Part 25 (2/2)
”Ah. no. but-”
”So until your clothing is dry, you had better stay close to Breanna. For warmth, after you both have suffered a chill. This is merely routine common sense.”
”True. But-”
Pia turned a severe glance on him. ”You are not going to summon any stork, are you?”
”Of course not! But-”
”So there is no problem, is there?” When he hesitated, she repeated: ”Is there?”
”For sure not.” Breanna said eagerly, and hauled him off to a tent.
Edsel joined her in the other tent, and closed off the ends. ”Sometimes I think I could get to like your style.” he said, ”if I didn't already love you.'”
”Shut up and warm me,” she said. But she was pleased. Their tacit deal required her to make him deliriously happy for the night, and she knew exactly how to do that, and was doing it now, but sometimes she liked doing it better than other times. She appreciated his recognition of the way she had solved the problem of wet clothing.
He spoiled it by only one comment. ”I wish I could win you back ”
”We're not yet out of Xanth.” she replied, hinting that his ploy was not yet lost. But it was a mere courtesy: she still intended to divorce him after this was over. Then she would see about studying Mundane environmentalism. Justin was a continuing font of information and insight into all things natural, but the things here were mostly magical. She would need to learn the non-magic variants.
”Poor Justin,” he said. ”He can't do this, and he wants to so much.”
”Maybe I can educate him.” For she could say things to the man that Breanna could not. Because despite her sixteen year old body, she was not sixteen, and there was precious little the Adult Conspiracy had left to show her.
Sixteen: she loved being physically sixteen again. The merest twitch of this body could make a man flip.
She twitched. Edsel flipped. Ah. there was true power He was completely unable to resist her. And with the magic of this land, she could freak him out whenever she wanted to just by putting on the right bit of clothing. He thought he was having his will of her, but she was having her will of him making him perform with desperate enthusiasm, thinking every notion was his own. How little he knew! How little men ever knew.
In due course Edsel wore himself out, and she was able to relax. She had not thought to bring any Mundane stork signal interrupters, but there were other ways, if she were unlucky. And it did guarantee Edsel's complete cooperation on the quest.
She wondered idly what it would be like to seduce Justin. She could surely do it, if she chose. But it would not be ethical, and with her appreciation of the need to save the trees had come an appreciation of the rules of that game. Strictly hands off the Companions. Anyway, Breanna was her friend.
Still, it had been fun making both men stare. She did not merely love this, she actually reveled in this sixteen year old physique, and wanted to show it off while she had it. Once she returned to Mundania. she would revert to her real body. That one was not as good, her necessary consumption of sugar to counterbalance the insulin shots, had led to some weight gain. If this body was a 10, that one was an 5, and descending. But maybe she would now have the stamina to do the dieting and exercise required to whip it back into shape, working around her condition.
She slept, surprisingly comfortable on the pillows, in the warmth of the tent and Edsel's proximity. Their session had really heated him up. and that in turn warmed her.
In the morning she disengaged from Edsel's too-fond embrace and went out to recover her clothes. They were where she had left them, hanging on sticks by the gently blazing fire, and quite dry. Someone must have tended the fire during the night, for it was in good order. She put on her bra and panties, then reached for her skirt-and saw Justin. The man had evidently been out gathering more food, and come upon her unawares, and freaked out. He was fully dressed, standing frozen.
Well, she knew how to handle that. Interesting that the sight of her underwear itself had not affected Justin when he tended the fire in the night. It was only such apparel on the body that did it. As was the case, to a lesser extent, in Mundania. Like soda and ice cream, it took a combination to do the trick. What would be the effect of panties on a dressmaker's mannequin? There had to be some special magic, because Edsel was also affected, as Breanna had demonstrated when she mooned both men with her black panties. Edsel had seen similar sights many times before, both from her and the steamy movies he liked. Yet in Xanth he had completely freaked out. So was it something in the air?
She donned the rest of her clothing, then snapped her fingers. The man recovered. ”h.e.l.lo. Justin,” she said cheerfully, as if there had been no break.
”h.e.l.lo. Pia.”' he answered, unaware of his time out. He set down the armful of pies and milkweed pods he had foraged. They would have a good breakfast. ”Did you sleep well?”
No need to go into the first half hour. ”Very well. And you?”
He fidgeted. ”I-I have never before been that close to a-a-”
”Naked girl?”
”Whatever,” he agreed, halfway emulating Metria. ”I very much admire and love Breanna, but I was so sorely tempted to-to-”
His diffidence was charming, but probably pointless. ”Let me ask you some things. If two people both know the content of the Adult Conspiracy, and both wish to indulge in an aspect of its mystery, is there any reason they should not?” She took one of his pies and began warming it over the fire.
”Well, that depends on their ages If one-”
”But does it? Doesn't the Conspiracy govern what they may learn or say, rather than what they actually do?”
”Why, surely it governs also what they do. I-”
”Breanna mentioned a man called Ralph, who was supposed to guide her to the Isle of Women last year, who attempted to summon the stork with her.”
”Why yes,” he agreed. ”I was with her at the time, in her mind. She kicked him into Para, who carried him hastily away. That was an ugly scene.”
”Why did she have to fight him off? I mean, if the Conspiracy is enforced in actions, why couldn't she have just lain there, and he would have been unable to violate it? The same way we are unable to say bad words in her presence, like bleep?” Her pie was warm enough; she took a bite.
He stared at her. ”I never thought of that. I don't know what would have happened ”
”I do. She did need to fight him off. Which means that aspect is not magically enforced. Some things can be done, but not spoken of, such as natural functions-which this happens to be.” She couldn't identify the flavor of pie. ”What kind is this?”
”Brownberry. Similar to blackberry, but less so. and with a mocha flavor.” Then he returned to the other subject. ”But surely it must be enforced, because-”
”Because it is enforced in every other respect. Maybe you are right. In which case, you don't need to worry. Next time you are with her, don't hold back. The Conspiracy will stop you.” She decided that there was indeed a hint of chocolate and coffee flavor in the pie.
He was clearly nonplused. ”But suppose-”
”Suppose it doesn't. Then it must be because it doesn't apply to two people who are knowledgeable and willing, and who love each other. At least when both are at least sixteen. Doesn't that make sense?”
”But I've always believed-”
”I've always believed that magic doesn't exist.” she said. ”Sometimes long-held beliefs are mistaken. I think the practical thing to do is to try a thing to see whether it works.” She sucked on a milkweed pod getting the fresh milk.
”Possibly you are correct,” he said dubiously.
”Justin, you know an enormous amount about nature, but not much about romance. So don't take my word; just let yourself be natural with her. and see what happens. Whatever happens must be right. Isn't that so?
”Perhaps it is,” he conceded.
She had finished her pie. She was satisfied, she had set out to educate him, and might have done Breanna a considerable favor in the process. It was quid pro quo: Pia was monopolizing Justin by day, so she was enhancing him for Breanna by night.
The flap of a tent moved. Breanna emerged. ”Oh, I must have overslept,” she said.
”It happens,” Pia said, not deceived. The girl had been listening. and she was no fool. Justin would be in for the night of his long life, tonight.
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