Faun and Games (70 page)

Could these children have any notion of their adult association with him

on other worlds?

"Don't let them bother you," Ida murmured.
 
"Dawn can't really tell

what's in your mind unless she touches you, and Eve can't tell where

you've been unless she touches some object that was with you.

That was a reliel And in a moment the two dashed off, each hurling back

half of a "Bye-bye." So he was safe from a potentially embarrassing

scene.

Ida saw him to the front door.
 
"I'm sure you have your answer," she

said.
 
"Perhaps you just don't yet know it."

Forrest shrugged.
 
"Thank you for the use of your worlds," he said.

"You must return and tell me all about it," she said.
 
"I am really

curious to know what happened on Ptero."

"I'll do that," he said.
 
"Once I am sure that my tree is well."

Then he faced outward and headed for home, feeling desolate.

"May I accompany you?"

"Imbri!" he exclaimed.
 
"I thought you were gone."

Her faint human form appeared beside him.
 
"No, I prefer to see you

safely to your tree.
 
I don't know when my assignment ends, but I think

it's all right to do that much."

"But don't you want to go to the Good Magician for your new pasture?"

"Somehow that pasture has lost its appeal."

"I know the feeling.
 
Did the adventure on the little worlds spoil you

for regular existence, as it did me?"

"I fear it did, Forrest."

"I'm sorry.
 
I never meant to ruin your life too."

"I really don't have a life.
 
Just half a soul.
 
So there wasn't much to

be ruined."

He turned to her.
 
"Oh, Imbri, I wish it hadn't happened!
 
I was

satisfied, until this."

"I wasn't satisfied.
 
So my loss is less than yours.
 
I wish I could

console you, Forrest."

"If I could go back to Ptero, I'd let you console me.
 
In fact-" He

hesitated, surprised.
 
"I wish I had played Faun & Nymph with you, on

Ptero, when you offered.
 
Now I never can."

"But you wanted a real nymph."

"No.
 
I wanted a real person.
 
And you are that, Imbri."

"But I'm an animal."

"In the same sense I am.
 
Somewhere in my ancestry the human and caprine

stocks got together, so I am mostly human at the top and goat at the

bottom.
 
You are equine in body, but human in mind, as your nice

animation of the nymph form showed."

"Thank you," she said sadly.
 
"I would gladly have played with you, when

I had solidity."

They encountered two folk going along the path, looking lost: a young

man and a short haired, green eyed cat.
 
In fact they looked about the

way Forrest felt, so he paused to address them.
 
"Are you looking for

something?"

"The Region of Madness," the man said.
 
"I'm Christophe.
 
"Joker'

Justino.
 
I think I'm either coming from it or going to It, I'm not sure

which.
 
I thought Bluejay knew the way, but now I think she's lost."

"You're from Mundania!" Forrest said.

"I guess."

"Tell him to keep going the way they're going," Imbri said.
 
"The Region

of Madness is shrinking, but there's still plenty of it to the south.

Forrest remembered that others couldn't see or hear Imbri, unless she

planted a dreamlet in their minds.
 
So he relayed the message. Man and

cat thanked him and moved on.

Then Forrest realized something.
 
"They're like us!" he exclaimed.

"Without bearings, depressed, not knowing or much caring where they're

going."

"Because they can't go back to where they were, and wouldn't want to

anyway," Imbri agreed.
 
"Oh, Forrest, if it weren't for your obligation

to your tree, I would truly wish we could go back to Ptero."

"Maybe to keep company with Cathryn Centaur, or on Pyramid," he agreed.

"Or even on Torus, if Ida cared to share the Isle of Niffen," she said

dreamily.
 
As a day mare, she was very good at dreams.

"I remember how that odd beautiful woman Chlorine with the ugly dragon

ass said that when I got back, I would be happier than I have ever been.

Instead I am sadder."

"You surely are," she agreed.
 
"At least I will be able to make Jenny

Elf happier, when I deliver Vision Centaur's message about the gen-e-tic

to fix her vision."

"Oh, yes, I had forgotten about that.
 
That's nice."

Something swirled ahead of them.
 
It coalesced into a familiar demoness.

"So you're back!
 
But where is your fellow faun?"

"Please don't tease me, demoness," he said tiredly.
 
"I'm really not in

the mood for it."

"I'm sorry.
 
I didn't mean to."

He glanced sharply at her.
 
"You are apologizing?"

"I am the Demoness Metria.
 
I have a quarter of a soul.
 
So I do care

somewhat."

"But it was the Demoness Mentia I talked to before."

"Yes, my worser half.
 
She's baby-sitting Demon Ted while I stretch my

substance.
 
So I came to check on you, following her report. What

happened?"

"My quest failed."

"Oh, no!
 
What then of the clog tree?"

"I don't know."

:, But didn't the Good Magician help you?"

,:Not that I know of."
    
u Well, I feel a quarter bad about this, so

I'll help you slightly.
 
I'll g've you a lift back to your tree."

That isn't necessary."

But she was already firming her hands under his elbows and lifting him

up.
 
In a moment he was flying above the trees, and then over the Gap

Chasm.
 
Actually this did help, because he would have had a problem

crossing the Gap on his own.
 
He did need to get back to his sandalwood

tree promptly, because he wasn't sure how much time had passed.
 
There

was -no sense losing two trees instead of one.

She set him down in the glade between the trees, where in the past he

had celebrated with nymphs.
 
"Bye," she said, and faded out.

"Wait!" he cried.

She faded back in.
 
"Eyb?" she asked.

"I met your son Chaos.
 
His talent is to make things transparent."

"But I don't have such a son."

"Not yet.
 
But I think he's on the way.
 
Did you signal the stork

again?"

She toted up the count on her fingertips.
 
"Seven hundred and fifty

times in the ast year."

p

"One of the signals must have gotten through."

"Fancy that," she said, pleased, and faded out again.

"That was nice of her, giving you the lift," Imbri said.
 
"She's a

different creature since she got that half soul.
 
So am I, since I got

mine."

Forrest ran to his tree.
 
It was all right; the spell had maintained it.

He hugged it, then nerved himself for the unpleasant chore.

"Where are you going?" Imbri asked.

"To tell the clog tree that I have failed.
 
I hate this, but it wouldn't

be right to let it fade without knowing."

"You're a nice person."

"No.
 
I'm a failed person."

The clog tree, too, was in good order, thanks to the spell.
 
But Forrest

knew it wouldn't be, after he told it his bad news.
 
So he dawdled,

feeling ashamed, but unable to squeeze the unkind words out just yet.

Imbri walked up to the tree.
 
"I like your clogs," she said.

Then something strange happened.
 
Misty colors flitted through the

foliage of the tree, forming into an image.
 
It looked like a woodland

scene, a lovely little glade in the morning.
 
Flowers blossomed around

its edges, and water flowed into a pool in its center.
 
A lovely

darkhaired nymph sat sunning herself on a slab of sandstone, running a

crystal comb through her lustrous tresses.

A figure appeared behind her.
 
It was a man, no, a faun.
 
He put his

hands over the nymph's eyes, then bent down and kissed her on the mouth.

Then he brought out his panpipes and played a merry melody; the little

black notes rose up, scattering across the scene.
 
Some of them turned

white, assuming the form of little storks.
 
As he played, he danced.
 
In

a moment she got up and danced with him.
 
They moved around the glade,

in a mock chase, kicking their feet high to the music. But his dance was

faster than hers, and soon he caught up to her.
 
The panpipes

disappeared as they joyously embraced and celebrated.

Then they adjourned to the meal she had evidently prepared: lemon herbal

tea, oatcakes, and an assortment of creamy goat cheeses.
 
He teasingly

offered her a horse nut, but she declined any more after the first bite.

Tiny hummingbirds flew in to perch on the stones and on the faun and