Finally, it spoke:"Greetings, Neera. It gladdens me to see that you survived theSorrows."***Artemis blinked. "What? I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. I'... not --" You are Neera," the entity repeated, "and you're one of Haven's finestalpha apexes." Haven? Alpha apexes? The Sorrows? What the --" Artemis shook her head,flustered by the unexpected turn of events. "Who ... who -- what areyou?" the Queen Dominus stammered."I am Janus, a Beholder of the Oversoul, the all-seeing fount ofknowledge," the. They were very nice people, and very supportive of Cathy. They seemed to like me a lot, and I was invited for Sunday dinner almost every week.I had heard horror stories of wedding problems, but we somehow managed to avoid them. The ladies in the wedding party were wearing very nice dresses that with the removal of some of the embellishments would become nice party dresses. All of my sidemen’s tuxes fit perfect, my bride was gorgeous and there were no mishaps during the ceremony or reception. We. Dorothy grinned. ‘My husband died three years ago. No, it’s okay,’ she said as our laughter abruptly faltered. ‘He was a good man and after watching what cancer did to his body I’m glad he’s at peace. But in his prime we fucked three or four times a day. Yeah,’ she said, seeing our expressions, ‘I don’t look like I’m hot to trot, do I? But I am. And about a year after he died I went a little crazy. I got on the Internet and fucked everything in pants I could find. Thank God I didn’t catch. 'Sure. I'm in 503.' We gathered our things and headed out the door. The evening was cool and calm. From further down the street we could hear the sounds of music. Paula fished a pack of cigarettes out of her purse and passed me one. We stood there on the sidewalk, looking toward the lake. We smoked in silence, watching our smoke rise and disappear in the sky. When our cigarettes were finished, we slowly strolled toward the waterfront. It was a short walk. Within minutes we had traveled the few.