“Yes, so.” She was grave about it. Her look had become troubled now. “And yours is more-other-from mine than tl,e Nomads’. You live more in your head than in your body, and yet it is not an inward sorrow to you, as it is to the men of Stellamont, who do not know what they are. You know, and have accepted it, and are strong in it-but never have I sensed sucl-i aloneness as is yours.”
She lapsed into silence, as if frightened by her own word3, and huddled close to Sean. Trevelyan regarded her for -i long moment, not mitbout pleasure. He saw a little shiver go under the lucent skin; there was a deep fright and grief in her, too, and she clutched Scads knee.
Well, he thought, it’s her problem. And Sean’s, I suppose, She’s too pretty for my taste.
He walked over to Nicki, answering her questions about his present status and intentions. The vase taking shape had the form of two battling dragons. “Nice,” be said. “Wbat’ll you do with it?”
“Cast it in bronze and sell or swap it,” she replied, not looking up. There was an earthiness about her which was at Galaxy’s end from Ilaloa, he thought.
“Glad to have you along,” she continued. “Maybe. ‘vvbat’re your immediate plans?’
” Just to get acquainted and do so-me thinking. You know, I’ve been studying the Nomad art, and I’m convinced it’s a new idiom. I daresay your literature is unlike ours too,”
“We haven’t got much, except for the ballads,” she said.
“That’s enough. Look how different American folk music was from the European-” She glanced at him in some puzzlement, then nodded. “I’d like to bear some when I get the chance.”
“Well, I’ll give you one right now,” said Sean, putting away his spacesuit. He unslung a lorne from the wall and thrummed his fingers across the strings. His voice lifed in a ballad, the immemorial theme of t,ie faithless beloved
“-She said to me, ‘O Nomad, see I cannot follow you.
The star ways were cold and dree where all the wild winds blew,
the winds between the stars, -my love the restless wander-call, blew low, blew high, into the sky, the withered leaves of fall,
and we were blown, and all alone we flew from sunlit day into the waste where stars are sown and planets have their way-2”
Sean grimaced, “I sl-iouldzt have picked that one.@
“Some other time,” said Nicld. She turned to the Solarian, a little too q@ckly. “I di@t know you concerned yourself
with things like that.”
“In my work,” answered Trevelyan, “everything is significant, and the a@ are often the most highly developed
I ci-
symbolic form of a culture-therefore the key to understan ing it.”
“Are you always thinking of your workf’ she asked,
bridling.
“Oh, not always,” he smiled. “One has to eat and sleep occasionally.”
“I’ll bet that trained mind of years never steps,” she
said.
He didn’t answer. In a sense, it was true,
Ilaloa stood up in one rippling movement. “If yet, will forgive rDe,” she said, “I think I will g@ to the park.”
“I’ll come along,” said Sean. “Tired of sitting in here. Want to come, you tmo? We could have a beer down
there.”
“Not just yet,” said Nic,,ki. “I want to finish this vase.”
“Then I’ll keep you company, if I may,” said Trevelyan.
Sean looked as relieved as courtesy allowed. He and Ilaloa went out, hand in band, Trevelyan draped himself in a chair. “I dozt wish to give offense, Nicki,” he said. “Just tell me when I’m overstepping your mores.”
“You weren’t doing anything wrong. That ballacl got Sean and Ilaloa to thinking, that’s all.” Briefly, Nick-I explained the details,
“I see,” he nodded. “It may not be good. Quite apart from social pressure, there’s the fact that they can’t have children, and in a family-based society like yours tbat’ll come
to mean a good deal in time.”
I don’t want to interfere,” said the girl. Her voice was troubled. “Seads always disliked children anyway. And be needs something now to take his mind off that other wench. Ilaloa-I do@t know. She’s not happy on board