jhegaala steven brust Part One egg Incubation time is short—eight or nine days—during which the egg is vulnerable. While themother is able to protect the eggs after completing her metamorphosis see Chapter 19 thatstill leaves between thirty-five and forty hours during which the eggs would be entirelywithout protection were it not for the help of a male who has undergone his ownmetamorphosis after fertilizing the eggs see Chapter 18 and now returns as it were tostand guard while the mother is helpless as will be covered in more detail during thediscussion of the levidopt. It must be stressed that it is not in particular the father who returns to guard the eggs but rather the first unattached male levidopt to pass within fifty feet or so of the transforming mother. Exactly how the male levidopt finds the eggs… —Oscaani: Fauna of the Middle South: A Brief Survey Volume 6 Chapter 15 prologue Lefitt: But my dear what does it do Boraan: Why nothing of course. It just lies there. Thats the beauty of it. — Miersen Six Parts Water Day One Act II Scene 4 There is a place in the mountain called Saestara where according to the locals you can lookeast and see the past and look west and see the future. I suppose it has its origins in somemigration in pre-history or some invasion or some mystical rubbish built of thin air—plentyof that in the mountains at any rate. I dont know but the locals seem to believe it. And if its true I was going backward. Looking west I remembered lots of painful scrabblingup paths that were made by and for mountain goats looking east I foresaw more of the samegoing down. Some distance behind me was a lake called Szurke on the edge of a forest. I owned the lake anda little bit of the forest and the big manor house near it courtesy of the Empire and thanksto quotextraordinary