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I kept the name of my first other-body It amused me, as it seemed neither male nor female, and there were many more forms to follow, of both sorts I am not Yi: The bodies do not crumble around me I simply move to the next fleshly costume when I tire of them I do not truly understand what it is in the spirit of a Yi which corrupts a body around it, but I was never to suffer that dissolution I was a good student; eventually, I even helped the Man Dressed in the Moon to pass to his next body I knelt reverently and cut open his sto I placed the white stone on his new tongue; I was the first face he saith his new eyes—which ide and violet as a field of lilacs, the eyes of a still-lovely dowager who had died of chill

It was in that body that the Man Dressed in the Moon became my lover The Yi are in truth neither male nor female, but follow the desires of their host bodies—and there never was a dowager who did not yearn to have a young Prince as her paramour We passed er’s flesh beca, pockardenias We continued in this way until we exhausted each other—for neither was there ever a dowager who did not eventually grow bored with her beardless playmate—and I went from that house into the world

All this I learned; all this I perforler could have approached ht burn like winter timber When my parents died, I took their bodies—ah, the debauch to which I subjected those limbs! I punished them in their own skin

But I am not Yi I do not take bodies in order to achieve some mystical union with a mythical Moon What I do, I do for pleasure, and for profit, and it is pleasant enough I am not bound by their laws, I need wear no barnacled cloak, and so Ithe people of Shadukiam unknown and unmarked—and only once or twice have I been too impatient to wait for a creature to die

For I am not Yi; I can take them while they still breathe

I ao on forever, in whatever body I choose, and the Moon will never take me

“SO PUT YOUR DAINTY LITTLE MARK ON ONE OF those faurehead’s only power lies in her golden seal—no one cares what you say, but we all care what you sign Give n open the door to the great vault, and I will keep your spirit safe until the ti or de forotten by all but theCity, and no one will drag an arain”

“You don’t want…” I looked down, blushing

“What? Your firstborn child? Use of those lissome limbs? I’m not abodies, and children are more costly and troublesome than beasts twice their size Do you think there is a pleasure of the flesh I have not saician—it is a vocation like any other, and I require remuneration for my services, as any other tradesrain with unborn babes? I think not Do not insulthis seed”

I nodded hu lips then, and my brow, my hair, my chin It was not in lust that his lips brushed erly scrawled his demand onto a used and crumpled leaf of paper—on the one side it demanded that the merchant-monks of the Coral Tower open their vaults to the Caliph; on the other it demanded that the vault of the Caliph be opened to Marsili

“What do I do no do I know you will keep your pro my elbows to my sides

“You will know because I have sworn it, and you are the trusting kind You may want to work on that, the next time you see this city fro are found everyirl, left all alone” He reached forward and wound a thin length of ers, then, with a sharp flick of his wrist, tore it from my head “Wait to die” With that, he retreated froratuitously as he went

And die I did The Nurian Papess dragged h I were nochild and forcedsilver knife she cut ue from my mouth, and the taste of blood, the meaty, metallic taste of ht there would never be an end to the screa She moved the knife in the air speculatively; with ridiculous attention I noted its sickle shape, its hilt, the fine engraving In theopen the knife filled ht then it would be my nose next, or my eyes I did not understand yet the shape of zealotry

Ghyfran, the savior of Al-a-Nur, ripped my dress from collar to waist, and cuta roasted bird for her supper But when they had sloughed to the floor with a sickly, wet sigh, she leaned intomy ear

“I have saved you, poor, wretched pawn Now you yne, and no door of alabaster or diamond will be closed to you”