“One other thing,” Havoc said. “When Gale and I came together, wearing our seeds, they buzzed. We represented no threat to each other, but they seemed to sense a wrongness. We never did discover what it was, and conclude that they might simply have been acknowledging the presence of another seed."
Ennui and Aspect approached each other and linked hands. Their seeds buzzed. “That must be it,” Ennui said.
“Now the mission,” Havoc said. “There are several unresolved mysteries, and it may be that if we fathom them, we will better come to understand the larger picture. One of these is the loom."
“The loom,” Ennui breathed. “I love that loom."
“We want to know its origin. Who made it, where, when, and why. Where did he get the power to make it? There must have been a design. Fathom its genesis."
“I'd love to! But I think I would have to fetch it, and perhaps carry it with me."
“Why?"
“Because I carried it before, and there was no indication where it came from. But ikons relate to their Glamors, and if this is an ikon, it may relate to its maker."
“A Glamor!” Gale exclaimed.
“Or something equivalent."
Havoc nodded thoughtfully. “Do that, as you decide. The mission is yours, to handle as you must."
“It lent me the same sort of power your ikon does. Since ikons can't approach each other, at least not when held by people—"
“Good point. Someone else may have to carry it."
“But who? That loom has a will of its own. It knows me and Aspect, but I'm not sure any man could touch it."
“Perhaps we have a candidate,” Gale said. She glanced significantly at the sleeping Nonce.
“She's a good girl,” Havoc agreed. “I like her."
Gale shot him a glance. “You can't have her."
“Not even when Symbol is absent?"
“No even when I'm absent."
“Awww."
Ennui and Aspect smiled. The two were teasing each other again.
Gale looked back at the ladies. “Acquaint her with the loom. See if she can weave on it. If it accepts her, let her carry it. It will give her ikon protection."
“It will also drive her crazy with desire,” Ennui said.
“Then let her make some no fault man very happy."
“She's already good at that,” Ennui said.
“Mistresses of the bath are,” Gale agreed, with another dark look at Havoc. She was remembering Bijou.
“We are done here,” Havoc said. He went to Nonce, slid his arms under her, and picked her up with such easy strength that she looked feather light. He set her on her feet, then kissed her again.
The girl's eyes popped open. “I feel faint,” she said.
“Havoc kissed you,” Gale said. “And caught you before you fell. You should be all right now."
Nonce found her balance and stepped away from him. “Welcome,” she said unsteadily, answering his prior statement of gratitude.
“We have been given our mission,” Ennui told her. “We must return to the vicinity of Triumph City. There may be a mission for you too."
“I'd like that.” She still seemed bemused, but was evidently not aware of the time that had passed.
They bid parting to Havoc and Gale and set out for the Blue Chroma zone. This time no brigands waylaid them.
As it happened, the bus was still at the campsite. Bus emerged as they approached it. “Going back?” he asked. “I'll have a full load."
“We'll work,” Ennui said. “Two old sisters, one young wife, no fault, as we finished before?"
Bus looked at Nonce. “Sisters will have to sleep in the storage chamber."
“Agreed."
So Ennui and Aspect catered to passengers, bringing them food, seeing to their routine needs and cleaning up after them, while Nonce took the man into his chamber every few hours. Whenever she could, she paused to hold hands with one of the older women, getting recharged.
At one point a male passenger beckoned Ennui. She started toward him—and the dragon seed buzzed. She hesitated; was that a warning? Then she went to him, and as she came close, he reached up under her skirt to put a hand on her bottom.
“Negation on no fault,” she murmured, and he quickly removed the hand. That was all there was to it, but she knew that the timely warning by the seed had enabled her to handle it without making an awkward scene. No stranger had sought that sort of favor from her for decades, and the surprise feel might have freaked her out. She wasn't sure whether it was the man's act or her likely reaction that caused the seed to buzz; maybe it was just preventing a scene that could have drawn more attention to her than was safe. She certainly appreciated it, and her respect for the seed increased. It was not confined to warnings about prickly plants; it could help her socially too.
They left the bus at the Translucent station near the city. Bus was emphatic in his appreciation. “No was great, of course, but you two ladies were great too. I had compliments on the service, and you left the bus clean. If you ever wish permanent service—"
“We'll keep it in mind,” Aspect said with a smile. “But we do not know where we will travel next."
“It's nice to know we have a potential profession,” Ennui remarked as they walked away.
Nonce laughed. “The two ranking women of the palace! You certainly are anonymous."
“As we prefer to be,” Aspect agreed.
“That must be why you didn't box that man's ear when he goosed you."
“Agreement.” The girl was observant. It reminded Ennui of the fact that she had evidently become attractive to strangers, and that pleased her despite its inconvenience. The man had not tried to insult her; he had been genuinely interested. And her bottom had been firm. She liked that, even if she would never care to brag about it.
It was late in the day. “Our next task is nocturnal,” Ennui said. “We will stay at a cabin beside the lake, then proceed in darkness."
She led them to the suburbs surrounding the lake on which the pyramid of Triumph City floated, and to the lake itself. But they did not take the ferry; they walked around to the side. There was the cabin she had visited with the Black Glamor, vacant but well stocked. They approached it, and the seeds did not buzz. That confirmation helped; the absence of a buzz could be as significant as the buzz.
“I'm worn out and famished,” Nonce said.
“This is for our use,” Ennui said. “Rest; Speck and I will prepare a meal."
“But you should not be doing that work!” the girl protested. “I should—"
“You are tired; we are not. Soon you will have our stamina, I think. Rest."
The girl did not question it. She flopped on a bed and lay staring at the ceiling. Ennui delved into the supplies and prepared a modest but filling meal.
“When you and Throe went on a private mission—this was where you came?” Aspect asked. She and Chief had helped by emulating the two of them so that their absence would not be known.
“And Bijou—and The Black Glamor,” Ennui said. “For the loom, as it turned out.” She paused, considering. “There was an orange female sphinx on the way there. I wonder whether she'll be there again."
“The Sphinx Glamor, surely,” Aspect said. “I suspect she is alerted when anyone approaches the loom."
“She liked to have a dialogue with a person of sufficient intellect. I doubt that any of us qualify."
Aspect shrugged. “We are on a mission for Havoc. She'll know that."
“I hope so."
“Perhaps it is time to move our ikons."
“Good notion. We wouldn't want to lose them in the water."
The two of them lifted their loose string necklaces and removed the ikons, which adhered to their fingers. They bound them into their hair, under low mats of hair at the upper backs of their heads so that the bulges hardly showed.
Ennui expected the level of sexual awareness to fade, and it did, but there was another effect. Now that the
ikon was in contact with her head, it affected the things of her head. Her sight and hearing became acute, and her thoughts preternaturally clear.
“Confirmation,” Aspect murmured. “I think I like this better."
When it was dark out, and Nonce had recovered sufficiently, they went outside to the lake. “We shall have to dive to a cave below,” Ennui said. “There is a float with a stone ring. We will take the float out, then use the stone to bear us to the bottom."
“The bottom!” Nonce exclaimed. “I can swim, of course, but I would drown."
“We will hold your hands as you hold your breath. There is a cave there, with air. I will have a lamp. You must trust us."
“I trust you, but I'm terrified."
I barely trust this myself Aspect thought.
The dragon seed did not buzz, Ennui reminded her.
They did it, and held the stone and Nonce's hands, and plunged swiftly to the bottom. Then they swam the short distance to the cave, and emerged into the air. Ennui held the small lamp she had found in the cabin, and it illuminated of its own accord, showing a passage.
Again, the absence of a buzz had helped. Ennui was sure the seeds would not have let them risk their lives without warning. She appreciated the strength the ikons provided, but the seeds were also reassuring.
In due course they came to a chamber with an orange glow. There was the sphinx in all her splendor.
“Glamor,” Ennui said. “We—"
Understood. I will converse with the Lady Aspect.
“With me!” Aspect said. “But I have little intellect."
You have the recent history of the doings of the human kings.
“That interests you?"
Everything interests me. Including those ikons and dragon seeds, and the recent clarity of your senses and thoughts.
“You're elected,” Ennui said. “No and I will go on."
Aspect nodded, knowing that Nonce would have to carry the loom. “I will rehearse the kings."
Ennui and Nonce went on. They came to the inner cave. There stood the great old loom: a machine formed of wooden planks and pulleys and treadles. It was set up exactly as Ennui had left it, ready to weave. Warp without weft.
“What an instrument!” Nonce breathed.
“Can you use it?"
“I have done some weaving on a loom, but nothing like this. This is the grandfather of looms!"
“Try it."
The girl approached the loom hesitantly. “I'll need some yarn."
Ennui fetched a hank from the collection, and Nonce carefully attached it to a bobbin and flung it back and forth. She was not skilled, but did know how.
“We need to ascertain when and where this was made,” Ennui said. “And by whom."
“Maybe there's a maker's plaque."
Ennui hadn't thought of that. They checked around the loom, and found a plaque: PENTER 803.
“What does it mean?” Nonce asked.
“I think this was made by a man name Penter, in the 803rd year following the arrival of mankind at Charm,” Ennui said. “I suppose we'll have to return to the city and research in the records for that name and date."
“But we still don't know where."
“I think we had better take this with us while we look. It's a magic object; it may even help us.” She did not care to advertise the private dialogue with Havoc and Gale.
“Take it with us! That would take ten men to carry."
“Perhaps not. Touch it."
“I don't understand. I've been touching it all along.” But the girl put out one hand to touch the nearest plank.
And the loom shrank into a tiny model of itself, falling into her hand. Ennui breathed a silent sigh of relief; it had accepted Nonce. “You may carry it in your mouth or on your person,” Ennui said. “It's an ikon, and will provide you with endurance and abilities similar to ours. You are one of us, for the duration of this mission."
“You have ikons?” Nonce asked, bemused.
“Yes. That was the meaning of Havoc's message. But we prefer not to let it be known."
“Silence,” Nonce agreed. She put the miniature loom into her mouth. “I feel stronger already. And—"
“Sexier."
“Suddenly some things are coming clear."
“I thought they might."
“If the loom is an ikon, what is its Glamor? I know other ikons can change into threads, but this one changes into a whole loom."
She had a point. If the ikon was proportional to the Glamor, that would be a super-Glamor! “Perhaps we'll find out. Now let's return to the surface.” Ennui led the way out.
Next day they returned to Triumph City, and Ennui did what she knew best, researching in the archives for the name and date on the loom. She found it: Penter was the name of a skilled carpenter two centuries before. There was no record of such a project, but of course the loom would not have been unknown if it had been a matter of record.
What was in the record was the grant of an ideal farmstead to the Penter family in that period. It was a nonChroma region nestled between four closely set small volcanoes, so that the outlying fields overlapped light magic. The family still farmed that land, and prospered. The ancestor must have made an excellent deal with someone. That was the next place to investigate.
Ennui and Aspect had savage romantic sessions with their men, and Nonce took on several eager young men of the palace, reveling in her suddenly extended abilities. Then they headed out again.
* * * *
It took three days and nights to get there, traveling with a convoy, doing the type of work they had found they were good at. On the way Nonce discovered that the loom ikon had a sense of direction. It knew where something was—and they were going that way.
“Maybe your mind affects it,” Ennui said. “Decide you want to go back to Triumph City."
Dubiously, the girl did. “The direction faded,” she reported.
But when she focused on the place of the loom's manufacture, the awareness returned. The loom did not know, or perhaps did not care, where a human city was, but did know where it had been made. That was just as well, because the records had been somewhat vague about details, and the dragon seeds did not seem to be able to guide them toward the site.
Then they arrived at the Penter farm. This was run by a stout woman of Aspect's age named Gala. It was soon evident that she knew something about the loom, but refused even to think of it. “My ancestor got this farm, and we keep it,” she said. “That is all that matters."
“We need to see the workshop where an ancient loom was made,” Ennui said.
“Negation. That room is sacred to us; no one has been in it since our ancestor died."
There seemed to be no way they could move her. So they checked her mind. Few non-telepaths had effective mind shields, but it wasn't necessarily easy to pick out relevant information from the welter of incidental thoughts.
There was, however, one thing that brooded. It concerned one of the woman's children.
Aspect led into it, so as not to reveal her ability. “Who helps you farm?"
“My son Bashful."
There was the key. “He is shy around girls?"
“He just hasn't found the right one,” the woman said defensively.
They had the boy's age from the woman's mind: seventeen. He would have to marry within the year. That promised to be awkward. Gala wanted him to marry well, so that she would have solid help on the farm, but feared he would have to settle for a leftover or lazy girl.
“If we could cure him,” Aspect said. “Give him more confidence, so he could be selective—"
The woman laughed bitterly. “For that, I would let you look anywhere you want. But it's hopeless."
“I could do something,” Nonce said.
Both dragon seeds buzzed; Aspect felt hers directly, and Ennui's from her mind. This was a wrong decision.
“I need you with me,” Ennui reminded her, picking up on it immediately. Because the connec
tion of the loom ikon to the loom's place of manufacture was evident. Ennui knew the loom best, and Nonce carried it. Certainly that would do for a rationale.
Suddenly it fell to Aspect, to her dismay. But when she started to demur in her mind, the dragon seed buzzed. She was definitely the one. “I will do it,” she said. “Allow my friends to inspect the shop, and I will teach your boy what he needs to know.” Her words were much bolder than her belief; she had little idea how to address an over-shy youth. She doubted that any mere pep talk would suffice.
Gala stared at her a moment. “This is a stinking deal."
“Agreed,” Aspect said. “We must see the shop, and have nothing better to trade."
They waited.
Gala's resistance collapsed. She did want what they offered. “Reluctant agreement."
Soon Aspect found herself in a private chamber with Bashful. He was well named. Universal convention required each person to be named by his associates, in their own time, and the names were usually descriptive and often less than kind. But they could be changed if the person changed enough to warrant it. Again, it was up to the company he kept.
“Do you know why we are here?” she asked him. He was a wild-haired young man of fair complexion and musculature, as farmers generally were.
He wouldn't meet her gaze. “You have to change my nature."
“You have a problem with women."
“I—they—” He shook his head miserably. “Affirmation."
“I suspect your nature is good. You merely don't know how to proceed."
“They laugh at me!” he said, blushing.
“To make you blush,” she said. “It gives them power over you."
He nodded, ashamed.
“They do it because they are nervous about sexual relations but don't want to admit it."
“I don't want sex!"
She paused, disgruntled. “Confusion."
He backed off immediately. “Apology. I did not mean to say that."
But there was a powerful burst of something strange in his mind. Something other than shyness was bothering him.
“Truth,” she said.
“Negation."
“I have a secret. I think you have one too. I think we must exchange secrets."