Part 29 (1/2)
”Gourd style!” the parody called.
”No!” Goody said, alarmed.
Now Gwenny laughed. ”So you have run afoul of that. I promise not to kiss you. But I am sincerely sorry to have reminded you of your pain.”
”Well, you couldn't help it.”
”Yes, I could. I had no business prying into your past.”
”That wasn't it. I-” But he stalled out.
”It wasn't? Then tell me what was was it, so I can avoid doing it again.” it, so I can avoid doing it again.”
”That's not possible. Please, I'd rather not.”
She gazed at him with big black eyes. ”Goody, if we are to work together, we must understand how not to give each other offense. What did I do?”
There was no help for it. ”It's what you are. A gobliness. You can't help reminding me of Go-Go.”
She considered. ”Let's swim out beyond the range of that bird so we can have some privacy.”
”There's no need.”
”Yes, there is. Come.” She glanced at Hannah, and set out for the far side of the river.
Goody had to follow. Hannah remained behind, giving them privacy.
They reached the shallows of the other bank, and sat in the water. He tried not to notice her pretty knees as they poked through the surface, or the rest of her translucently shrouded body. All female goblins were pretty, but she seemed more than pretty, now that she was out of her dull work clothes. Probably it was just his imagination.
”Now tell me. What is there about me that reminds you of Go-Go?”
It remained supremely awkward. ”I-I don't want to bore you with a long explanation that seems foolish.”
”Bore me.”
She was certainly a.s.sertive. ”I-you may have noticed that I'm polite. You have been too polite yourself to remark on it, but I'm sure it turns you off. That's the way goblinesses feel about non-abusive males. Of course they don't say so, but they do stay clear. So I have had little experience with them.”
He paused, but she merely gazed at him, her black hair framing her face and disappearing into the water, where it tended to float. Go-Go's hair had done that.
”So no gobliness was interested in me. But Go-Go had the curse, so no goblin was interested in her. So she compromised and accepted me. And-” He choked off.
”And it became love,” she said. ”A marriage of convenience that worked out.”
”Yes. I loved her, and believe she loved me. So I have been with no other gobliness. Except you, now. So you remind me of her simply because you are female and you are close. You can't help it, and I can't help it. We hardly know each other, and it's just a business a.s.sociation, but that's the way it is. I am-inevitably attracted, despite knowing better.”
She nodded. ”Now I understand. Thank you for clarifying that.”
”Thank you for understanding.”
”Don't thank me yet. I fear I must make it worse. I did not expect to be so candid so soon, but I see I must.”
”You don't have to explain anything to me. I know you don't like-”
”Be quiet, Goody. I do have to explain, and in the process perhaps hurt you, but I see now that it is better done at the outset. Three things, positive or negative depending how you see them. First, I am not turned off by your politeness. I spent years of my young life living with a centaur family and Jenny Elf, and I came to appreciate politeness and courtesy. In fact I rather lost my taste for the opposite. It repels me. This is surely why Che and Cynthia believe I could work with you. I am not like most goblin females.”
He was amazed. ”Then-”
She lifted a hand from the water and touched his lips, silencing him. ”And I have liabilities of my own that could have meant my death as a child had they been known. Perhaps the centaurs mentioned them.”
”They did. Your vision, and lameness. Though you do not look as if you suffer from either.”
”I use contact lenses so I can see well, and my knee has healed with time and treatment so that nothing is visible. Only if I walk more than a short distance, or try to run or dance, does my limp manifest. But the point is, I understand about liabilities, and would not condemn yours even if I liked foul mouths. So in that way I resemble your wife.”
Goody opened his mouth, but she silenced him again. ”Which is why I must say at the outset that our relations.h.i.+p is and must remain purely business. I am under a kind of curse that limits my marital prospects. It is one reason I remain unmarried.” She paused, taking several breaths, which caused the water to ripple delicately in front of her. ”So do not get interested in me in any social manner, because even if I liked you in that way, there could be no future in it. We can be friends, nothing more.”
Goody had to smile, ruefully. ”As with any goblin girl, in effect.”
”Yes. It is ironic, because you are the type I could like, and I expect our a.s.sociation to be pleasant. Your loyalty to your wife is a social a.s.set, not a liability. But it will end when the mission is done. Just as will your a.s.sociation with Hannah Barbarian.”
It was a nice parallel, for he respected and liked Hannah, and recognized her female qualities, but there was no question of romance. ”I appreciate your straightforwardness. I much prefer that to avoidance of the issue.”
”I learned straightforwardness from the centaurs, along with things like reading and archery. But when dealing with other goblins we shall have to practice some deception. I regard this as an aspect of a war mission.”
”Yes. That's why I'll carry the parody on my shoulder, and let you present the case.”
”In other matters I prefer candor and clarity. If there are things I conceal from you, it is because that seems a necessary policy.”
”Of course.”
”And there are are things.” things.”
”I understand.”
”Then let's rejoin the others.” She oriented on the other sh.o.r.e, wading to deeper water. He followed. ”Oh-I would like, if possible, to defuse the bird's remarks, or turn them to advantage. Therefore it may be better if it a.s.sumes that we do have a secret social relations.h.i.+p.”
”But it would tease us unmercifully.”
”Exactly. Instead of saying things that could prejudice our mission. So I apologize, but feel I must do this.”
”I don't understand.”
She moved into him, face to face, and kissed him on the mouth. It was shockingly sweet. He was highly conscious of her bare body momentarily against his. Then she broke, turned her head as if only then aware of the watching bird, and pushed quickly away from him.
Oh. The show was for the parody, and its blabbing beak. Gwenny was no tease, just doing what she felt necessary. The fact that it nearly knocked him out was incidental.
They swam back across the river. ”Ooo, you naughties!” the peeve exclaimed as they came within range. ”And what went on under under the water?” the water?”
Goody felt himself blus.h.i.+ng, and saw that Gwenny was blus.h.i.+ng too. He knew hers was forced, but his was real. Neither answered the taunt verbally, and none of the others commented. Probably Hannah thought they were fools for kissing when the bird could see them.
They waded out of the water. Hannah had two towels for them. They dried and dressed, encouraged by the continuing j.a.pes of the parody, still not responding to it.