Faun and Games (69 page)

"A ray," Airy said.
 
"Can you guess my talent?"

"What kind of ray is it?"

"A ray of sunshine."

Forrest touched the water again.
 
The ray shot out, and this time he saw

that it came from a large, flat creature deep under the surface. Was it

safe to swim there?
 
He doubted it.
 
Maybe the ray just liked to

illuminate the depths-but maybe that light was so it could better see

its prey.

"I think I know the monster's talent," Imbri said in a dreamlet.

Did you notice how clearly it speaks?
 
Its talent must be diction."

"Diction, Airy," Forrest cried.
 
"That's your talent!
 
You pronounce

words."

" Curses, foiled again," the monster said, and retreated.

They walked on around the pond.
 
But they weren't yet out of the comic

strip.
 
There was a thicket ahead, and as they tried to make their way

through it, two puny orange imps dropped onto their shoulders. They were

invisible, but Imbri made a dreamlet that showed them.

"Who are you," Forrest demanded, trying to shake off his imp' " We are

pun-kins," the one on his shoulder replied.
 
"We are pundits who live in

the punk trees of the punkin patch and punch out anyone who dasts try to

cross it, until he groans from the punishment. We are very punctual.

It figured.
 
At least the imps seemed reasonably harmless.
 
They plowed

on, ignoring the imps' comments, and finally lunged out of the comic

strip.
 
The imps jumped off, not caring to be carried out of their

element.
 
"But you'll never know when we may strike again!"

they called.

Now at last they were in the region of the fauns.
 
But was there a

suitable faun for his purpose.

Forrest stared, for there, running up to meet them, was something he

tiad never seen or even imagined before.
 
It had goat's hoofs, a tail,

and the upper section of a human being.
 
But it was female.

"Hello," she said, bouncing to a stop.
 
She had a huge head of blond

hair that flared out and down, framing her upper torso to the waist

without covering anything.
 
"I am Deanna Fauna.
 
How may I help you,

visitor from afar?"

"Fauna?" he echoed numbly.
 
Yet it made sense.
 
Fauns were crosses

between humans and goats.
 
Why shouldn't there be any female crosses? He

had never heard of any, but this was the world of might he's, and

indeed, there might be such creatures.

"I-am Forrest Faun from Xanth.
 
I came to ask-" he faltered, halfway

mesmerized by her bare front as she breathed.
 
A true female of his

species!
 
What a discovery!

"Yes?" Her eyes were big and blue.

"H need a faun-or maybe a fauna-to come to be the spirit of the tree

next to mine.
 
So it won't fade.
 
Do you-would you consider-"

"To be with you?" she finished.
 
"Why of course; that's what faunas do.

You must have been horribly unhappy, with only nymphs to chase, instead

of the real thing."

Forrest hadn't thought of it quite that way, but realized that the case

could be made.
 
This did seem to be the answer to his quest. "Well, then

you can come to Xanth, and-" He paused, realizing that he wasn't sure

how she could do that, since she didn't have a body already in Xanth.

"It is done by going back in time," Imbri said.
 
"The Good Magician

explained it to me.
 
He gave me a spell to enable me to take my spirit

back to the conjugation of a faun and nymph, to enable them to have

their signal actually reach the Stork Works.
 
Then the stork would

deliver Deanna as a baby fauna, and in due course she would grow to her

present age and appearance.
 
So she would be there, waiting for Deanna's

spirit to animate her, at the same time as you return to re-animate your

own body."

"Then she can become a real person," Forrest said.
 
"Bound to her tree,

remembering her past, growing gracefully older."

"Ugh!" Deanna exclaimed.
 
"I didn't know there would be such penalties.

"But this is the nature of life in Xanth," he said.
 
"Fauns and nymphs

who adopt trees lose their shallowness and become real people."

"Yuck!
 
I couldn't stand it."

"But you would be real.
 
You would have substance.
 
Xanth has different

rules than Ptero.
 
For example, time is not geography; no one can change

his or her age just by traveling."

"I would be stuck at one age all the time?
 
I couldn't get old and wise

or young and sexy any time I wanted?"

"Not without youth elixir."

"Gross!"

Forrest stared at her, this time seeing her nature rather than her

front.
 
She was so shallow that she liked shallowness.
 
This was no

fault in an ordinary faun or nymph, but he discovered that he no longer

cared for that type of association.
 
He had learned too much of full

human ways to ever return to contented mindlessness.

"I guess it wouldn't work out," he said with real regret.
 
"Are there

any other fauns or faunas here who might feel otherwise?"

Deanna considered.
 
"There's Faust Faun.
 
He's a bit odd.
 
He chases

fauns and hates trees." She ran off, her limited attention span

exhausted.

That wouldn't do either.
 
"Then I guess what I'm looking for isn't

here," Forrest said with regret.
 
He looked at Imbri.
 
"Is there any

point in remaining here any longer?"

"I'm afraid not," she said.
 
"I'm really sorry, Forrest."

"Yet the Good Magician said-" He paused again.
 
Humfrey hadn't actually

said anything, because he had refused even to hear the Question.
 
Had

this entire adventure been for nothing?

"I'm sure he meant to help you," Imbri said consolingly.

"He has a funny way of doing it!" he retorted bitterly.
 
"And he even

made you assist me, wasting your time too."

"He always knows what he is doing.
 
Maybe he refused your Question

because there was no Answer for you.
 
But he accepted mine, and I'm sure

he will deliver."

"You want a new pasture to gallop in," he said, remembering. "Maybe this

is that pasture, and you should stay here."

"But I don't have enough mass to gallop," she reminded him. "That's why

I'm in nymph form."

"Well, maybe on Pyramid, where you can be a full mare."

"And leave most of my soul here on Ptero?
 
I would be nervous about

that, as a permanent thing."

He sighed.
 
"I guess so.
 
Well, I will be glad to have your company a

while longer.
 
I hope the Good Magician has the very best pasture for

you."

"I hope so too," she said.
 
But she seemed less than enthusiastic.

They dissolved their bodies, becoming large vague shapes, then clouds,

then growing blobs of thinning souls.
 
They drifted into the sky.

Forrest saw the patchwork world of Ptero spreading out below, and felt

nostalgia.
 
It had been a remarkable adventure, and he had enjoyed much

of it.
 
Especially the interaction with Dawn & Eve.
 
But he had known

that that relationship wouldn't last, and maybe it had been best that it

had ended as abruptly as it had, with their discovery of princes of

their own world.
 
Unfortunately they had left their mark on him, leaving

him forever disappointed with mere nymphs, as the scene with Deanna

Fauna had shown.
 
So this adventure had spoiled him; he would never be

satisfied with the type of existence he had known before.
 
Thank you,

Good Magician!
 
he thought with irony.

Now he saw Princess Ida's huge face.
 
He continued to expand, orienting

on his reposing body in the Tapestry chamber of Castle Roogna.
 
But he

didn't see Imbri's body.
 
What had happened to it?

Then he realized that she didn't have a body in Xanth.
 
She had only her

half soul.
 
Imbri did not exist as a living person here.
 
The wonderful,

supportive guide who had traveled with him through three weird worlds

could not truly do so in this one.
 
That was a loss of another nature.

He landed on his body and spread into it, animating it.
 
But it was no

glad homecoming.
 
What did he have to return to?
 
A failed quest, and

what promised to be an insoluble loneliness of intellect.

He opened his eyes and sat up.
 
"Oh, you are back!" Princess Ida said.

"Do you have your answer?"

"No."

"But how can that be?
 
I'm sure there was something there for you.

Humfrey would not have sent you there otherwise."

He was too weary of it all to argue.
 
"Maybe not.
 
I'd better get on

home now."

They went downstairs.
 
There was a commotion, and two six year old

children dashed around a corner, spied them, and skidded to a stop.

"Aunt Ida!" Dawn cried.

"Fof-rest Faun!" Eve echoed.

Then both girls looked intently at Forrest, and split a smile between

them.
 
They looked eerily knowing.