7: the Chariot

The thinking mind melded to the passionate animal, the wild thing that could run away with you. Desire, rut-beast, slut-beast, the connection awaits – what will you do when all the cables find each other? Will you roam far? Will you travel? A pair of attendants complete the conjoinment, with love and ceremony; one’s a little wild, one’s all prim and proper. Thought and Memory, the Urim and Thummim (you can tell one from the other by their stylish pants), stand beside the linking between airy mind and earthy body, and your unthinking trust in them is what makes it work.

Does the upper half ride the bottom half, or are they one? This question affects everything you do in this world. Are “you” your body? Is there some pattern that can be extracted from it? This woman is artificial, after all – a construct of metal and wires with an inviting furry exterior. Is this all she ever was or has she been changed from normal flesh into this strange hybrid beast?

(In an early draft of the Courts, the Kings were all shaped like this. Air riding the animal.)