"Good afternoon, Mr. Garritt," spoke a friendly voice-one marked by a soft South-Country accent.

Eldyn looked up as he entered the foyer of the old monastery. A fellow was just coming down the stairs. He was several years older than Eldyn, clad in garb that, though of drab hues, was well-made.

"How are you today, Mr. Fantharp?" Eldyn said.

"Very well, thank you, though very busy. A short day is always good for business, you know."

"I am sure," Eldyn said, managing a smile. Mr. Fantharp, as he knew from their prior encounters in the foyer, was a trader who dealt in the sale of tallow. He was from County Caerdun in the south of Altania, but had a small apartment here in the building where he stayed while in the city on business, as the Church was one of his primary customers.

"And how is Miss Garritt, if I might inquire?"

"You are kind to always ask about her, Mr. Fantharp. She is very well. She busies herself most days by a.s.sisting the verger at Graychurch."

"Does she? That is capital, then. Capital!" He rocked on his heels and looked as if he wished to say something more, but did not.

"Well, good day to you, Mr. Fantharp." Eldyn bowed and started up the stairs.

"Do give my regards to your sister, Mr. Garritt, if you will."

Eldyn stopped on the stairs and looked back. Mr. Fantharp's cheeks had gone rather red. A thought occurred to Eldyn-one he was surprised had not come to him before.

Mr. Fantharp was not especially handsome, but his teeth were good and his figure trim. As for his demeanor, it was pleasant, if somewhat monotonous. While he was only a tradesman, it was clear he was well-to-do. That he would be a good match for Sashie was so obvious Eldyn could only wonder that he did not see it before.

"I will tell my sister you asked after her. I am sure she will be pleased to hear it." Eldyn wasn't entirely certain Sashie knew who Mr. Fantharp was; she had never mentioned him. Yet the statement was not a mistruth, for what young woman did not enjoy hearing that a man had inquired after her?

"Thank you, Mr. Garritt. Thank you, and good day to you!"

Mr. Fantharp bowed, then turned to hurry out the door. With a smile, Eldyn continued up the stairs and entered their apartment.

He found Sashie sitting by the window, a book in her hands, her face glowing softly in the last of the daylight that fell through the gla.s.s.

"I see you are pleasantly engaged," he said as he entered the room.

She looked up and smiled when she saw him; as always the expression gave him great delight.

"h.e.l.lo, dear brother."

"I am glad to see you are filling your days not only with work at the church, but rather some amus.e.m.e.nt as well. Is that a new romance you have found to read? Something with dukes and fair ladies, I hope."

Her smile did not waver, but the slightest trace of a frown touched her brow. "I am sure I would read no such thing, dear brother! I am looking at the Testament, of course."

"I see," he said, a bit surprised.

It was one thing that Sashie enjoyed her work at Graychurch. After the awful events of last year, the church could only seem the most comforting sort of sanctuary to her. Yet reading the Testament was another matter. The text of it was archaic and not easily comprehended, and he had never in his life known Sashie to take up such a studious endeavor. After the awful events of last year, the church could only seem the most comforting sort of sanctuary to her. Yet reading the Testament was another matter. The text of it was archaic and not easily comprehended, and he had never in his life known Sashie to take up such a studious endeavor.

"Are you finding it of interest?" he asked her.

"Oh, I am. I am learning a great many things-things that I wish our father had taught us. What peril I have been in and hardly knew it! Did you know it is a sin for a woman to provoke the affections of a man unless she has been betrothed to him? She must not look at him or speak to him in a way that invites his pa.s.sions, or else she has erred in the eyes of G.o.d."

Eldyn raised an eyebrow. "A woman can hardly be blamed for inciting the pa.s.sions of a man. If she is pretty enough, she need not speak or even look at a man to win those!"

"No, it is very clear." She touched the book on her lap. "Devorah's father told her she must not look at a man with warmth, or else she might incite an awful fire in his heart and so win G.o.d's wrath. I know you only wish the best for me, sweet brother. Even so, I must wonder that you let me behave as I did in the past without proper instruction. What danger I was in!"

These words astonished Eldyn. Had he not tried, too many times to count, to alter her behavior? She had indeed been in grave danger when she flirted with Westen, but not the kind she now believed. It was not G.o.d's wrath she had been in peril of receiving, but rather the kind of d.a.m.nation that could be visited only by a mortal man in the flesh.

However, he did not say this. Nor did he speak of his encounter in the foyer. This was perhaps not the propitious time to mention Mr. Fantharp's regard for her. All the same, Eldyn hoped she was not becoming too captivated with religion. While a degree of piety was certainly a virtue, too much of it could be off-putting to a man when considering a wife.

Well, he would keep an eye on her behavior. For now, he asked her how she had spent her day as they took a simple dinner, and he listened to her chat merrily about how she helped the verger oil pews and evict cobwebs from niches as if these were the most pleasant activities. and he listened to her chat merrily about how she helped the verger oil pews and evict cobwebs from niches as if these were the most pleasant activities.

It had been Eldyn's intention to spend the evening with his sister; but after their meal, it was clear she wished only to resume reading the Testament by lamplight. She did so with a pretty frown upon her face, her lips moving slowly as she read, and so charming did she look as a result that despite his earlier misgivings, he could only smile. Surely, once he had saved enough money, he would have no difficulty finding a suitable bachelor who wished to court her; and once she received such warm attentions from a living man, he had no doubt she would have little interest in reading about long-perished saints.

Tonight, though, she seemed intent on her reading, and he asked, if she was going to be so occupied, would she mind if he went out.

"Of course not, dear brother!" she exclaimed. "I would be dreadful to expect you you to occupy yourself by watching to occupy yourself by watching me me be occupied. You must engage in some activity to your own liking." be occupied. You must engage in some activity to your own liking."

Eldyn was sure he would. The theaters were all dark tonight, as they were once each quarter month. Which meant that Dercy would be free for all manner of other entertainments. He put on his good coat, checked to make sure his hair was properly tied back with a black ribbon, then went to his sister to kiss the top of her head.

She looked up at him, her face aglow in the lamplight, as if a holy illumination indeed welled forth from the book open in her lap. "Have a good evening, dear brother. I am sure you will find some activity just as pleasing to G.o.d as my reading."

Eldyn swallowed. "I'm sure no one could please Him more than you," he managed to say. Then he hurried out the door.

A chill had already taken the air, so that his breath fogged as he walked through the Old City. He had been happy at the prospect of seeing Dercy. Even now, the thought of it kindled a warmth in him that repelled the cold. Yet at the same time, a knot had formed in his stomach.

I am sure you will find some activity just as pleasing to G.o.d....

He shuddered, and not from the cold. Would G.o.d really be pleased with what would surely happen if he found himself alone in a room with Dercy and a bottle of whiskey?

Eldyn knew that working illusions would be forbidden to him once he entered the priesthood. He accepted that as a part of the cost he must pay to gain all the benefits of entering the holy order. True, the thought of giving up his abilities to conjure wonders, so soon after discovering them, left him with a hollow feeling. Yet would they not be replaced by other wonders-ones more pure and sublime?

Besides, he had tallied up all the reasons for his decision. If it was just himself he had to consider, perhaps he could be tempted into a life on Durrow Street. However, what he did reflected upon Sashie, and he could not hope to secure a reputable future for her if he was a.s.sociated with a place of such iniquity. And it was more than that. All his life, he had believed that he was sullied by his father's actions. But Eldyn knew now that it was his own deeds that mattered, not those of Vandimeer Garritt. He wanted to wash away that taint, and to be something better than his father had been.

So he would be; he was resolved.

Except illusions were not the only activities he had engaged in with Dercy. Nor were they the only pleasures he would have to forsake once he entered the priesthood....

That thought caused a pang in Eldyn's chest, but before he could consider it further, he turned a corner onto the east end of Durrow Street. On nights when the theaters were open, glittering lights and chiming music filled the air while illusionists stood before the various playhouses, crafting small illusions to entice people to enter. Now only a few people slunk down the street past guttering streetlamps.

Usually Eldyn felt a kind of safety within the crowds that thronged Durrow Street. Now, as he looked upon the barren street, he thought of the nameless illusionist from the Theater of Emeralds who had been found dead. High Holy was not so very far from here, and while Eldyn was not Siltheri himself, he had been mistaken for one of them more than once. far from here, and while Eldyn was not Siltheri himself, he had been mistaken for one of them more than once.

A pair of men walked down the far side of the street, laughing roughly as they went; they were not illusionists. With a flick, Eldyn gathered the shadows about himself, then hurried to the Theater of the Moon.

HE FOUND THE actors gathered within, rehearsing a new bit of staging for the scene in which servants of the Sun King pursued the Moon across the bottom of the sea. Given the laughter-and the bottle-that was going around, it was obvious the actors were not applying themselves to the task at hand as much as they were applying the spirits to themselves.

Nor was Eldyn surprised. The players labored hard throughout the quarter month, rehearsing, maintaining the theater, and of course performing. The nights the theaters were dark gave them a welcome respite. Tallyroth, the master illusionist of the Theater of the Moon, clearly agreed, for he smiled as he sat in a chair on the edge of the stage, watching the actors. All the same, he wore his usual wine-colored coat, and his face was powdered and his hair curled just as if it were performance night.

As Eldyn neared the stage, Dercy leaped down and caught him in a great embrace; this Eldyn returned with enthusiasm.

"So the priests let you go for the day, did they?" Dercy said with a laugh. "I'm surprised, for you're just the sort I'm sure they'd like to hold on to."

His embrace grew tighter yet, and Eldyn was aware of the other young man's breath against his neck, and of his lean body pressing close. Eldyn suffered a pang of alarm. The others were surely watching, and they were not the only ones. Did not G.o.d see everything?

Eldyn turned his head so that Dercy's lips fell upon his cheek, then stepped away from the embrace. Confusion flickered in the young man's sea-colored eyes.

"Come now, Dercy," Eldyn said, affecting a boisterous tone, "you can't expect me to just stand here while you all pa.s.s a bottle around."

Dercy grinned, the confusion in his eyes replaced by a light of mischief. "What was I thinking? That was most uncouth of me to force you to greet me before greeting the bottle!"

He reached up to the stage, the aforementioned bottle was handed down, and Eldyn took a long swig, grateful for the heady rum even though it burned his throat. Would this pleasure be forbidden to him as well? Not entirely, he supposed, for priests did take wine, if only in moderation.

Then again, moderation was not on anyone's mind that night, and for all his plans Eldyn was not a priest yet. Hands reached down and pulled him up to the stage. The bottle was handed back to him, then seemed to return almost as soon as he pa.s.sed it on.

It was not long before a pleasant tingling danced upon his skin, though whether it was from the effects of the liquor, or from the power and light that shimmered on the air, he could not say. The stage was awash in flickering blue, while schools of fish as bright as jewels darted all around.

Much of it was Dercy's doing, and Eldyn watched him with a growing wonder. He seemed hardly to make any sort of effort as he moved his hands, shaping a glittering ball into a sleek shape. Suddenly a dolphin went racing upward through the ocean of blue light, to the accompaniment of much applause.

"That is very beautiful, Dercy," spoke a voice as the dolphin burst into a spray of silver like a thousand darting minnows, "but I do trust you are being careful."

Eldyn turned around. It was Tallyroth who had spoken.

"We are dark tonight, but tomorrow we perform," the master illusionist went on. His was the voice of an actor: clear, bell-like, the words enunciated so they were crisp and carried easily. "You do not wish to spend yourself."

"Why shouldn't I? A rich man spends freely of his gold. Why should I not spend some of my own riches?"

"You should. You have been given a gift, and it would be wrong for you not to use it. Yet even a rich man may become poor if he spends too much."

"Ah, but I am rich beyond compare," Dercy said with a laugh, and coins fell from his hands, suddenly turning to goldfish that wriggled in all directions. The other illusionists applauded.

"I thought as you did, once," Tallyroth said. He raised an arm as if to conjure an illusion, but his hand trembled in a violent spasm, and he pressed it to his chest. Though Tallyroth was the master illusionist at the Theater of the Moon, it occurred to Eldyn that he had never seen the older Siltheri conjure illusions. He directed the players and oversaw all the staging, but he never performed himself.

"I have a different view now," Tallyroth went on. "Thus I say to you, Dercy, and to all of you-revel in the light, embrace it, but be prudent as well. You know of what I speak."

The blue light flickered and dimmed, and suddenly the ocean was gone, replaced by a bare stage. Dercy's grin had vanished as well. He bowed to Tallyroth, then found the rum bottle and took a long draught.

"What use is there in being prudent?" said a tall illusionist with dark hair and an aquiline nose. His name was Merrick, and he was a little older than Dercy, though far younger than Tallyroth, who Eldyn supposed was well over forty.

"What use is there in saving a portion of ourselves when the whole of our lives can be taken like that?" Merrick snapped long fingers together. "Do you think Braundt was glad that he never overspent himself at the Theater of Emeralds? What use was it for him to have saved anything back? For he will have no chance to spend it now."

At once the mood on the stage went grim, and now Eldyn understood the fierceness with which the illusionists had been drinking rum and conjuring sights of beauty. Braundt-so that was the name of the young Siltheri who had been murdered.

Merrick turned away, and some of the others went to him, putting their arms around his shoulders. Master Tallyroth watched them, a look of sorrow upon his powdered face. Dercy approached Eldyn, bottle in hand. their arms around his shoulders. Master Tallyroth watched them, a look of sorrow upon his powdered face. Dercy approached Eldyn, bottle in hand.

"Have you heard?" Dercy asked in a low voice.

Eldyn nodded. "I read it in the broadsheet."

"I'm surprised they bothered to report it at all." Dercy's voice was hard. "He was only an illusionist after all."

Eldyn pressed his lips together. What could he say except that there was a truth to his words? The Swift Arrow The Swift Arrow had printed the story not to arouse any sympathy in its readers, but merely to thrill and horrify them. had printed the story not to arouse any sympathy in its readers, but merely to thrill and horrify them.

Dercy glanced over his shoulder at the other illusionists. Merrick had been a friend of Braundt's, he explained. They had both hoped to work at the same house on Durrow Street, but Merrick had not been accepted at the Theater of Emeralds.

Eldyn sighed. That was hard news. He asked if they had any idea who had done the deed. Had Braundt done something indiscreet, as they believed Donnebric had? Dercy didn't know.

"I met Braundt several times," he said. "He was a quiet fellow, modest even. It was his illusions he wished others to see, not himself. It's hard for me to believe he did anything to openly invite this. And yet..."

Yet death had found him all the same. And if a man could win the same ill fate being sensible and modest as by being brash and foolish, then was not Merrick right? What did it matter if one was cautious or not?

Except somehow he didn't think it was the sort of danger that had found Braundt that the master illusionist had been warning the others about.

"So what did Tallyroth mean earlier?" Eldyn said. "When he told you to be prudent, and that you knew what he meant. What is it you're supposed to be cautious about?"

"Nothing a clerk needs to worry about," Dercy said loftily. "It's only of concern to illusionists. And, as you're so fond of telling me, you're a scrivener, not a Siltheri."

It was foolish of him; he was giving up illusions. But provoked by the rum as much as Dercy's mocking tone, Eldyn could not resist.

"Is that so?" He gathered his thoughts, then spread his hands apart. A ball of light appeared between them. He concentrated, and it took on shape, leaping toward the rafters in a pewter streak: a dolphin. It was not so perfectly formed as Dercy's had been, nor so well-defined at the edges. However, it was dazzlingly bright.

Dercy's eyes went wide, then he grinned. He opened his mouth, only before he could speak applause sounded behind him.

"That was very nice, Mr. Garritt," a woman's voice echoed across the theater.

Surprised, Eldyn turned to see the speaker walking down the center aisle. She wore a red gown, and her black wig was wrought into an intricate sculpture atop her head, twined with artificial birds and flowers: a creation as fantastical as any illusion.

"Good evening, Madame Richelour," Dercy said. He bowed, as did the illusionists on the stage.

"It grew rather vague toward the tail," the madam of the Theater of the Moon said as she drew near the stage. "A completeness of form is required for a phantasm to be considered perfect. And it vanished a bit too quickly. An illusion must exist for precisely the right amount of time, neither too long nor too short, to have the correct effect. Yet the brilliance of it was quite lovely. What do you think, Master Tallyroth?"

The older illusionist rose slowly from his seat. "Your eye for illusion is keen as always, madam. I would not argue with your criticism, for it is correct. Though I would add, for all its faults, there was a grace to the phantasm, a lightness of quality, that is sometimes lacking in illusions that are more precisely crafted."

Madame Richelour nodded at the master illusionist. "And your eye is subtle as ever, Master Tallyroth. But what are all of you doing here? The theater is dark. It is not an umbral to labor upon the stage. Fly away, all of you! Go amuse yourselves. I am certain you can think of many ways to do this. Here, this should aid you." She tossed a bag up to the stage, and it jingled merrily as an illusionist caught it. She tossed a bag up to the stage, and it jingled merrily as an illusionist caught it.

The young men let out a cheer, then made bows of the most florid and ridiculous manner to the madam, some of them sprouting peac.o.c.k tails as they did. Then they departed through the wings of the stage. Dercy moved off as well, and Eldyn started to follow, but a touch on his arm stopped him.

"If you have a moment, Mr. Garritt, I would speak with you."

He could not have been more startled if Madame Richelour had struck or kissed him. "Of course," he stammered.

"No, Mr. Fanewerthy, I do not need you," she said as Dercy started back toward them. "Mr. Garritt alone will do. Go after the others, and see that they spend well the coin I gave them. Do not worry. I will send Mr. Garritt after you soon enough."

Dercy raised an eyebrow, but he made no argument. "As you wish, madam." He bowed low, then as he rose he flashed a grin at Eldyn. "We'll be at the Red Jester," he said, then departed the theater, leaving Eldyn alone with Madame Richelour and Master Tallyroth.

"Tell me, Mr. Garritt," the madam of the theater said, "how long have you been working illusions now?"

Dazzled by this attention, he could form no other reply than the truth. "Since last year. But I was awful. It was only when...that is, it was about a month ago when I found my abilities suddenly improved."

She smiled. Her face was smooth and white as porcelain, not due to youth, but rather to a careful application of paints and powders. The madam was easily as old as Tallyroth, if not older.