"But it may be some time hence," Opaline protested. "How can I be sure? If I see him as he is, I might vomit. That would be unkind."
"Look," Monochrome said, her eyes flicking to where Havoc lay.
Opaline looked. And stifled a scream. Pot was lying there naked in all his physical inadequacy.
"Problem?" the man asked, with Pot's voice.
"Horror!"
"Trust me. The effect will endure as long as required." Monochrome vanished.
And Havoc was back. "Solution?"
"Solution," Opaline agreed, shuddering. She had been shown how persuasive the illusion would be. She would embrace Havoc when Pot came to her. "My turn," Havoc said. "You have a problem?"
"Background: the machines sent an emissary in the form of a woman to be my mistress. She is in every part and aspect completely and delightfully female, but she is actually a golem, a machine, a robot, and represents the enemy."
"A robot!"
"A very lifelike creature."
"Do not touch her."
"Too late. I have plumbed her many times."
"Do not trust her."
"I do trust her. In fact we are making her a Glamor."
"Idiocy!"
"Rationale: as a Glamor she will be inevitably tempted to make common cause with other Glamors, all of whom are living creatures, human, animal, and alien. She can be a significant ally against the machines."
Opaline saw it. "She came to corrupt you, but you will corrupt her. But this is a freakishly dangerous endeavor."
"Affirmation. But it is the course we pursue."
"Why tell me this? I understand the machines will know all that I know."
"As with a game of chess, knowledge of the present is only part of it. Nothing is physically concealed, except underlying strategy. We will play that out in our fashion, and what what will be will be. No one, human or machine, knows the outcome. I seek another kind of advice from you."
"Advice? Inadequacy!"
"Negation. You helped Five to know his true will. Now you can help me."
"All I did was present an ordinary girl's view."
"Agreement."
She shook her head, still doubting. How could the king actually need her advice? "What is your problem?"
"The robot is the perfect woman, except that she is not alive. Should I love her?"
He knew the robot, he was having sex with her, he was giving her more power than any other entity could aspire to. But he was concerned about his private personal feeling.
And she found that she did have input. "Does she love you?"
"Affirmation."
"Certainty?"
"Affirmation. She was designed and programmed to love me. She can not do otherwise."
"Programmed to love? Is that valid?"
"Uncertainty. It differs from earned love."
But now Opaline found herself arguing the other side. "A creation of the machines can love you. I am in a position to know."
"Affirmation," he said, smiling.
"If she truly loves you, you can love her."
"That is your ordinary girl wisdom."
"Affirmation. It is all I have."
"Sufficient."
That was sufficient? Opaline did not want to argue the case, though she felt it was inadequate. Part of it was that she didn't know the robot, so it was purely theoretical. "Negation," she said, surprising herself.
"Question?"
"It is not sufficient. You are too foolishly eager to accept the answer you want, being male. My opinion is of no value, because I don't even know her." She hoped that did not anger him, but it was the truth.
"I will bring her to meet you, on your return trip," he said. "Now you must go to your family."
"But such a trip normally takes days," she protested. "Folk will wonder."
"Folk won't know what time it takes. I thought you would appreciate having more time at home."
"Endorsement!" Part of her enthusiasm was her relief that she hadn't alienated him by her candor. She rolled onto him and started kissing his face. There followed what followed, in overflowing measure. He was a freely giving man, in more than one sense.
Hayseed the Minstrel delivered Opaline safely to her family an hour later. Her parents were surprised and thrilled to see her. She found herself rattling off the events of her adventure, far too rapidly for them to properly assimilate, omitting certain details.
"Hayseed is actually King Havoc. He came to conduct me to a special project he has that is supposed to save our planet from destruction by the enemy machines. Another entity was trying to stop me from getting there, using brigands, magic fire, and a deadly swarm of wasps, but Havoc fought them off. He took me to Oak, a young man of seventeen who can move an acorn half an inch with his mind. That may not seem like much, but I'm training him to move the triggers of the machines' Science Magic guns so that they fire at the wrong times and destroy their own side instead of us. I'm going to marry him, and I'd like to have you attend the wedding."
That they could assimilate. "Enthusiasm," Copper said.
"Concurrence," Silver agreed.
"But there is a negative. Oak is simple."
There was a silence.
Finally Copper spoke. "Can he support you?"
"He has a stipend from the king, because of his importance to the defense effort."
Then Silver: "Do you love him?"
"I think I will. He is very nice, and he needs me to take care of him." Her relationships with Havoc and Fifth, and her need to seek four fourths including one from her father in law were among the omitted details; her folks would not understand.
"He is simple," Copper said. "Could that affect his children?"
"Negation."
"Question?" Silver asked.
"I am told that this particular liability is not genetic, and will not transmit. The children will not be simple." She was skirting the truth, but her conclusion was accurate. Opaline's children would likely be smarter than she was.
"Then we approve," Copper said. He did not add that Opaline, as a fifth, could not have been expected to capture a truly smart independent man; she had to settle for what she could get, and this would do.
"But such a journey would be difficult," Silver said. "We are not young."
Opaline had an answer for that. "Havoc gave me magic travel passes for you, there and back. He wants me to marry Oak, to be sure that he stays with the project." Which was true, and surely an understatement. She produced the passes, which were tokens stamped with the royal insignia. They had but to show them to obtain passage on any magic conveyance and receive royal treatment. They would not only have an easy trip, it would be a most pleasant experience.
"We are impressed," Copper said.
"Overwhelmed," Silver said.
Opaline got up and kissed them both. "Deserving." That, too, she felt was an understatement. They had done their best for her throughout her life, though she was adopted, and now they would have some repayment for their effort. They would even have four more grandchildren.
She had several days to renew acquaintances in the village. All the villagers knew was that she had traveled to seek a man to marry, and had found one. They were glad for her, and glad that no out of luck local boy would be required to marry her. It wasn't as if she were anyone special.
Hayseed the Minstrel appeared at the agreed time to conduct her back to her new home village. This time he visited at their house, and when they were private he openly identified himself. "Opaline's mission is vitally important," he said. "We need her, and she is ideal. You raised her well, and we are appreciative." He produced two small colored stones. "Keep these gems with you at all times. If you are ever in peril or serious need, invoke them, and I or a minion will come to help you."