“It was the first time I read it when I was in love,” said Danny. “The first time I read it with you. The first time I had some inkling of why it mattered.”

She nestled against him. Danny noticed how uncomfortable the bench was, and yet he didn’t want to leave it. Ever.

“Set wasn’t born,” said Danny. “He wasn’t trailing clouds of glory. He was thrown out. Evicted. Ejected. And the Sutahites went with him. Or maybe they were also tossed. But none of them ever formed the kind of bond that we have. With a body. Between inself and outself. Are the Sutahites really part of Set’s self? I don’t think there’s room in his ego to include anybody else. They obey him, because what else is there to do? But does that mean they’re bound to him?”

“What are you thinking?” said Pat. “That you can uncouple them from him? Like peeling cars from a locomotive in a trainyard? They’ve been together for thousands of years, Danny.”

“Some people become friends because there’s nobody else. They go along just so they can feel like they’re part of something larger than themselves.”

“Wheeler,” said Pat.

“Yes,” said Danny. “I think there’s more to him than meets the eye, but yes. The group tolerates him because you all know he’s got nowhere else to go, nobody else to eat lunch with or hang out with.”

“Pity?”

“He’s useful,” said Danny. “He may complain and slow everybody down, but it’s more fun because he’s there.”

“I’m not sure that idea would survive a poll of the group,” said Pat.

“I don’t care what everybody thinks they think of Wheeler. He’s part of the group. The bond is real. But it’s also breakable. Even if the group has been together a thousand years, it’s not like the bond between ka and ba. He can walk away. He can join another group.”

“So you think you can get the Sutahites to … change teams?”

“I’ve done that, or at least I’ve taken them off Set’s team. For a while. No, I’m talking about something more. They followed Set because they had nowhere else to go. They weren’t tied to anything. They weren’t part of anything, not even a molecule, an atom. Nothing. Alone. But what if I offered them a place? A bond?”

“How could you trust them?” asked Pat. “They’ve spent thousands of years trying to disrupt people’s lives, make everything worse and everybody unhappy. And you want to invite them in?”