"If I have felt sorry for myself," Atreus said, "it is with good reason. My failings are no worse than those of most men."

"Perhaps." Sune's face rose closer, breaking the surface of the pool. "But only you can change what you are."

Her sapphire eyes grew bright and cold, and Atreus sensed that she was waiting.

"Then tell me how to change, and I will do it."

A slight smile crept across the goddess's lips. It was a flirtatious smile, such as beautiful women have always used to entice favors from willing men.

"There might be something you can do." Her sapphire eyes darted to their corners, as though she had only at that moment thought of what she would ask. "You could bring me a vial of sparkling water from the Fountain of Infinite Grace."

"The Fountain of Infinite Grace?" Atreus echoed.

"In paradise," Sune explained. "A place called Langdarma."

Before Atreus could ask where Langdarma was, the goddess's face rose completely out of the water. The visage turned vertical and hung in the air before him, its fiery hair hissing and crackling. The celebrants gasped, and the heartwarders folded their hands over their hearts. Yago merely grunted, unimpressed by what seemed to him a face too dainty to be attractive.

"Remember," said Sune. Her beautiful face dissolved into smoke and flame. "The water must be sparkling."

The temple remained as still as a painting. Never before had the goddess manifested herself at the Rite of Dreams, and Atreus could feel the gazes of the astounded celebrants on his back. Whether they had heard what passed between him and Sune he did not know, but he could tell by their stunned silence that he had become something more to them than an unpleasant joke.

"Look!"

The male heartwarder pointed into the Pool of Dreams, where a ragged parchment had appeared, floating on top of the water. On the scrap were drawn hundreds of mountains and dozens of long, snaking valleys with exotic names such as Gyatse and Yamdruk. And on the eastern edge, lying at the foot of three mountains marked the "Sisters of Serenity" was a valley called Langdarma.