Manaam was waiting for Cahuan in his garden. He was clad in long, flowing robes, slit up to his thigh on one side, so that his amber legs showed between the fabric as he walked. With smooth, elegant moves he strode up to a blooming tree where white petals drifted down every now and then, swirling around Manaam like fairy snow. They came to rest on his raven black hair too, which was loosely tied back with a ribbon. A few strands had broken free and were falling randomly over his brow. He looked every bit like an illustration in an old storybook, Cahuan thought. The romantic hero, for the main character to fall in love with. Manaam began to smile, and the effect was devastating.

"Welcome," he said in his genial voice as Cahuan approached. "I am glad you could come."

"My pleasure," Cahuan replied, truthfully. Then she smiled and shook her head lightly. "I guess you have no idea how ravishing you look."

She reached out and lightly ran a finger over his lip.

Manaam looked startled for a moment before his smile came back, deeper and warmer than before. "No, indeed, I do not." He sounded very pleased. "My thoughts had strayed to another topic for just a moment. So you are taking me quite by surprise." Manaam brought Cahuan's hand up to his cheek, brushing against her velvety butterfly skin as he held her gaze. "And a very welcome surprise it is."

As they began to stroll toward the house, Cahuan wrapped her arm around his waist. "I guess I have to make good use of the few times where I actually do get to see you," she said. "Or perhaps we should have these reporting sessions about the Snuggery more often? As the main donor, I believe you should always be well informed."

Manaam groaned. "Oh no, please. Do not inform me any better than usual. You have no idea how many extremely important issues I am constantly kept well informed of. Even the bits concerning my mines pile up to mountains. Not to mention anything else this world might hold."

Cahuan laughed and followed him in.

They settled in the parlor, and Cahuan reported on the progress of the Snuggery. They easily resolved the few open questions that had arisen since their last meeting. In fact, they were so quick and so pleased with everything, including with each other, that it seemed only right to stay on a little bit longer. And to move up to Manaam's bedroom.

With one kiss, one touch, one thing leading to another, they allowed themselves to be carried away for a while, leaving all duty and busyness behind. To make a little journey to an oasis free of care and worries, a place of pleasure and pure enjoyment, of ease and tenderness, of abandon and release. A homecoming, a respite.

Cahuan smiled, a slow, lazy smile of gratification, laced with hedonism.

*

As the golden afternoon sun slowly made its way down to the horizon, the light inside Manaam's chamber was growing soft too. Warm and spent, Manaam stretched out on his bed, tangled sheets all around him. Cahuan was lying halfway across his chest, her hand in his hair.

"What a blessing," Manaam murmured contentedly. "These are rare pleasures, without a doubt. I have not had any lovemaking in my life for quite some time."

Cahuan traced a reverent line along his collarbone. "Truly? You have not? I almost cannot believe. You are so beautiful, so alluring. Surely other people must have noticed and tried to get your attention. Do you really never have lovers among the other owners? You always seem to be looking toward them. They are your people, aren't they? Surely there are some among them you like, and feel attracted to?"

"No," Manaam replied. "No." His voice became heavy. "There are some I like better than others, naturally. But all in all, no. They are my people, and they aren't. They are the people I have to get on with. Not the people I chose, nor the people I would choose. But I have to take what life brings me. And it has brought me this: a small, close-knit community that I have to fit into, like it or not. This tiny circle of polite society in the Mountains."

Cahuan arched an eyebrow. "Do you have to? Surely it is your choice? You can talk to and live with and make love to whoever you like. You do not need their permission, do you?"

"I do." A butterfly took wing on the windowsill, but got suddenly swept away by a gusty wind. Manaam frowned at the empty space left behind. "I will be punished if I stray too far from the flock. These people hold power in Shebbetin. Much depends on their support and opinion."

Cahuan propped herself up on one elbow. "Even for you?"

The lines on Manaam's face deepened as he brought his hand up to rest on Cahuan's back. "Even for me. I am one of the most powerful people in Shebbetin, to be sure. The most powerful, perhaps, except for Naydeer. But nevertheless, the greatest power still lies in the collective, in the sum of all the owners taken together. No single person can easily go against that. Not even I."

Cahuan buried her hand in his hair, pulling uncertainly at a strand. "I can see the power of groups. Somehow. And then again, I can't. Why exactly are you so dependent on them? What do you think they would do?"

Manaam sighed. "Hard to say, or to pin down. It's a sum of many things, I suppose." He moved his hand across Cahuan's back, cautiously, searchingly, as if an answer might be forthcoming from there. "As long as I am in their good graces, I can hope for their support. Not only for charitable causes. Even for practical matters, like sharing a courier for our pouch. So many things in my daily life are tied up with them that I could hardly manage should they ever cast me out. And that is even before anyone begins to actively obstruct me."

Manaam tried to move his leg, but it was caught up in the sheets. He struggled in vain to pull it free. "This small circle has its own set of rules. About who you have to be, how you have to be. Polite society rules not only your behavior but also your thoughts and your identity. Any deviation is considered an affront. I am already pushing the boundaries of the permissible. It is well known how I run my mines and why I am doing it. It is accepted, or tolerated, as long as I am not seen as pushing any of it onto others. I can be a little eccentric with my ideas and practices, a little philanthropic, that is all right."

He licked his lips. "But if it gets too much, it will seem threatening and I will be punished. As it is, I am balancing on the borders of what I believe is right and what I believe is possible."

Talons scraped over the roof, revealing the presence of an invisible bird of prey. Manaam cleared his throat. "Should some of the other owners ever feel that I am posing a real threat, I believe they could be brutal."

He halted. "But it has never come to that. So far, I am still behaving like a proper owner, not leaving the limits of my class." There was a note of bitterness in his voice. His body seemed to have grown cold and stiff. Cahuan stirred, wrapping her leg more closely around his, sneaking it in among the tangled sheets. They were all made of silk.

Manaam's gaze was far away. "This may just be cowardice, perhaps. Or my addiction to the comforts I have. Maybe I am just looking for excuses to stay where I am."

He turned his head now, facing Cahuan. "But maybe it is better if I conform. Not only for me and my comforts, but even for the cause. I may be able to contribute much more to the Transition if I keep my position of relative power. Even if that costs me a hundred tiny compromises and betrayals every day."

Cahuan looked into his dark eyes, saying nothing. Then she moved over and came to lie fully on top of him, touching her skin to his from neck to toes, covering him with warmth and life and softness, the curves of her body easing into his.

Manaam wrapped his arms around her in a deep embrace, as if giving or seeking protection. He let out a deep breath. And his eyes fell shut.

* * *