Emily, Sils'chk, Planting Season, 5th rotation, 4th day

Usruldes spent the morning trying his experiment with healing bruises. I dozed through most of it, lying on my stomach on Usruldes' bed with my backside—and the rest of me—without a stitch on. Kamagishi protested any non-emergency unchaperoned treatment time, so Tom sat on the bed beside me. This was to keep Kamigishi happy that I had a proper escort while being treated by a male healer or some such.

It was such a farce as if Coyn-sized Tom could prevent the gigantic silverhair Usruldes from following through on whatever perverted thoughts he might have upon seeing my undressed knees. As far as Moxsef was concerned, I could tell she sided with Kamagishi. However, she tactfully added nothing to Kamagishi's insistence that I behave like a proper prophet in public. In contrast, Sutsusum was quietly amused. The more I saw of the High Priestess of Gertzpul, the more I suspected her of having a bit of an impish streak.

I must confess, my inner flower child had a lot of fun freaking out Kamagishi. She stood with Ursuldes outside his bedroom door in the guest house as Tom and I entered by ourselves so I could undress and get under the sheets. Tom boosted me onto the edge of the mattress and then gave me a look. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Shall I help you with that, wookums?" Tom purred in that sexy, velvet baritone of his.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, a bit louder than I usually talk. "Oooooooh! Oh, Tom! Oh my! Don't stop...whatever you do, don't stop. Don't...oooooooooh!"

"Oh, you like this, do you?" Then Tom did a horny tomcat growl, "There's more from where that came from."

"Ahhhh!" I moaned out loud.

We both listened to the absolute silence outside in the hallway.

"Alright, love," I said to Tom, confident that my every word would be heard, "you can take off my other shoe now."

There was a heavy pause, and then Kamagishi exploded, "Arg! I swear, Revered Tom, Blessed of Galt, you are just as bad as the Great Bug Emily!"

The door jerked open, and Kamagishi looked in with an outraged expression. Tom turned to face her, grinned like he had won the lottery, and held up my right shoe.

The High Priestess of Galt shook her head at us while Usruldes peered around her to see what Tom was holding up. I was in awe that Usruldes maintained a perfectly neutral face since he was traveling unmasked as Lord Irhessa, Royal Courier.

"I give up!" Kamagishi gave us a frustrated look and retreated, muttering under her breath. Usruldes watched her walk away with a thoughtful expression and then turned to Tom and me, "Was that a nice thing to do, you two?" Then he winked and smiled.

"No," Tom grinned even deeper. Then he frowned, suddenly serious, "I don't think I will ever get used to Foskan Cosm, who think nothing of women breastfeeding in public but who think showing off a kneecap is the height of indecent exposure." In some respects, Tom was still a 1960s American male.

"Hey, lover boy," I nudged Tom with my other shoe, "let's get back to business. Lord Irhessa, could you shut the door, please. We don't want Kamagishi going back to Is'syal with scandalous tales to tell your lovely wife, Oyyuth, that you were putting eyetracks all over my kneecaps."

It only took a moment to get out of my clothes and under the top sheet on Usruldes' bed. I fell asleep several times and lounged half-asleep during the rest of the healing session. The last time I fell asleep, I dreamed again of a bridge that had been showing up in my dreams lately.

The bridge was a long, heavy-timber structure made in a popular building style that the Cosm liked. Five piers supported the massive trunks of some variety of fir tree. Each trunk was at least two hundred hands long. On top of these vast tree trunks, the Cosm built a plank road. It was a simple but effective way to make a bridge that would support the weight of a Cosm shipping wagon. The bridge spanned a turbulent mountain river connecting two sides of a large market town in a mountain-bounded valley.

In my dreams, I knew that I had to destroy this bridge. I needed to blow it up, and I needed gun cotton, also known as nitrocellulose, to do it. Only a proper high explosive like nitrocellulose would be powerful enough to reduce the piers to rubble. Just destroying the wood structure between the piers was insufficient. So long as the piers were still standing, replacing the tree trunk beams and plank road would take a pair of Cosm mages just two or three days. I had to blow up two or more piers.

"I'm an idiot," I said, suddenly waking up and realizing how to improve the nitrocellulose recipe. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! How could I be so stupid? Tom, how quickly could we get about five or six stone of cotton? It doesn't need to processed. The white puff straight off the plant should work fine." I began to sit up. My rear end no longer hurt, so I guessed I could tolerate sitting for a while. I could get back to work now and perfect my nitrocellulose.

"What?" Tom sat up on the far side of the bed.

"Slow down, eaglet of Mardos," Usruldes pushed me back down, "no need to rush out of bed. You're not going anywhere before tomorrow, Great Bug."

"If I can walk, and you know I can, then I can work," I protested. "We're on a tight schedule. I need to rebuild my working space or move to a new place, and then I need to fix my nitrocellulose recipe because I just figured out how. So quit being an impediment and get me out of bed."

"No," Usruldes said.

"I'll support him on that," Tom the Traitor added from the other side of the bed. "You've already done everything you were sent to do, Em. Your part is over. You don't have to invent any new explosives. Twee and I have got everything else taken care of. You're allowed to goof off, you know."

"I'll support him on that," said Usruldes the Betrayer.

"The two of you are so doomed," I promised, wondering what form revenge would take. "I must blow up a bridge sometime in the future, and I need nitrocellulose to do it."

"Maybe in two days, I will let you go back to work. If you behave yourself," my former friend Usruldes added, "I might let you go fishing this evening."

"Fishing is more work than formulating an explosive potion," I pointed out.

"Fish don't blow up and cause burns and massive internal bleeding," that bum Usruldes calmly rebutted. "I won't even tell Kamagishi if you bare your knees while we're fishing."

"Hmmm," I confess, I found the thought tempting. There was a local salmon-like fish that was good to eat and fun to catch with the primitive flies Tom made. I also had a net that worked nicely, but Tom, who never had to fish to survive like I had, thought it was unsporting of me.

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"Alright, I capitulate," I caved. "Fishing it is, but you better keep your end of the bargain, or I'll blow up your bed."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Usruldes asked as if it were the most boring thing in existence. "You could set the guest house on fire."

"Silverhairs are good at putting out fires," I rebutted. "Alright, I'll compromise. I'll dump butyric acid into your saddlebags," I grinned at the thought, though Cadrees might not forgive me if I did. Was revenge on Usruldes worth Cadrees' ire?

"Cadrees would indeed dislike that," Usruldes, the shameless mind reader, replied.

"Quit reading my mind!" I grumped. "You're safe for now. I need to set up an electrolysis tank to make calcium chloride. I need to make some first to separate the butyric acid compounds from the other triglycerides in butter."

"That stinky stuff is from butter?" Tom asked.

"I thought you already knew that," I got a kink in my neck from trying to look at him sitting next to me. Being on my stomach made looking at the other people in the room difficult. "Butyric acid is what gives rancid butter its nasty smell. Butyric aldehyde is even worse and takes only one more step from making the acid. Can I lay on my back yet?"

"You can if it doesn't hurt too much," Usruldes said. "My idea for reducing the swelling in bruises does indeed work, but I realize now how much work it takes. I've spent two bells but have only managed to reduce the edema in the muscles that you sit on. Your thighs and arms are still untreated."

"So, it works, but it's not yet a practical technique?" I inquired. "Two bells just to reduce the bruising on my butt? Why is it so slow?"

"It's based on Ud's method for curing Twee's lime blindness, except most edema from blunt trauma is in a half-fluid state. That makes it hard to mark for moving it sideways in time because it doesn't stay still. There's also more edema in your read end, Emily, than scars in a blind Chem's eyes."

"Regardless, it worked, yes?" I pondered. "That means you or someone working with you could figure out how to make it faster. Don't sound so discouraged. New ideas take time to develop, just like making nitrocellulose is taking time to develop. Now, scoot over, Tom. I want to try laying on my back. Then we can go fishing."

"It makes me happy when you decide to be reasonable," Usruldes said.

"Really?" I couldn't stop myself from needling him. "I'll be spending most of my time fishing trying to figure out how to make fish blow up and cause burns and massive internal bleeding."

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Sutsusum, Sils'chk, Planting Season, 5th rotation, 4th day

"Tom and Emily say I should have this thing called a contract if I'm to be Tom's mount," the Blessed Spot said as we strolled along the shoreline of the Visitor Island across a slough from Sils'chk. "They said you folks would know how to do that."

"Did you discuss with them how to compensate you and what terms you would like?" I asked him.

"We discussed it and decided to consult with Cosm from Foskos. None of us knows how to write a contract," Spot said, "But little Emily said we needed one. I'm unsure why she thinks we need one, but she insisted."

I realized just then what the problem was. Neither Spot nor the two Coyn had any experience with legal documents. None of them knew what should be included as terms. They probably didn't even know what to pay Spot. "Wanting to consult is probably the right thing to do. My advice is not to worry about a contract until you can get to Foskos. Then you can consult someone who knows how to draw one up for flying horses and have it done right."

"Oh." Spot blinked. "That sounds sensible. I will stop worrying about a contract until we get to Foskos. My next concern is some kind of saddle arrangement so that Tom or Emily don't fall off when they are on my back. Has anyone ever designed a saddle so Coyn can ride on a flying horse? And is there a better way to get them on my back other than my laying down?"

I was so astounded by the question about a saddle that I faltered in my steps. "What? You don't need a saddle. No flying horse does. Every flying horse has the magical ability to keep any rider from falling off. Did you not know this?"

I swear, the Blessed Spot was the first flying horse I had ever seen make a fish face.

"It looks like you did not know," I remarked, amazed. I guess the isolationists of the Great Herd on Alkinosuk had forgotten or deliberately didn't teach that fact about flying horse magic. Every intelligent race on Erdos, excluding the Coyn, was born with some level of magic. Even nohair Cosm had enough magic to impress their aura on a seal. Magic allowed Chem to manipulate water, griffins to fly, and roc eagles to read auras.

"Flying horses have their own special magic. Griffins and flying horses should not be able to fly. You're both too big and too heavy. Both races have special passive magic that allows you to exist without your bones breaking down or your heart failing. Your passive magic also gives you the ability to fly despite your bulk. In addition, flying horses have magically enhanced speed and the power to keep any rider from falling from your back. Great One, you do not need a saddle for Tom or Emily. If you want them on your back, then that's where they will stay."

"I had no idea we had magic like that," Spot said, shaking his head and flicking an ear down. "What about getting Tom and Emily onto my back?"

"Now that's easy to solve," I had to smile. Spot was uniformed and naive in a very cute and adorable way. He was like an earnest little kid, full of questions and wonder at the wide world beyond the small patch of island called Alkinosuk.

"We use two ways to get small people onto flying horses," I explained. "Wait. Great One, do you hear voices?"

The Blessed Spot stopped and listened, "Yes, Holy One, I do hear voices. I believe it is Tom, Emily, and the one you call Lord Irhessa, also called Usruldes and Hessakos. I know I must not call Lord Irhessa by the name of Usruldes when his face is exposed. And if his face is masked, then I must call him Usruldes, not Irhessa or Hessakos. Why does he have three names? Isn't that confusing?"

"Quite!" I agreed. Most of the Convocation was still digesting that Sister Lisaykos' runaway son had been living in plain sight for at least sixteen years as Hessakos hat Kas'syo, a minor court official married to the current Presiding Craftmaster of Is'syal. It still made my head turn sideways that he was also the infamous Usruldes the Wraith. Because of the war with Impotu, Imstay King disclosed his identity to the Convocation last Harvest Season. It was becoming too stressful for Lisakos and her family to maintain the secret from so many high priestess-level mages visiting the Healing Shrine.

"Lord Irhessa was given the name Irhessa by his birth family," I explained to the Blessed Spot. "He didn't get along with his birth family, so he left them. He became employed by the King to do secret things. Because some of the things he did were dangerous, and someone might want to take revenge, he used one name, Usruldes, for his work with the King. He used a different name, Hessakos, when he was at home. That was to protect his family."

"How does using two names protect his family?" Spot asked.

I pinched my nose and had to shake my head. He needed so many things explained to him. I was saved from another long discourse on Foskan culture when we came around a small point onto a shingle beach where Emily, Tom, and Usruldes were fishing.

Truthfully, it was just Emily fishing, Tom roasting the fish over a fire, and Usruldes lounging around on a saddle blanket reading a book. Usruldes noticed us first and sprang to his feet.

"May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Great One, Holy One," he bowed an obeisance.

"And also upon you," Spot replied. "Please rise." Spot turned his head to look at me, "Did I do that right, Holy One?"

"Yes, you did just fine," I reassured him.

"Maybe you should invite the other two high priestesses down to this beach, Holy One," Usruldes suggested. "Emily is a talented angler. She's catching fish faster than we can eat them. It's a wonderful experience to eat fish, fresh out of the water and cooked over the fire."

"Personally, I prefer to eat at a table," I replied. "Why not cook up enough for all of us, and we can eat up at the guest house?"

"I admit to wanting to tease my friend Kamagishi just a little," he looked like a little boy caught stealing treats. "I thought it would do her some good to see Emily dressed for fishing."

I turned my head and studied Emily. She had waded into the slough and was standing on a gravel bank with just a pair of sandals on her bare feet. She was wearing just a linen undertunic over her undergarments, whose outline I could see clearly under the cloth of the undertunic. I could see her bare ankles and calves, but her knees were covered. She had wrapped her stockings around her knees like bandages so not a speck of skin showed.

I wasn't sure if I was amused or outraged, but I laughed, so I guess I was more amused. "I'll see if I can find them, Lord Irhessa," I ended up grinning. It would be entertaining to see how Moxsef and Kamagishi reacted to Emily's knee wraps.