Aftermath

Jinx paced silently, incessantly. Since the harrowing scene with Elanor, he'd been unable to settle down even for a moment. He seemed to be aware of her every breath and motion, even when he wasn't looking at her. He dared not say anything, for fear he'd be unthinkingly cruel again, or simply because nothing he could say could be other than anticlimactic: what does one say after one has said 'I love you' and meant it? He felt like he was balanced precariously on some high pinnacle, forever toppling over and catching himself, and he knew without needing to ask that Elanor felt exactly the same way.

Was this what humans meant when they talked about being 'in love'? It was certainly insane enough to qualify. When he'd realized that he and Elanor were both totally mad and believed things that were completely different from reality, he recognized it as 'love'. However, he couldn't figure out why the humans liked it so much, since as far as he could tell it was extremely unpleasant and frightening.

Elanor, at first glance, seemed to be floating on air, but whenever Jinx met her eyes he saw that same terrifyingly fragile look, a look that said she, too, was in some scary limbo and would break in an instant if he failed her. Jinx didn't know how to deal with that. To make matters worse, neither had spoken since she said she loved him. At first it was because they were cuddling and didn't need to, but then it became obvious that neither could think of anything to say, and as the time trundled, creaking, past, the silence became more disturbing and harder to break. Jinx paced incessantly, and Elanor floated around dreamily, and every minute or so they would come together and Jinx would caress Elanor's soft fur and, again, not have anything to say. He toyed with the notion of making love to her then and there, but didn't suggest it, because the mood they were in was so frighteningly intimate that having sex seemed far too crude a way to express it. Elanor seemed to feel the same way, disconcertingly. Jinx had thought he could count on her to be cheerfully crude and unsophisticated, yet there she was, in the throes of a passion far beyond happy lust, glancing nervously at him every few seconds as if she was afraid he'd vanish, or change his mind and not love her anymore. Jinx fervently hoped that his and Elanor's feelings would settle down before long. This was certainly love, but if it stayed at the same fearfully intense level for much longer, it would also make an effective torture.

As he realized this, the spell was broken by a rapping at the door, to Jinx's great relief.

It was Peter, and he looked worried. "Jinx, I... Are you all right?"

Jinx found himself saying "I'm fine, thank you. What's happening?"

"That," said Peter, "is a very good question. Hello, Elanor, you're looking well."

"Thank you," purred Elanor blissfully.

"Oh! Elanor, you can speak now?"

"Why, certainly. Do you like it?"

"It's most fetching, my dear. Quite startled me at first, your new voice sounds just like your mind-voice did. But it doesn't matter so much if I like it, you know. Are you happy with it? That's what's important."

"I've never been so happy." she purred.

"Hm. Dare I ask?"

"Ask what?"

"Never mind." said Peter. "Jinx, I hate to barge in like this, but Gerald's dead as well."

"Does that mean I have to go to another funeral?"

"No, Gerald isn't going to be laid in Rainmoor. I needed to tell you what's been happening..."

"I think Vernon would like to hear about it as well."

"Good point, Jinx. I'm so flustered I never thought of it. Let's go into his cave, and I'll tell you there."

As they entered, Vernon cast a penetrating eye over Jinx, then blinked as Elanor floated in after them.

"Well, well. Elanor? Did you manage to solve your little problem?"

"Sort of. I might still want your help."

"Even so, I'm impressed, my dear. I happen to know what you were up against, and 'sort of' is better than I would have expected. You must tell me how you managed it..."

Both Jinx and Peter were startled at this exchange. Peter said, "Vernon, what is this?"

"None of your business, Monster. Now, what brings you all here?"

"Brace yourself, Vernon... Robert's dead. Gerald's dead. And King Thomas has made Lord Charles and Jinx here Lords of the First Rank. And, I've resigned my lordship. How's that for a busy morning, eh?"

"Why, I already knew that," replied the dragon, "except for the bit about Gerald. I'd heard the rest from Jinx and Sean, you know. It was gratifying to learn of Robert's death so quickly, for I was able to speak with him briefly before he completely merged with Rainmoor..."

"You what?" exclaimed Peter. "Tell me you didn't forget to ask him who killed him! I know you're not always concerned with human affairs, Vernon, but if you overlooked that I shall be disgusted with you!"

"No, I did ask him that. And I'm simply fascinated with human affairs, I might add. Particularly these current ones, which are terribly interesting from an intellectual standpoint. I did ask Robert who had killed him, and as you might expect, it was Nameless. But it won't help you any, because he didn't know who Nameless was."

"Oh, surely he noticed? His head was bashed in..."

"By his favorite mug. Mind you, he didn't specify whether anyone happened to be holding it at the time. It's possible that the thing was animated for that purpose."

Peter sighed, frustrated. "Then, you learned nothing from Robert. That's all right, but I had hoped we might discover something. How annoying."

"I didn't say I learned nothing, Monster. We may not know who Nameless is, but I think I learned who is to kill him. Jinx."

"You don't say! Are you quite sure?"

"Well, mostly. There is some possibility that Jinx is destined to kill the King instead, possibly both of them. It's hard to tell."

"Good lord. Jinx, is there any reason you'd want to kill the King?"

"No, there isn't." answered Jinx. "When did Gerald get killed?"

"Yes, Monster," added the dragon. "Do tell us all about it."

"By all means... After the ceremonies, I'd gone to speak with King Thomas. I had to warn him that the brusque tone he'd used to the nobles probably wasn't helping matters. Before I even got started, however, the King's page burst in, and he declared with great excitement that Gerald was, as he put it, 'toast'. He'd gone into Gerald's room..."

"Doesn't old Tom frown on such informality, Monster?" inquired the dragon.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't informality, Vernon. Gerald had burned to death. The boy was in quite a state, but we managed to get a very good description out of him. Gerald was killed, it seems, by magic fire."

"That's rather nasty, even for Gerald, isn't it?" commented the dragon.

"It's extremely nasty, no matter who you're talking about. Makes me wish I'd been more decent to the man while he was alive. As you can see, that leaves only three First Lords when King Thomas was originally counting on five. There's only Ivan, Charles and Jinx left now."

"Which one was Ivan?" asked Jinx.

"Jinx," said Peter, "you're assuming that Ivan was at the ceremony. He did not attend. In fact, Ivan has dropped out of sight lately. I have seen him, and he claims to be searching for Nameless, searching so intently that he doesn't have time to attend court functions. I believe King Thomas has become certain that Ivan is the Nameless One, and that makes things difficult."

"Difficult how?" asked Jinx.

"Well, King Thomas refuses to leave his rooms until the Nameless One is unmasked. Unfortunately, he's so suspicious of Ivan that he won't grant him an audience, and that makes it impossible to know what Ivan really is..."

"I don't understand."

"Permit me to explain," said the dragon. "Jinx, part of the protection that Rainmoor has for the King is a guard against deception. Such a spell is extremely difficult to set up in any useful sense, but King Thomas has been able to create one centered around his throne room. The effect weakens with distance, so when Tom needs to be sure of someone's statements he will grant them an audience, and they will come to him in his throne room and speak to him there. At the focus, the spell is virtually infallible. It's very specific, though: magic often is. If somebody tells a deliberate untruth to the King, the King will know that. He won't know what the truth is, he won't know why the untruth was told, but the King will know that false words were stated."

"Exactly!" said Peter. "I'll give you an example. When we learned that Gerald was dead, King Thomas sent the page out to get Lord Charles, and questioned Charles. King Thomas demanded that Charles tell what he knew about it, and I daresay tipped him off that Ivan was suspected, as well."

"And what did Charles have to say?" inquired the dragon, significantly.

Peter heaved a sigh. "A dreadful lot of rubbish, really, quite incoherent. Charles was horrified. Charles thinks the Nameless one is very dangerous. Charles wants King Thomas to stay safely in his rooms until the Nameless One is revealed. Charles thinks burning to death must be a terribly painful way to die. The last time Charles saw Gerald, he was fine. Charles didn't check on Gerald that morning, he just rushed off to the ceremony. Charles thinks all the mayhem must have happened that night. Charles also pointed out that Gerald had gravely offended you, Jinx, that same night. I'm certain that he wanted to add that I'd humiliated Gerald as well, but as I was standing right there he omitted that part."

"All true, I suppose?"

"All utterly true. When he'd left, I checked with King Thomas and there wasn't a word he said even slightly false. Of course, that just made King Thomas more certain that Ivan was the one."

"My dear Monster," said the dragon, "of the statements you mentioned, there isn't one that proves Charles isn't the Nameless One. Not once did he clearly state that he wasn't Nameless. I am forced to assume..."

Jinx interrupted him in exasperation. "You thought Sean was the Nameless One first, and then you thought Peter was. You think too much."

"You what, Vernon?" said Peter. "Sean's a thoroughly decent fellow, and you touched my mind when you gave me that spell to speak with Elanor! Surely that satisfied you that I'm not Nameless. As for Charles, the man was pathetically flustered. He's not much use in a crisis: he goes to pieces. Whatever are you thinking, Vernon?"

"I'm only trying to solve the problem, Monster!" replied the dragon, irritated. "As far as thinking Sean and you were Nameless, I had good circumstantial evidence that happened to be irrelevant. And I'd forgotten tapping your mind during the few seconds, which Jinx mentioned, that I considered it might be you. As for its being Charles, don't you think it's possible the man only seems to be a useless flunky, but is secretly hiding a monstrously clever wickedness? He might have picked his words carefully."

Peter was speechless for a moment. Then he exploded. "Damn it, Vernon! If I thought that, then I would not have suggested him! I, not you, am responsible for persuading King Thomas to promote him. Do you think I would do that if I thought he was a threat to my King? And my friend, I might add! And why would he, if he was the Nameless Pretender, try to persuade the King to stay at home with the doors barred and not mix with the nobles?"

"I'm not sure, but..."

"Vernon, you're a dear friend, but you have an unpleasant tendency to treat this as a game! Don't you see that your speculations are distressing? You're delighted to suggest that I have gotten the King to promote his worst enemy, and it doesn't occur to you that my feelings are involved!"

The dragon paused, and became more serious. "I'm sorry I upset you, Peter. You're quite right in your perceptions. All this is indeed a game for me. What else could it be? This Nameless One is not a threat to me, and all you humans are going to die soon enough anyway. But I do regret speaking so freely of these things, because I know perfectly well you're not capable of a dragonlike detachment: indeed, that's part of your charm. The pleasure of speculating on the identity of Nameless doesn't justify the result of upsetting my human friends. I shall keep it to myself, from now on."

"Well, do let somebody know if you work it out for certain." said Peter.

"If you like. How certain do you wish me to be?"

"Dead certain, Vernon. You've got a great talent for imagining possibilities, and that's why you can be upsetting. Whether or not it's true, you can give reasons and make interpretations until what you're thinking seems perfectly logical. I'd rather you got proof, because this isn't a game for us."

"I understand. Since this topic is a distressing one, perhaps we can discuss something else now. Monster, is there anything you'd like to discuss? I imagine that, after the difficult day you've had, you'd be more than willing to continue the conversation I began with Sean. Does that appeal to you?"

Peter seemed somber, as the day had left him less frivolous than usual. "What conversation is this?"

"Things that aren't about chickens."

"Vernon..."

"Well, we could also talk about things that aren't about worms. That's another possibility."

"Vernon," said Peter quietly, "how about not bothering with all that, just this once? I haven't the energy right now."

"All right. I thought I could cheer you up that way. Would you like me to call you 'Peter', instead of 'Monster'? I'm quite willing to make the exception."

"I thought sometimes you did call him 'Peter'," said Jinx. "You had a lot of complicated rules, which you said I didn't have to keep track of."

Peter looked at Jinx. "No, you don't understand. What the rules boil down to is, Vernon would always call me 'Monster', and then we could make up all sorts of arguments about why it was my turn to be 'Monster' that day. Vernon, you know what I'd like most of all? I'd like to go home and be with Julia, after the morning I've had. I trust you're not offended?"

"Why, Peter, of course I'm not offended. I quite understand. I should feel the same way myself, if I were you."

"Who is Julia?" asked Jinx.

"My wife, Jinx. I suppose I haven't mentioned her, as the court etiquette rather ignores women. Now that I mention it, I might add that it has always annoyed me. You get used to not mentioning your wife, because she's supposed to be a sort of appendage to you, not able to understand serious things..."

"Do you think Julia will be upset at you for not being a Lord anymore?" asked Jinx.

"Hardly. She's been my conscience through the whole rotten mess, and she's been suggesting I quit for some time now. I say, Jinx, now that you mention it, Julia would like to meet you. Would you like to come over for dinner tonight? Nothing fancy, just a pleasant evening with friends. We'll make a special celebration of it, for you becoming a First Lord and me not having to be one anymore. How about it?"

Jinx glanced automatically at Elanor. "What about Elanor?"

"It sounds wonderful!" said Elanor. "Please, Jinx, can I come with you?"

Jinx looked back and forth between Peter and Vernon, upset.

"You said it was dangerous for Elanor to go out! Are you sure it's okay? I don't want to go if Elanor can't come, but I don't want Elanor to be in danger either!"

The man and the dragon looked at each other.

"Do you want to field that one, Vernon?"

"All right. Jinx, we weren't totally straight with you when we convinced Elanor not to go with you last night. It's true there are people who'd like to pick Elanor's brain: however, that was never the real reason why we didn't want Elanor wandering Rainmoor, and it's not a serious danger. Your being made a First Lord improved that somewhat: there is magic around that title that extends to the consort as well, but we only said Elanor was being sought after because we couldn't possibly explain the real reason."

Jinx was affronted. "What's the real reason? Or can't you tell Jinx real reasons?"

"It's Rainmoor, Jinx." said Peter, smiling. "I don't need to tell you now, you've seen it. Would you have believed how vast Rainmoor is without seeing it for yourself? I could trust you to not explore strange paths, but you still gave me some bad moments. Jinx, if you'd gone off into the wrong tunnel you could have become hopelessly lost very easily. The caves distort sound, so hailing isn't much help. If you had panicked in the Nexus and gone down the wrong tunnel there, anything could have happened. You could have gone through one of the natural gates and ended up absolutely anywhere. If ever you get lost in Rainmoor, you have to trust people will look for you and sit tight waiting for them. It's not the sort of place where you can try to find your way back to places you know. You could go through a natural Gate and wind up thousands of miles away, in completely uncharted territory. Now can you see why we couldn't let Elanor come along?"

"That's scary to think about. Maybe I shouldn't go." said Jinx.

"Well, I'd come get you. Or are you worrying that Elanor might break free and run off? That was my worry, frankly, but I didn't like to say it at the time..."

"Peter," said Vernon, "while you were out with Jinx I was with Elanor, teaching her to speak, and many other things. This was done magically, of course, and didn't take much time. After that, we had a very long, interesting conversation, and I learned much about her character. In my opinion, it is not reasonable to worry that Elanor will run off after something and get lost. We have been treating her like a unintelligent being, and her responses have been limited to the information we've allowed her to have. Tell her the truth, and things will work out much better. I'll demonstrate. Elanor, the reason we didn't want you to go outside these rooms before is because outside is a network of caves that go on forever. They connect to each other in an extremely confusing manner, and they never end. With that in mind, when you go outside, will you want to explore?"

Elanor thought for a second. "I'll want to explore, yes, but it sounds like I could get lost very easily. I've seen caves just like that when I traveled in the lonely place. Are they the same ones?"

"The what?" said Peter.

"Good god, what idiots we are, Monster!" exclaimed Vernon. "She's an Astral Guard! She knows the damned place better than you do, most likely!"

Peter's jaw dropped, and then he grinned. "I'll expect you around dinnertime, Jinx. Elanor will show you the way. You do know where my place is, don't you, Elanor?"

"Is it the place where you and the nice lady stay? The bubbly place where you go at night to make love?"

Peter flushed slightly. "Quite."

Jinx smirked. "You'd better get used to it. Jinx isn't going to try to change Elanor into people, because he likes her the way she is."

"Actually, Jinx," said Peter, "wait until you meet Julia, before you say that being that blunt isn't like people, don't you know. I shan't explain any more. See you this evening..."

He left, blushing slightly.

"Vernon?" asked Jinx. "Is Julia in heat a lot, or something?"

"No, Jinx. Instead, both you and Peter are very shy about your instinctual drives and try not to refer to them if possible. Elanor and Julia are comfortable with their own, and end up embarrassing you by referring to these things at times when you find it inappropriate. Elanor is considerably more innocent, and will say things out loud no matter who's listening. Julia is considerably smarter than Elanor, and when she embarrasses Peter it's on purpose and artistically done, for instance whispering something only he can hear into his ear during a formal dinner."

"Whispering what?"

"Peter has never been willing to tell me. He just smirks and blushes if I press him for it. I wish I'd thought of looking for that when I was looking at his mind, but the thought never occurred to me. Peter's mind is sectioned off into public and private areas, which is common for humans, and the intimate details of his lovemaking and such things are buried and generally aren't thought of out of context. By the way, your mind is the same way. Elanor's is not, and neither is Julia's: she simply is more aware of what is considered socially acceptable behavior."

"Oh." said Jinx. "What were you talking about with Elanor?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"When we came in, you asked Elanor if she solved her little problem. What problem?"

"You." said Vernon. "And perhaps she did, but I'd still like to hear how she did it."

Jinx wanted to say he wasn't a problem, but he knew that wasn't true.

"I cried." said Elanor.

"Ah! Womanly wiles, Elanor? I am impressed. Already you're using your new modes of expression effectively. I don't remember teaching you those pretty deceits, but I guess you didn't need much teaching, eh? You figured out on your own that you could wrap him around your, er, paw..."

"No, I cried when Jinx said he wasn't going to speak to me."

"He what? Jinx, what is this?" demanded the dragon, angrily.

"I was only trying to make her apologize," said Jinx, realizing how stupid that sounded.

"Do tell! What sort of a creature are you, anyhow, to say such a thing? I was afraid you'd end up hurting her, but this is incredible! I'm not sure I'm willing to speak to you..."

"Stop it!" snarled Elanor. "You leave my mate alone!"

"But, Elanor, I'm just trying to..."

"You're saying mean things to him, that's what you're doing. If you don't stop, I'm going to bite you, or claw off all your scales!"

"All right, all right, Elanor! Don't test your teeth on me, you'd only break them, my dear! Now, if it's all right with you, I'd like to hear from Jinx what happened. I'm not convinced you can be objective about this."

"What's objective?" she asked, puzzled.

"Not caring about what happens." translated Jinx for her.

"Oh. Why would I want to not care about things? Go ahead, tiger."

Jinx shuffled his paws nervously, feeling vulnerable. "I did what you said and told Elanor to apologize..."

"You're blaming me?" said Vernon incredulously.

"Don't interrupt!" snapped Elanor. "Keep going, Jinx. I'll keep him from misbehaving."

"I told Elanor to apologize, but actually I never said for what, and she didn't know, so she didn't say anything. I thought she was mad at me, so I went away and felt mad, and then I needed to apologize so she wouldn't be mad anymore, only she was crying..."

"I thought he hated me," said Elanor, "and I still don't know what I did that was so wrong, but I apologized and said that I'd go away if he wanted me to, only I forgot he liked making love to me and then I said I'd make love to him and hide the rest of the time so he wouldn't have to see me..."

"And then I started crying too and told her to look at me, and she was far away but when I told her I loved her she came back, even though it hurt..."

"And I told him I didn't want to love him, but I'm sorry and I didn't really mean it and I do love him and everything is going to be perfect from now on."

Vernon looked at them, perplexed. "Are you both totally mad?"

"No, but don't you see, Vernon?" said Jinx. "That's how I knew that both of us really did love each other, because we were both even crazier than the humans get!"

"Well, I knew I loved you all along, tiger. I'm just glad you love me instead of never wanting to speak to me again."

"You are both totally mad," said the dragon, "and this just proves that you're my two favorite people. You've no idea how predictable the humans can be: it's a real pleasure to know two people who confuse even me. Have you set a date for the wedding? Somehow I wouldn't be too surprised..."

"What's a wedding?" asked Elanor.

"It's like getting made a Lord, only there has to be two people and you get to keep your old name. No, wait: I get to keep my name but since you're female you have to be called 'Jinx'. Is that right, Vernon?"

The dragon was laughing, little flickers of flame sputtering out his nostrils. "I should charge admission." he said.

"To what, the wedding?"

"He's making fun of us, Jinx. We should go away and ignore him."

"Right, Elanor. He's only being silly, though, and he always does that."

"So we'll go away and then when we come back we won't make him apologize."

As they left, Vernon called after them, "You'll always be welcome here, and do invite me to the wedding. I can't wait to see Elanor in her bridal gown!" He started laughing again.

"Just ignore him." suggested Jinx.