The older one opened one eye. Minutes passed.
Then, "I have said that," Patris acknowledged.
More minutes passed.
Finally, "You say nothing more, Chantris," the older one stated. "Has it occurred?"
"No, not yet..."
"Then why do you trouble me?"
"Because I feel that it may soon come to pass."
"Feel?"
"It seems likely."
"Likelies and their uns have seldom concerned us here. I know your desire, and I say that you may not yet have his hoard."
"Yes," said Chantris, showing many of her teeth. "Yes," Patris repeated in their sibilant tongue, and he opened his other eye. "And you have just spoken one
"
word too many. You know my will and you seek to toy with it." He raised his head. The other drew back. "Do you challenge me?"
"No," said Chantris.
"... And by that you say 'not yet.'"
"I would not be so foolish as to choose this time and this spot."
"Good sense. Though I doubt it will save you in the end. Face the north wind and depart."
"I was about to anyway, Lord Patris. And I bid you remember we need no Road. Farewell!"
"Hold, Chantris! If you go to damage these chains you have seen, if you go to harm this one in his other form, then you may have chosen your time and your place!"
But the other had already departed, to seek and stop one who would return to the wind but knew it not wholly, yet.
Patris revolved his eyes. Times and places moved behind them. He found the channel of his desire and adjusted the fine tuning.
One
Red sat on his bed, Mondamay on the floor. Flowers on the table between them. Cigar smoke twisted about the room. Red raised an ornate goblet from the table and sipped a dark wine.
"All right Where were we?" he asked, unlacing his boots and dropping them beside the bed.
"You had said that you did not want to come home with me and make pots," Mondamay stated.
"That's true."
"... And you agreed that it would be difficult for you to leave the Road and stay in hiding indefinitely."
"Yes."
"You also conceded that remaining on the Road and going about your business could be hazardous."
"Right."
"Then the only course of action I can see is for you
to go on the offensive. Get Chadwick before he gets you."
"Hmm." Red closed his eyes. "That would be an interesting variation," he said. "But he's pretty far from here, and it would certainly not be easy .. ." Where is he now?"
"The last I knew, he'd put down pretty firm roots
in C Twenty-seven. He is a very wealthy and powerful man."
"But you could find him?"
"Yes."
"How well do you know his time and place?" Mondamay asked.
"I lived there for over a year."
"Then your best course of action seems obvious: go after him."
"I suppose you are right."
Red suddenly put down his goblet, rose to his feet and began pacing rapidly.
"You suppose! What else is there left to do?"
"Yes, yes!" Red replied, unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it onto the bed. "Listen, we'll have to finish talking about it tomorrow."
He unbuckled his belt, stepped out of his trousers, threw them next to the shirt. He resumed pacing.
"Red!" Flowers said sharply. "Are you having one of your spells?"
"I don't know. I feel a little peculiar, that's all. Possibly. I think you'd better go now. We'll talk more in the morning."
"I think we'd better stay," Flowers answered. "I'd like to know what happens, and perhaps—"
"No! I mean it! I'll talk to you later! Leave me!" .