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"I intended no irony."
"Then wipe it and button it, bumface, Nn?"
"You have given up any intention of going into space again?" Amelia said.
Captain Mubbers shrugged his sloping shoulders. "Nothing there for us, is there?" He offered her a knowing look which took her aback.
"Well —" she drew a breath — "I am sure, once you have settled down to married life…" She was defeated in her efforts.
Captain Mubbers grunted, eyeing her elbow, visible through the silk of her dress.
"Flimpoke!" Mistress Christia had noticed. "Well!"
"Sorry, my bone." He stared at the ground.
"Flimpoke?" said Jherek.
"Flimpoke Mubbers," Mistress Christia told him, with every evidence of pride. "I am to be Mrs. Mubbers, and Mrs. Rokfrug, and Mrs. Glopgoo…"
"And we are to be Mr. and Mr. Mongrove-de Goethe!" It was Werther, midnight blue from head to toe. Midnight blue eyes stared from a midnight-blue face. It was rather difficult to recognize him, save for his voice. Beside him lounged in an attitude of dejected satisfaction the great bulk of Lord Mongrove, moody monarch of the weeping cliffs.
"What? You marry? Oh, it is perfect."
"We think so," said Werther.
"You considered no one else?"
"We have so little in common with anyone else," droned Mongrove. "Besides, who would have me? Who would spend the rest of his life with this shapeless body, this colourless personality, this talentless brain…?"
"It is a good match," said Jherek hastily. Mongrove was inclined, once started, to gather momentum and spend an hour or more listing his own drawbacks.
"We decided, at Doctor Volospion's fairground, when we fell off the carousel together, that we might as well share our disasters…"
"An excellent scheme." A scent of dampness wafted from Mongrove's robes as he moved; Jherek found it unpleasant. "I trust you will discover contentment…"
"Reconciliation, at least," said Amelia.
The two moved on.
"So," said Jherek, offering his arm. "We are to witness three weddings."
"They are too ludicrous to be taken seriously," she said, as if she gave her blessing to the proceedings.
"Yet they offer satisfaction to those taking part, I think."
"It is so hard for me to believe that."
They found Bra
"Aha!" cried Bra
"Carnelian, now," she said.
"Congratulations! You take the same step, then?"
"As the Duke of Queens," agreed Jherek amicably, "and Mistress Christia. And Werther and Lord Mongrove…"
"No, no, no! As My Lady Charlotina and myself!"
"Ah!"
My Lady Charlotina fluttered lashes fully two inches long and produced a winsome smile. In apple-green tupperware crinoline and brown slate bo
"You proposed rapidly enough, you dog!" said Jherek to the scientist.
"She proposed," Bra
"Not to Jagged?"
"It was she who went to get Jagged's help."
"You were attempting a jump backwards through time, eh?" Jherek said.
"I did my best. Given half a chance, I might have improved this disastrous situation. But I tried to move within too limited a period and, as always happens, I got caught in a kind of short-circuit. Proving, irrefutably, of course, the truth of Morphail's Law."
"Of course," they both consented.
"I suppose the Law still applies, at present," Amelia suggested.
"At present, and always."
"Always?"
"Well —" Bra
"Aha." Amelia was disappointed, though Jherek did not know why. "There is no other means of leaving this world, once the circuit is completed?"
"None at all. Isolated chronologically as well as spacially. By rights this planet has no business existing at all."
"So we gather," said Jherek.
"It defies all logic."
"You have ever made a practice of that, have you not?" said Amelia.
"Have we, dear?" said My Lady Charlotina of Above-the-Ground.
"What I was taught to call logic, at any rate." Amelia swiftly compromised.
"This will mean the death of Science," said Bra
"There are functions of the cities which might be restored," said Amelia helpfully.
"Functions?"
"Old sciences which could be re-discovered. There are all kinds of possibilities, I should have thought."
"Hm," said Bra
"Memory banks which need their wits sharpening," Jherek told him. "It would take a brilliant scientist to restore them…"
"True," repeated Bra
My Lady Charlotina patted his pleated hump. "I shall be so proud of you, Bra
"Jagged will be so jealous!" Amelia added.
"Jealous?" Bra
"Hideously," said Jherek.
"Well, you of all people would know, Jherek." The scientist seemed to do a little jig on his spangled boot. "You think so?"
"Without question!"
"Hm."
A small irascible voice said from just behind Jherek: "Ah! There you are posterior-visage. I've been looking for you!"
It was Rokfrug. He continued heavily: "If the ladies will excuse us, I'd like a middle-of-the-leg word with you, sediment-nostril."
"I have already apologized, Lieutenant Rokfrug," Bra
"You offered me rapine, loot, arson, toe-pillage, and all I get is to be a member of a smelly male harem…"
"It was not my fault. You did not have to agree to the marriage!" Bra
"If it's the only way to get a bit of jointing hoo-hoo, what else am I supposed to do? Come here!"
Bra
Bra
"So the peace is kept." He smiled at Jherek and Amelia. "And a certain balance is maintained."
"Perhaps I should have dubbed you 'Solomon'," said Amelia acidly.
"You must call me 'Father', my dear." A bow to a passing O'Kala Incarnadine, recognizable only from the face at the top of the giraffe neck. For reasons best known to himself, Lord Jagged had discarded his usual robes and collars and wore, like Jherek, a simple grey morning suit, with a grey silk hat upon his noble head, a silver-topped cane in one gloved hand. The only touch of yellow was the primrose in his button-hole. "And here is my own spouse. Iron Orchid, as delicious as only you can be!"
The Orchid acknowledged the compliment. She wore her name-flower today — orchids of every possible hue and variety clustered over her body, hugging themselves close to her as if she were the only substantial thing remaining in the universe. The scents were so strong, in combination, that they threatened to overwhelm everyone within a radius of twenty feet. Orchids formed a hood around her head, from which she peered. "Husband mine! And dear children! All together, again. And for such a beautiful occasion! How many weedings take place today?" Her question was for Jherek.