"Jo Walton - The Rebirth of Pan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Walton Jo)

sense of excitement stirring. As she walked South along the shore the sun rose over the sea to her left. At
last she was out of sight of the harbour and the town, at an outcropping of rock. The sun was clear of the
horizon now, shining on the glittering sea, which was already wine-dark blue.

The day was beginning to be warm, and Katerina had walked fast, she was hot and sticky. The sea
looked cool and inviting. She wished she had thought to bring her bathing costume and a towel. Then she
looked around her. Nobody could see her. Nobody would ever know. She took her clothes off, rapidly,
and put them safe on a rock weighting them with stones against the possibility of wind. Completely naked
she made her way carefully to the water's edge. The shingle was unpleasant underfoot. The first touch of
the water was icy. She almost changed her mind and went back to her clothes. It was only the memory
of how much she loved swimming and how rarely she had the chance these days that made her carry on
picking her way across the underwater rocks. She walked out carefully until the sea was around her
waist, deep enough to let herself fall forward, plunge in, start to take deliberate strokes and swim. Then
the water felt wonderful, cool on her neck and head and breasts, refreshing beyond belief. She swam out
along the sun's track, sometimes turning on her back to make sure she had not gone too far.

She had just decided to turn back when she felt something brush against her leg. Looking down she
saw a large dark grey shape, nudging her. For a moment she feared sharks, but then as it came out of the
water she realised it was a dolphin. Dolphins in the Aegean were always friendly to people. She had seen
them occasionally before, but never so close as this. She swam away, it followed. She turned and swam
towards it, it bumped her again, and quickly swam away. She started to laugh. They played together in
the calm blue sea for some time, heading slowly shorewards. At last the dolphin would come no closer in.
Katerina paused, treading water. She raised her arms, drops of water glittering like diamonds in the
sunlight. The dolphin swam towards her, and she dived under it. When she came up again it was nowhere
to be seen. She shook her head, scattering drops that broke the water. She still could not see it. Then a
head broke the surface of the sea nearby, but not a dolphin's head, a man's head, a stranger, full
bearded, hair sleek with water. Katerina started to swim away, panicking.

"Katerina!" he called. She hesitated, paused, looked again. His hair and beard were very dark,
almost blue black. A stranger. Yet he said her name with love. Then she looked into his eyes, and saw
they were the dolphin's eyes. "Don't be afraid." he called, and the words hung on the water. He floated
there, not moving, then a wave rose in the water between them, pushing at her gently, playing, as the
dolphin had. She had heard stories of this sort of thing all her life. But she'd never really thought that it
could happen any more. It was more than she had ever dared dream of. She would have been afraid of
any man, however much she prayed for love to sweep her away. But of a god who had come to her as a
dolphin in the early morning sunlight she had no fear. She swam towards him into the wave's embrace
with no hesitation.
 5. THE BROKEN MAN


(Deirdre)


Thou art the best of men if thou canst know
thy part, and seek to fill thy shape entire,
but do not seek to step beyond thy bounds
and only I may see where they are set.


A particularly loud and sustained rumbling crash startles me out of a daydream. Before I have