Part 44 (2/2)
”I understand,” Breanna said. ”Don't go yet; we have a celebration to make.”
”Really, I don't--”
But Breanna, now fully recovered from her grief, insisted. Soon they were with Justin Tree, who was as surprised and pleased as his wife. He had been out walking in the forest, finding some solace among the familiar trees. They had suffered a night of horror, knowing no way to fix the problem.
In the end, all of the Companions had to come out and join the celebration. Charles Horse was invited too; after all, he had enabled Cube to make it in time.
”I'm a demon,” Metria murmured to Cube. ”But I do have half a soul, and a child of my own. I know how it is.” She wiped away a tear.
That about covered it.
Chapter 14: Inversion.
Next morning Cube really had to move on, and now Breanna let her. She and Justin Tree gathered with Amber Dawn to see Cube and Charles off, with the other Companions back in the sack, as they put it. ”I couldn't let you go yesterday,” Breanna said. ”There was too much grief and too much joy. Now there is only joy, and I can return to wondering about zombies and talents.”
”Zombies and talents?”
”Some zombies keep the magic talents they have in life. Others lose them. I've been trying to figure out the rule. It doesn't relate to how healthy they were when zombied, or how long they are zombies, or whether they are male or female, or person or animal. I just can't figure it out, and it drives me crazy in off moments. Millie and the Zombie Master surely know, but I never remembered to ask them while they were here.”
”Do zombies keep their souls?”
”Yes, though these tend to be somewhat battered. They need some soul to remain the people they were, to the extent possible.”
”Do talents connect to the body or the soul?”
”That varies,” Justin said. ”Some relate to the body, and others to the soul. There seems to be no consistent rule for that.”
”Could that account for the difference in zombie talents?”
Breanna stared at her. ”The difference in connections,” she breathed. ”That must be it!”
”That must be it,” Justin agreed. ”If a talent is tied to the body, it is lost when the body dies. But if it is tied to the soul, then it is retained, since the soul doesn't die.”
”You're amazing,” Breanna said. ”You ask one question, and you solve the riddle that's been bugging us for years.”
Cube shook her head. ”I can't take credit. I have a magic pacifier that is serendipitous. Actually Seren has it now, but it affects us both. I wasn't looking for an answer for you, I was just curious--and found what I wasn't looking for.”
”The answer,” Breanna agreed.
”That would be a useful item,” Justin remarked.
Cube had a bright idea. ”If you would like to have it, I'll give it to you. But there's a problem: whoever has it is called Seren, short for serendipity.”
”I find that hard to believe,” Breanna said. ”No offense.”
Cube removed the pacifier from the saddle and handed it to her. ”Say your name.”
”Seren.” Then the woman looked surprised. ”You're right.”
”Yes. So it's awkward to have, if your name makes a difference. But its surprises are usually nice ones. It helped me a lot.”
Amber Dawn's little hand came out and grabbed the pacifier. She put it in her mouth and sucked contentedly on it.
”Seren,” Breanna said reprovingly to the baby. ”We don't know if that's sanitary.” Then she looked surprised again. ”Oh, no!”
”The name returns when the pacifier goes. It's not lost, just superseded for a while.”
Breanna caught the loop in the pacifier and pulled it from the baby's mouth. ”I don't care if it does return, I want to be able to say my baby's name.”
The baby opened her mouth and bawled.
”Oh, no,” Breanna repeated. ”She likes it.” She winced, and gave it back. The baby settled down contentedly.
”Maybe when she's older, she won't need it for its quieting magic,” Cube said.
”Let's hope.”
”Perhaps the pacifier itself was seeking a baby,” Justin said. ”So that it could perform its primary function.”
Cube and Breanna stared at him, and at the baby. That made sudden sense. The pacifier's original baby had grown up.
At last Charles (with his own name back) and Cube (with hers) resumed their journey.
The thread led north along an enchanted path. They didn't hurry, as Cube found she just wanted to be on her Quest, not rus.h.i.+ng through any part of it. In fact this Route had already made her understand that she liked going places and meeting people, even if only briefly. She had thought she wanted to be beautiful and have fantastic adventures; she still wanted to be beautiful, but now she had had some reasonably fantastic adventures, and some routine ones, and it seemed that the routine ones had their points too.
Near noon they came to a wayside stop. A girl was already there, sitting at a table. ”Will you join me?” she called. ”I have lots of incidentals.”
”Well, I don't know,” Cube said, uncertain what mischief there might be in unnamed incidentals. Also, the girl was prettier than Cube, as all girls were, and that nagged her.
”Oh, what a handsome horse!”
That decided Charles. He veered to the table, and Cube didn't argue. ”Yes, we'll join you. I'm Cube, and this is Charles.”
”I'm Etcetera. What does Charles prefer to eat?”
Cube realized that she hadn't been with Charles long enough to see him eat. ”I think some nice grain, or fresh hay.”
”Etcetera,” the girl said, and a pan of grain appeared along with a bale of hay and a salt block and bucket of clear water.
Charles sniffed the collection, and started in, satisfied.
”And what would you like?” the girl inquired.
She was evidently a conjurer. ”Oh, a sweet roll, some boot rear--”
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