"Swing at me," said Aiko.

"What?"

"Swing at me," she repeated. "Cleave me in two."

"Lady, I will not."

"If you expect to learn, if you want me to be your mentor, you must do as I say. Now swing at me and fear not, for I will evade."

Gritting his teeth, Burel took a half-hearted cut through the air.

Aiko easily stepped away. Shaking her head, she sheathed her dagger. "You do not want to learn." She started to turn away.

"But I do want to learn," said Burel through gritted teeth. "I just don't wish to kill my teacher."

Aiko faced him and captured his gaze with her own. "Then you must trust me." Again she drew her dagger.

Taking a deep breath, Burel stood long moments staring at her. Then he hefted his sword, and this time the blade hummed as it cut through the air and past Aiko, and viper quick she stepped in and tapped his neck with the flat of her steel as the two-handed blade carried onward.

"Dead man," she said, resheathing her dagger. And in that moment the sun burst over the lip of the scarlet basin, shedding its golden light down and in.

On the bed pad in their acolyte cell, alone for the first time in weeks, Arin and Egil, lost in one another, made gentle love again.

In an adjacent cell, Ferret sat with her back to the wall, her head in her hands, wondering at this inchoate feeling deep inside her, wondering what to do.

In his own cell, Delon fingered his amulet in reverie. Ah, Ferai, my sweet Ferai, I've sung about amour all my life, yet I've never known its touch. Is this what it's like? Am I truly in love?

On his pad in yet another acolyte cell, Alos snored away, the oldster weary from the long trip. Too, he was weary from being startled awake in the mid of night by the howl of the demon horn, and, shrieking, had started to scramble beneath his bedding ere he remembered that it was but a bellows-driven chambered contraption. The oldster had shouted into the hallway about not being able to get any sleep and how could they do such a thing to their guests? But moments later he was snoring again.

In the nave, priestesses of Ilsitt gathered together 'round the circle set in the floor to sing sunrise matins, their sweet songs drifting throughout the corridors and chambers of the convent and across the red basin as well, as the women sang praises to Ilsitt, to Elwydd, to Shailene, to Megami, to the Lady, whatever her name. And they pled for good harvest, for contentment, for peace.

And out on the scarlet flat, Aiko slow-stepped Burel through a deadly dance of the sword.

It was nearly midmorn when they gathered together to break their fast. "Abbess Mayam is in the far field, but she said she would join you at the noon meal," said Jasmine as she served tea and spooned a small portion of oatmeal into bowls to stave off their hunger till then.

Side by side, Egil and Arin eagerly dug into their porridge, as if they relished the day. Alos, though, seemed yet weary, and he stirred the contents of his bowl as if too exhausted to eat, though he drank his tea well enough. Delon took seat next to Ferret, the bard smiling somewhat shyly, which she returned in like kind. Burel and Aiko, their hair plastered down with sweat, commandeered one end of the table, the two yet in deep discussion about the particular ways of fending as well as means of getting through, their tea and oatmeal ignored. Finally, Aiko looked across at him and said, "Eat up, and when we are done, I will show you just what I mean." Burel, eager to learn, spooned in great mouthfuls of the boiled meal, for the sooner finished, the sooner he and Aiko could resume. But Aiko ate slowly and carefully, as if the rite of taking in food was as important as aught else.

Looking at her porridge in dismay, Ferret said, "Well, Dara, if Burel, here, turns out to be the cursed keeper of faith in the maze, then it's time to go after the treasure."

Burel, his full spoon halfway to his mouth, paused and looked at her. "Treasure?"

"The green stone."

"Ah."

"It should be worth a fortune, you know. -To the right buyer, that is."

Arin said, "Ferai, I think it no treasure, but a thing we must give over to the Mages-in Black Mountain or in the college at Rwn."

Without replying, Ferret returned to her oatmeal, but Burel said, "What is it again that the rede named it?"

Arin sighed. "The Jaded Soul."

Delon began tapping the table with his spoon, and as he did so he chanted:

"The Cat Who Fell from Grace;

One-Eye in Dark Water;

Mad Monarch's Rutting Peacock;

The Ferret in the High King's Cage;

Cursed Keeper of Faith in the Maze:

Take these with thee,

No more,

No less,

Else thou wilt fail

To find the Jaded Soul."

Burel nodded, then leaned back. "And what do you think the rede means when it calls the green stone a 'Jaded Soul'?"

Arin shrugged, but Alos said, "Huah, Burel, I would have thought you'd know."

"Me?"

"Yes. I mean, given that you're here in the temple and all, you should know about souls."

Burel smiled and shrugged.

Aiko said, "If some of the priests of Ryodo are to be believed, perhaps it is a soul in waiting. They hold that the souls of the departed are reborn right here in this world."

Ferret looked at the Ryodoan. "Reborn?"

"Not that I deem it to be true," said Aiko.

"Say on," urged Burel.

Aiko sighed. "They believe every living thing has a soul, be it a lowly worm or a butterfly or a fish, an eagle, or person, or-"

"What about plants?" asked Ferret.

Aiko shook her head. "I think not."

Egil glanced at Arin. "Not even the eldwood trees?"

Aiko shrugged. "I cannot say. It is not my credo and so I have not studied it closely."

Burel leaned forward in his chair. "Go on, Lady Aiko. I would hear what you do have to say. What happens to these souls?"

Aiko graced him with one of her rare smiles. "A given soul, let us say, your soul-with each death and rebirth- will progress into higher and higher forms, until it reaches personhood. Then, no matter how mean your status, if you live an honorable life, you will come back in a higher state. But if you live in dishonor, your status will be lower upon rebirth. Why, given enough dishonor you may even come back as a worm… or worse."

"Oh, my," sissed Delon. "I'd better watch out."

But Burel looked at Aiko intently. "What if a person, what if I live in great honor upon each rebirth and never fall back?"

"Then you will ultimately be raised to Paradise. I am told it is the last elevation, that the cycle is complete. They say this is the true purpose in life: to learn, to grow, to evolve throughout the cycle of many lifetimes to ultimately attain Paradise."

"And many believe this?"

She nodded. "In Ryodo, yes. As for me, I do not believe in souls and an afterlife."

They ate in silence for a while, and then Delon said, "Tell me, Aiko, if dead is dead and there is nothing after, then what does it matter what we do in this life. Why not just grab all we can get no matter what it does to others? I mean, if nothing comes after we die-no rewards, no punishments, no rebirths into higher or lower states-then why not simply do as we will?"

Ferret looked at Delon. "You mean…?"

"I mean rape, steal, rob, take what we want. It doesn't matter in the long run."

Ferret looked away, as if unable to meet his gaze, but Aiko said, "There is no honor in what you suggest."