Tom, Aybhas, Planting Season, 5th rot., 10th day

"Much better, Don Juan," Emily said, sitting on her bed. She smiled sweetly at my shaven face. The particular smile always left me worried. It was amazing how the face could change from one life to the next, but the expressions were still the same. That innocent, sweet smile promised all sorts of trouble if I exceeded my little mouse's patience. It was both a warning and a notice that she was approaching a limit of some sort but wasn't there yet. Shaving was the right move.

I think Emily's smile was telling me that she didn't care for the full beard, or that I transgressed in not warning her beforehand, or both. I was sure to find out soon.

"The orange bow was a bit much," Emily's smile steamed on like the Cunard Line's Queen Mary. "So, which of you two came up with the idea to grow your whiskers out two feet?"

"The tall one," I said. "The bow was my idea."

"I'm not sure putting the two of you together was a good idea." The smile was taking Cunard's round-the-world cruise.

"I'm getting the idea you didn't like the full beard," I fished for what was bothering her.

She sighed and the smile collapsed. "It was a long night for me," Emily said. "I got a visit from Gertzpul: a manifestation, not a dream. It wasn't bad because I had the opportunity to say goodbye to my friend Wolkayrs. Still, I woke up tired, and now I know I have two High Priestesses of Galt after me so they can make a record of it. I ran across the river to escape and lose myself in some music for a while. It's been too many gods in two days, and then you showed up looking like some hippy from Haight-Ashbury. I think I wasn't ready for that, given my current state of stressed-out."

"So, you didn't hate the full beard?" I asked.

"I like the ring beard better," Emily replied. "I like clean-shaven best, but it's your face, and you obviously like it, so I didn't say anything."

"I'll shave it off if it will make you happy," I offered, feeling guilty she was out of sorts.

"Tom," she leveled a fierce stare at me, "it's fine so long as I can live with what makes you happy. You shouldn't change your life to please me at the expense of your own wants and needs. That's just not right. Trying to fix someone all the time is a good way to destroy a relationship."

That piece of wisdom was not something the 23-year-old Emily would have said back in the life before this one. I found it easy to forget there was an old mind inside that teenage body.

"But no more orange bows when wearing a rose pink tunic," Emily pronounced. "Where did you even find such a thing?"

"Out of a drawer in the old Princess's work table. It was one of the ties used in the hand-fasting ceremony."

"I hope you put it back?"

"My partner in crime said he'd take care of it." I climbed the step stair and sat beside her on the bed, pushing the lump of Eskurt out of the way. He meowed in protest and then went back to sleep. "I take it the gig with Tiki upset you."

"You could say that," Emily said in a normal voice but with a face that could etch metal. Then, she was silent as she stewed.

"Out with it, mouse," I put my arm around her and drew her close. "You're keeping it all inside, which is still a bad habit of yours." She didn't relax at all, which I knew was a bad sign.

"I'm not sure you would understand," she mumbled.

"Try me," I took my free hand and clasped hers.

"Tiki set up this crappy old testament-style temptation for me, with lousy choices either way and what gets me is that I don't understand why. It wasn't even a good temptation. Was the moral dilemma resurrecting one friend at the expense of destroying another? How is that a temptation? And the choice that looked like it would be rewarding, to turn back time, would be guaranteed to start violence in eight different cities and towns. I was insulted that Tiki didn't know I would see the catch right away, but it was so obvious. And I just don't understand why any of it was necessary. He said I needed to rebalance existence, but either choice would do that. So why even bother to set up a temptation if either choice would accomplish what the gods wanted? I don't get it, and I hate it when I can't figure things out."

"You talked to Tiki, the god of time? When did that happen?" I asked, blown away that she had done more talking to gods. The worst aspect of that was she made it sound so normal. Maybe if you talk to gods all the time, it becomes normal.

"A bunch of them provided me with immediate, post-temptation commentary," she humphed, "like the lame sports reporting after Howard Cosell left Monday Night Football."

"Howard Cosell left Monday Night Football?" I had to ask. That sounded as bad as the cancellation of Bewitched or the demise of Betty Crocker.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Oh," Emily looked at me in panic, "I keep forgetting you were dead for that."

"Stop fretting about stuff like that. That was then. This is now. Maybe it was a good thing I died. I mean, really—that B-rate movie actor Ronald Reagan as United States President? Please, I think I'm glad I missed that." I was relieved that she finally smiled at what I said. The one thing Emily needed to do more was smile.

"I suppose that one of the gods will tell me, eventually, what this rebalancing of existence thing is about," Emily sighed and leaned into me, closing her eyes and looking tired. "We should go find your friend Gerta. Lisaykos talked to her, by the way. She would appreciate a visit from you. She asked about you."

"The Princess High Priestess talked to Gerta?" I was gobsmacked. "How did that happen?"

"She was the block leader of a block that got burnt by clay bombs. Lisaykos discovered the building was not constructed properly, and those residences were the property of her Shrine. So she wanted to talk to the block leader about it, who turned out to be Gerta. I mentioned that I had met her. So Lisaykos talked to her at the chapel shrine yesterday while I was sleeping off the stress of sentencing three people to death."

"You really do need to tell me about your horrible day yesterday," I prodded.

"Well, yeah," she leaned a little more, "I guess. Maybe later."

"No problem," I wrapped my arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides. "Since you're not up for talking, I guess it's time to explore your adorable little tootsies."

"Tom Martinez, you leave my feet alone!"

"Such cute little tootsies."

"Don't you dare, you soon-to-be former lover!"

"I just love how soft and gushy your itty bitty toes are," I reached for her shoes. "How I want to caress them with my fingers, lightly brushing their undersides, and..."

"Tom, stop. Just stop, Tom. Don't you dare, Tom. Tom, give me back my shoe. I'm warning you, Tom."

It took a few minutes more, but I soon had a shoeless and tickled Emily, finally spilling the goods about everything that had happened since she left Sils'chk. I was happy that tactic worked as well in this life as it had in the previous one.

----------------------------------------

Lisaykos, Aybhas, Planting Season, 5th rot., 10th day

I could tell from Lyappis's look that she was snooping with clairvoyance. I doubted she was listening in on the King and Queen, but only because Aylem would detect it. She may have been checking up on the Holy Mieth, who had made significant progress in her recovery from nine years in the dark. Or she may have been looking in on Thuorfosi. I suspected she was also snooping on Emily and Tom, who had disappeared into Emily's bedroom after mid repast. The sudden satisfied smile she wore confirmed my suspicions.

It was just Katsa, Senlyosart, the two High Priestesses of Galt, and myself in the study. My deputy, Galpahkos, was busy showing the bookkeeper on loan from the garrison where the different offices were in the Shrine. It was safe to talk freely.

"I don't believe it is wise to snoop on the prophet and the one blessed by Galt, Lyappis," I cautioned. "Not even I do that, and I live with her, and now, maybe him."

"Mistress," Lyappis had the good sense to be embarrassed, "I have been around Emily enough that I pick her up when I'm this close. Don't forget I am a strong empath. I felt a shift in her mental state and I could not help myself in seeking the cause."

"A shift?" I was concerned. Emily was stressed, more than usual. I was expecting another flashback or more nightmares. The last few days had not treated Emily kindly.

"That youngster Tom got her to talk about her troubles, and now she is teaching him that lovely song she played solo this morning," Lyappis' smile was one of simple pleasure. "Her mental state has greatly improved since mid repast, when she was wound tighter than a prell string. I noticed the dramatic reduction in stress over the last quarter bell and was curious about what had caused it. Tom is good for her."

"Tom did that?" Kamagishi was surprised. "They were grinding wood down in Sils'chk."

"Irhessa said it's been hard for Tom to adjust to Emily's role as prophet," Katsa remarked. "They were young, aspiring commoners from the educated class in their life before. Now she's the most exalted person on Erdos, and he was just a slave working at the Queen's Villa until recently. His own status has just been turned upside down, he's just been reunited with his lover from a previous life, and they've only been back together for a season and a half. Holy One," Katsa looked at Kamagishi with an eyebrow raised, "I think we should be surprised those two are doing as well as they are. It was a long separation, and they both changed during that time. I think it's good that Tom can get that poor girl to relax some. The demands of the gods have caused Emily much suffering."

Kamagishi frowned, "Perhaps you are correct. Maybe I have been expecting too much from Tom instead of considering all he has been through. Maybe Emily, too."

"Did you really take Emily to task over exposing her knees?" I had to ask.

"Yes." The look on Kamagishi's face pleaded with me not to chide her about upholding standards of decency.

"Did you know that exposing the entire leg was not considered indecent in her previous life?" I inquired.

"What?" Both Katsa and Senlyosart were gobsmacked. Kamagishi just grimaced. She remembered the almost-naked people from the vision of Earth during Emily's revelation from Giltak.

"And both Tom and Emily think it's shocking that women expose their breasts to feed their infants in public."

"No!" Katsa was incredulous.

"In some places where the two lived," I was beginning to enjoy myself, "there were laws against exposing breasts, but naked knees were as normal to display as faces. I'm not making this up, Katsa."

I turned back to Kamagishi, "Try to remember that Emily thinks our standards about exposing the legs are backward and that breasts are indecent."

Kamagishi just sighed.

"And you!" I nailed Lyappis with a glare of admonishment, "What if Tom and Emily were making love when you snooped?"

"Oh, quit needling people, you porcupine," she snapped at me. "I'm 78 years old. I'm far past the age where that sort of thing is even interesting, except from a healing perspective."