Quibbins Drinks through the Interview
accepts Mangix's drinking terms for an interview and slides off to sleep before it ends. He finds the Brewmaster beneath the ivy-eaten arches of the , and Mangix agrees to talk on one condition: that they drink together. The Oyo drink to speak to the spirits, Mangix says, setting down mugs of an ale that reminds Quibbins of its brewer, golden brown, a bit nutty and alarmingly strong, and being half Celestial, he adds, lets him see further into the other realm.
A few sips in, Quibbins sees into other realms too, and it does not help. By the second round he counts two Mangixes, both telling how he beat the old master in a fistfight, or a drinking contest, with lots of falling over, and Quibbins nods, maybe too much. Somewhere around round four Mangix says he is looking for the single perfect thought that will unite the physical and spiritual realms, and Quibbins suggests it is probably under the table.
By round five Mangix is patting his shoulder and telling him he did good. Then the table spins, and Quibbins slides off to sleep.
Quibbins drinks as he writes, so the second Mangix is the ale's doing, and the old master's defeat stays Mangix's own telling.
- Brewmaster
