as they sit in another guesthouse, sharing a table purely to save space, eating meals on separate checks. “This serves mortals, certainly,” she says, “but would it not serve better to get them to make the world better? If you could get the selfish ones to see that their greed harms everyone, including themselves—”
“Impossible,” Itempas says. “Selfishness is mortals’ nature. I did not command them to build a society that arbitrarily treats some as important and others as not, yet they have done so.” In his name, he does not add. They both find this offensive enough that there’s no need to mention it.
“ Change is mortals’ nature, too,” Glee says quietly. Itempas grimaces in distaste.
“Only under duress,” he says. “They must have reasons to change.”
She considers this, tapping her fingers on the table in her impatience, trying to come up with reasons that would work, and only belatedly notices that he is watching her.
“This isn’t your burden,” he says when she frowns. His voice is gentle.
“Of course it is,” she snaps, and then bites down on her temper so that she can remain respectful.
He falls silent, and although nothing about him has overtly changed, she believes she has surprised him.
* * *
After a year or so of contemplation—she has never been so uncertain before—Glee proposes a way to enact the change they have discussed. Itempas listens and does not reply for another three months and towns. This is unusual for him; it is his nature, like her own, to make decisions at the speed of light. That he takes so long to answer tells her he agrees with her, at least in principle. He just needs time to adjust.
But he does ask her, one evening, “Why?”
It is her mother’s question, though for him it has multiple meanings: Why does she care? Why is she so determined to help him? Why is she bothering to spend the precious life she possesses, a life he has bent his own rules to create, on a task that may ultimately be futile? Now Glee has a better answer: “Because I know mortalkind can be better, and I’m willing to give my life to make it so.” She pauses. Hesitates. “I would appreciate help, however.”
Still not the answer, but not an embarrassment, either. Itempas is silent, and that is the end of the conversation.
But a few days later, wordlessly, Itempas begins the process of accepting this necessary change. It is fascinating, watching how he does this. And pitiful.
They have just concluded their business in the latest town, where Itempas nearly drowned trying to help a fishing boat haul in its catch with old fraying nets and a captain who did not heed the dire weather reports. Because other mortals’ lives were at stake, Itempas could use magic to save them, translocating everyone from the boat to the shore just as the mast sank beneath the waves. As a crowd gathers ’round to exclaim over the miracle of survivors, and to shout at the captain who sits ashamed nearby, Glee goes to her father, who stands watching all of this with a sterner-than-usual set to his face. There is more to it than the captain’s negligence, Glee understands. The boat’s nets were frayed because the captain could barely afford to keep his business afloat. His business was in danger because the price of fish is being artificially controlled by the Nobles’ Consortium in order to please several of the wealthier islander merchants, who run large fish distribution enterprises. The same people who curse the captain now have happily bought the cheap fish that made him so desperate for just one more catch. Now the man has lost his livelihood altogether, as have his crew members—but the price of fish will stay low, driving other captains into other storms and causing other wrecks from which there will be no magical rescue.
It is painfully clear even to Glee, who has less of a jaded eye toward human foibles, that these people will never believe themselves complicit in the lives
“Impossible,” Itempas says. “Selfishness is mortals’ nature. I did not command them to build a society that arbitrarily treats some as important and others as not, yet they have done so.” In his name, he does not add. They both find this offensive enough that there’s no need to mention it.
“ Change is mortals’ nature, too,” Glee says quietly. Itempas grimaces in distaste.
“Only under duress,” he says. “They must have reasons to change.”
She considers this, tapping her fingers on the table in her impatience, trying to come up with reasons that would work, and only belatedly notices that he is watching her.
“This isn’t your burden,” he says when she frowns. His voice is gentle.
“Of course it is,” she snaps, and then bites down on her temper so that she can remain respectful.
He falls silent, and although nothing about him has overtly changed, she believes she has surprised him.
* * *
After a year or so of contemplation—she has never been so uncertain before—Glee proposes a way to enact the change they have discussed. Itempas listens and does not reply for another three months and towns. This is unusual for him; it is his nature, like her own, to make decisions at the speed of light. That he takes so long to answer tells her he agrees with her, at least in principle. He just needs time to adjust.
But he does ask her, one evening, “Why?”
It is her mother’s question, though for him it has multiple meanings: Why does she care? Why is she so determined to help him? Why is she bothering to spend the precious life she possesses, a life he has bent his own rules to create, on a task that may ultimately be futile? Now Glee has a better answer: “Because I know mortalkind can be better, and I’m willing to give my life to make it so.” She pauses. Hesitates. “I would appreciate help, however.”
Still not the answer, but not an embarrassment, either. Itempas is silent, and that is the end of the conversation.
But a few days later, wordlessly, Itempas begins the process of accepting this necessary change. It is fascinating, watching how he does this. And pitiful.
They have just concluded their business in the latest town, where Itempas nearly drowned trying to help a fishing boat haul in its catch with old fraying nets and a captain who did not heed the dire weather reports. Because other mortals’ lives were at stake, Itempas could use magic to save them, translocating everyone from the boat to the shore just as the mast sank beneath the waves. As a crowd gathers ’round to exclaim over the miracle of survivors, and to shout at the captain who sits ashamed nearby, Glee goes to her father, who stands watching all of this with a sterner-than-usual set to his face. There is more to it than the captain’s negligence, Glee understands. The boat’s nets were frayed because the captain could barely afford to keep his business afloat. His business was in danger because the price of fish is being artificially controlled by the Nobles’ Consortium in order to please several of the wealthier islander merchants, who run large fish distribution enterprises. The same people who curse the captain now have happily bought the cheap fish that made him so desperate for just one more catch. Now the man has lost his livelihood altogether, as have his crew members—but the price of fish will stay low, driving other captains into other storms and causing other wrecks from which there will be no magical rescue.
It is painfully clear even to Glee, who has less of a jaded eye toward human foibles, that these people will never believe themselves complicit in the lives
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