QUOTE : What is this, Enki?” says the Queen. “Do you not honor me?” <br /><br />Enki’s smile is wide and bright. “I give you the greatest honor,” he says. <br /><br />“You are dressed in the manner of a slave,” says she, “in a city where there are none.” <br /><br />“There aren’t,” he agrees, though now his smile seems too sharp for his words. “But there is the verde.” <br /><br />“And what of it?” <br /><br />“I am dressed in the manner of my people.” <br /><br />“Are we not your people?” And we see that the Queen is torn between amusement and anger. Enki is leading her in a dance, but has not tapped out its rhythm. <br /><br />“You are everything to me.” <br /><br />“And yet you come before us hardly as a king.” <br /><br />“I come before you,” says Enki, “as a simple verde boy.” He takes a quick step back, almost skipping, and his dust-lightened hair bobs around his ears. “I will leave you as a king.” And when the drums start, that’s how he dances: as a king.