Over the music came a brittle chirping from the trees. Fixed with fear, they watched the temple door as the hymn progressed. Then Snake suddenly stood up straight and grinned. She scratched her red hair, shifted her weight, and looked at Snake. "I guess they're not coming," she said, sounding almost disappointed. Then she giggled. "Well, I guess we got it." * * * * * "Don't move," repeated Hama Incarnate. "Now look--" began Urson. "You are perfectly safe," the god continued, "unless you do anything foolish. You have shown great wisdom. Continue to show it. I have a lot to explain to you." "Like what?" asked Geo. "I'll start with the lizards," smiled the god. "The what?" asked Iimmi. "The singing lizards," said Hama. "You walked through a grove of trees just a few minutes ago. You had just been through a series of happenings that was probably the most frightening in your life. Suddenly you heard a singing in the trees. What was it?" "I thought it was a bird," Iimmi said. "But why a bird?" asked the god. "Because that's what a bird sounds like," stated Urson impatiently. "Who needs an old lizard singing to them on a morning like this?" "Your second point is much better than your first," said the god. "You do not need a lizard, but you did need a bird. A bird means spring, life, good luck, cheerfulness. You think of a bird singing and you think of thoughts that men have been thinking for thousands upon thousands of years. Poets have written of it in every language, Catullus in Latin, Keats in English, Li Po in Chinese, Darnel X24 in New English. You expected a bird because after what you had been through, you needed to hear a bird. Lizards run from under wet rocks, scurry over gravestones. A lizard is not what you needed." "So what do lizards have to do with why we're here?" demanded Urson. "Why are you here?" repeated the god, subtly changing Urson's question. "There are many reasons, I am sure. You tell me some of them." "You have done wrongs to Argo--at least to Argo of Leptar," Geo explained. "We have come to undo them. You have kidnaped the young Argo, as well as her mother apparently. We have come to take her back. You have misused the jewels. We have come to take the last one from you." Hama smiled. "Only a poet could see the wisdom in such honesty. I thought I might have to wheedle to get that much out of you." "I guess it was pretty certain that you knew that much already," Geo said. "True," answered Hama. Then his tone changed. "Do you know how the jewels work?" They shook their heads.