Loaf put out a hand. “Don’t answer him, Rigg. If you have a suggestion, he’ll resent you for trying to boss him around. And if you don’t, he’ll complain that you think he has nothing to contribute.”

Loaf’s words stung, especially because a moment’s self-­examination told Umbo that this was precisely how he would have reacted to anything Rigg might have said.

“I’m the one who has something useful for Umbo to do,” said Loaf. “It’s time for me to go home to Leaky and show her what’s become of me. Give her a chance to decide what to make of my facemask, and whether I’m still the man she married.”

“What do I have to do with that?” asked Umbo. He hated the resentful sound of his own voice.

“If I have you with me, you can swear that it’s really me behind this mask,” said Loaf. “You can show that you accept me as myself, and by being there at all, you’ll prove I didn’t wander off and abandon you and Rigg—because if I come back without you, that’s what she’ll accuse me of.”

“It isn’t just your wife,” said Param. “What will all the other people in your town think of you?”

“They’ll think of me the way they think of burn victims who lived and are now covered with horrible scars,” said Loaf. “They’ll scream and run away for a while, and then, because I’m bigger than they are, I’ll beat the crap out of anybody who thinks they can drive me out of town, and then they’ll get used to me.”

“So you’re going to stay there,” said Param.

“Rigg and Umbo don’t need me,” said Loaf. “If they ever did.”

“We did,” said Rigg and Noxon at once.

“And even if we don’t need you on our particular errand,” said Noxon, “it doesn’t mean we don’t all need each other.”

“Even if nobody knows what they need me for,” said Umbo.

“I told you why I did, plus one more thing,” said Loaf. “I need you to take me back to Leaky just a few days after I left. The old lady’s not getting any younger. And if the reason we never had children was because some part of me malfunctioned, maybe the facemask healed me. If there’s a chance of having children, I don’t want to waste any time.”

“Very practical,” said Olivenko.

“Not to mention romantic,” said Param.

“Romance is for women who aren’t nearing the end of their child-bearing years,” said Loaf. “Leaky pretends she doesn’t care, but it kills her not to have children. I may not be pretty anymore, but she still is, and she can close her eyes.”