Page 51 of Dark Destiny: The Turning Of The Loom

"You keep saying Mortdh's stronghold was in the north, but you also told me you escaped to the north."

She laughed, happy he remembered the details. "Not the same North. Mortdh's stronghold was a couple of weeks by caravan from our city. The North I escaped to would have taken months overland. I went all the way to lands where, in winter, it is dark nearly all the time, and in summer, it is light nearly all the time."

"That is truly North." He finished buttoning the shirt and leaned back, looking winded by the effort. "So, what did Toven do in the Americas?"

"I do not know all the details." She smiled. "But he accumulated his vast wealth during the time he spent there. If you ever hear talk of the old gods in this part of the Earth, the feathered ones and the ones who came from the sea, they might be referring to Toven."

Khiann nodded. "I will ask him about it at dinner. He must have fascinating stories to tell."

"He is not very forthcoming about that time in his life, so he might avoid the conversation." She pulled out a pair of gray slacks and handed them to Khiann.

"Why not?"

"He became disillusioned with humans. He wanted to do good, but they twisted his words and committed evil deeds in his name."

"Then I understand why he is disillusioned," Khiann said. "And why he does not want to talk about it."

He did not move to change his pants, and Annani wondered whether he was embarrassed to change in front of her because his legs still looked like sticks, or whether he simply lacked the energy to do so.

"Do you want me to call Ogidu to help you?"

He shook his head. "I just need a few more moments to gather my strength. Pants are the hardest part. What about Mia? Is she one of your descendants?"

"She is not." Annani sat down on the footstool. "Mia used to be human, and she and Toven met through the matchmaking machine."

He did not seem to know what she was talking about, and she did not know how to explain it in the old language. There were no words for what she needed to describe.

"The machine lets a person live an adventure without leaving a chair. You put on a helmet, and you close your eyes, and when you open them you are somewhere else, with someone that the machine paired you with, inside an adventure of your and your partner's design. I have not tried it, but I am told that it feels entirely real. Every sense is engaged."

Khiann frowned. "Now I remember. It is the magic machine. Gertrude told my men there is a machine in the village that can show them everything worth seeing without going anywhere. Ubhar said it sounded like magic."

"It is technology. It was invented by humans but improved by William, with substantial capital investment from Kian and Syssi, and later Toven."

He leaned forward, the slacks folded in his lap. "So, Mia and Toven shared an adventure?"

"They did. The machine was not originally built for sightseeing. It was built for matching, and it is even called Perfect Match. It puts two people together in a dream adventure so they can see whether they suit."

He considered her with the look he wore when things did not add up.

"How does a machine know who suits whom?"

"Every participant must answer a great many questions. Hundreds of them, perhaps even thousands. What they like and what they do not, what they fear, what they hope for in a partner, and even what their carnal preferences are."

His crooked half-smile made her heart speed up again.

"So, it is more like wish fulfillment."

"Yes, but because the machine reads everyone's wishes, it knows how to pair people so they fulfill each other's desires."

"Like the Fates."

She snorted. "The Fates are not about wish fulfillment. They weave destinies, and they use matchmaking to advance their own agenda."

"Sometimes the two coincide," he said.

"True. Toven signed up because he was lonely, and Mia was signed up by friends who wanted her to have an adventure. The machine paired them, and the Fates did the rest. It was not about fulfillment, because neither of them would have known to wish for what they received."

"Love?" Khiann asked.