"And the poets?"
"Lost in dreams of other worlds."
"And the craftsmen?"
"Forging machines to challenge the darkness."
"And the Wise, who made the world?"
The swan lowered its black neck sadly.
"Dwindled to crones and sorcerers in towers."
-Sapphique in the Kingdom of Birds
Finn carefully touched one of the spheres. It showed him his own face, swollen grotesquely in delicate lilac glass. Behind him he saw Attia come through the archway and stare around.
""What is this?" She stood amazed among the bubbles that hung from the ceiling, and he saw how clean she was this morning, her hair scrubbed, the new clothes making her seem younger than ever.
"His laboratory. Look in here."
Some of the spheres contained whole landscapes. In one, a colony of small golden-furred creatures slumbered peacefully or dug in sandy hillocks. Atria spread her hands on it, flat on the glass. "It feels warm."
He nodded. "Did you sleep?"
"A bit. I kept waking up because it was so quiet. You?"
He nodded, not wanting to say that his exhaustion had made him fall onto the small white bed and sleep at once, without even undressing. Though when he had woken this morning, he had found that someone had wrapped the blankets around him, and laid clean clothes on the chair in the bare white room. Had it been Keiro?
"Did you see the man on the ship? Gildas thinks he's a Sapient."
She shook her head. "Not without the facemask. And all he said last night was 'Take those rooms and we'll talk in the morning.'" She glanced over. "It was brave, going back for Keiro."
They were silent for a while. He came around and stood next to her, and as they watched the animals scratch and roll, they became aware that beyond this globe was a whole chamber of glass worlds, aqua-green and gold and pale blue, each hanging from a fine chain, some tinier than a fist, others vast as halls, where birds flew, or fish swam, or billions of insects clouded and swarmed.
"It's as if he's made cages for them all," she said quietly. "I hope he hasn't got one for us."
Then, catching the sudden jerk of his reflection, "What is it? Finn?"
"Nothing." His hands left hot smears on the sphere as he leaned on it.
"You saw something." Attia's eyes were wide. "Was it the stars, Finn? Are there really millions of them? Do they gather and sing in the darkness?"
Stupidly, he didn't want to disappoint her. He said, "I saw ... I saw a lake in front of a great building. It was night. Lanterns were floating on the water, little paper lanterns each with a candle inside so they looked blue and green and scarlet. There were boats on the lake and I was in one of them." He rubbed his face. "I was there, Attia. I was leaning over the side and tried to touch my reflection in the water, and yes, there were stars. And they were angry because my sleeve got wet."
"The stars?" She came closer.
"No. The people."
"What people? Who were they, Finn?" He tried. There was a scent. A shadow.
"A woman," he said. "She was angry."
It hurt. Remembering hurt. It triggered flashes of light; he closed his eyes against them, sweating, his mouth dry.
"Don't." Anxious, she reached out to him, the welts red on her wrists where the chains had chafed the skin. "Don't upset yourself."
He rubbed his face with his sleeve and the room was still with a quiet he had not known since the cell where he had been born. Awkwardly he muttered, "Is Keiro still asleep?"
"Oh him!" She scowled. "Who cares?" He watched her wander between the spheres.
"You can't dislike him that much. You stuck with him in the City."
She was silent, so he said, "How did you manage to follow us?"
"It wasn't easy" She tightened her lips. "We heard rumors about the Tribute, so he said we should steal a flamethrower. I was the one who had to cause a diversion so he could get it. Not that I got any thanks."
Finn laughed. "That's Keiro. He never thanks anyone." Splaying his hands on the sphere, he leaned his forehead on it and the reptiles inside stared back impassively. "I knew he'd come. Gildas said no, but Keiro would never betray me."
She made no answer but he became aware that her silence was charged with an odd tension; when he looked up, she was watching him with something like anger. It burst out of her abruptly. "You're so wrong, Finn! Can't you see what he's like? He would have left you easily, just taken the Key and gone and not even cared!"
"No," he said, surprised.
"Yes!" She faced up to him, the bruises livid in the white skin of her face. "Because it was only the girl's threat that made him stay."
He felt cold. "What girl?"
"Claudia."
"He spoke to her!"
"She threatened him. 'Find Finn,' she said, 'or the Key will be useless to you.' She was really angry with him." Attia shrugged lightly. "It's her you should thank."
He wouldn't believe it.
There was no way he would.
"Keiro would have come." His voice was low and stubborn. "I know how he seems, that he doesn't care about anyone, but I know him. We've fought together. We took the oath."
She shook her head. "You're too trusting, Finn. You must have been born Outside, because you don't fit here."
Then, hearing footsteps, she said quickly, "Ask him for the Key. Ask him. You'll see."
Keiro wandered into the room and whistled. He was wearing a doublet of dark blue, his hair wet, and he was still eating an apple from the plate in their room, the last two skullrings gleaming on his fingers. "So this is where you are!" He turned a complete circle.
"And this is a Sapient's tower. Beats the old man's cage."