Anthony, Piers - Incarnations of Immortality 05 - Being a Green Mother

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Being a Green Mother -- Piers Anthony
(Version 1.0 -- 12/12/2001)
put both hands up on the solid knob and turned it, and after a brief struggle got the door
open.
The summer dawn was cool but not cold. Orb hurried out, intent on the melody, not caring
what time or temperature it was. The landscape seemed preternaturally bright, better than real
life; this was fun!
She paused before the house, reorienting on the sound. The farm backed onto a forest, and
the sound was from the forest. She ran across the field, scattering chickens, and reached the edge
of the wood, panting. She was four years old, and this was a good-sized trek for her to accomplish
alone. She wasn't supposed to come here without an adult, and that gave her a bad twinge of
unease, but the music was fading, and she knew she had to catch it right away.
The forest loomed thick and dark, and it was girt with monstrous spider webs and mean
brambles and other awful things, so she scouted along the edge, hoping for a way through. The
music was becoming quite faint, making her desperate.
She found a path! She ran down it, into the depths of the wood. But the music was now
fading out entirely, to her horror. She stopped to listen for it, but it was gone.
Except -- there was another sound, not the same, but pos -- sessed of its own melody.
Maybe that would do. It was ahead and, as she continued along the path, it grew louder.
The path debouched at the river. Orb had encountered the river before, but not at this
spot. Here it was crippling merrily over rocks, making its music. She strained to hear the tune of
it behind the rushing noise of water, and it came clearer, but imperfect.
She made her way along its irregular bank, guided more by her ears than her eyes. Now she
heard another sound, neither the first melody nor the second, but a kind of tittering laughter. It
was coming from a swirling pool a little downstream.
Then she spied the source of the mirth. Girls were playing in the pool! Lovely, lithe,
bare girls with long tresses. They were swimming and splashing and diving and having a terrific
amount of fun, and their trilling laughter made the last melody she had heard.
One of the nymphs spied Orb and called out to her. "Hello,
child of man! Come join us!" The others laughed anew at this.
Orb pondered briefly, then decided to do it. She drew off her nightie and stepped out of
her slippers. Naked, she went down to the pool.
"She heard me!" the nymph exclaimed, astonished.
Orb paused. "Did I do something wrong?"
The nymphs looked at each other. "You see us, child of man?"
"Yes. Don't you want me to splash with you?"
Again they exchanged glances. "Of course we do!" the first nymph said. "But do you know
how to swim?"
"No."
"But then you might drown!"
Orb hadn't thought of that. She was sure that drowning would be very uncomfortable. "Then
why did you ask me to join you?"
"We didn't think you would hear us," the nymph explained.
"Or see us," another added. "We were only teasing, the way we do."
"Why?"
"Because we are water sprites," a third said. "The chil -- dren of men aren't usually
aware of us."
Orb was perplexed. "Why?"
Several sprites shrugged. "We don't exactly know. It just is so."
There was an instant flowering of laughter. "Oh, you rhymed!" another cried.
The others splashed wildly at the one who had rhymed, giggling. Orb really wanted to join
in, but she realized that she would have to learn to swim first.
"Why didn't I hear you or see you when I saw the river before?" she asked.
The sprites looked at each other, perplexed. "Why didn't she?" one repeated. "We have seen
her before, and she was oblivious."
Orb didn't know what the big word meant, but judged that it meant what it was supposed to.
"Yes, why?"
"Maybe she changed," one suggested. "Did you change recently, little girl?"
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4 Being a Green Mother
"This morning I heard a song I never heard before. It woke me up. I was looking for it."
Again the sprites exchanged glances. "She changed," they agreed. "Now she can join us."
"How?" Orb asked, eager to participate.
"There's an inner tube someone's forgotten," one of the sprites informed her, perceiving
her dilemma.
"Oh, I can float in that!" Orb agreed. "Bring it to me!"
The nymph shook her head. "Alas, we can not," she said sadly.
"Why?"
"We can not touch the things of the children of man. At least, not to affect them. Only
mortal creatures can do that."
Orb accepted that. "Then tell me where it is, and I'll fetch it myself."
"Gladly!" The sprite led her downstream a short distance. There, hung up on a dead branch,
was an inflated inner tube.
Orb waded into the shallow water, her legs tingling with the chill of it, and hauled on
the tube. "Oh, it's heavy," she complained. "Can't you help me?"
"I don't think so," the sprite said sadly. "I really can't touch you or it." She
demonstrated by reaching out to touch Orb, and her hand passed through Orb's arm without
sensation.
"Oh, you're a ghost!" Orb exclaimed, not certain whether to be pleased or frightened.
"No, just a sprite. I can touch natural things like water, but not unnatural things like
the children of man."
Orb decided it was time for introductions. "I'm Orb," she announced. "Who are you?"
"I'm -- " The sprite paused, concentrating. "Oh, I don't think I have a name! I never
realized."
"Oh, that's very sad!" Orb said. "I must give you a name."
"Oh, would you?" the sprite asked, pleased.
Orb concentrated, trying to think of a name. Beads of water trailed down the tube as she
continued to tug at it. "Waterbead!" she exclaimed.
The sprite clapped her little hands. She was not much larger than Orb, though formed as an
adult or nearly adult woman. "Oh, thank you!" Then, focusing on the tube:
"Maybe if you lifted it a little, instead of just pulling..."
Piers Anthony 5
Orb lifted -- and abruptly the tube came free. She clam -- bered into it, and in a moment
was floating.
"If you paddle with your hands..." Waterbead suggested.
Orb paddled, and the tube began to move. Soon she was out in the pool, moving splashily.
The sprites laughed and splashed back at her. The droplets of water did touch her;
they were natural. This was indeed fun, despite the cold.
Waterbead swam out ahead, making little whirlpools in the water. Then the other sprites
joined in, fashioning a larger whirlpool. Orb's tube spun around in it, making her laugh giddily.
Oh, yes, this was fun!
They were now at the lower side of the pool, and the cur -- rent was picking up, carrying
Orb on down the river. "Maybe you should paddle upstream," Waterbead said.
"Why?" Orb was enjoying the ride.
The sprites suffered one of their little pauses. "We can't go too far that way," one
explained. "The water goes bad."
Orb didn't like bad water, so she paddled. But now the current was too strong for her. She
made no headway, and soon her arms were tired, and the tube picked up speed downstream.
"We can't follow!" a sprite cried. One by one they dropped back, returning to the quieter
pool, until only Wa -- terbead remained.
"Maybe you should go to shore," Waterbead suggested.
"Why?"
"Because the bad sprites are downstream. If you go to the shore, you can stop before you
reach them."
Orb tried to paddle for shore, but the current fought her, and she could not reach it.
"Oh, I must go back!" Waterbead cried. Indeed, she looked distressed, her hair turning
lank and her skin clouding up. "Get out of the bad water as soon as you can, Orb!" Then she
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stroked swiftly upstream, leaving Orb alone.
The tube spun about, bouncing through the rapids, and Orb had to cling on for dear life.
Then the river smoothed out in a kind of lake, with a factory beside it. A huge pipe poured dark
fluid into the water.
Indeed, the water was bad here; it was discolored and cloudy, so that she could no longer
see to the bottom, and
6 Being a Green Mother
it stank of something rotten. Orb did as Waterbead had ad -- vised and paddled for the
shore away from the factory.
But now more sprites appeared. These were of similar size to the first ones, but their
bodies were twisted and their hair tangled. "What's this? A child of man!" one cried.
"Drown her!" the others chorused.
"But aren't you sprites?" Orb asked, alarmed.
"She sees us!" the twisted creatures cried as if horrified.
"Of course I see you and hear you, too," Orb said.
The hostile sprites ringed her, staring. "We can still drown her," one said, scowling. Her
eyes were cloudy, as if there was disturbed weather inside her head.
"Not while she's in that tube!" another pointed out.
"Then get her out of the tube!"
They splashed at her, not playfully as the others had, but roughly, so that the water
stung her face. "Hey, stop that!" she cried.
They did not. One rushed at her, making a horrible face. "Out! Out! Out!" the mean sprite
screamed.
Orb got angry. "Yah!" she screamed back and struck at the sprite with her fist. She
missed, but made a bad splash of her own. Then she whipped her arm back and forth, throw -- ing up
water so that it flew all over, and screamed so hard that her face heated.
The nymphs were daunted. Evidently they had never seen a temper tantrum before. It was a
thing Orb was good at;
sometimes she even frothed at the mouth, alarming every -- one. Luna almost never got mad,
but Orb made up for both of them when something set her off.
The sprites withdrew to a safe distance, "We can't touch her," one said.
"We don't have to," another answered. "There's more than one way to drown a mortal. Start
a swirl."
"A swirl!" the others agreed.
They swam in a circle, stirring up the water, forming a great whirlpool. The nice sprites
upriver had made fun swirls, but this was an ugly maw. Orb's tube was sucked into it. Faster she
moved, as the sprites accelerated the water. The tube tilted as the center of the whirlpool
dropped low. Orb was afraid she would topple over. Then she would have to let go, because her head
would be under the fou'
Piers Anthony 7
water. Her anger was replaced by fright. What could she do now?
"A boat!" a sprite screamed angrily.
"It can't see us," another said.
"Yes it can!"
Abruptly the sprites left the whirlpool and dived under the murky water. The swirl eased,
and Orb was able to see the boat. "Daddy!" she cried.
In a moment her father Pace was there, lifting her out of the tube and into the canoe and
wrapping a blanket around her shivering body. She hugged him, crying, her relief caus -- ing her
to let go of all the anger and fear.
But she was young, and in a moment the siege of emotion passed. Now her curiosity
returned. "Daddy, I saw the sprites!" she exclaimed.
"You saw them?" he asked, repeating her statement in the way that adults tended to do. He
seemed pleased.
"Nice ones in the pool, but mean ones here. Why is that, Daddy?"
"Because this water is polluted," he said. "The factory pours its wastes into the water,
and that ruins it, and the sprites who live here become twisted. It is a sad thing."
"Why?"
He did not chide her for her "Why's." Daddy understood her. "Because the factory can make
more money if it dumps its wastes out instead of paying someone to haul them away. We have tried
to get the factory to stop, but it has a lot of money and it uses it to prevent us from stopping
it."
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"But the sprites -- "
"It is sad about them," Pace agreed. "But very few peo -- ple can see them, so there is no
clientele." He paused, re -- alizing that he had gone beyond her vocabulary. "No one to try to
help the sprites."
"Oh. That's very sad, Daddy. Even if they are real mean."
"Yes, it is. Perhaps when you grow up, you can do some -- thing about it. Then this colony
of sprites won't be mean anymore."
That was too complicated to grasp fully, because Orb wasn't sure how anything could be
other than it was now, so she asked another question. "How come nobody can see the sprites?"
Pace shook his head. "Some folk just seem to have more
8 Being a Green Mother
magic than others," he said. "Just as some are taller than others, or more mischievous. Or
have worse tempers." He gave her a little squeeze. He didn't even mind her tantrums, which was one
of the perplexing things about him. "Magic has run in my family, and that's part of it."
"What's the other part?" They were at the shore now, and he was lifting her out.
"Why, you know that, Eyeball," he said with mock reproval.
Orb considered. Then she smiled. "Your music, Daddy!"
He nodded. "My uncle had it. My cousin had it. I have it. And maybe you do, too, pumpkin."
"I heard a song," Orb confessed, knowing that her father would soon get around to
inquiring why she was out in the lake. "When I woke up, I just had to find it. And I couldn't. It
just went. Then I heard the river, and it was singing, too, only not the same, and the sprites
called, and -- are you going to tell Mommy?"
"Will you promise me not to do it again?"
Again Orb considered. "Daddy, I've just got to reach that song!"
"Dumpling, you just can't reach that song."
"Why?"
"Because it is the Song of the Morning. It fades out when dawn ends."
"But -- "
"It will return tomorrow at dawn. I'll take you out to listen to it. Now will you
promise?"
"Okay, Daddy."
"Then I won't have to tell your mother."
"Okay, Daddy!" she repeated, hugging him. Then: "But why aren't you mad?"
"Daddies don't get mad at little girls -- "
"Oh, Daddy, you fibbed!"
"When they turn up with magic talents," he concluded.
Orb sobered. "I don't think I can make music like you."
"You heard the Song of the Morning. And the Song of the River. You saw the sprites. Those
are signals of our family magic. It is just manifesting now. I was older than you are now when I
first heard the music, and older yet when I learned to make it. Give it time, peanut."
"Okay, Daddy." She could tell how pleased he was about
Piers Anthony 9
her hearing the Song. That was her luck, for she knew she had gotten herself into a lot of
trouble, almost drowning in the river. Then, just in case he might reconsider, she changed the
subject. "How am I related to Luna?"
She knew by his reaction that she wasn't deceiving him, but he answered anyway. "You are
her aunt, technically."
"But I'm the same age!"
"Age doesn't matter. Niobe and I are your parents to -- gether and Luna's grandparents
separately, and you are the half sister of each of her parents."
"I know!" she exclaimed. "A half and a half is a whole! I'm a whole sister!"
But he shook his head. "Half sister to her father the Ma -- gician, and half sister to her
mother Blenda. Because you share one parent with each. Two halves. But either qualifies you as
Luna's aunt."
Orb shook her head. "That's too mixed up for me, Daddy."
They were approaching the house. "I could draw you a chart, but I don't think you could
read the names."
"I'll leam. Daddy!" she exclaimed.
So when they got inside, and Orb had been washed and cleaned by her mother, who did not
ask questions after re -- ceiving a warning look from her father, Pace made a chart for her.
Cedric = Niobe = Pacian = Blanche
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Orb
Magician Blenda
Luna
Then he went over it with the two girls, because by this time Luna was up and curious,
too. "My cousin Cedric Kaf -- tan married Niobe, back way long, long ago," he explained. "Their
son became the Magician. Meanwhile, I married Blanche, and our daughter was Blenda. The Magician
mar --
10 Being a Green Mother
ried Blenda, who was his second cousin, and they had you, Luna." He tweaked a strand of
her clover-honey hair, and she smiled. The two girls had been bom only days apart and had trouble
remembering who had been first.
"Cedric died young," Pacian continued, "and later Blanche died. That was when Niobe and I
got together, and had you, Orb. So you are the Magician's half sister through Niobe, and Blenda's
half sister through me. The two of you are of different generations, even though you are the same
age and look like twins."
"Why are you so much older than Niobe?" Luna asked.
Pace smiled. "I'm actually eleven years younger than Niobe," he said. "She was the most
beautiful woman of her generation, and she kept her youth."
The two girls looked at each other, the clover-honey blonde and the buckwheat-honey
blonde, and shook then -- heads. They suspected they were being teased. It was ob -- vious that
Pace was much older than Niobe!
"Which relates to the prophecy concerning the two of you," Pace continued.
"What?" Orb asked.
"A prediction, a divination, a telling of the future," he explained. "What will happen. I
think it is time for you to know it."
"Yes!" they agreed together, for this had the smell of mystery.
"It was a complex prophecy and it caused the Magician to lay a geis on you both, that no
further prophecy can be made for you. It started with your fathers, when we were young, before we
ever married. It was that each of us would marry the most beautiful woman of her generation and
have a daughter."
"And you did!" Lrna exclaimed. "Our mothers are -- "
"Yes. That is part of it. But the rest of it is this: that one daughter might marry Death,
and the other might marry Evil."
"But we're too young to marry anyone!" Orb protested.
"So you are -- at the moment. But when you both grow up and are as beautiful as your
mothers, remember that prophecy and be careful. No one knows exactly what it means."
Piers Anthony n
"We will!" they chorused, not taking it seriously, for they never really expected to be
other than they were right now. In later years, however, they were to remember, and Orb would
wonder: did this relate to her vision? A wedding -- and a dead world?
2
HAMADRYAD
Two years later both Orb and Luna could see the sprites and other magical creatures, and
Orb could hear the music of natural things, while Luna could see their auras. It was a secret from
their mothers but not from their fathers, because Pace could relate to the magic of nature and the
Magician, Luna's father, knew everything about magic. The mothers were virtual twins in beauty,
though they were, like the girls, of different generations. But they had no such perceptions and
seemed too busy with practical matters to be concerned with them. Luna's mother Blenda spent most
of her time assisting the Magician, who was doing ever more obscure research in magic, while Orb's
mother Niobe did the laundry and shopping and meals and reading stories. Luna came to regard Niobe
as virtually her mother, for Luna spent more of her time here than at her own home.
Luna tried in vain to show Orb the auras she perceived, which she said manifested as
shimmering glows around and through all living things, while Orb had the same frustration when
trying to have Luna hear the songs of nature. "It's the Song of the Morning!" she would exclaim at
dawn. "Can't you hear it, Motheaten?"
12
Piers Anthony 13
"Look, Eyeball -- if you can't see the auras as plain as day -- !"
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But the other magic Pace had promised Orb had not ma -- terialized. She could hear the
music, but could not make it. Oh, she could sing, and with fair effect considering her age, but
there was no magic. She was glad that her father had not told her mother about her misadventure
with the sprites of the river -- at least not about the cause of it, which was her ability to hear
the Song of the Morning. She heard that song every morning now, if she was awake, and it was
always lovely, changing a little with the nature of the land and the season, so that there was
always a refreshing novelty about it. If only she could make music like that!
"Daddy..." she pleaded one day.
"Maybe the hamadryad can help you," Pace said.
"The what?"
"She taught the Magician his first magic," he explained. "She's a tree-nymph, like a
sprite for a tree, and she be -- friended the Magician when he was a baby. We used to take him
there to visit her for an afternoon, when he lived with us. They seldom deal much with our kind,
but Luna's the Magician's daughter, and you are very like her, so maybe she will meet you. I know
your mother will be glad to take you there, just for a visit."
"Oh goody!" Orb exclaimed, hugging him.
So they went for a day to the cabin near the swamp that they maintained as a vacation
house. Niobe made sure that both girls were wearing their polished moonstone amulets, for the
Magician had given them these for protection, and there could be dangers in the swamp.
The swamp was impressive. The trees expanded their bases near the water as if to embrace
as much of it as pos -- sible, and magic surrounded them. Luna kept exclaiming as she saw the
interactions of their auras, and Orb as she heard their separate yet interactive melodies. Niobe
evidently per -- ceived neither, but realized that the girls were not teasing her.
They came to the giant water oak. "Hamadryad!" Niobe called. "Do you remember me? You
trained my son, the Magician."
The dryad appeared, perched on a stout lateral branch. She smiled cautiously; she
remembered.
14
Being a Green Mother
At that moment Orb suffered a recurrence of her vision -- dream. She was walking down the
aisle with the strange man, and the globe was turning, dead. Who was the man, and what had
happened to the world, and how did she get involved with either? She tried to turn her head to see
the man and managed a little, catching a fleeting glimpse of his profile. He was no one she knew
now. And the world -- she was responsible, in some fashion. She knew, and was horrified.
"I have brought the Magician's daughter -- and mine," Niobe said, jolting Orb out of her
vision. "Will you meet
with them?" The dryad peered down at the two girls. Luna and Orb,
coached on this, smiled like twin moons.
The hamadryad nodded. She would meet.
"I will return in two hours," Niobe said.
Orb turned on her in alarm. "You are leaving us here?"
"The dryad will not approach an adult," Niobe explained. "Only a child. But you are safe
here; she will not harm you, or let you harm yourselves, if you do what she says."
Uncertainly, the girls watched Niobe retreat. They knew she would not put them in any
danger; she was extremely fussy about that sort of thing, and her definitions of risk could be
pretty annoying. Such as eating too much candy, or playing in deep mud. Still, the swamp seemed
awfully big
and dank.
When Niobe was gone, the hamadryad came down the tree. She did not exactly climb down, she
walked down. It was as if her feet were glued to the trunk, allowing her to walk at a right angle
to it. That was impressive.
In a moment the dryad stood before them. Sae was no taller than they were, but was more
finely proportioned, more like the sprites. Her hair was green and leafy, and her body, though
unclothed, had ridges resembling bark. She was pretty in the way a tree was pretty, and in the way
of
a woman, too.
"Hello," the dryad said tentatively, as if not expecting any favorable response. She was
poised for instant retreat.
"Hello," Orb responded.
The hamadryad responded with a smile so brilliant it was like a shaft of sunlight reaching
down to touch her. "You are his child!" she exclaimed.
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"Uh, no, not exactly," Orb said. "That's Luna. I'm Niobe's child."
'What?" Luna asked, perplexed.
'She got us confused, that's all," Orb said.
'How do you know?" Luna asked.
'You heard her! She called me the Magician's child."
'But she didn't say anything!" Luna protested.
'What?" Orb asked, in her turn.
'She did not hear me," the hamadryad said sadly.
Orb turned to Luna. "You didn't hear her?"
"Hear what? She only moved her mouth."
Now Orb realized. "It's like the music! I can hear it and you can't."
"Well, you can't see the auras, smarty!" Luna retorted.
"She sees auras?" the hamadryad asked.
"Oh, sure," Orb said. "I hear things, she sees things. Mommy can't do either. But Daddy
can hear the music, so he said we should come see you."
"Who is your father?" the hamadryad asked.
"He's Pacian Kaftan. He makes magic music."
"Yes. So did Cedric, his cousin. The first time I heard it, I almost fell out of my Tree!"
Orb pictured the dryad falling out of the tree and she started to laugh. The dryad
laughed, too.
"What's so funny?" Luna demanded.
Orb realized that she would have to translate, or there would be trouble. Usually she was
the one who got mad and threw a fit, but Luna could do it, too, when she tried. "She says when she
heard Grandpa Cedric's magic music, she almost fell out of the tree!"
Luna giggled. That was funny!
"But then he died," the hamadryad said. "It was so sad. The Magician was right here with
me, just a baby then."
"A baby?" Luna asked when Orb translated. "My father?"
"Yes. He could hear the music and see the auras, but he couldn't make them. But he was
very smart and he wanted to learn, so I taught him the natural magic."
"Can you teach us?" Orb asked. "Daddy can make such wonderful music, and he says maybe I
can, but I can't!"
"Come into my Tree," the hamadryad said. "Perhaps I can teach you."
26
Being a Green Mother
"Oooo, goody!" Orb cried, clapping her hands.
They scrambled up into the spreading branches of the tree, unable to walk the trunk in the
manner of the hamadryad. Orb scraped a knee a little, but she was used to that.
Above, the leaf foliage closed in about them, forming a pleasant bower. The branches
twisted this way and that and had knots and boles that were like chairs, and they sat on these.
Speckles of sunlight came through, making it pretty.
"Ooo," Luna exclaimed. "The aura brightens where the
sun strikes!"
"That's because the light is the life of my Tree," the ha -- madryad said. "Light and
water and soil and air -- four mun -- dane elements."
Luna's brow furrowed as Orb translated. "I thought there
were five elements."
"Yes. We call the important one spirit, or magic." "That's why my father studied magic!"
Luna exclaimed. " 'Cause you told him that!"
"Yes. He wanted to help the natural things, as Cedric did. We dryads are magic, but we
don't have much power over unnatural things, so I thought maybe if he learned..."
"I guess he's still learning," Luna said. "He and Mommy spend all their time with it."
"Let's see what we can do with your own magic," the hamadryad said, diverting the subject
to safer territory. Orb was still relaying her words to Luna, who could not hear them. "Can you do
this?" She made a gesture in the air with her right hand.
Luna stared at the space defined by the gesture, though Orb saw nothing. "Ooo, lovely!"
she exclaimed.
"Try it yourself," the dryad said.
Luna made a similar gesture. "It's not working," she said,
pouting.
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"But the hand is only part of it! You must emote, too."
"What?"
"You must/ee/! Become one with the natural aura, shape it to your desire. Try it again."
Luna concentrated, gesturing again. Orb saw nothing, but the hamadryad smiled. "See?
There's a little!"
Luna had scrunched up her eyes in her concentration. Now she looked. "Ooo, uck!" she
exclaimed with distaste.
"But it's aura!" the dryad insisted. "You did it!"
Piers Anthony 17
Luna considered, as Orb relayed this endorsement. The truth was, Orb was tiring of this
exchange. "I guess I did."
"But you must practice," the dryad cautioned her. "Art is not mastered in a day. It takes
years to be good."
"Years!" Luna exclaimed impatiently. "I want to do it now!"
"Most people can't do it at all," the dryad reminded her. "But you, when you learn, will
be able to read the auras of people and to know whether they are good or evil, because you will
know the types of auras. A person may tell you a lie with a straight face, but his aura can never
deceive you. That was why I knew the Magician was good, even when he was a baby, and that he had
greatness in him, though there was a dark side. Because of his magnificent aura." 'Dark side?"
Luna asked when all this reached her. 'He was good, but he had the capacity to relate to evil.
Sometimes I still fear for him. If Satan turned him to evil -- '' 'Satan?" This was Orb's query.
'Oh, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that," the dryad said. "Satan isn't nice."
Orb was bored with these proceedings, as they did not involve her, and words like
"capacity" strained her re -- sources. "What about my magic?" she asked.
The dryad turned to her. "Oh, you have been so helpful, Orb, I didn't realize I was
neglecting you. Yes, we must see about your own magic. Tell your sister to practice her aura --
painting while I work with you."
Orb, pleased with the compliment and the attention, de -- cided not to quibble about the
hamadryad's error. Luna was her niece, not her sister. She relayed the word, and Luna was
satisfied to face away and make her gestures of nothing.
"Do you sing?" the dryad asked Orb.
"Yes, but not the way Daddy does."
"You, too, must emote. You must put your feeling into it. Magic involves the whole of a
person's desire. That may be why most people don't have magic; they don't really want it. Not as
part of them."
"But Mommy doesn't have magic!" Orb protested, think -- ing that refuted the statement.
"Niobe had more magic than anyone, and gave it up to marry your father," the hamadryad
said. "Now try to emote."
16
Being a Green Mother
Orb concentrated as she hummed a tune, but nothing hap -- pened. "It's not working!" she
said, aggrieved. "Why should it work for Luna and not for me?"
Before the dryad could answer, there was music from below. All three of them turned to
look, peering down below the tree.
The music was approaching down the path, getting louder. It was a violin playing, and the
man playing it was dressed in a bright, light blouse and dark trousers. He had glossy long hair
falling across his shoulders and piercing black eyes. Beside him danced a woman in a glaringly red
skirt and green kerchief about her hair, and no shirt at all. There were many rings on her fingers
and long earrings dangling by her bare breasts, so that she flashed constantly as she moved.
Behind them came others, similarly garbed. Some played mandolins and some played
instruments that Orb could not define at all, and all were dancing in their way. They came to the
foot of the tree and drew up in a circle about it. There were perhaps a dozen of them, including a
number of children.
An old woman stepped forward. "There!" she said, point -- ing directly at Orb and Luna.
"Two magic children!"
"Gypsies!" the hamadryad exclaimed. "I have heard of them. Beware -- they steal children!"
The man who had played the violin stepped up. "The seer knows," he said. "Come down from
there, children. We wish to see your magic."
"Go away, you ruffians!" the dryad cried. "These chil -- dren are not for you!"
"Oho!" the man said. "A tree-nymph! Well, this is not your business, oak-spirit. All we
want are the children."
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"You can't have them," the dryad said.
"Be quiet, dryad, or we'll chop down your tree," the man threatened. The hamadryad made a
little squeal of outrage and pain, appalled by the threat.
"How come he can hear her when I can't?" Luna asked somewhat querulously.
"Get up there and bring them down," the man said. Im -- mediately two husky young men ran
up and scrambled up the tree. In moments they were in the branches and reaching for the girls, who
were frozen in shock.
But as the hands of the men reached for Orb and Luna,
Piers Anthony 19
and touched them, both men froze. Their hands never closed; they merely remained touching.
"Get on with it," the man called from below. "We don't want to tarry long here."
"We can't," one of the young men gasped, not moving.
"What do you mean, you can't?" the leader demanded. "They're only children!"
"They've got amulets," the other said.
"Oho! I should have known that children as valuable as this would be protected. Well,
there are other ways. Drop back down."
The two young men did that literally, dropping from the big branches to the ground and
landing lithely.
The leader smiled up at the girls. "We are the Raggle -- Taggle Gypsies," he announced.
"We like children and we have wonderful times. Magic children have a fine life with us -- the best
of all. Come and join us."
But Orb and Luna, heeding the hamadryad's warning, balked. They simply stared down,
unmoving.
"We'll show you!" the Gypsy said. He snapped his fin -- gers. Immediately the others
brought out the instruments and resumed their music. The women danced, and the children cavorted
acrobatically.
"Ooo, that does look like fun," Luna said.
The music intensified, and now Orb heard a suggestion of the magic melodies of nature. The
Gypsies knew that music!
"Don't go!" the hamadryad cried. But in vain; the two girls, fascinated by the fun the
Gypsies were having, just had to go down and join it. In a moment they were on the ground. The
Gypsy children took their hands and formed a circle, and they danced, kicking out their legs with
sheer abandon.
After a bit, the music stilled. "It's not exactly the Llano," the Gypsie leader said. "But
we do enjoy it. It's yours, if you join us."
At the sound of the word "Llano" Orb's pulse did a minor leap. Something about that word
thrilled her. A suggestion of her dream-vision flashed by the backs of her eyes.
"We can't join them!" Luna protested in a sharp whisper. "Your mother would be furious!"
But Orb was distracted by the word. "The 'Yano -- " she started, unable to pronounce it
the way the Gypsy had.
"Oh, the Llano!" he exclaimed. "You have rare taste in
20 Being a Green Mother
music, child! But no one possesses the Llano, though many seek it. We Gypsies come as
close to it as any, but all we ever capture is some trifling fragment. Come with us, child, and we
shall search for the Llano together! Our seer says one of you can see auras, and the other can
hear the songs of nature. With your help, perhaps we can find the ultimate song!"
"Oh, yes!" Orb exclaimed, clapping her hands.
"No!" the hamadryad cried from the branches of the oak. "The Llano is a delusion and a
cheat! Mortals who quest too close to it only sicken and die. Don't trust these people!"
"Chop down her tree!" the Gypsy leader snapped.
Immediately his husky youths brought out axes and ap -- proached the tree. The hamadryad
screamed and seemed about to faint.
This was too much for Orb. Her temper had never been moderate, and now she exploded.
"Leave her tree alone!" she cried fiercely.
The Gypsy leader glanced down at her, amused. "Or what?"
"Or we won't go look for the 'Yano!" Orb said, striding toward the trunk.
The first youth was lifting his axe high, about to make the first chop. Orb charged right
into him, trying to reach the axe. She was prepared to climb right up him and bite his arm if she
had to. Luna followed her lead and grabbed the other youth.
Both youths froze, their will departing.
"Got to get rid of those amulets!" the Gypsy leader mut -- tered angrily.
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That gave the hamadryad her cue. "The Magician made those amulets!" she cried.
"Of course he did," the leader agreed. "He makes them and sells them; that's how he earns
his living. We trade in them, too. But people can be separated from their amulets." Then, to the
youths: "Put away those axes; I was only fooling."
The girls let go of the youths, and the youths retreated. Now the Gypsy leader addressed
Orb. "That is a very fine amulet you have. May I look at it?"
Flattered, Orb reached for hers, ready to remove it.
Piers Anthony
21
"Don't take it off!" the dryad screamed. "That's your only protection from evil!"
But the leader evidently had another idea. "It's no pro -- tection at all," he said,
gesturing to an old woman. "See, it's changed into a giant squiggly worm!"
The old woman threw powder toward the girls and ges -- ticulated weirdly and uttered
strange words. Orb felt some -- thing wriggling at her neck. Luna screamed -- and sure enough, her
amulet had changed into a grotesque worm.
The two girls tore at the chains about their necks, trying to get rid of the horrible
creatures.
"No, no!" the hamadryad cried. "It's just illusion! Don't take them off!" But the
children, horrified, were beyond reason. In a moment both amulets were off and flung away.
Now the Gypsies pounced on Orb and Luna. "Got you now, my little treasures!" the leader
exclaimed. "Your tal -- ents will add a pretty penny to the pot, once we get you broken in. You'll
learn to beg and steal and dance -- you'll soon be perfect Gypsies!"
The girls, now thoroughly disenchanted, began to cry.
But the hamadryad wasn't finished. "Fie on you, vile crea -- tures!" she screamed. "Turn
loose those girls this instant!"
"Or what?" the leader inquired, exactly as he had before.
"Or I'll tell my neighbor dryad what you have done, and she'll tell her neighbor, and so
on till the news reaches the tree by the Magician's house!"
The Gypsy leader laughed. "Forget it, nymph! The Ma -- gician doesn't watch out for every
stupid client of his mer -- chandise! There are thousands of these amulets about."
"He watches out for these ones!" the dryad said. "One's his daughter, the other his
sister."
All the Gypsies froze. "Uh-oh," the old seer said. "She speaks the truth. I didn't think
to check for that before!"
"We'll be far gone from here before the Magician comes," the leader said.
The woman shook her head. "Give it up, Raggle. We want no quarrel with him. He's not just
an enchanter of stone. He's the most potent sorcerer in Ireland and some distance beyond, and
getting stronger every day. He will destroy us;
we can't hide from him."
The leader blanched. "You're sure, Taggle?"
"I'm sure."
22 Being a Green Mother
He sighed. "Then so must it be." He turned to the girls. "We'll leave you now, children;
sorry we couldn't have you with us, but that's the way it goes."
The troupe began to move out.
"No, you don't!" the hamadryad screamed. "You have wronged these poor girls! You must make
amends!"
"Don't push your luck, nymph!" the leader growled. "The Magician doesn't protect you. Our
axes can still -- "
But again the old seer was cautioning him. "I see it now, as I should have before. The
Magician loves this dryad. She it was who trained him in natural magic when he was a tot. If
anything hurt her or her tree -- "
"Damn it, woman!" the leader exclaimed, furious. "Why didn't you tell me before?"
"We all make mistakes," she said. "I wa' so intent on the prize to be won, I forgot to
look beyond."
"What a mistake!" he groaned. "How are we to get out of this?"
"You'll make amends!" the hamadryad called. "That's what you'll do, you scoundrels!"
The leader sighed. "It seems we must." He turned again to the girls, who had picked up
their amulets, which no longer squiggled. "I hereby abjectly apologize to the two of you. But let
me explain. We are not bad folk, we are Gypsies, and we follow the Gypsy way. We are always kind
to our children, including those we adopt; not one of them would trade our way for that of the
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