Beside the pallet were piled some scraps of paper and a piece of charcoal. Can Istill draw? he wondered, and seeing that Gilla was not watching him, he pulled apiece of paper towards him, picked up the charcoal and drew a line, thenanother, then some shading, and the paper showed him a deftly drawnrepresentation of a common Sanctuary dunghill fly. He stared at it for a momentwith a question he dared not even put into words, but it remained unchangedbefore him - a drawing of a fly.

Lalo smiled a little wryly and set the charcoal down. What did I expect, here?

Gilla came back to him with the bowl of steaming soup in her hands, sat downbeside the pallet, and dipped in the spoon. Lalo blew gently on his drawing toget rid of the charcoal dust and laid it aside. When Gilla held the spoon to hislips he opened his mouth obediently. / could do this myself, he thought, but herealized that feeding him fulfilled some need of Gilla's own. The hot liquidsoothed his throat, and his body seemed to absorb the moisture like a sponge.

'That's enough for now,' said Gilla, taking it away.

'It was very good.' Lalo looked at her face, wondering how he had ever seenanything but the goddess there. Then he frowned. 'I was painting a picture,Gilla. What happened to it?'

She nodded towards the corner. 'It's over there. Do you want to see?' Before hecould stop her she had gone to pick up the painting and brought it to him,leaning it against the wall.

He stared at it, reading it as he had read Gilla's face a moment ago, andknowing that he would never be able to forget the journey from which he had justreturned. It would take some getting used to.

'A self-portrait,' said Gilla meditatively. 'Of course. I didn't really want tolook at it before.'

After a moment he cleared his throat, knowing that in this knowledge, at least,they were equals now. 'Well?'

'Well,' she said slowly, 'you must know that this is the way you always look tome.'

Her hand moved to enfold his, and feeling suddenly light-headed. Lalo lay backagainst the pillows again. His ears were buzzing - no - it was only a flycircling in the middle of the room. He thought a moment, then, feeling a littlefoolish, glanced down at the piece of paper that still lay on the coverlet.

It was blank. Lalo looked up quickly and saw the fly spiral across to the mirror, for a moment hover there, then buzz purposefully through the window andaway.