Next morning Opaline and Havoc set out again, departing the grateful village. He continued to drill her on individual singing and man management, so that she almost thought she could do it. She did not understand this business of seeing future paths, but she trusted Havoc and did her best to prepare herself for what had to be.
But one thing still nagged her. "I know your daughter Voila, whose vision you respect, told you that you must personally conduct me along this route. But why does it have to be you, instead of some lowly underling? You told me before that you are training me, but you have pretty much done that now, I think. Even if I am valuable, isn't this overkill?"
"Negation."
"Please."
"You will not like the information."
"I must know."
"Our reading of the paths suggests that there is some agency that does not want you to complete this journey. It is strong enough so that only a Glamor can fully protect you."
"Something means to—to kill me?"
"Affirmation."
"So the tree would have poisoned me, without you to tell it no? The brigands would have raped and killed me?
The fire would have burned me to ashes?"
"Affirmation."
"Affirmation," she echoed. "I do not like this information. It terrifies me."
"I would have preferred to spare you the knowledge. We are trying to identify the agency, so we can eliminate it. It is surely an enemy of our kind."
"And if you don't identify it, and I reach my mission, what then?"
"The paths indicate that you will be safe there. It threatens you only before you meet Oak."
"Question?"
"His name is Oak. Our secret weapon."
"But why should this be?"
"We do not as yet know."
"That hour you must leave me—does that relate?"
"Affirmation. That is when I will discover and destroy the agency's power to attack."
"Understanding," she said faintly. "Is that time soon?"
He paused, evidently fathoming the near future, or receiving information from his daughter. "Not soon enough. Another threat comes."
"Each one has been worse," she said. "Oh, Havoc, I am afraid!"
"Reasonable," he said, embracing her. Then he whispered in her ear. "We must leave the trail, soon, by seeming coincidence. Make a demand that we visit the Air Chroma. Be persistent."
"My nature," she said, trying to smile.
"It is a good nature." He kissed her.
He let her go, and they resumed walking. She looked around. On one side was yellow, deepening in the distance. On the other was a sort of fuzzing that seemed to fade into fog. "What is that?" she inquired, gesturing.
"That is an Air Chroma zone. When no inhabitants are in the vicinity to animate illusions, it has no appearance."
"I don't understand. Everything has some appearance."
"Not the Invisible Chroma of Air. No more than air itself does. Only when animated by illusion does it become visible."
"Havoc, are you teasing me? This makes little sense."
"Negation. It is the way it is."
"I want to see for myself."
"Doubt. Chroma natives resent intrusions by nonChroma folk. We had best remain on the path."
"Annoyance."
"Necessity."
"Decision: I will look for myself." She stepped off the trail, into the edge of the fog.
"Danger!" Havoc protested. "Do not go there alone."
She turned on him a determined smile. "Then come with me, Havoc."
"Inconvenience," he muttered as he did so. "Headstrong girl."
Her foot struck something invisible. "Ow!" she exclaimed, abruptly sitting down.
"Explanation," Havoc said, bending to lift her foot for inspection. "Things do exist; they are merely invisible. You stumbled into a rock." He raised her foot higher. "I see nothing ill."
"Suspicion," she said. "Are you looking up my bare leg?"
"And a fine leg it is," he agreed as she jerked it away. Of course he was welcome to look, and to handle too, but this was of the nature of a small play, for the benefit of any entity that might be spying on them.
"How can I walk here, if there are invisible stones?" she demanded unreasonably.
"Return to the regular path."
"Negation!"
Havoc sighed. "Then I will have to carry you."
"You wouldn't dare!"
He picked her up and carried her forward. Her skirt and blouse twisted some as her mid section sagged somewhat between his strong arms. He seemed to have no trouble with the invisible rocks. She clung to him, delighting in this closeness.
She thought of something else. "If I am safe when there, why not simply conjure me there directly, now that I am trained? You could keep me out of sight for a while before delivering me, to better have your will of me before you return to your two beautiful women and countless sultry royal bath girls and other ilk."
He shook his head ruefully. "How many times must I answer before you are satisfied?"
"You have answered with partial truths. I want the whole truth."
"I do not even know the whole truth."
"You know enough to have a notion." She twisted her shoulders slightly to give him a better look into her skew blouse. He was a man: she was learning how to handle him. He did look, and licked his lips. "It is best that the enemy stalker not know that we know its purpose, so we must hew to our schedule."
She remained unsatisfied. She twisted a bit more. "And?"
"And I like your company, you teasing vixen."
Of course she wasn't fooling him, but she held his interest anyway "I don't wish to tease you, Havoc. I wish to possess you."
"Negation. You know my oath prevents that, so you keep dangling your proffered favors before me. That is teasing."
He was right. "Apology. I will stop."
"Negation."
"Don't stop teasing you?" she asked, surprised.
"As you say, I have other women galore, and all will grant me their favors of any nature without limit. You alone will not. That is a special kind of challenge."
She considered that. "You are teasing me, I am teasing you. It is a unique relationship."
"Affirmation."
She squirmed into position to kiss him. "Conjecture: it will do."
"Acquiescence," he agreed, and kissed her back.
The magic intensified; it was almost like a prickling on her skin. She knew that the Chroma zones were formed by the matter and gas from the volcanoes, and the magic was strongest in the center, at the volcano itself. But she had never been inside a Chroma zone before, and would not have dared trespass if not in Havoc's company. Regardless, this was a fine adventure.
Havoc forged through the fog. Then it thinned, and they were at the verge of a picturesque farmstead, with six-legged sheep grazing in a verdant meadow. The neat wooden farmhouse was surrounded by multi-colored flowers.
"Oh, it's gorgeous," she breathed as he set her down. It seemed there were no more invisible rocks here.
"Pretty as a picture—which I gather it is."
"All illusion," he agreed. "It is said that there are no ugly Air Chroma women. That is an understatement; nothing is ugly here."
The nearest sheep heard them. "Ba-a-a-a-ad!" it bleated.
In a moment the farmer appeared. He did not walk up to them from a distance; he simply appeared before them. He was a solid but halfway handsome man, with a neat straw hat and blue jeans. "Question?" he demanded gruffly.
"I am Hayseed the Minstrel, traveling with my little sister Opaline. She insisted on seeing the Air Chroma, where she has never been before."
The farmer's rough countenance softened. "Minstrel?"
"Affirmation."
"Will you entertain at our village?"
"For room and board for the night."
The farmer smiled. "Welcome! One moment." He vanished.
"How did he come, and where did he go?" Opaline asked, not having to pretend surprise.