"I could remain here in this room with you forever!" he said.

"Then I command it, my prince!" she agreed.

So while Zeras fussed and fumed at the queen's unexplained absence, Vernus enjoyed his part in the conspiracy with the lovers.

"She has duties to perform," Zeras complained.

"Not until the morning of the choosing," Vernus replied, "and she will be there to complete her reign. When have you ever known Kalida to shirk in her duties, Zeras? You raised her to be better than that."

So Zeras was forced to wait until the morning of the third day since Kalida's official mating, when she appeared from her bedchamber as if she had been there all along. She was radiant, and seemed full of energy. Zeras scowled seeing Dagon by her side, but then he sighed. The beast was her mate, and he must live with it.

The queen was dressed in a simple sleeveless gown; but this day, rather than the white she usually favored, Kalida's gown was cloth-of-gold, fashioned into tiny, narrow pleats that ran from waist to hem. She wore a rope of enormous emeralds that lay upon the smooth, fitted bodice of her chest. Gold-and-emerald armbands had been clasped about her slim upper arms. The only other ornament she wore was her ring of office, which she would today pass on to the new young queen. Her hair hung loose, contained only by the narrow, filigreed crown of gold and silver, which was studded in emeralds. Dagon wore a simple pleated white linen wrap about his loins, and his gold torque about his neck. His was, after all, the lesser role.

"Have the maidens been gathered?" Kalida asked Zeras.

"Aye, my queen, it but awaits your coming," Zeras replied sadly.

Kalida nodded. "Then it is time," she said. Then she turned to Dagon. "You will walk just behind me a pace or two," she explained. "Today, however, you may enter the royal box and stand just to my right. Zeras. Vernus. If you should like to see the ceremony, I will permit you to watch from the tunnel entry," Kalida told them generously.

"Thank you, my queen," Vernus bubbled, delighted to be included.

"No," said Zeras. "I hid in that place the day you were chosen to be Kava's queen, but I cannot be there today when another is picked to stand in your place. It is too much to ask of me!" His voice broke.

Compassion lit Kalida's beautiful features. She reached out a hand, and touched Zeras's shoulder gently. "You do not have to come if it would make you unhappy, Zeras," she told him. Then she turned again, and was gone, followed by Dagon and Vernus.

A mighty cheer rose from the assembled women as the queen and her mate entered the royal box. Vernus tucked himself into the shadows below the stairs, but he had an excellent view. Uphala and Zenaida had been awaiting the queen. Below in the arena there were slightly over a hundred young girls between the ages of thirteen and fourteen standing nervously and talking in whispers. They grew silent as Kalida arrived.

When the cheering had died, the queen stepped forward. "Today we choose a new queen," she began. "I am proud to have ruled Kava these past ten years. My reign has seen our prosperity grow to its greatest levels. May it continue to grow under your new queen, and may Suneva guide her as well as she has guided me," Kalida finished, stepping back to take Dagon's hand in hers. He squeezed it encouragingly.

The High Priestess now took the forefront. "It is time," she said. "Remember that she whom the goddess chooses will bear a great burden. I advise the new queen, even before she is chosen, to remember from whence her blessings come. They come from Suneva who guards and guides us all. Suneva be praised!"

"Suneva be praised!" came the echoing cry from the benches in the arena, and from the girls below the royal box.

A temple novice stepped forward and handed the High Priestess a small box. As Uphala lifted its lid, a snow-white dove flew forth and circled the arena three times. The crowd held its collective breath, gasping in total shock when the bird alighted upon the dark head of Kalida's handsome mate, and there it sat preening itself before the stunned women.

Uphala snatched up the dove, and flung it into the air once more. Again the bird circled the arena thrice, alighting a second time upon Dagon's head. There were cries of "Sacrilege!" but Uphala held up her hand to silence them.

"Go," she instructed Dagon quietly, "and stand in the entry to the tunnel below the royal box." Then she took the bird from his head once more.

He did not argue, realizing this was a difficult situation, and he could easily find himself dead if it pleased these women.

"What is going on?" Vernus asked Dagon as the prince came down the stairs and stepped into the tunnel entrance.

"The messenger of the goddess has twice lit upon my head, instead of choosing one of the maidens gathered before us," Dagon said.

Vernus's eyes widened with surprise. "What can it mean?"

"That the bird is stupid," Dagon said softly. "Now that I am hidden, it will alight upon one of the proper candidates."

The messenger of the goddess, released a third time, however, flew aimlessly round and round the arena, refusing to alight on any of the maidens. The crowd began to murmur nervously.

"What is happening?" Kalida asked the High Priestess.

Uphala did not answer her. Going instead to the edge of the royal box she called down, "Dagon of Aramas, conceal yourself among the maidens for me," and when he had, the dove flew immediately to him, lighting upon his head with a triumphant little cry.

The Prince of Aramas walked through the group of wide-eyed and silent maidens, back up the staircase to the royal box, the dove perched atop his head. Uphala took the messenger of the goddess and returned it to its case, handing it to the stunned novice. Then she stepped forward to address the women.

"It is prophesied in the Holy Book of Suneva," she began, "that there will come a time when a queen will rule longest of any before her; and when she finally falls in love, and takes her mate, it ishe who will be chosen by the goddess as a sign that the queen, and her daughters, and her daughters' daughters are to rule in Kava in perpetuity. Because Kalida had ruled for so long, I remembered the prophesy, and consulted our holy book for its accuracy. It is there for any and all to see, and none can doubt it. I proclaim Kalida, Queen of Kava, and her mate, Dagon of Aramas, the very consort that Suneva prophesied of back in the dawn of our history. Are there any among you who do not believe or would question the will of the goddess?" Uphala challenged them.

The arena was very silent.

"Then, all hail to Kalida, Queen of Kava, and to her consort, Dagon," Uphala cried loudly, and a thunderous cheering rose from the assembled.

"All hail to Kalida, Queen of Kava, and to her consort, Dagon!" the women cried loudly.

"I am to remain queen?" Kalida asked the High Priestess, as surprised at what had transpired as any of the other women.

"You will become Kalida the First of Kava," Uphala said, "and Dagon will remain by your side, your equal in all but the government of this land, although his voice will be respectfully heard should he raise it, and his words considered. Your eldest daughter will be our next queen. This is written."

"But how can a queen rule well when her mind and heart will surely be torn in all directions? Kava's queens have succeeded because they had but one goal. Torule Kava," Kalida said.

"We cannot deny what has happened here today, Kalida," the High Priestess replied. "I can imagine your confusion. You have ruled Kava well, and believed, according to custom, that you could lay aside your heavy duties to live peacefully with your mate and bear your children. But the goddess has decided otherwise."

"I never wanted to be queen," Kalida said softly.

"And perhaps," Uphala answered her, "that is precisely why you were singled out for this great honor. For you, ruling has been a duty. You have never been overwhelmed by any sense of power or authority. Be content with this, my daughter. Come into the temple now with me. We will pray for guidance. I will show you the prophecy in the Holy Book of Suneva. I will help you to come to terms with this." Uphala led the queen away. As they passed through the group of half-relieved, half-disappointed young girls, she gave them her blessing, and the queen reached out to sympathetically touch as many of the maidens as she could. They had no idea how fortunate they were not to be in her sandals.

When they had gone, Dagon turned to Zenaida. "Did you know of this prophecy when you purchased me in the slave markets of Ramaskhan?" he asked her. Then he sat next to her on the marble bench.

She shook her head, and her fine dark eyes looked directly at him. "No, I did not know. I was as surprised as anyone else here today by what has happened."

"There will come a day, Zenaida, when I shall want to take my sons and escape Kava," Dagon said quietly. "I cannot allow the fruits of my loins to be sold away to die on battlefields fighting for nameless kings and warlords. I am the rightful heir to the King of Aramas, and my brother shall not usurp my place, nor that of my sons."

"You cannot go back," Zenaida said to him.

"I must claim my inheritance," Dagon insisted.

"You cannot," Zenaida told him. "Hear me, Dagon, and hear me well. For each year that passes in Kava, twenty-five years pass in the world beyond ours. That is one of the reasons we have been able to keep our kingdom safe from outsiders and marauders, who if they found us would plunder our riches and enslave us because we are women. We are more legend than fact to the people beyond our valley. We sell our cohorts who have been given a potion so they may leave Kava, and exist in the outside world. We sell our silks, our wools, and our gemstones there. We come and go so quickly none get to know us. We know the secret of controlling time. When we enter their world, we exist in their time, but when we return home to Kava, it is only as if a few days have passed. You were not born in Kava. If you leave, you will become the age you should be in your own world. Time has slowed for you here. "

"When I brought you to Kava, how long had it been since you had seen your own land? A year? And if you reentered your world, and actually managed to reach Aramas, it should be another year. And the few weeks while you have been here in Kava over six years have passed. Six years, Dagon! Can you imagine what has happened in that time? You have told me that your father was frail, which is probably why your brother acted to rid himself of you when he did. Undoubtedly he rules in Aramas, Aurea by his side, their children about them. You would bring civil war to your land if you returned now. "

"Remain here in Kava by Kalida's side, for you love her, I can see. Look what has happened today. A queen who was expected to step aside and enter retirement has been told she will rule until her death, and that her female descendants will follow her. This will be a great change for Kava. Who is to say there cannot be other changes? If a queen can rule forever, cannot her sons be put to better use than being sent away to fight other men's wars?"

"Do you think such a thing is really possible?" he asked.

"Change comes slowly, Dagon," Zenaida replied, "butanything is possible. I am not the only mother who wept secretly to see her sons sent away. It is true that men are an inferior sex with their penchant for violence, cruelty, and greed, but why can that not be changed as well? If you leave Kava, who will engineer that change? I believe the goddess brought you here not just for Kalida's benefit, but because she knew there would come a time when the women of Kava must begin to learn to live with their men in a more equitable, objective, and unbiased manner. You are the key to that change."

"There is much wisdom in what you say," he told her thoughtfully.

"Stay with us," she said softly.

"It is an enormous undertaking," he answered her.

"I know," she replied, "but I chose you not simply for the hugeness of your penis, but because I believed your intellect was as immense as well."

He laughed aloud, and, taking up her hand, kissed it. "You must have been a very wicked young woman," he told her.

"I am still very wicked," she answered him with a chuckle.

"My lord Dagon, Consort of Kava," he heard Kalida call.

Turning his head, he saw her standing in the center of the now empty area, for while he and Zenaida had spoken, the amphitheater had emptied.

"My lord, come and escort me home," the queen said. "We must talk on what has happened this day,and you have your marital duties to perform if we are to give Kava a new ruler one day."