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"He ca
"Just as you ca
"Here," said Amelia.
The blind hand found her. "He is so easily deceived," confided the Orchid to her daughter-in-law. "It made him entertaining, of course, before all this began — but now … I blame myself for lacking forethought, certain sorts of perception…"
"He is a credit to you, Mother." Amelia wished to comfort. "I love him for what you made him."
Jherek was amused. "It is always the way of women, as I was discovering, to regard men as some sort of blank creature into which one woman or another has instilled certain characteristics. This woman has made him shy — this woman has made him strong — another has driven such and such an influence (always a woman's of course) from him … Am I merely no more than an amalgamation of women's creative imaginations? Have I no identity of my own?"
"Of course, dear." Amelia spoke. "Of course. You are completely yourself! I spoke only figuratively."
The Iron Orchid's voice came again. "Do not let him bully you, Amelia. That is his father's influence!"
"Mother, you remain as adamant as always!" Jherek said affectionately. "A flower that can never be bent by even the strongest of winds!"
"I trust you are only jesting, Jherek. There is none more malleable than I!"
"Indeed!"
Amelia was forced to join in Jherek's laughter. The Iron Orchid, it seemed, sulked.
Jherek was about to speak again when the ground beneath his feet began to undulate violently, in tiny waves. They held fast to one another to stop themselves from falling. There was a briny smell in the air and, for a second, a flash of violet light on the horizon.
"It is the cities," said the Iron Orchid. "They are destroyed!" She moved closer to Amelia.
"Do you find it colder?" his mother asked.
"Somewhat," replied Amelia.
"Certainly," said Jherek.
"I wonder how long…"
"We have already had longer than I expected," Jherek said to her.
"I do wish it would finish. The least Jagged could do for us…"
"Perhaps he struggles with his machinery, still trying to save something," suggested Jherek.
"Poor man," murmured Amelia. "All his plans ruined."
"You sympathize now?" Jherek was confounded.
"Oh, well — I have always felt for the loser, you know."
Jherek contented himself with squeezing her shoulder.
There came another flash of violet light, some distance away from the first, and this lasted just a fraction longer.
"No," said the Iron Orchid, "it is definitely the cities. I recognize the locations. They explode."
"It is strange that the air is still with us," Jherek said. "One city must continue to function, at least, to create the oxygen."
"Unless we breathe only what is left to us," suggested Amelia.
"I am not sure that this is the end, at all," Jherek a
And, as if in response to his faith, the sun began to rise, dull red at first and then increasingly brighter until it filled the blue sky with streaks of yellow and mauve and crimson; and everywhere was cheering. And life resumed.
Only Amelia seemed discontented with this reprieve. "It is madness," she said. "And I shall soon be mad myself, if I am not mad already. I desired nothing but death and now even that hope has been dashed!"
The shadow of a great swan fell across her and she looked up through red-rimmed, angered eyes. "Oh, Lord Jagged! How you must enjoy all these manipulations!"
Lord Jagged was still in his morning suit, with his tall hat on his head. "Forgive me, for the darkness and so on," he said. "It was necessary to start the first week's cycle from scratch, as we mean to begin. It is ru
"You do not offer even the slightest possibility that it will collapse?" Amelia was not facetious; she seemed desperate.
"Not the slightest, Amelia. It is in its nature to function perfectly. It could not exist if it were not perfect, I assure you."
"I see…" She began to move away, a wretched figure, careless of where she walked.
"There is an alternative, however," said Lord Jagged laconically. "As I mentioned." He threw himself elegantly from his swan and landed near her, his hands in his pockets, waiting for his words to register with her. She came about slowly, like a tacking schooner, looking from Jagged to Jherek, who had approached his father.
"An alternative?"
"Yes, Amelia. But you might not find it any more to your liking and Jherek would probably consider it completely distasteful."
"Tell me what it is! " Her voice was strained.
"Not here." He glanced around him, withdrawing one hand from a pocket so that he might signal to his swan. The air-car moved obediently and was beside him. "I have prepared a simple meal in pleasant surroundings. Be my guests."
She hesitated. "I can take little more of your mystification, Lord Jagged."
"If decisions are to be reached, you will want to make them where you may be sure to be free of interruption, surely."
Bishop Castle, swaying a little beneath the weight of his mitre, leaning for support upon his crook, stepped from the cathedral. "Jagged — was this your doing?" He was bemused.
Lord Jagged of Canaria bowed to his friend. "It was necessary. I regret causing you alarm."
"Alarm! It was splendid. What a perfect sense of drama you have!" Yet Bishop Castle was pale and his tone was achieved with a certain difficulty.
The old half-smile crossed Lord Jagged's perfect lips. "Are all the weddings duly solemnized?"
"I think so. I'll admit to being carried away — a captive audience, you know, easily pleased — we forget ourselves."
From the cluster of booths came the Duke of Queens. He signalled to his band to play, but after a few seconds of the din he thought better of his decision and made the band stop. He stepped up, with Sweet Orb Mace prettily clinging to his arm. "Well, at least my marriage wasn't interrupted, illusive Jagged, elusive Lord of Time, though I believe such interruptions were once traditional." He chuckled. "What a joke. I was convinced that you had blundered."
"I had more faith," said Sweet Orb Mace, brushing black curls from her little face. "I knew that you would not wish to spoil the happiest day of my life, dear Jagged."
She received a dry bow from Jherek's father.
"Well," briskly said the Duke, "we leave now to our honeymoon (scarcely more than an asteroid, really), and so must say farewell."
Amelia, with a gesture Jherek found almost shocking, it was so untypical, threw her arms about the jolly Duke and kissed him on his bearded cheek. "Farewell, dear Duke of Queens. You, I know, will always be happy." Sweet Orb Mace, in turn, was kissed. "And may your marriage last for a long, long while."
The Duke seemed almost embarrassed, but was pleased by her demonstration. "And may you be happy, too, Mrs. Under—"
"Carnelian."
"—wood. Aha! Here are our wings, my dear." Two automata carried two large pairs of white feathered wings. The Duke helped his bride into her harness and then slipped into his own, stretching his arms to catch the loops. "Now, Sweet Orb Mace, the secret lies in taking a good, fast run before you commence to beat. See!" He began to race across the ground, followed by his mate. He stumbled once, righted himself, started to flap the great wings and, eventually, succeeded in becoming wildly airborne. His wife imitated him and soon she, too, was a few feet in the air, swaying and flapping. Thus, erratically, they disappeared from view, two huge, drunken doves.
"I hope," said Amelia gravely, "that they do not get those wings too sticky." And she smiled at Jherek, and she winked at him. He was glad to see that she had recovered her spirits.