he spoke aloud, but seemingly to no one. The Guardian’s remarks were inaudible, for they were spoken only within Sorak’s mind. Sorak was capable of carrying on conversations with his other aspects entirely without speech, but he was angry, and he felt that if he tried to keep it all inside, he would explode.
“The girl was being obstinate and selfish,” said the Guardian. “She was not listening to you. She was making no attempt to understand. She was thinking only of her own desire.”
“She was confused,” said Sorak. “And she was angry, because she felt I’d kept things from her. The way you spoke to her was needlessly harsh and cruel.
She has always been our friend. And more than just a friend. She cared about us when no one else did.”
“The high mistress cared.”
“The mistress cared, yes, but that was not the same. She recognized our talents and our condition and felt compelled to help. She understood what we had suffered and took pity on us. She felt an obligation to the Elder Al’Kali. Ryana cared without any cause or condition. It was shameful for you to treat her as you did. And it was shameful for us to have deceived her all these years.”
“No one deceived the girl,” the Guardian replied. “To withhold information is not the same thing as deception.”
“Words!” said Sorak angrily. “The fact remains she was deceived. Had she known from the beginning, this never would have happened!”
“Perhaps not,” the Guardian replied, “but you seem to be forgetting something. You, yourself, did not know from the beginning, and when you did know, you feared the others would discover that we were both male and female. You questioned your own masculine identity. It caused you great concern, and so the three of us held back and bolstered your own image of yourself. Then, later, when you and the girl—”
“Her name is Ryana!”
“When you and Ryana had grown close, there was a part of you that felt afraid to tell her, because you feared how she might react. If there was deception, then you were a part of it yourself.”
“Perhaps a part of me was afraid to tell her,” Sorak admitted, grudgingly. “But I could have told her now, and much more gently than you did. Now she is hurt and angry and confused, through no fault of her own. We have led her on and caused her to expect something that we could never give.”
“I did not lead anybody on,” the Guardian replied. “Villichi do not take mates, and for the most part, remain celibate. How was I to know that she was different? How was I to know what was on her mind?”
“Liar! You are the telepath among us!”
“True, but I could not read Ryana’s mind when you were out, and when I spoke to her myself, you always cautioned me to be properly respectful, to treat her as our friend. One does not read a friend’s thoughts unless one is invited.”
“You always have some ready answer,” Sorak said, sourly. “But then, should I be surprised, when you know my thoughts as well as I know them myself?”
“Sometimes I know them better.”
“Sometimes I wish I could drag you out and throttle you!”
“If an apology will help, then I shall apologize.”
“I do not need your apologies!”
“I meant to the girl, not to you,” the Guardian said. “As usual, you think only of yourself.”
Sorak winced. “And, as usual, you strike right to the bone.”
“We are what we are, Sorak,” the Guardian said. “I could no more lie with the girl than you could lie with a man. Kivara… well, Kivara has no shame.”
“I heard that,” said another voice. Had it spoken aloud, it would have spoken with Sorak’s lips and throat, and sounded male. But it had spoken within Sorak’s mind, and therefore sounded very female. It was a young voice, and a saucy one.
“Stay out of this, Kivara,” Sorak said.
“Wry should I? Does this not concern us all?”
“It should concern you least of all, since you apparently have no decisive inclinations, one way or the other,” the Guardian said wryly.
“How can I, when I have had no experience in such things?” Kivara countered. “I’ll leave it all to you and the Watcher, we shall always remain ignorant in this regard. The girl is comely, and has always treated us well. Could it have been so bad?”
The Watcher, as usual, said nothing, but Sorak felt her apprehension. The Watcher hardly ever spoke, but she was always there, alert,