Gene Wolfe: CALDE OF THE LONG SUN

Remora groped toward a point he had yet to discern. "A healthful

exercise, however. For those of, um, unaugmented years, eh? A hot

bath before sacrifice, Your Cognizance? Or--I have it!--springs.

There are, er, reborant springs at Urbs. Healing springs, most

healthful. Possibly, while--affairs are so--ah--unsettled here, eh?"

Quetzal shook himself. He had a way of quivering like a fat man

when he did that, although on the few occasions when Remora had

been obliged to lift him into bed, his body had in fact been light and

sinuous. "The gods..." He smiled.

"Must be served, to be sure, Your Cognizance. I would be on the

spot--ah--ensuring that the Chapter's interests were vigilantly

safeguarded, hey?" Remora tossed lank black hair away from his

eyes. "Each rite carried out with--um--"

"You must recall the story, Patera." Quetzal swayed from side to

side, perhaps with silent mirth. "A-man and Wo-man like rabbits in

a garden. The--what do you call them?" He held up a thin,

blue-veined hand, palm cupped.

"A cobra, Your Cognizance?"

"The cobra persuaded Wo-man to eat fruit from his tree, miraculous

fruit whose taste conferred wisdom."

Remora nodded, wondering how he might reintroduce the

springs. "I recollect the--um--allegory."

Quetzal nodded more vigorously, a wise teacher proffering praise

to a small boy. "It's all in the Writings. Or nearly all. A god called

Ah Lah barred Wo-man and her husband from the garden." He

ceased to speak, apparently wandering among thoughts. "We seem

to have lost sight of Ah Lah, by the way. I can't recall a single

sacrifice to him. No one ever asks why the cobra wanted Wo-man to

eat his fruit."

"From sheer, er, wickedness, Your Cognizance? That is what I

had always supposed."

Quetzal swayed faster, his face solemn. "In order that she would

ditrib his tree, Patera. The man likewise. Their story's not over

because they haven't climbed down. That's why I asked if you had

considered the nature of humor. Is Patera Incus a strong swimmer?"

"Why, I've--ah--no notion, Your Cognizance."

"Because you think you know why the woman you sent him to

look for visited the lake with our scamp Silk, whose name I see on

walls."

"Why, er, Your Cognizance is--ah--great penetration, as always."

Remora fidgeted.

"I saw it scratched on one five floors up, yesterday," Quetzal

continued as though he had not heard, "and went wide."

"Disgraceful, Your Cognizance!"

"Respect for our cloth, Patera. I myself swim well. Not so well as a

fish, but very well indeed. Or I did."

"I'm pleased to hear it, Your Cognizance."

"The jokes of gods are long in telling. That's why you ought to sift

the records of the past on Hieraxdays, Patera. Today's Hieraxday.

You'll learn to think in new and better ways. Thank you for my beef

tea. Now go."

Remora rose and bowed. "As Your Cognizance desires."

His Cognizance stared past him, lost in speculation.

Greatly daring, Remora ventured, "I have often observed that

your own way of thinking is somewhat--ah--unlike, as well as much

more, um, select than that of most men."

There was no reply. Remora took a step backward. "Upon every--ah--topic

whatsoever, Your Cognizance's information is quite, um, marvelous."

"Wait." Quetzal had made his decision. "The riots. Has the

Alambrera fallen?"

"What's that? The Alambrera? Why--ah--no. Not to my

knowledge, Your Cognizance."

"Tonight." Quetzal reached for his beef tea. "Sit down, Patera.

You're always jumping about. You make me nervous. It can't be

good for you. Lemur's dead. Did you know it?"

Remora's mouth gaped, then snapped shut. He sat.

"You weren't. It's your responsibility to learn things."

Remora acknowledged his responsibility with a shamefaced nod.

"May I inquire, Your Cognizance--?"

"How I know? In the same way I knew the woman you sent Incus

after had gone to Lake Limna with Patera Calde Silk."

"Your Cognizance!"

Once again, Quetzal favored Rernora with his lipless smile. "Are

you afraid I'll be arrested, Patera? Cast into the pits? You'd be

Prolocutor, presumably. I've no fear of the pits." Quetzal's long-skulled,

completely hairless head bobbed above his cup. "Not at my

age. None."

"None the less, I implore Your Cognizance to be more--ah--circumspect."

"Why isn't the city burning, Patera?"

Caught by surprise, Remora glanced at the closest window.

"Mud brick and shiprock walls. Timbers supporting upper floors.

Thatch or shingles. Five blocks of shops burned last night. Why isn't

the whole city burning today?"

"It's raining, Your Cognizance," Remora summoned all his courage.

"It's been raining--ah--forcibly since early this morning."

"Exactly so. Patera Calde Silk went to Limna on Molpsday with a

woman. That same day, you sent Incus there to look for an

acquaintance of his. A woman, since you were reluctant to speak of

it. Councillor Loris spoke through the glass an hour before lunch."

Remora tensed. "He told you Councillor Lemur was no longer

among us, Your Cognizance?"

Quetzal swung his head back and forth. "That Lemur was still

alive, Patera. There are rumors. So it would appear. He wanted me

to denounce them this afternoon."

"But if Councillor Loris--ah--assures--"

"Clearly Lemur's dead. If he weren't, he'd speak to me in person.

Or show himself at the Juzgado. Or both."

"Even so, Your Cognizance--"

Another crash of thunder made common cause with Quetzal's

thin hand to interrupt.

"Can the Ayuntamiento prevail without him? That's the question,

Patera. I want your opinion."

To give himself time to consider, Rernora sipped his now tepid

tea. "Munitions, the--ah--thews of contention, are stored in the

Alambrera, as well as in the, um, cantonment of the Civil Guard,

cast of the city."

"I know that."

"It is an, er, complex of great--um--redoubtability, Your

Cognizance. I am informed that the outer wall is twelve cubits

in--ah--laterality. Yet Your Cognizance anticipates its surrender

tonight? Before venturing an opinion, may I enquire as to the

source of Your Cognizance's information?"

"I haven't any," Quetzal told him. "I was thinking out loud. If the

Alambrera doesn't fall in a day or so, Patera Calde Silk will fail.

That's my opinion. Now I want yours."

"Your Cognizance does me honor. There is also the--um--dormant army

to consider. Councillor Lemur--ah--Loris will undoubtedly issue

an--ah--call to arms, should the, um, situation,

in his view, become serious."

"Your opinion, Patera."

Remora's cup rattled in its saucer. "As long as the--ah--fidelity of

the Civil Guard remains--um--unblemished, Your Cognizance," he

drew a deep breath, "it would appear to me, though I am assuredly

no--um--master hand at matters military, that--ah, um--Patera

Calde cannot prevail."

Quetzal appeared to be listening only to the storm; for perhaps

fifteen tickings of the coffin-shaped clock that stood beside the

door, the howling of the wind and the lash of rain filled the room.

At last he asked, "Suppose that you were to learn that part of the

Guard's gone over to Silk already?"

Remora's eyes widened. "Your Cognizance has--?"

"No reason to think so. My question's hypothetical."

Remora, who had much experience of Quetzal's hypothetical

questions, filled his lungs again. "I should then say, Your Cogni

zance, that should any such unhappy circumstance--ah--circumstances