Rhialto spoke in a confidential manner: “When I met Llorio in the forest, she tried most earnestly to beguile me with her beauty. Gallantry forbids my recitation of details. But I recognized her at once and even the vanity of a Rhialto could not credit her in the role of a heart-sick amourette, and only by thrusting me into the pond and distracting my attention was she able to apply her squalm. I returned to Falu and followed the full therapy as prescribed by Calanctus and the squalm was broken.”
Raising his goblet, Ildefonse swallowed the contents at a gulp. “She also appeared before me, though on an elevated level. I encountered her in a waking dream on a wide plain, marked out in a gridwork of distorted and abstract perspectives. She stood at an apparent distance of fifty yards, truly effulgent in her silver-pale beauty, arranged obviously for my benefit. She seemed tall in stature, and towered over me as if I were a child. A psychological ploy, of course, which caused me to smile.
“I called out in a forthright voice: ‘Llorio the Murthe, I can see you easily; you need not soar so high.’
“She responded gently enough: ‘Ildefonse, my stature need not concern you; my words carry the same import, spoken high or low.’
“‘All very well, but why incur the risk of a vertigo? Your natural proportions are certainly more pleasing to the eye. I can see every pore in your skin. Still, no matter; it is all one with me. Why do you wander into my musing?’
“‘Ildefonse, of all men alive, you are the wisest. The time now is late, but not too late! The female race may still reshape the universe! First, I will lead a sortie to Sadal Suud; among the Seventeen Moons we will renew the human destiny. Your kindly strength, your virtue and grandeur are rich endowments for the role which now you must play.’
“The flavor of these words was not to my liking. I said: ‘Llorio, you are a woman of surpassing beauty, though you would seem to lack that provocative warmth which draws man to woman, and adds dimension to the character.’
“The Murthe responded curtly: ‘The quality you describe is a kind of lewd obsequiousness which, happily, has now become obsolete. As for the ‘surpassing beauty’, it is an apotheotic quality generated by the surging music of the female soul, which you, in your crassness, perceive only as a set of pleasing contours.’
“I replied with my usual gusto: ‘Crass or not, I am content with what I see, and as for sorties to far places, let us first march in triumph to the bed-chamber at Boumergarth which is close at hand and there test each other’s mettle. Come then, diminish your stature so that I may take your hand; you stand at an inconvenient altitude and the bed would collapse under your weight — in fact, under present conditions, our coupling would hardly be noticed by either of us.’
“Llorio said with scorn: ‘Ildefonse, you are a disgusting old satyr, and I see that I was mistaken in my appraisal of your worth. Nevertheless, you must serve our cause with full force.’
“In a stately manner she walked away, into the eccentric angles of the perspective, and with every step she seemed to dwindle, either in the distance or in stature. She walked pensively, in a manner which almost might be construed as invitational. I succumbed to impulse and set out after her — first at a dignified saunter, then faster and faster until I galloped on pounding legs and finally dropped in exhaustion to the ground. Llorio turned and spoke: ‘See how the grossness of your character has caused you a foolish indignity!’
“She flicked her hand to throw down a squalm which struck me on the forehead. ‘I now give you leave to return to your manse.’ And with that she was gone.
“I awoke on the couch in my work-room. Instantly I sought out my Calanctus and applied his recommended prophylactics in full measure.”
“Most odd!” said Rhialto. “I wonder how Calanctus dealt with her.”
“Just as we must do, by forming a strong and relentless cabal.”
“Just so, but where and how? Zanzel has been ensqualmed, and certainly he is not alone.”
“Bring out your farvoyer; let us learn the worst. Some may still be saved.”
Rhialto rolled out an ornate old tabouret, waxed so many times as to appear almost black. “Who will you see first?”
“Try the staunch if mysterious Gilgad. He is a man of discrimination and not easily fooled.”
“We may still be disappointed,” said Rhialto. “When last I looked, a nervous snake might have envied the deft motion of his tongue.” He touched one of the scallops which adorned the edge of the tabouret and spoke a cantrap, to evoke the miniature of Gilgad in a construct of his near surroundings.
Gilgad stood in the kitchen of his manse Thrume, berating the cook. Rather than his customary plum-red suit, the new Gilgad wore wide rose-red pantaloons tied at waist and ankle with coquettish black ribbons. Gilgad’s black blouse displayed in tasteful embroidery a dozen red and green birds. Gilgad also used a smart new hair-style, with opulent rolls of hair over each ear, a pair of fine ruby hair-pins to hold the coiffure in place, and a costly white plume surmounting all.
Rhialto told Ildefonse: “Gilgad has been quick to accept the dictates of high fashion.”
Ildefonse held up his hand. “Listen!”
From the display came Gilgad’s thin voice, now raised in anger: “— grime and grit in profusion; it may have served during my previous half-human condition, but now many things have altered and I see the world, including this sordid kitchen, in a new light. Henceforth, I demand full punctilio! All areas and surfaces must be scoured; extreme neatness will prevail! Further! My metamorphosis will seem peculiar to certain among you, and I suppose that you will crack your little jokes. But I have keen ears and have little jokes of my own! Need I mention Kuniy, who hops about his duties on little soft feet with a mouse-tail trailing behind him, squeaking at the sight of a cat?”
Rhialto touched a scallop to remove the image of Gilgad. “Sad. Gilgad was always something of a dandy and, if you recall, his temper was often uncertain, or even acrid. Ensqualmation evidently fails to ennoble its victim. Ah well, so it goes. Who next?”
“Let us investigate Eshmiel, whose loyalty surely remains staunch.”
Rhialto touched a scallop and on the tabouret appeared Eshmiel in the dressing room of his manse Sil Soum. Eshmiel’s previous guise had been notable for its stark and absolute chiaroscuro, with the right side of his body white and the left side black. His garments had followed a similar scheme, though their cut was often bizarre or even frivolous.*
In squalmation, Eshmiel had not discarded his taste for striking contrast, but now he seemed to be wavering between such themes as blue and purple, yellow and orange, pink and umber: these being the colors adorning the mannequins ranged around the room. As Rhialto and Ildefonse watched, Eshmiel marched back and forth, inspecting first one, then another, but finding nothing suitable to his needs, which caused him an obvious vexation.
Ildefonse sighed heavily. “Eshmiel is clearly gone. Let us grit our teeth and investigate the cases first of Hurtiancz and then Dulce-Lolo.”
Magician after magician appeared on the tabouret, and in the end no doubt remained but that ensqualmation had infected all.
Rhialto spoke gloomily: “Not one of the group showed so much as a twitch of distress! All wallowed in the squalming as if it were a boon! Would you and I react in the same way?”
Ildefonse winced and pulled at his blond beard. “It makes the blood to run cold.”
“So now we are alone,” said Rhialto. “The decisions are ours to make.”
“They are not simple,” said Ildefonse after reflection. “We have come under attack: do we retaliate? If so: how? Or even: why? The world is moribund.”
“But I am not! I am Rhialto, and such treatment offends me!”
Ildefonse nodded thoughtfully. “That is an important point. I, with equal vehemence, am Ildefonse!”
“More, you are Ildefonse the Preceptor! And now you must use your legitimate powers.”
Ildefonse inspected Rhialto through blue eyes blandly half-closed. “Agreed! I nominate you to enforce my edicts!”
Rhialto ignored the pleasantry. “I am thinking of IOUN stones.”
Ildefonse sat up in his chair. “What is your exact meaning?”
