"Say -- maybe Jolie could tutor me!" Vita suggested. "She's lived forever and knows a lot, and so does Orlene."
"Tutoring -- by a pair of ghosts? That had not occurred to me!"
"And they could do it all the time! You could test me, or something, to be sure I knew the stuff! And I'm learning a lot in court, really I am! Maybe if you got them registered as tutors -- "
"This is irregular, but you may have a point. Are they amenable?"
Yes! Jolie and Orlene thought together.
"They say yes. Should I put them on?"
"No, I will accept your word."
"But my word's no good! I lie all the time, to get what I want. You can't trust me!"
"Are you lying now?"
"No! I wouldn't lie to you, Roque!"
"Then perhaps your word to me is good. You are developing a new standard, in keeping with your present situation."
She was taken aback. "Yeah, I guess maybe so."
"I shall see what can be done."
"Gee, thanks, Roque! I love you!" As she spoke, Vita threw her arms around him, hauled herself in and up, and planted a kiss on his startled face.
AND ETERNITY 101
No! Jolie thought, way too late. She had been caught off guard.
But Vita, aware that she had transgressed, retreated, leaving Jolie in charge by default.
She quickly disengaged. "Jolie here," she said. "I must apologize for allowing -- "
"Jolie, we must talk," he said, frowning. He led the way to a park bench and sat. She joined him. "I can assure you that this will not happen again."
"What is the girl's emotional state?"
"Roque, she's young, and she has not had experience with a truly decent man before. You have treated her neither as a juvenile nor as a black prostitute, but as a legitimate person in her own right. She is recovering from H addiction, and I think has sublimated that discomfort in emotion. It is hardly surprising that -- "
"She was not speaking figuratively, then."
Jolie sighed. "She was not."
"This places me in an awkward position. You know I cannot afford to have an amorous, underaged girl in my household."
Now, that's not fair! Orlene objected. We agreed to remain in charge while she remained here.
"You know that these things happen," Jolie said carefully. "Schoolgirls get crushes on their teachers, but the classes go on, and in due course they graduate to more serious involvements."
"I am not a teacher in a classroom with many students. I am a judge, and this child is residing in my suite. Considering her history, it would be inappropriate for such an arrangement to continue."
No! Vita thought in anguish. / can't live without him!
Jolie considered the complications of moving the host to some other facility and of dealing with the host's hurt. She wished she had intercepted Vita's rash action in time, so as to have avoided this problem. But now she had to tackle it directly.
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102 AND ETERNITY 103
"Roque, I deeply regret that this thing happened, but it is a reflection of the existing state. I feel that it is best for all concerned that the arrangement we had just settled on be allowed to stand. Orlene and I will tutor Vita and see that she qualifies to the necessary standards. We will remain in charge so that you are not embarrassed by this sort of foolishness again. You will not be left alone with the girl."
' 'Still, it is essential for a judge to avoid the appearance of impropriety, as well as the reality."
"I think you are being as foolish as the girl," Jolie said tartly. "The appearance is in the eye of the beholder. Your behavior has been impeccable, and hers will be so in the future. The impropriety occurred, as it were, offstage -- and what was it? A girl impulsively kissed her guardian, who in no way sought or encouraged such attention. Even a judge should see no impropriety in that."
"What does she say about this?" he asked, wavering.
"I shall put her on again," Jolie said. Then, as she did so: Vita, just sit straight and apologize for embarrassing him, and be in control. That will show him that you have learned your lesson.
Jolie returned the body to the host. "Vita, here. I, uh, I wish to apologize, and -- oh, Roque, please, please don't send me away! I love you, I want to be with you always, I want to have sex with you, I want to be your mistress for ever and ever, but I'll behave just perfectly, I'll do anything you want, only I beg you, please just let me stay!'' Her tears were flowing as if turned on by a faucet.
Ouch! Orlene thought.
Vita tried to retreat again, but Jolie refused to take over. Get yourself out of it this time! she snapped.
Roque was looking at her, his face neutral.
"I'm, uh, not adult," Vita continued with difficulty. "I know I've got a lot to leam. I'm just a silly juvenile girl. I know my emotions get out of control. But with Oriene's guidance, and Jolie's, and yours, I hope to become what I should be. I really respect you. So -- whatever you decide."
"If I allow you to remain..."he said. She bowed her head, her shame at her outburst bringing
her the control she had lacked before. "Whatever you
decide," she repeated.
He nodded. "I think I perceive improvement already."
He stood.
Don't question him! Jolie shot. He's testing you. Vita, chastened, continued their walk, silent.
The Judge let it pass. Jolie and Orlene maintained strict control, and there were no other untoward incidents. Vita labored assiduously, and did indeed make progress in her education; she took standardized tests, and Jolie and Orlene refused to help her at all, but she gained. She was a bright enough girl, as should have been the case, considering her mother's proficiency as a researcher.
Time was passing pleasantly enough, but Jolie knew it could not last. Orlene recovered her equilibrium and re -- sumed her interest in recovering her baby, but that had to wait until their present mission with Vita was resolved.
Orlene took it with surprising grace. / know my baby is safe with Nox, and there is no aging in the Afterlife, so it can wait. When we finish here, I will be better prepared to resume that quest.
It was not that she had lost interest in her baby; Jolie could tell by the ghost's thoughts that it remained strong. There was something else -- and one day that other thing manifested to Jolie's considerable dismay.
Judge Scott was due for his annual vacation. He planned to go to the northern mountains, where a section of wilderness had been preserved as a giant park. "Have no concern; Vaasta will see to your needs, as usual," he told them.
/ want to go with him! Vita thought urgently.
"I don't think that's wise," Jolie murmured.
/ wish to second the motion, Orlene thought. / identify with the wilderness, because of Norton. That's over, of

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AND ETERNITY 105
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course, but the delight remains. If we could accompany him, perhaps tending to the cooking

or other chores that Vaasta does here...
Roque glanced at her. "Your brow is furrowed, Jolie. Is there a problem?" "I'm afraid there is. The other two want to go with you."
"I doubt that would be appropriate."
"I agree."
Now look, fair's fair! Vita thought. Isn't Orlene sup -- posed to be the one helping me,

and you're just along to help her?
"True, but -- "
So Orlene should have a vote, shouldn't she? I mean, she's adult, she knows what it's all

about.
Jolie looked up. "They wish to put it to a majority vote -- and they are two to my one." His mouth quirked. "Perhaps I should talk to Orlene."
Jolie turned over the body, uncertain what would come of this. "Orlene, here. No offense

to you, Roque, but Vita and I feel that you do us an injustice by leaving us behind. We would be prepared to handle routine chores and try to pay our way, for the pleasure of the experience and your company."

"But much of this will involve hiking and camping alone. There would be an impropriety in having along a female below the age of consent."
"The host may be so, technically, but I was of age when I died; indeed, I was married and had borne and lost a baby. I am adult, regardless of the body."
"But it would be impossible to avoid the suspicion that we were in some manner involved with each other!"
"I hope you do not take this amiss, Roque, but I would not be averse to that suspicion."
What are you saying! Jolie thought, aghast.
"I am not certain I follow your implication," the Judge said carefully.
"Then I will clarify it. I have come to hold you in deep respect, and though it would be inaccurate to say that I care for you in the fashion that Vita does, I would by no means object to getting to know you better. I hope this is not cause for alarm on your part."
It is cause for alarm on my part! Jolie thought. How can you, responsible woman, make such a proposition?
The Judge considered. "I fear I may regret this. But it is true that I am not apt with the details Vaasta normally handles. You may accompany me if that is your sincere desire."
/'// have no part of this! Jolie thought. Orlene, at first bewildered by the circumstance of her death, and then by Nox's cruel trick, had now recovered astonishing poise and assertion. You are doing it for Vita's sake -- so that she can indulge her passion for the Judge!
"Jolie does not approve," Orlene said.
"I would not wish either to interfere in your internal arrangements or to cause any of you three discomfort," Roque said. "Take time to consider among yourselves, and I will accede to your decision."
They did that. It was obvious that Orlene did indeed intend to accommodate Roque in more than routine matters, in part at Vita's behest, but also in part because of her own developing interest. But what was worse was Roque's willingness to go along with it. Apparently there was a majority of three for this excursion.
/ will take a break, Jolie thought, her nose out of joint. You do as you deem fit, Orlene. I will return when your party does.
"We shall miss you," Orlene said sincerely.
Jolie departed as the others did, but in a different direction. She returned to Gaea and made her report on the weeks she had been gone: how Luna had sent her to Vita, who was now staying with the Judge while her home situation clarified.

106 Piers Anthony
"And not only the girl, but the woman, too, attracted to
the Judge?" Gaea inquired.
"Girl and woman, each in her fashion," Jolie agreed.
"It is my concern that they mean under this cover to let the
girl have at the Judge."
"Why do you feel that this is wrong, considering our
own arrangement with a man?"
"The girl is underage!"
"Only by society's definition, which is seldom honored in practice. She is evidently

cognizant of her true interest, as is the woman. I see no harm in it. Do you have another reason?"
Jolie realized that she did. Of course her concern about
Vita was spurious; the girl had had plenty of sexual experience already, so had no

illusion about that aspect, and the Judge was not a man to take unfair advantage. "I hadn't realized, but I do. It relates to the man, but I'm not sure -- " "You have an interest in him yourself?"

"Not a romantic one; there has only ever been one for
me."
"Whom we shall see shortly; I confess to having been
out of sorts during your absence."
"I want to see him too! But the Judge -- " Then Jolie paused, the realization coming. "I

see him as a candidate for an office!" she exclaimed. "He's such a good man, yet with considerable experience with the human condition. I don't want to see him sullied or disqualified!" "Romance should hardly do that!" "But with an underage girl, knowingly? That would
certainly be a sin."
"Not by my definition, if it is truly voluntary by both
parties."
Jolie thought back to her own days of life, when she was
in love at age fourteen. She had waited until marriage before indulging in sexual activity, but that had been most unusual for that time. Certainly it seemed in retrospect that she could have indulged sooner, and now she wished she had. She had had so little time with Parry!
AND ETERNITY 107
"But what about God's definition?"
"Interesting that you should raise that question at this time. Are you aware of the nature of Luna's research, with which you are indirectly helping?"
"What does that have to do with God? We were never told -- "
"It is time you knew, Jolie, but I am not at liberty to tell you. Therefore I shall compromise: I shall tell you, then seal it off from your awareness until a more appropriate time. It is not my purpose to tease you, but to prepare you subconsciously for what could be a significant role you will play."
"What are you talking about? I am just a ghost!"
"The final confrontation is coming upon us, and all the Incarnations including Satan are girding for it. But it is not of precisely the nature even the Angel Gabriel anticipated."
"The confrontation between Good and Evil? But I cannot be involved with that, because of my conflict of interest!"
"No more than mine, my friend!"
"No more than yours," Jolie conceded. "We both love Satan; how can we be discussing this?"
"We have concluded that the issue can not be settled with the present cast, because as far as we can ascertain, God has not involved Himself with mortal or immortal affairs in several centuries. Therefore it behooves those who support Good to arrange for a change in the Officeholder."
Jolie was aghast. "Replace the Incarnation of Good?"
Gaea nodded. "Install a new man -- one who will at least pay attention to mortal matters."
"But is that possible? Surely if the present Officeholder does not step down, no other force can make Him!"
"No other could -- were he defending his turf. But in the absence of such defense, it becomes the prerogative of the other Incarnations to elect a replacement, by unanimous vote. The lesser ones support the greater ones, and outside ones like Nox do not concern themselves in this. So we are planning to hold a conclave and elect the replacement."

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"But Satan will oppose that!"
"Of course. Because it is to his interest to maintain an inactive Incarnation of Good. A

new one would be active, greatly complicating Satan's drive for power."
"Unless it were Satan himself. He really isn't evil."
Gaea smiled. "You and I might vote for him, but I doubt that a majority of the

Incarnations would, let alone make it unanimous. It will have to be some other man." "Some other man," Jolie agreed, still awed at the
prospect.
"So Satan's defenses will be two: first he will try to prevent the vote from being taken.

Since it requires the accordance of a clear majority of the mortals who believe in God, the first battle will occur in the mortal realm. It is in preparation for this that Luna is researching." "Her key vote!" Jolie exclaimed. "To bring her con -- stituency in line!"
"Even so. This is the help you have been rendering her. She requires precise information as to the sources of mortal opposition, so that she can neutralize as many as possible. Fate has been able to read ahead this far: it will come down to one vote, and that vote will be hers, but she must do it with the support of her mortal constituency. Satan will do his best to deny that support. This issue has been building since Luna entered politics, and perhaps longer. But it is only the first; the second will be the decision on the man."
"And that man may redefine the standards," Jolie said, seeing it. "So that there may not be automatic sin for consenting love, or for voluntary death, or a hundred other
things."
"Yes. Those standards may once have been appropriate,
but their relevance has eroded. We can not know how they will change, but we must try to select a man who will change them for the better."
"So the candidates I have been watching -- "
"May be for that Office."
"And the Judge -- "
AND ETERNITY
109
"May be a candidate."
"But a unanimous choice -- Satan will veto any man the others agree on!"
"True. But once the conclave is assembled, it will continue until the selection is made. Eventually there must be a compromise."
"But that almost guarantees that the best man will not be chosen!" Jolie protested. "That he'll be a compromise choice, with at least some evil -- how can that be?"
"It evidently was so the last time. The evil in that choice manifested as indifference or vanity. Just as there is some good even in Satan, there is some evil even in God. But that will be better than nothing -- which is what we have now."
"What we have now," Jolie echoed. What a de -- velopment!
"So now you can appreciate the importance of your observation. You must understand the Judge well enough to be able to recommend him for such an Office -- or to eliminate him from consideration. We must not have any mistakes in our nominations! You must retain awareness of the critical nature of your mission, but not of the mission itself. I regret putting you in such a position, but believe it must be so, for the present."
"I understand. I would not have believed it otherwise." Gaea looked at her -- and abruptly Jolie forgot what she had been told, retaining only the imperative to study Judge Scott with excruciating care and objectivity.
"Now let's go consort with the enemy," Gaea said. Jolie was relieved to shift from the perplexity in which she found herself. She was aware of having discussed something of transcendent importance, but could not recol -- lect what it was. She floated into Gaea and animated her body, conforming it to her own.
She rejoined Vita and Orlene as they returned from the Judge's vacation. Vita looked tanned and fit and satisfied,
110 Piers Anthony
though of course her tan was permanent. Roque seemed pensive. Jolie dreaded to conjecture what that meant, despite Gaea's assurance about the morality of the situation.
We were naughty, Orlene thought.
Jolie had washed her hands of the matter, but now she had to know: exactly what had happened on that trip north? The other two were glad to fill her in, running a chain of vivid selected memories. It was as if Jolie herself were
living it.
An airplane, for the scientific devices tended to be better
than the magical ones for massive or long traveling. Arrival at the northern airport, where megabuildings were sparse. A carpet to the campsite, with supplies for several days. A foot hike to the local sights: huge old pine trees, jagged natural slopes, and a freezingly cold untamed river.
Evening at an unheated cabin. They cooked their staples over an open fire of burning wood, an amazing novelty, complete with choking smoke. Both Vita and Orlene loved
it.
Then the night in the cabin. They had separate sleeping
bags, but Orlene balked. "We are alone now, Roque, and there is no need for confusion. You are a gentleman and will not force the issue, but we deem it our prerogative to do that. Unless you protest, we shall merge our bags and join
you for the night."
"I must object," Roque said. "You have reservations about the age or race of the
host?"
"No, it is the age of the controlling person that counts,
and it never occurred to me that race should be a factor.
But -- "
"You have difficulty relating to women?"
"No! But -- "
"Objection noted. Overruled."
He had to smile. "I can not stop you, but it should also be noted that I did anticipate something like this, and am resolved to take no advantage of anyone. If you wish to talk,
AND ETERNITT 111
I shall be glad to do that, but that will be the extent of it."
Orlene put the bags together and got in with him. "I shall be happy to talk, Roque, if it does not deprive you of sleep. Of what nature is your concern?"
"Merely the question of propriety, which you have now answered satisfactorily. But I have the impression that there is something I do not know of you and your motive, and I would like to understand that. Vita has expressed interest in me of a certain, shall we say, personal nature, but you have not, so your interest in accompanying me here, and in establishing such propinquity, is obscure."
She snuggled close to him in her nightie. "I want you to understand the manner in which you have done me some singular good. I was an adoptee, raised by good folk, but always with the knowledge that I had been born to other parents. Even though there was never any discrimination of any kind against me, that awareness always set me just a bit apart. Perhaps it was that which led me to avoid true marriage and agree to a ghost marriage, wherein I married a ghost and agreed to bear a child who would carry his inheritance. The ghost, Gawain, was a dragon slayer who had in turn been slain by one of his quarry, technically an allosaur. I never knew him in life, and he was unable to manifest to me in death, so there was no love between us. Indeed, I was satisfied that it be so, for I think I felt unworthy of love, because of my anonymous parentage. Gawain solicited men to come to me, but I had the right of veto, so that I would not have to endure sex with an inappropriate male. I was not being coy; I have the talent of judging people by the glows of their auras, as you know, and I judged each prospect by his glow as a father and lover. I was actually relieved when the first ones had inadequate glows. If the truth be told -- and this is the time, I think, for telling it -- I really did not believe the ghost existed, and thought that the men who came were mere opportunists. Only later did I come to accept the validity of it and that Gawain really was active on my behalf.

112 Piers Anthony AND ETERNITY 113
"Then Gawain brought Norton, a wandering environ -- mentalist, and the sight of his glow overwhelmed me so that I could hardly speak. He and I faltered through an in -- troduction, but I knew from the outset that he was the one. Indeed, he came to live with me, and we were lovers, and he fathered my baby, and then -- " She found herself crying.
"I know the history," Roque said gently. "I regret that such tragedy came to you."
"So now I am a ghost, having followed my baby," she continued after a while. "But when Jolie and I went to see the Incarnation of Night, and I became a man and attempted to rape her, that was such a blow to my self-esteem that I retreated entirely. I had seen most men, other than Norton, as crude, lecherous animals, but now I knew that I was no better, for I had been worse than they, when given their imperative. I had never dreamed that sex could be so pow -- erful a force! It entirely overwhelmed me, and all ethical scruples ceased to have meaning. I simply yielded to the imperative to do it, and damned be all else. Only Nox's intercession, her offering of herself to sate my intemperate lust, aborted my effort. I wronged my friend Jolie, but that was only the half of it, because my confidence in my own quality of character was shaken. How could I condemn any man for yielding to his passion, after that? How could I consider myself in any way superior, or even equal to others, in the moral sense? And so I gave up my quest, finding myself unworthy of it, and let myself sink toward Hell, where it seemed I belonged. Only Jolie saved me, by refusing to let me descend, though she was the one I had wronged.
"She brought me to this host so that I would not sink the moment she let go of my soul. Here I became immersed in the horrors of a girl of the street, and realized that it was not enough merely to condemn myself for my fall; I had to try to do something about the evil that was around me and in me. Then the host came to you, and I came to know you, Roque. I had forgotten that there are differences in men, as
there are in women. Forgotten that I had known and loved a good man, Norton. Indeed, now I saw that I had not loved him enough. When my baby died, all I could think of was the baby, and I went to join him. Now I see how badly I wronged Norton, who loved me. I could not save my baby, but I could have saved my relationship with Norton. So I was doing wrong before I went to Nox. I had been intemperate in my narrow vision, and came to understand it and rue it too late.
"But now, for a time, I am alive again, borrowing the body of a girl. Temporary though it may be, I am resolved to acquit myself better than I did in my own life. My crime was to neglect the importance of the personal relationship, to underrate love. You have helped show me that, by being what you are: a fair and generous man. Vita loves you, Roque, and I am not sure that this is a fleeting fancy. It is my wish to intercede in what manner I may to facilitate the consummation of her love during the window that is available to it. Soon she will return home and that window will be closed. I am aware that you do not wish to have an untoward relationship with a girl who is below the legal age of consent. But if you will have one with me, in the knowledge that she is present -- "
"I will not," Roque said firmly. "I will deal with her directly, invoking no surrogate."
"And this is the other aspect of what you have done for me," she continued, unperturbed. "You have shown me that it is possible for a man to withstand temptation. I know the forces that are in you, for I have experienced them myself. But what overwhelmed me, you control so consis -- tently that never by word or glance or deed do you yield to it. I envy you that control, and I admire you for that and all that you are. You are another man I could love, Roque; I do not do so because it is no longer my prerogative. I cannot make up in death what I squandered in life. But now I have the assurance that to be male is not necessarily to be evil, and I thank you for restoring that perspective to me."
114 Piers Anthony
"I thank you for your candor," Roque said. "I wish I had known you during your life. Perhaps I wish that I could have been the man to approach you, in your ghost marriage, for there is much that I like about your attitude. Of course, I might not have glowed the way your lover did
-- "
"You do glow, brightly," she said. "You would certainly have qualified. In fact, you would qualify for almost any woman. How is it that you are not married?"
"I really am not apt with women," Roque confessed. "Somehow it seemed that each woman in whom I might have taken an interest was taken by a more aggressive or endowed man. Justice was always my passion, and the girls had other interests. So I never married, to my regret."
"Had any woman come to know you as we are coming to know you, things would have been different."
"It is kind of you to say so. In fact I very much
appreciate the sentiment."
"Perhaps we should sleep now," she said, closing her eyes in the darkness, half expecting him to make some sort of a move, for she was very close to him.
"Of course." He made no move, though his glow showed his desire.
Next day they took another hike, admiring the scenery both great and small. Roque had an interest in all things natural and was happy to discourse on it, and Orlene and Vita were happy to listen, for their separate reasons: Orlene remembered Norton's similar interest, and Vita thought that anything to do with Roque was fascinating.
At night Orlene turned the body over to Vita. Vita approached Roque. "Vita, here. Tonight is my turn. May I
be with you?"
Roque smiled. "I said I would deal with you directly, invoking no surrogate. I rather suspected this confrontation
would come."
She put the bags together and linked them, joining him in her nightie. "I promised to behave, and in these weeks
AND ETERNITT
115
with you, I have come to understand what discipline can be. Orlene and Jolie taught me a lot, and not just about school subjects. You taught me a lot, too, Roque, and not just in court. So I think this time I can be near you without going haywire, but if I lose my grip, Orlene will take over so you won't be embarrassed."
"This is commendable," Roque replied. "You know how I feel about you, and I know you have no interest in juvenile girls, but would it be too far out of line if I asked you to sort of put your arms around me?"
"You are in error about one of your assumptions, Vita."
She froze. "I'm sorry, I guess I asked too much."
"No, your request was reasonable in the circumstance." He put his arms around her^ bringing her close to him.
She was almost afraid to move, lest he change his mind. "Thank you, Roque. It means so much to me. After the experience I've had, it's really been neat to be with a man who didn't want to, you know. I'm really sorry I came on to you the way I did before. I guess control and restraint are the biggest things I've been learning. I just somehow thought that the only way to please a man was -- "
"Please desist, before you embarrass me further."
"Sorry," she said, chagrined.
"There is something I must tell you," he said gravely. "Aspects of it may not please you, and if that is the case, you have my apology, and I will understand if you prefer to separate yourself from me."
"You're going to send me home!" she cried, stricken. "No. Were you listening when I talked with Orlene last night?"
"Yes," she said faintly.
"Then you are aware that I have never married and never was able to develop a close association with a member of the opposite sex. There is an aspect I did not discuss, however."
"No! You can't be gay!" she exclaimed in horror.
116 AND ETERNITY 117
He laughed. "No, that is not my situation. But certainly I have had a secret vice. I am, despite your impression, typical of men in my desires. In my private imagination for many years I have pictured an event of a nature I have never cared to advertise. In this vision an attractive young woman approaches me and states that she has conceived an inordi -- nate passion for me and wishes to indulge herself with me in the wildest of sexual orgies. This is of course forbidden, for she may not even be of legal age. Yet in my vision I am sorely tempted, assured that no other party would know."
Vita lifted her head. "You're joking!"
"Far from it. When you stated that you wished to be my mistress, you fulfilled that secret desire. I knew that I should send you immediately to some other facility. I knew that I was wrong in my failure to do that. Even then, I knew that in time you and I would find ourselves as we are now. I accepted the ruse of Orlene's control, knowing that she would free you for this encounter. Therefore, I can not claim any surprise; I wanted to be alone with you. This is the manner you have misread me; I am no better than any of the men who have used you in the past."
Vita was stunned. "You -- You wanted me all the
time?"
"I did. I fought against it, knowing how wrong it was to implement any part of my fell vision, and lost. But I assure you that this is as far as it will go. I have no intention of molesting you, and if I have repulsed you by this confession,
I certainly understand."
"But last night Orlene was willing, and you didn't
touch her."
"That was less nobility than expedience. My desire is not for Orlene, though certainly I would be interested if that were her wish. My desire is for you."
"But you knew I was watching! You could have done it with her, and I could've pretended it was me."
"She offered herself as a legitimizing personality, she being of age and experience to know her mind. She did not
truly desire this kind of interaction with me, but felt that she owed it to you, for the use you have allowed her of your body. I find that a fine gesture on her part, but it is not one I care to indulge. My vision is illicit; my desire is for the body and personality of youth."
"Young flesh!" she exclaimed. "All day you put away pimps and women who do it, and you crave it yourself!" "That is my secret shame. I regret destroying your image of me, but I felt you should know the truth."
"You don't really care for me, you just want young flesh!" she charged.
"The irony is that I do care for you. I have been impressed by the manner you settled down and worked at learning, and by your increasingly proper deportment. I know that many times at meals and during our walks in the roof park the others have relinquished your body to you, and that after your first declaration, you have not shamed yourself in your actions or words. You have been helpful to Vaasta; indeed, she has spoken favorably of you. You are becoming a fine young woman, and it ill behooves me to interfere with that. This is why my illicit passion for your flesh is such an evil; it spoils what would otherwise be an excellent relationship."
"But you know if you asked me, I'd be glad to spread my legs for you!"
"That is one reason I have not asked you. The willing -- ness of the girl does not excuse sexual abuse."
"So you just figured to get me here like this, and tell me your desire, and that'll maybe turn me off, and it'll be over," Vita said. "You aren't one for force or rape or anything like that."
"I am afraid so."
"But you sort of hoped it wouldn't turn me off, and I'd dive right in with you anyway."
"It is the time for candor."
Vita thought about it, not moving from his embrace. "I guess I should ask Orlene."

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118 AND ETERNITY 119
"She well might have some sage advice for you at this stage."
"But I'm not going to. You know what I really wanted,
when I said I wanted to be your mistress?"
"Love, security, attention."
"That's right! And the best way I ever knew to get it was to please a man, and the best

way to please a man was by having sex with him. I didn't know any other way to win your interest, and I wanted it real bad."
"I think I was aware of that too. Certainly you are not
obliged to prostitute yourself to me for -- "
"Oh, shut up, Roque! / want your love! Now I know that it's not the same as your sex. Can you say you love
me?"
Roque hesitated. "I cannot say I do not." "Why not just lie to me?" she flared. "Say the magic
word, and I'll do anything you want!"
"This is, of course, standard procedure with men," he
said. "To tell a woman it is love, when the true object is
merely sex. I would not care to deceive you in that
manner."
"Why not?" she demanded.
"It would not be ethical. But apart from that, I am uncertain of my feeling for you. It would be foolish for a middle-aged man to love a child in that manner."
"Then tell me you don't love me!"
"I cannot." "If I can't have your love, I'll give it to you for honesty.
Nobody ever seemed to care much before how I felt about it, and you do."
"True." "Oh Roque, could you maybe just kiss me and see how
it is?"
"I am not certain that would be wise." "So call me out of order!" she said, and turned her face
to find his in the dark. She kissed him emphatically. He remained passive for a moment, then his arms
tightened around her. He kissed her back. It seemed to go on forever, and her feeling ignited, and she half climbed on him, trying to get closer than close.
"Oh, Roque," she gasped. "If that isn't love, I'll settle for it!"
"It is passion," he said. "Not to be trusted."
"Look, I know a girl's not supposed to get all hot and eager, especially when she's underage, but I've just got to have you! All those bad men I've had in me, let me get one good one and erase all the rest!"
"This isn't right -- " he began.
"You have your vision, I have mine too! I want you to want me, to want me so bad you just can't help yourself," she said, clawing out of her nightie. "Maybe the world will end tomorrow if you do it, but you're so hot you don't care, you just gotta have me, and I'm yours, Roque, I'm yours." Free of her clothing, she started to work on his. "Your vision is my vision, you crafted it just for me -- that's what I want to believe!"
He could not withhold his mounting passion. "Ask Orlene!" he cried. "Ask her if she can tolerate this!"
You're doing great, girl! Orlene thought, feeling hot herself. Maybe it is wrong, but it's got to be!
"She says to go for it!" Vita panted, getting his pajamas open.
"We shall surely regret this in the morning," he said, his resistance crumbling.
Then they were kissing again, and merging, and Vita felt the thrust of his loin and the jet of his culmination, and she went into a feeling she had never had before in sex with a man, and clung to him and stretched to kiss him and touch his tongue with hers while the feeling spread through the rest of her body. "Oh, Roque! Oh, Roque!" she breathed, over and over.
"Oh, my darling," he breathed back. "Though I go to Hell, it is worth it!"
"I'll go there with you, my darling, my love!" she

120
AND ETERNITY 121 babbled, clinging to him, trying to keep the fading feeling, trying to hold him within her. But it was useless; they had to separate, lying beside each other.

"We have been quite crazy," he remarked. "Yeah." Then she realized something. "Hey, you never felt me up!"
She felt the shake of his laughter. "I fear it is late for
that."
"No, it isn't! Here, do it now!" She grabbed for his
hand and hauled it to her breast. "Squeeze!"
He squeezed, gently. "Do you know, it does give me pleasure, even at this moment when my

sexual urgency has
been sated."
"So maybe you really do love me."
"So maybe I do," he echoed.
She caught his hand again, guiding it to her other breast. "Every one of my Johns, he was

hot to kiss me and feel me before, but once he got his meat in, that was all, he just wanted to be outa there. How come it's different now?"
"Because we did it for love."
"Oh, Roque, can you say it now?"
"I think perhaps I can, foolish though I know it to be."
"Say it! Oh, say it!"
"I love you. Vita," he said.
"I love you, Roque." She had thrilled to his presence, and to their dialogue, and to their culmination, but the thrill she felt now was deeper and finer than any of these. "Promise me you won't change your mind in the morning!"
"You know I cannot promise that. Vita. In the morning the full realization of my folly will be upon me."
"Well, it won't be on me! I could stay here like this
forever!"
"So could I, Vita. But morning will come despite us."
Morning did come. Vita did not remember sleeping, just lying there holding his hand to her breasts, but now the light was filtering in past the cabin curtains. Roque was in his bathrobe, clean-shaven, his hair combed.
He saw her stirring. "Perhaps I should absent myself while you clean up and dress," he said.
She felt her hair plastered to her face in sodden hanks. They had sweated last night! "I must be a sight!"
"You are beautiful." He walked toward the door.
She scrambled up, heedless of her nakedness, and ran to him. "Don't go, Roque! I've got this notion that if you do, you'll never come back! You'll realize it was all a terrible mistake, and you'll resolve to never let it happen again and I'll lose you forever!"
"Well -- "
She caught him and tore open his robe, then plastered herself against him. "Please, please, please, Roque, this is all the time we have. I swear I'll behave when we're back in the city, let me be your nymphet now!"
"You are trying to seduce me!" he exclaimed with mock outrage.
"Anything you want, Roque! I've been waiting all my life for right now, and I'll never have another time like this. I've got to make the most of it! I love you, I love you!"
"And I love you -- even in the morning," he said, and she knew she had won.
"Don't forget to feel me," she reminded him.
"You are amazing," he said, running his hand over her buttocks.
Soon they were into sex again. She didn't think of it as making love, because this entire experience was an unre -- mitting making of love; the sex was only its most emphatic manifestation.
Jolie woke from the vision of the memory. "The whole vacation?" she asked, flabbergasted. "Solid sex? You were more than naughty!"
Solid love, Oriene corrected. / thought I was going to have a limited affair with him, for the benefit of Vita, but she wound up doing it herself.
You liked it too! Vita put in.
/ liked it too, Oriene agreed. / stayed out of it, overtly,
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but really I did participate. We were wanton! That poor man hardly got any rest at all. Now we leave the pieces for you to pick up.
Jolie tried to be angry, but this vision was too fresh and strong, too full of the delight of abandon. She remembered her seduction of Parry when he was a friar. How sweet it had been -- but with what a consequence!
Unfortunately this, too, would have a consequence. Now Jolie remembered something she seemed to have forgotten. "I must tell you something I learned," she subvocalized. "You must not repeat this to any mortal. We want .to consider Judge Scott as a candidate to become an Incarnation. This means that I shall be observing him to decide to what degree he qualifies. But -- "
Oh, no! Orlene thought. And we just caused him to sin!
"Gaea disagrees. She feels that natural, consenting love is no sin, and if it is to be considered such, then the definitions of sin need amending."
Yes! Orlene agreed. He is a good man. he deserves an Office!
But if he should become an Incarnation, Vita asked, what would become of him?
"He would step into an immortal plane and leave his ordinary mortal existence behind. He would no longer age, or be vulnerable to mortal mishap."
So then he wouldn't be interested in any nymphet.
Jolie saw her point. "You knew this could not be per -- manent, Vita. In fact, it could not extend beyond your one wild fling. So that wouldn't make any difference to you."
Yes, it would! I want to be near him always!
"However, if there should be any longer-term relation -- ship, it is not unknown for Incarnations to retain them," Jolie continued. "I maintain a relationship with an Incar -- nation, though I am a ghost, and Luna Kaftan maintains one with the Incarnation of Death."
Maybe there's a chance for me. Vita thought, relieved. Which Incarnation is he being considered for?
Here Jolie drew a blank. "I -- I think it could be any one of them. But each is so important mat it is vital that no errors be made."
Vita was dismayed. We made him sin -- and now he won't qualify? she asked.
He didn't sin! Orlene demurred. Maybe we did, but he didn't. He tried to do the decent thing all along, but in the end he was human, and I am glad of it.
"The question is, how does he feel about it?" Jolie asked. "If he feels it was a sin, then there is evil on his soul, and it will hurt him."
Perhaps you should ask him, Orlene suggested.
Jolie sighed, knowing she would have to do it.
She broached the matter as they rode the carpet to the city. "I understand the girls were active during my ab -- sence," she said.
"Exceedingly," he admitted. "I am sure you are aware that my interaction was with the child, not the woman, despite expectations."
He would not bend a bit to protect himself! "What are your intentions?"
"I shall report myself to the board of ethics, which I suspect will suspend me pending investigation and retire me thereafter."
She had been afraid of this. "Roque, I left because I felt that what was contemplated was wrong. But now I see it otherwise. There was no force, no coercion, no promises founded or unfounded. There was only love between man and woman. A young woman, granted, but old enough in experience and in guidance to know her mind. I don't believe that should be the concern of the board of ethics."
"The law is clear, and I am charged with the upholding of it. When I transgress, I must pay the price."
"When the board investigates, they will question the girl. She will testify that nothing untoward happened. What will then be the disposition of the case?"

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"But that would be untrue!" he exclaimed. "The girl is young and has a checkered history. She knows what would happen to you and to

herself if she confirmed any intimacy between the two of you. Do you think she will indict you?" He stared at her. "This is blackmail!"
"This is reason. In your heart you know that no crime was committed and that the lodging

of the report you contemplate would only hurt each of you. What is your ultimate definition of justice?''
"You speak like a creature from Hell!"
"I am the consort of the Master of Hell."
He pondered. "The girl must leave my house. Only then may we be assured that the event was isolated."
No! Vita thought.
"She loves you, Roque."
"And I love her. But it must be."
Jolie sighed. "You are a good man. Judge Scott. You hold to higher standards than we do. We shall depart your residence at our earliest convenience."
No! I can't! I'll die!
Quiet, you silly child! Orlene snapped. She has some -- thing in mind.
"Thank you, Jolie," the Judge said, looking miserable.
"You are not welcome, Roque."
At that he had to smile. "I think it best that you not relinquish control until the departure is accomplished."
Jolie nodded. He was indeed a good man.
6
DEATH
Jolie took them to Luna's office. She borrowed the Judge's personal carpet; it would return to him on its own when she got off and dismissed it.
So what's your plan? Vita demanded. You know it's my body; you can't keep me away from him forever!
"I can as long as I retain control," Jolie said. "But fear not, I am on the side of romance, having been the route myself. The Judge had to do what he did; it was his compromise after I threatened him with your noncoopera -- tion. If he couldn't pay the penalty for his deed, he had to make certain that no further abuse occurred. So he will not report the matter, and you are gone from his household. But that does not mean gone from his life. We shall be seeing him again soon enough, I'm sure."
When? How?
"We are about to determine that. Meanwhile, Orlene, I think it is time we resumed your quest for your baby. You have recovered your equilibrium, and can now exist as a ghost without sinking to Hell."
Oh, Jolie, of course I want to do that! But -
"But you are halfway in love with Roque yourself, and wish to leave him hardly more than Vita does."
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126
It is true. I have not forgotten Norton, nor do I wish to encroach on Vita's interest, but
-
It's okay, Orlene! I feel so much better with you along. Without you I couldn't have been with Roque on that vacation, and even when you let me do it with him, you were there, helping me not to make too much of a fool of myself. Without you I'd revert to H; I know you and Jolie are helping me get over the craving, and with three it's much easier than alone. I really need you! I have no jealousy of you; you're part of what Roque sees in me.
"So I believe that the three of us should remain together," Jolie said. "Working to accomplish both your desires, and mine too."
Yours too?
"I am highly impressed with Roque Scott, and not just because of the way you girls feel about him. I think he just might qualify to be an Incarnation, and I want to watch him closely with that in mind, so that I can make a full report when the time comes. So my job is compatible with yours;
we can watch him, and sometimes be with him, and try to recover your baby, together. Of course we shall have to take
some turns."
Agreed, Orlene thought, relieved. / confess that when you said I could leave this host, I was afraid; I prefer residence in the living state to being a ghost, and I very
much like Vita's company.
You do? I thought you regarded me as an impulsive
juvenile.
I do. You do things I would never unbend enough to do. The way you tore open Roque's robe
- but I loved being along for the ride. You lend excitement to my life -- I mean,
my death.
And you lend maturity to mine. Vita thought, pleased. When you two came, I thought. What the hell is this, spooks messing up my life even worse than it was, keeping me from the H. But you're better than H! You got me to Roque, and you're teaching me so much, I really think I can be something when I grow up.
AND ETERNITY 127
"So I think we are agreed," Jolie said. "We shall work together, until it seems appropriate to separate, and perhaps we shall in time achieve all our desires." The truth was that she, too, rather liked experiencing the living state again. She had never had enough of it, the first time, with Parry.
We are agreed, Orlene thought.
Great! Vita added.
The secretary in Luna's office looked up. "May I help you?"
"I need to see Senator Kaftan," Jolie said.
"The Senator is away from the city this week. Do you wish to make an appointment?"
That wouldn't do; they needed a residence today. Jolie, in her concern with moving them out of the Judge's residence, had not anticipated this.
Maybe Mom...
Good notion! "Is Vera here?" The folk at Luna's office were all first names, as was Luna herself, normally.
"Why yes, you may see her if you wish."
"I will have to put you back in charge," Jolie mur -- mured.
They were shown into a back office piled with books and papers and video screens: the research department. There was a woman who looked a lot like Vita, thirty years older.
"Mom!"
The woman looked up, startled, and burst into tears. Vita went over and hugged her, crying herself.
Before long they were comparing brief notes. It seemed that Vera had gotten a notion of the problem in the family, but didn't want to speak of it openly. She did not importune Vita to return home. Vita was at pains to explain that though something had caused her to leave, and that she had had some bad times, she was now much better off and perhaps even had a better life than she might have had.
"I've been staying with Judge Scott," she concluded. "He has a housekeeper who's nice, but you know he can't

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keep a juvenile girl in his house forever, it would look wrong, so I have to move out. I've got a friend with me, a ghost, and when I need to do something adult, she takes over. We're going to do some traveling, and we're helping in your research, maybe."
Vera's look indicated that she had a glimmer of why her daughter had to depart the presence of the Judge, but again she preferred to let it lie. It was obvious that Vita was physically healthy and emotionally sound, and that was an immeasurable reassurance. "You know of my
research?"
"Some, Mom. The final confrontation between Good
and Evil, when -- "
"Enough! You are helping in this?" "In part. Looking for candidates for -- " "Don't say it! Satan's minions are everywhere." "Satan knows it's coming, Mom. Anyway, I sort of need a place to stay, for a while, until I travel. We thought
Luna might know -- "
"Let me ask." She got up and hurried out. In a moment she returned, the look of surprise still on
her face. "Luna left word: you are to go to her house
immediately. It seems that Judge Scott notified her." "The Judge is a great man. Mom." "I am not sure I grasp all of what is going on here." "I guess you know. Mom, it was Luna who sent the
ghost to me, to get me straightened out. She wanted you to
feel at ease. The Judge, when he learned about her
involvement, decided to help." "She is a great woman." "I guess that's why she and the Judge understand each
other so well."
"There seems to be a good deal of understanding,"
Vera remarked somewhat wryly.
A carpet took them to Luna's estate. The two griffins charged up as it came down. Jolie took over. "Griffith! Grissel!" she called. "Smell my soul!"
They recognized an approved visitor and relaxed. They stopped at the front door, cautiously. "Muir!" she called to the moon moth within. "It's me, Jolie, in human host." Muir, too, recognized her, and she entered without challenge. Gee, Vita remarked, impressed.
They walked through the house, admiring the aura paintings on the walls. Luna could see auras, Jolie explained to the others, and so could judge people in much the manner Orlene could. Perhaps that was not surprising, for Orlene was very like a niece to her.
There was a note on the kitchen counter. WELCOME,
TRIO. FOOD IS AVAILABLE. USE THE EAST ROOM. DRESS IN SOMETHING NICE.
"Dress in something nice?" Jolie asked, perplexed. "To stay alone until she returns?" They checked the East Room. It was a beautiful suite, complete with a closet stocked with several lovely dresses of the appropriate size. There were slipper-shoes which fit Vita's feet perfectly. There would be no problem dressing nicely!
They made a project of it, taking a good bath, washing the hair and putting a slow curve in it by using a spellstone designed for that purpose, and donning a dress that was first cousin to an evening gown. Vita had filled out during her time with the Judge and now looked impressive in the low decolletage. / think I've been turned into a princess for a night! she thought admiringly.
There was the sound of a chime. They tripped down to the front door, uncertain who could be calling, but certain that Muir would allow no intruder.
Roque Scott stood there. He gazed at them, astonished. "Here?" he asked. Jolie turned the body over to Vita. "Oh, Roque!" she breathed. "Don't go away!" He stepped up and swept her into his arms. "This is not my house," he said. "I am not obliged to enforce standards here."

130 Piers Anthony
"Shut up and get on to the endearments," she said,
lifting her face for a kiss.
"You are delightfully forward, my juvenile delight." "I'm too young to know any better.

How come you're
here?"
"I received a message from Luna's office, asking me to
check on an item of some value at her house. Naturally I came here after work, knowing

that she would not ask such
a favor capriciously."
"We didn't see anything," Vita said. "Of course you didn't, my darling innocent." He stroked her hair.
She tittered, catching on. "Gee, it's fun to be inno -- cent!"
Maybe we should depart for a few hours, Jolie thought.
"No!" Vita said. Roque's hand, having proceeded beyond the length of
her tresses and on down her back toward her rear, froze.
"No?"
She laughed. "I didn't mean you, Roque! I want you to
feel me. I was talking to Jolie. She wants to go away."
"She did before," he pointed out.
"With Orlene this time. So I can be all the way alone with you. But I'm afraid I'd screw

it up."
"Well..."
' 'Oh, you know what I mean! I want to be good for you, Roque, and on my own I keep

getting too wild. I'd get the shakes, for sure, and turn you off, and I sure don't want to do that! So I don't want them to go."
' 'In that case, I am certainly amenable to their continued presence. I must confess that

I do feel easier knowing that a woman of adult experience is monitoring the proceedings, because it allays my concern about taking advantage of one
who is young."
But I'm another man's wife! Jolie protested. "Maybe you better talk to Jolie," Vita said. "Give me
one good feel before I put her on."
AND ETERNITY 131
His hand resumed its motion downward -- at which point Vita gave the body to Jolie. He squeezed her buttock. Jolie clamped her teeth, trying to look neutral.
"The gamin!" he exclaimed, realizing. He was now able to recognize them separately, by their manners.
Jolie disengaged. "As we know, she is young," she said. "And full of mischief.'' She walked to a couch and sat down, crossing her legs demurely at the ankles.
He took a seat across the room. "Perhaps your reasons for bringing Vita to me were mixed. As you know, I succumbed, and you and I agreed to do the appropriate thing. I think you were aware that I did not truly wish to separate from her, and I think you are not averse to our meeting in a situation like this. Your absence is thus a mere formality or courtesy which need not be invoked at this stage."
"I am the wife or consort of Satan,'' Jolie replied.' 'I do not care to be present in the body of a woman who is making love to another man. Orlene may certainly remain, but I prefer to absent myself."
"I am minded to debate the issue," he said, "if you are willing. If you do not approve my liaison with Vita, you can not excuse yourself merely by being absent in a manner you know will facilitate it."
"That isn't what I said!" Jolie said, stung. "I did have doubts, but subsequent thought has eased them, and I now feel that the two of you should be allowed your love. My presence or absence shouldn't affect that. But my own -- "
"Yes. You do not wish to engage in the appearance of impropriety. I understand this consideration rather well. But this, too, I question. If I understand it correctly, your marriage to the man who is now the holder of the Office of the Incarnation of Evil dissolved when you died. He subsequently remarried, and you now join his present wife in amorous engagements. Thus the experience of joint involvement is not foreign to you."
He had it exactly! A thought had been growing beneath

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Jolie's level of consciousness, and now it surfaced. If she was to study this man as a

potential candidate for the Office of an Incarnation, she could hardly do so by deliberately not observing him in moments of his passion. She had to understand him fully. She also needed to know how he approached matters of ethics and questions of propriety. Also, how he related to the underlying questions of Good and Evil. That meant she should remain.

Still, she had a problem. "It is more than the appear -- ance, Roque. I do not love you and do not wish to be embraced by you, even in surrogate. I would feel extremely awkward about returning to my husband -- or, if you will,

consort -- after -- ''
"There is also this to consider: Satan surely has been ultimate with a great many women over the course of his tenure, yet you still love him and wish to join him at every opportunity. Do you hold to a standard you do not expect of
him?"
Ouch! The days of Jolie's sexual innocence had been left behind centuries ago. She no longer believed in a double standard. She knew Parry had had long and extreme affairs with the likes of the demoness Lilah and the damned soul Nefertiti, yet had returned gladly to her when she remanifested. What counted, in the end, was not his dalliances during her absence, but the way he felt about her, and she about him. He had never loved the demoness or the damned soul; he had loved Jolie. Now he loved Gaea -- and still loved Jolie. Was she so much less certain of her love
for him?
"I think you have made your case, Roque," she said.
"I will remain."
He smiled briefly. "As you wish." "But one more thing, before I submerge. How do you
feel about Satan?"
"I suppose that is a fair question, from one who loves him. I am adamantly in the opposite camp, and wish to support the forces of Good in every respect. Yet I see the
AND ETERNITY 133
need for a repository of damned souls, until they can be redeemed, and therefore I concede the need for a supervisor of that repository. As I understand it, Satan is not actually evil, just as Thanatos is not actually dead; he is merely a human person handling an unusual and often unrewarding job. I think you would not love him were that not the case, just as Luna would not love Thanatos."
A fair answer indeed! "Suppose you ever found yourself in a position to -- to negotiate with Satan on some matter. Would you do it?"
"Of course. I feel that I am already, whenever I decide whether a given person should be punished or rehabilitated or go free. Satan is attempting to evoke the Evil; I am attempting to evoke the Good. It is, in a fashion, a continuing exercise in classification and treatment."
This man was certainly, to Jolie's way of thinking, a prime prospect! "So you, knowing that one who is close
to Satan is with the woman you love, do not feel threat -- ened."
"Satan never threatened any person whose convictions and practices were good.''
"I think Luna might disagree." "Luna is perhaps an exception," he admitted. "She is
pivotal. But I think it is not her soul he threatens, only her political power."
"You impress me, Roque."
"Jolie, you impress me also. I thought I was dealing with a wayward girl, and then you manifested, and the case became inordinately more interesting. I had no intent to take Vita into my residence, until I became aware that you were in control. Then I realized that rehabilitation of the girl was not only possible, it was already in progress, and I did my best to facilitate your effort. Certainly you have been in no sense a malign influence. My subsequent relation with Vita, though unintended, was thus a direct result of your involvement. For that I must thank you. However wrong it may be technically, I now believe it is

134 Piers Anthony
right ethically. You have brought light into my life, and I
shall always be grateful."
"I, too, am glad it happened," Jolie said. And she
wondered: could Luna have known this too? That Judge Scott was a worthy prospect to be an

Incarnation, and that Jolie would discover this by the time she shepherded Vita through her problem? It seemed likely, now.

She returned the body to Vita, who promptly jumped up and flung herself across to Roque. "What were you trying to do, pinching Jolie like that?" she demanded, plumping
into his lap.
"By your mischief," he said. "What is this delight you
have in being impertinently handled?"
"I hated it when my Johns did it," she confessed. "I hated everything about them. But I did catch on to what men like. Now I've got a man / like, I want to be sure I'm giving him a good time." She drew up her knees so that her dress fell away, and guided his hand to her inner
thigh.
"I trust you realize that this is shameless exploitation."
But his hand did slide along her skin caressingly.
"You can do better than that," she said. "Come on,
what are panties for, anyway?"
"For dirty old men's delight," he said. "Still, I would
not want to spoil your pretty outfit.''
"I'll take it off!" she said eagerly, and began scram -- bling to do just that. All that effort we made, dressing her -- gone! Oriene
thought with resignation.
"But this sheer enthusiasm on your part continues to
amaze me. How did you come by it?"
"I guess I just so much wanted to be wanted," she said. "Not just used and thrown away, but loved and needed forever. Maybe when I get older I'll really like just to talk with you, the way Jolie and Oriene do, but right now I just want you so hot for me you can't think of anything else." She was bare, now, in record time.
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135
"Perhaps we should retire to a more appropriate place," he suggested.
"Like a bed. This way!" She bounded off again and hauled him along after her.
Soon he joined her there, unclothed. He kissed her and held her and squeezed her in intimate places, exactly as she demanded. / wish I had thought of this sort of thing when alive, Oriene thought.
Jolie had to agree. Vita's passion was not feigned; her body was humming with desire, and it affected all of them. She recalled the saying that a man gave love for sex, while a woman gave sex for love. This was certainly true here, but each aspect was so intense and pervasive that the dividing line ceased to have meaning. The two were giving passion for passion, reveling in it, delighting in its grandeur and its naughtiness.
So it was that Jolie was along for the ride, as Oriene had been before, and the revels of the couple became her own. She knew that next time she merged with Gaea and went to see their man, she was going to give him a show and an experience he hadn't had in years. There was much to be said for exuberance.
The next morning Thanatos appeared. "I understand you are ready to resume your quest," he said.
Vita screeched in terror and leaped out of bed. She was, as was her wont after sex, naked; Jolie had left her alone.
That's Thanatos, Jolie explained. He brought us to you. We have nothing to fear from him.
"Oh." Vita hastily turned the body over to Oriene, who as hastily wrapped a sheet about herself. They had been lying abed late, after the strenuous activity of the early part of the evening, and he bad come upon them unawares. That, of course, was often the way of Death.
"I, yes," Oriene said. "Thanks in part to you, I am no longer in danger of descending to Hell. But when Jolie talked with you before, you told her it was impossible, or nearly.''

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"The quest must continue, regardless. From me you need a blank soul?"
"So I understand. To transfer -- "
"Come with me."
Orlene hesitated, remembering how Thanatos had come for her when she died and she had fled

him. Have no fear, Jolie thought. He is a good man, as well as a good Incarnation. "May I dress first?"
"Dress," he agreed.
She paused, but he did not retreat or disappear. Just go ahead and do it, Jolie urged. He

doesn't even realize there could be a problem, after all the naked souls he's seen.

Orlene went to the closet, snatched down a decent dress, and grabbed for the rest of what she needed. She carried them into the bathroom and got herself in order as quickly as she could. Thanatos waited impassively, seeming not to

move at all.

"I'm ready," she said, emerging. But he was already on his way, and she had to run to catch up. She didn't dare ask where they were going.
In the yard the death-steed Mortis was grazing. Oh, look at that! Vita thought. As with many girls of her age, she was thrilled by the notion of a horse, any horse.
Thanatos glanced at his deathwatch. He turned and put his hands at Oriene's sides. He lifted, and the horse came up and stood before them, so that Thanatos could set her on. Then Thanatos mounted behind her, putting one arm around her in an impersonal way to keep her secure.
The horse took off. There was no wind, no tilt, but suddenly they were riding upward through the sky, leaving the city below. Ooooo! Vita squealed in awed delight.
"Mortis likes you too," Thanatos remarked.
You can hear me?
"I hear your soul. Vita."
/ like this too, Jolie thought.
"Women do," he agreed.
They peered down to see fluffy cotton-ball clouds below. Mortis was galloping on air, moving far faster than any mortal animal could. On occasion his hooves kicked up divots of cloud dust, which dissolved behind them. The scene was beautiful, with the morning beams of the sun spearing out from the east, lighting the near sides of the clouds.
/ begin to get a notion what Luna sees in Death, if he takes her on rides like this! Vita thought.
"On occasion," Thanatos agreed.
Then the steed was moving down to another city. They had no idea where it was; the speed and magic had been such that it could be anywhere. They had departed at dawn, local time; here it was afternoon.
They landed on a city street amidst traffic. Orlene flinched as a car charged toward them
- but it passed right through them as if they were ghosts. Yet of course they were not ghosts, exactly; Vita's body was alive and solid, so that meant that Thanatos and Mortis had to be solid, too, to lift and carry her as they had.
Magic, Jolie reminded her.
"True," Thanatos agreed. "Mortals can neither per -- ceive nor affect us unless we wish it."
The horse walked across the street and into a solid wall. They passed through the wall and into a lighted factory region at the base of a megabuilding. "This man is about to die of a rare internal electrical imbalance," Thanatos said, dismounting and approaching one of the workers. Sure enough, the man paused before his equipment, and fell back, looking startled.
Thanatos stepped in and reached out to the man -- but not to help support him. His hand passed into the man's body without resistance and out again, holding the man's soul. The soul came out in a translucent skein, mottled by black patches and white, distorting out of shape. The body sank to the floor, its eyes staring as if still startled.
"But you never gave him a chance!" Orlene protested.

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"He might have recovered had you not swept out his soul!"
"He would have endured until I took his soul, but not for recovery. I acted promptly so as

to spare him unnec -- essary pain. When a soul is in balance, a person can not die until it is removed, no matter how hopeless the physical case." As he spoke he was folding the soul like so much gossamer, until it was wadded into a ball, which he placed

in a little bag.
He returned to Mortis and mounted. The horse walked
back through the wall, then galloped into the air again. "How can you just take lives, all

day?" Orlene asked. "It is a necessary part of human existence," he replied seriously. "Without death there could soon be no new life. The old must be cleared away for the new. Even as it is, we are threatened with overpopulation."
Orlene was silent. She hadn't thought of it that way. Soon they came down in another city, somewhere in the
world. Mortis halted at a Dumpster similar to the one they
had hidden in when fleeing Vita's pimp, so long ago.
"Your turn, Orlene," he said abruptly.
"What?" "Within that Dumpster is a newbom infant who will die
within hours if unattended. No mortal knows of his presence except his mother, who is beyond compassion in this respect, having such serious difficulties of her own as to be unable to return. My attention is not necessary, as the baby is unsullied and will go to Heaven, but to avoid subjecting him to avoidable agony as the next load of garbage is dumped, crushing him, I am interceding. You are looking for a blank soul; this one is close enough. Climb in and take it."
"But I can't do that!" Orlene protested. "You are with me, sharing my power for this event by
my extension. Do with him as you saw me do with the last
case, and the soul will come out for you." Orlene waited a moment, flustered. "But -- " "I understood that you wished above all else to recover
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and cure your own baby," Thanatos said emotionlessly. "This is the way to obtain one of the seven elements required. How serious is your quest?"
Tight-lipped, Orlene got down and approached the Dumpster. Now they heard it: a faint mewling from within. They climbed up and peered in.
The baby was there, half swathed in dirty rags, grease and blood splotched over his body, short dark hair matted to the tiny skull. "Oh, my God!" Orlene breathed numbly.
So little! Vita thought. / never realized how small they were. His ankle is no bigger around than my thumb!
Orlene reached forth with a shaking hand to take the soul. Her teeth were clenched.
No! Vita thought. Don't kill him!
She has to, Jolie thought. It would be cruel to let him suffocate in garbage, or to die slowly of exposure.
Thanatos is right: it is an act of mercy to take this innocent soul now.
But he's just an eensy baby! He never did anything to anyone! He shouldn't be killed, he should be held and cuddled and nursed and everything!
Those are not his options, Jolie returned, realizing that they were in effect Orlene's inner voices, her conscience debating while she hesitated. // is wrong, we know, but the world is not governed by right, it is governed by circum -- stances, and all we can do is alleviate the most egregious cases. Sometimes the choice is between evils.
You must be good at that! Vita shot back.
"That's not fair!" Orlene protested. "She's not evil, she's -- "
Oh, damn, I'm sorry! Vita thought with genuine con -- trition. / didn't mean that, Jolie. It's just that I never was into killing, and this poor baby -
I know, don't I know! Jolie replied. / died before I had
a baby of my own, and then when I came to watch Orlene, it was like -
I guess we better stop; I don't think we're helping.

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141
Jolie had to agree. This was Orlene's decision, hard as it was. Thanatos had given her a cruel lesson in death and souls!
Oriene reached again for the baby. He took a ragged breath and cried a little louder, as if aware that death was upon him.
"I can't!" Oriene cried. "Oh, I just can't!" She put both hands down and picked up the baby and held him close.
Jolie and Vita maintained thought silence, not knowing what would come of this. Probably she had forfeited the soul she so needed; Thanatos would take it himself and put the dead baby back. But how else could she have reacted -- this woman who had already lost her own baby and died herself because of it? What Thanatos had inflicted on her had been more than cruel, it had been diabolic. Jolie knew it was not her place to judge him, but she could not accept this thing he had done.
Oriene climbed out of the Dumpster, managing to bring the baby along. She came to stand before Thanatos as he sat on Mortis. She held the baby protectively. "Maybe I have no right to ask this, but if there is any way to save this baby, I've got to do it," she said, the tears coming. "I'm a mother, not a killer."
"That is not your baby," Thanatos said. "You can gain nothing by interceding." "I know. I expect nothing. Please."
"But you can salvage the soul, for your purpose."
"I cannot, though I lose my own baby. Please."
"I ask you again to consider just how serious you are about your quest for your own baby. If you will not do what is necessary -- "
"Oh, Thanatos, I would give my own soul to save my baby, if it were only clean enough instead of hopelessly soiled! But I cannot sacrifice this innocent one to my purpose! This baby should have his chance to live and to make his own decisions about good and evil as he grows. I am grief-stricken over the loss of my own, but I cannot help mine by denying this one his chance. I beg you, I beg you -- spare him, if you possibly can!"
The death's head nodded. "I can, to a degree. Mount." He extended a bone hand. Oriene grasped it, holding the baby close with her other arm. Her weight diminished and she was moved effortlessly to the front of the great horse.
A short gallop through the air and buildings brought them to a hospital. "Take him there," Thanatos said, lifting her down.
Oriene walked into the hospital. She approached the front desk. "I found this newbom baby in a garbage dump," she said. "Please take care of him and arrange for his adoption." She held out the baby.
A nurse appeared and took the baby. "You will have to
make a statement," she said. "Where he was found, what time -- "
"I can't do that," Oriene said, turning away.
"But you must! It is a crime to -- "
Mortis walked through the wall. Thanatos reached down. Oriene caught his hand and was set back on the horse.
The nurse stared, holding the baby. ' 'She disappeared!'' she exclaimed. "She just disappeared!"
"Sometimes they come like that," the girl at the desk said. "So there is no legal claim on the baby. We'll take care of him."
"Yes, we'll take good care of him," the nurse said. Mortis leaped, passing through the ceiling, through the various chambers of the hospital, and on out the roof. Oriene, her effort done, sank into renewed grief. Jolie understood the temptation that had been on her: to try to keep the baby herself. She had resisted that, but it hurt. You did right! she thought. You did right. Vita echoed. "Yes, you did right," Thanatos said. "I will save an

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otherwise lost soul for you, from a baby whose situation is not subject to salvage, and deliver it to you when you have obtained the artifacts you require from the other Incarna --
tions. You are worthy, in my estimation."
You mean this thing was a test? Vita thought, outraged.
"A soul is infinitely precious," Thanatos replied, un -- perturbed. "I would not yield one
to a person who failed to appreciate its value, not merely as a convenience for a purpose, but as
an entity in itself. This was a necessary determination. Orlene refused to do what she believed
was wrong, even to achieve the thing she most desired."
But did you have to make her hurt so? Jolie demanded. Knowing that she had lost her own
baby?
' 'The ultimate proof of character is not lightly achieved. A lesser proof would have been
valueless. Incarnations do
not deal in valueless matters."
The understatement of the century! Jolie realized that Thanatos had been correct in his
action, however cruel it had seemed. Orlene had won her soul not by taking what was proffered
without conscience, but by maintaining her standards of decency and compassion despite the seeming cost.
/ think maybe I learned something. Vita thought. /
couldn't've done it myself.
Jolie wasn't sure she could have, either. We thank you,
Thanatos, for this hard lesson, she thought. "You are welcome, Jolie," he replied. Mortis
landed back in Luna's yard. Orlene got down. "I, too, thank you, Thanatos," she said. "I will try
to get
the other things I need."
"We are not yet finished," Thanatos said, dismounting.
He accompanied her into the house.
"I don't think I understand," Orlene said. Thanatos took a seat on the same couch that
Judge Scott had used the night before. Jolie was glad that they had thought to return to pick up
Vita's scattered clothing before sleeping! "The shifting of the course of a life cannot be AND ETERNITY
143
accomplished by a single Incarnation unilaterally," he said. "A life is too important for
that. In my early days in Office I sometimes declined to take the souls that were due. I once
saved a drowning man, for example, instead of allowing him to die. I learned later that both
Chronos and Fate had had to make adjustments to accommodate my action. They had not spoken of it
to me, making allowance for my inexperience in Office. Now I am more careful, just as other
Incarnations are careful of my prerogatives. Orlene, you will have to present your case for the
baby you saved to Fate, so that she can decide whether to alter his thread of life." "But Fate is -- "
"Your natural grandmother," he said.
"My whatf"
Thanatos paused. "I apologize. I see you did not know."
/ did not tell her, Jolie thought. / thought it best to let her follow her quest without
the complication of that knowledge.
"My natural grandmother!" Orlene repeated, dazed. "That may complicate the picture,"
Thanatos said. "Nevertheless, it was at your instigation that that baby's thread of life was
rerouted, and it is your responsibility to obtain the authorization for it. Jolie will be able to
guide you to the Incarnation of Fate, of course."
"I will do it," Orlene agreed. "I agree it is my responsibility." But she remained shaken
by the revelation of her ancestry.
"You should also check with Chronos."
"The Incarnation of Time? Why?"
"In order to fit this special session into my schedule, I borrowed time. This has actually
been a rerun of time I am spending in my normal duties, so that I have not sacrificed them or been
rushed. Chronos is tolerant of such occasional borrowings on my part, but it would be better if
you approached him and explained directly."

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"I need to see him anyway, to get a grain of sand," Oriene agreed. "I shall do that forthwith."
"However, in fairness, I must advise you that your interview with Chronos will not be easy."
Jolie remembered the key thing about the Incarna -- tion of Time: he lived backwards. That complicated things for every person who interacted with him, mortal or immortal!
"I will do what I must," Oriene said.
"I think you do not yet grasp the nature of the problem. Not only does time reverse in his residence, he is a man you knew in life."
"I knew him? But how could that be? I've only been dead for a few months! How long has he had the Office?"
"That depends on perspective. By my reckoning, it has been perhaps twenty-five years; I had not thought to verify the precise length of his tenure. By his reckoning, it might be as little as two years."
"Either way, then, I cannot have known him!"
"I believe his given name was Norton."
Oriene stiffened. "Oh, no!"
Thanatos stood. "It is not my concern how you may handle your interview with another Incarnation. Certainly I do not wish to interfere in their activities that do not relate to my proper business. But you seem to be uniquely related to or involved with more than one Incarnation, in which number I am included because of my interest in your aunt Luna, so I have brought this matter up to you. I bid you good prospects."
"My aunt...?"
"I think I have made another error," he said.
That, too, is true, Jolie thought. Maybe I should have told you all of it at the outset, but -
"But I was in no condition," Oriene said.
Yes. Then the business with Nox -
Oriene, shaken again, walked to him. "I appreciate your information, Thanatos." Then she lifted her face and
AND ETEKNITT 14S
kissed him on his lipless mouth. The expressionless skull face managed to look startled.
Two days later Luna returned. "I trust you were not bored, being here alone?"
Jolie was back in charge. "By no means, thank you. We have been tutoring Vita, and getting to know Muir and Griffith and Grissel, and looking at your wonderful pictures, and we had visits by Judge Scott and Thanatos."
"The moon moth and griffins seldom have company they appreciate; I'm sure they have been most pleased. I am glad you like my paintings; I really have little time to paint now, but on occasion I still do it, to relax. As for Roque, he is a good man," Luna said, with an oblique smile that suggested that she well understood that situation. "Thana -- tos is a good Incarnation." Jolie wasn't certain how she meant that, knowing that Luna had been Thanatos' mortal lover for well over a decade.
"We are grateful for your generosity in allowing us to stay here during your absence," Jolie said. "Now I think we should find some other lodging, so that -- "
Luna looked seriously at her. "I would not think of it. You, Jolie, are a good friend and incidental liaison with the enemy. Oriene is family. Vita is the daughter of my employee and friend Vera, whose situation is still clarifying. It behooves me to facilitate your various interests. I under -- stand that you, Jolie, are now also doing an observation of the Judge as a prospect for an Incarnation."
She was really current! "Yes. But it would help if I know which Incarnation was the most likely prospect. The Offices are so different -- "
"We do not feel free to advertise that at this stage. But we do need candidates who might be acceptable to all of the Incarnations."
"But Satan will not agree to any completely good man!"
"And the others will not agree to any completely bad

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man," Luna agreed. "Therefore our most likely prospects will be compromises -- people with both good and evil. In truth, the current Incarnations are similar compromises, brought about by
chance and circumstance, doing the best they can. But we distrust chance, and wish to upgrade
prospects, with no affront intended toward any current
parties."
In other words, she wasn't letting any secrets slip. Jolie
was increasingly curious about this matter. She tried once more. "When we were with
Thanatos, we thought he was acting cruelly, but it turned out that he was merely clarifying the
gravity of the matter of taking a soul for any purpose other than its own. We conclude that he is
doing a good job. Yet he must have had a lot of evil on his soul, to encounter his predecessor,
because Thanatos normally goes after only those souls that are in balance between good and evil." "True. He was in balance, with as much evil as good. So was I, when we met; we compared
notes. He has been doing a good job, and surely changing his balance slowly positive, and I hope
my own is similarly changing. Certainly it is possible for such folk to perform well. But if there
were a better system of selection, we might guarantee that future Incarnations will be better
prepared for their Offices."
It did make sense, though Jolie had little confidence that a real upgrading of
Incarnations would come of it, because unanimity among the Incarnations was virtually impossible. "We shall be glad to stay here, if it is really all right with you," she said, returning
to the earlier subject. "But Orlene does wish to resume her quest, and we have decided that the
three of us will remain together to see that through. That means that we hope to go physically to
see the remaining Incarnations. So if we have to travel -- "
Luna laughed. "You will not have to travel! All the Incarnations have residences in
Purgatory."
"But in mortal form we can't get there," Jolie pointed out. "As ghosts, Orlene and I can
go, and indeed have already been. But Vita -- "
AND ETERNITY 147
"Oh, you need to leave her unchaperoned for a time! Certainly she may remain here; Muir
will watch her and prevent her from leaving, and the griffins will be happy for company." You know, that might not be so bad. Vita thought. But Jolie could feel her disappointment;
she did like the animals and the house, but she very much wanted to participate in the larger adventure. Also, she was aware that Roque might not visit her alone, and feared that if he did, she would make some romantic blunder that would turn him off. She wanted to remain with Jolie and Orlene, but was afraid she couldn't. She was trying to be nice about it. That, for her, was
significant progress; she was learning self-sacrifice, perhaps inspired by Orlene's example. "We intend to do it together," Jolie said firmly, and felt the thrill of Vita's joy. "We
two ghosts like the experience of being alive again, and Vita likes our company. We have a viable
combination, and will keep it as long as all of us agree."
Luna nodded, unsurprised. "It is possible for mortals to visit Purgatory; indeed, the
Incarnations are mortal in certain respects, such as their normal solidity. But you will need the
intercession of an Incarnation to get there."
"As it happens, I am on good terms with an Incarnation or two," Jolie said. "I happen to
know that Satan doesn't use his residence in Purgatory, so it would be available for a temporary
stay. Buli if we were to ask his aid..."
Again there was a knowing nod. "I would not forbid you this earthly residence,, in that
case. Though it is true that I oppose Satan, and expect to be instrumental in defeating his major
ploy not far hence, it is also true that we must have his cooperation for what we intend in the
longer run. In earlier days I believed that the conflict between Good and Evil was absolute, but
with time and experience I have learned that it is relative. It is as if we are playing an
important game, with each side wanting very much to win but both sides agreeing that without
adherence to certain
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ground rules, there will be no game to win. Even enemies need to cooperate in certain
respects and to honor each
other's prerogatives." .
"Thank you," Jolie said. "We shall remain here,
except when visiting Purgatory. May the game continue. "May the game continue," Luna
agreed, smiling.
7 -
TIME
Luna gave them fare for a commercial rocket flight to another city. While they waited for
the taxi carpet to arrive. Vita went out to give each griffin a farewell hug, then came inside to
do the same for Muir, who put up with this in gentlemanly fashion though it evidently wasn't his
idea of fun. Orlene then embraced Aunt Luna. In her life she had known none of her blood ancestry;
now it was sustaining her in death.
The carpet arrived, and Jolie took over, because she knew where they were going.
"Rocketport," she an -- nounced, and it sailed up, carrying them away. Jolie looked back and waved
to Luna, feeling sentiment herself. She had known Luna for many years, and liked her, but this was
the first time in mortal guise, and it had a special impact. The considerations of food and
lodging and physical protection loomed far more important in the living state. Living was so
physical'. In a few days she had come to a much more acute appreciation of the woman's qualities.
Luna was very like Gaea, who had been her sister-cousin Orb, but significantly different too. She
seemed older, because she had aged normally while Gaea hadn't, but that wasn't it. She was in many
respects what Gaea would have been had she re -- mained mortal, and that was a precious insight. 149

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She was also like Orlene in her former life: quite attractive, and sensitive to the feelings of others. Jolie knew that she had seen Orlene in her worst stage, that of emaciation, death, horror and despair. But she remembered how petite and lovely she had been in her life and happiness, and how nice. Now those qualities were return -- ing, though she was in a different body; Vita was becoming pretty in the ways that Orlene had been. Luna showed how Orlene would be in later life, and that was attractive too.
/ really regret having died, Orlene thought. / acted hastily and thoughtlessly. Only now that it is too late do I appreciate what continuing life had to offer.
"Perhaps I should have told you your heritage," Jolie said. "I tried to avoid interfering in your life, other than watching you and being your dream-friend, and now I regret that." Had I known, I might have acted quite differently, Orlene agreed. But I cannot blame you for leaving me my freedom to find my own way.
Vita did not chip in. She was dreaming of Roque.
The carpet arrived at the rocketport. They entered at ground level and rode the carpeted belts to the interior ticket counter. Then they took the old-fashioned escalator to the launching area at the roof.
The rocket was sitting there in its harness. Jets of steam hissed from nozzles, making it seem like a monstrous hot dragon. A ramp led up to a tiny mouth in its base.
Vita took an interest. Science is so scary! she com -- mented.
Jolie could not argue. Back in her days of life, science had been relatively backward, while magic, for some few practitioners, had been advanced. But she had to admit that science had its place; it nicely complimented magic as a way of getting things done. Both had their liabilities, of course, but that was a concomitant of power.
They rode the ramp up to the mouth and into the maw of the monster. Inside it was like a small, cramped building,
much higher than wide. A moving ladder hauled them up to their berth, about midway along the length of the rocket.
A harness awaited them there. Just like the big one! Vita thought.
"For different reason," Jolie explained. "The big harness holds the ship vertical and above the building, so that no actual landing field is necessary and there is room for the rocket jets to flow. Our small harness is to hold us in place for the pressures of the takeoff and landing. Springs allow it to give way, cushioning the worst of the accelera -- tion. This will be a short, violent hop."
That's my kind of trip, the girl agreed.
They got into the harness and clamped it on around arms, legs and torso. There was a brace for the neck, and a helmet to hold the head secure.
In due course there was a shrill warning beep. Then the rocket took off. First they felt the rising power of its jet, causing the entire vessel to shudder. Then the motion commenced, slow at first, but rapidly accelerating.
Hooo! Vita thought, feeling their jaw, breasts, and stomach sag with the abrupt increase in weight.
A vision screen came on, showing a fisheye-lens view of the outside. They were rising, the building and surround -- ing city of Kilvarough dropping down. In moments they had a panoramic view of the region.
/ like Mortis better. Vita announced.
Neither Orlene nor Jolie cared to argue with that.
The rocket blast cut off. Their harness bounced up, its springs recovering their compactness. They were in free -- fall.
Wheee! Vita thought.
But in a moment the rocket spun about, its business end pointing forward. Then the blast resumed, just as if they were still rising. But now they were slowing and descend -- ing, as the screen showed. The rocket was efficient, which meant the ride was short.
"I would have preferred a modem saucer," Jolie said.

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"They are as fast, but they use antigravity instead of jet propulsion, so are a lot easier

to ride, I understand. Of course, as a ghost I never had occasion to ride one."
Maybe on the way back! Vita thought eagerly. She loved experience of any kind. The ship backed down to its rocketport and dropped into its harness. The safe-to-debark

gong sounded. They got out of their harness and waited for a vacant slot on the moving ladder. Naturally, all the other passengers were trying to leave at once, so they had to wait some time.

A slot appeared. Jolie grabbed a rung and swung her feet across. She glanced up and found herself peering up the skirt of another woman. It was foolish to wear such clothing to travel!
Then she looked down and spied the man below looking up her skirt. Ouch!
They should make men wear skirts. Vita thought.
Oriene, silent so far, caught that and went into a mental giggle. Jolie tried to contain it, but a peep leaked out. "Maybe we can get Luna to pass a law," she murmured between suppressed heaves. "But who would want to look at that?"
That, of course, was the problem: turnabout was not fair play, because women had little interest in looking at men the way men looked at women. Life was inherently unfair.
No it isn't. Vita thought. It gives us power, because we've got what they want.
At the bottom they let go and rode the ramp out and down. At the roof of the rocketport they transferred to the express escalator, which took them down at a slant to the main door. They had no baggage, so beat most of the crowd
out.
The taxi carpets were lined up. Jolie took the first one. "Mock Hell," she said.
Soon they were there: at the megabuilding devoted to the follies of damnation. Satan had set it up decades ago as an exhibit, in an attempt to show mortals that Hell was
really a fun place. This had been successful, and it had become a major tourist attraction. People of all ages nocked to sample evils that were not encouraged elsewhere.
Jolie walked through the gambling den, where the customer always won. Piles of silver and gold coins abounded. Sure looks like fun! Vita thought.
"Wait till you see the next level!" Jolie replied. She was, of course, long familiar with this setup; it was an excellent initial sorting place for potential evil. Satan got early warning here of forthcoming clients.
The next level was devoted to gluttony: clients were stuffing themselves with all manner of pastries and confec -- tions and tasty beverages. Ooooo! Vita thought.
Jolie approached one of the chefs. "May I borrow your glasses a moment?"
"We don't let clients -- " he began.
"Pierre, don't you know me?" she asked, extending her ghost face in front of the host face.
He did a double-take. "Of course. Mistress of Satan!" he agreed hastily, extending his glasses.
Jolie put them on. They were not prescription lenses, but magic spectacles, and what they showed was a spectacle indeed: the reality behind the fostered illusion. The clients were eating garbage, literally, and drinking reeking sewer dip. For this privilege they were paying not with money, but with percentages of their souls. They were committing themselves to Hell by stages, for pleasures which were no more genuine than those of sin itself.
Ugh! Vita thought, her gorge rising.
Jolie quickly removed the glasses, as it was she who would vomit if this went too far. "The wages of sin are garbage," she said, returning the glasses. "Thank yea, Pierre; this client is not going to Hell anyway."
"I don't know why Satan keeps company with the likes of you!" Pierre said, smiling.
"There's an ineradicable bit of good in the worst of us," she responded. "His bit of good relates to me. But

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don't worry; I happen to know that he's having an affair with an Incarnation." "But that's even more extreme!" Pieire protested. "She's bound to be good!" "But think of how far he can drag her toward evil!"
He nodded, seeing the point. Jolie walked on.
Is Satan really -- ? Vita asked, her interest quickening.
"He really is," Jolie said. "It's a terrific scandal."
Gee, she thought, awed. Who -- ?
"Oh, I wouldn't blab her name to just anyone."
You're teasing me!
Jolie laughed. "I am, dear! But see, we're here." For they had come to the Infernal

Elevator, which served as a convenient conduit between Purgatory, the mortal realm, and Hell. This was what she had been headed for all along.

She touched the entry panel, again extending her ghostly identity. The panel recognized it, for she had free access to all Satan's works, in any form, if she could handle them. It slid aside and the steamy interior of the Hellevator showed.

She stepped in. "Purgatory," she said.
The panel slid across again. Flames erupted from the edges of the floor. The elevator moved up in a cloud of smoke which somehow didn't choke. It was mostly illusion, to provide the proper flavor for an artifact of the nether region.
This is more like it! Vita thought enthusiastically. Where else does this crate go?
"It connects everything except Heaven," Jolie said. "For some reason, Satan couldn't get God's permission to put a stop there."
Fancy that, Orlene thought dryly.
"Something you should keep in mind about the super -- natural realms. Vita," Jolie said. "They are not quite like the mortal one. They are not actually physical, they are two dimensional, and cannot normally be detected or interacted with by living mortals. But to those in them, they seem three or four dimensional, and therefore solid. The folk
there will seem alive, but they are not; all are spirits except the Incarnations, who are of neither the natural or super -- natural realms. The folk of Purgatory don't need to eat or sleep, and anything we eat there will not sustain us. Only by special dispensation can mortals enter any of the supernat -- ural realms."
How come this elevator is taking us there, then? "It is really a mechanism for translation," Jolie ex -- plained. "The Incarnations don't need translation, but your body does. We seem to be rising, but we are instead changing, becoming two dimensional. Such a process represents a strain on the system, so is seldom authorized. But because I am close to an Incarnation, I am allowed to do this, and I am taking your physical body to Purgatory. While there I will never depart from your body, for that would leave you there without authority, which would be extremely awkward. I will turn the body over to Orlene for the duration, for this is her quest. You may observe and comment, but you will not be put in charge."
Yeah, I can see why. I won't pester you for anything. "And Orlene -- are you going to be able to handle an encounter with your lover, in his new role?" / have no choice, Orlene replied grimly. The Hellevator flamed up again and stopped. The panel slid aside. They were at the fringe of Purgatory, its seemingly natural landscape opening out before them.
Jolie stepped out. Behind her the device disappeared in another dramatic gout of flame and smoke, leaving only a brooding fumarole. Ahead was a path leading windingly toward a mansion in the distance. "That is Chronos' residence," Jolie said. "It will take us at least an hour to reach it, and we won't hurry; in fact we may be best advised to take a nap before we start."
No, I am ready to tackle this now, Orlene thought. "You misunderstand. It is not your courage in question, but the nature of the structure. Time runs backwards within it. You will thus emerge before you enter. Rather than meet

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yourself and get fouled up, it is better to allow sufficient time around the edges, before and after, so that you are not put in difficulty. We can proceed with a series of scheduled
pauses, during which we sleep or at least pay no attention to what is around us, so that whoever
may pass before us knows what times and places to avoid."
This is crazy! Vita thought.
/ don't care about any of that, Orlene thought. / just want to get there and explain about
the time Thanatos used on my behalf, and beg for a grain of sand.
"But this man was your lover!"
Her what? Vita asked. Did I miss something juicy when
I wasn't paying attention?
I will apologize to him for leaving him as I did. I see no reason to delay; it will only
erode my nerve.
"As you wish," Jolie said, realizing that one way might be as good as another, and if not,
that the woman simply had to go her own route. She released the host body to her. Orlene took over and began walking briskly toward the castle. Jolie realized, belatedly,
that the last time they had been to Purgatory, on their way to see an Incarnation, Orlene had
become a man and horribly embarrassed herself;
she could be nervous about such experience and want to get
through as quickly as possible.
Because this was Purgatory, the body did not tire. Orlene, discovering this, picked up her
pace, and soon she was almost running. Thus it was that she reached the castle in half the time
Jolie had estimated. Flushed with nervous -- ness rather than exertion, she lifted the ornate door
knocker
and let it fall.
In a moment a butler opened the door. "And who may I announce to Chronos?" he inquired.
"Just a supplicant for a favor."
"Please wait in the foyer."
She entered and waited, while the butler departed for the interior. There was a scenic
mural on the wall that looked almost real enough for her to walk into. The furniture was ANDETERNITT 157
comfortable, and the floor was polished hardwood. You're right. Vita thought. This seems
awfully real and solid!
Don't be deceived; its reality is on a different plane from that of the living host. The butler returned. "Chronos will see you now."
She followed the man to the main chamber. Her breath caught in her throat. There stood
Norton, exactly as she had known him in life!
He turned and looked at her. "May I ask who you are?"
He did not recognize her -- because she wore Vita's body! Her appearance was that of a
pretty teenage black girl. "I will tell you -- but first let me plead my case. Thanatos took me to
see how he drew out souls, and he had to borrow time from you to do it. I hope you will approve
this, for I did learn something significant."
"Thanatos was kind to me before I assumed this office," Chronos said. "I have no quarrel
with his use of time, and will not question it."
' 'And -- And I am told I need from you one grain of sand from -- "
"What?" he asked, astonished and dismayed.
"I -- I know it is very valuable, but I really need it. You see, I lost my baby, and the
Incarnation of Night told me that I could only cure his malady by getting something from each
Incarnation, and -- "
"If I knew a way to cure a baby's malady, I would have cured that of my own baby before he
died, and so saved his mother, whom I loved. Certainly one grain of sand will not -- " This was getting awkward! She should have told him her identity at the outset. "I know. It
was a terrible mistake, and I made it worse. I see you still wear Sning."
He glanced at the ring he wore, which was in the form of a tiny snake curled around the
finger. "How could you know about that?" he asked, surprised. "The only one who knows is dead. Not
only that -- "
"Dead," she agreed. "And trying to save her baby."
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He was not a stupid or unperceptive man. "Can it be you, Orlene?" he asked, amazed. "In
other form? I mistook you for a mortal!"
"Oh, Norton," she said, her tears starting. "I did not mean to deceive you! I just forgot
that you would not know my mortal host, and then I thought I shouldn't try to influence you by --
oh, how I wronged you when I died! I didn't think of you at all, just the baby, and if it were
possible to undo that evil, believe me I would, but I can't! I loved you, Norton, and love you
still, but was blinded by my folly! I can't ask your forgiveness, I can only proffer my apology
for what cannot be undone. I shouldn't have come here!"
He came to her as she spoke and took her in his arms. "Have you come to stay with me,
Orlene, this time?"
She was taken aback. "Stay -- here? Oh, Norton, I cannot! This host is a living girl who
must return to the mortal realm. I am here with her, and with Jolie, who is' -- " "Ah, Jolie, Satan's consort. I have my differences with Satan, but she is a nice woman." "Yes. So I'm not here alone, and can't remain."
"But you are a spirit. The mortal girl could return, and Jolie is already a ghost, and you
could remain, assuming your natural likeness here. If you do not leave this mansion, the problem
of time will not exist, and we can be together for decades, never aging."
Orlene was wildly tempted. This possibility had never occurred to her. To be back with
Norton, in seeming life and comfort, indefinitely!
Then she remembered Gaw-Two. "My baby -- could he be here too?"
"No. A person can exist here only during the span of his natural life. In thirty-seven
years I will fade out and have to pass the Hourglass on to my successor, in mortal terms my
predecessor, for I will then be passing beyond the time of my birth. Gaw-Two would come up against
his limit in mere days."
"And then have to exist forward," she concluded. "Oh, Norton, I cannot give him up! I do
love you, but I love him, too, and his need is greater. I must rid him of that terrible malady of
the soul and see him safely on the way to Heaven before I can rest." She felt terribly guilty
saying this, but it was the truth.
"But if you could save him, and be with me?"
"Then I would be at peace, and nothing else would matter."
He nodded. "I learned from Sning -- the demon ring you gave me -- that you were yourself
given up for adoption as a baby. I can see that it would be very important for you not to do that
to your own baby."
"Yes. I knew I was adopted, but I didn't know my true parentage until after I died. I
think it does affect my attitude. I always wanted to be the very best mother I could possibly be,
and I still want to, even though my son and I be ghosts. I want my baby to know me, even after
death."
Chronos paused, thinking, then came to a decision. "Orlene, I can take you to see your
adoption, if you wish. I never went back that far in your life myself, as my concern was to forget
you, not enhance my awareness of you, but now I think it would be appropriate. You are younger
than I; your adoption will be within my tenure of office. Would you like to see it?" Orlene was amazed. "I can go see that? But wouldn't there be paradox or something?" "My activities are normally immune from paradox, a necessary concomitant of the Office.
But in this case there will be an extra precaution: we will not be visible or audible to the folk
of that time, or able to affect them in any way. We will merely watch."
"Oh, yes, then!" Orlene exclaimed. "I would love to go back to that scene! Even earlier --
I would like to see my mother give me away. Can we do that?"
Chronos glanced at his ring, which had been hers, and she knew he was asking Sning and
being answered by

160 Piers Anthony AND ETERNITY 161
yes-no squeezes. "Yes, Sning can direct us there; he was present throughout. I will follow his guidance and show you your life from the outset. Take my hand."

She took his hand, feeling strange. They had been lovers, and now she was dead and he was an immortal of a sort, but still there was that love between them. What memories lay in that simple contact of hands!

He lifted his great Hourglass. The fine flowing sand within it changed color, becoming an intense blue. Then he tilted it slightly -- and the mansion misted out. There was a flickering, almost too rapid to detect, which she realized was the cycle of days and nights, going backwards, hun -- dreds of them, thousands of them.

Then they were floating across an unfamiliar landscape. Chronos questioned Sning, using a "twenty questions" technique he had evidently refined with practice. "India," he announced. "A traveling circus, or something similar."

"A circus in India?" Orlene asked. "I originated there?"
"So it seems."
Now they came to a caravan of wagons drawn by dragons. Indeed, it was a traveling show!

One wagon held a mermaid in a tank, and another a giant serpent, and there were assorted other animals and freaks and performers.

They entered one of the better wagons, which was closed in like a house. There a man and woman lay together, evidently lovers.
"War! Nature!" Chronos exclaimed, astonished.
"What?"
"I recognize these two! He is the Incarnation of War, called Ares or Mars. She is the Incarnation of Nature, called Gaea, when she assumes her natural likeness."
He's right, of course, Jolie thought. They are your natural parents, Orlene.
Orlene stared at the two figures, her emotions churning. These shocks of discovery were coming at her with cruel suddenness! But in a moment she rallied, showing more
courage and control than Jolie had seen in her before. She was definitely learning to cope.
"Yes, I learned of this after my death," Orlene said, omitting the crucial detail of the timing of her learning. "But this must be before they became Incarnations."
"I think so, for certainly they are not together now."
"Oh, why did they separate and give me away?" Orlene cried, feeling the pain of it in a way she had not before.
There was a sound of horses, and a commotion outside. The to-be Incarnation of War got up to see what it was -- and was met outside by an elaborately garbed officer. "Prince, we have come for you!" the officer called. "The Prince, your brother, is dead."
"He was a prince?" Orlene asked, amazed.
Indeed it turned out to be so. Not only that, he stuttered, avoiding it only by going into a singsong mode of expres -- sion. The officer had come to fetch him back, and would not be denied, though the Prince even threatened to behead him. They gave the to-be Incarnation of Nature a bag of precious gems and told her never to seek the Prince again, for the Prince would marry a Princess of his father's choosing.
But before he left, the Prince gave her the ring: Sning. Then he departed -- and she fainted.
They carried her into her wagon, and a snake charmer tended to her. When she woke, the snake charmer said, "My dear, you are with child."
"She hadn't known!" Orlene exclaimed. "None of them knew!"
"None of them knew," Chronos agreed, verifying it with the ring. "That child was you."
Guided by Sning, they skipped ahead. The woman, then known as Orb, left the traveling show and went to France, where she settled and hired the service of a blind, maimed, yet beautiful Gypsy girl as a maid. The girl was Tinka, and Orb had known her before; indeed, she had taught Orb the

162 Piers Anthony AND ETERNITY 163

Gypsy language of Calo, and Orb had helped the girl to find a husband, so they were fast friends. They sang together, for Tinka had similar magic, making the music wonderful, and practiced the wicked Gypsy dance the tanana.

Will you look at that! Vita thought. / thought I'd seen some sexy dancing, but that is the granddaddy of sex! God, I wish Roque was here!
Even Jolie herself was impressed. / knew that Satan helped save the Gypsies; now maybe I know why! I never saw a more expressively erotic dance!
The two women visited Tinka's father, the old Gypsy Nicolai, a man of distinction in the town. It seemed that Orb had done his daughter a favor by teaching her how to use her power of music and by making her beautiful despite her truncated fingers and club feet. Nicolai did not forget favors, and now Orb was treated with respect by the villagers. No word of her pregnancy escaped; the Gypsies protected their own from scandal.
Nicolai danced the tanana with his blind daughter, and the impact of the dance was doubled. He was a master, and it showed in his every glance and gesture. I'd give anything to learn that dance! Vita thought. What a man!
Jolie had to agree. There could be an to eroticism, and the tanana was that art, and Nicolai was the master of the dance. He looked to be about sixty years old, but it didn't matter; he was ageless when he danced. He also played the fiddle, beautifully; Orb brought out her little harp and they played together, and it was awe-inspiring.
Chronos skipped ahead again, and the baby was born. Orb was unable to use medication to alleviate the pain, because she had a protective amulet that fought the medi -- cine, but a Gypsy midwife helped her instead with a Spell of Analogy. She gave birth and named the baby as a variant of herself: not Orb, but Orlene.
Soon, advised by the ring. Orb had to leave. Her father was dying, and she had little time to see him. She left the baby with Tinka, with instructions to give her for adoption to a well-todo tourist family. She removed Sning. "When
you find the right family, put this ring on Orlene's finger." She also gave the Gypsy girl a great ruby, from the bag the Prince's people had given her, so that she would never be poor again. Then she left, tearfully.
Tinka took perfect care of the baby. She was married, but her husband spent much time away, so she rejoined her father. Nicolai, evidently remembering Tinka's babyhood, was good with Orlene; he held her and talked with her and sang to her and danced with her, holding her aloft while his feet moved cleverly. The baby loved it; she seldom cried when Nicolai was near.
"This child has magic," he said. "A rare and good talent, fit for a Romani soul! She can see and judge auras.''
"He knew!" Chronos exclaimed, astonished. "The glow you can see -- he knew, even then!"
Orlene, grown now, watched, the tears streaming down her face. "I always liked dance and music," she said. "Now I know why. I almost remember -- that marvelous man -- that wonderful, blind Gypsy girl! Surely I saw them glowing brightly and was reassured."
Then the ring guided Tinka to intercept a passing tourist couple. She was blind, but she could get around, especially with Sning's help. She spoke only Calo, while the tourists spoke English, but it didn't matter. She showed them the baby, and they were smitten, and it was done. She put Sning on the baby's finger, where it fit magically well, and departed, trying to hide her tears.
"Oh, Tinka, I didn't know!" Orlene said, watching. "You wanted to keep me and could not!"
Orb returned, as Gaea, and cured her blindness, Jolie thought. And made it possible for her to bear children.
"I'm glad! My life was good; my adoptive parents treated me very well, and I was never in want. But this discovery of the people in my past -- how it joys and hurts!"
"I wish I had known this about you," Chronos said. "You were so much more than I guessed. But I loved you regardless, and had I known what was to happen -- "
"I acted foolishly," she said. "Orb could not keep me,

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165
so she did what she had to and went on. Tinka could not keep me, so she, too, did what was right. But I -- when I could not keep my own baby -- oh, I failed you, and myself, and all of those who sacrificed so much to give me my good life! I am ashamed!"
"Oriene, you may lack the power to undo the past, but this is a power I now possess. Come with me." He put out his elbow.
Bewildered, excited, she took his arm. With his free hand he lifted the great Hourglass that suddenly appeared. The flowing sand in it turned bright red as he tilted it. Then they slid through the wall of the room and out of the village, much the way Mortis moved through substance. The flickering came again.
They approached a megabuilding Oriene recognized: it was the one containing Gawain's apartment -- the one she had occupied in life, as the wife of the ghost. It had not been long in objective time since she had left it, by dying, but it had been an eternity subjectively. They came to rest immediately ^outside her door. "We are in that period when you were gravid," Norton said. "But before Gawain obtained Gaea's gift. You must approach your prior self and warn her of the danger. She will then warn my prior self, who will warn the ghost. That should do it."
"And the malaise will never come upon Gaw-Two!" she exclaimed, suddenly seeing it. "He will not sicken and die, and I will not suicide, and we will be together in life!" He merely waited.
"Yet I hesitate," she said. "I made such a bad mistake before, I don't want to make another. I must not be hasty. If I do this, and Gaw-Two is saved, and we are happy -- what happens to Jolie?"
"Jolie? She merely returns to Satan; she has no problem here."
True, Jolie thought. / would much prefer to see you alive and happy, Oriene! It would relieve me of enormous
guilt, and I would not have to tell Gaea how her daughter was lost.
"And Vita -- that's the mortal girl, my host -- what of her?"
"Why she would return to whatever her life was before you joined her. Probably the two of you would never interact, since you encountered her after you died."
"But Vita was on the street! A -- She was subject to the sexual appetites of strange men, and getting hooked on a bad drug. She would most likely have proceeded in a descending spiral to depravity and death if Jolie and I hadn't come to pull her out of it!"
"I am afraid that would be the case."
Roque! Vita thought. You mean I wouldn't meetRoque?
"Oh, Norton, I don't think I can do this!" Oriene said. "I couldn't let that other baby die, when Thanatos took me there, and I can't do this to Vita, who is my friend. There has to be some other way!"
"If you live, what you did in death will not occur," he said. "That cannot be altered. You must live or die, not both."
But you could leave yourself a message! Jolie thought. Vita's address, so you could go and...But she lost it, the ramifications and complications becoming an impenetrable thicket. How could a white stranger with a baby go and rescue a black prostitute in a stupor from H? How could Vita be introduced to Judge Scott and go to live with him? What had been feasible from within hardly seemed so from without!
"And if I live, then what of you?" Oriene continued. "Will you go on to become the Incarnation of Time?"
"And there you have it, Oriene: paradox. I cannot do a thing that changes my own past, in that fashion, for if I did, I would not obtain the Office and therefore could not do that thing. In all other matters I am immune from paradox, but in this one I am not."
"So it is impossible, after all!"

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"It is impossible. But I wanted you to understand in your own fashion, so you would not think I was being argumentative or callous. Our relationship is finished, because you must go forward, even as a ghost, and I must live backwards as an Incarnation. Now let me judge your plea on its merits." He lifted the Hourglass again, angling it as the sand turned pink. They sailed up through the building, ghostlike, and into the sky. Chronos needed no magic elevator for his conver -- sions! Soon they were back in his mansion.
"How did you come to assume this Office?" Oriene asked, partly from curiosity, partly because she wasn't quite ready to discuss the merits of her case.
"After you died, Gawain felt guilty, and he tried to find some better setup for me. He remarried and invited me to impregnate his new wife, but I thought of you and would not. Later he learned of the coming vacancy of this Office and persuaded me to assume it. I admit I was moved by the notion that this might provide me the power to do what we have seen I could not do: change your past and mine so that you would survive. I discovered better, but by that time I was committed. And I admit this is no ill existence. And, lest you feel guilt for depriving me of love life, I am accommodated there too."
"You have a lover?" Oriene asked, relieved but not completely pleased. "Then why did you suggest that I remain here with you?"
"I would prefer your company. I don't love the other woman. She merely accommodates a particular need."
Oriene remembered her experience with the urgency of the need of the male, and could not condemn him. ' 'Who is she?"
"Another Incarnation. Only Incarnations understand."
"An Incarnation? Which one?"
"Fate."
"But Fate's my grandmother!"
"What?"
He doesn't know your ancestry, Jolie reminded her. He just learned of your immediate parentage, as you did, and has not yet made the connection to Lachesis.
"I'm the daughter of Nature and the granddaughter of Fate," Oriene continued. "That's why they sent Jolie to watch me. I didn't know while I lived, but now I do."
Disgruntled, he gazed at her. "Which Aspect?" he asked after a moment.
"Aspect?"
"Fate has three Aspects: Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, of ascending generations. I believe each originates with a different mortal woman. They share the body, but they are three distinct personalities. Which one is your grandmother -- Atropos?''
Lachesis, Jolie prompted.
"Lachesis," Oriene said numbly. She hadn't realized that Fate was so complicated! "I indulge with Clotho, the youngest," he said, re -- lieved. "Voluptuous, bouncy, midnight-black hair -- of course, she can change her form, they all can, but I think that's her rest state."
"What does Lachesis look like?"
"Somewhat like an older edition ofGaea, actually, with light hair -- sometimes she buns it up and makes it brown, but, well, it's not far from the shade of yours, really." "That would be my grandmother," Oriene said, relax -- ing. She understood how three separate women could share a single body, even when one indulged in sexual relations with a man not of the others' choosing. "It really isn't my business."
He seemed glad enough to let the subject change. "Now, how did you come to encounter Nox?" "She has Gaw-Two. She took him when he came to Purgatory, and says she will give him to me if I can obtain the items I need to cure his malaise, which remains with him in death because it is of the soul, not the body. From Chronos, one grain of sand, apparently because one soul
168 Piers Anthony AND ETERNITY 169
cannot be transcribed to another without a hitch in time, or something -- I don't quite understand it, but am sure that it is so."
"It is so," he agreed. "But you would not be able to use such a grain that way. Time is a tool that only the Incarnation of time can wield. What the sand would actually do is summon me to itself -- that is, to its possessor, you -- at need, and I would then manage the hitch in time and take back the grain. But this, too, has a complication, At what time do you anticipate this operation?"
Years! Jolie thought, knowing that it well might not be done at all.
"Years hence, I fear."
"Then likely before my tenure. That would explain why the sand is necessary, because I cannot go tangibly beyond my own term of Office. I can go intangibly, and observe certain aspects of reality, but I cannot affect them. If, however, you carry such a grain with you to that time, I will be able to go to it and act in the limited way that relates to its purpose." He paced the floor, considering. "Since I may not commit my predecessor -- you would think of him as my successor -- to such an action, I think I must give you the grain of sand. I think I would have agreed to do this were you not my lover in life, and the baby not mine, so I can justify it now." "Thank you, Norton," she said. Again she remembered her brief, horrible experience as a male. Did he expect her to...surely she did owe him that, considering. "Do you wish -- " "Here is the grain," he said abruptly, cutting her off. He touched the Hourglass and the grain appeared on his finger. "Do not lose it. I regret that I have other business now and must ask you to leave."
She took the grain, holding it tightly between thumb and forefinger. It tingled. "I...thank you, Norton."
"Welcome." He ushered her out.
Moments later she stood at the front door, alone,
bemused by the suddenness of the conclusion. There is a generous man, Jolie thought. Yeah, he was really hot for you, but he wouldn't let on, Vita agreed. He just hustled you out before he could give in to it.
"But I would have -- if he had let me ask -- I owed him so much -- "
He didn't want you to buy that grain of sand, or pay for it, Jolie thought. He wanted to give it to you. He did.
"After what I did to him!" she said. "I had no business dying like that! I should have stayed with him and had another baby, but I just -- " She choked herself off.
Let's get out of here before we meet you coming in, Jolie thought. She was impressed by Chronos' behavior, but now was not the time to dawdle.
"You do it," Oriene said. "I'm hurting again."
Indeed she was. Jolie resumed control of the body and walked briskly away from the mansion in the direction opposite to the one from which they had approached.
"Tomorrow we can tackle Fate," she said. "But today we had better get established in Satan's residence, so that we have a suitable base for operations."
It was a fair walk, and in this mortal body she was unable to turn a page in the fashion of Gaea to reach her destination instantly, or to fly ghost fashion, so it was afternoon by the time they reached it. Actually, Purgatory did not have days or seasons; time was meaningless here. But they were on Vita's living internal clock, and didn't fight it, thinking of time as they did in the mortal realm.
Satan's domicile, as perceived through their mortal eyes, was impressive, even awesome. From outside it resembled the most forbidding of castles, with huge stone blocks forming a wall rising to an alarming height, enclosing a cylindrical central turret ex -- tending even higher. From the apex extended a pole which branched into a three-tined fork, from which flew a flag

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with the shape and color of a flame. Outside was a moat on whose surface fire danced, forming fleeting figures of demons who alternately beckoned and made obscene ges -- tures.

Horrible! Orlene thought, though not really shocked.
Great! Vita thought, delighting in naughtiness.
"Isn't it a marvel?" Jolie inquired, pleased. "For centuries Satan's Purgatory residence was unmaintained, and Lucifer's before that, because he had no interest in this region and no undamned souls had interest in contacting him. But when I returned to animation as Gaea's compan -- ion, I did not deny my connection to Satan. I couldn't go to Hell on my own, only in her company, because I am not damned, but I wanted to maintain some liaison. So with the permission of the Incarnations of Nature and of Evil, I made a project of renovating the Purgatory Presence in my off moments. I made it a point to include all the classical symbols of the Office. When Satan saw it, he laughed so hard he sank through the ground and disappeared."

They walked the path to the moat. Now the flame figures became quite clear, putting on a show for the visitor. Male flames pursued female flames, caught them, and indulged in vigorous acts of fornication.

Appalling!
I wish Roque were here!
The main entry resembled the mouth of a dragon, gaping wide, as if in expectation of

excellent prey. Small flames flickered within its dark maw. "Fresh meat!" Jolie called.

The dragon's mouth opened wider. Smoke billowed out. Then a huge red tongue rolled down to extend across the moat, its tip landing at the brink of the path. The flame figures retreated in alarm, except for one couple still engaged in amour. "Drawbridge," Jolie explained. "I gave it the password."

They crossed the drawbridge and approached the giant, ugly portcullis. It resembled enormous teeth projecting
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down, syrupy saliva dripping from their polished tips. As they passed under it, the teeth started down -- and stopped, well above head height, after giving Orlene and Vita a scare. "Just a little extra fun," Jolie explained. "The mouth can't close without reprogramming, but it can give entrants a bit of a jolt."
Inside, two little demons appeared. One was male, wearing little trousers with a hole in back for his tail to emerge, the other female, with a skirt and a flamelike bow in her hair. "These are Dee and Dee," Jolie said. "Our poster models, for the lascivious recruitment campaign. They're not really demons, merely borderline damned souls who elected to work here. They were experienced; they'd been in Gaming before they died."
Oh, I've seen them! Vita thought. / remember the bill -- board with him peeking under the skirt of a luscious woman, and the legend "You Won't Find THAT in Heaven!"
"Yes, that has been one of our most popular numbers, dating from before my restored time," Jolie agreed. "And quite true too; God doesn't believe in fornication, once a soul has been Saved, so those who are interested in that sort of thing have to see to it as mortals, or in Hell."
I'm not sure I want to go to Heaven, Vita thought. / mean, bad sex is awful, sure enough, but good sex is great, with the right man. I know Roque's going to Heaven, and if I can't join him there and give him ah even better time than as a mortal, what's the point?
"That's not for the Bride of Satan to say," Jolie said, smiling.
They followed Dee and Dee through the castle, getting the introductory tour. There was a central court with a garden of bloodsucking flowers and a pit of fire, with erotic statuary strategically placed. There was an excellent kitchen in which all manner of delicious foods were being prepared. There was a chamber for the storage of wealth, with gold and silver coins piled high, and buckets of gems: faceted diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires of many colors

272 Piers Anthony
nested in beds of garnets. Pearl necklaces hung on racks, and iridescent opals sat on shelves. "Symbolic of the vices of man," Jolie said. "Gluttony, and greed for money."

But like the stuff in Mock Hell! Vita thought.
"No, actually these jewels are real. But their threat to man's virtue is the same. Wealth is perhaps Satan's most potent tool for the evocation of the evil that lies in mortals. But they cannot take it with them to the Afterlife, while the evil on their souls does indeed go with them. That is the disastrous nature of the choice they make."
You mean the food here isn't garbage?
"It isn't garbage -- but it won't sustain your body, either. However, your body can exist for an indefinite time here in Purgatory, in much the way the souls here do; we
don't need to eat."
/ don't get it. What happens if we do eat here? ' "The danger, if we were going back and forth between Purgatory and the mortal realm, and only ate here, would be in thinking that it was pointless to eat there when all this excellent free food is available here. The body might feel satisfied, but it would be illusion; it would be running out of sustenance while in the mortal realm. So it is better to eschew the food here and eat only when in the mortal realm;
that way natural hunger is a good guide." Too bad. Vita thought sadly.
They settled in the family room. "You should find Purgatory video interesting," Jolie remarked as the screen came on. "But it can be disquieting too."
A neutral announcer appeared. "Two ghosts and a mortal woman have taken up temporary residence in Hell's Acres," he said. "One ghost is Jolie, the former wife of the man who later assumed the Office of the Incarnation of Evil;
she is unable to visit him in Hell, though it is rumored that she has found a way to get around that restriction. The other is Oriene, who committed the sin of suicide after losing her baby. Her history is becoming more interesting. She seems to be seeking out each Incarnation in turn, beginning with
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the nebulous Nox, who may have played an unkind prank on her."
What is this? Oriene demanded.
"The Purgatory News Service is always current and personal," Jolie explained. "It relates to whoever is watch -- ing it. So when Thanatos relaxes, he gets news of his doings, and when Gaea watches, she receives news others. I have never quite understood its mode of operation, but its targeting is always perfect."
But it didn't mention me. Vita fussed. "As for the mortal, she is Vita," the announcer said immediately. "She is the fifteen-year-old daughter of Vera, a leading researcher for Luna, the central figure in the approaching confrontation between Good and Evil. Raped by her father, she fled home and was driven to prostitution. Her mother was too upset by her unexplained absence to concentrate, so Luna arranged to have the visiting ghosts animate Vita's body and extricate her from a developing drug habit and life of sin. This was only partially successful;
she instead became the mistress of a leading local judge, encouraging him to walk in the path of the unrighteous." That's a lie! Vita thought, furious. Roque's a good man! "The threat of scandal caused the judge to expel her from his residence," the announcer continued, unper -- turbed. "But her hold on him was too great, and the affair continued. It is difficult to tell at this stage how much harm will be done to the judge's reputation, let alone the balance of evil on his soul."
Damn! Damn! Vita thought, rage and pain mixing. / wouldn't hurt Roque for anything! They make it seem so -- so sordid!
"Of course, the encouragement of such behavior might have been expected from the Bride of Satan,'' the announcer said smugly. "But it is a mystery why Oriene, a relatively chaste woman at the time of her death, should -- "
Turn it off! Oriene thought.
"You mustn't take it too seriously," Jolie said as the

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screen went blank. "It speaks from a very moralistic view, because Purgatory is the place

of moralism, where border -- line souls are sorted for destination. Some of us disagree with this attitude, but it is best to be aware of it."
You're right, Orlene thought after a moment. We should
hear it through.
Yeah, Vita thought. We shouldn't let it get to us. It's just
twisting things.
Jolie turned the screen on again. "...support such mischief," the announcer continued, picking up precisely where cut off. "Now the three of them have taken the extremely unusual step of coming physically to Purgatory and staying at Hell's Acres. It will be interesting to see what activity they indulge in on the morrow."
Yeah? Well, you'll just have to wait, gossip monger!
Vita thought fiercely.
"But we can tune it in to anyone we wish," Jolie said.
"Ozymandias, for instance."
The dour face of the erstwhile King of Kings appeared. "A greeting, Jolie," he said, recognizing her despite her current host. "Satan is out at the moment. May I take a
message?"
"We are borrowing Hell's Acres while interviewing
Incarnations," Jolie said. "Our next interview will be with Fate, and it could be awkward, because one of her Aspects is Orlene's grandmother. Is there anyone there who could
give us good advice?"
He frowned. "This really is not the locale for good advice. However, evil advice is available. Here is the
Magician."
A new face appeared on the screen: that of an aging,
worn man, the set of whose jaw suggested a determination that mere death had not eclipsed. "Hello, Jolie; do you
know me?"
"You're Luna's father!" Jolie exclaimed. "You spent a lifetime opposing Satan, only to finish in Hell! What an irony!"
"I did what I had to do," the Magician said. "Black magic is less limited than white magic, and the task was great, so I knowingly garnered evil on my soul in order to serve the greater good. I succeeded in guaranteeing the continued life of my daughter, so that she will be able to balk Satan's final ploy of this sequence, and I am satisfied to pay the price."
"But all that you did was for the cause of Good! To have you confined to Hell for that -- "
"The end does not justify the means. I used unautho -- rized means. I do not protest my fate."
"I think I'd better put Orlene on," Jolie said. "She was left as a baby, to be adopted by others, and only after her death did she leam of her natural ancestry." She turned the body over to Orlene.
"So you were left as a baby," he remarked, interested. "So was I. It must run in the family."
"Magician, if you are Luna's father, what are you to me?" Orlene asked, flustered.
"I am in a manner your uncle," he replied. "And Luna is in a manner your cousin, despite the differential in your ages. You see, your mother Orb and I had the same mother Niobe, who is now Lachesis, the central Aspect of Fate. Orb and Luna thought of each other as sisters or cousins, but they were of different generations. Orb's parents were Luna's grandparents: Niobe and Pacian. Certainly we are close kin."
"Uncle," Orlene said, fastening on that. "Then you will give me apt advice, though you are damned?"
"I will. What is it you intend to ask of Fate?"
"I need a thread of life, so that my baby's Afterlife can be changed and he will no longer have his malaise."
"You ask for a lot!" the Magician said. "She may be your grandmother, but she will not give you that without excellent reason. You will have to persuade her that it is somehow in me interest of the larger framework to do it."
"But it is only in my personal interest!"

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He frowned, thinking. "You ask for this, for your baby? I think she will understand that, having had to leave her own baby and then having seen her daughter leave her baby. You represent the third generation in the family with problems with babies. Perhaps she will be moved." But he did not look confident.

"Thank you. Magician," Orlene said.
"I am glad to have seen you, Orlene, however late."
He clicked off.
The announcer reappeared. "There is an interesting
development in the case of Orlene, who it seems is unashamed to contact Hell itself to --

"
The screen went blank as Jolie took over the body. "Why don't we retire now? We don't need to sleep here, but we can if we choose, and I think it would help. We may have a big day tomorrow."

The other two agreed.
FATE
They did sleep, unnecessary as it might be here, and were refreshed in the morning,

pointless as that designation might be, here. Then they set out on foot for Fate's Abode.

Jolie was familiar with it, of course, but it was new to the others. It was in the form of a huge spider web, with the residence fashioned like a cocoon of webbing.
"Fate is a triple entity," Jolie reminded them. "I believe that Lachesis would not try to interfere with any person's thread of life for purely personal reasons, and probably neither told the other Aspects which thread yours was nor paid any special attention to it herself. So the chances are that she won't recognize either Orlene or Vita.''
So do we make our identities clear at the outset, or wait? Orlene asked.
"I'd better identify myself first, and explain why I'm in a living host," Jolie said. "Then I'll introduce the two of you and turn the body over to Orlene."
They approached the structure, treading carefully on the huge web. Vita had nervous thoughts about big spiders, but Jolie reassured her: any spiders here were sure to be manifestations of Fate.
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Jolie knocked on the web door. The surface yielded and sprang back as her knuckle touched it, but there was a sound, and in a moment the door was opened from inside.
A voluptuous black-haired girl stood there, her lustrous hair literally sparkling. "Oh, you're not an Incarnation!" she exclaimed, surprised.
"No, I'm Jolie," Jolie said. "In a mortal host. Hello, Clotho! Do you have time to -- "
"Oh, Jolie! I didn't recognize you, but now I do! No, actually this isn't a good time; we have an emergency and are just about to go to the mortal realm."
Jolie hadn't anticipated this. Of course, she couldn't interfere with the business of an Incarnation. Yet it was in her mind, and the minds of her companions, that after this interview they should return to the mortal realm, to eat and to assimilate what they had learned. It would be awkward to come here a second time. "Maybe if I state my business quickly?"
The woman blinked into middle age. "Jolie, we really are too pressed for courtesy at the moment. I am sorry."
"I bring your granddaughter, Lachesis."
The Incarnation did a double-take. "Oh, my! Very well, come inside while we prepare. We can talk while I orient on the appropriate threads."
Jolie entered. The Abode inside was fashioned of web also, with floor, walls, ceiling and even furniture all of the grayish material. She turned the body over to Oriene.
"Hello, I am Oriene," Oriene said awkwardly. "I lost my baby, and died, and now -- "
Lachesis spun on her. "You what?"
"You didn't know?" Oriene asked, taken aback. "I assumed I was only reminding you."
"My dear, I know nothing of your activities. This is deliberate, so that I will not play favorites with mortal threads. I did know that Jolie was keeping track of you, and though she associates with Satan, she also associates with your mother, who likewise does not follow your activities. We have been satisfied that Jolie would notify us if
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something important came up in your case, and I assumed that this visit represented such a notification. But -- you diedr'
"Yes. When my baby died, I -- I committed suicide. I realize I shouldn't have, but -- "
Lachesis plumped into a chair, appalled. "I hoped I had misheard or misunderstood. Where was Jolie while this was going on?"
' 'She was observing a candidate for a future Incarnation, and I was doing well -- there was no indication, because it happened fairly quickly, and -- "
"So now she brought you here, in an effort to make up for the oversight that allowed you to die?"
"I don't blame her!" Oriene exclaimed. "I was respon -- sible for what I did. Now she is helping me seek my baby, and I thank her for that."
Lachesis paused, as if listening to an inner voice. Then she stood. "I can see this is going to be complicated, but we really are busy, and can't take the time to investigate your thread. We shall simply have to take you along with us and discuss your situation as we go." She made a curious motion with her hand, and a length of thread flung out, lassoing Oriene. "This will keep you close; don't be concerned if strange things happen."
"Oh, I have already seen some pretty strange -- " Oriene started. But she broke off as Lachesis became a huge spider.
The spider jumped through the wall of the Abode -- and Oriene followed, drawn by the thread. There was no jerk or vertigo, just an abrupt change of setting, as they passed through the wall without resistance and hovered over a giant tapestry in another chamber. The tapestry was fashioned of many thousands of brightly colored threads, and each of these followed its own course without regard to the pattern -- ing of the tapestry as a whole. Yet, overall, it was a
marvelously unified construction, and beautiful in its variety and depth.
"This is the Tapestry of Life," Lachesis explained.
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"We are about to search out several particular threads, each of which represents the life of one mortal person." They floated down -- and instead of landing on the Tapestry, they approached it as if from an enormous distance, and it seemed to grow larger with changing perspective.
Awed by this vision, Orlene for the moment forgot her own quest. "If I may inquire -- what is the emergency you are in? I thought Fate controlled the destiny of all things, so would be the last to suffer a problem."
"True and false. We handle the lives of mortals, but we operate within a framework of rules that greatly limits our leeway. We must also be careful of the interactions within the Tapestry; if, for example, we carelessly remove one thread, that may affect others, which in turn affect others, in the end damaging the larger pattern and requiring spot correction. We also may be subject to the interference of Satan. We also on occasion do make errors -- of which you may be an example. But this particular emergency relates to none of these. Atropos is retiring."
"Your -- One of your three components?" Orlene asked, surprised.
"Our eldest Aspect, yes. She who cuts the threads of life." Lachesis was abruptly replaced by Atropos, a large grandmotherly black woman. "As Fate, we don't play favorites," Atropos said. "But we do watch. Lachesis refused to watch you, but I see it differently, and I watched my friends. Suddenly one is in trouble, because of a distant thread I had to cut, and I feel responsible. I can't ethically help her as Fate, but I can step down and then help her all I want as a mortal, and that's what I have to do. So there has to be a replacement for me. This business came up so quickly, I hadn't lined up a successor -- but if I don't step down before today is out, it will be too late for my friend. So we're in a real hurry."
Orlene was coming to appreciate the fact that not even the powerful Incarnations had easy existences. Their re -- sponsibilities expanded with their powers, and the complex -- ities of their Offices could lead to hectic moments.
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The Tapestry of Life was looming closer. Now the individual strands looked like cables, stretching from hori -- zon to horizon (though there wasn't any horizon here), sometimes brushing by others, sometimes spanning regions alone. The network had looked flat from a distance, but now was clearly three dimensional, with many layers of threads, and the weave was increasingly intricate.
"Jolie might have a candidate," Orlene suggested. "She has been observing prospects for Incarnations."
"Any smart grandmothers who want to leave the mortal realm?" Atropos asked.
No, Jolie thought. Mine are all younger.
"No," Orlene echoed.
"Well, we do have a couple of prospects," Atropos said. "There's a woman who has had an immense amount of life experience and we think could do an excellent job, if she wants to. We're going to ask her now."
They had reached the Tapestry of Life and were flying between the huge cables. They oriented on one that ex -- tended a long way back. It had been twined closely with several others, but those had terminated, and now it continued in isolation.
They flew right up to it -- but as they came within touching range it changed, and became a woman, in a dusky room, sitting alone, crocheting.
Atropos came to stand before her. "May 1 talk to you, Mrs. Forester?" she inquired politely.
"Why not?" the woman replied. "I can't see you well, but I can hear you. You're supernatural, aren't you?"
"Yes. How did you know?"
"Because you never came in the door. I never heard it open, or the floors creak. You coming to take me out of Mortality?"
"Maybe. Mrs. Forester, I am an Aspect of Fate. I cut the threads of life. I need to step down, and I would like you to take my place. I have observed you, and believe you are qualified to handle this Office."
"You are the one who ends lives?"
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183
"Who sets their limits, yes. It is, of course, not a casual decision; I spend as much time as I need to determine the appropriate point for each."
"I can't see well enough to read, which is why I'm not looking at a book now or watching a holo. How do you think I could see a life well enough to judge when it should be stopped?"
"You will assume a new body," Atropos said. "Then you will be able to see perfectly. You will also be in perfect health and invulnerable to physical injury. You will be immortal, as long as you want to be. But you will be one of three, never alone, never completely in charge."
Mrs. Forester sat for a while and thought about it. Finally she looked up. "I don't want it."
"Do you know that you do not have long to live, as you are? This would effectively extend your thread of life indefinitely."
"I know it. But it's my turn to go, and I'm ready for it. You have cut the lives of my husband and my children and my friends, so that now I am alone. All of them should have had more time to live. Maybe you had reason -- but I know I don't want to do that to anyone else. I'd rather just finish my term and rejoin my folks in Heaven. I will not serve as judge on any other person's life."
Atropos nodded. "Mrs. Forester, I thought you would feel that way. I am stepping down because I am needed in the mortal realm, and will not interfere with the lives of those who don't deserve it, for my own personal reasons. I will not live long after I step down, but I will do what has to be done. I came to offer you this position because I knew you were competent and not power hungry. But it is true that Fate makes decisions on the lives and deaths of mortals, and you can not avoid these decisions if you assume the Office. I thank you for your time, and I respect your decision."
Mrs. Forester picked up her crocheting. "Come and see me, when your business is done and you are mortal."
"I will try to." Atropos faded out.
Away from the thread, Atropos vented her spleen. "Damn it! Some of these white women have too much pride! It's hard to get the best, because they aren't moved by the idea of power or immortality.''
They were moving through the cables, toward another prospect. Lachesis remanifested. "Why did you come to me now, Orlene?"
"When I met Thanatos, I prevailed on him to spare the life of a newbom baby. We took it to a hospital instead. Thanatos said you would have to adjust its thread. I -- "
"I have already remeasured it," Lachesis said. "Tha -- natos has compassion, and I would not second-guess it. I handled that the moment it occurred, without investigating the case, because I knew he would have reason."
"Thank you," Orlene said, relieved. "The other thing -- I went to Nox to recover my own baby, but she said I had to have an item from each Incarnation. From you, a new thread, to -- "
Lachesis was replaced by Clotho, the lovely, youngest Aspect. "That is my department; I spin the threads of life. But this is no minor thing you ask! For one thing, what is the point, if your baby is already dead?"
"My baby died because he had come upon an incurable malaise of the soul. That malaise continues after his death and will prevent him from ever being a truly good spirit. I toust free him from that."
Clotho looked at her. "I sympathize with your need, but each thread I spin represents a potential life. I cannot sacrifice any one of them without excellent reason. I know you are the granddaughter of Niobe -- I mean, Lachesis -- but we cannot do favors merely because of such a relation -- ship."
"If there is any way I can earn it," Orlene said. "Any thing I can do -- "
"We really do not stand in need of anything a mortal might offer, and even less of anything a ghost could do.

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Certainly we can consider the matter, and if anything
occurs -- " She shrugged.
Orlene felt the weight of defeat. She knew she had nothing to offer but her plea. Clotho

was treating her fairly;
she could not claim otherwise.
They reached the next thread. This one was amidst several others; it was evident that no

close associates of this
person had died recently.
They approached -- and were in the presence of an old woman on a convoluted carpet. "Miss

Ember," Atropos
said, reappearing.
The woman jumped! "Oh, I didn't see you coming!
What can I do for you? I have some nice knickknacks for
sale -- "
"I am Atropos, an Aspect of Fate. I have watched you,
and know that you are a good woman. I want you to take my
Office and cut the threads of life."
"Is this a joke? I may be old and crippled, but my mind is sound. What are you trying to

pull?"
"I can prove my identity, if you wish. This is not a
joke."
"Very well: prove it."
Atropos flung a line of web. It settled around the woman. Then Atropos flung another line,

up through the roof of the house. She became a giant spider. She hooked onto the line that secured Mazie Ember's carpet with one leg, and used the others to climb the other line.

The climb was rapid. In a moment they were passing through the roof and rising up into the sky. Atropos/spider hauled the cargo up to a local cloud. Then, perched on the top of the cloud, Atropos resumed her human form. "This is part of the power of an Incarnation. Do you wish to see

more?"
Mazie was evidently shaken, but not convinced.
"Yes."
Lachesis reappeared. "I am the central Aspect of Fate,
Lachesis. I measure the threads of life." Then Clotho;
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185
"And I spin them. The three of us share this body, and you would share it, too, being

immortal until you chose to leave."
Mazie was becoming persuaded. "I never thought that I would ever be offered such a job!
But I can't move my limbs at all; that's why I use a medical carpet. I would be useless." "No," Clotho said. "You would join our body, leaving yours behind. Atropos would assume
your body, and it would assume her likeness and mortal capabilities, and she would use your carpet
to fly away to her pressing business among the mortals. You would regain full use of your limbs." "Oh, my!" Mazie exclaimed, astonished. "What a dream!"
"But you would have to share time with the other two," Clotho said. "Lachesis and I would
be your constant companions. Our duties are pressing; it is no holiday we offer you. Merely a new
mode of existence."
Mazie shrugged. "No."
Atropos reappeared. "You do not wish to take the Office?"
"Oh, I would love the Office! But not the responsibility. I could not ever trust myself to
decide when a life should end. I am sure I would make mistakes, and that is too important to allow
mistakes. So I know I must not do it."
"We all have had to leam our Offices," Atropos said. "We all have made mistakes. But we
keep striving to do better."
"But I don't trust my own judgment," Mazie said. "I have always been dependent on the
decisions of others. To be suddenly free of pain, of paralysis, and to be making decisions for
others -- no, I know I would make a mess of it. So I thank you for the offer, and I make the one
decision whose correctness I can be sure of: not to take what you offer."
Atropos gazed at her, then faded out. The carpet slid
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back down the line, into the house, and resumed its former
position, no harm done,
"We can't force a person to take the Office," Atropos
said. "But it leaves us up the crick. I don't have any more
good prospects."
Clotho reappeared. "Are you sure you have to go,
Atropos? You know we'd rather have you stay with us."
"I have to go," Atropos said, manifesting again. "What I have to do, no other can do for
me. I guess we'll just have to shop for any woman who'll take the job, even if she isn't the best.
I hate this, but that's the way it is."
Lachesis manifested. "It is your prerogative to end your tenure when you choose. We must
support you in this, just as we supported Clotho's predecessor when she decided to marry the
Japanese martial artist. It will work out somehow;
it always has. It is not as if your successor will be alone or unguided." But she did not
look happy.
"If I may ask -- " Orlene said hesitantly.
Lachesis glanced at her. "Oh, Orlene -- I forgot you were with us! Of course we shall
return you to the Abode!"
"No, I mean, I have a question about your change of
Aspect. Does it have to be a woman?"
Lachesis paused. "Why no, of course not," she said. "No Incarnation is fixed by sex. But
during both my
tenures -- no, it doesn't have to be a woman."
"I think I know a man who might be good, and who might accept it," Orlene said. "If you
were willing to
consider him -- "
Jolie and Vita, hitherto satisfied to leave it to Orlene,
came alive together. You don't mean -- Jolie started. Ro -- que? Vita concluded, with
horrendously mixed emotions. "Who is this man?" Lachesis asked sharply.
"His name is Nicolai," Orlene said. Jolie and Vita relaxed, amazed. Orlene, pretty much
lost at her death and after the encounter with Nox, was now really taking hold! "He's an old Gypsy
widower, whose only daughter is mar -- ried and gone. I don't know if he is still alive, actually, but -- "
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Lachesis spread her hands. Between them a webbing appeared: a section of the Tapestry of
Life. She peered closely into it. "He is alive." She put her hands together and the webbing
vanished, except for a single strand.
Then they were moving rapidly along that strand. All else blurred past.
They came to rest in a village in southern France. The old Gypsy man's refuse hovel
remained almost unchanged -- and so did he. He had been about sixty years old; now he was eighty,
and slower, but still doing for himself in the Gypsy way.
Atropos appeared to him. "Nicolai," she said.
The old man's gaze swung to fasten on her.' 'I hear you, Mistress of threads! What do you
want with me?"
"How are you at judging folk?"
"Excellent!" he said. "I can tell almost at a glance how much money a man is worth and how
much he will yield for a trinket."
Atropos smiled. "All Gypsies can. But suppose you had to make decisions on their lives?" "A man does what he has to. But we do not like to kill. That is seldom necessary." "I will be direct. I am Fate. I have three Aspects, one of which I must replace before the
day is out. We are considering you to replace that Aspect, but we are uncertain whether we want a
male, and whether you should be that male. If you are interested, you must persuade all three of
us, and we may not be kind in the investigation. We can not give you time to consider; our
deadline is hard upon us, and if you do not wish to be considered, we must go elsewhere
immediately."
Nicolai hardly blinked. "The Romani are quick to assess any situation. Answer me three
questions, and I will answer yours."
"Ask."
"Which Aspect?"
Atropos touched her ample bosom. "Me -- Atropos. I cut the threads of life." 188 Piers Anthony AND ETERNITY
189
"Will I have complete discretion about which threads to
cut?"
"No. You must always consider the benefit of the entire Tapestry of Life, and the
interests of the other Aspects and the other Incarnations. The cutting is never random or
careless. But within those guidelines, you do have discre -- tion. No one else will second-guess
you."
"Will there be occasion for music or dancing or storytelling?"
"If you wish."
"Then I am interested."
Atropos gazed at him. "You didn't ask about magic or immortality or power." "I didn't need to. I know what Incarnations are. I know the power they wield. I know they
are immortal as long as they want to be. I know they can choose their forms and that at least one
aspect of Fate is always young and lovely."
"That won't do you any good," Atropos warned. "Only one Aspect can assume form at a time,
the other two becoming mere thoughts. You will never be able to touch Clotho."
"But what joy to be near her!"
"Then let her be the first to question you," Atropos said grimly.
Clotho appeared, deceptively young and bouncy. "So you like to dance," she said. "How can
you reconcile that with the serious business of cutting threads?"
"What is life worth without merriment? Serious matters constantly beset every mortal
person. We can seek reprieve only in the innocent pleasures of life, such as music and dance and
the appreciation of luscious flesh like yours."
Clotho was not much moved. "If you faced death tomorrow, would you dance today?" "Yes! I face death every momentofmy life, especially now that my years are almost done, so
every moment I make the most of it. There can be no better death than with a fiddle in my hands
and a song in my throat and beauty in my eye."
She remained skeptical. "Let me see you dance, then." "Give me a partner." Clotho hesitated, obviously not wanting to be diverted by getting into it herself. /'// do it! Vita thought. / think his dancing is terrific! "Do it, then." Oriene turned
the body over to her. "I'll dance with you!" Vita cried. "But I don't know the tananaV "Then learn it," Nicolai said, assuming a formal position. He seemed unsurprised by her
appearance from nowhere. "Stand opposite me, look me in the eye. Now respond as I move, so." He
demonstrated -- and as he moved, he seemed to lose forty years.
Vita followed his directions, haltingly at first, then with greater confidence. Soon she
was doing a bit of the tanana, and becoming extraordinarily sexy in the process. The dance left
barely enough to the imagination to differentiate it from abandoned lovemaking, yet that caused
the imagi -- nation to run rampant. Her hips flung out, and around, and forward in unmistakable
emulation of vigorous copulation. Her breasts stood up and shook independently. But it was the
movements of the head that had the greatest effect, particularly the eyes. She shot dark glances
sidelong at her partner, those looks barely passing her tousled hair, and Nicolai met them with
such burgeoning implication that even in the midst of her own effort she blushed. Jolie knew that
the Gypsies were supposed to be lusty folk; now she knew that it was no exaggeration. They made
sex appeal into an art, and it was truly shameless: they had no shame in it. Jolie felt Vita's
increasing delight in the forms of it;
this was almost as good as making it with Roque!
Meanwhile Clotho watched, her cynicism slowly be -- coming interest, and her interest
excitement. Her body mirrored in diminished scope the motions Vita was making. Finally she could
stand it no longer; she stepped forward, joining the dance.
Clotho was good at it; obviously she had had experience dancing. She quickly picked up the
motions Vita had strug -

190 Piers Anthony gled over, and her voluptuous body gave her a head start. Oriene, watching, had a thought:

She is Norton's lover?
You died, Jolie reminded her. He still prefers you, but you can not join him. I have no business being jealous, she agreed. All the same...
Nicolai adapted without a hitch. Now he danced oppo -- site two young women, and courted

them both, and made both feel helplessly wanton. He could have stripped the clothes off each and done whatever he wanted with them, and neither would have objected; rather, they would have joined in with enthusiasm. They were captive of the tanana, and reveling in it. They had lost the social limitations they had come with, for the abandon of the dance.