Ch: 17.5 Time and Tides
Secret was in the form of a barn owl, roosting in the branches of a fig tree, while Thirp clung to the thick boll, still deep in conversation. When the pair appeared both came scampering over.
“Things have been changing rapidly here since you were dragged out. Lord Aclintherios dismissed that Hollow One and its ziggurat, but you were being pulled away.” Thirp seemed quite agitated or excited, it was hard to tell.
“Since then things have been in flux. Your soul and mind seem to have stabilized significantly, while the attachment to your body remains unchanged, very odd.”
Secret spoke up. “I thought perhaps you had used the enchantment we gave you some time ago… but it seems you have other priorities.”
Shai was having none of it. “Me boy has fashioned yer filthy ring, an ye want it used, ye wait on our time! We shall nae scoop up some unsuspecting fool and take them intae our soul!” Her agitation was plain to see, showing in every expressive movement and gesture.
“That, my dear, is why I can no longer touch you here and offer a Contract. You are truly a creature without secrets, save those you hold for him.” He sighed with good humor.
“Even your gifts and that Contract you just sealed are demonstrative and expressive. Gary has a song in his head somewhere, ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ I believe is the title, I cannot touch those who have nothing to hide. A woman as subtly unsubtle as yourself must belong to Joy.”
Mollified, she conjured a bench swing for them and settled in to talk. “We hae questions and nae answers, an ye seem loath tae give them straight.” She said to Secret, adopting much of Gary’s casual blasphemy.
Turning to Thirp she asked; “Whae is it that does make Gary dumb an he sees mirrors or speaks of these matters, how does mine own mind fail to see what be clear as day once pointed out?”
“That is an unknown, though in this place we can try some things, tell me about the mirrors, that seems interesting.” Thirp sang.
Shai sketched out the issue as best she understood.
“When he do look in a mirror in the waking world he does look away before seeing, an in his home he kinnae make a mirror, even wi his hands, I did watch an he could nae polish a sheet o bronze tae a mirror.” She knotted her skirts in frustration.
“When he kinnae avoid looking, he do become as dumb as a stump, nae able tae wipe drool frae his own chin.”
“Can you produce a mirror in this place Gary?” Thirp sang, bobbing excitedly and having a scamper.
With a shrug, he summoned a standing mirror, its glass frosted a lovely pearlescent white. “I guess not. Shai, you’re up, conjure a mirror please?” Gary grumbled.
She nodded and a duplicate mirror frame appeared, its glass totally absent, only an empty frame coming to her call. She frowned and tried again, creating a clear glass pane instead. “I kinnae in our home either, tis odd.”
“That is interesting. Any local effect, even one planet wide, should have no effect in this place. Gary, go inside please and close the door too.” With only token grumbling he wandered inside and closed the door.
“Miss Shai, if you would please?” With a thought, a mirror appeared, fully formed and functional. It cast a perfect reflection of herself and Thirp. “Well that clears that up. It’s Gary, please call him out, my instrument is not designed for shouting.”
Gary came bustling out, answering Shai’s call obediently, sprawling out at her feet as though for a tummy rub. “I may have wet on the rug… you know I can't be left inside unsupervised.” He said with a childlike grin.
When the group looked up from his antics, the former mirror was displaying a strange arrangement of colored bars and blocks, while emitting an unpleasant sound.
“Ooh, test pattern, you lose connection?” He asked from the grass.
“Nae, ye did come out. What do this mean, master Thirp?” Shai asked, growing more concerned.
“Whatever is causing his mirror problem is doubtless internal, most likely a symptom of the damage to his mind and soul, perhaps that will resolve in time.”
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He groomed his sleek abdomen, deep in contemplation. “As for thoughts and ideas, tell me about that.”
“Gary hae a divine Contract wi Secret, yet he kinnae tell what it has wrought on his gifts, nor tell aught about it lest his mind become as wet sand.” She explained.
“Oh… sorry, that’s my fault,” Secret said, sounding embarrassed. “I only have one Contracted worshiper, that limits my scope and understanding, especially considering he knows nothing of the wider world and only a little about your town.”
“We gods are aggregations of the memories, emotions and thoughts of our worshippers and Contracts. Each one of you adds just a little to us.” He sighed dejectedly. “You are not even fully mine, Joy has her hooks in there tight.”
Gary frowned. “So that’s why you need a Contract with someone from here. But if you are the god of secrets how do you not know… everything?” He asked, feeling like there was a huge piece missing.
“Secrets, boy, I know all the secrets. Most people’s secrets are trash. Who is exchanging biological material with who, tawdry financial and political deals. Mostly they are useless to anyone, even those who keep them.”
He looked Gary up and down with a critical lack of eyes. “Your clandestine lifestyle and criminal background made you able to touch me, the secrets of your origin are what keeps us close.”
He chuckled mysteriously. “That secret society though, genius. You started my cult without even realizing it. I love that about you kid. The crazy is what keeps me coming back.”
The owl that was Secret swooped down and landed on Gary’s shoulder. “Find my next Contract and your own should finish and that pesky gift should start working. More importantly, there is someone near you that has a secret and needs me. I can’t really see yet, but someone is there, just out of view.”
He chuckled. “Hidden even from me. How delightfully ironic… again! Gary, Shai, you two just keep delivering!” He flew back to the tree and perched, preening his wings impatiently.
“Find my next worship Contract for all our sakes… and because I really can’t stand not knowing. Your waking world is calling you again, run along now.”
Gary was ready for the festival of War to be over, or at least to stop floating around and get outside. Shai, for her part, was ready to drag him naked into the festivities, if he was not up to dressing himself.
A light snowfall made the whole town look even cleaner than it was, shimmering in the light of the moons. The pre predawn hours were silent and still, frozen in time. They floated together, watching the stars and moons wheel in their orbits not speaking.
After a timeless soak under the clear winter sky they felt and heard their younger brothers and sisters approaching, trooping along into the yard under sergeant Becky’s firm but loving guidance.
By silent agreement they both put on robes and went to join the quiet but excited throng at the public pool. Becky was holding things down nicely, but the presence of even a dubious authority figure like Gary would be a help.
Since the inception of his public bath, he had been awakened every morning when the younglings came to bathe. He had expected to be annoyed by the early activities, but instead he began waking even earlier, anticipating their arrival.
The feeling of twenty or so kids splashing around in his soul was refreshing and beautiful. Naturally he began pranking them.
First it was a flotilla of rubber duckies, quacking and drifting about. After that he coated the entire surface of the pool with bubbles, that morning got too rowdy. Illusory colorful tropical fish appeared on day three, followed by floating paper lanterns in a multitude of colors. Today was all about floaties.
Gary was more of a pool toy dispenser than anything else.
Shai of course was in her element, taking charge while deferring to Becky with consummate skill, supporting the younger girl without usurping her authority. It was an impressive balancing act, handled with grace and style.
Becky and Shai were a tight duo, as close any two blood sisters could be, it showed in every word and touch between them. Even while lifeguarding a rambunctious hot-spring full of preteens they were a force to be reckoned with.
Water wings, innertubes, pool noodles and an inflatable raft were already floating on the calm surface when they arrived.
“Gary what be all this?” Shai asked when they joined the melee. He had neglected to mention his morning activities to Shai, and perhaps had sworn Becky to secrecy on the matter.
“I am as mystified as you are!” He turned on his co-conspirator and taught her about buses, and being thrown under them. “Becky! Where did all this come from? I’m shocked and appalled by the state of things!”
Becky, being precocious, bright and quick, but also only just now thirteen, tried to blush, failed and began to sputter and fume. Gary stood by, in mock indignation while staring out on the chaos.
Finally the dam burst. “This is all Gary’s fault. I don’t know where he gets all this stuff but its always here and vanishes when we leave… it’s all his fault Shai…”
She sank down onto the curb of the pool, disconsolate and weeping.
As they both reached to apologize to the girl, her wracking, shoulder hugging sobs became an evil laugh. She lifted one scrawny hand with just one finger raised at Gary.
“I watch you two, I know your games. You were gonna twist me up for your own entertainment? Well now we get the last laugh! YOUNGLINGS! SPLASH!”
Her ending shout unleashed a tidal wave of childish laughter and a significant wave of almost water, sweeping the pair off their feet.
They washed up in the corner of the yard in a naked tangle of limbs, since their robes evaporated on contact with the not quite water. As they untied themselves, the math did not quite add up… too many arms and legs.
Becky, giggling insanely, had been swept up in her own devastating attack and washed up in their shared wreckage.
The rest of the kids were back to tossing around the profusion of floaties or diving off the raft with exuberant whoops of joy, since the geezers that lived there were awake.
“I think we set a fine example for the young ones…” Gary defended himself against an imaginary accuser. “Well not Shai… she’s the irresponsible one… Hey!” Two bare feet kicked him in the ankle at the same time. “Girls are mean!” He sulked aloud while slipping into the chaotic pool.
Shai was regaling Becky with the tale of Gary’s time as the pillow king, tactfully avoiding Tony’s part in the adventure.
“…an the great lummox did conjure a throne of wee pillows all stitched together an a scepter wi a tiny gold cushion fer a top.”
Shai giggled adorably as she told the tale. “He did make pronouncements o comfy law to the amusement o tha gang. That man o mine be a constant trial and worry.”
Sergeant Becky hugged her in consolation. “When it’s time I will help you bury the body.” she promised solemnly. Shai hugged the tiny girl close and eyed Gary up and down.
“I hae use fer him fer a while… mayhap soon.” Shai said with a wide hungry grin.
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