Vaxsha smiled to herself and took another sip of sewerbreeze tea. Josef had just asked if they could take refuge in her room for the night. It was an audacious ask, perhaps one only a goo-drinker might request, but it had been asked nevertheless.

Vaxsha raised her face to Josef. Slight crow's feet grew around her eyes, but it was her pupils which grabbed his attention — it was as if she were looking through his own pupils and then beyond them, down into his heart, or his soul, or perhaps even a place hidden from himself.

"There's a reason I hesitated for an hour before coming to Gangdrup," Vaxsha said slowly. "Every bone in my body, every whispering thought, testifies to the same thing, that I must say 'no' right now."

Josef made to speak but Vaxsha quickly raised a cautionary hand.

"But I chose to draw the cards," she continued, "I chose to partake in this game. And so I let the cards fall where they may. Against all my better judgement, you may stay here tonight."

Josef caught Claudius and Malark exchanging a glance, but neither of them said a word.

"We appreciate that very much," said Josef. He knew it would be difficult for anyone to discover they'd slipped into another room, especially one already occupied by another guest.

"You already have all of your supplies, I take it?" Vaxsha asked as she scanned their belongings. "Did you plan to pry your way into one of the rooms up here?"

"We've made a lot of plans in the last few days," Josef replied.

Suddenly snoring could be heard. Josef twisted.

Malark was already passed out, his head fallen to the side in his wing-backed armchair.

"That old-timer hustled hard today," Claudius said while politely gesturing for Vaxsha to pass him a blanket. "We'll be out of your hair in the morning, Vaxsha. Josef has been summoned by the Gangdrup Council for tomorrow evening, but we will vacate before then."

"Leaving Gangdrup? Already?" Vaxsha said as she gathered the empty tea cups from her guests.

Josef shrugged. "We don't know. Apparently once I leave Mal's feld, if we do indeed do that, I lose the protection granted by her ratification."

"Oh yes," Vaxsha said, "you've heard right. You're about to enter the world now. Consider this but a time of limbo. How much have you been prepared?"

Josef glanced at Claudius. "I'd say somewhere between slightly and not at all."

"I thought we'd have more time," said Claudius. "Josef needed to rest and recover. As you can see, he's been nibbled by gujai and his body hasn't moved this much in a very long time. Thankfully, his mind's working now. At least slightly—"

Josef gave a sort laugh and then said, "Clooood," in imitation of his previous self. Smiling, he continued, "I could barely speak. My mouth betrayed me at every turn. It was infuriating."

But Vaxsha was narrowing in on her subject. "What have you prepared to teach him, Sea Gwell?"

Claudius straightened in his char. "Frankly, I'm reaching the limits of my knowledge. Reaching, but not reached, mind you."

"You managed to get him this far," Vaxsha said, congratulating him, "so you must have some knowledge under your belt."

"Izzblum's" Claudius said, reaching down to his rucksack and pulling out the leather-bound tome.

"Interesting," said Vaxsha. "May I see it?"

Claudius hesitated, but then nodded slowly and passed it to her. "Careful," he said, swallowing.

"Of course, of course," Vaxsha muttered as her hand draped across the brown cover. "Quite a nice edition you have. What made you go with Izzblum's? A rather non-standard choice, is it not?"

Josef watched as Claudius reached for the appropriate words.

"It's what was provided to me. I make use of the materials close at hand."

"As one should," Vaxsha replied, cracking open the cover. "Now where is it," she said as she flipped through the pages. "Never cared much for Izzblum's myself, a bit too codified, but it's presentation is excellent for a beginner."

Josef felt a rush of excitement at Vaxsha's display of goo-drinker arcana. She seemed learned, and quickly his mind began to wonder what she might be able to teach him. Even Claudius was leaning forward in his seat as she perused his copy of Izzblum's Guide to Drinkers of Goo.

"Ah, here we are," Vaxsha said, tapping the page. She pushed back a strand of light green hair and read clearly and carefully: "Filtering commences immediately upon leaving the ratifying feld. The goo-drinker will mark this event with the gradual appearance of lethargy and inward retreat."

"I read that as well," said Claudius, perking up from his chair. "It's the part that comes after I don't understand."

Vaxsha continued reading: "The filtering reflects the particularity of the goo-drinker in question. That is, their existence prior to their goo-dunking and during their goo-stasis. Their filtering must account for, as far as its known, these particularities and any deviations encountered, if any."

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Vaxsha raised her head. "And it ends there."

"Exactly," said Claudius, throwing up his hands.

"What do you mean 'it ends there'?" Josef said, extending his hand out to Vaxsha to see the book. She passed it to him.

"That's the end of the chapter," she replied. "It's actually not that surprising. I've seen it in other guides as well. The author, whoever they are, suddenly becomes verbose and adds a few academic flourishes to confound the reader."

Josef quickly read the section. She was right. The author, Izzblum, if the title was to be believed, appeared to have reached the limits of their own knowledge.

Josef flipped through to other sections of the book and found an entire chapter devoted to the first five minutes of life, another on questions, and another still on preparation. There was even one on breathing techniques which made Josef smile.

"Did you read every page of this Claudius?" Josef asked looking up from the tome.

The Sea Gwell nodded with pride. "I did what I could."

"I can tell…everything you've been teaching me is in here. Is this filtering what you were referring to when you said that you'd needed to teach me things before we left?"

"Yes," replied Claudius. "But only how to work with it. Herbs to take, a few simple jintos…enough to get you to someone who might know more…." Claudius said as his gaze shifted over to Vaxsha.

But Vaxsha waved her hands. "Don't look at me." She then tapped her head, smiling. "It's all book knowledge up here. I've studied; I do know things, but it's just knowing — it's never been placed into the world and given life. I've dedicated myself to other things."

"But it sounds like you still might be able to help me," Josef said, his voice rising.

He didn't want to sound desperate, but he also didn't want to let an excellent opportunity go to waste. Who knew if Claudius would actually succeed in getting him to Kaway Mahay, let alone to a meeting with The Keen Ones.

"Who knows…" Vaxsha said, "perhaps it might be you helping me? But I hear the need in your voice and so I'll share this: there is another text called The Snout that explicitly rejects Izzblum's concept of filtering. It all gets rather complicated, and it's been at least a full septujinny and a handful of decadons since I last looked."

"But," she continued, raising a finger, "The Snout rejects filtering in favour of amplification. And unlike Izzblum, who was chiefly a scholar, the unknown author of the The Snout claims to be a goo-drinker."

"Claims," repeated Claudius. "I'm glad you mentioned that. I've heard of The Snout as well and I've also heard the claim you just cited is much contested."

"Contested or not," said Josef, eyebrows furrowing, "I think it's interesting someone would go through all of the trouble to write an entire text to point out Izzblum's Guide to Drinkers of Goo was inaccurate."

Malark suddenly snored so loud it sounded like he was trying to inhale the entire room.

"Why is it called The Snout?" Josef asked while staring at Malark snoring, his nose inflating and deflating.

"The author had a sense of humour," Vaxsha explained. "The joke is that in his or her theory the goo-drinker must follow their nose and amplify the effects of whatever they're going through."

"Now, Josef," said Claudius, "don't try to figure this all out at once. We still have time to get a better handle on all of this."

"Do we though? The Gangdrup's Council could ask us to leave the city tomorrow. That's a real possibility."

"There's more to be said, but it's getting late," Vaxsha said, yawning herself and removing the purple stone from her jacket pocket. "I've been on the road all day long. I do recommend preparing Josef for what's to come. He will need all the help he can get."

"Very wise," Claudius said, yawning and stretching himself. "Josef, since you're young and spry I'm going to leave the floor to you. It's comfier than it appears." Claudius flopped on to the second bed. He lay there completely still, apparently diving into an instantaneous sleep.

Vaxsha caught Josef staring at the cards. "You want a reading don't you? I can always tell."

Josef, however, wasn't staring at the cards — it was more than that: he was entranced by them. The skeletal fingers reaching into the beehive seemed to reaching into his own mind. He could only stare and stare. The card still didn't make any sense, but there was, however, a small glimmer of understanding as to why Vaxsha had journeyed so far to acquire a single card — for it was stunning and it seemed to hold forth an open secret.

"I don't know if I'm ready," Josef said, unsure of why those particular words had come, but they had nevertheless.

"Not ready? Interesting. Such hesitation from a goo-drinker." Vaxsha said, tapping the side of her mouth.

She then yawned again and reached down to the table and picked up the cards. "If I've learned one thing from reading, it's that you never push someone to see their cards."

Josef wasn't quite sure what she meant but he nodded nevertheless.

Vaxsha then gave him a long stare. "Goodnight, goo-drinker."

"Goodnight and thank you," Josef said as he swivelled his hips around on the couch and rested his feet where Vaxsha had just been sitting.

He heard Malark's snores and distant creaks as everything he'd learned tumbled and tumbled through his mind — The Game known as Quiv, Gangdrup's strange water, the threats against his life, the legend of Wainsop the Hushkeep Liberator, Wimmle the librarian and his offer, Sahva's horror at his seaweed tattoo…his eyelids became heavy, and now he thought of Vaxsha, and the beehive…and gradually he lost himself to sleep's invisible spell.

***

Josef awoke to the sound of dripping water. Not a droplet here and there, but a showering force of drip, drap, droolp sprinkling around him. There were louder splashes too, and everywhere he could smell a botanical freshness that was almost tropical were it not for a lingering peatiness.

Where was he? He knew he must be dreaming, but when he pinched himself on his arm, it hurt.

He went rub his eyes and almost blinded himself — his hand was aglow.

On his palm the seaweed tattoo had come to life. It radiated its jade light out into the darkness surrounding him like a fragile beacon. With it, he could see the bare outline of ferns and layers of condensed rock with water trickling down its jagged face in a network of miniature streams.

The fog has lifted.

Josef felt his entire body freeze. Instinctively he grappled at the pebbles underneath his hands, shuffling himself away from the voice.

"Who—who's there," said Josef rapidly, feeling his breath shudder in his chest. He was dreaming. He was dreaming, he told himself, thrusting forward the weak light of his glowing tattoo into the darkness.

He sees but barely.

"What?" Josef said. "What are you saying? Show yourself."

Open them, goo-drinker. Open your eyes!

"They're open!" Josef cried out. "It's so dark!" He felt so cold, he spun his palm about him still searching for the voice, but all he could see were ferns, stones. The pebbles underneath grated as he shifted.

The voice spoke again, but now it was only a whisper, a whisper scattered and raw as the pebbles chafing against each other below him.

He pushed his hands against the pebbled ground, rising up, but collapsed back to the ground. His chest expanded, bringing in air. He was so weak. He couldn't stand.

All he had was the glimmering light of the seaweed tattoo. He turned his palm towards his face; the light caused his eyelids to flicker.

And then he watched as the light faded like a fast-sinking sun. He could still hear the drops of rain, but then, after a short moment, even those minimal sounds left his hearing.