He went splat and dropped to the floor. But the time was up, and he landed as a handsome prince. "Thank you, Princess," he said, rubbing his bruised posterior. "You have enabled me to break the spell. Now I will marry you."
"What?!"
But the Prince talked to the King and Queen. "Your daughter is a spoiled brat who needs discipline. I will give her that."
The King and Queen agreed. So the Prince married the Princess and took her away to his far kingdom. He was happy from the outset, because she was very pretty. It took her a while, but once she managed to learn the elements of discipline and respect, she was happy too.
"Here is the thing," Warp said when the story concluded. "When we were children, Weft was the Princess. She had the looks and the imperious beauty. Havoc was the King, of course. Flame was the frog."
"The frog!" Fifth exclaimed. "I would have thought you would be—I mean—"
"When we were children, gender was less important than role. Flame was the tough one who got things done and demanded accountings. The frog had the right of the case throughout. The selfish Princess did not deserve the Prince she married, however reluctantly at first. But when we got older, and came to comprehend the complexities of adult interactions, Weft learned responsibility and empathy, while Flame sought to learn what she lacked: to be a lovely Princess. She never quite succeeded, until she found one man, and then another, who did see her that way."
"I was the frog?" Fifth asked, amazed.
"In her fantasy. Especially now. You are the deserving one, whom she wronged. She feels she doesn't deserve you, any more than the Princess deserved the noble frog. That's why she is leaving you alone, after you made clear that's what you want."
Fifth was at a loss. "How am I supposed to react to this?"
"That is for you to decide. I have spoken." Warp faded.
Fifth stared into the green lava, trying to make sense of the story and its interpretation. Flame had never mentioned it, but he believed Warp.
Another person appeared.
"Weft!" he said, surprised. "Why are you here?" As if he didn't knew. She was the last of Flame's siblings, and would surely have her say.
"I came to stop you from being idiotic." She was startlingly lovely in her animation.
"What do you know of this?"
And of course she did know all about it. "What do you think I know, you simpleton? There's my sister's ikon you dropped on the ground. You're going to suicide. Again."
"This is not your concern."
"The hell it isn't, you numskull! Do you think I sent you back to her for this?" She looked into the volcano.
"She lied to me!" he flared. But that assessment had become more complicated.
"She did it to save your stupid life!"
"It's not worth saving."
"Agreement! But for the sake of my sister I have to try to get through to you, dumbbell. She loves you."
"I love her. But this is beyond love."
"The hell it is!" she flared, literally. For a moment her body was outlined in fire, symbolizing her anger. "Listen to me, fathead. She gave up everything for you, and you are spitting on it."
"What did she give up?"
"She sacrificed her honor. Do you know what that means? She's an Amazon! They aren't like the rest of us who lie and cheat when we have to. Honor is everything to them. But she threw it away for you, you ungrateful buffoon."
He was taken aback. "I didn't ask her to do that."
"She killed her first love, on Earth five years ago, because the evil spirit had taken him over and there was no choice. She was heartbroken, but she was an Amazon so she stifled it and carried on, knowing she would be needed in the next big challenge. But she just couldn't do it again. She couldn't kill you, or let you die. So she killed herself instead, in the way that counted. She compromised her honor so that you could live. And you, you insensitive moron, you are throwing it away, so as to leave her with nothing at all. Maybe you'll be proud of yourself, as you hit the boiling green rock. You took down an Amazon out of simple dopey spite!"
Fifth did not want to admit that she was beating back his resolve. He had been with Flame then, and knew of her hard decision about her first lover, though she had never spoken of it. "She'll get over it. She's a Glamor princess.
She'll find another man. I don't begrudge her that."
"You don't begrudge her? Do you have any idea what she'll do?"
"It's not my business after I'm gone."
"She will see this third challenge through to victory, so as not to leave anything unfinished. Then she will use intermediaries to collect all her ikons and put them in Chroma zones where they can't broadcast any power to her. Then she will come to this very spot and jump in. She will join you. Only it will take her longer to die, because of her lingering Glamor power. She will suffer much more than you, physically. She's already suffering more emotionally. You must really hate her."
"I don't hate her! I love her."
"Some way you have of showing it, you unfeeling jerk. You aren't even trying to understand her position. You even dreamed of it. That was your anticipation of the way you would kill her, first nullifying her ikon so she would be helpless. Only you're doing it more slowly, by cutting her off emotionally. The poor girl isn't good at relationships. She never gave herself wholly to that Earth man, and she had to struggle to do it with you. Don't I know it! I had a month-long affair with you, just to show her that she was really the one you wanted. She couldn't believe that any man would choose her over me, if I tried. And I did try; it was part of the deal. But she finally did believe, and that's it, for her.
She'll never love again. You're killing her, in the crudest possible way, you sadist!"
"I'm the frog."
She paused, her mouth open for another barrage. "What do you know of that?"
"Warp told me. As children you were the Princess and Flame was the frog. Now she's the Princess and I'm the frog."
She sighed. "You know that story, and you're still going to desert her?"
It was no use trying to argue with her. "Affirmation."
"And you know I could have emulated Opaline for the death scene. I've been doing it to cover her absences from Oak. It wouldn't have bothered me nearly as much as it did Flame. But she wouldn't allow it. She said she had to do her own dirty work."
"That's her nature," he agreed guardedly.
"And she could have avoided all this mess simply by continuing the lie, never telling you about her interpretation of your dream. But she refused to keep you on the basis of a lie. She said she had to tell you, once the crisis passed, come what may. I begged her not to; I warned her it would only throw you into a foolish tizzy. But she said the only way she could expiate the lie was to confess it."
"That is the way she would see it," he agreed.
"And you still blame her?"
He felt as if a mountain was settling onto his back. "Affirmation."
"You beast! I can't stand another sight of you." She vanished in a puff of smoke.
Fifth sat down, dangling his legs over the volcano's rim. Weft had shaken him with her vehemence and her information. He had never seen her so angry He knew the special effects were spurious, but he knew her well enough to appreciate the reality. She had truly cursed him.
Could he really be killing Flame, as he had in the dream? He had an awful feeling Weft was right. They were sisters who knew each other well.
Yet Flame had lied to him, and aggravated it by playing a role. His entire tryst with Opaline had actually been with Flame. They had even talked about Flame. Then she had let him "kill" her. How could he ever forgive that horror?
He heard another person approaching. That could not be coincidence. He got to his feet, determined to jump before listening to yet another petition.