'Hi, Alisher.' I shook his hand and passed my bag back to him. 'Dump it on the back seat, I don't want to bother with the trunk.'
'How's Sveta? Did she scold you?' Semyon asked as he drove off.
'No, of course not. She wished me luck, fed me a delicious dinner and gave me heaps of useful advice.'
'A good wife even keeps her husband happy,' Semyon declared cheerfully.
'You're in a good mood today,' I remarked. 'Is Geser sending you to Samarkand too?'
'As if he would,' Semyon said, with a histrionic sigh. 'Listen, been hearing wise thoughts about the East all day long today. The rivers of eloquence have already flooded the lake of my aware ness, oh Turkish delight of my heart!'
'Daddy, bring back some Turks and some delight!' my daughter responded immediately.
lads, why are you going to Samarkand? The capital's Binkent, I remember that for certain!'
'Tashkent,' I corrected him.
'Nah, Binkent,' said Semyon. 'Or isn't it? Ah, I remember! The town's called Shash!'
'Semyon, you're not old enough to remember Binkent,'Alisher scoffed. 'Binkent and Shash were ages ago - only Geser remem bers that. But we're flying to Samarkand because that's where the oldest Light Other who works in a Watch lives. The Watch in Tashkent is bigger, they have all the swank of a capital city, but most of them are young. Even their boss is younger than you are.'
'Would you ever...' said Semyon, shaking his head. 'Incredible. The East - and everyone in the Watches is young?'
'In the East the old men don't like to fight. The old men like to watch beautiful girls, eat pilaf and play backgammon,' Alisher replied seriously.
'Do you often go home?' Semyon asked. 'To see your family and friends?'
'I haven't been there even once in eight years.'
'Why's that?' Semyon asked in surprise. 'Don't you miss your home at all?'
'I haven't got a home, Semyon. Or any family. And a devona's son doesn't have any friends.'
There was an awkward silence. Semyon drove without speaking. Eventually I just had to ask:
'Alisher, if this isn't too personal a question... Your father, was he a man? Or an Other?'
'A devona is a servant whom a powerful magician creates for himself Alisher's voice was as steady as if he were giving a lecture. 'The magician finds some halfwit who has no family and fills him with Power from the Twilight. He pumps him full of pure energy... and the result is a stupid but very healthy man who possesses magical abilities... No, he's not quite a man any more. But he's not an Other, all of his power is borrowed, inserted into him by the magician at some time. A devona serves his master faithfully, he can work miracles... but his head still doesn't work any better than it did before. Usually the magician chooses people who are mentally retarded, or have Down's syndrome ?they're not aggres sive and they're very devoted. The power inserted into them gives them good health and a long life.'
We didn't say anything. We hadn't expected such a frank answer from Alisher.
'The common people think a devona is possessed by spirits. And that's almost true... it's like taking an empty, cracked vessel and giving it new content. Only instead of intelligence it is usually filled with devotion. But Geser's not like all the others. Not even like other Light Ones. He cured my father. Not completely - even he can't do absolutely anything. At one time my father was a total idiot. I think he suffered from imbecility ?obviously owing to some kind of organic damage to the brain. Geser healed my father's body, and in time he acquired normal human reason. He remem bered that he had once been a complete imbecile. He knew that if Geser didn't fill him with fresh Power in time, his body would reject his reason again. But he didn't serve Geser out of fear. He said he would give his life for Geser because he had helped him to become aware. To become a man. And also, of course, because a mindless fool like him now had a family and a son. He was very afraid that I would grow up an idiot. But it was all right. Only... only the people remember everything. That my father was a devona, that he had lived too long in this world, that once he was an imbecile who couldn't even wipe his own nose ?they remem bered all that. My mothers family rejected her when