“Isn’t that like gla,” the seated one said. The rest of the pod sighed and nodded in agreement. “Well, when we went into space, Jathery could follow along, and did, because it was with gla help that we’d got away, with wisdom and learning and tricks of technology and magic to reach between the stars. Some of us kept on calling on gla, so gla accompanied us to the new worlds. Sometimes gla helps. But there is always a high price. Gla is a trickster always. Most of us pray to be overlooked.”

“I still don’t understand,” Sokrates said. “You speak of wisdom and tricks as if they’re connected.”

“They are,” the kelp-gatherer said. “How to explain? Imagine a god standing on a mountain-top, on the edge of a cliff. Gla can see a long way, yes? But also, gla would fall if gla took a step forward. Maybe gla is paying attention to what’s right there, or maybe gla is looking way out ahead. And gla is laughing, and holding up a light, and however much gla tells us, gla never tells us everything. Gla calls us to follow. If we follow gla, well, maybe we fall off the cliff. Or maybe we learn to fly. Gla lures us forward, and gla laughs if we don’t learn fast enough and fall.”

“Gla can see, you understand, where it is dark to us,” Hilfa said. “And if gla tells us to do something, it is perhaps because gla can see, or perhaps because gla likes to trick us. That is how Jathery is always. We are right to be afraid.”

“Much of what gla has taught us is good,” the kelp-picker objected. “Gla likes power, yes, and enjoys playing tricks, and gla wants knowledge, but gla is concerned for us, not like other gods.”

One of his pod behind said something in Saeli.

“They want to go and tell Aroo that Jathery was here,” Hilfa said. “It is a good idea.”

“Aroo knows,” I said. “Well, I think she does. She saw gla in Thessaly when gla was disguised as Hermes.”

“She would have recognized gla,” Hilfa said. He said something long in Saeli, and the kelp-gatherers all nodded.

“We will go and talk to her, and to Afial, and tell them all that,” the sitting one said, getting to his feet. “And you can tell Sokrates anything else he needs to know.” The whole pod left, in silence.

Sokrates picked up his soup, though it must have been cold by now. He sipped it. “So on your planet-of-origin your gods interfere?” he asked.

“Not with everyone all the time, but a great deal, yes, from what I have heard,” Hilfa said. “And everyone lives in fear of them. Here we do not name them in case they hear and arrive. I don’t know if that could really happen or if it is an incorrect belief.”