"Well, 'twasn't all that difficult; not really."
"You mean because you enjoyed it yourself?"
"Well, yes, I s'pose so. Only he'd send for me and no one else, see? And then he used to get that worked up sometimes, it made me feel-well, made me feel I was good at it."
"Well, the Sacred Queen feels you probably are, too."
Maia, rolling over on the couch, stared up at her.
"She really takes an interest in nice, spirited girls," went on Ashaktis. "Of course, some of us aren't as young as
we were-that can't be helped. But I don't bear you any grudge, I assure you. All you've got to do is show her your talents-just as you did with Sencho."
Maia was about to reply when suddenly her earlier thoughts returned to her mind with force.
"Oh, saiyett-Ashaktis-there's something you've
"Now just calm yourself, child," said Ashaktis, putting her hands on Maia's shoulders. "You obviously haven't grasped what I've been telling you. Do you realize that by tomorrow morning you'll probably be able to ask favors of the queen herself?"
Before Maia could answer, the Deelguy bath-slave drew aside the door-curtains and, palm to forehead, announced "Saiyett, the Sacred Queen!"
Maia, looking frantically round for something to put on, could find only the towels on which she was lying; and with these she was still fumbling as Fornis entered the bathroom. It did not occur to her that some few days before she had stood naked beside the queen on the shore of the Barb.
On this occasion, however, Queen Fornis was less alarming. Indeed, not only her appearance but her whole manner was altogether different. There was nothing in the least imperious or daunting in the way she came up to Maia, took her by the hand and, smiling, drew her down to sit beside her on the couch.
Her hair, now gathered behind her head, like any village girl's, with a plain green ribbon, fell nearly to her waist, flaring out on either side almost like a cloak. She wore no jewels, the lacquer was gone from her nails and she was bare-footed. Her thin, white surcoat, belted with a green cord and buttoning down the front, was stitched from neck to hem with a pattern of flying dragons in minute, brilliantly-colored beads. Neither the material itself nor the beads were of any great value. All lay in the workmanship, which must have taken months to complete.
"Well, Maia," she said, smiling and speaking as to a guest, "you're looking much better now; and feeling better, too, I hope. Has Ashaktis been looking after you properly? I always seem to meet you when you've been
in the water, don't I? I didn't think that tunic thing you've been wearing was going to be much more use, so I've brought you a new robe. Are you ready to put it on?" Pulling aside the towel, she rubbed her hand up and down Maia's back from neck to thighs. "Oh, yes, you're quite dry enough. And you must be starving for some supper. As soon as you're ready we'll go and eat."
Thereupon she clapped her hands and two chubby little boys, about nine or ten years old, came in through the curtains, carrying between them a plain but very soft and finely-woven woolen robe of pale blue. Both children were exceptionally beautiful, with long hair falling over their bare shoulders, white, even teeth and the fair skin and blue eyes of Yeldashay. On their heads were crowns of scented, white tiare blossom, but otherwise they were naked.
"Aren't they lovely?" said the queen, as the two children, without a trace of self-consciousness, stood beside Maia and held up the robe for her to put on. "I only bought them a few weeks ago, but they're learning well. What is it you need-" seeing Maia glancing round the room-"a comb?"
"Well, yes, esta-saiyett-er-that's to say, if it's no trouble," faltered Maia.
"I'll do it for you, if you like," said the Queen, taking a heavy, carved comb which one of the little boys, without being told, at once brought to her from the shelved recess. "What beautiful hair! Is it your father's or your mother's?"
Maia, who was beginning to feel more relaxed, laughed. "Don't know, really, esta-saiyett. Reckon it's mine!"
"You needn't call me 'esta-saiyett' now," said Fornis, stroking her hair as she combed it. "What am I called, Shakti?"
Ashaktis smiled. "Folda. But Maia won't know what that means."
"What does it mean, Maia; do you know?"
"No, I don't, esta-sai-I mean, Folda."
"It's old Urtan for a hunting-knife. But your hair," she went on, working out a wet tangle with the comb. "You mean you've never had to curl it; not even with all that swimming in Lake Serrelind?"
"But did I ever tell you about swimming in the lake?" said Maia, confused. She looked up into the green eyes
and, as the queen's lips, prompting her, pouted to shape the word, added "Folda."
