Chapter 23:: The Visitor on the Couch

Like the rain about to come, the road to Laila’s house was full of possibilities. It had always been a fascinating path, lined with straggly bushes that seemed to sway to a music of their own on ordinary days. Today they danced like creatures possessed, flinging out branches and leaves in macabre thrusts and jerks. Him stood at the beginning of the bumpy road, wondering how it was done, the spell that made the road look different every time she ran down it. The potholes shifted places and the bumps re-arranged themselves in front of her as she watched them.

If we didn’t have to pretend we didn’t see the magic, she told her Tanhai, living in Ishtahar would be very entertaining.

It formed a little globule around her head to keep the flying leaves out. It isn’t any less entertaining now. It’s just the caution that takes the fun away.

Him screwed up her eyes and started walking forward easily, stepping in and out of the branches. I’ve changed my mind, she told the Tanhai. I hope Trismegistus is there today. I feel like asking him some questions. Maybe that will make him sit up and take notice of the fact that I can string five words together to form a sentence.

Trismegistus’ house was closer now, a pointed shadow hulking against a rocky seascape. If it weren’t for the fact that Ishtahar didn’t need any governing, Trismegistus would have been its chieftain. There was an air about him that hinted at something in between authority and depravity. His demeanour, while not exactly threatening, was suggestive of a self-imposed exile from thrilling adventures – he looked like he had survived many ordeals and battled many demons and yet wished to go back to the battling and surviving instead of being stuck in a hamlet with a wife for company. He also had a way of speaking to Him as if she were half-witted – as if her non-magical nature made her slow to understand words and instructions – which immediately made Him bristle inside, torn between amusement and annoyance.

As Him walked down the road, speaking to the Tanhai as usual – Why is no other house in the village situated at the end of a road like this? Why is it so far away from the rest of the houses? Why are the bushes shaped differently every time? - she noticed that Laila wasn’t there at her usual place on the porch, cutting and stringing up twigs and bunches with her scissors.

Probably the storm, she told the Tanhai. It’s not likely many people will be coming down to buy herbs at this time. Except us.

Except us, said the Tanhai gloomily as she reached up to the gnarled knocker. Shows how normal we are.

The door creaked open just as the storm hit the porch. Him felt it wet the back of her dress like a sudden cold hand laid across her body, and shivered. “Greetings, Laila. Mother asked me to get enough herbs for a fortnight so that I wouldn’t have to walk through later in a storm.” And she almost-smiled in spite of herself, expecting to see Laila’s grudging grin.

She met an angry glare and a grizzled beard, and groaned inside. Trismegistus!

"Forgive me, Trismegistus, I only wanted Laila to wrap up some – "

"Come in,” he said. Then slowly and clearly: “And-wipe-your-feet-on-the-mat.”

She ground her teeth and savagely kicked her heels into the sacking nailed to the floor. This storm had better be short, she told the Tanhai. I can’t stand much more of this any longer.

And you’ve only been here a minute. Go in already, do you want to get drenched?

She stepped inside, and gasped. Laid out on the couch in front of her was a mermaid, her hair trailing onto the floor. One hand rested feebly on her bare neck, as if feeling for a familiar ornament that had disappeared, and she looked a little green as she glanced up, having heard Him gasp. Her green eyes met Him’s and widened in surprise.

You can’t see it! Are you supposed to have seen a mermaid? Look away! Away! Her Tanhai suddenly wafted into a thin line behind her back.

Him tried to pretend that she had gasped because she was freezing, and looked elsewhere, relaying her thoughts to the Tanhai as fastly and as silently as she could. Is that how they look? Or is she sick? Maybe she’s green because she eats seaweed? What do I do?

Look down at your feet and pretend to check if they’re clean.

Trismegistus, who had been tending to the fire, straightened up. “Laila’s in the kitchen. She’s cooking, see? Cooking.” He pretended to stir something.

Him tried to smile. It’s not that hard to speak to children, she said silently. All Trismegistus saw her do was nod obediently.

“You can sit on that stool there. See? The little chair without a back. You can sit there. I don’t want the couch getting damp. Damp is bad for couches, you know? You can’t get them wet. That is a bad thing.

“Yes, Trismegistus, I know.”

He glanced at her indulgently. “Ah now, here’s Laila. Him’s come for herbs. Trust Saira to send her all the way on an afternoon like this.”

Laila put a bowl of soup down on the table, and stood by the couch frowning at Him.

“Greetings, Laila. I’m sorry if I bothered you.” Him tried to look at Laila with her trademark quiet stare, but was uncomfortably aware of the fact that the mermaid’s bluish-grey fin was inches from Laila’s gown. She could feel the Tanhai making itself smaller and smaller behind her back.

“Not at all, Him, not at all, why don’t you step into the kitchen, I’m sure it would be –"

And Laila paused, looking nervously down at the mermaid, and what she would have said next was lost in the sudden panicked whisper of the Tanhai in Him’s mind, and the sudden change in the mermaid’s face.

She’s smiling! And look at her eyes – Him looked, and realized what had changed. The eyes were now a deep, amused amber – Something bad is going to happen, I know it, something –

- bad is going to happen, finished Him in her mind, trying not to look at the mermaid as she opened her mouth, a beautiful curved scimitar splitting to show sharp, even teeth.

“Come now, Laila, why the farce? This child can see me. Oh yes, Trismegistus. You can close your mouth now. She can see me all right, and there is something silvery hiding behind her back. And in case you haven’t noticed, a black butterfly has been beating its wings against your window for the past one minute. Hadn’t you better let it in before the storm takes it?”

Now would be a good time for a dramatic flash of thunder, said the Tanhai miserably into the silence. Or one of your sighs. I could use one of your sighs. Things are going to happen now.

And they did.