How could I have loved him like that' She stared at him in the green glow of dawn. Still sleeping soundly, he was both strange and familiar to her, like a waxen effigy. That face. The curve of the nose, those earlobes. He was the same man, the same flesh that had once been a beacon inside her. Now, he no longer radiated life, love.

The man had rolled over, his beard grazing her cheek. Repulsed, she sat up.

Odd, how his beard has thinned.

She had stared at him again. Bewildered, she slid her back up against the wall. Outside in the corridor: footsteps, the clatter of a pail on the ground.

"Who's making such a racket' It's not even dawn!" a woman's voice shrieked. It was that harpy, Celeste, who terrorized the building.

"Sorry, sorry, the handle of my pail just broke," replied a timid, male voice.

Celeste didn't reply. The man descended the stairs, the shuffle of his sandals fading in the distance. Then all was quiet again. It was about four o'clock in the morning; the city hadn't awoken; yet already the dawn rays spread through the gardens, filtering through streets. A poisonous light, late spring's potion of fog and sun.

She shuddered as the man's head emerged from the covers. Like a wooden statue in a museum, inert, utterly alien in the pallid, murky light. Liar, hypocrite. To think I was once madly in love with him.

~*~

Some four years later, another morning sun whitened the city to a bright haze. Normally, the streets would be deserted at this time of day, but today the market was packed with a slowly moving throng of humanity. The crowds deftly maneuvered around a placid cow lounging in the center of the narrow street, her jaw moving rhythmically as she digested her morning meal of grass and hay.

Shopkeepers called out to passing shoppers while sitting comfortably at the edge of jammed, cubical shops that lay flush with the brick-paved street. A few women attired in thin shifts leaned over the wood-carved balconies of their houses above the shops. A man holding the leash of a pet monkey looked up when they called to him, "Make it dance!" He bowed and set his music box on the ground. As the music played, the monkey, clad in a blue waistcoat, a tasseled fez on its head, jumped up and down. When it had finished, the women clapped and threw silver coins at the man. After gathering the coins from the street, the man and his monkey gravely bowed again and went on their way. On the street corner, musicians played their flutes; people chatted happily with friends, shouting to be heard above the din; vendors hawked lime-green sherbets in frosted brass goblets; and women bargained in good-natured loud voices.

At Cooper's house, silence prevailed in an inner courtyard, broken only by the faint sounds of the strained music from the market. The air was still and heavy with perfume from blooming roses and jasmines in clay pots. A fountain bubbled in one corner, splashing drops of water with a hiss onto the hot stone pathway nearby. In the center of the courtyard a large tree spread its dense triangular-leaved branches. She pushed away from the view to perch on the edge of the divan.

When Piper moved away from the window, the sudden movement caught Cooper's eye. He noted with growing trepidation how her eyes were sparkling with guarded enthusiasm. He knew she wanted to say something and could not keep still. He looked at her, thinking again of the past four years; of how they would have been different if they had not shared what time they could spend together. A huge gap would have opened in their lives, never to be filled no matter how many people criss-crossed through their lives. "Alright, out with it, peanut."

Hesitantly, she started to speak, halted then started again. "I was offered a post the other evening. As a secretary of sorts. In the docks area."

Taken aback that she was looking for yet even more work, he was beginning to speculate on the wisdom of being in a city where she could feed her infatuation so easily. One he had known about for some time, but had never found reason to voice concerns over. Until now. "Is the pottery selling so poorly?" Lowering the latest scandal sheet to his lap, he folded his hands across his abdomen and considered her solemnly for long, tremulous moments.

"No! Of course not. I just received a new order for a dainty little English Tea Set for a child. Rimmed in gold, no less."

Confused, he glanced to the paper; she hadn't been mentioned that often, and only once in a bad light. Snarkiness" He'd have to remember to ask her what that meant. "Well, so why another post' Are you in need of more funds" You only have to ask, Pip. You know I would gladly share. What's mine is yours. Family takes care of their own."

"Oh. I don't need any funds. Thimble is doing famously. Although, we didn't win anything in the last race. " She frowned over that one, wondering where her picks had gone wrong. "I have plenty of funds. Seriously. "

Exasperated, he rubbed his hand across the scruff of unshaven jaw. "Then?" Goading her into finishing in hopes of seeing where this line of thought was leading.

"I accepted a date, instead." Eyeing him warily, she looked quickly back to the window to avoid the reaction she knew that bit of news would conjure.

Slack-jawed, his hand frozen in mid-stroke upon his chin. Swinging his incredulous stare toward her, he somehow found a grin after the shock wore off. "No shit?"

She cringed at his choice of words before rolling her eyes to the ceiling, asking for quiet strength before looking back at him with a scowl. "Oh, bother! You needn't act so shocked. It is just a date. People go on dates all the time. "

"Yes. Yes, they do. But that is normal people. Since when did you decide to join the human race once more?" Snapping the paper closed, he tossed it to the side then leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he grinned at his cousin like a baboon, eyebrows waggling up and down.

"Despite your gorgeous blue eyes and general air of manliness, you are pure evil with the talent of a Borgia poisoner, Cooper." Grabbing the small pillow off the divan, she threw it at his head as she rose from her seat and stumbled out of the room, leaving him laughing at her most undignified retreat.