He opened his eyes, glowered at the stream and the quivering reflection of a stubble-caked face staring down at him.

‘If I’m looking pained,’ he said harshly, ‘it’s because you’re talking.’

‘Feel free to leave. I don’t recall inviting you here, anyway.’

Denaos was no longer one singular voice, not so easy to ignore as he had once been. Rather, every noise that emanated from him was now a chorus: complaint followed by a loud slurping sound, an uncouth belch as punctuation and the sound of half a hollowed-out gourd landing in a growing pile of hollowed-out gourd halves to serve as pause between complaints.

He looked down at the young man and grinned, licking up the droplets soaked in his stubbled lip.

‘They can’t figure out the concept of clothing that keeps one’s stones from swaying in the breeze, but they can make some fine liquor.’ He held out the fruit-made-cup to Lenk. ‘You’re sureyou don’t want any?’

‘I’m sure I don’t know what it is,’ Lenk replied, rising up.

‘Drinking irresponsibly is a time-honoured tradition amongst my people.’

‘Humans?’

‘Drunks.’

‘Uh-huh. What’s it called?’

Denaos glanced to his left and cleared his throat. Squatting on stubby legs beside the stream, fishing pole in hand, the Owauku took one eye off of the lure bobbing in the water and rotated it slowly to regard the rogue with as much narrowed ire as one could manage with eyes the size of melons.

‘ Mangwo,’ he grunted, slowly sliding his eye back to the bobber.

‘And … what’s it made of?’ Lenk asked.

‘Well, now …’ Denaos took a swig, swished it about thoughtfully in his mouth. ‘I’d say it’s fermented something, blended with the finest I-don’t-want-to-know and aged for exactly who-gives-a-damn-you-stupid-tit.’ He smacked his lips. ‘Delicious.’

‘I suppose I should be pleased you’re making such good friends with the reptiles,’ Lenk said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Or do they just find your sliminess blends well with their own?’

‘Jhombi and I are getting on quite well, yes,’ the rogue replied as he plucked his own rod and line from the ground and cast it into the stream. ‘Probably because he barely understands a word of the human tongue and thusly isn’t as prone to be a whining silver-haired hamster.’ He grinned to the Owauku. ‘Am I not right, Jhombi?’

Jhombi grunted.

‘Man of few words,’ Denaos said. ‘Speaking of, I trust negotiations with Togu went well?’

Lenk stared blankly for a moment before clearing his throat.

‘Yes.’

‘So he’ll-’

‘ I said yes.’

‘Oh …’ The rogue blinked, taken aback. ‘Well, uh, good.’ He slurped up the rest of his drink and tossed it aside. ‘When do we leave, then?’

‘Tomorrow.’

‘Delightful.’

‘After the party.’

There was something unwholesome in Denaos’ grin.

Lenk growled. ‘I hate it when your eyes light up like that. It always means someone is about to get stabbed or molested.’

‘And yet, you have now inadvertently invited me to an event that is conducive to both.’ Denaos chuckled, shaking his head. ‘My gratitude will best be expressed in the generous offer that I will save you for last in either endeavour. How’s that sound, Jhombi?’

Jhombi grunted.

‘Jhombi agrees.’

‘How would you know?’

‘How would you?’

‘How is it that he can’t speak the tongue? Every creature on this island does.’ He glowered as a thought occurred to him. ‘Well, except for Hongwe.’

‘Who?’

‘Tall Gonwa, looked irritated and important.’

‘Ah.’ Denaos furrowed his brow. ‘They all look irritated, though. What made this one look important?’

‘Well, he had a satchel.’

‘A satchel, huh? I suppose that does count as sort of a status symbol amongst a people for whom the concept of pants is an incomprehensible technology.’ The rogue glanced at Lenk with worry on his face. ‘You negotiated all our terms, right? We’ve got pants?’

‘We’ve got pants, yes,’ Lenk said, nodding. ‘Kataria said-’

‘Kataria was there?’ Denaos asked, blanching.

‘She was, yeah.’ He glared at the rogue. ‘Why wouldn’t she be?’

‘Well, was there any trash to root around in? Filth to roll in? Perhaps a bone with a tiny piece of meat on it?’

Lenk’s neck stiffened. ‘I thought we settled this.’

‘Settled what?’

‘You talking about her like that.’

‘We did settle, but on different things. What yousettled with was a willingness to ignore the fact that a woman — called such only in theory, mind you — threatened to killyou.’

‘She saved my life.’

‘I’m not finished.’ The rogue pressed a thumb to his own chest. ‘ Isettled with the idea that I should cease trying to help a man intent on ignoring that this “woman” has fangs and that he wants them near tender areas.’

‘If she was planning on killing me, she would have done it already, wouldn’t she?’

‘So you’re honestly trying to rationalise your attraction to a woman a step above a beast with the excuse that she hasn’t killed you yet.’

‘I am.’

‘And nothing about that seems insane to you?’

‘Like you’ve never threatened to kill someone and not gone through with it.’

‘There’s no time limit on murder oaths.’

‘Point being, things change, don’t they?’ Lenk replied. ‘Oaths are forgotten-’

‘Delayed.’

‘Even so … things change. Things happen.’ Lenk stared at the stream intently, his mind drifting back to so many nights ago. ‘Something … something happened.’

Denaos cast a suspicious glare at the young man. ‘What kindof something?’

Lenk sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘It’s going to sound insane.’

‘Coming from you?’ the rogue gasped. ‘ No. Not the man who’s been spotted, on more than one occasion, talking to himself, yelling at nothing and possibly eating his own filth.’

‘I toldyou, I wasn’t eatingit, I was-’

‘ No!’ Denaos flung a hand up in warding. ‘Stop there, sir, for there is no end to that thought that will not make me want to punch you in the eye.’

‘Just listen-’

‘ No, sir. You’ve given me the excellent news that we are soon to be off and that we’re having a celebration tonight. My life is going exceedingly well right now. I have food, drink, and the comforting company of a surly green man-lizard. Tomorrow, I’m going to start heading back to a world where undergarments are not only invented but encouraged. I tried to talk you out of this deranged bestiality plot you’ve cooked up, and I defy you — defyyou, sir — to say anything to lure me back in.’

In the wake of the outburst, the stream burbled quietly. Neither Denaos nor Jhombi looked up from their lures. A long moment of silence passed as Lenk stared and then, with a gentle clear of his throat and two words, shattered it.

‘Eel tits.’

Denaos blinked twice, cringed once, then swiftly snapped his rod over his knee and sighed deeply.

‘Gods damn it.’ He plucked up one of the empty half-gourds and stalked to a nearby mossy rock, taking a seat. ‘All right … tell me.’

‘Well, it happened days ago, before Kataria found me with the Shen.’

‘Go on.’

‘I was in the forest and I was … hallucinating.’ Lenk stared at the earth, the images returning to his mind. ‘I felt a river cold as ice, I saw demons in trees, I … I …’ He turned a wild, worried stare upon Denaos. ‘I arguedwith a monkey.’

The rogue blinked. ‘Did you win?’

Lenk felt his brow grow heavy, his jaw clench. Something spoke inside his head.

‘ Not important.’

‘Not important,’ he growled. ‘I saw … Katariathere. She said things, tempted me and she peeled off her shirt and … eels.’

‘Eels.’

‘ Eels!’ Lenk shouted. ‘She was there, speaking to me, saying such things, telling me to stop-’

‘Stop what?’