"Affirmation."
In the course of the day the other members of the party arrived. They focused on baths, food, sleep, and incidental palace news. Symbol and Gale were pleased to surprise them with information about the loom.
The following day Havoc called a meeting in the throne room. He and Gale were there, of course, and Throe and Symbol. So were their four original companions, sweet Stevia, Cartographer Dour, the sorceress Ine, and the Amazon Lucent. But also Ennui, and Bijou, Chief, and the Lady Aspect. And Berm and Spanky, still emulating King Havoc and Consort Gale. Fourteen people—fifteen if the succubus Swale was counted. Why so large a group? It was going to be hard to keep anything secret.
"We have important business,” Havoc announced. “And some surprises. I turn to the Red Glamor for guidance."
Stevia stepped up to join him. “I am the mortal impression of the Red Glamor. I prefer to keep this form while among mortals, but I will demonstrate.” She shimmered—and became the glowing image of the lovely Red Glamor. This is not illusion; I am she. Symbol felt the thought in her mind, though she lacked the mind-reading talent. She looked around, surprised, and saw by the expression of the others that they had received it too. She was amazed—as were the others.
Stevia reappeared. “Now you know me. Remember my true identity, rather than this convenient shell. I sent Havoc on this mission because it seemed he could accomplish it. We made a tacit deal: we Glamors would support him if he pursued our purpose. He requires the ability to rule effectively, being free of threat from anonymous assassins, and to that end he pursues the masters of the changeling complex. We derive from changelings, and are vulnerable as they are, so we wish him success in this. But we are only seven; we have not been able to find the five remaining Glamors. We expect to locate them with the help of the loom."
Stevia turned to Ennui. “Present the loom."
Ennui put fingers in her mouth and brought out a miniature model of a loom, fashioned of small splinters of wood, complete with a tiny tapestry. She set it on the floor and stepped back. “Loom, restore,” she said.
Suddenly the toy was replaced by a full-scale wooden loom, complete with several surrounding skeins of colored yarn. Symbol gasped, as did a number of others. This was strong magic, Glamor-quality magic, here in the heart of the nonChroma region. This was the equivalent of one of the magic ikons.
"Each of the objects you have collected is magic,” Stevia continued. “Each associates with a Glamor. The loom will convert them to threads, which will weave a tapestry that we hope will reveal the identities of the five missing Glamors. Then, united with them, we hope to go after the source of the changelings and the Glamors, and make it ours."
Stevia paused, letting them assimilate that. Then she resumed. “We Glamors are unable to touch our own ikons, or any others. Neither can we touch the loom. Only mortals can handle them. That is why we need your cooperation. We will now transform the ikons to threads, and weave the tapestry."
"Who is adept at weaving?” Havoc asked.
There was a pause. The men shrugged; it was not man's work. But so did the younger women: Gale, Ine, Bijou, and Spanky, as well as the intermediate ones Lucent and Symbol herself. After a moment just two women raised their hands: Ennui and the Lady Aspect.
Havoc looked at the Lady Aspect. “You have helped me so much already, Lady. Can you do this?"
"I have some experience with small looms, but would not call myself adept,” she said. “This particular loom is a giant antique, evidently fashioned in the early days of the human colonization, before the magical Chroma weaving displaced conventional nonChroma tapestries. It has features I do not immediately recognize. In fact it is a superior artifact, perhaps a legacy of the elaborate knowledge of our ancestors of fabled Planet Earth. It would take me time to learn it, and I would be slow. Who wove the LOVE plaque?"
"I did,” Ennui said, embarrassed. “I was just ascertaining how it worked, never thinking that it would be on show. I will remove it.” She proceeded to do that, unhooking the several taut connecting strands.
"You are clearly the one to use this loom,” the Lady Aspect said.
"Oh, but I am not adept either! I would not presume."
"It is no presumption, oath friend,” Havoc said. Symbol saw Ennui flush slightly, because he was complimenting her in public. She was indeed his oath friend, but she loved him too, in the manner the Lady Aspect did, halfway between mother and lover. Symbol understood all too well how it was, being halfway between those roles in age. Young enough to be mostly lover, but she cherished Havoc also in a big sisterly fashion. What was it about the man? She was coming to doubt that it was merely because he was a changeling. He was more than a changeling.
"Others can't touch it anyway,” Throe said. He made as if to touch an upright, shying his hand away. “Try it."
Havoc stepped forward and tried. His hand bounced without making contact. “Verification."
Berm tried. “Ditto."
Others tried, and found they could not. Symbol tried, and was similarly repulsed. There was no discomfort, just an inability to close the last bit of distance to the loom.
The Lady Aspect tried. Her hand did make contact.
"Because you understand and appreciate it, as I do,” Ennui said. “You could use it."
"Perhaps I could, Lady Ennui. But I believe you are the preferred weaver. You brought it here."
"I remain daunted. Could we work together?"
"Accepted.” The Lady aspect joined her in unhooking the small tapestry.
"Now we must weave the Glamor tapestry,” Stevia said. “I hereby volunteer my Red Ikon as the first Thread for this purpose. Who fetched it?"
"I did,” Gale said.
"Take it to the loom."
Gale looked around. “Where is it?"
"Consort, the king has it,” Havoc said.
Gale paused an instant, then turned to face the mock king and consort. Symbol wasn't sure whether the pause was because of his name for her, or the reference to another person as king.
Berm, in his role as King Havoc, produced the small ornate wooden box he carried. He opened it and presented it to Gale. She reached in and brought out the statuette of the nude red woman. Symbol was struck by how much this resembled the Red Glamor herself, the form perfect. That was surely no coincidence.
Gale took the ikon to Ennui. Ennui accepted it, but was doubtful. “What do I do with it? This is not a thread."
"We do not know how the loom works, any more than we know its origin,” Stevia said. “We learned of it only through coincidence a few decades ago, and are unable to touch it, even those of us who understand weaving. This is another reason we need mortal assistance.
The Lady Aspect took the ikon. “The loom transforms magically without regard to mass. This must have similar capability. Perhaps if you invoke it similarly?"
"Ikon, restore,” Ennui said. Nothing happened.
"Ikon become thread,” the Lady Aspect said. It did not respond.
"Anybody,” Havoc said, looking around. “Suggestions."
Faces were blank. No one know how to make a balky magic object perform.
Then Symbol got a notion. “The loom—it works only for one who understands it. Who can use it. Maybe the threads are there only for one who uses them."
Havoc looked at her. “Confusion, mistress.” That set her back in much the way his reference to oath friend had done for Ennui. He was openly acknowledging her as his mistress, a signal honor. “How may one use a thread that isn't there?"
"I know it seems backwards,” Symbol said. “But magic has some odd ways. Maybe it has to be in use before it changes."
Others shook their heads. But the Lady Aspect handed the ikon back to Ennui. “Try to use it,” she said.
"First I must set it up,” Ennui said. “I assume the magic threads are the weft. I need the warp."
"I will help,” the Lady Aspect said.
The two of them got threads from the yarn
and strung it to the catches, forming long parallel lines. Then Ennui drew up a chair and sat before the loom. She put her feet on the treadle and worked it, and another set of catches came forward. Symbol had next to no loom experience, but remembered that the two warps passed through each other, securing the weft. Hence the treadle. The theory was simple, but the mechanism looked intricate.
When the second array of threads had been strung, Ennui took the red statuette and put it in the boat-shaped shuttle, which she then flung across from one side to the other, between the two warps. And paused to stare.
The others closed in, looking also. There was now a red thread there. The Ikon had become a bobbin, a spool with red thread, nestled in the shuttle. Using it had indeed converted it. It remained a nude woman, but evidently that was a shape formed by the tight winding. It was capable of becoming part of a tapestry.
"One mystery solved,” Havoc murmured, touching Ennui's shoulder. “Congratulations, friend."
Ennui smiled, worked the treadle to secure the thread, and sent the shuttle back across. “Oops."
"No thread,” the Lady Aspect said, surprised.
Ennui sent the shuttle back and tried again. It didn't work. The Ikon remained, but no longer threaded.
Symbol got another idea. “It's a tapestry! It uses different threads. Different colors. Try one of the others."
Havoc nodded. “Whose thread is next?"
"Perhaps Black,” Stevia said. She closed her eyes and spoke generally: “Black Glamor, do you care to reveal yourself now?"
"I do.” And there was the Black Glamor standing among them, astonishing most of them. Except for Throe, Ennui, and Bijou, who had just worked with him and knew his mortal identity. Then Black reverted to that identity: the swathed visitor from the Invisible Air Chroma, Jamais Vu. “Take my ikon."
"Who fetched that ikon?” Havoc asked rhetorically. Then after a pause: “I did.” He walked to the king's box and lifted out the black mobius strip. He brought it to Ennui, who removed the red ikon and put in the black one. She moved the shuttle, but it seemed to snag, not passing between the warps. Perplexed, she tried it again, with no better success. It would not go.
"But the reaction is different this time,” the Lady Aspect said. “The thread seems to be there, but will not enter the tapestry."
"It must be the wrong place,” Symbol said. “Could you try another warp?"
Ennui and the Lady Aspect exchanged a glance. “Perhaps we should clarify the process for our audience,” the Lady said. “Shall I explain while you demonstrate?"
"Appreciation."
The Lady Aspect glanced at Havoc, while Ennui worked with the loom to remove the red thread. She substituted purple yarn from one of the surrounding skeins. Havoc nodded; he was interested.
"The loom is a device to facilitate weaving,” the Lady said. “It greatly increases the amount and quality of weaving a single woman can accomplish. But it does require some expertise. Essentially it stretches out the warp, which is the pattern of lengthwise threads, making it easier to make the weft, or the crosswise filling threads. There are actually two or more groups of warp yarns, which the loom separates and passes through each other.” She paused. “I see male eyes glazing over already, so let's demonstrate. This is the warp.” She touched the array of long threads that went from the back of the loom to the front. “It consists of a number of evenly spaced threads held under tension; setting them up is called ‘letting off,’ and it does take time at the outset. That is what we did before."
Symbol had known that much, but saw that most of the others hadn't. The men, especially.
"Observe that the two groups of warp yarns can pass through each other.” Ennui worked the treadles with her feet, and the upper set of threads moved down, while the lower layer moved up, reversing their positions. “This is called ‘shedding.’ That is, it forms a shed of threads.” The Lady put her hand between the two planes formed by the threads.
"How do they do that?” Havoc asked. “Why don't they crash together?"
"That is the secret of the heddles,” the Lady said. “A heddle is a wire with an eyelet, through which the warp thread is passed. So if you pull the heddle up, its warp thread follows, lifted by the eyelet. Give me your finger."
Havoc, evidently bemused, extended one forefinger. The Lady made a loop of her thumb and forefinger. “You have a line; I have an eyelet.” She put her loop around his finger. “When I lift, you rise.” She raised her hand, drawing his finger up with it. “I am the heddle, you are the warp thread. I move you up and down at will.” She did so. “Every warp thread has its heddle; when the mistress of the loom uses her treadle, all rise together. It has ever been thus, with men and women."
Havoc looked embarrassed. Symbol smiled, and so did several others. The Lady was not concealing the analogy to the sexual act. This was perhaps as close as she would ever get to that, with Havoc. But it did clarify the operation of the heddles. Every thread was under individual control, so did not clash with any other.
The Lady returned Havoc's finger to him. “To actually weave, she passes the filler thread through the shed formed by the two groups of warp threads.” Ennui flung the shuttle across, catching it neatly in the other hand. “This is called ‘picking.’ Then she uses a special comb to press the weft against the body of the previous weaving to make the tapestry tight; this is the beating up.” Ennui obliged, using the comb with closely spaced teeth. She went on to throw the shuttle back and forth several more times, between sheds, beating each up, so that the fabric slowly formed. “And as it is completed, it is taken up into a roll,” the Lady concluded.
Actually the process seemed straightforward to Symbol, explained and demonstrated in this manner, and the huge loom no longer seemed so formidable. But it was apparent that there was a lot more of it than the portion they were using.
"Now to answer the Lady Symbol's question,” the Lady Aspect continued. “Why not simply try another warp—another group of heddles? We can try that, of course, but it will take time to string the threads through each of the heddle eyelets, and fix the weights to maintain tension on each. However simple the actual process of using the shuttle to weave may seem, setting up a loom is a tedious process. We do not care to do it unless it is quite necessary. We are not sure it would solve this problem, because we do have the loom in operation; if a thread balks here, it should balk elsewhere. The question is, why does it balk?"
Symbol felt guilty for pursuing the issue, but wasn't satisfied. “These threads are magic, and seem to follow their own rules. They must insist on being placed correctly, to form the right pattern. Maybe each has to be on a different set of heddles. How can we know?"
The Lady Aspect sighed. “How indeed. We shall have to try it. Come string up another warp."
"But I can not touch the loom!"
"I suspect you can, now, because you have come to understand and appreciate its nature."
Symbol tried it, and it was true: she could touch it. She got to work stringing threads for a third set of warp yarns, setting the weights on each for proper tension. Ennui set to work unmaking her brief segment; it had been only for demonstration, and she would need the heddles for the magic threads.
Meanwhile, Havoc set another process in motion. “We'll have seven threads to do, regardless; we will need the permission of five more Glamors."
"Agreement,” Stevia said. “Let those who fetched the ikons take them and seek that permission."
Throe volunteered. “I fetched the Air Chroma millipede.” He went to Berm and found the ikon by touch, as it was invisible. He held it up. “I ask permission of the Invisible Glamor to let this thread be used in the tapestry."
Cartographer Dour stepped forward. “Granted.” Then, as others stared, he faded from view. I am the Invisible Glamor his strong thought came.
Gale was astonished. “But I traveled no fault with you!"
Dour reappeared. “And perhaps will again, but without any sexual embraces.” T
hen, seeing her continued confusion: “This persona was crafted to be as you saw him, and your association was marvelously conducive. It encouraged him to find a more permanent relationship.” He glanced at the Amazon Lucent, who smiled back.
"But a mortal person can't knowingly have an affair with a Glamor,” Havoc said. “This revelation of your status must destroy your relationship with Lucent, as it does with Gale."
"Negative,” Lucent said. Then she changed color, from translucent to blue, and becoming as bright and beautiful as the Red Glamor. I am the Blue Glamor.
"I traveled with you!” Symbol exclaimed. “How can you be a Glamor?"
"I protected you,” Lucent said, resuming her mortal form and color. “As with the rest of us, I needed to accompany the mortal assigned to fetch an ikon, lest there be mischief on the way. We all did so anonymously."
"And there was mischief!” Symbol said. “That wasp! But you did not use your powers to stop it. You—you even submitted to rape!"
"Use of my powers would have revealed my nature,” Lucent said. “Rape is meaningless to our kind. I was able to protect you without invoking my powers, and that was best."
Havoc was as amazed as the rest of them. “Four people seeking four ikons—accompanied by four Glamors. And none of us knew."
"You were not supposed to know,” Stevia reminded him. “Glamors can hide well."
"But then we went out without Glamors,” Symbol said. “I went with Havoc, and Gale went with Throe. Who was protecting us then?"
"We were watching,” Lucent said. “We were not resting in Triumph City.” She smiled briefly. “But we played it rather close, allowing Throe to be injured and Gale nearly killed. Therefore we rectified that."
"Appreciation,” Throe said, somewhat grimly.
"Echo,” Gale agreed, as grimly.
"But now that you have accomplished your initial mission, it is time for you to know,” Stevia said. “Though we require you not to reveal it elsewhere.” She looked around the room. All of the mortals nodded, accepting the restriction. “Now we shall evoke the three remaining Glamors. Take their ikons and summon them."