"Unrest in the city, Lightsong," Hopefinder said. "Some of the locals are unsettled by the prospect of war."

"They could turn dangerous very easily," Blushweaver said, stirring her soup with a lazy motion. "I think that we should be prepared."

"I am," Hopefinder said, watching Blushweaver with his too-young face. Like all younger Returned-the G.o.d King included-Hopefinder would continue to age until his body reached maturity. Then, he would stop aging-just over the brink into adulthood-until he gave up his Breath.

He acted so much like an adult. Lightsong hadn't interacted much with children, but some of his attendants-when training-were youths. Hopefinder was not one of these. Stories said that Hopefinder, like other young returned, had matured very quickly during his first year of life coming to think and speak as an adult while his body was still that of a young child.

Hopefinder and Blushweaver continued to talk about the stability of the city, mentioning various acts of vandalism that had occurred. War plans stolen, city supply stations poisoned. Lightsong let them talk. He doesn't seem to find Blushweaver's beauty distracting, he thought as he watched. She began in on the fruit course, acting characteristically luscious as she sucked on pieces of pineapple. Hopefinder either didn't care, or didn't notice, as she leaned forward, showing an alarming amount of cleavage.

Something is different about him, Lightsong thought. He Returned when he was a child and acted like one for a very short time. Now, he's an adult in some ways, but a child in others.

The transformation had made Hopefinder more mature. He was also taller and more physically impressive than regular boys his age, even if he didn't have the chiseled, majestic features of a fully grown G.o.d.

And yet, Lightsong thought, eating a piece of pineapple, different G.o.ds have different body styles. Blushweaver is inhumanly well-endowed, particularly for how thin she is. Yet Mercystar is plump and curvaceous all around. Others, like Allmother, look physically old.

Lightsong knew he knew he didn't deserve his powerful physique. Like the knowledge of how to juggle, he somehow understood that a person usually had to work hard in a labor job to obtain a muscular body. Lounging about, eating and drinking, should have made him plump.

But... there have been G.o.ds who were fat, he thought, remembering some of the pictures he had seen of Returned who had come before him. There was a time in our culture when that was seen as the ideal... Then, did Returned looks have something to do with the way society viewed them? Perhaps their opinion of an ideal body? That would certainly explain Blushweaver.

Some things survived the transformation. Language. Skills. And, as he thought about it, social competence. Considering the fact that the G.o.ds spent their lives locked up atop a plateau, they probably should have been far less well-adjusted than they were. At the very least, they should have been ignorant and naive. Yet most of them were consummate schemers with a surprisingly good grasp on what happened in the outside world.

Memory itself didn't survive. Why? Why could Lightsong juggle and understand the meaning of the word bowsprit, yet at the same time be unable to remember who his parents had been? And who was that face he saw in his dreams? Why storms and tempests? What was the red panther that appeared, yet again, in his nightmares the night before?

"Blushweaver," Hopefinder said, holding up a hand. "Enough. Before we go any further, I must point out that your obvious attempts to seduce me will gain you nothing."

Blushweaver glanced away, looking embarra.s.sed.

Lightsong shook himself out of his contemplations. "My dear Hopefinder," he said. "She was not trying to seduce you. You must understand; Blushweaver's aura of allure is simply a part of who she is; it's part of what makes her so charming."

"Regardless," he said. "I will not be swayed by her paranoid arguments and worries."

"My contacts do not think that these things are simple 'paranoia,'" Blushweaver said as the fruit dishes were removed. A small chilled fish fillet arrived next.

"Contacts?" Hopefinder asked. "And just who are these 'contacts' you keep mentioning?"

"People within the G.o.d King's palace itself."

"We all have people in the G.o.d King's palace," Hopefinder said.

"I don't," Lightsong said. "No people. I thought about sending a dog in there once, though."

Blushweaver rolled her eyes. "My contact is quite important. He hears things, knows things. War is coming."

"I don't believe you," he said, picking at his food, "but that doesn't really matter now, does it? You're not here to get me to believe you. You just want my army."

"Your codes," Blushweaver said. "Lifeless security phrases. What will it cost us to get them?"

Hopefinder picked at his fish some more. "Do you know, Blushweaver, why I find my existence so boring?"

She shook he head. "Honestly, I still think you're bluffing on that count, my dear."

"I'm not," he said. "Eleven years. Eleven years of peace. Eleven years to grow to sincerely loath this system of government we have. We all attend the court of judgment. We listen to the arguments. But most of us don't matter. In any given vote, only those with sway in that area have any real say over anything. During war comes, those of us with Lifeless commands are important. The rest of the time, our opinion rarely matters.

"You want my Lifeless? Be welcome to them! I have had no opportunity to use then in eleven years, and I venture that another eleven will pa.s.s without incident. I will give you those Commands, Blushweaver-but only in exchange for your vote. You sit on the council of social ills. You have an important vote practically every week. In exchange for my Security Phrases, you must promise to vote in social matters as I say, from now until one of us dies."

The pavilion fell silent.

"Ah, so now you reconsider," Hopefinder said, smiling. "I've heard you complain about your duties in court-that you find your votes trivial. Well, it's not so easy to let go of them, is it? Your vote is all the influence you have. It isn't flashy, but it is potent. It-"

"Done," Blushweaver said sharply.

Hopefinder cut off.

"My vote is yours," Blushweaver said, meeting his eyes. "The terms are acceptable. I swear it in front of your priests and mine, before another G.o.d even."

By the Colors, Lightsong thought. She really is serious. Part of him had a.s.sumed, all along, that her posturing about the war was just another game. Yet the woman who stared Hopefinder in the eyes was not playing. She sincerely believed that Hallandren was in danger, and she wanted to make certain that the armies were unified and prepared. She cared.

And that left him worried. What had he gotten himself into? What if there really was a war? As he watched the interaction of the two G.o.ds, he was left chilled by how easily and quickly they dealt in the fate of the Hallandren people. To Hopefinder, his control of a quarter of the Hallandren armies should have been a sacred duty. He was ready to toss that aside simply because he had grown bored.

Who am I to chastise another's lack of piety? Lightsong though. I, who don't even believe in my own divinity.

And yet... at that moment, as Hopefinder prepared to release his Commands to Blushweaver, Lightsong thought he saw something. Like a remembered fragment of a memory. A dream that he might never have dreamed.

A shining room, glowing, reflecting light. A room of steel.

A prison.

"Servants and priests, withdraw," Hopefinder commanded.

They retreated, leaving the three G.o.ds alone beside their half-eaten meals, pavilion canvas flapping slightly in the wind.

"The security phrase," Hopefinder said, looking at Blushweaver, "is 'A candle by which to see.'"

It was the t.i.tle of a famous poem, even Lightsong knew it. Blushweaver smiled. Speaking those words to any of Hopefinder's ten thousand Lifeless in the barracks would allow her to override their current orders and take complete control of them. Lightsong suspected that by the end of the day, she'd make the trip down to the barracks-which lay at the base of the court, and were considered part of it-and begin imprinting Hopefinder's soldiers with a new Security Phrase, known only to her and perhaps a few of her most trusted priests.

"And now, I withdraw," Hopefinder said, standing. "There is a vote this evening at the court. You will attend, Blushweaver, and you will cast your vote in favor of the reformist arguments."

With that, he left.

"I feel like we just got manipulated," Lightsong said. "It's a very curious feeling. A little like being stepped on, only without so much foot odor."

"We only got manipulated, my dear, if there isn't war. If there is, then we may have just set ourselves up to save the entire Court-perhaps the kingdom itself."

"How very altruistic of us," Lightsong said.

"We're like that," Blushweaver said as the servants returned. "So selfless at times it's painful. Either way, that means we control two G.o.d's worth of Lifeless."

"Mine and Hopefinder's?"

"Actually," she said, "I was speaking of Hopefinder's and Mercystar's. She confided hers to me yesterday, all the while talking about how comforting she found it that you'd taken a personal interest in the incident at her palace. That was very well done, by the way. She spoke about your thorough investigation."

She seemed to be fishing for something. Lightsong smiled. "No, I didn't know that would encourage her to release her Commands to you. I was just curious."

"Curious about a murdered servant?"

"Actually, yes," Lightsong said. "The death of a servant of the Returned is quite disconcerting to me, particularly in the proximity of our own palaces."

Blushweaver raised an eyebrow.

"Would I lie to you?" Lightsong asked.

"Only every time you claim you don't want to sleep with me. Lies, brazen lies."

"Innuendo again, my dear?"

"Of course not," she said. "That one was quite flagrant. Regardless, I know that you are lying about that investigation. What was the real purpose of it?"

Lightsong paused, then sighed, shaking his head, waving for servant to bring back the fruit-he liked that better. "I don't know, Blushweaver. In all honesty, I'm beginning to wonder if I might have been a kind of officer of the law in my previous life."

She frowned.

"You know, like city watch. I was extremely good at interrogating those servants. At least, that's my own humble opinion."

"Which we've already established is quite altruistic."

"Quite," he agreed. "I think this might explain how I ended up dying in "bold" way, giving me my name."

Blushweaver raised an eyebrow. "I just always a.s.sumed you were found in bed with a much younger woman and her father killed you. Seems far more bold than dying from stab wounds while trying to catch some petty thief."

"Your mockery slides right off of my altruistic humility."

"Ah, indeed. You should probably have been named the G.o.d of "putting up with Blushweaver" for your heroics."

"Either way," Lightsong said, eating another chunk of pineapple. "I was a sheriff or investigator of some kind. I'll bet that if I ever got my hands on a sword, I'd prove one of the best duelists this city has ever seen."

She regarded him for a moment. "You're serious."

"Dead serious. Dead as a squirrel serious."

She paused.

"Personal joke," he said, sighing. "But yes, I believe it. Though, there's one thing I can't figure out."

"And that is?"

"How juggling lemons fits into it all."

Chapter Thirty-One.

"I feel I have to ask one more time," Denth said. "Do we have to go through with this?" Denth walked with Vivenna, Tonk Fah, Jewels, and Clod. Parlin had stayed behind at Vivenna's request.

"They're my people, Denth" Vivenna said.

"So?" he asked. "Princess, mercenaries are my people, and you don't see me spending that much time with them. They're a smelly, annoying lot."

"Not to mention rude," Tonk Fah added.

Vivenna rolled her eyes. "Denth, I'm their princess. Besides, you yourself said that they were influential."

"Their leaders are," Denth said. "And they'd be perfectly happy to meet with you on neutral ground. Going into the slums isn't necessary-the common people, they really aren't all that important."

She eyed him. "That is the difference between Hallandrens and Idrians. We pay attention to our people."

Behind, Jewels snorted in derision.

"I'm not Hallandren," Denth noted. However, he let the statement drop as they approached the slums. Vivenna had to admit that as they grew close, she did feel a little more apprehensive.

This slum felt different than the others. Darker, somehow. Something more than just the run-down shops and unrepaired streets. Small groups of men stood on street corners, watching her with suspicious eyes. Every once in a while, Vivenna would catch a glimpse of a building with women in very revealing clothing-even for Hallandren-hanging about the front. Some even whistled toward Denth and Tonk Fah.

This was a foreign place. Everywhere else in T'Telir, she felt like she didn't fit in. Here, she felt unwelcome. Distrusted. Even hated.

She steeled herself. Somewhere in this place was a group of tired, overworked, frightened Idrians. The threatening atmosphere made her feel even more sorry for her people. She didn't know if they would be much help in trying to sabotage the Hallandren war effort, but she did know one thing: she intended to do help them. If people had slipped through the monarchy's fingers, then it was her duty to try and pick them back up.

"That look on your face," Denth said. "What's it for?"

"I'm worried about my people," she said, shivering as they pa.s.sed a large group of street toughs dressed in black with red arm-bands, their faces stained and dirtied. "I came by this slum when Parlin and I were searching for a new home. I... I didn't want to get close, even though I'd heard that prices were cheap. I can't believe that my people are so oppressed that they would have to live somewhere in here, surrounded by all of this."

Denth frowned. "Surrounded by it?"

Vivenna nodded. "Living among prost.i.tutes and gangs, having to walk past such things every day..."

Denth started laughing, startling her. "Princess," he said, "your people don't live among prost.i.tutes and gangs. Your people are the prost.i.tutes and gangs."

Vivenna stopped in the middle of the street. "What?"

Denth glanced back at her. "This is the Idrian quarter of the city. These slums are called the Highlands, for Color's sake."

"Impossible," she snapped.

"Very possible," Denth replied. "I've seen it in cities across the world. Immigrants gather, make a little enclave. That enclave gets conveniently ignored by the rest of the city. When roads are repaired, other places come first. When guards are sent to patrol, they avoid the foreign sections."