Io paused in telling his story. This part was always difficult for him to think about, even now. Even knowing it was all going to turn out all right, even after years of happy marriage, the memory of that pain and hopelessness was still clear as ever. Next to him, Akoya was listening with wide-eyed interest. He'd even forgotten to keep opening presents.

The tension was broken by the sound of a door opening and closing. A few seconds later, Ryuu ambled in, his arms full of bakery boxes.

"Hey, guys," he said cheerfully. "I thought you might be ready for a break by now, so I brought snacks."

Io gave a sigh of relief and smiled. "Yes, I think a break is exactly what we need right now, thank you."

He clapped his hands, and one of the house staff peeked into the room to see what he wanted. Io sent him away with a request for tea and napkins, and Ryuu began opening up his boxes. He'd brought along a veritable picnic: stacks of finger sandwiches, puff pastries, assorted turnovers, and other things that were easy to eat without utensils. One box held nothing but desserts, including some truly elaborate cupcakes and a dozen of the macarons Akoya loved so much. Io had to smile at that. They'd been married only a few days and already Ryuu was getting the hang of things.

"So how's the job going?" Ryuu asked, as he made himself a seat among the unopened presents. "Not getting bored without me, are you?"

Akoya said, "Io has been telling me tales about your past together."

"Oh, yeah? Which ones?" asked Ryuu, looking amused. "Is it the one where we turned some desert ruins into a magical city for that wandering prince to blunder into? That was fun. Io got to pretend to be a sultan, and I was a dancing girl."

"That sounds fascinating, and you're going to tell me about it later," said Akoya, "but right now, he's talking about how the two of you first got together."

"Hoo, boy." Ryuu shook his head, grinning sheepishly. "Not my proudest moment, by a long shot."

Io smirked. "Nice to know what you really think of me."

"Hey, no, I didn't mean it like that!" said Ryuu, laughing. "Gimme a break, here! What I mean is, I should have figured out sooner what was going on. I'm supposed to be the god of love, and my best friend is totally gone on me, and I didn't have a clue."

"Well, I wasn't really making it easy for you," said Io consolingly. "And you figured it out eventually."

"Yeah, eventually," said Ryuu. "After I missed all the warning signs, and En had to rub my nose in it."

"Him?" asked Akoya, seeming surprised. "What has he got to do with anything?"

Ryuu picked up a sandwich and took a thoughtful bite of it.

"Well," he said, "it was like this..."

Ryuu returned to his rooms that night in a good mood. He always enjoyed spending time around Io. There was something so reassuringly solid about Io. If the foundation of the Heavenly City were to ever crumble and break, they could probably use Io to prop up the heavens. Ryuu was glad he'd managed to coax his friend out of his hidey-hole to go and socialize a bit. Io was so serious most of the time that when he smiled, it seemed to light up the world.

He really is gorgeous, Ryuu mused, as he began changing into his pajamas. Too bad he seems set on staying single forever. That's a real waste. I really should give some thought to finding him somebody...

But now was not the time to worry about that. Tonight, he would just be happy that the two of them had enjoyed themselves so much. After all, if Io really wanted somebody else in his life, he knew who to ask about it. Maybe it was even better this way. After all, if Io found a sweetheart of his own, he'd have that much less time for Ryuu, and that would be a sore loss to him.

Humming softly to himself, Ryuu moved around his room, making sure everything was as it should be. A few candles flickered on a stand, and he checked them over carefully. Each of those flames represented an ongoing project of his, and he liked to make sure they were all proceeding as they should before he settled in for a night's sleep. If any of them were guttering or burning down too quickly, it would be a sign that there was a problem. Tonight, though, they were all burning steadily, and Ryuu nodded his satisfaction. All was right with the world, for tonight at least, so it was time for him to go to bed and get some sleep.

Many people, even gods, would have assumed that the place where Ryuu bedded down for the night usually had more people than just him in it. The truth was, he'd very seldom brought anyone to his own personal bed. It was a bit of a faux pas to bring mortals to the Heavenly City, unless they were attendants. Ryuu didn't have any attendants and didn't plan to - he had a shrewd notion that affiliating himself permanently with a group of humans was liable to lead to interpersonal drama of the sort he didn't want to deal with. Getting involved with his fellow gods would have been just as complicated. Gods tended to be long-term thinkers, and didn't usually care for the idea of short-term liaisons. Any god he got involved with would expect him to stay involved, an idea he balked at. The idea of being tied down to anyone forever unsettled him in ways he didn't like to examine too closely. Humans had their drawbacks - they tired quickly, and were easy to hurt if you weren't careful - but they were willing to accept his presence as a temporary pleasure rather than a permanent fixture, and that made them preferable than anything he could get in the Heavenly City.

Anyway, I have Io if I want someone to talk to. Other people might come and go, but Io would be part of his life forever...

Somewhere in the middle of that thought, Ryuu dozed off. In his dreams, he found himself wandering through the Palace of the Gods, but something had gone wrong with it. The bright colors he was used to had gone dull and gray. Dust lay thickly over everything. The delicate tapestries that adorned the walls were frayed and crumbling, and the floor beneath Ryuu's feet was cracked. Some of the furniture stood askew, legs buckled or broken. The windows, which usually showed the brilliant expanse of stars and slowly moving planets in the celestial sky, were dark and empty. The worst part was that Ryuu knew that somehow, this was his problem - perhaps not his fault, but his responsibility. There was something he needed to do, some simple, obvious thing, that would make everything better, but somehow he couldn't remember what it was. That bothered him, and he walked slowly through the ruined halls of his home, racking his brain to remember the solution that stubbornly refused to come to him.

At length, he came to the main hall, where the tables should have been spread with food at every hour of the day. Now they were spread with dishes, but most of them were empty, or filled only with a few desiccated scraps too far gone to even be identified as food. Experimentally, Ryuu touched a ceramic bowl, and it crumbled to dust at his touch.

A flicker of motion caught his eye. Ryuu turned around and saw a female figure standing with her back to him at the far end of the hall. She must have realized he was there, because she She giggled and turned quickly away. Her face was covered by a gauzy veil.. Ryuu grinned and relaxed, feeling himself on firmer ground. This was how his dreams were supposed to go.

"Hey," he called out, "who are you?"

"Who are you?" she answered coyly.

"Honey, I can be anyone you want me to be," he replied.

She giggled again. "Then show me."

She darted down a corridor, and Ryuu pursued. She was well ahead of him, but she wasn't running very fast, and paused every so often to glance back over her shoulder and make sure he was still following her. This wasn't really a pursuit, it was a game, and Ryuu thought he could guess what the prize would be. Sure enough, at the end of a corridor, the woman ducked through a door to one of the bedrooms, leaving it invitingly open. Ryuu grinned and stepped inside. The room was dimly lit, with only a thin silvery light coming in through the windows, making everything look blue and gray. The woman stood in the center of the room, her back still turned towards him, her gauzy garments floating around her in some unfelt wind.

"Hey," he said, "why don't you turn around? Don't you want to look at me?"

"Who are you?" she asked.

And suddenly, with sinking horror, he realized that he didn't know. Somehow in the last few minutes, he had forgotten his own name. He racked his brains, but nothing would come to him. The realization left him cold. Suddenly, he didn't want to be doing this anymore. He needed to figure out his name. He needed to figure out what was wrong, before it all went too wrong to ever be fixed. He needed to get out of here.

"Sorry," he blurted, "I just remembered, I've got to..."

The woman was slowly turning around. Ryuu stared, fascinated, as she reached up and undid her veil. There was nothing underneath her clothes, only shadows. She began drifting towards him, empty sleeves outstretched, cold wind whipping around her. Ryuu screamed...

...and sat up in bed. The room around him was still dark, but it was rosy with candlelight rather than gray, and the air was warm and still. Ryuu sat still for a few seconds, collecting himself, trying to figure out what had just happened to him. He did not, as a general rule, have nightmares. When he dreamed, his dreams usually weren't all that different from his waking life. He had no idea what had brought this on.

But he was going to find out.

A few minutes later, he was standing outside En's door, pounding his fist against it hard enough to probably wake the whole palace. It was not, however, enough to succeed in waking En. Ryuu switched to kicking the door instead. He'd been at it several minutes when the door finally opened, and En, looking cranky and sleepier than usual, poked his head into the hall.

"What's your problem?" he demanded. "I was sleeping."

"You're always sleeping," Ryuu snapped back. "How about telling me what's the big idea?"

"You sound cranky," said En. "Maybe you should go back to sleep, too."

Ryuu gave him an aggravated look. "You gave me a nightmare."

"Well, you needed one," said En. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"What do you mean, I needed one? There's no way I needed a nightmare," Ryuu objected.

En sighed. "If you're going to make a racket, you had better come inside."

That wasn't what Ryuu wanted. What he'd wanted was for En to apologize and promise to never do it again. Going into his room probably was not the fastest way to accomplish that, but what else could he do? If he continued trying to pick a fight with En out in the hallway, either En would force him to go back to sleep right there on the floor, or his fellow gods would emerge from their rooms to demand to know why he'd woken them from their rest. Either way, it was probably best for everyone if he went along with what En wanted, for now, anyway.

"Fine," he said, "but you'd better have a good explanation."

En stepped away from the door and let Ryuu wander inside. In many ways, En's room was superficially like Ryuu's, in that it was dimly lit and designed in such a way that almost any surface in it could be comfortably rested upon. The difference was that in Ryuu's room, the suggestion was that once you'd decided to lie down, other things would start happening. En's room was designed strictly for sleeping. Everything in it - the furniture, the floors, the walls - was covered in soft padding, mostly in various shades of blue. The furniture was deep and soft, pleasant to curl up on, and even the tables and shelves had quilted covers to make them comfortable to rest against. Ryuu picked out a spot on the sofa and flopped ungracefully into it. En sat down next to him, arranging himself in a more-or-less upright position that suggested that he at least intended to try to pay attention.

"So, what's got you all riled up?" he asked.

"As if you didn't know," Ryuu muttered.

En shrugged. "Everyone gets nightmares once in a while, even me. Maybe especially me. You don't see me making a fuss about them."

"Yeah, but why?" Ryuu asked. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Well, tell me about it and maybe I can help you figure it out," said En.

Ryuu regarded him skeptically. "You don't already know what I dreamed about?"

"Not really, no," En said. "It's like delivering the mail. I don't have to read every message I deliver, I just have to make sure they all get sent out. All the signs were that it was time for you to have a nightmare, so I sent you one."

"I should have known your job made no sense," Ryuu complained.

"I do what I gotta do," said En philosophically. "So tell me about this dream."

Reluctantly, Ryuu spilled it all. The thought of it still unnerved him, and he didn't really like talking about it, but En's sleepy, detached manner made it a little easier. He made it seem like nothing was really worth getting excited over. And really, when you looked at everything clearly, what was so scary about a lot of clothes moving around by themselves? It wasn't as though they could hurt you. By the time Ryuu had finished telling everything, he found that he felt a lot better.

What do you know? Maybe En knows his business, after all.

When Ryuu had told everything he had to tell, En leaned back in his seat, his eyes narrowing to sleepy slits.

"Hmm," he said. "That's got a lot going on. There's the business with the palace falling down - that's important. Then there's the girl, and the question she kept asking. Why do you think it was a girl?"

"Huh?" asked Ryuu, momentarily thrown.

"I mean, as opposed to a guy," said En. "You like them both pretty equally, don't you?"

Ryuu shrugged. "I don't think it's important. I mean, there aren't but so many options. Might as well be a girl as opposed to something else."

"Nah, that's not how it works," said En. "These things aren't random. If you dreamed about a woman, there was a reason she was there. But we can move on."

"Yeah, the other stuff seems more important," Ryuu agreed. "The palace falling down around me, and the way she kept asking who I was."

En nodded slowly. "I think those two are the same thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's two things you couldn't remember," En explained. "You couldn't remember your name, and you couldn't remember what you needed to do to fix the palace. I mean, you're a god, and the palace is kind of a symbol of the whole pantheon. Your name is your identity, so if you can't remember it, it means you're not being true to yourself somehow. Either way, it sounds like on some level, you're falling down on the job."

Ryuu shook his head. "But I am doing my job. I'm down on earth all the time, helping people pair off. Sometimes more than just pairs. I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing."

"There's obviously some part of you that doesn't think so," said En. "The girl works into it, too. There's something important you think you should be doing, but you aren't really sure what it is, so you chase girls instead because it's easier and you can say 'hey, I'm supposed to do this, it's my job' and feel like you're accomplishing something."

Ryuu scowled. He'd never had any shame about his "after hours" activities. As far as he was concerned, he'd never done anything wrong. He'd never pressured anyone who hadn't wanted to go along with him, never encouraged anyone to break faith with someone else, and he was always careful to tell his partners who he was and what they could expect from him. He didn't take advantage of anyone's innocence or use his powers to coax someone unwilling. It had never occurred to him that there might be other problems involved, and he didn't like having it pointed out to him.

"So what am I supposed to be doing?" he asked.

"Search me," said En. "I have all I can do to keep up with my own job."

"You're no help," Ryuu muttered.

"Sure I am," said En. "You didn't know there was a problem before. Now you do. You can think about it and maybe figure out what you're doing wrong."

Ryuu sighed. "Thanks a lot."

"I do what I can," said En. "Hey, do you want to stay here the rest of the night? You might sleep better."

Ryuu thought seriously. Did he want to go back to his room alone right now?

"Yeah," he said. "I think I might."

En smiled. "Well, there's plenty of room. Me, I'm going back to bed. Don't wake me when you leave, 'kay?"

"No problem," Ryuu assured him.

En shuffled back to his own room, letting the living room lights wink out behind him. Ryuu settled himself down on the sofa. It was a nice sofa, more than big enough for him to stretch out on comfortably, and the cushions were wonderfully soft. The air in the room was warm and smelled of soothing things - lavender, vanilla, a hint of fresh water. Almost against his will, Ryuu felt his eyes begin to slide open. He pulled at a blanket that had been thrown casually over the back of the sofa and cocooned himself in it. He drifted off almost immediately. This time, if he dreamed, it didn't bother him at all.

The next morning, Io came to breakfast late and in a slightly sour mood. He had not slept well the previous night, and had gotten up later than his usual hour as a result. He arrived at the great hall and found Ryuu was already there, sitting at his usual table and talking earnestly to En. Io frowned a little.

Isn't that just like him? Last night, he's only interested in me, and this morning I'm already forgotten.

He squelched that thought as unfair and needlessly critical. En and Ryuu had been friends for a long time. Ryuu had every right to talk to him, especially if Io was rude enough to be late for breakfast. It wasn't as though Io thought for a minute that Ryuu was interested in En. Ryuu tended to like his partners a bit more proactive, and En certainly didn't fit the bill.

And neither do I. The people Ryuu gravitated towards were invariably the adventurous type - outgoing, thrill-seeking, willing to try anything once. The last person he was likely to get involved with was someone was practical and cautious as Io. Doubtless he'd become bored pretty quickly even if he tried.

Io dropped into a seat at an empty table and heaved a sigh of sheer frustration. What was he supposed to do about this? He didn't want to spoil his friendship with Ryuu, he didn't want to be rejected, he didn't want a temporary fling, and he didn't see how he could get anything else. Apparently he was just doomed to suffer. Not, he mused, a very appetizing prospect when you had a reasonable expectation of living forever.

I suppose I ought to tell him anyway...

Io shied away from the thought. Yes, it would be the honest thing to do, but he really didn't think he had the nerve. Maybe if he just waited long enough, he could resign himself to the idea. They could go back to being friends, he could treasure the moments they had together, and nothing would have to change.

He sighed again. That was not the future he wanted to look forward to.

In an effort to pry himself away from his morose thoughts, he scanned the room for something to distract him. His gaze fell on the one thing that was different from usual: the two men sitting at the high table. It seemed that Gora and Yumoto were making good on their promise to stay in the Heavenly City until a new ruler of the underworld had been selected. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, and perhaps they were. The Heavenly City was meant to be a retreat from the sometimes substantial pressures of being a god, a place where every conceivable luxury was there for the asking, ranging from physical indulgences to the purely intellectual pleasures. To two people who kept up the pretense of being human most of the time, down to running an actual business, albeit in a rather cavalier and rather inconsistent fashion, this must have seemed like a rather nice vacation.

Though I suppose that new underworld they're building must be nice too, he thought vaguely, as he unenthusiastically helped himself to breakfast. I wonder if it will be as fine as the City...

And just like that, the idea came to him. If staying in the City forever, constantly seeing the one thing he wanted most and could never have, was going to hurt him, there was no reason why he should have to stay. He could walk up to Gora right now and ask for the job. Obviously it was still available, or Gora wouldn't still be here. If he was willing to let Io have the job, then he could retreat to another world entirely, and maybe that distance would be enough to give him some perspective.

And maybe, a small treacherous part of him whispered, Ryuu will realize what he's missing if I leave.

Of course, he probably wouldn't get the job. Probably it would go to someone like Aurite, who had experience with ruling. Besides, Io had a shrewd notion that Gora would probably guess his motives at once and dismiss his request outright. Surely he would know that whatever was motivating Io right now, it wasn't an unselfish desire to tend to the happiness of the deceased.

On the other hand, it wouldn't cost anything to ask. Io was a great believer in taking risks that wouldn't cost him anything if they failed. He dawdled over his breakfast, making sure that most of the other gods had finished and wandered off before he made his move. It wasn't until he saw Gora push his plate away and stand up that Io made his move. He slipped out of the dining hall just seconds after Gora did. The man was moving at no more than an amble, and it took very little effort to catch up to him.

"Excuse me," Io called after him, "have you got a moment?"

"Sure, I have time." Gora stopped walking and turned towards Io, leaning one shoulder against the wall and folding his arms in an attitude that suggested he was prepared to stand and listen for as long as Io cared to talk.

Io almost lost his nerve then. He'd never really spoken to Fate before, except for a few words in passing here and there. He'd had the impression that Gora was a taciturn man, not much given to idle conversation. He was also a lot taller than Io, and a lot more muscular. It was ever so slightly intimidating, even without the axe.

"About that new underworld," Io began carefully. "Is the position you mentioned still open?"

"It is," Gora agreed.

"I see," said Io. Taking a steadying breath, he said, "Would you be willing to consider me for the post?"

Gora gave him a long, searching look. "You really sure you want it? It's a big responsibility. Once you take the job, it's yours forever - no backing down."

Io hesitated. He had been so caught up in his own worries that he hadn't thought much about the larger implications of his plan. Was this really something he could do?

"I'm a collector of precious things," he said slowly. "I gather them close to me and keep them safe. I don't see why that shouldn't extend to people as well as jewels."

Gora smiled. "Good answer. All right, you're in."

"What? Just like that?" asked Io, taken aback. "Don't you want to think about it, or see who else offers?"

"Nope," said Gora casually. "You snooze, you lose. If they wanted the job, they had all day yesterday to ask about it."

"Oh," said Io. Now he almost felt guilty. What if, by his reckless offer, he'd taken the job away from someone more suitable - someone who might have even wanted it more, but hadn't been quite so impulsive in asking about it?

Gora smiled. "Don't look so worried. I think you're right - you've got what it takes. Go ahead and start making whatever arrangements you need to make. You can start tomorrow."

"So soon?" Io asked.

"Why not? Sooner the better," said Gora. "It will take a little time for you to get acclimated to your new home, so you might as well start right away."

"Well, if you're sure," said Io. He was beginning to wonder if he had perhaps been a bit hasty, but there was no getting out of it now. Gora might be constitutionally laid-back, but he was also the undisputed ruler of the gods. If he said Io was to take the job, then that was the end of it.

"I'm sure," said Gora, and he did indeed look very certain. Io decided he was going to have to content himself with that. "I'll start getting things ready down there. Yumoto will fetch you tomorrow so we can show you the ropes."

"So what should I do?" Io asked.

Gora shrugged. "Anything you want. Tell your friends you're moving. Talk to your priests and let them know you're about to shake things up for them. Sort your belongings, if you want to. Your rooms here are going to be closed up when you move, but we'll make sure all your things go with you when you leave."

In spite of himself, Io almost laughed at that.

What do you know. It turns out if Gora is helping, you can take it with you.

"I'll be ready," Io promised.

"Good," said Gora. "Tomorrow, then."

He turned and sauntered off, his business apparently concluded. Io was left alone in the hallway to consider the magnitude of the thing he'd just done.

An odd thought surfaced in his mind: he was going to become ruler of a world. No matter how you looked at it, that had to be a step up. No one in the celestial realms really took him very seriously, besides one or two friends, and even those were more because they liked him than because they really thought highly of his work. It might be nice to be respected and admired for a change. Perhaps it would make up for some of what he was giving up. If nothing else, this new job promised to keep him busy for a while, and that might be the best thing for him.

All the same, he realized he'd just agreed to leave the place that had been his home since the dawn of civilization and going to a place he'd never even seen before - that no one, in fact, had seen before, other than Chance and Fate themselves. He was about to undertake a job he really wasn't sure he knew how to do, and a lot of peoples' welfare and future happiness was riding on how good a job he did with it.

One thing was for sure, he thought, as he began wandering towards his room. It was probably a good thing he had packing to do, because he was probably going to be having another sleepless night.

Ryuu sat on a fence, watching the drama that was playing out in front of him. It had taken some tricky work to get this particular couple to notice each other, but now everything was coming along beautifully. The local lord's youngest son was strolling around the garden hand in hand with the dashing jewel merchant who had just "happened" to turn up at a dinner party with one of the other guests. It had taken some finagling on Ryuu's part to make sure that the party would be happening when the merchant was in port, and that said merchant would manage to get an invitation, but when it had all come together, the results were everything Ryuu could have hoped for. He smiled contentedly as the two lovers continued to promenade around the garden, oblivious to the fact that a god was watching them. They probably wouldn't have cared if they'd known, so wrapped up were they in each other's company.

Humans are lucky, Ryuu thought.

If someone had come along and asked him what he'd meant by that, he wouldn't have been able to explain clearly. It was just that the couples he helped to find each other always seemed so happy. He had watched them so often, going from the first breathless moments of infatuation to the comforting solidarity of a relationship that had weathered years of ups and downs. His fleeting relationships, if you could call them that, had always been pleasant, but they lacked the depth that these humans seemed to enjoy. He knew why it wouldn't work for him. Humans were one thing - they had short lives, and if they made a bad job of one of them, they could always reincarnate and try again. Gods didn't have that luxury. Whatever they did, they did for keeps. The thought of making a choice like that and choosing wrongly terrified Ryuu. He knew he couldn't face the possibility of spending the rest of eternity with someone he no longer felt drawn to.

Now, if he could have found someone he wouldn't lose interest in, that would be different. He let himself dwell on the idea of an end to the constant round of catch-and-release. There were those who assumed he could go from temporary relationship to temporary relationship painlessly because he didn't care about any of the people he dallied with, but they were wrong. Ryuu loved everyone - that was his nature - and because he loved them, he did what he could to make them happy for an evening before turning them over to someone better equipped to make them happy for a lifetime. It hurt a little every time, and if there was a better alternative, he'd gratefully take it. It would be such a relief to love someone and not have it hurt. It would be nice to have someone who was always there for him, someone who cared about him for who he was and not just admired him for what he was.

Too bad there was no such person. He was reasonably sure he'd have noticed by now if there was.

Ha, I should tell Gora to fix that next time I see him.

He straightened, suddenly electrified. He'd thought it as a joke - normally he had no idea where Gora was or where to find him - but today he realized he did know. He was hanging around the Palace of the Gods, occupying a suite that nobody had known was there until he moved into it. Ryuu could find him right now and demand he put an end to this injustice. Well, that or politely point out that it might be a good idea. Gora was not the sort of person he felt entirely comfortable being demanding towards. Still, this was obviously a flaw in the universe, and it was Gora's job to fix that kind of thing. Let him start earning his keep in the Palace.

Feeling rather amused by his own daring, Ryuu left the mortal world behind and reappeared in the Palace of the Gods, just a few doors down from the room Gora and Yumoto had been sharing. He marched the last few feet and rapped on the door before he could lose his nerve. Almost instantly, the door swung open, and Ryuu stared up at the ruler of the universe. His hair was tousled, as if he'd been napping.

"Need something?" Gora asked. He did not sound altogether annoyed, just resigned to the fact that people were going to pester him for things. Ryuu felt a little ashamed of himself.

"I was just going to ask..." he began.

"Wait," said Gora, attention suddenly going focused. "Before you ask me anything, let me ask you something: have you talked to Sulfur today?"

"Huh? Of course I have," Ryuu began. Then he stopped. "Wait, no..." He'd answered automatically: of course he'd talked to Io, because he always talked to Io. Only today he hadn't, because he'd spent the night on En's sofa and they'd spent all of breakfast talking seriously about nightmares and their meanings, and somehow it hadn't occurred to Ryuu that Io hadn't been there. That was wrong. Io was always there. He should have noticed. He would have noticed if he hadn't been so wrapped up in his problems.

"I haven't seen him," he said softly.

"Then you'd better go talk to him," said Gora. "I'd hate to see him leave before you have a chance to say goodbye."

"Wait, what?" Ryuu yelped, but Gora was already closing the door.

Well, there were two ways to solve this little communication problem. Ryuu took off at a sprint. Within a few steps, he had vanished, reappearing on another floor on the other side of the palace. He was more surprised than he thought he'd be to find the room to Io's door open, and Io inside moving things around. He appeared to be packing. Ryuu stared. He had never seen Io's room in anything other than a state of controlled chaos. Now everything had been neatly organized, much of it packed into trunks which had in turn been stacked neatly against the wall. Io was in the middle of all this, directing streams of coins and gems into their proper places.

"What in the name of Chance's blessed bathwater is going on?" Ryuu blurted.

For a moment, Io looked sheepish. "Packing."

"To go where?" Ryuu persisted. "You aren't going anywhere. Where would you go?"

The sheepish expression left Io's face. His eyes were was cold as any of the metal in his trove, harder than diamonds.

"I'm leaving," he said. "I'm going to the underworld."

Ryuu stared. "But... you can't. You said you wouldn't. You said you didn't want to."

"Well, I changed my mind," said Io. "Anyway, I can't back out of it now. I've talked it over with Gora and he agrees I'm the right man for the job, so I'm moving in."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ryuu asked.

"It was none of your business," said Io stiffly. "This is my choice, not yours."

"That doesn't mean I don't have feelings about it!" Ryuu retorted.

"Well, I have feelings too," said Io tartly. "Maybe you should think about them, instead of standing there shouting at me. You have no right to tell me what to do with my life. Now, if you aren't going to help, then please move. I have a lot of packing left to do."

Ryuu stared at him, open-mouthed. Never, not in hundreds of years of existence, had Io ever spoken to Ryuu in that tone of voice.

"Well, fine!" Ryuu blurted. "Leave, then! Who needs you anyway!"

He turned on his heel and stomped of. Even long after he'd left Io's room behind, Ryuu still imagined he could feel those cold blank eyes following him.