Faun and Games (56 page)

"Why I suppose I could," Ida said.
 
"I don't know the answer myself, but

I believe it's on Cone."

Forrest quailed.
 
"We have to go to another moon?
 
We're already on the

moon of a moon of a moon."

Ida smiled.
 
"I suppose that would get confusing.
 
No, I can take a come

section and get the information.
 
Let me concentrate."

She concentrated.
 
The moon took note, as its point pointed straight up

for a full orbit.
 
"Yes, I have your information," Ida said.
 
"But there

is a complication you may not have considered."

"There always is," Imbri muttered in a dreamlet sent to Forrest alone.

"What complication is that?" he asked Ida.

"It is that here on Torus, anyone who does another a favor or a service

incurs a burden of emotion.
 
The greater the service, the greater the

emotion.
 
So we are rather careful about the services we render, and to

whom."

"Emotion," Forrest said.
 
"As in happiness or sadness?"

"Not exactly.
 
As in liking or loving."

"Uh-oh," Dawn murmured.

"Mischief," Eve agreed.

Forrest agreed.
 
"Does this mean that if you do me the service of

telling me what I need to know, you will-that is-"

"Exactly.
 
Considering the importance of the information to your

mission, I will be in love with you.
 
And without meaning any affront to

you, I must say that I do not care to be in love with a creature who

will immediately leave me forever."

"I would not care to have that happen either," Forrest said.
 
"Even if I

were staying here, I am not at all sure it would be proper.
 
You surely

have some prince who will seek you out at some time."

"That would be nice," Ida agreed.

"Is there any way to counter or nullify the effect?" Imbri asked in a

general dreamlet.

"Yes there is.
 
People can exchange equivalent favors, so that the

effect cancels out.
 
These must occur at about the same time.
 
If one

favor is done at one time, and the other at another time, both will

incur the penalties.
 
In fact this is the way marriages are made: by the

exchange of favors on consecutive days.
 
So if you have some favor you

can do me in return, that is as valuable to me as my information is to

you, we shall be all right."

"Oh, wow," Dawn said.
 
"We were all doing each other favors, trying to

escape that tangle tree."

"So they canceled out," Eve agreed.
 
"But then I got a favor from that

villager."

"No, you did him the favor of showing him how to have a good day," Imbri

said in a dreamlet.
 
"It was a fair exchange."

"oooo, that's what he meant!" Dawn exclaimed, clapping her hands.
 
"When

we thanked him, and gave him something to see."

"He said.
 
"It doesn't matter-we exchanged," and we didn't understand,"

Eve agreed.
 
"He meant that we didn't love him, and he didn't love us,

so there was no point in showing him anything interesting."

"But he was interested, or he wouldn't have said that."

es.
 
It's nice to know that our stuff works here, too."

"You girls seem to enjoy impressing men," Ida remarked. They both

smiled, acknowledging it.

"But then you did a service for Forrest," Dawn said.
 
"Telling him all

about the lake and Isle."

Which had enhanced her feeling for him, Forrest realized ruefully. That

explained some things.
 
But there seemed to be no point in discussing

that now.

At least they could balance things, with Ida.
 
This was looking better.

"What information do you want, that is this valuable?"

"Unfortunately, what I most desire is knowledge of something I fear you

would be even less in a position to know than I.
 
As you may have

noticed, the Isle of Niffen is on a small sea.
 
I would like to know all

about this sea, from its name to its deepest creatures.
 
I already know

all about the Isle, but the water has eluded me."

"I can-" Eve started, but Forrest cut her off with a sharp glance.
 
Her

sister wiped the cut off her face; the glance had been too sharp.

"You don't want to do that," Forrest said.
 
"Because then you would love

Ida."

"Then Eve would love Ida, and Ida would love Forrest," Dawn said.

"That's no good."

"But suppose Eve gave Forrest the information?" Imbri asked.

"And then he gave it to Ida in exchange?"

"Then Eve would love Forrest," Dawn protested.

"Doesn't she already?"

Eve's mouth formed a pretty round 0.
 
"I do!"

"We both do," Dawn said.
 
"But wouldn't she love him more than I do?"

"I think I already do," Eve said.
 
"Because it was for him I got the

information on the lake and Isle.
 
I didn't realize the effect it would

have on me."

"Oh, my," Dawn said, dismayed.
 
"That's why you were holding his hand."

"Was I?
 
I suppose I was.
 
I didn't realize."

"You could do him a favor some other time, Dawn," Imbri suggested.

"Maybe so," Dawn agreed thoughtfully.
 
"I will keep it in mind."

Forrest wished he had known of this complication before asking Eve for

the information on the lake.
 
He had wondered about the hand holding,

because up until that time the two girls had done things evenly.
 
But he

hadn't understood, so had done her no return favor.

But that complication would have to wait.
 
Forrest faced Ida.
 
"Eve can

tell anything about anything inanimate.
 
She will learn all about the

lake, and tell me, and I will exchange that information with you. Does

this seem fair?"

"Yes, remarkably fair," Ida agreed.

"Then Eve and I will go to the water and learn what we need. Meanwhile

Dawn and Mare Imbri can chat with you, if you like.
 
I'm sure there are

incidental things you could exchange, keeping them in balance." Even as

he spoke, he wondered why he had set it up that way.
 
Surely he didn't

want to be alone with Eve at this time!
 
Or did he?

"Yes, surely," Ida agreed.

So Forrest and Eve followed the path back to the water.
 
The assorted

animals of the Isle let them be, knowing that they were not hunters. Eve

insisted on holding his hand again.
 
"If I am going to be even more in

love with you, I want to grab every moment I can," she explained.

"But such contact with me will only increase your desire to-to do what

we should not."

"It can't," she said dreamily.

Forrest decided not to argue, though he was not entirely at ease with

this.
 
For one thing, this was the first time he had been really alone

with either girl, so the inhibition of numbers was gone.
 
Eve was

evidently working up to more than just information.
 
And he was

evidently facilitating it, though he knew he should not.
 
The

complications of relationships with normymphly women were both confusing

and tantalizing.

They reached the water, and she knelt down, ready to stick her finger

in.
 
Then she stood.
 
"No, I have a better notion," she said,

approaching him.

"What is that?" he asked warily.

"This." She lurched suddenly, and pushed him into the water. When he

tried to catch his balance, she flung her arms around him and hauled him

down.
 
They both made a great splash as they fell in.

"But there may be water monsters!" he cried, trying to scramble back

out.

She just clung more tightly.
 
"No there aren't.
 
Not at this beach. Now

let me tell you all about it."

"But you don't have to hold me while you tell me," he protested.

"Yes I do," she said firmly.
 
Very firmly, for she was plastered against

him, and she had dissolved all her clothing.

"You are taking advantage of the situation," he informed her.
 
And he

was letting her, he realized.

"I certainly am.
 
This is almost as good as a love spring."

"But what's the point?
 
You know I'm not going to-not until the mission

is done."

"I know.
 
But you will be sorely tempted, and you will remember what I

feel like, this close, and when the time comes, you will not try to find

a pretext to avoid it."

She was eerily accurate.
 
Already it took most of his willpower to

maintain his nominal diffidence.
 
"How do you know so much about me,

when it's Dawn's talent to know all about living creatures, not Yours?"

He was trying to distract her; they had already explained about the

overlapping of their talents.

"She told me."

"But doesn't she have a-an equal interest?
 
Why should she tell you how

to-"

"When her chance comes, she'll do the same.
 
My chance just happened to

come first.
 
So she didn't interfere, and I won't interfere during her

turn."

"But how does she know you won't-"