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"I've been trying to remember what you were like e left You were still very sive you as much attention as I should"

"I didn't have a name I didn't have a name yet I couldn't talk I couldn't talk, Patera"

Nor could she talk well now, he reflected Hammerstone had been forced to construct her vocal apparatus alone, clearly, and the result had left so to be desired

"Patera"

He nodded "You want o upstairs with you now, and to sacrifice for you and bless you, as Silk must have"

She nodded

"For which you have dressed me in these clothes-clothes that I really should not have consented to wear, since I' as we speak" He tried to recall whether he had ever seen a cheet before, and decided he had not "But, Olivine, you're not going to divertto the roo with me If its door is unlocked, I intend to stay there soement?"

She was silent, and he was not sure she had understood He added, "Another place to which youelse you have to do?"

She shook her head

"Then you can wait, and you will have to I-I'll try not to be too long"

She did not reply

"When I co, exactly as you wish Then I would like to tell you about the errands that have brought me here and enlist your help, if you'll provide it" Unable to endure her silent scrutiny any longer, he turned away "I'll coht waited outside the narro when he rose, dusted the knees of his new black trousers, and glanced around the roo out the candle, he opened the door and stepped out into the corridor again It seemed empty at first, but as soon as he had closed the door behind hirayish brown darkness detached itself from the shadows of another doorway and li wait," he said "I'ht, Patera"

Her head and face were swaddled in the sackcloth again; he touched it when she was near enough to touch, stroking her head as he ht have stroked the head of any other child "Do you think yourself so hideous, Olivine? You're not"

"I can't I can't, Patera Men-"

"Male chems?"

"Want me to when they see Men want me to when they see me So I try to look like one So I try to look like one of you" The last as succeeded by a strange, high squeal; after a

The fifth-floor door she opened for hi its varnish flake by flake but still sturdy As he followed her into the darkness beyond it, he reflected that the rooinally She snapped her fingers to kindle the bleared green light on its ceiling, and he saw that it still was Boxes and barrels stood in its corners and against its walls, and metal bars, drills and files, spools of wire, and bits of cannibalized machinery littered the floor He said, "This is where your father finishedyou"

"Where ork on Where ork on urine, a half bottle of wine, and a clean white cloth fro the cloth disclosed the small loaf she had taken froed the other items on it

He said, "You'll have to tell s for you We don't have a fire"

"The wine is the blood The wine is the blood, Patera The bread is the The bread is the ht better of it and traced the sign of addition over the a book "Is that the Chrass?"

"I keep it here For you"

To his own surprise, he discovered that he was s "I pointed out that we have no fire, Olivine With equal or greater relevance, I ht have said that we have no Sacred Window But we can consult gods anyway, thanks to you, and perhaps they'll be in that book for us, as they are sometimes Afterwards, I'll talk to you a little, if I ht?"

She nodded, kneeling

The Writings were sht, that a student ht use in the schola He opened the waters play, they rush to land, and end in feast the day: they feed; then quaff; and now (their hunger fled) sigh for their friends and mourn the dead; nor cease their tears till each in sluetfulness of hun, and setting stars roll down the azure plain: At the voice of Pas inds rise, and clouds and double darkness veil the skies' "

It was custoe fro now, although it could hardly be called silent, so beset was it with swirling thoughts

"What does thatit s are infinite" (It was a stock reply) "As for what itus plainly that it concerns our immediate situation `Where a fountain's waters play,' ain `There' presunates this palace, since I bathed here `They rush to land' refers to your impatience, when you wished ods are ods are mad at me?"

"At you?" He shook his head "I doubt it very entle and somewhat humorous correction, as a parent corrects a beloved child" He paused to collect his thoughts, glancing down at the book "Next is, `And end in feast the day' You want me to sacrifice this bread and wine, and the day has indeed ended, which assures us that our sacrifice is what is meant `Feast' is probably ironic We have no animal to offer-no real meat We should eat a little of the bread, of course, so that it will be a shared meal Or at least I should And-"

"Drink soested "You always do You always do that"

"Silk does? I'm not Silk, as I've explained several tih I feel like an augur in these clothes Nohere e?"

"About you drinking the wine About you drinking the wine, Patera"

He was tempted to insist she call him Horn, but this was not the moment for it He nodded instead "You say Silk does, and that accounts for the word quaff in the next section, `They feed; then quaff; and now (their hunger fled) sigh for their friends and od who speaks to us has moved from our present situation to prophesy I will sacrifice for you, the god says, and satisfy er with your bread and wine After that, ill mourn dead friends At present I have no idea who these friends are, but no doubt it will be made clear to us when the tier with us, Olivine?"

"I don't think I don't think so"

"My adopted son, Krait, is dead He may be meant Or someone like my late friend Scleroderain " `Nor cease their tears till each in sluetfulness of human cares' We will sleep then-so it appears I know that you cheht?"

"If you say If you say to"

"Not I, but the gods You should at least consider it I will sleep, surely, if I can"

"My father told me to sleep while he was My father told one"