Fall; or, Dodge in Hell - Neal Stephenson Page 0,190

them and listen to their speech, but he could hear no more meaning in it than in that of the bees themselves.

Egdod found himself grievously distracted by these strange doings. Outright defiance he had prepared himself for, by working with Thingor on the fashioning of bright thunderbolts. But the loosing of a single one of those had sufficed to reduce all of the souls into a state of fearful obedience. Out of this, they had contrived new ways of busying themselves that to Egdod were more troubling than the impudence of Swat.

After the arrival in the Palace of Warm Wings, the other souls of the Pantheon had not been slow in learning the arts by which they might give each other pleasure that exceeded all bounds. She herself taught it to, and did it with, Ward while she nursed his wound. Other couplings then came about: Thingor and Knotweave, Speaksall and Freewander. Greyhame did not couple with any of the Pantheon, but it was known that he went to Town from time to time and there engaged in pleasurable couplings with various souls in certain houses. Neither Egdod nor Spring was approached by any of the other souls with any such intentions, for it was understood by all, without the need for speaking of it, that those two were apart from all the rest and intended for each other.

Because of Warm Wings, Egdod now understood the cravings that he had felt in respect of Spring from the first time he had seen her in the little stream that flowed from the dark cleft high up in the Forest. Soon after Warm Wings had come to dwell in the Palace, Egdod went out one evening when the moon shone on the Fountain and found Spring there bathing in its waters. He approached her and ventured to speak to her of his feelings and intentions. Spring listened to his words until he was sated with talking, then told him that she must consider his suit and that he should come and find her in the Forest the next day.

The next day, when the sun was shining warmly on the Forest, Egdod went to the spring with flowers that he had harvested from the Garden, and sat in the dark cleft and waited for her to make a form for herself that might be suited for the sorts of pleasure that Warm Wings had put him in mind of. In time she did so, but it was a form made entirely of water, streaming cold and clear. “You and I are of a different order from the rest,” she reminded him.

“That much is true,” Egdod said, “and yet we share with them like cravings and sensations.”

“We may couple in the same way as those,” she agreed, “and indeed I would take great pleasure in doing so and it has been much on my mind, even before Warm Wings came and spoke of it.”

“Then let us—” Egdod began, but Spring interrupted him:

“Though your and my coupling might be like theirs in its general form, its consequences will be altogether of a different order. For it is you who have the power to create and shape all things that the Land comprises, and it is given to me to imbue certain things with life. Our coupling will result in the creation of new souls.”

“In that I see no obstacle,” Egdod said, for his craving was very strong and he was not in any frame of mind to give careful consideration to the wisdom of Spring.

“I speak not of bees or of birds,” Spring went on, “but of souls like us, capable of speech.”

“New souls enter the Land every day,” Egdod pointed out.

“Yes,” Spring agreed, “and they do so by dying in whatever place they used to abide, and awakening here. Understand, Egdod, that the souls that will emerge from our coupling will be new creations that never before lived, and never died. I do not know the meaning of it or what consequences it might have. They might be akin to others of the Pantheon, and dwell with us happily. But they might be greater than we in their power, and capable of destroying our forms with thunderbolts just as you did in the case of Swat.”

“Once again you exceed me in wisdom and in the penetration of your thought,” Egdod said. “In respect of that—and not, be it said, for any lack of desire—I shall withdraw and consider what you have said.” So he