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.But he did well only whenevery-thing went according to form.Unusual things startled him, interrupting his coordination.And hewas very distractible.At every birdcall or slammed door he jerked his head around.Irregularities in theground upset his balance.Every footstep he took forward had a look of retreat to it.Sudden gusts ofwind caused him to close his eyes.But it was mostly his cowardice that bothered Azzie, who knew it to be the real reason for the othersigns of ineptitude.Babriel watched for a long while without comment, though he winced at the young man's awkwardnessand the way he flinched whenever Frike lifted his sword."What, exactly, is wrong with him?" Babriel finally asked."It's the coward's heart I gave him.Instead of imbuing him with basic prudence, as it's supposed to do,it's filling his entire system with fear.""But if he's so fearful, how will he go out for his quest?""I doubt he'll go at all," Azzie said."I'm trying to motivate him, but nothing is working.It looks like I'mlicked before I even get started.""Oh, dear," Babriel said. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html"Yeah, well, you might say that, and a lot else.""But your contest-the fairy tale you're planning to pre-sent- ""Finished, over with, shot down,connsumatus est, and all that.""It hardly seems fair," Babriel said."But why throw in the sponge so soon? I mean, heck, hang it all, isn'tthere some-thing you can do? ""I need to get some gutsia for him.But my Supply people can't seem to find any.""Can't they, now? Bunch of slackers, unless I miss my guess.Let's see what my fellows can do."Azzie stared at him."You are going to get me gutsia?""That is what I propose," Babriel said."But that won't doyou any good!""Let me worry about that," Babriel said."You've been such a nice host, I feel I owe you something.Andanyhow, the show must go on, eh?"Babriel stood up, ducking his head because it was a low grape arbor in which they stood, and reachedinto one of his pockets and withdrew a plastic credit card.It was very much like Azzie's, only whiteinstead of jet black.It bore on one side a golden representation of a constellation moving toward theposition it would occupy at the Millennium's end.Babriel looked around for a place to insert it, butcouldn't find one."Let's take a walk," Babriel said."Maybe there's some-thing out here.Ah, here's a bay tree, they'realways good," He found a slit in the bay's bark and inserted the card."What's supposed to happen now?" Azzie asked."Give them a moment to respond," Babriel said."This is an unusual location for a transmission from anangel of Light, you know.""How's the Gothic cathedral coming?" Azzie asked."The walls are a lot higher," Babriel responded.In a moment there came a soft explosion, then the sound of a carillon, followed by a fanfare of trumpets.The supply clerk of Light appeared before them.She was a young blond woman who wore a plain whitegown which did not prevent Azzie's noting that she looked pretty good and might be fun to cavort with.He began to hum the ancient melody called "The Night a Sinner Met an Angel" and edged toward her.The angel slapped him sharply with the small order book she was carrying."Don't be crude," she said ina nice voice that showed that although she meant it, she didn't hold his attitude against him.Then, toBabriel: "How may I help you?"Azzie started to tell her how she could helphim, but Babriel frowned and said, "What I need, dear Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlperson, is a quantity of the herb gutsia, which is used by mortals for the acquiring of courage.""I knew you wanted it for a mortal," the supply clerk said."I can tell at a glance that there's no lack ofcourage inthy makeup.""It is dear of thee to say so," Babriel said."Praise the Lord!""Praise Her!" said the clerk."What?" Azzie said."I had always been led to believe - ""We use 'He' and 'She' interchangeably when speaking of the Supreme Principle of Good.""Sometimes we even call her 'It,' " the clerk said."Not that we believe that She is an It, but we try toshow no prej-udice.""Can't you make up your minds?" Azzie asked."It makes no difference," she told him."Supreme Good is beyond sexuality.""That's not what we're taught," Azzie said."According to our experts, sexuality is the highest expressionof evil, especially when it's good."As it could be between you and me, babe," Azzie ended, his voice going husky and a disturbing odor ofmusk emanating from him
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