Rhiow actually took a step backwards in the blast of raw jealousy: it burned like a winter wind howling down Park Avenue.
You, she thought. The Lone Power always hated love, in whatever form. It would try to destroy it whenever It could, as sa'Rrahh had rebelled against her divine Dam's love in the beginning of things. That love was still waiting: but sa'Rrahh, for the most part, was unconcerned.
"It was you then," Rhiow said. "You were the one who let the first few microgatings through. You saw them, and you didn't do anything to stop them."
"I didn't see them!" the enraged voice yowled. "What kind of obsessive would read gating logs so carefully? Do you think I'm the kind of sad case you and your team are: do you think I don't have a life? By the time I noticed them, there had already been three or four. And I didn't think much of it. All gates have these sporadic faults; they go away if you don't try to micromanage them. But then it started happening regularly. The problem went chronic. Even then it still wouldn't really have been a problem: I could have explained it, we could have cleared it up. But then the Ravens noticed – what business was it of theirs? – and they told the Powers, and the Powers called you in. As if it was any of your business either! And after that, how could I let Huff see the gate logs, or let him know I knew anything about what had been going on? He wouldn't have understood why I didn't do anything sooner. You have no idea the kind of fuss he would make. And I couldn't let him know that I'd seen the earlier ones – "
Huff was still standing there silent and astonished at all this. "So you tampered with the logs," Urruah said. "Right down to the end. And I thought I was an expert." He put his whiskers forward, ironic. "My compliments."
"You think you're such a great one, you," Auhlae sneered. The voice in the darkness was getting softer, more venemous: but the eyes seemed larger, somehow. "Urruah, the conqueror of every heart. I didn't want you!"
"I didn't want you," he said, rather mildly.
There was a breath's pause of sheer disbelief, and then a scream. "You did! You did!! How could you not want me, when Huff did!"
"Auhlae," Rhiow said softly, "Huff didn't care whether other toms wanted you or not. He wanted you. That was more than enough for him. Don't you see that even now?"
"As if you know anything about him, or me," Auhlae hissed. "I know why you came. One failure and that's it, isn't it? And They were glad enough to give you an excuse to move in. No forgiveness from Their high and mighty quarter, oh no! They were all too glad for you to lever me out of my place with my team, and take my spot. And take Huff. Well, it's not going to happen. I found help where I least expected it."
The eyes were larger. He will never find out, the voice said now, Auhlae's voice … but not quite so much so any more. Everything will be the way it was again. When all of you are dead, or gone, or lost in backtime … everything will be fine here.
"For a while, Auhlae," said Rhiow desperately. There may still be a chance to call her back, just a chance … "Only for a while. All you can imagine is you and Huff, happy together … no matter what the price. But sa'Rrahh will brook no rivals. Her only love is destruction … like the one she's planning now. You can still oust her if you try: she cannot live in the unwilling heart, any more than wizardry can – "
The laughter from away down in the darkness was deafening.
Rhiow stood up straight, though she was shaking. "Fairest and Fallen," she said, "greeting and defiance, now and always!" It was the language which the protocol required: there was no need to be rude to the Lone One, no matter what might follow. "State your intentions: and then beware, for we are on the Queen's errantry, and you meddle with Her worlds at your peril!"
The laughter came again. I meddle with them as I please, said the Lone Power, said sa'Rrahh, out of the middle of the darkness and Auhlae's surrendered body. It is when others meddle that the peril begins. You have deprived Me of My darkness, long planned, and of the cold that would have fallen a hundred years ago. Very well: you have chosen. Instead that darkness shall fall now.
