Little Girls and the Games they Play

Travelling further east at the pagoda's cruising speed meant that they soon left behind most human habitation. Farther out were the Wyld tainted border marches, inhabited by Fair Folk, hobgoblins, Wyld mutants and things far stranger.

Darken Gray had told Ivory of the strange things in the East, of forests made entirely of cats and trees of fire. While such wondrous things sparked Ivory's imagination, she would not see them, not this trip.

To travel to the Elemental Pole of Wood required that Ivory concentrate on the most elementally pure parts of the landscape, to follow the path of truth, as it were, through madness, as Darken Gray had explained it. And it was Ivory who had to chart the course, for it was her journey.

She would sit in the pilot's house, seeking the path.

Sometimes she would have to stop the pagoda, leaving it hovering as she stared out at the forests, trying to decide which forest was the one that would lead her where she needed to go. She would have to observe, seek out what was real and was the imaginative artifice without understanding.

Once it was the realisation that the leaves in one forest were actually brilliant green butterflies. Another time it was that the small animals within the canopy were all actually clockworks.

Sometimes she had to backtrack, and for all the speed of the pagoda, she felt she was not making any more progress than if she had been walking.

Nor could she fly the pagoda all day and all night, for Darken Gray still had lessons to teach and insisted that Ivory sleep well.

It was about three days from when she had ended O when Ivory was confident she was on the true path. She wanted to push forward as fast as she might, but Darken Gray had suggested they put down. Below them was a clearing in a forest that was the most elementally pure they had seen in some hours.

'Stretch your legs while you can,' the god had told her. 'I think this will be safe enough, and Hu will be with you. Think about your project.'

Ivory's project was a letter that would be sent to heaven, to the superiors of O the Flying Wood.

Darken Gray called it an explanation, but Ivory knew it was really a letter of apology.

For denying someone a powerful subordinate.

The problem was that so far all she could think of to write was, 'I am sorry your servant was so stupid that they had to be ended.' And that was the thing. Ivory knew for certain that she had been right and O had deserved its fate.

It was annoying to have to try to come up with a polite way to explain that.

She paused on the edge of the clearing, knelt down to look at some flowers that grew just in the shade.

"What would you like to hear if someone killed one of your servants?" Ivory asked Hu as she gently brushed her fingers across the dark petals of what she thought might be an orchid.

Hu did not answer immediately, and Ivory continued to watch the flowers, waiting.

"An apology would be appreciated."

Ivory took a deep breath and then said, keeping her tone even, "I am not going to apologise. I'm not sorry."

"Then at least a promise that it would not happen again, but seeing as it can not happen again, that might be taken as something of an insult."

Ivory fought off a smile. She knew Hu was serious, but it still seemed a little funny.

"At the very least an expression of apology to me for the inconvenience it had caused. Perhaps an offer to provide aid until I found a suitable replacement."

Ivory nodded, then stood and turned to face Hu, putting her hands behind her back. She was wearing a pair of knee high, laced up leather boots, a long, dark red skirt, white blouse with a leather vest. Her long cloak trailed out behind her, and her swords were worn openly on her belt. "Would you make me hide under beds and scare little children?" She smiled.

Hu stood and walked towards her, twining around her with his large body for a moment. "I don't think you could scare an infant. I would probably give you paperwork to handle." He slid past her and slipped into the forest.

"I could be plenty scary," Ivory said as she stepped over the orchids and followed Hu among the trees.

Under the canopy were the soft sounds of birds call, the nearly inaudible buzz of insects. Nothing came close, likely Hu's presence was responsible.

She stepped over a root, tripped and almost fell to the ground, only keeping herself up by grabbing a branch.

Close by Ivory heard someone laugh.

Hu, a few steps ahead of her, swung about towards the sound, shifting so that he was between Ivory and it.

"Hello," someone called.

Ivory looked up.

In the branches of a tree was a young girl, dressed in a white shift. Her short blonde hair seemed to shine under the forest canopy.

"Who are you?" Ivory asked.

The girl smiled. "I am called Shoat of the Mire. You are Ivory Peleps. I have wanted to meet you."

"How do you know who I am? Why would you want to meet me?" Ivory asked putting a hand close to her sword.

Shoat of the Mire smiled, and then pushed herself from the branch, dropping twenty feet to the ground. She landed in a crouch, then straightened and bowed.

Hu was still between Ivory the girl, watching the newcomer.

"I think we could be good friends," Shoat of the Mire told Ivory.

Ivory looked at the other girl for several seconds, then asked, "Why?"

Shoat of the Mire winked, then turned and ran off between the trees. "Come with me," she called back over her shoulder.

Ivory looked at Hu, then after several seconds, she ran off into the woods, following the girl. It was easy to trail Shoat of the Mire, for her blonde hair, white shift and pale skin were like a beacon under the canopy. Hu paced Ivory, keeping watch.

Shoat of the Mire was fast, agile, she moved quickly, leaping over roots and squirming through the underbrush. Ivory was not quite so quick, and she fell behind the other girl. Hu dashed ahead every now and then before letting Ivory catch up to him.

Everyone was faster than her.

She saw the Shoat of the Mire stop, ahead of her the forest growing brighter. Ivory slowed down, walking among the roots. It looked as if Shoat of the Mire was standing on the edge of another clearing.

Moving closer Ivory realised it was actually the side of a cliff that she stood at. Ivory stepped close to the edge, not wanting the other girl to think she was afraid. The drop was easily hundreds of feet. It was a valley that split the forest, Ivory could see it stretching off in either direction.

"Look," Shoat said, pointing down into the valley.

Ivory leaned out, to make sure there could be no doubt of her bravery and looked where Shoat was pointing.

A river ran along the floor of the valley, and below them, it spread out to become a large pool. Around it Ivory could see people swimming in the water, climbing up on the rocks.

She was positive none of them were wearing clothing and was pretty sure they were green.

"I think they're Dryads," Shoat said.

"Probably," Ivory agreed, though in truth she did not know.

"There is this dryad close to where I live, not too close of course." She looked at Ivory.

"Of course," Ivory said.

"She is like an old dying swamp tree. It's cause of the Noss Fens."

Ivory nodded, wondering where the Noss Fens were.

"Old hag, near dying, mean. I hate her, but I can't do anything 'bout it." She looked down at the figures, swimming in the valley pool. "Wanna go and kill them?"

Ivory did not answer immediately, considering the many things she might say, then discarding them. Finally, she settled on, "No, not really."

Shoat nodded. "Yeah, I guess I don't want to either."

Ivory thought she might be lying.

"But I'm glad you killed that other one. That powerful elemental."

"You know about that?"

Shoat of the Mire nodded. "Course I do. When you killed it, I heard about it, from the ghosts."

Ivory took a careful step back, hand once more moving towards the hilt of her sword.

Shoat of the Mire watched her, smiled. "Not going to hurt you. We should be friends. Best friends I think. Listen, when you are with kids, do you think that one day they'll be adults and you'll still be a girl?"

The question surprised Ivory.

"Cause I know that is what I think… Well, most of them, the other girls, have already died, but I think, if they hadn't died, they could grow up, and I won't, cause I'm kind of dead. And you won't cause the poison that killed the possibility that you'd grow up."

"How do you know about that?" Ivory asked.

"The dead gossip and the Neverborn Whisper and the demons talk. If you put it all together, it is pretty obvious."

Ivory was surprised that the secret she thought only she, and Hu and Darengest, and the Ebon Dragon... He thought trailed off. Really, it seemed a lot of people and beings had known.

The girl stepped away from the edge of the valley and stood straight. "I'm an Abyssal Exalted, made by the Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils. We are meant to be enemies. But I still want to be friends."

"Cause neither of us will grow up."

"Yeah, and cause I hate the Dowager."

"You hate the Dowager?"

Shoat of the Mire nodded. "If you met her you'd hate her too, but not for long, cause she'd kill you real fast."

Ivory shook her head. "I fought the Mask of Winters."

"The Mask of Winters was weak and stupid, and probably ugly, but I don't know that for sure. The Dowager is a lot worse. She'd kill you, and that would make me sad."

Ivory was not entirely certain how to argue that point. "Why does hating her make you want to be friends?"

"She made me. She made my mother, and my grand mother and maybe more grand mother's beyond. If I hate her, it's cause she wants me to hate her."

Ivory considered that for several seconds and then said, "Okay."

"So I want to hurt her. But she knows that, cause that is what she wants me to think. So whatever I do she probably wanted me to do that. And if I do nothing cause I don't wanna play her game, she would want me to do nothing… maybe."

"I see," Ivory said, understanding Shoat of the Mire's thoughts.

"But, I don't think she'd s'pect me to make friends with someone who's very much like me, but completely different. I mean, it's not like you are something she could predict."

For a moment Ivory thought to argue that point but knew that she would be doing so to be contrary.

"So I think we'll be good friends," the other girl said to Ivory.

Ivory looked at the other girl, into her dark eyes.

She had an idea of what kind of life the Shoat of the Mire might have lived.

"Maybe."

"Yes."

"Maybe."

"Don't be stupid. We're gonna be friends until the end of time."

"I'm not stupid. And maybe."

Shoat hit her gently in the shoulder. "Best friends. I'm sure of it." Then she shifted closer and kissed Ivory on the cheek. Her lips felt cold. Then she said, "We're gonna be little girls until we are ended, me in the dark and you in the light and we are going to need each other." She dropped down to sit on the edge of the valley, perched on a root.

"We are?"

"Of course we are? And I'm gonna probably have sisters and brothers, but I hope just sisters cause boys are gross, don't you think?"

Ivory nodded after a moment. "Yeah, mostly." She took a seat beside Shoat of the Mire.

"And think how much worse they'll be if they are Abyssals cause a lot of them as adults are really gross too."

Hu sat and yawned, Ivory suspect that he had passed judgement on the immediacy of danger Shoat represented. Or he was putting on an act to trick Shoat of the Mire.

"Some of the women are gross too. Dowager tells me about some of them. All peeling skin, or bones, and weeping soars and vermin." She shook her head. "I'm just happy to be a cute girl."

She was all over the place, but Ivory asked, "Why are we gonna need each other?"

"Too much Darkness or Light can't be good for us. That's what I think. So I can keep you grounded and remind you that everything ends and you can remind me that not everything is terrible and the being in the sun sometimes is okay. You agree right?"

"No," Ivory said, shaking her head.

"No?"

"Why would I want to be reminded that everything ends?"

Shoat of the Mire canted her head to the side, looking at Ivory. "Cause you don't want to forget. I get the idea the Solars of old forgot."

That surprised Ivory.

"I'm gonna be around until it all ends. I decided that. But I want a friend. I want a friend who can understand."

"But, we're going to be enemies."

"So? Why can't enemies be friends?"

Ivory opened her mouth to answer, then closed it. She looked over at Hu.

No help there.

"Okay, maybe enemies can be friends."

Shoat of the Mire smiled happily, and so fast as Ivory could do nothing to stop it, she had grabbed Ivory's small hand in her own two small hands, clasping it. She brought Ivory's hand up and placed Ivory's fingers against her cold cheek.

"Your hand is warm," Shoat of the Mire said.

Shoat's grip was gentle, and her fingers soft in some places, calloused in others and her hair was so very blonde. She sat there, eyes closed, holding Ivory's hand to her cheek, smiling.

It occurred to Ivory that a beautiful blonde girl like Shoat of the Mire, who could hold her hand like that and smile so prettily might indeed be a girl she would like to have as a friend. If she were not an Abyssal.

But why should she not be friends with an Abyssal?

The Shoat of Mire opened her eyes and let go of Ivory's hand.

"Do you like my shift?" she asked.

The non-sequitur took Ivory by surprise, and she only nodded.

"Everything the Dowager gives me, except for weapons and armour, is old and faded. But I got this from that cat demon on the Street of the Hopeful Slave, the same demon that made a dress for you. She said it was red and beautiful and I wanted one just like it, but she would not make one for me."

Ivory could have said a lot of things, but what she said was, "She was pretty opinionated for a demon seamstress."

"I know," Shoat of the Mire said with a nod. "She made me some lovely dresses, and this shift which she said was just like the one she made for you to wear under your dress."

"Oh." Ivory nodded. "It's nice."

Shoat of the Mire smiled again.

She smiled readily.

"What were you doing in Malfeas?" Ivory asked her.

"Deliverin' Soulsteel to Alveua."

"Alveua? Why did she need Soul Steel?"

"Said she was going to make plasma tongue 'peaters."

Ivory considered that. "Do you know why."

"It's a secret," Shoat said in a sing song voice.

Ivory frowned. "That's not fair."

"Are you gonna tell me what you are doing, heading into the East?"

Ivory nodded after a moment. "Okay, that is fair."

"I'll tell you this though. Kotomaro the Hidden Lightning has taken bribes from the Dowager."

"What? Who is that."

Shoat of the Mire did not answer and instead got to her feet and looked down into the valley. "I have to be getting back now."

Ivory stood, watching Shoat of the Mire for a few seconds.

Shoat looked at Ivory. "Maybe we'll end up fighting one another."

"Yeah."

"If that happens try your best to kill me, cause I'll have to try my best to kill you."

Ivory frowned.

"You see, if we're both trying our best to kill the other we are more likely to survive, don't you think?"

"No."

"Then you're stupid. Ask your tiger. Your tiger knows."

Ivory looked at Hu, then back at Shoat.

Shoat was not looking at her, she was walking away, on the edge of the valley.

"Well, goodbye."

"Not goodbye," Shoat of the Mire said, not looking back, "see you later."

"See you later," Ivory said, then turned and walked away.

She looked over her shoulder several times, but Shoat was soon lost among the trees and underbrush.

When she stepped out from under the leaves, she stopped and looked at Hu. "What happened?"

Hu took a few steps from her, then sat and looked at her. "You made a very dangerous friend."

Ivory thought about it and then nodded. "Shoat made a very dangerous friend too."

"Remember what she said."

"She said a lot."

Hu did not look pleased by the answer. "If fate puts you in conflict, fight as hard as you can, and remember, the Death Lords we don't know are likely more dangerous than the ones we do."

"I wasn't planning on forgetting that."

Hu stood and started towards the far off pagoda.

Ivory looked back to the forest for a moment and then turned and ran after Hu.

Darken Gray sometimes wondered at Ivory's lack of thought.

Had she not considered that a goddess, like herself, strongly associated with children, would be aware of another child coming anywhere near an area where there should be no children?

Darken Gray supposed it was part of Ivory's education that she would have to see to.

But not immediately.

She had listened in on the two girls. As a rule, Darken Gray respected her charges' privacy, up to a point. She was not the sort to wish an action, once undertaken, had not been undertaken. What she had learned did make things difficult.

Certainly, the actions of this Dowager would have to be looked into, especially if she was making children champions of the underworld. But what concerned her most was what she had learned of Ivory.

She knew of Darengest of course, had heard tales of the demon that killed the ability of things to mature. If there were a history of her doing so to a human child, it was from before the first age.

Ivory would never grow up.

It was of course terrible.

The adult that she had envisioned her charge becoming was a fiction, a dream.

She wondered what her Lady would make of that news.

What would Ivory's mother make of it?

Darken Gray did not know who she was most worried about telling.

She leaned on the frame of the front door of the pagoda, watching Ivory and Hu making their way across the cleaning.

Of course, the damn tiger knew.

Did Five Days in Darkness?

It was not something that would remain secret.

A few years at most.

She had to get out in front of it, somehow.

She watched as Ivory tried to tackle Hu, her small form hardly up to the task, the sound of her laughter as she hung from the tiger's thick neck.

Would she be able to laugh like that as the years passed?

Darken Gray wondered how long she would need to stay with Ivory. The usual measurements did not apply to an eternal child.

After a time of watching Ivory play she raised her voice, called out, "Ivory, it is time for us to leave."

Ivory did not tell Darken Gray about Shoat of the Mire. She thought it best to keep that a secret, for a time.

But Shoat had reminded her of something.

That evening she worked the quartz crystal that she had taken from the forest demesne not long before. Her hands glowed with essence as she shaped the rock, opening up space in the centre and then carving octagonal control rods that could slide in and out of that hollow.

She carried it out into the covered garden. It was dark, a little cool. In the middle of the enclosed space Ivory had built a small furnace. She heard the sound of a footstep. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Darken Gray had come from the house.

"It's late Ivory."

"I'm almost finished," Ivory told her as she touched the furnace, causing the flame within to grow.

Darken Gray knelt down, smoothing her skirt. "What are you doing?"

Ivory held up the heart. "I am going to infuse this with the noble metals."

Darken Gray did not ask why she only nodded.

From the vaults of Lookshy Ivory had collected pieces of broken metal. Jade, Orichalcum, Moon Silver, even a bit of Starmetal. When the furnace grew hot, she tossed in a few chips of jade. They vaporised in the heat, the vapours rising up to where she had set the heart and flowing within the crystal matrix.

When the furnace grew hotter still she put in a few flakes of Moon Silver. Again the metal became vapour and infused the crystal. The Starmetal followed and then when the furnace was as hot at it could get, near failing, she flicked in a small piece of golden Orichalcum.

The metal went liquid, and for a few second Ivory thought she could not change its state further. A bubble rose up in the pooled metal, followed by more, and then it boiled away, becoming part of the crystal.

Ivory touched the furnace, burning her finger, as she shut it down.

Placing the burnt finger in her mouth, she waited for the furnace to cool a little. The metal casing of the furnace cracked as it cooled.

After a few minutes, she reached out and picked up the heart which was now much more than crystal. She touched it, and the control rods all slid smoothly out, studding the surface. Stroking it gently caused them to slip back into their housings.

Impressive work," Darken Gray said.

"Thank you," Ivory replied, staring at the heart.

"What will you do with?"

Ivory smiled. "Build my own mechanical servant, like Yotei's Mesha, but better."

"Write a paper on it tomorrow," Darken Gray told her, turning to go back into the house. "And make sure you go to bed once you have finished cleaning this up."

Ivory nodded as she put the heart into her jacket pocket.