Laria stifled the dismay such animosity caused her.
She refused to respond to silly mouthings and threats.
And the service her family gave could scarcely be considered sinecures. She forced herself to respond with dignity You are a competent T-2, Clarissia, and as that I can recommend you to your next post with no hesitation. Goodbye!
You haven’t heard the last of ME!
Laria ignored the virulently delivered rejoinder but she flipped the carrier as fast as she could back to the huge Earth landing field at the Blundell Cube.
Gollee!
Open to you, Laria.
clarissia’s a good T-2 but watch her.
I had that intention ri she couldn’t work out with you, Laria.
In Gollee’s tone was an anodyne for Clarissia’s parting venom.
Are you coming down, Laria? asked Vanteer in an `I think you should’ tone.
You bet I am.
clarissia launched a choice parting shot? asked Lionasha with a trace of anxiety.
Laria did not respond but came down the stairs in a far lighter tread than she had ascended. She shouldn’t be so naive, but she had hopes for the newcomer, if only because of his humour.
Kincaid was tall, his `Dinis nearly as big as her Tip and Huf Despite being of different colours, Npl and Pis were being most affectionately ringed by the six resident `Dinis, all wriggling and nattering in the most fervent of welcomes imaginable. Kincaid was whistling a very old tune that Laria only recognized because her Denebian grandmother had sung it to put her younger siblings to sleep on summer holidays. `If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise.’ After the strains of the morning, Laria burst into laughter and knew that she couldn’t fail to like Kincaid.
He advanced towards her, his thin, very pale face alight with pleasure that she’d identified the tune. He couldn’t ever be called `handsome’, not the way Yoshuk was, but he was attractive, despite a ship pallor and a dry skin that gave him more facial wrinkles than he ought to have. She didn’t think him older than Vanteer. Rangilly built but far too thin for the big bones of him, he held out to her a big blunt-fingered hand, palm sideways so she could merely brush it for the touch that Talents preferred as casual contact or shake it.
She was so glad to see him, a confirmed `Dini person, a man who laughed easily and obviously had an outrageous sense of humour, that she grasped his hand and took full advantage – as he did after a moment’s polite hesitation – of the complete contact. He was piney/green/oddly velvet, very very tired and, though he didn’t try to hide the fact from her, she caught the hesitancy and realized that he was homosexuAl. If he made a good T-2, that wouldn’t matter. It would almost be better if they were friends, as her grandmother and Afra had been, rather than lovers. Still `The first thing you do, Kincaid dano of Altair, is get some extended rest,’ she said briskly, twisting her hand in his and starting to lead him out of the main Tower room to the living area. `You’ll have to be careful of the sun here, Kincaid, you’ve been confined too long in a ship – – -` `Don’t you just know it … he said ruefully. Look, Laria Prime, he said on the most private level which their joined hands provided, there is something exceedingly important `I’ll get some of the strongest blocker, Lionasha said, `and goggle glasses to reduce Clarf’s dazzle. Even peripherally it’s going to bother you.
`Go on ahead, Laria, and darken the room the best guest, Clarissia’s left hers in a welter,’ said Vanteer, picking up one of the duffles that Kincaid had brought with him, `you’re to sleep!’ `Look, I’m here to help Laria Prime, I must `You’re in no state to be help in 4ny form, Kincaid, Laria said firmly, in answer to both voiced and `pathed messages, `until you’ve had some rest.
You don `t realize … He was insistent and gripped her hand to express his urgency.
A couple of hours won’t make that much difference, will it?