[AMG][FanFic] Drunkard's Walk V, Chapter 4 (2/2)

[Bob Schroeck]

(Beginning of Part 2)


* * *

Tarikihonganji Temple Complex, Saturday, May 17, 1997, 12:20 PM

Belldandy paused in washing the lunch dishes and frowned.
Faintly in the distance, but growing closer, she could sense a
cloud of outrage and fury of a strength she rarely encountered in
the mortal world. Without taking her otherworldly senses off the
approaching emotional disturbance, she carefully finished the
task at hand, drying and stowing each plate and glass. Stepping
out into the yard, she turned slowly in place, still clutching
the dish towel she had been drying with. Eyes closed, she
reached out, seeking the direction from which the disturbance
came, and focusing more of her Celestial attention on it.

As it closed the distance between them, Belldandy's all but ever-
present smile dimmed noticeably. It was Doug. She had hoped
that his escape into the city at large would have helped
alleviate his emotional turmoil, but it seemed that hope had been
vain. She shook her head sadly. There was so much that troubled
and disturbed him -- if only she'd been a better hostess and
helped him find the serenity he needed so badly. Unaware of what
she was doing, she twisted the towel between her hands so tightly
that it began to creak and drip moisture which gathered into a
pool between her slippered toes. Blinking back the sting of
threatened tears, she shook her head again. She had failed him.

To her Celestial senses, Doug's fury was like an approaching
thunderhead, dark with threatened violence, and she stood
helplessly as it swept implacably up to the temple gate. For a
long moment it hovered just outside, and she could imagine Doug
standing there, one hand on the gate's latch, taking deep breaths
to calm himself before he forced himself to step back into what
he must view as enemy territory. So intently had she been
imagining the scene that when the gate did finally open, the
sound of the iron latch slamming back was so unexpected and
surprising that she started visibly.

Doug stepped in, and even to her mundane sight his anger was
blazoned across his face, visible plainly despite his equally
obvious effort to hide it. He closed the gate behind himself,
and stood for a moment with his back to her, head bowed and
resting against the painted wood. Then he straightened, turned
around, and spied her for the first time.

"Belldandy-san," he said, not quite calling out although his
voice carried clearly across the empty yard. His tone was flat,
with neither hostility nor friendliness in it, completely at odds
with the turmoil she could sense.

"Doug-san," she replied, controlling her voice lest it betray her
own emotional state. As he crossed the yard, she took a breath
and added, "Something is troubling you?"

To her surprise, the question seemed to douse some of his anger.
He studied her unblinkingly for the best part of a minute before
answering, though. "Yes," he said at last. "I just encountered
one of your kind on the shopping street." His eyes bored into
hers. "She tried to seduce me."

The towel fell at her feet as she raised one hand to her mouth.
"Seduce you?"

He nodded, then one corner of his mouth quirked upward, just a
bit. "She failed."

"Who was it?" Chris asked unexpectedly from the door behind her.
Surprised, she glanced back to see her brother quickly flash her
a self-satisfied smile before stepping out onto the engawa to
stand at her side.

"You expect me to recognize any of you on sight?" Doug spat.
"She was playing at being a human. She engineered a little
'accident' on the sidewalk, then the Celestial slut dragged me
into a kissaten as an 'apology'." His brow darkened at the
memory. "*Then* she tried to convince me to go to bed with her.
And none too subtly, either."

Fingers still held to her lips, Belldandy turned to her brother.
"Could it have been Peorth?"

Chris shuddered visibly, which got a raised eyebrow from Doug.
"It sounds like her style." He looked at the older man. "Did
she use any French endearments, or any other words in French, for
that matter?"

Doug shook his head, his anger momentarily derailed by the
oddness of the question. "No. None at all."

"Thank the Boss for small favors."

By this time the discussion in the yard had gained the attention
of everyone else in the house. Keiichi appeared at her side, and
as she slid under his comforting arm Belldandy felt oddly
reassured. Urd and Skuld flanked Chris on the other side from
her, while Megumi lurked in the doorway, curious but apart.

"What's going on?" Urd asked.

Doug's eyes blazed as he glanced at her. "I ran into one of you
Celestials on the street about an hour ago. She tried to seduce
me."

"Who?" Skuld demanded.

"Hell if I know," Doug snarled. "She called herself 'Marie,' but
unless the Blessed Virgin makes a habit of walking the streets
and picking up strange men, I'm betting that it's not her real
name."

Urd tried to hold it in, but her cheeks puffed out and she let
loose a burst of laughter. Skuld growled and kicked her ankle.
"Ow! Cut it out, brat!"

"It's *not* funny," the smallest of the three goddesses spat at
her eldest sister, then turned back to Doug. "Well, what did she
look like?"

"Does it matter?" Doug asked angrily. "You people can
shapeshift, after all." Then he frowned. "Unless that's one of
those restrictions you told me about, Belldandy?"

She nodded. "It is. Whoever she was, we should be able to
recognize her from your description."

"Weird." He shook his head then looked back up. "Okay, fairly
straightforward. Blonde hair, a big curly mane of it. Blue
eyes. Fair skin. Her face was roundish without looking fat.
About 170 or so centimeters tall. Athletic build, nice legs,
almost but not quite flat-chested. Pretty in a kind of tomboyish
way." He frowned again. "Oh, yeah, and she had these two marks
on her forehead, right above the bridge of her nose -- bright red
slashes that looked like a 'V'." He traced them on his own
forehead with the tip of one finger.

"Mara..." Keiichi breathed.

"What?" A shriek cut across the temple yard and echoed off
the walls.

Their heads swiveled to look at Megumi, who had stepped out onto
the engawa. Her hands were clenched into fists, and a look of
mixed fury and terror filled her eyes. "That bitch is back?" she
hissed.

Urd nodded gravely. "Sounds like it."

Belldandy lifted her chin. "We will deal with her. Just as we
always have."

"Hold on, hold on, hold on," Doug demanded, holding up his hands
in a "stop" gesture. "So who's this Mara?"

"The androgynous wonder!" Chris said in semi-amused derision.
"I'm surprised you could even tell she was a woman. She must
have put the butch clothes back into her closet."

"'Androgynous'?" Doug raised an eyebrow. "Not from where *I*
was sitting." He scrunched his face up in thought for a second.
"Then again, I've met your girlfriends. If that's what you like
in female figures, I can see how you might think that," he added
with a touch of snark in his voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chris demanded.

"Chris! Doug!" Belldandy cried out in mild exasperation. She
turned her attention back fully to Doug. "Mara's a... well,
she's a demon."

"A demon?" Doug's bantering tone vanished as his entire, focused
attention suddenly snapped to her. The rage surrounding him,
which had all but completely receded during the conversation, was
suddenly back in a great, roiling wave. Belldandy almost
flinched at the impact of it upon her senses -- it was, if
anything, even stronger than it had been when he arrived.

"Yes," Urd replied. "She's given us some trouble in the past."

"*Some* trouble?" Megumi repeated, her voice shrill with emotion.
"*Some*? She turned me into a car! She took over my body! She
had me thinking I was *crazy* for *months*!" She raised one fist
as if to batter something or someone with it. "Where is she?"

Doug shrugged. "I left her in Yoshida's on the canal street. I
doubt she's still there, though," he added as Megumi surged
forward, only to be grabbed by Chris and a panicked-looking
Keiichi.

"Calm down," Chris admonished her. "What do you think you're
going to do, scratch her eyes out?"

"Yeah, Megumi," Keiichi added in gentler tones. "You can't go up
against a demon all by yourself!"

"I don't care!" Megumi spat. "She's completely fucked with my
life! I *owe* that bitch!" A wide-eyed Skuld took a step away
from her.

"Ah, for Fnord's sake grow up, why don't you?" Chris muttered.

Megumi snarled at him and wrenched her arm free from his grasp.
"I wouldn't expect *you* to understand, Mister-Oooh-I-Get-To-Be-
A-God! *You* don't have to be afraid of someone like that any
more. But those of us who are still mere mortals are a little
vulnerable." She stuck her face in his. "You remember
'vulnerable'? As in weak, as in unable to defend yourself, as in
an easy *target* for monsters like that?"

Chris closed his eyes and wiped spittle from his face. "I
remember not even *knowing* about these things. I have no more
liking for Mara than you." Rubbing his hand on his pants, he
opened his eyes and studied her for a moment. "Look, if you
*really* want revenge, I take requests. I always like the 'rain
of holy water' trick."

Megumi held his eyes with her own, angry gaze. "Will it hurt
her?"

"Well it *stings* like you wouldn't believe..." Chris suppressed
the urge to rub the back of his neck. "But it really only ticks
her off."

She stared at him wordlessly for several moments, a look of utter
disbelief in her eyes. "Not. Good. Enough," she finally
replied, spitting out each word separately.

"Well, what the fnord do you want, then?" Chris demanded. "I
can't *do* more than that, as much as I *want* to. I'm not
*allowed*."

"I want her to *hurt*," Megumi hissed in a vicious whisper that
still managed to slice across the yard.

"Megumi..." Keiichi breathed.

She paid him no mind, and kept on going. "I want her to scream.
I want her life as wrecked as mine was." Her eyes seemed to
light up with inspiration, and she whirled from Chris to face
Belldandy, whipping out her hand at the same time to end up
pointing at the goddess. "I wish that Mara would get everything
she deserves!"

There was a moment of silence.

"Nice try," said Urd. "But that only works if you're *given* a
wish. You can't just shout one out at us and expect it to be
granted automatically. We're not *genies* after all."

"Damn." Megumi scowled and lowered her arm. "In that case, I
guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

"The old-fashioned way?" Keiichi echoed, sharing a worried look
with Belldandy.

"Yeah." Megumi nodded, a determined look in her eye. "There are
a couple of swords around here. I'll just borrow one, and
then..."

"Oh, for gods' sake, will you just *quit it*?" Doug suddenly
bellowed. As silence swept the yard, he closed his eyes and
pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingertips. He stayed
that way for a few moments.

Then he looked back up at Megumi, who seemed frozen in a position
of threatened violence. "Sorry, Megumi-san," he said soberly,
"I'm a bit touchy myself right now. Look, yes, you were
possessed, yes, you were turned into a car. But in both cases
you clearly got better." He peered at her, his eyes seeming to
lose focus for a moment. "A *lot* better. Most possession
victims suffer *years* of psychological disturbances, until the
traces of the demon's hold fade from their souls completely."
Leaning forward, he narrowed his still-unfocused eyes. "Your
soul has *no* traces whatsoever."

His eyes refocused and he glanced at Belldandy, who (Megumi
noticed) nodded infinitesimally.

"Wait a second," the mortal girl said as the implications of his
comments occurred to her. "You can see my *soul*?"

Chris tilted his head as he studied at the two mortals, one
eyebrow raised quisitively.

Doug shrugged. "In a broad sense, yes. Part of my magegift.
But I'm not really adept at it -- I can only see the big things.
Living or dead. Wounds in body and mind. Whether or not you're
a mage. Some of the metagifts. Celestial natures and taints.
Stuff like that." He gave her a sheepish look. "You want *real*
detail, you want someone like my friend Joe, who's a properly-
trained wizard. He can look at your aura and tell you what color
panties your mother was wearing the day you were conceived."

Megumi blushed at the thought.

"Pervert," Skuld snapped.

Doug's head whipped around to her. "I beg your pardon?"

Skuld scowled at him briefly, then a thought struck her. "That's
how you knew we were goddesses when you first woke up here."

He stared at her for a moment. "Yes," he replied simply. Then
he shook his head as if to clear it, and turned back to Megumi.
"But that's not the point. The point is, whatever Mara did to
you, it's over and done with, and other than maybe a few
nightmares and bad memories it's had no lasting effect on you.
*Be* *grateful*," he intoned slowly and clearly, his anger
surging back into the forefront. "It could have been a lot
worse." He grit his teeth. "And believe me, there is a *whole*
lot worse than what you suffered."

Doug took a deep breath. "Now, if you all will excuse me, I
believe I'm going to go look for someplace where I can be very,
very alone for a while."

And with that he forced his way through them and hopped up on the
engawa. Belldandy made a small noise of objection when he strode
through the door without showing any intention of removing his
shoes, but Keiichi laid his hand on her wrist and shook his head.

Chris turned back from the door and fixed his gaze once more on
Megumi. "Well..." he began, only to be interrupted by the sound
of the door. Doug had come back out of the house, wearing his
helmet and fastening its chin strap.

He looked at everyone looking at him, then nodded toward
Belldandy. "My apologies, Belldandy-san," he said, his voice
surprisingly unmuffled by the enclosing helmet, "but it's likely
that I'll miss dinner tonight."

Then he slid open a panel on the right side of the helmet, tapped
his fingers on whatever had been hidden beneath it, and shot off
into the sky like a human rocket.

As he vanished into the clouds above, Megumi gaped in wonder.
Then she remembered where she was, and why. Giving a poisonous
glare to everyone else, even her brother, Megumi hmph'ed, then
turned and stalked into the house.

After the door slammed behind the girl, Chris eyed Belldandy.
"I suppose you're going to tell me that this will all work out."

"Oh, I'm certain it will," she replied with a knowing smile, and
then swept gracefully back into the house herself. Skuld trotted
after her almost immediately, and Urd followed close behind after
wordlessly patting her brother on the shoulder.

Chris stood staring at the door through which they'd all gone,
and shook his head disbelievingly. "There's *got* to be
something more to this god business than anyone's told me. I
just know it." He glanced up at the sky, not really expecting to
see anything. "That guy's got a temper like a junkyard dog," he
murmured to no one in particular. "It's going to get him in
trouble one of these days."

* * *

Some minutes later, Chris strode into the kitchen and seated
himself at the table in the center of the room. Belldandy
acknowledged him with a nod but did not break the rhythm of her
cooking. Uncharacteristically, both Skuld and Urd were here as
well -- Urd slouched against a counter and Skuld perched on a
stool next to her. Keiichi sat at the table across from him,
frowning and rubbing his eyes, and sighing every few seconds.
Chris' lips tightened. *I can guess how you feel, guy, and I
don't envy you a bit.*

In a soft voice he said, "Family conference time again."
Glancing across the table, he added, "I'm sorry, Keiichi, but I
need to speak with my sisters alone, please. Maybe you could
check on Megumi and make sure she's not about to do anything
fatally stupid?"

Keiichi drew a deep breath and dropped his hands to the tabletop,
then nodded. "Yeah, maybe I should." Pushing back his chair, he
stood, then walked around the table. He paused at the range to
peck Belldandy on the cheek, which earned him a brief but
brilliant smile, and then wordlessly left the room.

"Privacy wards again, please, someone?" Chris asked in the same
soft tones.

Urd pushed off from the counter and stood straight. "I'll do
it." She closed her eyes and stretched out her hands at waist
height. "<Spirits of hearth and home,>" she intoned in Old Norse,
"<Guard this room from prying eyes and listening ears. Let none
but us within know what is spoken here. By my divine power, so
mote it be.>" A ripple of faint blue light spread out from her
fingertips until it impacted the walls, where it washed up and
down to meet itself overhead and under their feet. "Done," she
added unnecessarily.

"Wow, nothing blew up," Skuld snarked.

"Stuff it, brat," Urd muttered.

"Both of you, stop it now," Chris growled. "We have more
important matters to deal with."

Turning from the range, Belldandy nodded. "Mara."

"Right." Chris looked around the room. "And she's decided to
target our oh-so-delightful house guest." He studied his
sisters. "What are we going to do about it?"

"'We', 'Niichan?" Skuld asked.

Chris fixed her with a look. "Don't give me that. Yeah, we
could sic the Judgmenters on her and get rid of two problems at
once, but you know as well as I do that while Mara's a pain in
the rear, she's *our* pain in the rear."

His sisters exchanged looks, then Urd nodded. "Agreed. At the
very least, we don't let anyone who isn't Aesir..."

"Or Vanir!" Skuld interjected, and Urd nodded again.

"Or Vanir interfere," she finished.

Chris scowled. "I was thinking of making the circle a little
tighter. Otherwise, we have to deal with 'help' from real
winners like Modi."

Belldandy checked on a covered saucepan, then turned back to the
discussion. "You mean limit it to just us."

"Yeah." Chris looked over at her. "I mean, we've dealt with her
by ourselves before. It's not like we *need* any other help."

His middle sister nodded slowly. "True enough."

"Then is that much settled?" Chris asked. "This is a family
matter, and it stays within family?"

At his words his sisters shared another look, this one
impenetrable to him. But he didn't need an interpreter to guess
at the secret message that had just passed between them. *The
one thing they all seem to agree upon, all the time,* he mused,
*is me. They're probably worried about me facing off with Mara
again.* "Look," he said, "if you're concerned about me going up
against her, don't be. I can handle myself just fine."

Another set of cryptic glances were exchanged. "No, that's not
it," Belldandy then replied. "We have every faith in your
ability, Chris."

"Right!" Skuld declared, as Urd just smiled and nodded.

"Uh-huh," he breathed.

"And we agree," Belldandy continued. "This... will stay within
the family."

"Good." Chris sat up a little straighter. "Okay, now that we've
got that settled, what are we going to actually *do*?"

"Well, there's the temple warding..." Urd began, and Belldandy
returned to her cooking with a small, secret smile. All would
turn out well, she was sure of it.

* * *

Saturday, May 17, 1997, 11:22 PM

Propelled by the almost limitless flood of power that "I Am A
Pioneer" triggered in me, I launched myself into the sky over
Nekomi. Having nowhere in mind to go but "away", I just let
myself accelerate until I went supersonic, leaving behind only
the "crack" of a sonic boom and a misty ring of water vapor in my
wake.

I kept going until I reached the edge of space. Which is a
misnomer, because there is no edge, really -- there's just a
gradual change in the proportion of air to no-air. But at the
speed I was going there came a point where one moment the sky was
blue, and the next it was black speckled with diamond stars. And
that's when I stopped.

For five minutes and seven seconds, "Pioneer" would make me a
living spacecraft and the single fastest thing in the solar
system, barring any alien starships that might have been lurking
about. (And boy, I must have given them a shock if they were
there.) I'd made it to hard vacuum in less than 50 seconds.

So I had some time to linger, there in the utter silence. Well,
utter except for the song.

The faintest touch of "Pioneer"'s power kept me in position,
floating high above sunlit Japan. Below and to my left, Eurasia
faded away into twilight and beyond that into night; to my right,
the Pacific and the clouds above it sparkled with brilliant
daylight. I idly spotted a tropical storm spinning itself into
existence north of New Zealand.

There were a few differences from Homeline, I noticed. The
artificial island of Novy Moskva was missing from the North
Pacific. The Korean peninsula still had its original size and
shape. And there was no sign of the Dreamtime Singularity at the
center of Australia.

It was so different. It was so beautiful. It was...

It was no use. I couldn't think up there. It was just too
damned distracting.

I cut the tiny bit of thrust I'd been using to hold myself steady
relative to the earth below, and allowed gravity to take over.

I let myself plummet down into the atmosphere, accelerating and
driving myself down far faster than terminal velocity. I reveled
in the growing roar of the freezing wind and the sensation of
"roller-coaster stomach", until the vista below me began to
change visibly from moment to moment. Thanks to "Pioneer", I
didn't have to worry about air friction, not that I was actually
going fast enough to need to.

But I *did* have to worry about impact trauma, so somewhere about
the time I could make out the larger individual buildings, I
caught myself, turning my powerdive into a simple hover over
Nekomi. I still had a couple minutes left on the song according
the timer in my HUD. But where to go with it? Where could I
think in peace? I rotated slowly in place, taking in the vista
of the Kanto Plain below me, and suddenly my choice was obvious.

I accelerated almost instantly and beelined for downtown Tokyo,
which wasn't all that far away -- Nekomi was a commuter suburb of
the city proper, and on a clear day the skyline of one was
visible on the horizon from the other. I kept my speed subsonic,
but I still made it to Minato-ku in much less than a minute.
Once there I headed for the most obvious landmark, and settled
myself down on the very top of the Tokyo Tower to sit, think and
stew.

Mainly about this Mara character.

I'd thought life was sucking bad enough already, being stuck
sharing a house with four gods. But now I apparently had a demon
after me. *That* pushed having to live with a small pantheon
*way* down my list of "things I hate about my life".

Yes, I dislike gods. Mainly on principle, but it's a principle
based on thorough observation and experience. Gods are
parasites, symbiotes at best.

But demons are sadistic predators. And for that reason I utterly
hate and loathe demons.

Finding out one had tried to seduce me... well, that boded *so*
ill for Mama Sangnoir's favorite son that I'd had to recalibrate
*twice* to get it to stop pegging the top end of the "Sucks To Be
You" meter. Megumi's outburst about Mara had distracted me from
it for a little while, but the moment nothing else was on my
mind, there it was, waving a red flag and grinning gleefully.

I needed a plan to deal with her.

I spent the rest of the day thinking on that subject. And then,
as the sun set and the lights of the city came on, much of the
evening. And as I thought, my mood grew darker and darker as my
mind ran wild amongst all that troubled me. I'm not normally one
for pessimism, but no matter from what angle I considered my
situation, the only conclusion I could come up with was that I
was trapped. Caught between a demon who was out to do me some
kind of harm, although whether spiritual or physical (or *both*)
I couldn't yet tell, and the band of deities with whom I was
forced to live.

And I still hadn't found a goddamned job yet.

And I missed my wife. It had been ten years since I had last
held her -- the *real* her -- in my arms. Ten years! I was
sorely tempted to break the oath I'd sworn to myself in Megatokyo
and call up her simulacrum once again, if only to just look at
her. I resisted the urge, though -- not through any strength of
will, but because I was afraid of just how much it would hurt to
have to let her go again at the end of the song and acknowledge
that it wasn't real, no matter how much I wanted it to be
otherwise.

Even so, I spent at least an hour staring at the lights of the
traffic far below me and the empty office buildings all around
me, weighing the longing against the hurt and wondering just
which would be worse, in the long run.

I couldn't decide.

I finally returned to the temple sometime fairly close to
midnight. I deliberately waited until I was sure everyone would
be asleep, simply to reduce the confrontation factor. I'm not
sure if I were embarrassed about my behavior, or simply trying to
avoid a repeat blow-up, but either way the last thing I wanted
was to run into any of the house's residents before I reached the
room where I was staying. So I remained, sitting on the roof of
the topmost section of Tokyo Tower as the chill wind played
around me, until only the gibbous moon and a few office windows
cast any light on me. Then I stood and whispered a few words to
my helmet.

I'd been living at the temple long enough that I felt confident
"Homeward Bound" would recognize it as a valid destination. I
was right, but only just barely -- I felt a hesitation at first
when I started the song, as if my notional "inner wizard" weren't
quite sure where I wanted to go. But a moment later the darkened
cityscape surrounding the top of the Tokyo Tower flickered out of
existence around me, to be replaced by the street and sidewalk
right outside the temple gate.

Yee-hah. Home again, home again, jiggity-jig. I cut off Simon
and Garfunkel, then went inside.

I felt an odd tingle as I entered the gate. It took a moment for
me to recognize it as my magesenses' reaction to some variety of
warding. There'd been some minor protections on the grounds
already, things I'd never have noticed without going into
magesight and looking specifically for them, but now they were a
couple of orders of magnitude more powerful than they had been
when I'd left. I nodded approvingly to myself. With a demon on
the loose that was a damned good idea.

Looking at the house, its every window dark and its form barely
limned by the faint ambient city light that crept over the
enclosing wall, I had a momentary sensation that I was looking a
collapsing ruin rather than a well-kept home. My dark mood
seized on that, feeding itself upon it and growing darker still
even though the weird feeling vanished as I crossed the courtyard
to the front door.

Leaving my shoes in a cubby in the foyer like any good resident
of a Japanese home (and unlike the last time I'd come in through
the door), I padded down the hallway, using every iota of my
skill to be silent and unnoticed -- which was actually a bit of
an accomplishment given the house's generous supply of
nightingale flooring. I didn't go as far as reciting "I am one
with the walls, I am one with the walls" in my head, but if it
would have helped, I'd've done that, too.

My sneaking was made just a little harder by the thin wedge of
light that, contrary to my expectations, spilled out of one of
the bedroom doors. Still, that let me navigate the hallway with
less trouble and personal injury than I'd expected, and when I
passed by the room Megumi had used the night before, I could
easily see that the door was open and that it was unoccupied.
Evidently Mara being on the prowl again hadn't scared Megumi into
permanently retreating to the temple for protection; I just hoped
she hadn't gotten so mad that she'd marched out to confront the
demon all by her lonesome.

A moment's careful and nearly noiseless movement took me up to
the room that was still lit -- Skuld's. Its sliding door was
barely open, just a crack a couple centimeters wide -- enough to
send a mix of yellow incandescent light and bluish monitor glow
streaming out into the hallway. Curious about what she could be
up to at that late hour, I ghosted up to the door and peered
through the opening with one eye.

Skuld sat motionless in front of her supercharged PC, her back to
me and surrounded by stacks of empty ice cream cartons -- no two
apparently of the same flavor, as far as I could tell. She held
yet another carton in her left hand, and a spoon in her right,
but her attention was fixed entirely upon the screen in front of
her and neither hand seemed about to move.

The system's screen displayed what at first I thought was a
particularly complicated screen-saver. Against a flat, velvet-
black background an intricate, three-dimensional construct of
glowing lines floated, its multicolored form slowly rolling and
spinning in space. Some of the lines were doubled, with what
appeared to be writing between them; others were actually series
of dots or dashes rather than solid lines. Some rotated within
the structure, others were stationary relative to the rest.
Central to the entire design was a broad band that girded its
fellows like an equator. Six smaller circles, also doubled-and-
inscribed, punctuated it at regular intervals, and a seventh
floated, co-planar with them, at the exact center of the entire
thing.

I had no idea what it was, but if I'd been asked at that moment
to describe it, I probably would have said it looked like a Seal
of Solomon as laid out by M.C. Escher and Buckminster Fuller,
with helpful kibitzing by Kernighan, Ritchie and Linus Torvalds.

I wouldn't have been far off, either.

Then again, hindsight is twenty-twenty, as they say.

Anyway.

Whatever the hell the image was, it was bloody gorgeous as well
as twisty-complex in a way that led the eye through a roller
coaster's worth of loop-the-loops and switchbacks. As it spun
and rolled, the big central circle faded in and out of
visibility; when it could be seen, glowing pulses of light flowed
out of it and into the other elements. I watched, fascinated, as
the flickering of glowing light switched from being apparently
random to a clear pattern, flooding out of the center of the
design in, well, waves is the best word for it. These waves
rippled outward through the lines and arcs of the figure,
eventually flowing into and brightly illuminating three of the
six subcircles -- every other one.

Then it sputtered and went black, as if it had run out of power.
Or maybe blown a fuse, now that I think of it. And just as
though the light that had been coursing through it were the only
thing holding it together, the darkened structure collapsed in on
itself. Skuld said something that sounded nasty in a language I
didn't recognize, and threw her spoon across the room.

After her statue-like stillness over the few minutes I'd been
watching, the motion surprised me; I flinched involuntarily, and
stepped back on one of the "nightingale" floorboards I'd taken
such pains to avoid. For a split second I hoped the clatter of
metal against plaster and wood might have camouflaged the
telltale "squeak!", but no such luck. Skuld whirled and stared
right at me.

There was a moment of silence during which I could see the anger
boil up in her at the same time I was flooded with embarrassment
of a depth to match the blackness of my mood. Then she shrieked
"You jerk!" and catapulted herself out of her seat before the
monitor. I scrambled backwards until I was pressed up against
the opposite wall, expecting that polo mallet of hers to manifest
from wherever the hell she kept it. But she just stopped at the
threshold, yelled "Keep out!" and slammed the door shut.

I stayed pressed against the wall for a few more moments, long
enough for Urd and Belldandy to peer out of their rooms at the
source of the disturbance. Shame -- completely undeserved but
shame nonetheless -- replaced my embarrassment, and I stood.
"It's not what it seems," I stammered, then gathered myself
sufficiently to bow and add, "I apologize for the disturbance."

Belldandy gave me what I thought was an amused but understanding
smile before retreating back into her room, but Urd winked and
grinned lasciviously as she wagged a finger at me. She opened
her mouth as though to say something, then studied my face and
seemed to think better of it. The grin vanished, replaced a more
genuine, rather tired-seeming smile. "Welcome back," she said
without a trace of her usual playfulness. "We were worried about
you."

I returned the smile without actually feeling it. "Thanks." A
breath later I added, "I'm okay. Mostly." I was lying through
my teeth, of course.

Urd nodded. "Good." She knew I was lying, and that I knew she
knew. Neither of us said anything about it. She made an
elaborate show of looking me over for a moment more. "You should
get some sleep, though."

"Yeah," I said as I headed for my room. "I will. Sorry to wake
you. G'night."

"Good night," she said, then returned to her own room.

It wasn't until I was ensconced in my futon some minutes later
that I realized that the design on Skuld's monitor had been in
three colors -- three colors that I knew well: the very same
shades of red, green and blue that made up the triple helix in
the core of a Celestial's aura.

*Now that *can't* be a coincidence,* I mused, my arms folded
under my head as I stared at the ceiling, dimly lit by the
distant street lamp filtering in through the open window. After
all the emotion of the day, after all the hours on top of the
tower, I finally felt drained enough to think calmly and clearly,
and I welcomed it. *But what the hell does it mean? What the
hell was Skuld *doing*?*

"And what the hell am *I* doing?" I muttered to myself. Looking
back on the day I was filled with disgust and dismay -- both at
what had happened, and how I had reacted to it. No matter what I
told myself, my control was still fraying, and having an
oversexed demoness target me hadn't helped at all. And I just
couldn't shake the mental image of Maggie "looking" at me with
that set of her mouth that meant she was disappointed in me. Not
that I could blame her -- *I* was disappointed in me. Events
were spiraling wildly out of control and taking me with them, and
I couldn't pull myself together enough to shake loose.

I sat up in my futon and pulled my blanket up to wrap it around
my shoulders as the chill miasma of despair which I had staved
off all day finally crept up on me in the dark. Maybe it was
time to give up. For almost a decade I'd been searching for a
way home -- a *sane* person would have called it quits long ago.
Maybe I should, too. It wasn't a bad world -- well, other than
for the Celestials wandering about in human (and other) bodies,
and the demon out to get me. I could make my way to States, set
myself up with a new identity, and go native. I could give up
all the stress, all the agony. Give in and let go. I didn't
*have* to care as much as I did. If I really wanted, I could use
what I knew and start a high-tech company, make myself a
billionaire in ten years or less.

I could try to be happy.

All I had to do was give up any hope of ever seeing my home, my
wife and my blood-companions again.

Gods, it almost seemed like it might be worth it, there in the
dark.

* * *

Belldandy was hardly surprised at the very awake-sounding "come
in" she received in response to her oh-so-gentle knock on Doug's
door. She had felt Doug's deteriorating mood all the way in her
own room, and had felt compelled to see if she could help. She
took a breath, then slid the door open to step inside.

Doug was, as she had already known, still awake. The near-
darkness within the room surprised her; she had expected from
sound of his voice that he would have some manner of light on,
but such was not the case. Instead, he sat Indian-style in a
black slash of shadow; the blanket wrapped around him made him
look even more like a stereotyped Old West figure.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you," she said in a low voice as she
closed the door behind her, although she knew it was unnecessary.

>From under the blanket one hand emerged and made a dismissive
wave. "Not a problem, Belldandy-san. I was already awake, as
you can see."

Belldandy blinked, then nodded. His voice was dull, flat -- the
energy and enthusiasm, the *fire* she had come to associate with
him was completely missing from it. She immediately realized
why, and wanted nothing more than to sweep across the room,
gather him up in her arms and reassure him that all would be
well. Against her better judgment she stifled the urge. His
pride -- and his suspicion -- would not allow him to accept that
kind of comfort from her. And in the wake of Mara's attempted
seduction, the physical contact alone might well trigger anything
from a deeper withdrawal to another explosion of rage.

So instead of comforting him as her instincts demanded she
should, Belldandy pressed herself back against the door,
carefully placing as much distance between the two of them as she
could within the confines of the tiny room. "I just wanted to
let you know, Doug-san -- there are few things more important to
me than Keiichi, but one of them is the free will of mortals."

After a few seconds of unexpected silence, the shadowed
silhouette softly murmured, "You'll forgive me if I have some
doubt about that."

Belldandy weighed her next few words carefully. It took no
special insight, no divine perception to realize that his spirit
was at low ebb, perhaps the lowest it had ever been. It would
take very little -- a badly-chosen phrase, the wrong word at the
wrong moment -- to send him once again into another fit of anger.
In the final analysis, though, there was only one thing she could
say.

"Why?" she asked as non-confrontationally as she could.

"Why?" he echoed. "*Why?*" He chuckled mirthlessly and huddled
deeper into his bit of shadow. "You're a piece of work,
Belldandy, you know that? After seven years of being jerked
around, of being thrown from world to world regardless of *my*
desires, how can I *not* distrust you? Your incarnations in
Megatokyo blackmailed me into doing their dirty work for them,
and when I'd accomplished what they wanted -- something *they*
could have done themselves with an *eyeblink* -- they threw me
into a world that was *anything* but the one I wanted. I freed
an entire *race* for them! They could have sent me *home,*" he
snarled, the pain in his voice palpable to her. "But they
didn't. What more did I need to do for them?"

Belldandy couldn't find anything to say to that.

In his cloak of shadow, Doug drew in a long breath with a hiss
that sounded like it might break into a sob. "It's been ten
years. *Ten* *years!* Dammitall, when Hexe disappeared into the
upper planes we rescued her in a matter of weeks! Why is it so
much longer for *me?*" There was movement in the shadow and
suddenly she could see his eyes. "Just tell me *why*!" he
demanded, and this time it *was* a sob, one that broke her heart.
"Why are you doing this to me? *Why can't I go home?*"

Without a thought, Belldandy threw all her earlier caution to the
winds. She crossed the room in flash and wrapped her arms around
him. To her shock and surprise, he not only let her, but he
clutched at her like a child reaching for its mother. This
close, even in the shadow, she could see the sparkle of tears on
his cheeks. She held him tightly, and began to croon wordless
sounds of comfort.

"*Why?*" he repeated, his voice a hoarse gasp. "Why?"

Belldandy held him, silently rocking him in her arms until his
breathing began to even out again. "I don't know," she finally
whispered to him. "In this place, in this avatar, I am not
omniscient. Far too much of the mortal world has been a surprise
and a puzzle to me. But I can tell you this." She drew back a
little, and took his tear-soaked face between her hands. "I have
faith that there is a purpose to your travels, that they *will*
end, and that when they do end you will not be bereft of all that
you love."

She felt more than saw him shake his head. "I wish I could
believe that," he whispered back, his voice uneven with emotion.
"I wish I could believe *you*."

"Believe this, then," she said, and released him. Sitting back
on her heels, she took his right hand and held it, palm upwards,
in her left. Then she lifted her right to her lips and with her
teeth nipped the corner of her thumb just hard enough to draw
blood. She held it out over his hand, and let a single drop fall
into his palm. Then she clasped his hand in her own, trapping and
smearing the droplet between their palms.

Catching his eyes with her own, she softly said, "In the name of
the All-Father, and in the sight of Var the Beloved, Goddess of
Contracts, I, Belldandy, Norn of the Present, Avatar of the
Mother, Goddess of Fidelity and the Now, do promise you that I
will never knowingly speak falsehood to you, nor shall I ever
speak truth to you with intent to mislead. This I swear to you
on my blood, for now and all time."

As she spoke the final words, there was a flash of white light
between their clasped hands and she felt the Ultimate Force
accept and seal her oath -- the sensation that Chris had more
than once described to her as feeling like a great switch being
thrown, but which she had always felt was more like a door being
unbolted and flung open. Doug clearly felt it as well, for she
saw his eyes widen in shock as she released his hand.

"You... you..." he stammered, staring at his palm, where no
trace remained of the blood.

Belldandy nodded slowly. "Yes."

He lifted bewildered eyes to her. "I *know* what a blood-oath
means in Norse culture. You'd bind yourself to me like that,
just so I will believe you?"

"Yes." She took his face between her hands again. "You need
something to believe in," she said gently, "and since I always
speak the truth anyway, it is no great hardship," she added with
a slight smile.

Doug took her hands in his, lowered them, and clung to them while
he searched her face. In the faint light of the darkened room,
Belldandy was relieved and overjoyed to see something like
respect -- and *hope* -- dawn in his eyes. He raised her hands
to his lips and kissed them; then he released his hold on her and
shuffled back on the futon far enough to get to his knees and bow
deeply to her. "This unworthy one thanks you for your boon," he
said with exquisite formality before straightening back up.

She inclined her head in acknowledgement, then said, "Now, as I
said before, the free will of mortals is one of the few things
in this world more important to me than Keiichi."

Doug blinked, and appeared to be considering that in light of her
oath. "It is?" he finally asked.

She nodded again. "It is. And because it is, I wanted to tell
you that whatever must be done in regards to Megumi, rest assured
that I will not allow her to be deprived of her free will in this
matter." She paused before adding, "I know this is a concern of
yours.

He didn't answer right away, but instead studied her for what
seemed like several minutes. "Yes, it is. How?"

She allowed herself a small smile in the darkness. "I will
arrange a compromise that will satisfy both Judgment's
representative and you." At the rise of his eyebrows her smile
grew wider. "That's not as difficult as you might think. That
aspect of Father is not so inflexible as He sometimes appears,
and while I have no *formal* relationship with the members and
leaders of the Choir, I do still have some influence with His
servants."

Even in the dim light coming through the window, she could see
him grin, albeit a bit weakly. "Why am I not surprised? It's
always the quiet ones you have to look out for," he muttered, and
in spite of herself she giggled.

"And there are some benefits to being a favorite daughter," she
added mischievously. "I don't take advantage of them nearly as
much as I could."

Doug managed a weak bark of laughter, a pleasant contrast to his
earlier sobs. "Oh, Belldandy, I'd call you evil for that, except
you might take it the wrong way."

Encouraged by the improvement in his mood, however slight,
Belldandy graced him with a sly smile. "Don't be so sure, Doug-
san. I know a compliment when I hear one." She winked. "And
how can you be certain that I am not?"

"You are messing with my head," he declared with a mock pout.
"Stop it."

She just laughed, more pleased than she would admit that he felt
well enough to banter with her. "I suppose I would be a poor
hostess if I left you so badly confused, so I shall adopt my most
innocent face and deny that I ever said such a thing."

He couldn't help it; he smiled. "Ah, yes. That'll do it. I
feel more reassured now."

Belldandy inclined her head, still smiling herself. "I'm glad to
hear it." She reached behind herself for the door to slide it
open again, stopping only to add, "And Doug? Even though Chris
doesn't like Megumi very much, know that he'd never stand for her
being treated unfairly, either. It is in his nature as much as
it is in mine -- he will guard her free will, just as I will
defend it. She will be safe."

In the shadow, Doug nodded slowly. "Good. I hope you won't mind
if I still want to put my two cents' worth in, though."

She shook her head. "Of course not. That is *your* nature,
after all."

A snort sounded in the dark. "I suppose you're right." There
was a brief pause, then he quietly called out, "Belldandy-san?
Thank you. For helping with the Megumi thing. And... and for
your promise."

She inclined her head again. "I only do what I must to be true
to who and what I am, Doug-san. Even so, it is my pleasure."
She slid the door open without turning around.

"Nevertheless," Doug said from his nest of shadow, "thank you.
Good night, Belldandy."

"Good night, Doug," she echoed and slipped back out into the
hall. And in the moment before she closed the door, Belldandy
glared at the two overly-inquisitive ravens peering through the
window over his head.

* * *

Keiichi met her at the door to her room. "Is Doug-san all
right?" he asked sleepily.

Belldandy smiled. "He will be."

* * *

I was short on sleep the next morning, but that was only because
I'd started late and still got up in time for breakfast with the
others. I didn't quite stumble my way to the table, but I *was*
more than a little groggy until I got through my first two cups
of tea. I was halfway through eating before I woke up enough to
realize that we were having pancakes, scrambled eggs and Taylor
Ham. I looked up and realized that Belldandy was watching me.
She smiled and nodded when she saw me looking at her; after a
moment, I smiled and nodded back.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you last night," Skuld murmured a little
while later while passing me the maple syrup.

"Don't worry about it," I said quietly. "I shouldn't have looked
into your room." I soaked my pancakes with the syrup. "How
about we both say 'never again' and call it even?"

Skuld gave this a moment's thought, then nodded once, sharply.
"Deal."

We shook hands on it, and just for a moment grinned at each
other. Around us, the morning conversation ebbed and flowed
through its usual swirl of topics, and I felt something inside me
relax that I hadn't realized had been clenched like a fist all
that time. Yeah, I still had a demon after me. Yeah, I was
still worried and angry about a few things. But unlike all the
previous mornings, that tiny core of fear and worry about my
housemates just wasn't there. For the first time in weeks I
started to feel... comfortable.

I liked it.

* * *

Monday, May 19, 1997, 7:41 AM

When he spotted the small crowd on the corner, Chris placed a
hand on Skuld's shoulder. "Why don't you go on ahead while I
talk to the guys?" he said softly.

Skuld glanced between him and the band of his friends waiting for
them halfway down the block. "You sure?" she asked. Now that
she knew that they *all* had Celestial connections, she couldn't
summon up the same disdain she'd had for them before. All she
could feel now was a strange, puzzling sadness, a feeling of not-
rightness that wasn't exactly *bad* in and of itself, but hinted
that things could be so much better. For a moment she let
herself entertain the notion that maybe Chris *would* be happier
if he had a few mortal friends. Maybe. Then she shook her head
and dismissed the thought. Ridiculous.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He hadn't looked down at all, hadn't seen her
headshake, which Skuld was glad of; that meant she wouldn't have
to explain it. She wished he had looked down, though. She
wanted to see his eyes, because the tone of his voice worried
her.

But until they got to the corner and his friends he didn't look
at her, and he didn't say anything more. Not until he scruffled
her hair and told her again to go on without him. Impulsively,
Skuld dropped her book bag and hugged him, then picked it up and
ran off down the street toward their classes.

* * *

After Skuld was out of earshot, Chris turned to his friends.
"Morning, guys."

A chorus of too-bright, too-cheery greetings answered him.
Chris narrowed his eyes and studied the group. Juhachi
leaned ostentatiously against a tree that was really too
small to support his weight, his arms crossed over his chest.
Hiroshi and Takeshi had been roughhousing a bit as Chris walked
up, and were now standing straight and panting a little from
their exertions through their too-broad grins. Louis was
off to one side with a used car salesman smile on his face.

Movement overhead caught his eye, and Chris looked up. His eyes
narrowed when he realized that there were several ravens in the
tree over Juhachi's head.

"Okay," he ground out in a tone just above a growl. "What is
it?" *As if I don't already know...*

"What's what?" Louis asked with far too much innocence in his
voice.

"Oh, for the love of..." Juhachi growled as he pushed off the
sapling to stand upright. "The word's going around," he said,
melodramatically looking up at the ravens, "that your... *lodger*
had a run-in with a demon yesterday." Overhead, one of the
ravens cawed derisively. "You shut your beak," Juhachi added
with a poisonous glance upwards. "You're not helping."

Chris was surprised at just how calm he felt. "Yeah. Doug
had a run-in with Mara. So's just about every other mortal
who's met my sisters. So?"

"So..." Hiroshi said, sliding out of the half-Nelson Takeshi
had tried on him. "What'd she do to him? Possess him? Offer
him a wish? Turn him into a tape deck?"

Chris's face twisted into a sour expression despite trying to
control it. "She tried to seduce him."

"Right," Takeshi laughed. "Miss Butch-and-Bitchy tried to vamp a
mortal. Sure. Tell me another one."

"No, it's true, she did try." Chris smiled thinly. From this,
at least, he could take a little satisfaction. "Didn't say she
succeeded. He caught her at it, told her off, and walked out on
her."

Louis whistled. "Oh, I'll bet that put her in a good mood."

Takeshi nodded. "Yeah, that's all we need -- a pissed-off demon
roaming the neighborhood. Talk about Hell having no fury..."
He tilted his head to the side as he caught Chris' eye. "Do you
want any help... dealing with her?"

"Oh, *yeah*," Louis exclaimed. "I owe her for a little run-in we
had about six months back, actually."

"No," Chris growled. He noted absently that he'd been doing a
lot more growling since Doug had blasted into their lives, and
was pretty sure he didn't like it. "Let me make this very, very
clear," he added in a low, slow voice that cut through the
chatter and stilled even the ravens in the sapling. "Mara is
*our* concern. My sisters and I will take care of it. We do not
need anyone else's help. We do not *want* anyone else's help.
We will *not* appreciate attempts to help us anyway. And by
'help' I mean 'meddling interference'." He speared the closest
raven with a baleful look. "And that goes double for you lot,
got it?"

The raven silently studied him for a long, long moment, then let
out a single, desultory caw.

Chris snapped, "Good," then turned his gaze on Louis. "And I'm
not going to have any more breakfast surprises from you, right?"

Louis spread his hands and shook his head. "Nope. I'm not
duty-bound to do anything here if someone else is claiming the
privilege."

"Good," Chris repeated. "Then let's get a move on, or we'll be
late." He spun on his heel, and without looking to see if he
would be followed, stalked off down the street toward the campus.

The four friends traded worried looks, then took off after him.

* * *

Monday, May 19, 1997, 7:54 AM

It had been two days already, but Mara still wanted to rip
something to shreds.

Preferably Sangnoir.

She didn't allow herself the indulgence for several reasons. The
first was that it was wasteful. Angry as she was at the
effrontery of that mortal worm, killing him outright would defeat
her purposes. He would not suffer as he should, in her opinion,
and she would lose any chance to corrupt him and damn his soul.

The second was that the bastard was hiding behind a set of
freshly-reinforced wards powerful enough to shock her ass all the
way to Osaka should she try to breach them.

So for the moment Mara had to satisfy herself with hovering high
above -- and to one side of, lest those wards get touchy -- the
temple complex. There she floated, sitting Indian-style on thin
air and thinking dark, terrible thoughts about what she was going
to do to Sangnoir when she got her hands on him again.

*It's one thing to get turned down,* she fumed as she glared
balefully at the buildings a thousand feet below her. *But no
mortal gets away with threatening *me*. Stay away from him? The
hell with seducing him now!*

*First thing I need is something to crack those wards so I can
get *in* there. And once I do...*

Far below, she could see figures crossing the warded compound,
going from building to building. Mara had no problem at all
picking out Sangnoir, even at this altitude -- the power in him
shone like a spotlight to her Celestial senses when compared to
the pathetic worms whose homes surrounded the temple. She
stretched out one hand and pointed at the tiny, distant figure.
"You had your chance, Sangnoir," she declared to the chill wind
that whistled around her and whipped her blonde curls into a
frenzy. "This could have been fun and easy for both of us. Now
it's no more Miss Nice Demon.

"No mortal gets away with defying *me*," Mara sneered. "I'm
going to take you down hard and break you *completely*. You'll
be *begging* for death when I'm done with you." She snapped her
fingers. "Senbei!"

The golden-haired homunculus in black leather appeared before her
with a loud pop. "Senbei is here, Mistress," he said, bowing in
mid-air.

"The mage," she said, waving toward the distant figure of
Sangnoir. "Watch him. Study him. I want to know what his
weaknesses are." She fixed eyes burning with power upon the imp.
"Your last efforts along these lines were insufficient. See to
it that you do not miss *anything* this time. I need to know
*everything* about him." Mara extended one stiletto-like
fingernail and trailed it across the bare skin of Senbei's tiny
face, leaving a thread of blood behind it. "Failure will be
*severely* punished. Got it?"

Eyes wide, Senbei swallowed nervously and held himself motionless
until she drew back her hand. "Yes, Mistress. Senbei
understands. Senbei will not disappoint Mistress."

Mara gave a dismissive wave. "Go then," she said as she turned
her attention back to the temple below. Senbei vanished with
another loud pop.

Once again alone, her expression of gleeful malevolence slowly
faded away, leaving behind a face devoid of any expression save
for a weariness that stole the flash of anger from her eyes.
Silently she watched as, far below, Skuld dashed back and forth
across the temple grounds, Belldandy hung washing on a line, and
Urd stretched out in the sun. Her hand twitched, as if she
wanted to reach out again, but would not let herself.

Then she whirled away from the sight with a snarl and vanished in
a gout of flame.

* * *

Monday, May 19, 1997, 3:24 PM

Chris stepped out of Skuld's workshop with the results of his
little project firmly gripped in one hand. In the other, he held
the tools he needed to add the finishing touches.

He glanced around the yard at his sisters as they made use of the
warm spring afternoon. They'd put in a hard couple days of ward-
building, and were taking a well-deserved rest. He shook his
head and smiled. *Or, in Belldandy's case, limiting herself to
low-impact chores.*

And *he* was about to put the finishing touch on their work.

Chris grinned to himself. *What use is a big strong wall without
its own 'keep out' sign?* He glanced down at the sign in his
hand. Not a bad piece of work if he did say so himself, with big
bold red letters meticulously hand-painted on a crisp white
background. They were Romaji, but then, it only made sense, such
as it was, in English. He kept grinning, imagining Doug's
reaction when the older man spotted the sign, and imagining
*Mara's* reaction as well. *I'd *pay* to see that,* he thought
with a tiny chuckle.

He stepped through the gate and closed it behind him. Then,
using the hammer and the small brass nails he'd brought out with
him, carefully affixed the sign in the center of the door at eye
level, where anyone entering the yard through the gateway had no
choice but see it. Chris stepped back, smiled an evil smile at
his handiwork, then went back inside to enjoy the remainder of
the afternoon with his sisters and his future brother-in-law.

* * *

"Now, that's odd," said the elderly gentleman who had paused in
his walk outside the temple gates, bathed in the reddening light
of the setting sun.

"What is?" asked his equally elderly companion. She turned to
look at whatever had drawn his attention.

"This sign," he said. "You read English better than I do, my
dear. Shouldn't that be the English word for 'dog' there?"

She leaned forward, adjusting her glasses, and studied the sign.
Finally, she nodded. "I do believe you're correct, dear.
Whoever made this sign badly misspelled it." She slowly
straightened up and looked over at her companion. "Should we let
them know?"

He thought for a moment. "I'm sure someone has told them
already. But if it's still there tomorrow, we can knock and see
if anyone's home."

She nodded again. "All right."

He held out an arm. "Shall we?" She smiled at him and took it,
and together they walked on, leaving behind the small sign which
read, "Beware of Doug".



END OF CHAPTER FOUR

------------------------------------

This work of fiction is copyright (C) 2007, by Robert M. Schroeck
and Christopher Angel.

"Oh! My Goddess", and the settings and the characters thereof,
are copyright by and trademarks of Kosuke Fujishima, KISS and
Kodansha Ltd., and are used without permission.

"Douglas Q. Sangnoir," "Looney Toons", "The Loon" and any
representations thereof are copyright by and trademarks of Robert
M. Schroeck.

"Christopher 'Paradox' Angel" and any representations thereof are
copyright by and trademarks of Christopher Angel.

"Maggie 'Shadowwalker' Viel" and any representations thereof are
copyright by and a trademark of Peggy Schroeck.

"The Warriors", "Warriors' World", "Warriors International" and
"Warriors Alpha" are all jointly-held trademarks of The Warriors
Group.

Lyrics from "Free Will" recorded by Rush, written by Neil Peart,
copyright (C) 1980, Mercury/Polygram.

Lyrics from "I Can See For Miles" recorded by the Who, written by
Pete Townshend, copyright (C) 1967, TRO-Essex Music, Inc.
(ASCAP).

The above are quoted in this fiction without permission under the
"fair use" provisions of international copyright law.

For a full explanation of the references and hidden tidbits in
this story, see the Drunkard's Walk V Concordance at:

http://www.eclipse.net/~rms/dw5conc.html

Other chapters of this story can be found at:

http://www.eclipse.net/~rms/dw5.html

"Oh! My Brother!" can be found at:

http://www.yggdrasil.org/omg/index.html

The Drunkard's Walk discussion forums are open for those who wish
to trade thoughts and comments with other readers, as well as
with the author:

http://p202.ezboard.com/bdrunkardswalkforums

Many thanks to our prereaders on this chapter: Kathleen Avins,
Nathan Baxter, Ed Becerra, Andrew Carr, Kevin Cody, Logan
Darklighter, Helen Imre, Josh Megerman, Berg Oswell, and Peggy
Schroeck.

C&C gratefully accepted.