Let's go fin Mother."

The afternoon passed, and the evening. Before retiring Glawe telephoned Sessily.

"Has Floreste made any more changes?"

"Just one small change, but I'm delighted. I don't have to play flul Smollen night in the Bugtown orchestra. But I still can't make th wings behave properly. It's a matter of exact coordination. I mus practice and practice."

"Butterflies manage without any practice."

"Butterflies aren't standing on a pedestal with colored lights shinin on them and everyone watching."

"True."

"I've told Floreste to turn off the lights if I start making mistake Incidentally, why did you assure me that Wayness Tamm was plai and built like a boy?"

"Isn't she?"

"I noticed the difference instantly."

"I guess it's just something I missed."

"Anyway, I'm tired and I'm going to bed. I won't see you tomorrow but on Glimmet perhaps we can have lunch at the Arbor." . "I hope so. We'll still be together at the Masque?"

"Yes! After I change from the wings, I'll meet you to the side < the orchestra, near the bass viol."

Ing passed and Glimmet; and on Verd morning Latuun led th parade along Wansey Way to open the official three days of Parilia.

Everywhere was color and gaiety; along Wansey Way the win tasting booths sold the great vintages of Araminta Station in quanti tie ranging from bottles to casks and dozens of casks, to buyers froi worlds near and far. Each night the revelers dined at tables arrange along the side of the Quadrangle, just under the outdoor proscenium of the Old Orpheum. On Verd and Milden evenings, Sessily performed in truncated Mummer presentations: the first night playing in a trio, on the second playing mellochord accompaniment to a set of pastiches by the Mummer mimes.

On Smollen night Parilia reached its climax, with the banquet and Floreste's Phantasmagoria, to be followed by the Grand Masque, which would end at midnight to the stately music of the Farewell Pavane. Then, as the gong struck the hour, Latuun would jump down from the proscenium and run through the crowd, to be pelted with grapes and sent fleeing into the dark; and with the departure of Latuun, Parilia would come to its end. General unmasking would follow, and sad-sweet singing of traditional songs while folk wandered away to their beds, leaving only a few maudlin celebrants in the Quadrangle to await the dawn.

Glawen's plans for himself and Sessily had been thoroughly disrupted, partly by Felice Veder, who wanted Sessily to make a good impression upon her off-world relatives, and partly by reason of Glawen's duties in connection with Milo and Wayness Tamm.

Glawen had made a fatalistic adjustment to the situation. At the banquet he sat beside Wayness, with Milo at her other side. Aries, looking somewhat untidy in spite of his Bureau B cadet uniform, sat at a nearby table beside Spanchetta. He would miss most of the banquet. Phantasmagoria and the Grand Masque by reason of the patrol, and his posture suggested disgust and resentment. From time to time he reached to replenish his goblet with wine, only to be halted by Spanchetta's peremptory signal and a reminder that sobriety was an essential component of a proper and vigilant patrol.

Glawen had been watching. He told Wayness: "Aries keeps trying to pour wine for himself, but Spanchetta won't allow it. Aries is becoming more rebellious every minute. He and Kirdy may just hide in the bushes with a bottle, and let the patrol go hang. We'll know, if the Yips come screaming across the Quadrangle and cut our throats."

Wayness gave her head a dubious shake.

"The Yips wouldn't dare such an outrage during Parilia! They'd incur enormous disapproval, even from the LPF."

"Who are the LPF?"

"The Life, Peace and Freedom people. That's what they call themselves. They call us Alligators. But I don't want to talk about such things now."

Glawen studied her profile.

"Are you having a good time?"

"Of course!" She turned him a quick side glance.

"Were you afraid I might not?"

"To some extent. I wasn't sure that you'd like Araminta Station. Or me, for that matter."

Wayness laughed.

"Oh, you're inoffensive enough. As for the Station, when I first arrived I was afraid that everyone would be so sophisticated that I'd feel naive and foolish."

"And do you?"

"No. Thank you for asking."

"Not at all."

"I have been wondering what attending school at the lyceum is like. Is it very difficult?"

"Not if you keep up with the work. Aries is a good case in point. He wants to be an oenologist and for two years he tried to get good grades by drinking gallons and gallons of wine. Naturally he failed miserably."

"Interesting, but how does this apply to me?"

"I think it's fair to say that drunkenness and wine drinking won't make learning any easier."

"Hm. Did Aries mend his ways?"

"To some extent ... There he goes now, the fine young cadet marching off to patrol the back fence."

"Poor Aries! He'll miss the Phantasmagoria."

"He's seen it all before. He's an ardent Mummer, if you can believe it. So is Kirdy, for that matter."

"What about you?"

"I've never had the urge. And you?"

"There aren't any pageants or performances at Stroma."

"Why is that?"

Wayness shrugged.

"I suppose that the folk at Stroma don't care Kt sit like clams and watch other people perform."

"Hm. I must think this over a bit."

The banquet proceeded, while on the Orpheum stage Florestt!

presented his Phantasmagoria: a potpourri of pantomime, frivolitys ballet and sheer spectacle, controlled by a loose weft of ideas. 2 The production was entitled The Charming Antics of the Bugtowa Folk, and dealt with the affairs of assorted insects, all dressed as peasants. Foliage and painted scenery indicated a village of sma] cottages and shops in a dark nook of the forest, with a broken pedesta of gray-green marble to the rear. Insects scurried here and there;