“You cheat us,” Hilfa said, from behind me, sounding panicked. “You take all and give nothing. We appease you and pray that you will pass us by.”

Sokrates, who was the only one facing us, noticed what was happening. He excused himself from his conversation and came over and heard Hilfa’s last words as he joined us. “Are you discussing what makes the Saeli gods different from our gods?” he asked. “I’m also interested to know the answer.”

“It is culture, and patterns of worship,” Jathery said, dismissively. “There are gods on Earth that are more like me than like your gods. And there are other Saeli pantheons that are perhaps more like yours. It is style.”

“But you’re the same kind of being as our gods?” Sokrates persisted.

“Yes.”

“And even among aliens that are much stranger than humans and Saeli, like the Amarathi, the gods are all the same kind of being?”

“Yes.” Jathery looked around, then resigned glaself to answering Sokrates. “Though the Amarathi evolved as tree-like beings whose language was chemical, they have souls like yours, and their gods are like all gods. We are all children of the One Parent.”

“Fascinating,” Sokrates said. “And do the Saeli gods take care of their worshippers?”

“Yes,” Jathery said, flatly, like Hilfa.

“And you’re in charge of wisdom, is that right?” Sokrates asked. I took a cautious step away, drawing Hilfa with me. “What responsibilities do you have?”

“We each have responsibility in certain spheres.” I took another step back.

“But I believe they are divided up differently among your pantheon? How did that come to be?” Sokrates looked politely interested. Jathery’s face was unreadable.

“We each have five things,” Jathery said.

“And is five a significant number among the Saeli?”

“Yes.”

“And how is it that you are the only Saeli god to have left the Saeli planet?” Sokrates asked, persistently.

Hilfa and I retreated back into the fountain room. The black and white tiles and shining silver faucets seemed very welcoming. I swallowed all the wine in my cup in one gulp and set it down on the window sill. “Sokrates is wonderful,” I said.

“It is only a respite,” Hilfa said. His markings had faded to almost nothing and he was rocking a little.

“Jathery is incredibly intimidating even when gla doesn’t do anything but stand there, and gla voice is very persuasive. But you said yesterday that gla wasn’t too bad. What specifically are you afraid of?” I asked.