And if I let half the people in my life take up two days out of the year every year I'd never have time for the other half.And if I let half the people in my life take up two days out of the year every year I'd never have time for the other half." She smiled. "You know," I said, "You could be more sociable." "No." Her face darkened. "Why not? What are you afraid of? Look, I know what happened..." "You do not know what happened! You do not know what he said, or how he left, or how long I sat waiting for him to return while he was off protecting his goddamned city all because of that bitch!" She seized my wine goblet and threw it across the room. "You haven't forgotten, have you?" "How could I forget? For you, Ken, and for everyone, that's myth, it's unimportant, it happened six thousand years ago! For me, I was there, it was only a few hundred years, and I was dying when you came for me, and do you know how surprising that is? Do you? How many people are there who can time travel, Ken?" "Enough," I said. Too many, I thought. "Then why, out of all of them, did you come and save me? I'm a one liner in an obscure poem!" "I felt saddened for you. That's no way to treat a goddess." "Nymph, Ken. The correct word is nymph." "I'll agree to that. Can't toast to it, though, you threw my glass away." "You've been hitting the wine a little early." "Guilty, as charged," I said. She turned to the winestain she'd made on far wall and with a simple wiping gesture made it go away. Then two more glasses came dancing out of the kitchen of their own volition, filled with wine that just would not spill. I could do that, too, with AI, biocybe, and gravitics; the fact that Oenone did it with something far older and more profound than science still made my mouth dry. I cured the dryness by sipping wine. "Do we eat, or do I simply ravish you here?" I asked. "Men," she said. "Thinking either with their stomachs or their phalluses." "Or both." "Or both," she agreed. "But you're right. I did have dinner prepared." She rose and walked back into the kitchen, emerging a few minutes later with cold stone crabs and shrimp and a soup that was simply the finest meal I'd had in some time. |