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Kerwin’s first impulse—to swat Auster in the teeth and be damned to the consequences—died unacted. He held himself in his seat by an act of will, clenching his fists to keep control. He said in Cahuenga, “Flythe damn ship, you. If you’re spoiling for a fight, wait till we get landed, and it will be my pleasure tooblige you.”
Kennard’s head appeared in the narrow doorway between control and rear cabin; he said something
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questioning, concerned, in a language Kerwin didn’t know, and Auster snarled, “Then let him keep his
crocodile’s paws to himself, damn him!”
Kerwin opened his mouth—it was Auster’s sharp movement that had flung him against the other man —and then shut it again. He hadn’t done anything to apologize for! Kennard said in a conciliating tone, “Kerwin, perhaps you did not know that any random movement can throw the aircraft off course, when itis being operated by matrix control.” He looked at Kerwin thoughtfully, then shrugged. “We’ll be landingin a minute, anyway.”
The little ship came down smoothly on a small landing field where a few lights were blinking. Austerunfastened a door and a swart Darkovan in a leather jerkin and breeches threw up a short ladder.
“Welcome,
vai dom’yn
,” he said, throwing up one hand in a courtly gesture vaguely like a salute. Auster stepped down the ladder, gesturing Kerwin to follow, and they repeated the salute for him. Kennard came down the ladder, fumbling with his feet for the rungs. Kerwin had not realized how excruciatingly lame the older man was; one of the men came, deferentially, to assist Kennard, who accepted the man’s arm with good grace. Only a little tightening of his jaw showed Jeff Kerwin what Kennard really thought of accepting the man’s help. Taniquel scrambled down the ladder, looking sleepy and cross; she said something to Auster with a scowl and they stood talking together in an undertone. Kerwin wondered if they were married, or lovers; they had a sort of easy intimacy that he associated only with long-term couples. Then she looked up at Kerwin, shaking her head.
“There’s blood on your mouth. Have you and Auster been fighting already?”
There was a teasing malice in her voice; she tilted her head to one side, looking first at one of them andthen the other. Auster glowered.
“An accident and a misunderstanding,” Kennard said quietly.
“
Terranan
,” Auster muttered.
“How can you expect him to be anything else? And whose fault is it that he knows nothing of our laws?”
Kennard asked. Then he pointed, drawing Kerwin’s gaze with the gesture.
“There it lies; the Tower of Arilinn.”
It rose upright, squat, and yet, on closer look, incredibly high, fashioned of some brown and glarelessstone. The sight seemed to stir in Kerwin some buried
déjà vu
again, as he looked at the Tower risingagainst the sky, and he said, his voice shaky, “Have I—have I been here before, sir?”
Kennard shook his head. “No, I don’t think so,” he said. “Perhaps the matrix—I just don’t know. Doesit seem so familiar to you?” He laid his hand briefly on Kerwin’s shoulder—a gesture that surprised theyounger man, in view of the taboo that seemed to surround a random touch among these people. Kennard withdrew his hand quickly, and said, “It is not the oldest, or even the most powerful of the Comyn Towers. But for a hundred generations and more our Keepers have worked the Arilinn Tower inan unbroken succession of Comyn blood alone.”
“And,” said Auster behind them, “with the hundred and first we bring the son of a Terran and of a
renegade
leronis
here!”
Taniquel turned on him fiercely. She said, “Are you going to question the word of Elorie of Arilinn?”
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Kerwin swung angrily on Auster. He had taken enough from him already; now the man had started onhis parents!
The son of a Terran and a renegade
leronis…
Kennard’s deep voice was harsh:
“Auster, that’s enough; I said it before we came here, and I will say it for the last time. The man is not responsible for his parents or their fancied sins. And Cleindori, I remind you, was
my
foster-sister, and
my
Keeper, and if you speak of her again in that tone, you will answer, not to her son, but to
me
!”
Auster hung his head and muttered something; it sounded like an apology. Taniquel came to Kerwin’sside and said, “Let’s get inside, not stand around on the airfield all day!”
Kerwin felt curious eyes on him as he crossed the field. The air was damp and cold, and it crossed hismind that it would be pleasant to get under a roof, and get warm, and relax, and that he would very muchlike a bath, and a drink, and some supper— hell—breakfast! Anyhow, he’d been up all night.
“All in good time,” Kennard said, and Kerwin jumped, realizing he would have to get used to that trick Kennard had of reading his thoughts. “First, I’m afraid, you’ll have to meet the others here; naturally we’re anxious to know all about you, especially those of us who haven’t had a chance to meet you face to face yet.”
Kerwin wiped at the blood still oozing from his lip. He wished they’d let him clean up before thrustinghim into the presence of strangers. He had not yet learned that telepaths seldom paid any attention towhat a man looked like on the outside. He walked across the bricked-in quadrangle of a building thatlooked like a barracks, and through a long passageway barred with a wooden gate. A familiar smell toldhim that horses were stabled nearby. Only as they neared the Tower did he become aware of the way inwhich the clean sweep of its architecture was marred by the cluster of low buildings around its foot. Theywent across two more outer courtyards, and finally reached a carven archway across which shimmered athin, rainbow mist.
Here Kennard paused momentarily, saying to Kerwin, “No living human, except those of pure andunbroken Comyn blood, has ever crossed this Veil.”
Kerwin shrugged. He felt he should be impressed or something, but he was running low on surprise. Hewas both tired and hungry, he hadn’t slept in forty-eight hours, and it made him nervous to realize thatthey were all, even Auster, watching to see what he would say or do when faced with this. He saidirritably, “What is this, a test? My hat’s fresh out of rabbits, and anyway, you’re writing the script. Do wego this way?”
They kept on waiting, so he braced himself and stepped through the trembling rainbow.
It felt faintly electric, like a thousand pins and needles, as if his whole body were a foot that had gone tosleep, and when he looked back he could not see the others except as the vaguest of shadows. Suddenlyhe began to shake; had this all been an elaborate build-up to some kind of trap? He stood alone in a tinywindowless cubicle, a cul-de-sac, only the rainbow behind him showing the faintest of lights.
Then Taniquel stepped through the rainbow shimmer, Auster and Kennard following. Kerwin let out asigh of foolish relief… if they’d meant him any harm, they wouldn’t have had to bring him this far!
Taniquel made signals with her fingers, not unlike those Auster had used controlling the aircraft, and the
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cubicle shot upward, with such suddenness that Kerwin swayed and almost fell again. It shivered and stopped and they stepped out through another open archway into a lighted room that opened, in turn, on a broad terrace.
The room was huge, rising to echoing space, yet paradoxically gave an impression of warmth andintimacy. The floor was laid with old tiles worn uneven, as if they had seen many feet walking on them. Atthe far end of the room was a fire that smelled of fragrant smoke and incense, and something furry anddark and not human crouched there, doing something to the fire with a long, oddly-shaped bellows. As Kerwin came in, it turned large pupilless green eyes on him, fixing him with an intelligent stare of question.
To the right of the fire was a heavy carven table of some glossy wood, a few scattered armchairs, and abig dais or divan covered with heaps of cushions. Tapestries hung on the walls. A middle-aged womanrose out of one of the chairs and came toward them. She stopped a step away from Kerwin, regardinghim with cool, intelligent grey eyes.
“The barbarian,” she said. “Well, he looks it, with blood on his face. Any more fighting, Auster, and you can go back to the Nevarsin House of Penitence for a full season.” She added, considering, “In winter.”
Her voice was husky and harsh; there was grey liberally salted in hair that had once been gingery red. Her body was thick and compact beneath the heavy layers of skirts and shawls she wore, but was toosturdy to look fat. Her face was humorous and intelligent, wrinkled around the eyes.
“Well, what name did the
Terranan
give you?”
Kerwin told the woman his name, and she repeated it, her lip curling slightly.
“Jeff Kerwin. I suppose that was to be expected. My name is Mesyr Aillard, and I am your very remote
cousin. Don’t think I’m proud of the relationship. I’m not.”
Among telepaths, polite social lies would be meaningless. Don’t judge their manners by Terranstandards
. Kerwin thought that in spite of her rudeness, there was something about this hearty old ladythat he rather liked. He only said courteously, “Perhaps, one day, I can change your mind, Mother.” Heused the Darkovan word that meant, not precisely
mother
, nor yet
foster-mother
, but a general termfor any female relative of a mother’s generation.
“Oh, you can call me Mesyr,” she snapped. “I’m not
that
old! And close your face, Auster, the hole in it would swallow a banshee! He hasn’t the faintest notion that he’s being offensive, he doesn’t know our customs, how would he?”
“If I have given offense when I intended courtesy— ” Kerwin began.
“At that you call me
Mother
if you want to,” Mesyr said. “I never go near the screens any more, not since my cub Corus was old enough to work in them;
that
much of a taboo I still observe. My son, Corus; what do we call you,
Jefferson
— ” She stumbled a little over the name. “Jeff?”
A long-limbed youngster in his teens came and gave Kerwin his hand, as if it were a formal act ofdefiance. He grinned quirkily in a way that reminded Kerwin of Taniquel and said, “Corus Ridenow. Have you been off-world, in space?”
“Four times. Three other planets, including Terra itself.”
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“Sounds interesting,” Corus said, almost wistfully. “I’ve never been further than Nevarsin, myself.”
Mesyr scowled at Corus and said, “This is Rannirl. Our technician.”
Rannirl was about Kerwin’s own age, a thin, tall competent-looking fellow with a shadow of red beard,and heavy callused muscular hands. He did not offer to shake hands with Jeff, but bowed formally andsaid, “So they found you. I didn’t expect it, and I didn’t expect you could make it through the Veil. Kennard, I owe you four bottles of Ravnet wine.”
Kennard said with a cordial grin, “We’ll drink it together next holiday—all of us. I believe you made awager with Elorie, too? Your passion for a bet will ruin you some day, my friend. And where is Elorie? She should be on hand to claim the hawk she wagered, if nothing more.”
“She will be down in a few minutes,” said a tall woman, whom Kerwin decided to be about Mesyr’s age. “I am Neyrissa.” She was redheaded, too, red glints on rusty-brown hair, tall and angular and plain, but she met Jeff’s eyes with a quick, direct stare. She didn’t look friendly, but she wasn’t hostile, either. “Are you going to be working as monitor here? I don’t like to work outside the circle, it’s a waste of my time.”
“We haven’t tested him yet, Rissa,” Kennard said, but the older woman shrugged.
“He has red hair, and he made it through the Veil without being hurt, and that’s enough test for me; he’s Comyn,” she said. “But I suppose you have to find out which
donas
he has. Cassilda grant he’s Alton or Ardais, we need the power of that. We’re overbalanced on Ridenow gifts—”
“I resent that,” said Taniquel gaily. “Are you going to stand there and let her say that, Corus?”
The teenager laughed and said, “In these days we can’t afford to be choosy; that’s what this is all about,isn’t it, that we can’t find enough people to work at Arilinn? If he has Cleindori’s talents, that’s splendid,but don’t forget he has Ridenow blood, too.”
“We won’t know for a while whether he will make monitor or mechanic, or even a technician,” Kennard
said. “That will be for Elorie to say. Here’s Elorie now.”
They turned to the door; and then Kerwin realized that the silence in the room was his own imagination,for Mesyr and Rannirl and Neyrissa were still talking, and only in his own mind did a silence movearound the girl who stood framed in the doorway. In that instant, as her grey eyes lifted to his, herecognized the face he had seen in the matrix crystal.
She was small and delicately made, and Kerwin realized that she was very young; perhaps even youngerthan Taniquel. Copper hair, sunrise gold, lay in straight pale strands around her sun-browned cheeks.