Maybe the Dead Man brought her up to speed. Or she worked the whole thing out with her mutant nose. Garrett had avoided temptation.
Oh, sugar, because we are about to have unexpected guests. And you need to be here to help manage them.
An image of an angry band of Children of the Light formed in my mind. They made a big black blot in the street.
"What's the big deal? Ignore them."
I would rather not. More than most who come threatening grief or mayhem, these old men could cause us some discomfort.
Naturally, he didn't explain.
With Singe's assistance I made myself presentable and was ready before the hammering on the door commenced. I used the peephole, saw a lot of black clothing. I let the folks stew till the Dead Man thought they were ready.
My first impression was, wow! I'd better send Singe for Cap'n Roger. Half these guys were going to expire before sundown. Their median age had to be in triple digits. The youngest looked like he started yearning for the good old days when the Dead Man was a pup.
Four had reached my stoop.
"Howdy, fathers. How can I help you?" How had they survived the climb? "If you're collecting for your church I have to tell you we're Orthodox here." By birth. I hadn't been to a service in an age.
"You have Brother Hoto Pepper confined here. We have come to take him away."
The Dead Man sent, Pull the ugly one inside and shut the door. Lock up, then bring him in here.
Excellent. We had a plan. All I needed to do was to pick a winner.
Old Bones had no patience. One old man developed a halo. I grabbed, pulled, slammed, locked. Well, Singe did the locking while I held the door shut.
Our victim shambled dispiritedly off to the party room. The Children of the Light outside waxed enthusiastic in their threats. The Dead Man showed no concern.
I asked, "You need me now?"
Not right away.
I headed for the kitchen. I was hungry.
I didn't get far with correcting that.
You may allow our visitors to leave, now.
I pushed back from the table, marched off to do my duty. "You sure?"
There is nothing more that I can retrieve from any of them.
Two old guys in black and the poisoner Kolda-pardon; the apothecary Kolda-awaited me outside the Dead Man's doorway.
Kolda will be gone only a short while. He will gather some specifics to help with Playmate. Please make sure that Brother Hoto does exit the premises. He is reluctant to rejoin his own kind. He fears that they will ask him the same questions I did, but using tools.
I expected a hassle from the crowd when I released their brethren. That did not happen. The Dead Man had tamed or confused them. And they had worn themselves out chipping the paint off the door.
I closed up and went back to reacquaint myself with breakfast.
As I passed my former office I noted that Morley's only company was Dollar Dan. The caretaker ratwomen had come and gone. The other guards had gone with them.
We do not need them now that there are no outsiders in the house. Mr. Dollar can go once you finish eating.
I trekked on and in time assailed a stack of griddle cakes. Dean didn't make those often. He was in a good mood. I mentioned it.
"Perhaps because of the excitement yesterday. It took me back."
I looked at him askance.
He didn't change his story.
46
I shut the door behind Dollar Dan. He would come back later, to sit with Morley while I was upstairs snoring.
"And snoring it had better be," Singe told me, remembering the woman smell. She did not like Furious Tide of Light today. I wasn't sure why.
I can't quite work out how Singe decides who she likes and who she doesn't, nor why she will change her mind overnight. Her brain doesn't work like mine. I'm sure her sense of smell has something to do with it.
I settled in near Morley, a pot of tea at hand. The Dead Man filled me in on what he had learned from our visitors, including tidbits from the elders who had come for Brother Hoto. Of interest was the fact that Winger and the Remora were drifting apart, the drift mainly hers. She couldn't handle his success.
We do not know much more about the threat to the city. We do know who has been warned off it. We have eyes and ears watching and listening, now. We know we will get Mr. Dotes back. Additionally, we have set in motion actions that offer a chance of rescuing Playmate from the natural monster devouring him.
That was good news. "Did you get anything from the Windwalker?"
Vague amusement, presumably at my expense. That woman is the most simple-minded, empty-headed genius I have ever encountered. She can focus her entire being on the moment. You could do far worse.
"Excuse me?"
As a practical matter. She would provide all the fireworks-and more-with none of the drama of your Miss Tate.
"Uh. ."
Miss Algarda is ready to grant her devotion. That would be unreserved and absolute. She considers you an ideal candidate. Although she is an immense and formidable power, and a genius professionally, her emotional world is simpler than that of Deal Relway.
"That's scary."
It is. She does not grasp nuance or shades of gray.
The answer to why me might be tucked inside what he had sent. A different kind of sociopath, she would not need time to work things out. Is/is not, with nothing in between. "She would be clever enough not to push me, wouldn't she?"
You could be right in considering her a special kind of sociopath. She is smart enough to show the behavior she has seen in courtships. But she will not be resilient if she is mislead, mistreated, emotionally abused, or blackmailed.
"I believe I get the idea."
Good. You are staring into the eyes of a big responsibility.
I had an uncomfortable notion that I knew what he meant.
Dotes' First Law. Keep your hands off a woman crazier than you are. Which I observed in the breach. Furious Tide of Light would be, "You Touch It, You Bought It."
But I didn't believe she was crazy. Not the way girlfriends usually are.
Her head worked different, sure. She had grown up sheltered from life. She coped now because she didn't go out much. When she did she dealt with people she scared so bad they couldn't imagine messing with her.
Hers was a unique emotional realm but it was the only one she knew.
Part of me did find her damned intriguing. It hunted loop-holes in Dotes' Law.
That was the part exhausted by squabbling with Tinnie.
"What do you think, Old Bones?"
I think it is none of my business. I think you are an adult now, and I should not tinker-unless, as was the case with Singe this morning, you start running your mouth with no thought to the consequences.
I was stunned. By making that carefully neutral statement he had told me something I'm sure he did not intend. He had doubts about Tinnie. After all this time.
I would have expected him to endorse the redhead and reject the Windwalker. I wasn't in her class and she came with a whole different drama. (I wasn't in Tinnie's class, either, but a different definition of class was operative there.)
Maybe he was tired of the drama, too.
Still, I carefully reviewed his communications since he had labeled Furious Tide of Light an empty-headed genius. I got a strange impression that he did prefer the Windwalker but would be careful not to say so.