From the corner of his eye, Mauvis caught the movement of a lithe figure in a swath of pink, moving gracefully past a connecting hallway. Kyril. What in Earth was she doing about at this hour? It wasn't like she had any interest in tiling. And King's mistress or not, she had no business walking about in her flimsy nightdress like that. She could at least conduct herself with some dignity and dress properly before allowing herself to be seen. Mauvis schooled himself to be patient and started after her. He would speak to her slowly and gently, which always resulted in less confused twitching of her expression, and explain to her that she had to get dressed first before leaving the bedchambers.
     She was at the end of the hallway by the time he had passed through the connecting tunnel. There weren't any skylights in this section and the lamps hadn't been relit, so it was still quite dim, but he could see her clearly enough.
     "Kyril!" he called out to her. She either didn't hear him, or hadn't figured out yet that she was supposed to answer when called, and continued on her way. Mauvis jogged after her. She had gone to the water reservoir, and was sitting on the edge of the glass cover, staring down into the swirling pool. What, had she decided to pray like the Yrati now? Actually, where were the Yrati? There were usually a few of them sitting here at all hours, getting themselves mesmerised by the churning of the water. It just made     Mauvis nauseous, but then it took all types.
     He was about to speak her name again when she suddenly moved in that cat-like way of hers, scooped up an empty bucket and with a deft twist of a faucet, filled it with water before disappearing down one of the recessed tunnels. How did she always make mundane things seem like a painstakingly choreographed dance when she was so mentally challenged? And what did she need a bucket of water for? Maybe she was going to bathe in public again.
     "Kyril!" he called and stepped up onto the wall of the pool to see which corridor she had gone through. He hoped she wasn't headed towards the breakfast hall dressed like that. A cold breeze came down through one of the tunnels off to the side. Mauvis leaned over, careful to not slip onto the weak part of the glass water cover, and peered into the side corridor. There was pale morning light at the end of it, which opened to the surface. That old warning feeling suddenly hit him in the gut, and then it was gone. Had he imagined it? He jumped down and strode into the tunnel, beginning to worry. Vladdir hadn't been afflicted in his sleep by the purple venom since the end of the war with the Aragoths. Was Kyril touched by it? Would she re-poison Vladdir with the Desert's hunger? But why now, in the morning, when Alekseidir was always drawn to the surface at night?
     The sandy colour of the Desert light was as warm as the wind was cold. Mauvis pushed his brown curls out of his face as he stepped out onto the surface, looking around for Kyril. A trail of shallow-pitted footsteps indicated where she had gone. He followed them and saw that she had walked over a dune and down in front of a small cliff, perhaps 4 or 5 metres below where Mauvis stood. The ground there was flat plains rock, pushed into slabs along one edge of the depression, forming a natural staircase.
     Kyril was kneeling with the bucket in front of her. She was muttering something about water coming. Mauvis shook his head and squatted at the top of the cliff, trying to hear her more clearly. She was making no sense. After a few moments she started picking up the bucket and tapping the bottom of it against the rock. Then she began to slam it down so that the water splashed out of it. Was she trying to break it?
     "Water come!"
     The wind rose suddenly, forcing Mauvis to blink against the grit carried with it, and he rubbed his eyes in disbelief as water came. The bucket bubbled and overflowed with clear waves, rapidly spilling over the rock and filling the depression where Kyril sat so that it became a small pool. She tilted her head back and raised her arms to the sky, smiling with what looked like immense relief. A small hurricane seemed to be building around her, whipping dark hair across her face and arms. She began singing some strange, wordless song, perhaps more howling than singing. The veins in her arms turned dark green beneath her skin, as though some dark liquid was suddenly flowing through them.
     Oh Earth! This was magic. Mauvis got up and ran down the rock steps until he teetered at the edge of the pool in front of Kyril.
     "Kyril! Come out of there at once!"
     The air immediately fell still. She lowered her chin to look at him, and he saw that her eyes were swimming with green venom. Her mouth was also filled with it.
     "Why are you here, Mauvis?" she asked, green spilling from her lips. She moved to the edge of the pool, retreating when he tried to grab her arm.
     "Get out of there!"
     "Why?"
     "Just what do you think you're doing?"
     "I . . ." She tilted her head in that way of hers which indicated confusion. She looked at him expectantly like she had fully explained herself and was waiting for his response.
     "Look, if you're going to stay with Vladdir, there are certain boundaries of acceptable behaviour that you're just going to have to observe. You can . . . bathe properly underground! Like everyone else."
     "I eat."
     "What?"
     "Here water, and Earth, and light. Eating."
     Mauvis crouched down and let himself flop into a sitting position as the realisation hit him. Kyril did put food in her mouth to please Vladdir, but she really didn't take much. Maybe Aragoths weren't human, but were some sort of Desert construct. Maybe Vladdir had fallen in love with some paper woman who could disintegrate at any moment. She was only meant to live long enough to finish the war – she had no other purpose.
     "Why are you upset?" she asked. "Usually you are only angry about blood ritual. Water is . . ." Again the confusion. "Purifying."
     "How often do you do this?"
     "I don't know."
     "How can you not know? Did you do it yesterday? Are you going to do this tomorrow? Next week?"
     "Your question has to do with . . . time?"
     "It seems my question is pointless."
     "You are frustrated with me because I do not think."
     Despite himself, Mauvis laughed.
     "Vladdir fills my mind." She paused for a long moment. "That's all."
     "What exactly are you, Kyril?"
     This question apparently caused extreme confusion and agitation. Kyril's head jerked as she tried to pull thoughts from it. Her eyes cleared and she stood up from the water. Mauvis sighed with exasperation on seeing how her wet nightshift clung to her. He took off his jacket, regretting that the lining would get wet and wrapped it around Kyril's shoulders as she sat at the edge of the pool. The water began to drain away.