there. But the assassin bungled it and died and now they want me to pay. It's a lot of money and I can't afford it. So I'm going to need the money back that I sent you."
"But I don't have it," his mother said, blinking. "I've spent it."
"Spent it? On what?"
"Well, you know. This and that. Things for the house."
"Mother, you live in Hell! How much can you possibly need down there?"
"I entertain a great deal."
"Dear God." Paravang sank into a chair and put his hands over his face.
"But there's really no need to worry, dear. After all, your bride will be bringing you a dowry, so . . ."
"How much?"
"Well, I suggest that under the circumstances you tell her how much you need, and refuse to marry her if she doesn't produce it," his mother said. Her dead face hardened for a moment. "But I imagine she will. She's really quite desperate. And I happen to know that in life, she wasn't badly off—she took the very sensible step of converting all her money into Hell notes when she realized she was ill, and burning it. So when she got to Hell, she had it waiting for her, you see? And she lives very quietly."
"I see."
"I think you should meet her, dear. Talk it over. She's a mature woman and she doesn't have any family, so it would be quite in order."
"When?"
"As soon as possible."
That afternoon, therefore, saw Paravang once more knocking on the butcher's door.
Forty-Three
"The Jade Emperor," Robin said, slowly and carefully, "is your father?"
"My father, yes."
"So who is your mother? Wait, you told me. Zasharou Selay."
"Yes, that's right. But I don't see so much of my mother. She lives in the moon."
"In the moon."
"Yes."
"I see."
They were sitting in one of the maiden's cabins. The shore of the Night Harbor was far behind now, and Heaven lay ahead, somewhere across the ocean of night on which they sailed. Robin was having difficulty coming to terms with Mhara's newly revealed status. She could just about cope when she thought he was nothing more than a kind of minor angel, but this . . . I'm in love with a god. The irony was that she had never considered herself to be particularly religious. Mhara had explained to her why he had come to Earth in the first place—he had told the truth about that—and of course it made sense. He would make a wonderful Jade Emperor when the time came, and naturally Robin was delighted that he would soon be safely home, but—
"Mhara, I have to ask this. What will happen to me?"
Mhara smiled. "I was hoping you'd stay. At least for a while. You might not like Heaven, of course. Some people don't. It's serene, but a little dull."
Robin gave a small, choked laugh. "I don't think the problem is going to be me not liking Heaven, Mhara. More like Heaven not liking me."
"Robin, there were extenuating circumstances. And if I have forgiven you, then no one else in Heaven is going to gainsay that."
"Really? And have you?"
"Of course," Mhara said. He leaned closer, so did Robin, and then he kissed her. He tasted clean, of clear water and light. She did not know what might have happened after that, but the kiss was interrupted by a frantic lurch of the boat. Robin and Mhara were thrown apart and Robin landed on the floor. She scrambled to her feet to find the boat listing heavily to one side.
"What is it?" she cried.
"I don't know!"
Mhara grabbed her hand and they made their way on deck, clinging to railings and stairways to keep their balance. Coming out of the main doorway, Robin cannoned into the demon.
"What the hell!" Zhu Irzh shouted.
A glowing form appeared high in the rigging and drifted quietly downward: the goddess Kuan Yin.
"Lady?" Chen asked, panting from exertion to stay on his feet. The badger was with him, its claws scrabbling on the deck.
"There is a disturbance," the goddess remarked as the boat once more righted itself.
"You're telling me," the demon snapped. "I nearly went over the damn side."
"What kind of a disturbance?" Chen asked.
"The foundation of the Sea of Night is shifting," Kuan Yin told him.
Chen stared at her. "Is that possible? I thought that the Sea of Night was—well, night. It's not water, even though it sometimes looks like it."
"And behaves like it," Kuan Yin said. "The Sea of Night connects all the worlds, this you know. And as such, it has meridians which travel