Again, the italics at the beginning and end aren't mine. I just snitched them so you'd know where we were. This chapter is kind of filler. Important, but still filler.


They were all subtly changed by the mountain. Speech seemed less and less necessary, and they all thought long thoughts, which, during the quiet times around the campfire at night, they tried to share with each other. It became somehow a time of cleansing and healing, and they all grew closer together as they approached the solitary immensity.

It was on one such night that Garion pulled up his nerves and went to speak to his wife of the relationship that was beginning to develop between him and the Mallorean Emperor. He watched her wriggling around in their blankets trying to get comfortable with a small, fond smile on his face.

"Garion," her voice was slightly muffled by the blankets, "Quit laughing at me."

"But I'm not laughing, dear."

She peeked over the covers, "You're laughing at me in your head, I can feel it," he pouted.

"Of course, dear." His smile grew, but as he crawled into the tent the smile slipped from his face.

"What's wrong?" Ce'nedra put her arms around him and drew him into a hug.

"I've got something fairly serious to talk to you about. And please, I want you to listen and not to leap to any hasty judgements, alright?" he swallowed hard.

"Alright, dear. I promise." She said, her curiosity fanned into flame.

"It's about… 'Zakath and I." He said a little uncomfortably.

"I noticed that you two seemed a little closer than when we started out," she laid a hand on his arm. "Please, go on. But when you are finished, I have something to tell you too."

Garion's face flamed as he struggled to find the words. What was he thinking Ce'nedra was going to murder him. He'd be dead and then the world would end, because that was his kind of luck.

"Oh," she giggled, "Oh, I see. You and 'Zakath are playing Pathicus."

"Pathicus?" Garion was profoundly confused.

"You enjoy the… company… of both men and women." She explained. "It happens fairly frequently in Tolnedra," she smiled and snuggled close to him. "That's really very brave of you to tell me."

"It was only the right thing to do."

"I know, and that's why I have a confession to make to you, too." She signed and kissed his temple. "Liselle and I are playing Pathicus too."

Garion's jaw dropped as he considered the implications of that statement. Then he blushed and shook his head, "How does that even…" he stopped, "No. Wait. Don't tell me. I don't think I want to know."

She giggled wickedly. "I could ask you the same thing."

Garion thought his face would explode into flames, "No. No you can't because there is no way I could ever tell you."

"I could always watch," she suggested.

Garion sputtered at that and she broke into peal upon peal of silvery laughter.

The next evening Garion took Zakath to the side and quietly told him all of what happened the previous night. The shorter man's eyes grew wide and he too, began to laugh.

"It's not funny!" Garion protested before stalking away and muttering to himself.

Later that night Garion awoke with a light as bright as day in his eyes. He slipped out from under the blankets and turned back the flap of the tent. A full moon had arisen, and it filled the world with a pale luminescence. The mountain stood stark and white against the starry blackness of the night sky, glowing with a cool incandescence that seemed almost alive.


pathicus m (feminine pathica, neuter pathicum); first/second declension

(of men) someone submitting to sex (anal sex) or unnatural lust, pathic, lascivious; of catamites, prostitutes or books

Thats the actual definition, i just stole it.