"A huge one," Hound told them. "He sat in its hand. It bent its fingers up to keep the rain off."

"None of which matters at all. What does matter is what it saidwhat it told me."

"Silk talk!" Oreb suggested.

"Yes, he does. Too much at times, and doesn't eat enough. These are excellent rolls." He took another, and buttered it.

Mint asked, "Isn't your name Horn?"

He glanced at her. "Of course it is. Oh, that. Oreb calls me that, that's all. He's accustomed to calling his master Silk, it seems; and he considers me his master now. No doubt he'll return to Patera Silk when we find him. Oreb seems to be looking for him, too."

Bison said, "What did the godlings say to you? I'm waiting to hear that."

"And I'm waiting to hear where Silk is. I should offer to trade information. In fact, I do. I'll tell you, of course, whether we trade or not-as calde you have a right to know. But will you tell me? As a reward for being open with you?"

"Yes," Mint said.

Bison sighed. "My wife has a habit of committing us to more than we can do. I don't know where Calde Silk's living at present, although I could probably find out. My ignorance is intentional. If I explain, will that be enough?"

"I'd prefer you do more," he said.

"Then I'll try. My wife told you how she became calde. The darkdays began shortly afterward, and the first godling came."

"I understand."

"Here's what she was leading up to. We think the man who shot her may have done it because he thought Silk would be calde again if she died. There's a feeling-"

"It's not widespread," Mint told them, "but it's there."

"A feeling among a few people that the gods are angry at Viron because he's no longer calde."

Pig rumbled, "Wanted ter gang, mistress said."

"He resigned his office voluntarily," Mint affirmed, "just as I told you. He didn't even ask me whether I'd accept it. That may have been wise of him, because I don't think I would have. As it was, I was fool enough to take it when he named me as his successor."

Bison told her, "You had to. They'd have rioted."

"I suppose. I can only thank the gods, as I do, that I had the good sense to resign after I was shot, and to use my wound as an excuse."

"Your wound was very severe."

"It kept me from sitting at my desk." She smiled. "I can joke about it now, you see, and say that I got terribly tired of lying on my stomach. But the shot broke my right hip, and I pray for the day when I can joke about that as well. Horn, you said people were leaving in landers again."

He nodded.

"You were right. A lot of people want Silk back. Some simply feel that Silk is the calde the gods want. Others think Silk was right, that the gods want us to keep sending people outside. I stopped it. I ordered a complete cessation, and had my Guards seize every lander. Pas had put soldiers down there to protect them originally. Did you know that?"

"Aye," Pig said.

Hound shook his head. "Well, I didn't. Did you, Horn?"

"Yes. Silk told me about one, and later we found the bodies of others in the tunnels. They'd been painted blue, not green like ours. They had been shot with slug guns."

"As I was not. He had a needler." Mint's smile turned bitter. "He wouldn't have been able to get a slug gun that close. Where was I?"

Hound said, "About having the Calde's Guard take charge of the landers. I've never even seen one. I suppose I'm the only one here who hasn't."

"Nae me," Pig declared, and Oreb seconded him: "No see."

"The soldiers Pas had posted there so long ago were killed by men who wanted to steal the cards they knew were in the landers. We replaced them with our own. Five soldiers to each lander. Wasn't that it, dear?"

Bison nodded.

"When I was shot, my husband wanted to punish everyone who had expressed a desire to go-"

"The ones who had demonstrated and signed petitions," Bison said. "That had started after the first darkday, and I'd gone to a lot of trouble to find out who the organizers were, and then who the rest were. The Chapter was behind a lot of it."

"Good Silk!" Oreb exclaimed. "No cut!"

He nodded. "I'm not surprised."

"Pas had spoken to the Prolocutor, supposedly," Bison told them. "The usual cant."

"At any rate," Mint said, "we decided it was best to defuse the unrest as much as we could." She glanced toward Bison for confirmation, and he nodded.

"It would have been terrible to have to arrest all those people. We would have had another revolution-"

Bison snorted.

"Oh, we would have won," she said. "I agree completely about that. But what a victory! Having killed the people we should have led, we could go around congratulating ourselves."

"You decided to allow some people to go-to do the will of Pas, if you'll allow the expression."

Bison said, "Certainly. It was just that we didn't feel that it was Pas's will to destroy Viron, and we had reached that point. Under Silk so many had left that the city was about to collapse. That was why he had to go."

"Then you can't object to my taking him to Blue-but you don't know where he-"

"Lives. Exactly. And you're not the only one looking for him, Horn. Are you aware of that?"

He shrugged. "I know some men came to Ermine's last night. That was where we stayed, and supposedly-I admit I find this hard to credit-Silk was there, too."

Bison nodded. "They beat the desk clerk. They demanded that he tell them which room Silk had, and he said quite honestly that Ermine's had no guest of that name and showed them his register. They beat him pretty badly, and roamed through the corridors until the Guard chased them out."

"Bad men?" Oreb inquired.

"You didn't arrest them?"

"We tried."

Mint said, "I haven't heard of this. What do they want with Calde Silk?"

"To take him to Blue. So they say."

Mint pursed her lips and looked thoughtful.

Hound told Bison, "We heard the disturbance outside our room, and a shot."

"Three, 'twas." Pig's big hands were groping the snowy tablecloth for more food.

Mint nudged a platter of venison madere until it was within his reach. "You said New Viron had sent you, Horn, and that you have been gone for nearly a year. Is it possible New Viron sent them out, too? When you didn't come back?"

Slowly, he shook his head. "It's possible, but I doubt it. I think I saw one talking to the clerk at Ermine's. He wasn't dressed like one of us; and though there are some very foreign-looking people in New Viron now, I don't believe they would have sent someone like that for Patera Silk."

Bison said, "They've got a lander. They came in one, and they've set a guard on it. If you can find Silk…" He glanced at Mint.

"Here Silk!" Oreb sounded annoyed.

"You may be right." Mint nodded. "That's another thing we have to talk about, the ghosts. But let's dispose of this first. May I speak without interruption for one actual minute?"

Hound said, "Please do."

"Then I'll say that it's still more possible my husband's correct. Ycu want to take Silk to Blue, and so do these strange men. If you have Silk and they have their lander, it's possible that some accommodation-"

Bison nodded. "We could take their lander, you understand. I don't know how many men they have guarding it, but it doesn't seem likely there's more than twenty or thirty. A dozen soldiers could take it, but it would mean we'd have to let another lander full of people leave, and more than that if it came back."

"Horn's shaking his head again, darling. What's the matter, Horn? Do you think we ought to send more people to your town on Blue, even if we have to kill to do it?"

"Just the opposite. You shouldn't permit anyone to go. That was the message the godling gave me, and what I promised to tell you, hoping you'd tell me where Silk is in return."