Anonoei smiled and shook her head. It took only a moment to reappear where she had been nursing moments before. The women attending her hadn’t even noticed she was gone. “Ladies, I need to be alone for a while. Please go.”

The women graciously arose and left the room. Then Anonoei gated back to the doorless room where her sons were waiting.

“I’m glad to see you,” said Anonoei. “Always. And this is your brother, Jib. That’s just his temporary name, until we can work out something dynastic.”

Enopp gave the baby a tiny wave. Enopp’s eyes never left Anonoei’s face.

“I’m assuming,” said Anonoei, “that something is wrong.”

“The monster has left Danny North and now it’s in Hermia,” said Enopp. “She can’t control it at all, so it’s controlling her. What are you going to do about it?”

Anonoei had no answer. She realized that the baby was getting frustrated because her left breast was apparently near empty. Anonoei changed sides as she thought about Enopp’s question. “I’m trying to think why you think I’m going to do anything at all. Do you think Set is susceptible to my poor powers as a manmage?”

“The way Pat separated us,” said Eluik. “Can’t you get Set out of Hermia?”

“I suppose I might—exactly the way Hermia got Set out of Danny.”

“No, don’t let him into you,” said Enopp.

“Nobody expels Set, you just offer him a new place to live,” said Anonoei. “And the less I see of Hermia, the better.”

“You lived inside somebody,” said Eluik. “Helpless to make the body do what you wanted.”

“And Enopp was inside you, Eluik, and neither of you realized that was what was happening. So why aren’t you the experts?”

Eluik shook his head. “We’re children. We don’t just solve problems that have adults stymied.”

“We know that killing Hermia won’t do any good,” said Enopp. “Set would only jump to somebody else.”

“That’s the advantage I had,” said Anonoei. I was the manmage, the visitor. But Hermia’s the host, and she can’t leave her own flesh. Set’s got control. So help her get control. You did it, help her do it. “Bexoi was ready to die,” said Anonoei aloud. “And still, expelling her was something I couldn’t do on my own.”

“You can still help Hermia get control of her body,” said Eluik. “Can’t you? Show her how?”

“It’s not that easy,” said Anonoei.

“But it is,” said Enopp. “Pat showed us what to do, and now we know how.”

“Then you show Hermia.”

“Earlier point again,” said Enopp. “I’m a child.”

“Showing Hermia is the same as showing Set,” said Eluik.