The very spores that keep the population in thrall also undertake many beneficial tasks. For example, Ambergris has stayed relatively disease-free throughout its history, with no documented plague as has occurred in Stockton and Morrow. Whether intentional or not, these benefits should not be overlooked.

Mary skewered this idea, writing in a subsequent issue, “Does the absence of disease lead one to the immediate conclusion that some force other than common sense and hand-washing is protecting us?” (I am ashamed to admit that her letter to the editor, in response to my own, sent a little thrill down my spine. I know she wasn’t responding to me personally, but it was still direct communication of a kind.)

“It all sounded so logical in her book,” Duncan complained to me as we looked down at Trillian Square from his apartment window. Below us, M&P and the rest of the tourists were milling about, not sure what to do. “It doesn’t matter that her proof is as insubstantial as mine.”

“Yes,” I said, “but can’t you provide proof, Duncan? Can’t you do something?”

“How? With another article for AFTOIS? All the mentions in the world in Mary’s books do me no good. I’m offered a few interview opportunities, but only if I play the role of clown or eccentric. Anything I said to them would be tainted and instantly discounted. Better not to speak at all.”

Earlier, I had sighed and turned back to Mortar and Pestle.

“You’re right. I wasn’t joking,” I said. “Duncan is my brother. So I’ll let him know what you said next time I see him. Now can we—”

“And give him this letter,” Pestle said, pulling a sealed envelope out of her pocket and handing it to me.

I took it from her as if she had given me a dead fish. What further surprises could the day hold? How patient should I be? It was difficult not to see them, on some level, as Sabon’s personal emissaries, sent to torment me.

“… and give him your letter,” I continued, lying. I threw it away, unread, at the first opportunity. “But I have a favor to ask in return. I need you to relay a message for me.”

That surprised them, but Mortar nodded and said, “That only seems fair.”

The main appeal of Nativism to Ambergrisians was that it freed them from any responsibility to think about or do anything about the gray caps, while reassuring them that this was the most responsible thing they could do. And, in my opinion—I can already hear the howls of outrage, but I am unmoved—it absolved Ambergrisians from any guilt over the massacre perpetrated by Manzikert I.

“Not to mention that it saved them from having to worry about another Silence,” Duncan said. M&P had disappeared from view. The square below was relatively quiet.

“Not to mention,” I said.