Midwinter

"Go!" she shouted. Jamie winced and ran, slurring through the Hole and onto the street.

Framed by the sphere, a small crowd was forming in the deceptively near street. Homeowners were pouring into the street to watch, jaws hanging, as filthy, long-haired people kept appearing from nowhere. Meyer and jenny were shouting something from the other side that couldn't be heard. Paul had Meyer by the shoulders, holding him back. Jenny stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Go through, Rachel," Linda said, through tears, pleading. "Please, go through."

Rachel stepped forward, reaching out with her hands, her feet moving slowly. Her fingers penetrated the barrier of the Hole and she stepped through. She did not reappear on the street. Instead, she passed through the sphere just as Polly and jasmine had and stood forlorn on the other side.

Linda shrieked. She sank to her knees, uttering unintelligible sounds. Flecks of Hereg's blood were smeared on her face.

Satterly looked from her to the Hole. It was beginning to dim, to fade slightly around the edges. For an instant he considered just leaving, stepping through that strange doorway and back into the world that he knew and that knew him. He almost took a step toward it but at the last second turned backward and looked toward the now-empty settlement. Mauritane was the only one of the three in the cage standing. His arms were crossed over his chest, his face was pale, his expression grim.

Satterly looked at Mauritane. They regarded each other across the distance. Satterly let his gaze fall to Linda. He knelt beside her and cradled her to his chest. She sank into him, sobbing uncontrollably. The Hole fluttered and sparked, shrinking rapidly until it became a mere pinhole of light against the battered snow.

Part Three

The High Priest: Let us begin our discussion with the topic of the Gifts, as you call them. If they are gifts, who has given them? And if not, then from where do they come?

Alpaurle: You seek to trap me in an answer, as do all those who claim to provide answers rather than seek them. The truth is not a fish that can be caught. It is the ocean in which we swim. Is a gift not a gift if the giver is unknown?

The High Priest: You seek to tangle me in words.

Alpaurle: No, I seek to unravel you with them.

The High Priest: What, then, is the nature of a Gift?

Alpaurle: I will ask you this question: when a man rides a horse up a mountain, do we say that he has climbed the mountain?

The High Priest: Of course. That is obvious.

Alpaurle: And yet the man has done nothing. The horse has climbed the mountain.

The High Priest: Again, your words grow out of your mouth like weeds strangling the sunlight.

Alpaurle: But is this not exactly how we speak when we speak of the Gifts? Do we not say that Stilzho has turned water into beer, when what we really mean is that Stilzho's Gift of Elements has done this thing?

[A weak analogy here, Alpaurle's line of reasoning is supported more thoroughly in The Magus, Canto II, Verse 4.1

The High Priest: How can you say that the Gift and the man are separate?

Alpaurle: I speak the words, but you cannot hear them. What is the man? What is the Gift? If a man uses a Gift, then how can he also be the Gift?

The High Priest: A man may use his arm, but we do not say that the man and the arm are separate.

Alpaurle: No, you are correct. We do not say that. Let me ask you another question, since you are so wise in matters of the body. If a man's arm is cut off, he is still a man, is he not?

The High Priest: Of course. That is a foolish question.

Alpaurle: And by your reasoning, the severed arm is also a man. Am I correct?

[Alpaurle here has committed an error in logic, first noted by Raenia of Ves in the Fourteenth Stag in Lamb. The error is known as the false-converse nature of attributes.]

The High Priest: Anyone can see that what you say is false.

Alpaurle: And so is your suggestion that the man and the Gift are one.

The High Priest: Again you have tricked me with your quick tongue.

Alpaurle: You have tricked yourself, because I have only asked these questions of you for my own learning.

The High Priest: Fine, then man and Gift are not the same, as the followers of Aba have claimed. And yet do the Arcadians not speak falsely when they claim that the Gifts must be sanctified in their use?

Alpaurle: You must tell me the argument. Why do they claim the Gifts must be sanctified?

The High Priest: They claim that the Gifts are from Aba, and that whatever comes from Aba must be used to serve Aba.

Alpaurle: They claim also that Aba is the embodiment of the Good, do they not?

The High Priest: They do.

Alpaurle: Let us assume that they are correct for the moment.

{The remainder of the argument begs the question.}

If something contains only goodness, then nothing but good can issue from it, correct?

The High Priest: It seems obvious, but I suspect another trick.

Alpaurle: Then if the Gifts have come from Aba, must they not also be good?