She sniffed and said, “What are you doing to get ready for the Gathering?”
“Uh, I don’t know, Grandmother. You see, I don’t sing, or play, or dance — and the only games I know are chess and spat ball and . . . well, I’ve never seen a Gathering. I don’t know what they’re like.”
“Hmmph! So you haven’t.”
Thorby felt guilty. He said, “Grandmother . . . you mast have been to lots of Gatherings. Would you tell me about them?”
That did it. She relaxed and said in hushed voice, “They don’t have the Gatherings nowadays that they had when I was a girl . . .” Thorby did not have to speak again, other than sounds of awed interest. Long after the rest were waiting for Grandmother’s permission to rise, she was saying, “. . . and I had my choice of a hundred ships, let me tell you. I was a pert young thing, with a tiny foot and a saucy nose, and my Grandmother got offers for me throughout the People. But I knew Sisu was for me and I stood up to her. Oh, I was a lively one! Dance all night and as fresh for the games next day as a –”
While it was not a merry occasion, it was not a failure.
Since Thorby had no talent he became an actor.
Aunt Athena Krausa-Fogarth, Chief of Commissary and superlative cook, had the literary disease in its acute form; she had written a play. It was the life of the first Captain Krausa, showing the sterling nobility of the Krausa line. The first Krausa had been a saint with heart of steel. Disgusted with the evil ways of fraki, he had built Sisu (single-handed), staffed it with his wife (named Fogarth in draft, changed to Grandmother’s maiden name before the script got to her) and with their remarkable children. As the play ends they jump off into space, to spread culture and wealth through the Galaxy.
Thorby played the first Krausa. He was dumbfounded, having tried out because he was told to. Aunt Athena seemed almost as surprised; there was a catch in her voice when she announced his name. But Grandmother seemed pleased. She showed up for rehearsals and made suggestions which were happily adopted.
The star playing opposite Thorby was Loeen Garcia, late of El Nido. He had not become chummy with Mata’s exchange; he had nothing against her but had not felt like it. But he found Loeen easy to know. She was a dark, soft beauty, with an intimate manner. When Thorby was required to ignore taboo and kiss her, in front of Grandmother and everybody, he blew his lines.
But he tried. Grandmother snorted in disgust. “What are you trying to do! Bite her? And don’t let go as if she were radioactive. She’s your wife, stupid. You’ve just carried her into your ship. You’re alone with her, you love her. Now do it . . . no, no, no! Athena!”
Thorby looked wildly around. It did not help to catch sight of Fritz with eyes on the overhead, a beatific smile on his face.
“Athena! Come here, Daughter, and show this damp young hulk how a woman should be kissed. Kiss him yourself and then have him try again. Places, everyone.”
Aunt Athena, twice Thorby’s age, did not upset him so much. He complied clumsily with her instructions, then managed to kiss Loeen without falling over her feet.
It must have been a good play; it satisfied Grandmother. She looked forward to seeing it at the Gathering.
But she died on Woolamurra.
Chapter 13
Woolamurra is a lush pioneer planet barely inside the Terran Hegemony; it was Sisu’s last stop before diving deeper for the Gathering. Rich in food and raw materials, the fraki were anxious to buy manufactured articles. Sisu sold out of Losian artifacts and disposed of many Finsteran jewels. But Woolamurra offered little which would bring a profit and money was tight in terms of power metal — Woolamurra had not prospected much and was anxious to keep what radioactives it had for its infant industry.
So Sisu accepted a little uranium and a lot of choice meats and luxury foods. Sisu always picked up gourmet delicacies; this time she stocked tons more than the Family could consume, but valuable for swank at the Gathering.