“Don’t give it any thought. You carry your years well, Minbain.”
“Yissou be praised for that.”
Once more Minbain returned to her task.
Torlyri said, “If I run into Harruel, I’ll tell him you’d like to see him now and then.”
“And I’ll do the same, if I run into Hresh.”
The wound that had been inflicted on him at the Tree of Life was a long time healing. Hresh told himself that he would never go to the vault of the thirty-six towers again, that he would make no more journeys to the living Vengiboneeza. But as the days passed his innate curiosity began gradually to reassert itself, and he knew he would not keep his vow for long; but he swore that if he happened to stumble upon the Tree of Life a second time when he did go back, he would not set foot in it. He had no desire ever again to see that place where his ancestors had been penned like the beasts that they were, for the delight and instruction of civilized people.
When he did go back, he saw no sign of the place where the Tree of Life had been. Once again the city was much transformed, and of buildings that he recognized from his earlier visits there were only the Citadel and a handful of others. He felt great relief at that; for he suspected that if he had found the Tree of Life again, he would have entered it, despite his oath, despite everything.
Torlyri said, “There you are! I’ve been hunting for you all morning!”
Hresh, muddy and disheveled, came ambling toward her down the wide curving boulevard that led from the Emakkis Boldirinthe sector in the northern part of the city. He wore a remote, abstracted expression, the look of someone who was half in this world and half in some other.
He turned toward Torlyri as if he had no idea who she was. His eyes did not quite meet hers. “Am I late for something?”
“Do you know what day this is?”
“Friit?” he said hazily. “No, it’s Mueri. I’m sure it’s Mueri.”
“It’s your twining-day,” Torlyri said, laughing.
“Today?”
“Today, yes.” She held her arms out to him. “It’s that unimportant to you, is it?”
Hresh hung back, looking down at his feet. He began to inscribe patterns in the soft earth with his left big toe. “I thought tomorrow was the day,” he said in a low, anguished voice. “Honestly. Honestly, Torlyri!”
She recalled him that time on the ledge outside the hatch of the cocoon, trembling in the cold air, begging her not to tell Koshmar that he had tried to slip outside. He was years older now, very different, sobered by his responsibilities within the tribe; and yet he really had not changed at all, had he? Not in any essential way. He was almost a man, no longer a wild frightened boy, Hresh-of-the-answers now, keeper of the chronicles, leader of the Seekers, surely the wisest member of the tribe, and yet he remained Hresh-full-of-questions too, willful, unpredictable, ungovernable. Forgetting his own twining-day! Only Hresh would be capable of something like that.
She had told him, three days before, to make himself ready for his final initiation into adulthood. That meant fasting, purging, chanting, contemplation. Had he done any of that? Probably not. Hresh’s priorities were determined only by Hresh.
If he has not made himself ready, she thought, how can he hope to attempt his first twining? Even he, even Hresh, must prepare himself properly. Even he.
She said, “You look strange. You’ve been using the Great World’s machines again, haven’t you?”
He nodded.
“And seen some disturbing things?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Do you want to tell me about them?”
Quickly Hresh shook his head. “Not really.”
He still had that not-entirely-here expression in his eyes. His gaze was aimed at a point somewhere beyond her left shoulder, as though he were politely tolerating this conversation without being in any significant way part of it. He was lost in some pain Torlyri could not begin to comprehend. She became more and more certain that it would be a mistake to take him for his first twining today.
But she could try to ease his pain, at least.
She reached toward him, touched him, sent energy and warmth to him. Hresh continued to look off into the distance. Something was twitching and throbbing in one of his cheeks.
After a moment he said, as though speaking from very far away, “I can see the past all around me as we stand here. The old Vengiboneeza that was. Vengiboneeza of Great World times.” His voice was oddly husky. His lower lip trembled. For the first time now he looked straight at her, and she saw strangeness in his eyes, and fear such as she had never seen in them before. “Sometimes, Torlyri, I don’t know where I am. Or when. The ancient city lies over this one like a mask. It rises like a vision, like a dream. And I become frightened. I’ve never been really frightened by anything before, do you know, Torlyri? I just want to learn things. There can’t be anything frightening about that. But sometimes I see things when I go into Vengiboneeza that — that—” He faltered. “The ancient city comes to life for me. When it does that it lies over the ruined one like a shining golden mask, a mask so beautiful that it terrifies me. Then I return to this city, the ruined one, and it lies over the ancient one like a skull above a face.”
“Hresh—” she said softly, taking him against her breast.
“I want to learn things, Torlyri. To learn everything about everything that ever was. But sometimes — sometimes the things that I find—”
He slipped free of her embrace and moved a few steps away, and stood with his back to her, staring toward the mountain.
“Maybe we should let your first twining wait for another time,” she said after a while.
“No. Today is the proper day.”
“Your soul is deeply troubled today.”
“Still, we should do it on the proper day.”
“If you’re so distracted by other things that you’re unable to enter the twining state—”
“I feel myself growing calmer already,” Hresh said. “Simply from being near you. Talking with you.” He swung around to face her. His back straightened. Abruptly he spoke in a deeper voice, quivering with determination. “Come. Come, Torlyri. It’s growing late, and we have important things to do.”
“You truly think we should?”
“Absolutely!”
“Ah, but have you done the preparations? Everything you were supposed to do?”
“Enough of it,” said Hresh. He offered her a quick flashing smile. He looked suddenly eager, alert, animated. “So, now, Torlyri, we should go to your chamber. This is my twining-day! Will you forgive me for letting it slip my mind? You know I have many things to think about. But who could overlook his own twining-day? Come, now, teach me the art, Torlyri! I’ve waited all my life for this day to arrive!”
It was as though he had awakened between one moment and the next from a sleep, or risen from an illness. In an instant all his gloom and confusion seemed gone from him. Was it so, she wondered, or was this only a pretense? In truth he appeared swiftly restored to his usual self, the ebullient, impatient Hresh, Hresh-full-of-questions, hungry as ever for new experiences. Perhaps this morning among the mysteries of old Vengiboneeza he had had one experience too many; but whatever cloud had settled upon him there seemingly had lifted from him just now.
Still, she was uneasy about him.
“There’s no harm in waiting another day,” she said.
“Today, Torlyri. Today is the day.”
She smiled and embraced him again. Hresh was irrepressible. How could she refuse him?
“Well, then, come. So be it: today is the day.”
In the cocoon, twining had always been performed in special small chambers, set a little way apart from the main dwelling-chamber. It was a private thing, the most intimate act there was. Even coupling might be done in view of others without occasioning surprise, but never twining, no.