Xone Of Contention Part 5

"I'm Monica," the girl said. She wore blue shorts and matching sneakers. She had large brown eyes, a turned up nose, and short brown hair.

But they were indeed cute. "Uh, haven't you gotten something confused?" Pia asked them.

The children looked at each other. Then they laughed together, and their clothing started to change. Soon he wore the shorts and she wore the dress Her hair also lengthened to support the red ribbon, while his shortened.

Edsel came out of his haze. "What happened?" he asked.

"A demoness smoked your eyeb.a.l.l.s," Breanna said. "Now we have a ch.o.r.e."

"Oh. yeah," he agreed vaguely.

"Let's explore!" Ted cried, das.h.i.+ng off. Monica followed.

"Stay on the path!" Breanna called after them.

Monica paused, looking back. "Why?"

"Because you're half human. If a dragon chomps you, you'll feel it. A dragon can't get you on the enchanted path."

The child made a cute moue. "Awww. okay."

"At least they will listen to reason," Pia said.

"For the moment. We'll have watch closely, though." The girl glanced at Pia. "Sorry about this. I tried to stop it. but-"

"But the men were idiots," Pia said. She liked Breanna better as she got to know her; she was just trying to do her job.

They followed the children.

"Hey, there's a B," Ted said, pointing.

"It's a rate," Monica agreed.

"What are they talking about?" Pia asked.

"The B's make the people they sting emotional," Justin explained. "A B-rate would make a person scold others."

Pia grimaced. "Sorry I asked."

"There's a Joy stick." Ted said, pointing to a little column beside the path.

"No, it's a Sad stick," Monica said. Indeed, the stick did look droopy.

They rushed on. losing interest, while the human party tried to keep up.

"Where are we going?" Pia asked Breanna.

"We thought you'd like to see some of the routine sights of Xanth Like a tangle tree, a dragon, a centaur-sort of starting out easy."

"That will do," Pia agreed. "Aren't some of those dangerous?"

"Not as long as we stay on the enchanted path."

"Suppose those little demons run off it?"

"That's one reason I didn't want them along. But probably they'll stay close. Otherwise Metria wouldn't have left them. She does care; she has half a soul."

"Half a soul?"

"Demons don't have souls, because they are souls," Breanna explained. "When you use your soul as a body, it gets degraded, and you lose its finer aspects. So they don't have much conscience, and they can't really love. But Metria got a taste of what souled life was like, and got a hankering, and finally married a mortal man and got half his soul. It's sort of a convention; a demon who marries a mortal can have the better half. Then she has a conscience, and can love, in a half-donkeyed way."

"But what of the man? Can he get along with only half a soul?"

"Oh, sure. It regenerates, in mortals. Not right away; I think it takes several months. But in time it will be whole again. It doesn't regenerate in demons, but for one of them, half a functioning soul is infinitely more than what they're used to, so they don't miss the rest."

"What about the little demons?"

"They're half human, so I think they have whole souls." The girl paused. "Though I've heard of a demoness losing her soul when she had a mortal child; the baby gets it. So I guess I'm not sure. Maybe the offspring have quarter souls."

Pia was curious. "Maybe we can find out. We can ask the children."

"Yeah." Breanna put two fingers to her mouth and whistled.

The children paused in their running. "We didn't do anything," Ted protested guiltily.

"For sure. I just want to ask you something."

They came back, somewhat warily. "Real people aren't supposed to lie," Monica said.

"I'm not lying." Breanna said. "But it seems that you've been into some mischief I should ask you about also."

"Oh, no!" Ted said. "Only one question."

"The first one," Monica agreed.

"I'll ask the second one," Pia said. She had never thought of having children herself, but was becoming intrigued.

"Awww," they said together.

"You are both half demons." Breanna said. "How much of a soul do you have?"

"Which one?" Ted asked.

"There's a difference?"

"For sure." Monica said, mimicking Breanna.

"Okay. How much does Ted have?"

"A quarter soul," the child responded. "Half of Mummy's."

"And how much does Monica have?'1 "A half soul. Half of Mother's."

Breanna pondered, then brightened. "I get it. You're each half human, but Ted has a human father and Monica has a human mother. So Ted shared a half soul, and Monica shared a whole soul. Nada Naga's soul must have regenerated after she gave half to Vore. before the stork arrived."

"Vore?" Pia asked.

"My daddy's Prince Demon Vore," Monica said proudly.

"D. Vore." Breanna murmured. "He has a notorious appet.i.te."

"So Monica has twice the conscience Ted does," Pia said.

The little girl scuffled her feet. "I can't help it, you know."

"You sure can't," Breanna agreed. "Give me a hug, you darling creature."

"Okay." Monica hugged her. Pia felt an unfamiliar twinge of envy. Not for the hug, so much as the joy Breanna evidently took in it. She evidently liked children.

"Ugh!" Ted said, looking disgusted.

"Now it's my turn," Pia said. "What mischief is making you two feel guilty?"

Ted turned to Monica. "See? You gave it away."

Monica tried to resist, but it was evident that her extra burden of conscience was too much. "We found something," she said reluctantly.

"What?" Pia asked.

"Nothing important," Ted said.

Pia looked at Monica.

"But fun," the girl said.

"That could be anything from a stink horn to a basilisk,." Breanna muttered.

"What's a stink horn?" Pia asked.

"I'll get one!" Ted cried, and dashed off.

"You don't want it," Breanna said. "Find out what they found."

"What is it?" Pia asked Monica.

The girl slowly extended one hand. In it was a small glistening object.

"Beware," Breanna murmured. "It could be something disgusting, like a slime ball."

"What is it?" Pia repeated, realizing that the warning was serious. She knew that regular children could have fun with bugs and goop, and these were half demon children, surely worse.

"A locket," Monica said grudgingly.

"Let me check it." Pia said.

The child handed it over. Pia inspected it. It was very light, only half an inch in diameter, on a silvery chain. She put her fingernail to the snap fastening.

"Caution." Breanna said.

Yes. "Is there something bad inside" Pia asked the child.

Monica scuffled again, trying to resist her conscience. "No."

Pia opened it. Indeed, it was empty. "So what's so special about it?"

The fight against conscience intensified. The child seemed ready to cry.

"Maybe some compromise," Breanna said. "Dear, why don't you want to tell us?"

"Because you'll take it and we won't have it."

"But it's not dangerous, to you or us?"

"Not," the girl agreed.

"Suppose we make you a deal. Tell us about it, and you can keep it."

"Okay!" Monica agreed gladly, holding out her hand.

Pia gave her the locket.

"It's magic," Monica said. "It holds all of anything."

"But it's tiny," Pia protested.

"I'll show you." The child grabbed a handful of dirt and poured it into the open locket. The dirt went in and disappeared. She picked up a stone that was triple the locket's diameter and crammed it in-and it fitted.

"How do you get the things out again, if they have disappeared inside it?" Pia asked.

"You just wish them out." the child explained. "And you can wish them in, too, so what you have already doesn't fall out when you want to add something. You don't have to open it."

Ted dashed back. "Here's the stink horn!" he called, holding out a horn-like object.

There was a terrible smell, like a festering zombie whale with ballooning indigestion. But Breanna saved the day: she grabbed the horn and shoved it into the locket. Then Monica flipped the lid shut. The smell dissipated.

"Awww," Ted said, disappointed.

"But we'll have the stink horn for when we need it," Monica told him.