and sounded, angry, and scornful, and a little haunted…even disturbed. “All we can be sure of is that, whether we like it or not, the One means us all well, more so than we can ever comprehend. And the details of that meaning are sometimes going to be impossible for any created being to fathom…even the Powers That Be.” It leaned back in Its throne and scowled. “It has no taste, no discrimination…that’s what’s so infuriating,” the Lone Power muttered under Its breath. “It’ll redeem just anybody…”
“Even you? Well, whatever,” Nita said. “But you can still understand why we’d have trouble trusting you. Me, in particular.”
Esemeli sighed and looked at Nita with those lazy, thoughtful eyes. The uncomfortable moment had sealed itself right over again, leaving Nita feeling both sorry for this particular version of the Lone One and still rather cautious. “Yes, well,” It said. “If you’re so enlightened, being a wizard and all, you’ll get past it, and get on with the work at hand, won’t you?”
The mockery was almost a relief after Its unsettled tone of a few moments before. “Well, I’m not sure exactly what we’re supposed to do,” Kit said.
“I have an idea,” Nita said. “But I’m not sure I like it. We’re going to need to investigate the species’ Choice more closely.”
“The only way you’re going to do that now,” the Lone One said, smiling slightly, “is to find Druvah.”
“As if he’s around here somewhere,” Kit said, annoyed.
“Oh, he is,” Esemeli said. “Somewhere…”
Nita thought again of the incessant good-natured whispering in the air: the whispers of the “dead.”
“So we have to find him, is that it?” Nita said. “And then we have to find the planet’s kernel? And after that, since this is Quelt’s world, not ours, we’re going to have to tell her what’s wrong here, and get her in on fixing it. Thereby turning you loose…” Nita looked over at Esemeli.
“Once this world is set free to pursue its proper course,” the Lone One said, “there won’t be any need for me to hang around here anymore, I assure you.”
Nita didn’t quite glance at Kit, but she knew what he was thinking: The Lone One’s assurances weren’t necessarily something they were going to feel comfortable depending on. “And what exactly is going to happen when the world is set free?”
“Well, there are a lot of different ways that can go…”
Nita gave It a stern look. “Really? Then you’d better start listing them.”
It laughed at her then, and there again was that old, malicious humor that was almost a relief to hear. “Why should I do your work for you?” the Lone Power said. “You should be grateful that I’ve consented to give you even this little interview. It’s more than the other Powers would do. They leave you with hints and riddles, and make you work everything out for yourselves.”
Which, considering who we’re dealing with, may he the best way to proceed, Nita thought, grimacing slightly to herself. “Kit,” she said then, “I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying this vacation. I think this planet is just fine the way it is, and I don’t see why we should waste any more of our time playing Twenty Questions in a deserted bandstand with a Power That Has Been! I’m gonna go lie on the beach for a while, and after that I’m gonna go back home and get on with my life.”
She turned to go, but not before catching just a glimpse of the expression on Esemeli’s face as It became suddenly alarmed. “Yeah,” Kit said, sounding infinitely bored. “Let’s go. C’mon, Ponch. Bye,” he said to the Lone Power, waving, and turned to follow Nita toward the entry.
The silence stretched and stretched as they went across the polished white floor. Nita didn’t turn her head, just looked at Kit out of the corner of her eye. She could just see him looking back at her, sidelong.
They’d actually made it to the third step down from the top of the plinth when the Lone One shouted after them, “Wait!”
Both of them paused, turned.
Esemeli was off Its throne and hurrying toward them. “You cannot leave me here like this!” It said.
“Watch us,” Kit said. He turned again.
“No, wait!!”
They both stood there and watched the Lone One come out into the sunlight. It winced at it a little, but then it was bright after the shadows of the Naos. “Forget everything else,” It said. “Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me, being trapped here?” And It actually waved Its arms around in the air in frustration. “The eternal boredom of it, here in the land of flying sheep and sweet-tempered people? I may exist mostly outside of Time, in the depths of eternity, but what happens here echoes there, and do you think I don’t experience what this is like? Tedium! The whole planet’s a playpen! There are no storms, there are no floods, no earthquakes, no disasters—Even eavesdropping on the dark sides of these people’s hearts isn’t any fun. They hardly have any dark sides! The most they manage is the spiritual equivalent of sitting in the shade! They don’t know how to hate each other. They’re not greedy, they’re not envious, they don’t get sick, they don’t die in pain! They’re not even accident-prone—there’s not so much as even a stubbed toe to enjoy some days! Damn eternally graceful, temperate, loving, goody-goody—”
For the first time, Nita saw an old idiom come true, as the Lone Power began to curse and around It the shocked air literally turned blue with a haze of locally annihilated water atoms and oxygen broken down to ozone. Nita waved a hand in front of her face, rolling her eyes at the stink. When It ran out of curses, which took a while, It glared at Nita and Kit and got ready to turn some of that anger on them—until It noticed their frowns and the slight in-unison body movement that suggested they were getting ready to turn their backs on it again. Then It dropped the anger and just got desperate. “Just, help me get out of here!” It said. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know about what to do—”
“Yeah, sure,” Kit said.
“I’ll do anything you like—”
“Hah! We’re supposed to take your word for that?”
“—promise you anything you like—”
“Promises!” Nita said, and sniffed. “I’ve heard it all before.”
“There’s no promise you wouldn’t break,” Kit said, bored and scornful. “No oath you could take—”
“Well,” Nita said softly, “actually, there’s one…”
The Lone One suddenly looked even more alarmed than It had before.
Kit threw Nita a concerned glance. “What? Are you sure?
“We’ve heard It get wizards to swear this particular oath before, in shorter versions,” Nita said. “It’s at the very center of wizardry, embodied in all the Enactive modes of the Speech. Not even one of the Powers That Be would dare break it: They’re held by the stricture, whether They’re renegade or not. It’s at the root of creation. Even the Wizard’s Oath is derived from it.”
The Lone Power’s expression was becoming more than merely alarmed: It looked suspicious. “Where have you been getting information like that?” Esemeli said.
Nita’s smile was grim. “You made me do a lot of research when my mother got sick,” Nita said. “A whole lot of reading in the manual. Do you think that after she was gone, I just gave that up? And since I started really working on it, I’ve been getting access to all kinds of information I didn’t know was there before. You have no idea what trouble you’ve made for yourself.”
There was a brief silence.
“So swear,” Nita said. “Come on, it’s not so hard. And I can only do this once: It’s not like you’re ever going to have to repeat yourself on my account. ‘I swear by the One to perform what I promise—’”