"Oh, come on now, Earth. Look at it through mortal eyes. Is there nothing you would like to experience?" She put one hand to the upper hem of the robe.
Justin tried to turn away, but Earth prevented him. "That mortal flesh is interesting, now that I am in a mortal host. I would like to see more of it."
"She is trying to trick you into not getting rescued," Justin retorted hotly.
"Surely there is no harm in just looking."
"There can be phenomenal harm!"
"I doubt it."
Fornax was watching him through Jaylin"s eyes. Slowly she drew the robe to the side, so that more of the flesh of her upper torso was exposed. Earth watched, his interest increasing.
"I came here to rescue you," Justin said. "Do not allow her to deceive you!"
"What deception is there? She is merely uncovering the natural body, abolishing the deception of clothing. I hope to see it all."
"That hope will be your undoing! Would you have any interest at all if you were not with a mortal body?"
"Naturally not. The moment I leave this body, I will lose interest. That is why I wish to appreciate it now, while I am able to."
"But don"t you see-if she manages to distract you long enough to prevent your rescue, then the mortal bodies will all be abolished, and you will be forever her prisoner. For the sake of a moment of mortal experience, you will sacrifice your immortal freedom."
Earth hesitated. "What you say is true. It is not worth it to allow one percent of my attention to spoil the situation of the remaining ninety-nine percent."
Justin was amazed. One percent had been set as the upper limit of Demon attention for this game, but apparently that was not based on the conventional standard. The Demons were even more unimaginably beyond mortal comprehension than he had thought.
"True." Earth started to turn away.
Fornax s.n.a.t.c.hed the robe the rest of the way clear, together with the supportive undergarment, showing a full half of upper torso. Justin"s eyes were caught. The Demoness had acted the moment she saw the decision go against her.
"We can still turn away," Justin said, staring. "Such a view is not completely compelling. Just make our body turn, carrying the eyes along."
"Agreed." Their body began to turn.
Fornax stepped quickly forward to embrace them. But her bare feet snagged on the dangling fringe of the robe, and she tripped again, falling into him. He caught her, but the view of her torso had been interrupted, and his eyes were free.
She tried to draw away, ripping off the rest of the robe. But he held her close, preventing it. She tried to catch his head for another kiss, but he averted his face and she caught him on the ear. His ear tingled with the pa.s.sionate force of it, but he was not close to freaking out.
"Bleep!" she swore again. "So you will not have it yet? Then remain confined in your room!"
And he had to obey, for he was her captive. He watched her whirl and flounce out, shutting the door behind her.
Justin sat down on the bed. He wasn"t sure how Demon Earth had been held before, but now that Justin was here, it was physical confinement.
"I was locked in stasis," Earth clarified. "I could not move at all, or extend my powers beyond this chamber. Now I share your mortal body, but my powers remain severely limited. I have no omniscience. That is uncomfortable."
"How did Fornax capture you? I thought each Demon was all-powerful in his own region."
"That is correct. I was tricked."
"Tricked?"
"I received news that there had been a grueling contest of status among the foreign Demons, with Andromeda raiding Fornax and forcing its Demon to flee. Thus Fornax was undefended, and might be appropriated without opposition. So I made a quick raid of my own, to incorporate it, adding the power of antimatter to my a.r.s.enal-and it was a ruse. Fornax captured me away from my base, and I was helpless. It was a most humiliating defeat."
"But perhaps the emotion of hope ameliorates it," Justin suggested.
"It does. I never experienced positive emotion before. It is a wondrous thing. For the first time in my existence, I care what happens to me personally."
"You did not care before? What about when Demon Xanth invaded your domain, and you tried to trap him there?"
"That was a matter of status. Had I succeeded in trapping him, I would have gained. As it was, he gained. He has been remarkably fortunate in recent games."
"That may be because he has a.s.sociated with the mortals of his realm, gaining insights and a different perspective. He has been learning emotion, and dreaming, and it has been changing him. That appears to give him an advantage, because he has become less predictable, in the mortal manner."
"So we gather. I understand he has even a.s.sociated himself on an even basis with a mortal creature, and devoted much attention to her."
"Yes. That would be Chlorine, who was a bad-tempered wench with the talent of poisoning water. He transformed her to a lovely woman-physically, mentally, and emotionally-and I believe married her. At any rate, they now have a child."
"What do you mean by lovely?"
"She is pretty, beautiful, esthetic, appealing to the eye and touch. A suitable love object."
"Love-what is that?"
Justin laughed. "Perhaps we shall never completely understand it. I love Breanna of the Black Wave."
"She is lovely?"
"Yes. But it is more than that. She is imperious, forthright, aggressive, and quick to take offense."
"These resemble Demon traits. That is why she compels your love?"
Justin shook his head ruefully. "No, they might be considered faults in a woman. But they only make me love her more."
"You like faults?"
"I don"t know how to explain it, because the whole business is rather new to me, for all that I have loved her three years. I-I simply want to be with her, in every way. Without her I am incomplete."
"Does Demon Xanth love Chlorine?"
"Yes, I believe he does."
"And that emotion contributes to his success in Demon contests?"
"It may. I really am not party to Demon ways."
"I am. Xanth has changed, and thereby benefited at the expense of other Demons. I want to learn his secret. Teach me love."
"Demon Earth, this is impossible! Love cannot be taught, only experienced."
"Xanth learned it. I can learn it. Teach me."
Justin cast about for some way to clarify it for an ent.i.ty that had no emotion other than the one implanted by the Swell Foop. "My own understanding is imperfect. I cannot describe it. But perhaps if I give an example of our interaction, that will suggest its nature to you. You might picture it as something you are doing, and try to gain the feeling thereof. Then, possibly, you will understand."
"An interaction of love?"
"Yes. Of the way Breanna and I relate. I think you have not seen her. She is a young female human being with-"
"I have seen the human body Fornax is using. Is that similar?"
"That would be Jaylin. Yes, in the broad essentials, though they are quite different people. For one thing, Breanna is of the-"
"Jaylin will do. I can picture her in your scene."
That suited Justin. He wasn"t at all sure he wanted the Demon Earth picturing Breanna as his own love object. That might be foolish jealousy on his part, but at least Jaylin was neutral. "Very well. Since you can experience the emotion of hope, think of love as an intense variant of that, with a person as the object."
"Present your example."
"Well, it happened soon after Breanna insisted that I convert from tree to human form. I was as yet a bit unsteady on my feet, after about seventy-six years with a trunk instead of legs. She said she didn"t mind-" As he spoke, he visualized the scene, and the Demon Earth watched that picture.
Justin tripped and almost fell, but Breanna caught him, hugging him to her. She brought her face to his and kissed him. This was the first time, and it made him dizzy, so that he might have lost his balance again, but for her firm clasp.
"I apologize for my infirmity," he said. "It is merely that-"
"If you don"t get steady, I"ll kiss you again," she said as she let him go.
He essayed another step. "If you intend that as punishment, it is misdirected. I-" He started to fall.
She caught him again, and hugged him, and kissed him. "It is not intended as punishment," she said. "But as encouragement. I figure a few hundred kisses should do it."
"A few hundred!"
She made a cute frown. "I"m willing to go a thousand, if necessary. But you had better make some progress."
"A thousand!"
She glanced quizzically at him. "You don"t get it, do you?"
"Get what?" he asked, perplexed.
"I"m teasing you."
"Teasing me? I thought you were helping me to walk."
"That too. What I mean is, I"m pretending that you don"t like to be kissed, so you will hurry to walk well."
"Oh, Breanna, I don"t regard-"
"Or that you are a very slow learner."
"I apologize for that."
"It"s a bleeping pretext to kiss you!" she snapped.
Justin was momentarily stunned by the bad word from her dear lips. Then she kissed him again, and he began to understand. "Tease me some more," he said blissfully.
"That"s more like it." Then she saw something ahead. "What"s that?" Her moods were mercurial, shifting from romance to practicality in a fraction of an instant. He liked that about her. But of course he liked everything about her.
He looked where she was looking. "That is a suit tree," he said, for he knew trees well. "It grows flight suits."
"Flight suits! You mean they fly?"
"They enable those who wear them to fly. Would you care for a demonstration?"
"Sure. Maybe flying"ll be easier than trying to walk with you." Then, before he could misunderstand again, she kissed him once more.
They donned flight suits and flew up over the forest. The flight suits made it easy; all they had to do was think high, and they lifted, and think forward, and they moved that way. But then they began to lose alt.i.tude.
"I fear the magic energy of the suits is being expended," Justin said regretfully. "They are not intended for long flights. Just far enough to get their seeds spread a reasonable distance."
"That"s okay." She flew into him, grabbed him, and kissed him as they descended.
And their descent stopped. But when the kiss ended, they dropped down again. "Your kiss made me light-headed," he explained. "So the suit was able to sustain me."
She laughed. "You know, every so often I still forget how literal Xanth can be."
They landed beside a tangle tree, and kissed again, as Justin was still a trifle unsteady. A tentacle reached out to wrap around Breanna"s leg. "Oh yeah?" she demanded, drawing her sharp knife.
"Stop!" It was a wood nymph with tangled green hair. "Don"t you dare hurt my tree!"
"Who are you?" Breanna demanded.
"I am the nymph of this tree."
"Tangle trees have nymphs?"
"Indeed some do," Justin said. "Note her matching hair."
"Then tell it to un-tentacle me," Breanna said.
The nymph touched the tentacle, and it unwound. "That"s good," the nymph said, speaking to the tree. "We mustn"t eat people who are in love." She patted the tentacle, and it formed into a heart shape.
"Everybody loves a lover," Justin said, as the memory scene concluded.
The Demon Earth was not quite convinced. "All you did was kiss."
"Yes. That was all we wanted to do. That is the way of love."