"Not that we know of. But I fear ..."
"Then let us depart at once. I respect your forebod-
ings too well. You have more of the power upon you
than any other among the Fallen. For me, it is a great
strain even to assume a pleasing shape for more than a
few minutes ..."
"What powers I possess," said Yama, refilling her
teacup, "are intact because they were not of the same
order as yours."
He smiled then, showing even rows of long, brilliant
teeth. This smile caught at the edge of a scar upon his
left cheek and reached up to the comer of his eye. He
winked to put a period to it and continued, "Much of
my power is in the form of knowledge, which even the
Lords of Karma could not have wrested from me. The
power of most of the gods, however, is predicated upon
a special physiology, which they lose in part when
incarnated into a new body. The mind, somehow
remembering, after a time alters any body to a certain
extent, engendering a new homeostasis, permitting a
gradual return of power. Mine does return quickly,
though, and it is with me fully now. But even if it were
not, I have my knowledge to use as a weaponўand
that is a power."
Ratri sipped her tea. "Whatever its source, if your
power says move, then move we must. How soon?"
Yama opened a pouch of tobacco and rolled a ciga-
rette as he spoke. His dark, supple fingers, she noted,
always had about then: movement that which was like
the movements of one who played upon an instrument
of music.
24 ROGER ZELAZNY
"I should say let us not tarry here more than another
week or ten days. We must wean him from this coun-
tryside by then."
