In the buildings Nado planned and that Pippiath adorned with art, Sagin slyly suggested a Bower of Love's Mystery, which they could build and which Sagin would keep everdark, to build the excitement. Nado and Pippiath, suspecting nothing, built such a bower.

Then, Sagin came to his mother and said, "Nado my father is waiting at you at the Bower of Love's Mystery." Then he discretely withdrew.

He then went to Pippiath, and said, "Iader your wife left word that she would be waiting at the Bower...for you."

Then he went to Mayalaph, who was still young and did not understand the effect her presence had, and went and played with her in front of the Bower. He found her mere presence made him think passionately of Sashang. He knew those nearby would also be thinking with passion of their respective lovers. Seyhe had arrived at the bower first, and was waiting for her husband, Nado, in utter darkness.

Then Pippiath showed up, expecting to have his wife, Iader, waiting for him.

It is questionable whether Sagin wanted it to go as far as it did. Perhaps he expected them to say something, and discover their mistake, and their embarassment. But the near presence of Mayalaph hints that he wanted them totally compromised. The two wives and two husbands are of different physical types, and Nado was nothing like Pippiath in build, nor Seyhe like Iader. The two did discover their error...but too late, and Seyhe's scream of surprise and outrage caused Sagin to grin.

A child resulted from this unplanned union...and the Kaan that resulted decided to create his own form, unlike the rest of the Kaanho, one that would fly at will, and was firce in aspect. He shone of his own light, and was called Tuao, who would later become the sun-dragon. Hot he was, like fire, and in the delivering of him Seyhe suffered. But more suffering was her shame and embarassment.

Pippiath, for his part, though sorry it happened, and a little embarassed, did not take it too seriously, as was his wont. His wife, the lady Iader, also did not take it too far amiss, and indeed, when Seyhe delivered the young child, Iader begged to raise it as her own. She did not bear Seyhe nor her own husband any malice, and could not bear for the child to be raised by a mother who had born it unwillingly, and still felt bad about it.

Nado, Seyhe's husband, was extremely angry, and felt for Seyhe's pain. He went to C'Don. "Justice must be done, even though it is our own son. Pipiarth did not do anything wrong, he--the arch-Trickster-- was tricked! But Pipiath's tricks are gentle and amusing. Whereas Sagin's was cruel and brought a child into the world, and have humliated and distressed his mother."

"Agreed." C'Don clapped once, and all the Kaanho were suddenly before him, teleported from whatever they were doing.

"Sagin."

Sagin bowed, but there was a hint of mockery in it. He knew he had done wrong, but he did not like this public inquisition...

Then C'Don answered his thought. "Even if you don't like this sort of public display, others were affected by your thoughtless action. They deserve to be heard."

"Very well."

"Why did you do it?"

"I suffered shame and embarassment. Now I am in good company."

"Do you think it comparable? The shame of a passing moment, to a shadow tossed across the marriage of your parents, and a child born who would not have been?"

"You could have stopped it. You could have dissolved my shadows, you could have made the pregnancy not happen. Why did you consent to it, C'Don?"

"You mistake inaction for consent, I see. But then, if you would think, you would see that such an attitude would make all action my actions, all thoughts my thoughts. Do you want that fate for yourself, Nadoson? Shall I reduce you to a simpering sycophant of my thoughts, where you have no original thoughts again?" C'Don rose from his chair, and it seemed that he was suddenly larger than they, larger than the plain, barely large enough for the Greater World to hold. "You have that choice," boomed the voice of C'Don like the voice of Doom. "Either to become a puppet of my thought, or abide my decision. You have no third."

For the second time, a Kaan was afraid. And that Kaan was Sagin. "No! Let all else happen, but let Sagin remain...himself!"

"Then hear my decision. You are mighty in power, Sagin, as the Kaanho reckon power. You are clever, full of ideas, and well you should be. Sagin, you are at a crossroads. You can be mighty in my counsels, and a right hand in my actions. Or you can oppose me, and bring ruin to yourself and to countless others. Every one of my creations, unless you had freely accepted that doom I almost laid on you, is allowed to decide for themselves. Everyone has at least two choices within them, and can decide for themselves, free of my intereference, the way to go with their lives. You no less...nor more...than any other. Nor is any temptation given you...beyond your power to escape.

"Knowledge...rather than cleverness or power...seems to be your lack. The knowledge of where your decisions might lead, and who might be affected by them. I sentence you to aid Linfal, the mistress of wisdom. She is compiling a great library. You will aid her in all things, and hopefully in serving Wisdom, you will learn it. If not...we will talk again."

Then C'Don was of the same stature as themselves, and Sagin went away, frightened yet ashamed--not of his actions, but because he had to back down before anyone, even C'Don, and now serve another, not even C'Don. Yet knowledge was also power, he reflected.

Nado spoke with C'Don afterwards. "You run a risk, Creator. Where there is knowledge, cunning can turn it against one."

"Yes. When I said Sagin was at a crossroads, I meant it. He is deep in his own desires, Nado. The example of what ruin such thoughts can bring may snap him out of it, or may spur him to greater desires. It may happen either way. But if he is not exposed to such, he will definitley sink deeper in the road he is on. And only he can make that choice."

"Do you know what that choice will be?"

"Yes." C'Don stared across the lake Sonuria. "But it will be his own, either way."

Next Chapter.