«You know about what happened?»

«Oh yes, they told me everything. They intended to kill you, but your young friend Zeerith begged so touchingly for your lives, they decided to bring you to Shekinester and let her judge the case.»

«My companions are all right?»

«As far as I know. Of course, Shekinester judges everyone individually, and it's possible she's already passed sentence on some members of your party.»

«That's no problem,» I told him. «A goddess must be able to tell we're innocent.»

He smiled a rueful smile. «Shekinester is not just a goddess, Britlin – she's a naga goddess. You may not have committed the specific crime you're accused of, but that doesn't mean she'll let you walk away intact. She weighs your soul in its totality; and she weighs it on her own scale. A few years ago, Shekinester judged two men who stumbled in here after deserting some Prime-world army. She killed one man for cowardice, and congratulated the other for renouncing an immoral war. You see? Maybe another deity could second-guess dear old Snake-Mother, but to mere mortals like us, it all seems pure whim.»

I stared at him curiously. «Is it her whim for you to sit here, smugly telling me all this?»

«It must be. I'm still alive, aren't I?»

«So you're working for Shekinester… is that why you never came home?»

He looked away quickly, then tried to make it into a more casual gesture, turning to gaze out at the bleak gray sky. «I'm not working for the goddess; I'm here on trial, just like you.»

«For the last twelve years?»

«Maybe… I lost track of time long ago. Shekinester's tests take as long as she wants them to take. At present, I think she's studying how patient I can be. Or perhaps that's over and she's moved on to a new phase… seeing how I'll react to your arrival. You may not be real at all, boy: you may just be an illusion sent to taunt me.»

I smiled grimly. «You may be an illusion sent to taunt me.»

He nodded. «That's the way it is when you find yourself in a deity's back yard – it becomes hard to believe in anything.»

I climbed stiffly to my feet and took stock of the situation. The room where I stood was a long hall, stretching as far as I could see in both directions. It seemed to be an outer promenade around a much larger building; how big I couldn't tell, but as home to a goddess, it might extend for miles.

Outside the window, fat quiet snowflakes had begun to drift on the air. It surprised me Shekinester allowed such weather – it couldn't be good for her cold-blooded devotees. On the other hand, it wasn't cold here in the hall, despite the open windows; obviously the goddess kept her palace at a suitable temperature and let the surrounding environment take care of itself.

«Are we supposed to stay put?» I asked my father. «Or can we look around?»

«Do what you like,» he answered. «When Shekinester wants to test you, she'll start wherever you are. I wouldn't go far outside though.» He gestured through the window. Now that I was standing, I could see that the building was surrounded by winter-dead gardens, and beyond them, dense forest. «Bad things happen to people out in the trees,» Father said. «You're lucky the nagas carried you through to the hall. If they'd left you in the woods, you'd soon become something's dinner.»

«I'll stay inside,» I assured him. «I just want to stretch my muscles.»

«Is this a way of saying you want to get away from me?»

«You can walk with me if you like.»

He must have realized I was only making the offer out of politeness; but he rose from the bench and dusted a few stray snowflakes off his shoulder. «After you, son,» he said, waving vaguely to let me decide which direction to go.

We walked in silence for several minutes. Considering how little our surroundings changed, we might have been walking on a treadmill that kept us in the same place. The walls and floor remained pristine marble, with no distinguishing features. The scenery outside the windows continued to be gardens and trees, slowly accumulating a cover of white. Nothing grew closer. Nothing grew farther away.

Finally, my father said, «They call this place the Hall of Tests. Today it must be testing our boredom threshold.»

«You said Shekinester was judging your patience.»

«Perhaps.»

He made a face and continued walking. When I was young, I could remember him striding with the grace and power of a tiger: master swordsman, hero of forlorn hopes, a legend in Sigil and many other corners of the multiverse. Now his feet slapped ponderously along the marble floor and I was forced to slow down so he could keep up with me.

After a few minutes, I cleared my throat. «You haven't asked about Mother yet.»

«No. I haven't.»

«Guilty conscience?»

«Britlin,» he sighed, «I was abducted. Something I'd done must have caught Shekinester's attention – I still don't know what. One night, five nagas simply came out of nowhere, hit me with five separate paralysis spells, and dragged me here. I know you must have suffered when I didn't come back, but there was nothing I could do.»

I didn't answer for several seconds. Then I said, «Mother is healthy enough, but she never leaves the house.»

«That was true long before I left.»

«If she had a husband at home to help her —»

He cut me off. «Anne had a grown son at home. What could I do that you shouldn't be doing yourself?»

«I do what I can,» I snapped. «It's mostly her father's fault, I know that, but you didn't help: filling her head with stories about the horrors you've faced…»

Father looked at me with an unreadable expression on his face. At last he said, «She already knew the world was full of horrors, Britlin; what I told her was that the horrors could be defeated.»

«You could have stayed with her, instead of traipsing off on so many adventures…»

«She wanted me to go!» he growled. Then in a quieter voice he said, «Anne wanted me to go, Britlin. She wanted to be a good wife, but under the surface she feared me, just as she feared everyone else but you. Whenever I walked into the room, she just… tensed like a frightened rabbit. She worked so hard to hide it – sometimes I heard her chanting to herself, He saved me, he saved me, he's not like all the rest. But she was always relieved to have me out of the house.»

«And was she relieved when you bedded other women?» I asked.

«Yes, Britlin, she was.» He ran his fingers sadly through his hair. «That part of marriage was beyond her. But Anne couldn't stand the thought of me living like a monk because of her. When I spent time with other women, it was a great relief to her; she was glad I wasn't… deprived.»

«I'm sure it comforts you to see it that way.» I refused to give him the benefit of the doubt.

«Anne encouraged me time and time again,» he answered, «and seemed genuinely pleased when I… I'm not a lecherous man, Britlin, but over the course of a lifetime, passion does occasionally gain the upper hand. When your heart is filled with triumph or loneliness, and there's a woman in front of you, preciously eager… can you tell me you've never been swept away?»

«No. But I've never been married either. And I never had a son at home… or a daughter, as it turns out.»

He looked at me curiously. «What do you mean by that?»

«Did you ever tell a woman your name was Rudy Liagar? A tiefling woman?»

He said nothing. I could see the answer was yes.

«She bore you a child,» I told him. «A daughter named Yasmin… who may be under judgment by Shekinester even as we speak. The nagas took her the same time they took me.»

He closed his eyes and lowered his head. «Now I know you're simply an illusion, sent to taunt me. A daughter? I have a child… a daughter?»

«So I believe.»