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"You have made us very happy," Aain "Is there anything we et you to repay this joy of ours?"

"No, thank you I&039; to rest"

She bowed oncein a silence that was tragically full of anticipation

Now he sat up, but only with help froht and full of nothing, bobbing on his spine "Cormia?"

She stepped out fro, then returned to him "Do you need Doc Jane?"

"No I&039;m not sick It was the DTs"

"So you said I&039;h"

"Withdrawal" He rubbed at his ar and his lungs were burning as if they needed air, even though they had it

What they wanted, he kneas red sh there?" he said

"Yes"

"Will you wait forto wash"

It will be longer than her lifetime before you return cleansed, the wizard said

Phury closed his eyes, abruptly losing the strength to move

"What is it?"

Tell her your old mate is back

Tell her your old et over to the real world and get ill take care of that tight feeling in your lungs and that itching all over your skin

"What is it?" Corain

Phury took a deep breath He didn&039;t know much at the moment, barely his own name, and certainly not who the president of the United States was But he was sure about one thing: If he listened to the wizard any to be dead

Phury focused on the fe"

That didn&039;t go doell in wasteland The wizard&039;s robes blew up as a wind ca in over the field of bones

You lie to her! I a! The wizard &039;s voice was high-pitched and getting higher I a hi"

"What?"

As he shook his head, Cormia reached out to hiether, they walked into the bath, which was kitted out like any other save for the fact that there wasn&039;t a logo on the toilet Well, that and there was a streah the back of the room¡ªwhich he presuht outside," Cor the loo, he waded into the strea by was as it had been in the glass, a current precisely the temperature of his skin Over in a dish in the corner, there was a bar of what he assumed was soap, and he picked it up It was soft, shaped in the form of a crescent; he cradled the bar in his palms and subht and sreens He used it on his hair and his face and his body, breathing in so the scent went down into his lungs¡ª and hopefully could cleanse the in deep

When he was done, he just let the water run past his itching skin and his achinghis eyes, he shut the wizard off as best he could, but it was tough because the guy was throwing a tantrum of nuclear proportions In his old life, he would have put opera on, but now he couldn&039;t¡ªand not just because Bose didn&039;t exist on this side That particular kind of music re anymore

Still, the sound of the strea up fro fro to keep Cor, he planted his soles on the riverbed and lifted his upper body out of the rush The water sluiced off his chest and down his sto his arers and his elbows

Running down pouring down easing down

The wizard&039;s voice tried to rise up and take over Phury heard it in his head, fighting for airti to find purchase in his inner ear

But the chireat breath, s to do here his body was, and everything to do here his head was at

For the first tier than he was

Cormia paced around the Primale temple Not ill In withdrawal

Not ill

She stopped at the foot of the bedding platfor autterly terrified Unable to see, unable to move, and not permitted to say no, she&039;d lain there at the in feh her transition, was presented to the Primale like that

Surely others must have felt the fear she had And more would, in the future

God this place was dirty, she thought, looking around at the white walls Dirty with lies both spoken and left to lie intrinsic in the hearts of the females who breathed the still air

There was an old saying a the Chosen, the sort of ancient stanza that one never knehen one had first heard it Rightful is the cause of our faith, serene be our countenance of duty, nothing shall harth and our virtue, the parent to guide our child

There was a wild roar fro

Cormia wheeled around and raced into the other roo back, his fists clenched, his chest craning upward, his spine straining Except he wasn&039;t screa

His head came around, and when he saw her he dropped his arhter "Sorry" As more of the wild joy bubbled up out of him, he tried to keep it in, but he couldn&039;t "You ht he was beautiful, his golden skin slick frolets down his back "What&039;s funny?"

"Pass me a towel?"

She handed hied from the stream

"You ever hear of The Wizard of Oz?" he said

"Is it a story?"

"Guess not" He secured the wrap by tucking it into itself "Maybe someday I&039;ll show you theIt wasn&039;t an all-powerful Ring-wraith inbut a frail old er than I am"

"Wizard?"

He tapped his teet away fro-wraith He wasn&039;t He isn&039;t"

It was impossible not to join in Phury&039;s happiness, and as she smiled at him, a sudden warmth suffused her fro, loud voice that is nothing special" His palm went to his upper arm, and he rubbed at his skin as if it had a rash¡ªexcept there was nothing that she could seeloud"

Phury&039;s stare abruptly changed as he looked at her And she knew the cause Heat flared in his eyes as his sex thickened at his hips

"Sorry," he said, reaching down for another long cloth and holding it in front of himself

"Did you lay with her?" Corot as far as the vestibule when I decided I couldn&039;t go through with it" He shook his head "It&039;s just not going to happen I can&039;t be with anyone but you The question is what to do now¡ªand for better or worse I think I know the answer I believe that all this"¡ªhein and about the Sanctuary¡ª"this can&039;t go on any longer This systeht, it&039;s not just about us, it&039;s about everyone It&039;s not working for anyone"

As his words sank in, she thought of the place in the race she had been born into Thought of the white rolling lawns and the white buildings and the white robes

Phury shook his head "There used to be two hundred Chosen, right? Back when there were thirty or forty Brothers, right?" When she nodded, he stared down into the rushing water of the stream "And noSociety that&039;s killing us It&039;s these damn rules we live under I mean, come on The Chosen aren&039;t protected here, they&039;re imprisoned And they&039;re mistreated If you hadn&039;t been attracted to me, it wouldn&039;t have mattered You still would have had to have sex with me, and that&039;s cruel You and the sisters are trapped here, serving a tradition I wonder how many of you actually believe in Life as a Chosen it&039;s not about choice None of you have any Take your own case¡ªyou don&039;t want to be here You came back because you had no options, didn&039;t you?"

Three words caed everything: "Yes, I did"

Cor and let it fall back into place, thinking of that scroll that was on the floor back at the Temple of the Sequestered Scribes, the one with her sketches of buildings on it, the one she had nowhere to go with

Now she was the one shaking her head "I never kne much I didn&039;t know about myself until I went over to the far side And I have to believe the others are the same They must be it can&039;t just be me who has talents undiscovered or interests unrevealed" She paced around the bath "And I don&039;t think any one of us doesn&039;t feel like a failure¡ªif only because the pressures are so great that everything elevates to a level of supreme and total importance One small error, either in a ritten incorrectly or a note off-pitch in a chant or a stitch done wrong in a bolt of cloth, and you feel like the whole of the race is disappointed in you"

Suddenly, she couldn&039;t stop the words falling fro The purpose of us is to serve the Scribe Virgin, but there&039;s got to be a way of doing that while honoring ourselves" Cormia looked across at Phury "If we are her Chosen children, doesn&039;t that mean that she wants the best for us? Isn&039;t that what parents want for their young? How is this" She looked around at the all-pervasive, stifling white of the bath "How is this the best? For most of us, it&039;s more like a deep freeze than a life We&039;re in suspended anih we move How is this best for us?"

Phury&039;s broent down "It&039;s not It&039;s fucking not"

He wadded up the long cloth in his hands and slarabbed the Prioing to step down, she thought, both elated and disappointed for the future He was going to step down¡ª

Phury lifted up the heavy weight of gold, the th of leather, and she lost her breath completely The expression on his face was one of purpose and power, not of irresponsibility The light in his eyes was about ownership and leadership, not ducking or shirking Standing before her, he was the whole landscape of the Sanctuary, all the buildings and the land and the air and the water: He was not of this world, but the world here itself

After a lifeti history unfold in a bowl of water, Cor held aloft that for the first tiht in front of her, in live ti to be the same after this

With that e back and forth under his fisted grip, Phury proclaith of the race I am the Primale And so shall I rule!"