Before long, Keli did return. She was the same individual; Seqiro verified that. “I have talked with those who remember,” she said. “The duels will start immediately. First mine.” She advanced possessively on Stave.
“But we must understand the rules!” Darius protested.
“It will be clear,” she replied. She did not seem surprised that he now seemed to be speaking her language, because of Seqiro’s translation. Probably the horse was also sending a reassuring feeling, so that she did not think to wonder. “Come with me.”
They followed her out of the chamber and down the passage. She led them to a truly grand cavern whose ceiling was so high that it was lost in gloom, and whose sides were smooth. Nona wondered what aspect of what Colene called the Mandelbrot set this represented. Certainly it was unlike the surface, though there was enough light from hidden sources.
There was a platform in the center. In fact there were several platforms, rising in a group. “This is like the daises of my own reality!” Darius exclaimed. “Everything happens on a dais.”
That was what Nona was afraid of. But they had no choice now.
Each of them was led to a separate dais. They could see each other, but not reach each other, except by getting off one dais and onto another. Obviously each dais defined the arena for its particular duel.
The rabble were pouring in as word of the duels spread. “They do seem to like a spectacle,” Darius muttered. “Colene would have loved getting up before this mob and stepping out of her clothes.”
“She likes to go naked?” Nona asked.
“No. She likes to make an impression, and to take suicidal risks.”
“And you chose this one to love?”
“No. Love chose this one for me, and I am helpless.”
“I would like to know what such love feels like.”
“You do not feel it with Stave?”
She paused, reconsidering. “I think not. Friendship, respect—he is a good man.”
“But no fire,” he said.
“No fire,” she agreed.
Then they had to separate, to go to their individual daises. Hers was the closest to their path. It was stepped around the edge, so was easy to reach.
Null-Darius mounted from another side, and stood waiting for her. Meanwhile the others mounted theirs, until the four were filled. They were in a rough square, with space inside and the massed rabble outside.
Nona looked around, expecting some sort of announcement, but there was none. “This was supposed to be explained,” she said, nettled.
“I will explain it,” Null-Darius said. As usual, his meaning was brought to her by Seqiro, so that she did not have to depend on her interpretation of his words.
“But you are my opponent! How can I trust what you tell me?” But she realized that she could, because once the horse penetrated a mind well enough to translate, he also knew the truth in that mind, and would provide her with it no matter what the person tried to say. Nona wished she could always have Seqiro with her, but knew also that this was not destined. He was committed to Colene. As was Darius. Colene was doubly fortunate.
“There is only one way to do a duel, and I have just learned it,” the rabble man said as if that decided it. “We have a day and a night from this point to decide. We may eat, sleep, or do anything we choose, but we may not leave this dais until the breeding occurs, and it is witnessed.”
“Witnessed?” But the horse was clarifying the meaning already. This assembled multitude would watch it happen.
She had no intention of letting it happen, but she was morbidly curious. “Suppose it happens early. Then what?”
“Then we are free to leave the dais.”
“But not to leave this realm,” she said.
“I can not, and you may not,” he agreed.
“Suppose one of us has to—to—” She did not wish to speak it, so had Seqiro send the implication of a natural function being performed.
“There is a bucket,” he said, gesturing to the side. She looked, and saw it. “When one asks, there will be a brief cessation for this purpose.”
And in public, she realized. She was not easy about this, but realized that protest was pointless. The ways of the rabble governed here.
“And what is permissible?” she asked. “How much can one be hurt?”
“No hurt,” he said. “The one who hurts the other loses the duel.”
Now, this was interesting. “But how does one win?”
He shrugged. “We must breed or fail to breed. That is the only conclusion.”
“But if you try to breed with me, how can I try to stop you, without hurting you?”
“You can tie me with the ribbon,” he said, gesturing to another side. There were coils of light ribbon that was surely stronger than it looked. “And I will tie you with ribbon if I need to.”
So that was the way of it! If she managed to tie him, he would not be able to do anything with her. If he tied her, she would not be able to prevent him. The ribbon would immobilize a person without damage.
“When does it start?” she asked.
“It started when we came to the dais.”
“But you have not tried anything!” she said.
“There is time,” he said. “Perhaps before the end you will decide to do it without strife. I would like that.”
“I doubt I will change my mind,” she said. “I do not want to breed.”
“Perhaps you will reconsider after watching the other duels,” he suggested.
“Watching the others?” she asked blankly.
“It would be pointless to have the breedings all together,” he said. “People would not know which one to watch.”
She still did not trust this. “Then let’s watch all the others,” she said. “You stay on your side, I’ll stay on my side, and no one touches those ribbons.”
“I agree.” He sat on the edge of the dais, his feet on one of the steps down.
Nona found this awkward to believe, but Seqiro reassured her. We are waiting too, he thought. I will of course lose, by your definition, but it will happen in its turn.
“Lose?” she asked.
The mare will come into heat, and I will have to breed her. With my species, breeding is too important to be left to individual whim. But I will continue to support you in your foolish resistance, since your human attitude differs from mine.
“Thank you, Seqiro,” she murmured. There were indeed differences between human beings and horses.
Darius and Null-Nona were also waiting. The only active dais was the one to her left, where Stave and Keli were.
As if Nona’s attention was the signal, the two started moving toward each other. Keli was naked and Stave was clothed; it seemed that this was a matter of individual choice. They met in the center and touched hands.
Then Keli grasped his right hand. Stave resisted, but she was not trying to apply force. She held his hand up and walked into it, causing him to caress her torso. “Can I not persuade you?” she asked. “I almost did before.”
“To do what you want would alienate me from my group,” Stave replied. “I must support my friends.”
“I know you like me,” she said. “Can’t you see that what I want is right? It would cost you so little, and give me so much.”
Nona, watching and listening, began to feel guilty. Not for the watching, because that was part of the duel, but because she understood the position Stave was in. He was a man, and he surely did want to breed with the woman, who was of exactly the contours that men preferred. But he did not want to do it in public, and he did not want to do it if it meant that he would then have no chance with Nona herself. It was not a nice position he was in. She almost wanted to call across to him, telling him to do it. But she feared that the first default to the way of the rabble would begin the unraveling of their group, and then none of them would escape.