* * *
Merinel found Tench hovering just outside Byx’s sight, as was his custom. Byx herself was sitting at the kitchen table, providing singsong instructions to a set of iridescent stones which obediently assembled themselves into one pattern after another. She had learned not to try to steal glances at her father, who watched her raptly from behind the doorway.
Merinel put her hand on Tench’s shoulder, and took it away again as he flinched. “How is she?”
“Radiant,” Tench responded. “Pure.”
Merinel smiled sadly. “And how are you?”
Tench drummed his fingernails rapidly upon the black disc that had been set into his temple, then halted the activity with visible effort. “Lucky. I am lucky.”
“Yes,” agreed Merinel. “I suppose you are, in a way.” Tugging at his sleeve, she drew him away from the doorway and into the adjoining solarium. He did not resist until Byx slipped out of sight, at which point he turned to her with an irritated scowl.
“What?” he snapped. “What is it?”
“The Entity and I have chosen a new therapy for you,” she told him.
“Fine,” replied Tench, looking restlessly towards the kitchen. “Whatever you say.”
“It means leaving the Dish.”
Tench turned towards her again, panic dancing in his eyes. “Leaving? Leaving you and Byx? I can’t. It’d be … countertherapeutic. Yes, a very bad idea. I mustn’t.”
“Not leaving me and Byx,” Merinel continued. “I would be with you.”
Tench grew more agitated still. “You would leave her behind? No! She’s not safe without you! Not safe! Do you have any idea what she faces? What lurks in her mind?”
Merinel put her hand on his cheek, ignoring his shudder. “Byx is not in danger,” she assured him. “But I’m afraid that if you remain apart from us much longer, we may not be able to let you back in.”
“I refuse to go,” said Tench, a gleam of triumph in his eye. “I refuse treatment!”
Merinel caressed his face once more. “Forgive me, my love,” she whispered. “Forgive me. But I wasn’t asking your permission.”
Quickly, she moved her fingertips to the disc in his temple, murmuring “sleep” before he could fully realize the import of her words. Instantly, he slumped against the wall, and Merinel laid him down as gently as she could. Even in sleep, he twitched and mumbled, and after a moment Merinel touched the disc again and whispered “comatose.” Tench became still as his mind sank deeper into itself.
Merinel felt Byx’s gaze on her back, like a shroud. She turned to find her daughter lurking behind the doorway, much as Tench had done a moment before. Byx looked at her father with wide eyes.
“Is Daddy all right?”
Merinel repeated her chant against tears, and the flow ebbed, although not so dramatically as before. “No, honey,” she replied. “No, he isn’t.”