Or maybe instability. Or maybe lability. Or maybe liability.

Or maybe all at once, this cardinal trait of my element. I must truly be swept into my rite, my novena, because I am set so adrift today, Wednesday, the day of Mercury, called the Water Planet in the Chinese system.

It all began early early in the morning, drifting into dreams, indulgent dreams of romantic whimsy and passion, and suddenly I found myself in inconsolable tears. Tears of ecstasy or despair? Who knows? A release from the Oracle's cure yesterday? At any rate: what a mess.

The beasts outside the Goop Factory have come to rest. And why? Because there's only one left, and it is collapsed and twitching, head missing. They're replaced though by very tall birds obsessively driving their beaks into the ground. Looking for worms or dowsing, I guess.

I left to meet a good friend who's returned from travels via pitching ships and well-wrestled sails, but first I stopped at my cathedral. It was empty but for two women weeping there. What were they doing there?

My friend and I trading sailing tips, hers from one perspective, and mine from the other. I couldn't help but feel that ... I don't know, that her sea and my sea weren't quite the same. I could feel how she grew distant when she recalled how the sea betrayed her.

I don't know. Adrift. Rent.