“Postpone that concern,” said Questioner. “For now, merely find out everything you can, without worrying about how we’ll use it. We have no newspapers or reviews; we have no notes; we do, however, have some persons, creatures, who saw the dance or did the dance or provided music for it.”
“I must be very stupid, but I can’t understand why Kaorugi doesn’t remember?” cried Ellin, frustrated.
Questioner pondered. “Let me simplify. Imagine that your brain is spread out everywhere under your skin. Imagine that you could detach your arm and send it off to pick strawberries, and imagine the brain under the skin had sensors to see and smell and taste with. Imagine your arm can remember what it is supposed to do, and can record what happens. When the arm comes back, once it is re-attached, you would remember picking the berries. If your arm never came back, however, you would remember sending the arm, but not what happened to it. Kaorugi can remember deputizing his parts, but it can’t remember what they do until and unless they return.”
“And Kaorugi can’t extrapolate the missing parts?” Madame said, shaking her head.
Questioner said, “Madame, I don’t know all the implications of Kaorugi’s mind. I think the dance was a subfunction that was left up to the Timmys and the Corojumi, a constantly changing detail Kaorugi never incorporated into its core. The Timmys and the Corojum are, after all, virtually independent. The system had plenty of redundancy until we came along, but this planet hasn’t had a history of traumas and mass deaths. We brought the habits of murder with us, which meant the redundancy level just wasn’t high enough.”
“Ridiculous,” muttered Onsofruct.
Questioner said patiently, “It does us no good to ponder and fret over what we don’t have, let’s start with what we do. We will go down to the Fauxi-dizalonz and find out what the one Corojum remembers. We will find out what the remaining Timmys remember and whatever else exists that might retain any memory of the dance. And by the way, what are the members of my entourage doing down there?”
Ellin shook her head in confusion. “Were they down there? We didn’t see them.”
“The Corojum said they were there,” Questioner averred. Bao stood up, took Ellin by one hand, and pulled her erect. “We’ll see when we get there.
Mouche was standing at the rim, examining the crowd of persons below. His Goddess was not there, which gave him a sense of relief. On the voyage he had managed not to look at her, it, too closely, and just now he had carefully refused to listen to Questioner’s exposition, knowing he wouldn’t like the implications of it. He could not accept that Flowing Green was a part. His mystical dream required that she, it, be a singular creature woven of starlight and shadow, magic and romance. She was a perilous eidolon, a symbol of marvel and mystery. Instinctively, he kept a respectful distance to separate his Hagion from reality. Since she, it, was not by the Fauxi-dizalonz, nothing prevented his going with the others.
The road began its descent into the caldera from the north end of the ledge, and they went along it only a little way before cutting downward on a steep narrow track interrupted by rocky stairs. The road had a much gentler slope, but it went so far around the caldera before each switchback that it would have taken them half a day to traverse it. Even as it was, Questioner thought, setting her climbing legs on slow, a careful journey would take them some time.
Madame, the Hags, and Questioner were at the end of the procession. Madame stared after Mouche, worried by his manner. Something there. Something strange. When he came back, she’d have to try and find out what. She turned a troubled face toward the Questioner, who was watching her closely.
“You’re worried about the boy?” Questioner asked.
“I am, yes.”
“Mouche?” asked D’Jevier. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He is enchanted,” said Questioner.
“By them?” D’Jevier looked downward. “The Timmys?”
“One of them, I should think,” said Madame. “Though how it happened … “
“He watched them,” said Questioner. “At their dances, while he was at your establishment, Madame.”