'We have been expecting you,' said a voice at his elbow. A maiden more beautifulthan the fairest of Prince Kadakithis's concubines held out a robe of blue silkembroidered with dragons for him to put on, then knelt to ease his feet intosandals of gold. Her black hair curled to her hips, shimmering with blue lightsin the sun, and when she looked up he recognized in her features the faceofValira, the little whore whom he had painted as Eshi, Lady of Love, and hetrembled, understanding Who was serving him.

She led him to a seat at the end of the table and he began to eat, grateful thatfor the moment the other gods were continuing to talk among themselves. Next toEshi sat one whom he could only suppose to be Anen - paunched and red-nosed likethe bibbers who had been Lalo's companions in the days when he sought oblivionin the bottom of a mug of cheap wine. But the god's fat was opulence, and hisflushed cheeks burned with a glow to lighten the hopeless heart. Rememberingfavours granted in times past, Lalo solemnly saluted him.

And the god saw, and looked at him, and meeting those deep eyes Lalo recognizeda mute sorrow and remembered that this was the god who yearly dies and isreborn. Then Anen smiled, and as joy fountained in Lalo's heart, he saw that hisgoblet was filling with wine like the blood of a star.

The wine gave him courage to look at the others - gentle Theba the peacebringer, and swift-footed Shalpa like a shadow beside her, whose face, when Laloglimpsed it, reminded him strangely of someone he had seen often in the VulgarUnicorn, though he could not for the moment think whom. But he saw the face ofevery mercenary he had ever known in the harsh features of Him-whom-we-do-notname, armed and weaponed even here, and the sharp good humour of the women whohaggled over fabric in the dyers' stalls in the face of bright-haired Thilli,until he began to realize that he recognized all of them - that he had paintedall of them, that he had lived among them all in Sanctuary and never known.

'Father, you have disposed ofVashanka, at least for the present, but the priestsof Savankala still hold a place of honour in Sanctuary!' Eshi was speaking tothe blaze of light at the head of the table, whom Lalo had still not quite daredto look upon.

'Until a new body for Vashanka to use matures, his power is broken,' the voiceshimmered in Lalo's ears. 'The Rankan gods do not trouble Me now. It is this newgoddess, this Bey, that we must consider here.'

'Her worshippers in Sanctuary are fugitives and the empire they fled from muststill be Her first concern. How much power can She have in Sanctuary?' askedThilli. For a moment her husband Thufir leaned forward to listen and Laloflinched away from his eagle glance. The priests called Thufir the friend of theSikkintair as Ils was their master. They had taught him their far-seeing. Had heordered them to bring Lalo here?

'I am tired of all this quarrelling,' sighed Shipri. 'I thought that when youhad bested the Rankans we would have peace again. I have finally come to anunderstanding with Sabellia, and I suppose that this new goddess and I will haveto do the same. At least She is a goddess, and therefore more likely than a godto be sensible about things.'

Lalo sat back, relieved. He had painted his own wife as Sabellia, and in thepast few minutes he had begun to fear Shipri's jealousy. But Gilla resembled theSharp-Tongued One less and less these days, and he thought he would haveportrayed her as the nurturing Mother ofllsig now.

Then the splendour of the face of Ils was turned fully upon him, and, even inthis remade body unable to gaze into that light, Lalo cried out and hid hiseyes.

'Son of Ils, come here...' Sound was light, slivering painfully through Lalo'sshut lids. He shook his head.

'Lord, I have served in the temple of your enemies, and I am afraid.'

'But I have defeated those enemies. Stand on your feet and come to Me!'

I have already died, thought Lalo. What else can He do to me? He opened hiseyes. Thufir Far-Seer was waiting to guide him to his Father, who masked hisradiance with the face of the great marble statue in the Temple of Ils.

'You have painted many portraits since the Mage touched you, Limner - what didyou see?'

Lalo fixed his eyes upon the silver necklace that glittered from beneath thegod's dark beard. 'Beasts...' he muttered, 'and demons, sometimes, andsometimes... gods.'

'And when you turned your sorcerer's gift upon yourself?' the implacable voicewent on.

Lalo shuddered, but Thufir's grip held him to this reality. He had seen apleasure in pettiness that shamed him and beyond that a longing for annihilationthat terrified him and a capacity for love that terrified him even more. He hadseen the depths of his own unguessed, untapped creative power.

'As you served Enas Yorl and the priests of Savankala, so now, my son, you shallserve Me,' said the Voice of Ils.

Before him Lalo saw a white canvas, and brushes that surpassed his own as aDownwinder's donkey is surpassed by a horse of Tros, and a palette with pigmentsfor whose secret the colour-grinders of Sanctuary would have given their souls.Lalo's right hand prickled with power that built, built - it must be groundedsomehow - he groped for a paintbrush and dipped it into a colour that was morethan scarlet, touched it to the canvas and felt power surge through it in anexplosive release like the climax of love.

His hand moved swiftly, splashing the canvas with scarlet, then down to thepalette for a lambent gold, and lastly a shading of opalescent blue. Then hestepped back, the brush falling from his fingers, and the thing on the canvasstretched, flexed, and launched itself glittering into the air.

Eshi laughed and clapped her white hands, and Thufir smiled his slow, patientsmile. Lalo stared as the miniature sikkintair that had come to life beneath hishands soared off through the trees.

'Before, you were able to paint the truth behind reality,' the whisper of Ilsechoed through the deepest chambers ofLalo's soul. 'Now you will give Reality tothe Truth you see. Do you not yet understand Who you are?'

Oh Thou Blessed Mother of All Living, We wander, children who have lost our way- Guard us from all danger, and forgiving, Guide us homeward at the close of day.

'Holy Shipri, All-Mother, as Thou dost love Thine own lord, hear me now!'Gilla's murmur was lost in the hymn's sweet harmonies. 'Hear me and guide my ownman back to me ...'

Here in the chapel of the Mother, flickering candles struck sparks of colourfrom the mosaics and one scarcely noticed the rough repairs where Vashanka'sthunderbolt had cracked the wall. Gilla huddled in the shadows while the bluerobed priestesses passed back and forth before the marble image of the Goddess,continuing their song.

Whatever men destroy is for Thy mending, Forever feeding from Thy fruitful breast; Thou art the source of life, and at its ending, Once more within Thy holy womb we rest.

And what if Lalo is already safe within Her arms? Gilla wondered then. Perhapsthe gods need a court painter, and what does Sanctuary have to offer that couldcompare? She bowed her head, rocking back and forth while the chantingcontinued, sweetly counselling acceptance of life's eternal round of birth anddeath, and the tears she had so long suppressed fell like rain upon the marblefloor.

The priestesses had finished and the chapel was silent when Gilla felt Vanda'stouch on her shoulder and let her daughter lead her out into the harsh sunlightof Sanctuary.