Chu Mu genuinely had no answer to Herta's question.
Strictly speaking, Eyeless was not the official name of a Path. It was simply the only title Chu Mu knew.
It was like Nous, the Aeon of erudition. If, years later, people knew only the title Nous, what would they call that Aeon's Path? Could they call it Nous?
The Paths in the Sea of Stars were all summed up in two Chinese characters: abundance, the Hunt, harmony, joy, erudition, and so on.
Slipping the three-character name Eyeless in among them felt strange no matter how he looked at it.
And so, Chu Mu's Path had always been a mystery.
Back on Deep Blue Star, his previous incarnation had not told him any of this. Even one of the Path's three manifestations had been left unexplained.
That incarnation had wanted Chu Mu to find the answers himself.
Now, Chu Mu could not be bothered to guess. Come out and clean up your own mess. Stop hiding and speaking in riddles.
So, faced with Herta's question, he could only change the subject:
"It's getting late."
"Not really. I'd say it's only eight." Herta rested against Chu Mu's shoulder, the perfect position for whispering into his ear.
"For me, once dinner's over, it's pretty much time to rest," Chu Mu said mildly. "Unless there's something to do for entertainment?"
"What kind of entertainment do you want?" Herta asked without thinking.
But it instantly occurred to her that, in a backward civilization without nightlife, the only entertainment available after dinner seemed to be-
The most instinctive human activity.
"Y-you're being indecent!" Herta pinched Chu Mu's arm hard.
Chu Mu's face twisted in pain.
How did an offhand question make me indecent?
Only after a moment did he realize where the misunderstanding lay.
He could