'they... what?'

' the caster held back, acquitor. no one attacked ursto and pinosel. even your unborn son's card did not try for him . the caster locked it down. as would a carpenter driving a nail through a plank of wood. abyss take me, the sheer brazen power to do that leaves me breathless. acquitor, ursto and pinosel were here to defend you from the errant. and yes, we felt him. we felt his murderous desire. but then he was thrown back, his power scattered. what arrived in its place was like the face of the sun, ever growing, becoming so vast as to fill the world-they were pinned there, trapped in those chairs, unable to move...' he shook himself. 'we all were.' he looked down at the puddles. 'acquitor, i truly do not know if they are dead. the lord of death fed on no one this night, beyond a few hapless souls in a destroyed inn. they may be simply... reduced... and after a time they will reconstitute themselves, find their shapes-their flesh and bone-once more. i do not know, yet i will hope.'

he saw her studying his face, and wondered if he'd managed to hide any of his anxiety, his grief. the look in her eyes spoke of his failure.

'speak with this caster,' she said. 'and... ask him... to refrain. never again in this city. please.'

'he was unwilling, acquitor. he did what he could. to protect... everyone.' except, i think, himself. 'i do not think there will be another reading.'

she stared out the window. 'what awaits him? my... son,' she asked in a whisper.

he understood her question. 'he will have you, seren pedac. mothers possess a strength, vast and strange-'

'strange?'

bugg smiled. 'strange to us. unfathomable. also, your son's father was much loved. there will be those among his friends who would not hesitate-'

'onrack t'emlava,' she said.

bugg nodded. 'an imass.'

'whatever that is.'

'acquitor, the imass are many things, and among those things, one virtue stands above all the others. their loyalty cannot be sundered. they feel such forces with a depth vast and-'

'strange?'

bugg said nothing for a moment, knowing that he could, if he so chose, be offended by the implication in that lone word she had added to his sentence. instead, he smiled. 'even so.'

'i am sorry, ceda. you are right. onrack was... remarkable, and a great comfort to me. still, i do not expect him to visit again.'

'he will, when your son is born.'

'how will he know when that happens?'

'because his bonecaster wife, kilava, set a blessing upon you and your child. by this means she remains aware of you and your condition.'

'oh. would she have sensed tonight, then? the risk? the danger?'

'perhaps,' bugg replied. 'she would have been... attentive. and had some form of breach occurred to directly threaten you, then i suspect that yes, she would have... intervened.'

'how could she have hoped to defend me,' seren said, 'if three ancient gods had already failed?'

bugg sighed. 'a conviction i am slowly coming to accept. people do not understand power. they view it exclusively as a contest, this against that; which is the greater? which wins, which fails? power is less about actual conflict-recognizing as it does the mutual damage conflict entails, with such damage making one vulnerable-less about actual conflict, then, than it is about statements. presence , acquitor, is power's truest expression. and presence is, at its core, the occupation of space. an assertion, if you will. one that must be acknowledged by other powers, lesser or greater, it matters not.'

'i am not sure i understand you.'

'kilava would have invoked her presence, acquitor. one that embraced you. now, if you still insist on simplistic comparisons, then i tell you, she would have been as a stone in a stream. the water may dream of victory, may even yearn for it, but it had best learn patience, yes? consider every dried stream bed you have seen, acquitor, and judge who was the ultimate victor in that war of patience.'

the woman sighed, and bugg heard her exhaustion.

he bowed to her. 'i shall leave-matters remain pressing for me-but the danger to you and your unborn son has passed.'

she glanced back at the puddles. 'do i just... mop that up?'

'leave it for the morning-it may be that you will find little more than a stain by then.'

'i can point to it when i have guests and say: "this is where two gods melted." '