And I have a pack,” Imbri said.
Forrest leaned down to take a cross, but now Eve's hand stayed him. “I wouldn't,” she murmured.
“Why not?”
“Because that particular one is made of petrified wood.”
Forrest froze. Then he moved his hand very slowly down, barely touching the cross. Fear coursed through him. It was true; this cross made anyone who touched it terrified.
“But I might be able to use this too,” he said. “If I got caught by a monster I couldn't escape.”
“But how can you take it with you, if it frightens you?” Imbri asked.
“It shouldn't frighten me once I'm not directly touching it.” He reached into his knapsack and pulled out a handkerchief. He wrapped this around the cross so that he could pick it up without touching it. The handkerchief was thin, so his fright was there, but he was able to handle the cross until it dropped into his knapsack.
“That was a brave thing to do,” Dawn said, taking his hand again.
“No it wasn't. I was scared, but I knew there was no danger.”
“It's not handling danger, but handling fear that makes a person brave, isn't
it?”
Forrest hadn't thought of it that way. “Maybe. But it had to be done, if I wanted that cross.”
They each took two small crosses, which disappeared into their various packs and purses without trouble. But the large crosses were too big to fit. Finally Eve found one folding cross, and they fit that into Imbri's pack, which was larger than the others. That would have to do.
Now the wind, having dallied all this time, amusing itself by whirling up dry blue leaves and grass and making funnel-shapes of them, resumed its forward progress. They followed. The blanket of obscurity was fading, so that the girls remained fairly clear.
The path led past several huge blue bee hives. They had been constructed in the shape of wooden boats with closed tops, and these were arranged in a giant semi-circle. The bees were very large, and they were flying in with blue books.
Forrest paused to take in this scene. “I never knew that bees collected books,” he said, surprised.
Eve went up cautiously to touch one of the fancy hives. It seemed that enough of the blanket of obscurity remained on her to keep the bees from being disturbed. Then she laughed. “These are Ark-hives,” she explained. “Where the bees store books, so they won't be lost. That must be why these bees are so large; they are constantly doing good deeds for this region, by saving all these good references.”
They went on, hurrying to catch up with the gust. But now they came to a wide blue lake, and the wind was moving right across it, toward a blue island.
Forrest considered the water. “Do you suppose we could swim?”
Eve touched the surface with a finger. “I think not. This water contains all manner of horrible blue monsters.”
“Then this must be what we have the crosses for. We had better each use one small one, saving the other for the return trip.”
They dug out their small crosses and held them up. “Uh, how do they work?” Forrest asked, belatedly.
“Just describe where you wish to cross, and say 'invoke,’ “ Eve said.
“To that island,” Forrest said, looking at it. “Invoke.”
Suddenly he was there, and the cross was gone. He felt lighter, though that might have been his imagination. He turned to look back-and the others arrived. They made streaks as they crossed the water in half an instant.