Part 9 (2/2)
She rose as he entered the arbor and sat again as he sat He said, ”You really don't have to do that when we're alone, sib. I've told you.”
Maytera Marble tilted her head in such a way that her rigid, metal face appeared contrite. ”Sometimes I forget I apologize, Patera.”
”And I forget that I should never correct you, because I
always find out, as soon as it's too late, that you were right
after all. What is it you want to talk to me about, Maytera?”
”You don't mind the rain?” Maytera Marble looked up
at the overarching thatch of vines.
”Of course not But you must If you don't feel like walking all the way to the palaestra, we could go into the manteion. I want to see if the roof still leaks, anyway.”
She shook her head. ”Maytera Rose would be upset She knows that it's perfectly innocent but she doesn't want us meeting in die palaestra, with no one else present People might talk, you know-the kind of people who never attend sacrifices anyway, and are looking for an excuse. And she didn't want to come herself, and Maytera Mint's watching the fire. So I thought out here. It's not quite sq private- Maytera can see us through the windows of the cen.o.by- and we still have a bit of shelter from the rain,” Silk nodded. ”I understand.”
”You said the rain must make me uncomfortable. That was very kind of you, but I don't feel it and my clothes will dry. I've had no trouble drying the wash lately, but it takes a great deal of pumping to get enough water to do it in. Is the manse's well still good?”
”Yes, of course.” Seeing her expression, Silk shook his head. ”No, not of course. It's comforting to believe as children do that Pas won't resist his daughter's pleas in our behalf much longer, and that he'll always provide for us. But one never knows, really, we can only hope. If we must have new wells dug, the Church will have to lend us the
money, that's all. If we can't keep this manteion going without new wells, it will have to.”
Maytera Marble said nothing, but sat with head bowed as though unable to meet his eyes.
”Does it worry you so much, Maytera? Listen, and I'll tell you a secret. The Outsider has enlightened me.”
Motionless, she might have been a time-smoothed statue, decked for some eccentric commemorative purpose in a sibyl's black robe.
”It's true, Maytera! Don't you believe me?”
Looking up she said, ”I believe that you believe you've been enlightened, Patera. I know you well, or at least I think I do, and you wouldn't lie about a thing like that.”
”And he told me why-to save our manteion. That's my task.” Silk stumbled after words. ”You can't imagine how good it feels to be given a task by a G.o.d, Maytera. It's wonderful! You know it's what you were made for, and your whole heart points toward that one thing.”
He rose, unable to sit still any longer. ”If I'm to save our manteion, doesn't that tell us something? I ask you.”
”I don't know, Patera. Does it?”
”Yes! Yes, it does. We can apply logic even to the instructions of the G.o.ds, can't we? To their acts and to their words, and we can certainly apply logic to this. It tells us two things, both of major importance. First, that the mante-ion's in danger. He wouldn't have ordered me to save it if it weren't, would he? So there's a threat of some sort, and that's vital for us to know.” Silk strode out into the warm rain to stare east toward Mainframe, the home of the G.o.ds.
”The second is even more important, Maytera. It's that our manteion can be saved. It's endangered, not doomed, in other words. He wouldn't have ordered me to save it if that couldn't be done, would he?”
”Please come in and sit down, Patera,” Maytera Marble pleaded. ”I don't want you to catch cold.”
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