«What is it that you think you're looking for?» asked Honor‚. They had spent the heat of the day on the docks and were dripping with sweat. It was getting on toward evening without a sign of relief from the heat.

“Souls,” said Calvin. “In particular, the theft of souls.”

They stood in the scant shade of a stack of empty crates, watching as a newly arrived ship was moored to the dock. Honor‚ sounded testy. «If the transaction I saw on the docks has something to do with missing heartfires– which are not souls as the priests describe them– then it was not theft at all. The dolls were freely given.»

“Sometimes theft doesn't look like theft. What if they think they're lending them, but they can't get them back? What about that?”

“And what if you are getting us in the path of something dangerous? Did you think of that?”

Calvin grinned. “We can't get hurt.”

«That statement is so obviously false that it is not worth answering,» said Honor‚.

“I don't think you understand what I can do,” said Calvin.

A gangplank was run up from the dock to a gap in the ship's gunwale.

“These are a filthy-looking crew, don't you think? Portuguese, perhaps?”

“If I decide you and I aren't going to get hurt, we won't,” said Calvin.

“Oh, so you can read minds like your sister-in-law?”

“Don't have to read minds when you can melt the knife right out of a man's hand.”

“But Monsieur le Genius, not all knives are seen in advance.”

“I see 'em.”

“Nothing ever surprises you?”

Before Calvin could get farther than the first sound of the word nothing, Honor‚ slapped him on the back of the head. Calvin staggered forward and whirled around, holding his neck. «What the hell do you think that proved!»

“It proved that you can be harmed.”

“No, it proved you can't be trusted.”

«You see my point?» said Honor‚. «It is when you feel safe that you are most vulnerable. And since you are stupid enough to feel safe all the time, then you are vulnerable all the time.»

Calvin's eyes became narrow slits. “I didn't feel safe all the time. I felt safe with you.”

«But lately we have been together all the time.» Honor‚ grinned again. «You are safe from me. I am not the proud owner of any useful knack and I carry no weapon and I am too busy studying humanity to bother harming any individual human. But being safe from me does not mean you are safe with me.»

“Don't lecture me, you French fart.”

«You praise me too much. Garlic, wine, onion soup, rich cheese, these combine to make the fart fran‡aise the best of all possible farts. Voltaire said so.»

Calvin didn't laugh. “Look,” he said. “Look at that slave. Got nothing to do.”

“You have a sharp eye. He is waiting.”

“Is he your man?”

“I observe what men do. I do not pretend to be able to tell whether two Black men, one seen from behind, the other from the face, both from a distance, and their clothes identical to the costume of half the slaves in Camelot, are in fact the same man.”

“You saying it's him?”

Honor‚ sighed. «I say I cannot tell.»

“Then just say it. Don't get into those damned fancy orations.”

Honor‚ ignored him. Staggering and squinting, their backs bent, their eyes searching, the first Blacks were appearing on the deck. «It is a slave ship.»

“Well we knew that,” said Calvin.

“We 'knew' it about three other ships today that had no slaves aboard.”

“We knew this was a slave ship because look at the White men on the deck with padded sticks. They wouldn't need those to load crates.”

«If only I were as clever as you,» said Honor‚.

The Black they had been looking at before, who might or might not be the one Honor‚ had seen taking puppets, came forward with two buckets of water and a basket. His head down, so as not to look any of the White dockworkers in the eye, he said something to the dock foreman, who waved him over to the foot of the gangplank.

«No, you dumb buck!» The foreman's voice carried clear over to where Calvin and Honor‚ were waiting. «Wait back there! If you start backing them up on the gangplank then they crowd each other right off into the water! Stupid, stupid, stupid.» By the time he was through with his list of stupids, the Black man with the buckets had bowed and ducked his head long enough to get to the indicated waiting place.

«He knew,» said Honor‚.

“What did he know?”

«He knew where to stand,» said Honor‚. «He was already walking there before the man pointed.»

“Why would he get the foreman angry?”

«He got the foreman to think he was stupid,» said Honor‚.

“The foreman started out thinking he was stupid. They think all Black people are stupid.”

«Do they?» said Honor‚. «They think some are more stupid than others.»

The first slaves, hobbled and joined by ankle chains, staggered and clanked down the gangplank, then headed straight for the water. There was a great deal of spilling and quiet cursing from the waterboy. Calvin used his doodlebug to get a closer view. Sure enough, each slave was handing over some small item, made of scraps of cloth and splinters of wood and bits of iron.

“He's our man,” said Calvin. “But what made you think those were dolls they were handing over?” asked Calvin.

“I got a good look at only one. It was larger than the others. It was a doll.”

“Well the others aren't.”

“But they are something, am I right?”

“Oh, they're something all right. Wish I could ask them what it is. How they get powers into those things.”

“What are they, if they aren't dolls?”

“They're nothing. I mean they don't look like anything. Knotted cloth, strings, threads, iron, wood, bits of this and that. No two alike.”

“Ah, for the knack of your brother's wife.”

“We'll find out soon enough.”

“But is it not ironic that we spend all day watching and waiting, and now that we have found this man, we still have no idea what he's doing, but she already knows?”

“What makes you think she knows anything?” demanded Calvin.

“Because she can see into that man's heartfire. She has watched us all day, and the moment we saw him, she could hop over and look inside him and know it all.”

«Damn,» said Calvin, looking at Honor‚ with annoyance. «Don't go telling me you can feel when she's looking at you?»

«I didn't have to feel anything,» said Honor‚. «I knew she would because she was curious. She would see in our heartfires that we were going to search for this man, so she would watch us. Obvious.»

“To you.”

“Of course to me. I am the world's leading authority on the behavior of human beings.”

“In your opinion.”

“But you see, I am the kind of man who always thinks he is the best in the world at whatever he does. So are you. It is one of the ways we are alike.”

Calvin grinned. “Damn right.”

“The difference between us is that I am correct in that opinion.”

Calvin's eyes squinted again. “Someday I'm not going to pretend I think you're joking when you say things like that.”

“What will you do to punish me, make me wake up under a hedge with a terrible headache and my clothing covered with urine?”

The women were coming down now, naked to the waist and roped, not chained together, though the ropes had chafed their wrists and ankles enough to draw blood.

«Your brother's wife already knows the name of this bringer of water, and where he lives, and what he had for breakfast,» said Honor‚.

“Yeah, well, we'll know soon enough.”

“Do you think he won't notice two White men following him?”

Calvin grinned wickedly. “Like I said, I can do everything that needs doing. I can follow him without him seeing us or knowing he was followed.”

“Using your doodoobug?”

“Doodlebug.”