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“I areat collector, you see I hold all these bodies in trust for my brothers and sisters, so that they may have a ready supply when they tire of their current ones Quite a steady strea its water under theo a southerner with cinnas ht But you! We have seen nothing like you! We e you may have one of your choice”

I suppose I , lithe lireed as easily as if he had offered to trade me a wooden wheel for a pair of chickens

He held me up to each row of faces in a most considerate fashion, and I pondered them all in turn I finally settled upon a youth with skin the color of aged brandy-wine, whose eyebrows arched in a noble, bemused way over his smoke-lashed eyes He was very tall

“Ah, excellent choice, o he was a Sultan’s son, betrothed to a maiden of unearthly beauty, whose eyes were yellow as a wolf’s But he angered his father in so men are so prone to such vices—and the Sultan in his wisdoirl himself I’m told there is a whole dynasty of wolf-eyed Sultans somewhere in the East And he is no loss to us Believe o exhausted the tawdry experiences of a spoiled Prince” He pushed up his gray sleeves “Shall we begin?”

I blinked twice,in le you, Father, I haven’t anything like the strength”

His face broadened amiably

“Oh, I needn’t be dead—I a to take your body myself The Yi are communal It is just as well that any other of my race uses it A simple process and a cold room keep the bodies intact until they are needed Only you must die It will be a very sreat portion of bread that has become stuck in your throat, somewhere between your mouth and your belly Of course, a siht to go, but there is a curious feeling of stretching, of bulging That is what a small death is like”

This did not sound so very terrible I straightened rasshopper—and locked ined brave soldiers in war must

“I am ready, Father You may kill me now”

“Mustn’t dareat clammy hand over ardenias cloying, while I struggled and sucked at the skin for air Finally, I slackened and slumped into the curve of his thumb

He was right, it was very like sing too much bread First the alar release of bread into the belly I did not float above my body as soh I had simply been doubled I watched the Man Dressed in the Moon pass e, viscous fluid the color of costly ink Then, pulling the slack form of Marsili fro oil Finally, he placed an oblong white stone in the corpse’s mouth and whispered a feords I could not hear over its bent head

It was as though I blinked, and when I opened ain, they were Marsili’s eyes When I flexed my hands they were Marsili’s hands When I spoke it ith Marsili’s honey-wine voice, cultured by years of tutors The stone had vanished from my mouth

“I a the Man Dressed in the Moon directly in the eye It was a silly thing to say, of course, but I could al with ers

Froic so that I would never have to die a big death He saw no point, as the Moon was no mother toladder to her But after some time he re

lented, being lonely or curious or both, and I beganeducation Any sacrament can be practiced by unbelievers, he always said It’s usually nothing , anyway I could drink all I liked, and nothing I ever drank would becoh without the proion And I was always pleasant to him