“If you had been a nymph, all this would have been abated in seconds,” he muttered. “With no emotional complications. Instead you have chained me.”
“I know,” she said smugly. “You're not used to dealing with women with minds. We're dangerous. We are aware of consequences, and we know how to make a temporary interest permanent.” She nudged him without using an elbow. “But somehow this session hasn't changed my feeling for you.”
“It couldn't increase what was already complete,” he said glumly.
“Maybe.” He decided not to inquire what she meant. She surely understood further aspects that would only alarm him worse. He had anticipated problems with terrain, monsters, magic, and people, but never with emotions. He had hardly known what emotions were, before all this began. Now he knew that they were the most formidable of the lot.
They returned to the central plateau. Along the way Forrest recovered his steadiness, and his fur dried, and Eve shifted to dry clothing.
Their immersion in the water was not obvious. She released his hand, so that even that aspect disappeared. He was struggling to keep his face and manner straight, and was privately amazed at how readily Eve made herself look cool, as if nothing of any kind had even been thought. Obviously girls were better at this than men. Or fauns, at least.
“That was one close call,” Imbri said in a dreamlet. “If she had kissed you on the mouth instead of the ears-”
Dawn also looked knowingly at them, without comment.
Forrest approached Ida. “The name of the lake is the Sarah Sea,” he began. He went on to describe its depths in meticulous detail. As he spoke, he found himself becoming increasingly interested in Ida. She was an attractive woman, with a remarkable talent, and now he was in a position to know how special her moon was. Eve had tempted him wickedly, but he knew it was desire rather than love. Ida did not tempt him in that manner, but his feeling for her was becoming encompassing.
He wanted to stay with her forever, and bask in the delight of her mere presence. This, he realized, was love, an emotion he had never before experienced. It was different from desire, though there were connections between the two. Should Ida express any interest at all in desire, he realized it would spring fully formed from the broad base of the larger emotion. Fortunately she gave no such indication, though her moon angled to observe him better.
“Now it is my turn,” Ida said when he finished. “You have delivered in full measure, and satisfied my lifelong curiosity. Do not be concerned about your present emotion; it will shortly pass. Here is the information you need. You have to talk to the margins, and explain to them that they have been deceived. That they are not giving favors, they are stealing them, and will be diminished thereby.”
“Margins?” Forrest asked. “The lines?”
“The creatures who generate the lines,” Ida said. “They are kept in the cellars, and not told much of anything that is true.”
A bulb flashed over Forrest's head. “So if they learn the truth, they'll stop generating the lines, and the power of the Wizards will collapse!
Ida smiled. “I'm glad that this information is useful to you.”
“It certainly is!”
“But how can we get into the castles, to tell the margins?” Imbri asked.
Forrest relayed the question.
“You have merely to locate Ghina, whose talent is to put people to sleep,” Ida said. “She is somewhere on Pyramid's red face, and will help if you ask her. Also Jfraya, whose talent is to draw a door that opens.
“But how do we find Gina and Jeffrey?”
“Ghina, the daughter of Graeboe Giant and Gloha Goblin-Harpy, I believe.
A large invisible winged goblin girl. And Jfraya, of uncertain origin, on Pyramid's green face. I fear you will have to accept some favors there, and be accordingly diminished.”
“I can do that,” Imbri said.
“So we have it,” Forrest said. “Thank you so much.”
“No thanks necessary; it is a fair exchange.”
Then he realized something. “My emotion-it has faded. I don't love you any more. Not that you are unworthy. It's just that-”
“Yes. It abated when I returned the favor. But I trust you can appreciate why I demurred, before.”
“Yes! It's a great emotion, but it must be invoked suitably.”
“That is correct. I am glad we were able to arrange our exchange of information, for we both profit handsomely thereby.”
“So am I.” he said, much relieved. If only Eve could be similarly turned off. But he knew of no favor he could do her at the moment.
“Now we must return to Pyramid. Do you have any objection if we go directly from here?”
“None. I have not before observed travel between worlds. It should be interesting.”
“Maybe so.” He looked at the others. “Are we ready?”
“No,” Dawn said. “I haven't had the chance to do you a favor to match Eve's.”
“Better yet,” Forrest suggested, “why don't I do Eve an equivalent favor, so that her emotion abates? I can't think of one, but maybe you can.”
“Maybe I can,” Dawn said.
“Nuh-uh!” Eve protested. “I like it this way.”
“But we have to be even,” Dawn said.
“How long has it been since Eve did her favor for Forrest?” Ida asked.
“An hour,” Dawn said.
“Then it's too late. Favors have to be exchanged soon, before the emotion sets in place.”
“Then I'll just have to do Forrest some favor,” Dawn said. “Forrest, what do you really, truly, most want to know about some living thing?”
“Where to find a faun for my neighboring tree. That's my whole mission here.”
“But I have to touch a living thing to know about it. I can't find your faun from a distance, unless I can touch someone who knows where he is.”
“I wish you could do me that favor,” Forrest said. “But it is evident that you can't.”
“Maybe one of us knows,” Dawn said. “Without knowing she knows, I mean.
So I could find out.”
“I do not,” Ida said. “I would have to query Cone again, and that would mean-”
“Don't do that!” Forrest said. “It's Dawn's favor I must have.”
Ida smiled. “I understand.”
“Let's hold hands,” Dawn said desperately. “If the information is among us, I can get it.”
“I can't hold hands,” Imbri said in a dreamlet.
“But you can touch us,” Eve pointed out.
So they formed another circle, with the two girls holding Forrest's hands, and touching Imbri on the other side. There was a pause.
“There is something,” Dawn said. “Not the faun. Something, something better, I think. Oh!” She let go.
“What happened?” Eve asked. “Is something wrong?”
Dawn looked awed. “I don't think so. But I don't know what to do. It's all-all mixed up.”
Forrest was getting impatient. “Do you have the answer or don't you?”
Dawn turned to Ida. “Aunt Ida-where I come from, that's what you are-you always had good advice for us. I really need it now. Is there any way-without complicating things-”
Ida nodded. “There may be, dear. If you care to tell me what is on your mind, I would be free to offer an opinion, which you would be free to ignore. So there would be no actual service. Would that do?”
“Yes!”
“Then we shall do that. Let's take a little walk into my house.”
The two went into the house. The remaining three looped a glance around. “What do you think she saw?” Eve asked.
“It must have been something that one of us knows, or maybe has seen and not realized its significance,” Imbri said.
“She knows just about everything I know,” Eve said. “So I don't think it's me.”
“I have seen too many things to remember,” Imbri said. “In the course of my delivery of bad dreams. So one
of them could relate. But why wouldn't she tell us, or at least Forrest?”
“All I know I learned in the vicinity of my tree,” Forrest said. “This adventure has shown me more new things than I ever saw before. So unless I saw a faun in passing and didn't realize it-and why wouldn't Dawn tell me that?”
“She said it wasn't a faun, but maybe better,” Eve said. “But that still doesn't explain why she's so confused.”
Dawn and Ida emerged from the house. Dawn looked radiant. She marched right up to Forrest. “I love you as much as Eve does, now,” she said, embracing him and kissing him ardently on the mouth. He realized that it must be so, for her passion was heating him, making him desire her as much as he desired Eve. Her body was pressing him in all the places Eve's body had, just as urgently. “So we're even, again.”
She gave him a final squeeze, and turned him loose.
He reeled, and would have fallen, had not Imbri alertly intercepted him and supported him with her solid shoulder. “We had better complete this mission soon,” Imbri said in a dreamlet. “Those girls are too much for you.”
True words! He put his arm across her shoulder, gradually regaining his equilibrium. “I'm just not used to this sort of thing,” he said.
“But what favor did you do him?” Eve was asking Dawn.
“Sister, I can't tell you. And I can't tell you why I can't tell you.
But believe me, you would do the same, in my situation.”
“I don't understand!”
“I know. I'm sorry. But so it must be, for now.”
Eve looked at Ida. “So it seems it must be,” Ida agreed. “And now I think you are ready to return to Pyramid and complete your mission.”
“But how can she have done me a favor, and I not know it?”
Forrest asked, as perplexed as Eve.
“In time you will understand.”
Forrest exchanged a glance of mottled frustration with Eve. “Don't you hate it when someone says that?” Eve asked.
“Yes. It makes me feel like a teenager.”
“Exactly,” she agreed. Then she came across and kissed him on the mouth. “If Dawn can do it, so can I.”
“But I didn't get to press my bare body against him in the water,” Dawn retorted.
“How do you know about that?” Eve demanded.
“When we held hands, I fathomed everything.”
“Including what you're not telling us.”
“Yes,” Dawn said smugly.
“It's time to go,” Forrest said, before it could erupt into a sisterly fight.
“Yes,” Imbri agreed, her dreamlet figure sounding no more pleased than Forrest or Eve. “Time to go.”
“Let's hold hands,” Eve suggested.
“Just to be sure no one gets lost,” Dawn said.
At another time Forrest might have objected. But at the moment his main concern was that they make a safe return to Pyramid before anything else happened to confuse the issue. So he didn't argue.
Eve took hold of his left hand, and Dawn took his right hand, and the two of them caught Imbri's mane on either side with their other hands.
Each of the girls squeezed his fingers with knowing implication. They were even, all right-but what of him? Then all of them diluted their bodies.
“This is impressive,” Ida remarked as they expanded and thinned. “I wish all of you the very best. Give my regards to Ida of Pyramid.”
Then they became too diffuse to hear her. They were drifting up into the sky, which was the hole in the center of Torus. They had to move out of it, so as not to collide with the world again as they continued to expand.
The lakes, forests, fields, and mountains spread out below and around them as they went. Forrest peered at the inner side of the doughnut, until he located the Sarah Sea, with its island in the center. He hoped Ida wasn't lonely. It would not have been a bad place to reside.
They moved well clear of Torus, growing impossibly large. Then Forrest saw a far larger shape beyond, and realized that it was Ida's head. Ida of Pyramid. They would have some interesting things to tell her, too!
It became easier as they oriented on the larger world. They were too diffuse to continue holding hands; their substances passed right through each other. But now there was no danger of getting lost. Still, one nebulous figure clung to his left extremity. That would be Eve. Or was it? What was he to do about her, whichever one it was? When the two girls had been equally interested, it had been awkward, and worse when Eve was more interested, but now it was worse yet. Because now he was wishing that the mission could be finished, so that he and they could do whatever they had in mind. He would have to play no favorites, but that would be a lie; Eve had become his favorite. She had aroused emotions of a scope and complexity he had not before experienced. Yet Dawn had the capacity to even it up, as her last embrace had shown. Just what had she done, to increase her emotion?
When their own monstrous bodies came into view, they separated, each descending toward his or her own. Even Eve's empty body intrigued him now; it looked lovely in its dark perfection. He would have to dissipate that feeling, if he could.
Mare Imbri was the first to reach her body. She landed on it with her hoofs and sank in. So that was how it was done! Forrest moved his own feet toward that landing. But he hung back somewhat, wanting to make sure that the others docked successfully before he did. He didn't know what he would do if anything went wrong, but he felt it was his responsibility.
He saw Dawn reach her body. She elected to swan-dive into it, her soul-self assuming the form of the bird just before it disappeared into the flesh. Actually her whole body was condensed soul, but that didn't seem to matter in this circumstance. Her head faced him at the last instant, and winked. What did she know?
Then Eve reached her body. She assumed the form of a perfect image of herself, only without the clothing, and sank down on her back. She glanced lingeringly at him as she disappeared, and smiled. Oh, yes, she remained aware of him!
Then it was his turn. He dropped in feet first, trusting Imbri's technique, and felt his feet and legs encounter slow resistance. He arranged himself and lay down across his body, sinking in.
Then it became stifling. He was suffocating. He wanted to pull out, to escape, to win free, but couldn't. The body had hold of him, and was sucking him into itself, in all its solid parts and aspects. But he reminded himself that this really was his body, in this world, and that he would like it as soon as he truly got back into it. It merely felt a bit corroded from disuse at the moment.
Then the melding was complete. He opened his eyes. Around him the others were stirring. “What an experience!” Dawn said. She looked at Forrest as if pondering experience of another kind.
“Yes indeed,” Eve agreed. Then she sent a sultry glance in Forrest's direction. “In more respects than one.”
For sure.
Ida helped them reorient. “Are all of you all right?” she asked. “You were gone for several hours.”
Forrest looked at the tiny Torus orbiting her head. So much had happened there! “Yes, I think we are, physically,” he said.
Both girls laughed. “Emotionally, we changed,” Dawn said. “The two of us fell in love with him, and he became fascinated with us.”
“But we learned what we need to know,” Eve said. “Your persona there was very nice.”
“And now we will share it with you,” Forrest said. “We will tell you all about Torus.”
“I'm so glad,” Ida said, bringing a plate of cookies.
And for the next two hours they told her everything they could remember that they deemed important or interesting. Ida was fascinated, especially with the revised rules of services and emotions there, and with the information about the other Ida's cone moon. “How I wish I could meet her!” she said.
“That, I fear, is impossible,” Imbri said. “How could you take your moon along-when going to that moon?”
“How, indeed,” Ida agreed sadly. “But this detai
led knowledge of it is the next best thing. I'm glad she has a nice residence.”
“She sent her regards to you,” Forrest said, remembering.
“Oh! How nice.”
“She's a nice person,” Dawn said.
“Just like you,” Eve said.
“Oh!” Ida blushed.
Then it was time to resume their mission. “We must locate Ghina on the red face, and Jfraya on the green face,” Forrest said. “With their help, we can nullify the Wizards. Then you will be free.”
“That will be nice,” Ida agreed. “But do be careful, because the Wizards may not take kindly to your effort.”
“As long as nobody tells them what we are up to, we should be all right,” Imbri said in a dreamlet.
“I will certainly never tell,” Ida said. “Farewell, good visitors.”
Dawn & Eve hugged her. Then the four of them left her blue stone house, and walked off the blue ridge to the blue lake. There Forrest took the large cross from Imbri's pack. They clustered together, and shot across the water in a bundle.
They landed tumbled together on the far shore. Dawn was plastered across Forrest's front, and Eve across his back, all of them on top of Imbri. But no one was hurt. He wondered to what extent the girls had arranged things that way. Did it matter?
They disentangled, and resumed their trek. The red face was in the direction they thought of as west, though such a designation was meaningless here. A straight march in that direction would get them there. Forrest invoked the blanket of obscurity so that they would not be bothered by natives.
But night was coming. They needed a place to spend the night. They were in deep woods, and weren't sure how safe it would be, because the blanket would wear off long before the night ended. Already they heard the howling of the hunting wolf spiders. They didn't want to blunder into a wolf web.