Part 3, Chapter 4, The Story of the Twins, Part 1 Summary

Maharet begins to tell the Legend of the Twins. She, Mekare and their mother were powerful witches in a peaceful land north of Egypt. They could talk to and command the spirits, who are childish and capricious and require a lot of flattery to get them to do anything. The good spirits will help make rain, will find lost objects and tell the future. They are enormous creatures, comprised mostly of energy, but with a small core of matter at the center. The bad spirits are jealous of humans, because they have both flesh and spirit. The bad spirits cause nothing but trouble, and the witches refuse to even acknowledge them.

In their culture, they believe that a part of a person's power resides in their flesh, and it...