by Andre Norton
“Tani has worked hard and learned much, but under our laws we have no right to refuse if you demand the return of what is yours.” She had not emphasized the first portion of that sentence orally, but underlined it with sendings of excitement, hints of a secret. She saw E’l’ith’s face light with hope and spoke again quickly before the other could speak.
“It is not permitted by our lawgivers to share new technology with you until we have a treaty, and maybe not even then. Nor may we tell you anything that might cause your people difficulty in their way of life. You must understand we have our own laws that may not be broken. But our laws do demand we return what is yours if you ask for it.” She waited, hoping the other had understood.
Across the cloth from her E’l’ith gave the small twisting bow of respect. *We do so ask. Let all that was ours and of us be returned. We must have such things returned, along with all material concerning them. This we ask in formal mode.*
Laris allowed delight to seep through, feeling all five of the natives catch that and react. She spoke aloud to them, still keeping her tone and face bland.
“As you demand, so it must be. All the records and samples will be returned at once. Everything concerning them is yours by right. Remain here and I shall return with them.” In the ship Storm clicked off the recorder and nodded to his wife.
Laris scampered across the short grass, racing for the ship. Tani met her at the top of the ramp, with a huge grin spread across her face, and her hands filled with the sample cases and plasheet folders.
“Well done. Here’s everything and just in time. The cruiser captain decided some time back that he’d come here as soon as the situation was resolved with the Antares. Apparently they’ve been delaying their reports to us on that and the trouble was actually sorted out as far as possible some time ago. Once that was done, the cruiser started for us here and without mentioning their departure until now. They’ll join us tomorrow or the next day.”
Laris’s answering grin was as wicked. “Just in time is right, but too late is too late. By hours or days doesn’t matter. Give me those.” She gathered up the stack of plasheets and samples containers. Then she dived for the waiting natives. From her side of the cloth she leaned over to thrust everything into E’l’ith’s arms.
“Our lawgivers come very soon now. They will have final words on what we may or may not tell you about any possible solution to your problems with your aikizai. As it is, we have only obeyed our laws and given you what was yours, and which is your right to request from us.”
E’l’ith stood, sharing out the load swiftly between herself and M’a’ein. *So we shall say. Now we must go. We have much work to do. We shall return when the ship of your lawgivers arrives.*
Her departure was almost an undignified run. The aikizai trotted after her and M’a’ein. Purrraal pausing to give Prauo and Laris a nasty look. She sent nothing, however, and followed her friends. Laris inhaled deeply. That was done, but now she wanted to discuss something with Prauo, and for that she needed privacy.
She headed back to the ship, answered everyone’s questions briefly, and dived for sanctuary, locking the cabin door behind her and Prauo. Then she sat on the bed, her gaze meeting her aikiza’s purple contemplation.
*Brother-in-fur, we have both seen your world. You know now the line from which you came.* Her mind-voice trailed into silence. How could she ask him what she needed to know, demand a clear and final decision from him? She heard his own sending sliding gently into her head and knew she had no need to ask. He too had been considering the same problems, making the same choices as she had.
*We are different, sister. You needed to know who were your kin, from what bloodline you sprang. For you such a thing was important. It was something I never really demanded to know for myself. I was curious, yes, but no more than that. Now I know and I am quite content.* His sending grew darker with hints of anger and disapproval.
*You do not like my world, do not deny that. You would not wish to remain here with me, although if I stayed, you would stay with me as long as I wished. There is no need. I would not stay even if all here begged me.*
His mind-voice lightened. *Furless-sister, when I was taken from this world to one outside I was a mindless cub. I recall none here, neither my dam nor her liomsa, whoever that may have been. There is nothing and no one upon this world that calls to me. I have met my dam and feel no bond, nothing between us.*
He paused to consider that. *No, there is something between us. I neither like nor trust her. You spoke rightly when you scolded her for her cruelty to those who had been her own cubs. She would have slain me without thought and she gave me to be taken and perhaps to die horribly, all without caring. She did not give me to the spacer in hopes I would have a better life but as a gamble, and, if that failed, at least she would not be known as the aikiza who had birthed three defective cubs in a row.*
*Prauo, she couldn’t have been so ruthless.* Laris hugged him to her, an arm about his shoulders.
*Sister, she could, and I believe she was. But whether I am right or not, there is nothing in my heart for her. Neither love nor caring. She is as she is. But what and who she is, I have no desire to know. This world is the world of my birth, that is all. I do not call it home, and I have no wish to remain here. When this ship lifts, let us both be in it.*
*Are you sure? You aren’t just saying that because you know I don’t want to stay?*
*I have considered that also. It affects me, but it is not the only reason. I, too, have no wish to live on this world. Let us leave, sister. This is no place for either of us.*
Laris sat beside him on the floor and sighed slowly. *No, it isn’t. But where is?* She allowed her mind to drift as together they remembered the worlds they had seen while traveling with the circus. For uncounted time they recalled their lives to date until Laris raised her head.
*I think Logan may be going to ask me to marry him. We could live and work on his ranch. Or he could work for the Arzoran authorities and maybe I could find a job as a protection agent with him. I’m not sure I want to do either and I think Logan is getting restless, too. He’s enjoyed the trips, first hunting for the circus and the beasts Dedran stole, then this trip to find your world. But is there a job in which we can all keep traveling like that?*
Prauo shrugged his powerful shoulders. *Who knows all the trails before he has traveled them?* His head turned towards the door. *We have been talking and remembering here for three hours. Let us go and find a snack and wait to see if E’l’ith will return.*
Laris nodded, and together they strolled down the ship’s corridors to find Tani, who joined them for swankee and a tray of tidbits in the mess. They were drinking and nibbling when Storm appeared.
“The Patrol cruiser has signaled again. They’ve been delayed, but they land early in the morning the day after tomorrow. Tani, what did you think about immediate effects on the aikizai if your recommendations based on the survey results were followed?”
Tani smiled at him. “You mean, could E’l’ith have initial results to show before the cruiser gets here? Yes, she could. I believed that the reason an aikiza failed to reach the final bonding stages was a lack of general radiation and insufficient time spent during that initial bonding stage in the liomsa-created electrical and electromagnetic fields.
“I did some estimations based on the population failure rates of the aikizai, and I noted that it was possible the final stages could be triggered by holding an aikiza and their liomsa together in a mixed electrical and electromagnetic field for some hours, the possible minimum/maximum being five to twelve hours. The easiest way would be simply to sleep in such a field for the night.”
“The cruiser has been delayed,” Storm repeated meaningfully.
“Exactly. If E’l’ith moves quickly, some of her people may have time to test my hypothesis—on several aikizai, perhaps—and know if I was right.” Her grin widened. “After which there’ll be no getting that particular genie back in the
bottle.”
“Which may not please the Patrol. Laris, what have you and Prauo decided? Do you want to stay here for a while?”
“We’ve talked it over and no, we definitely don’t. Prauo feels no kinship with anyone here and he says he can’t wait to be out of the place.” Out of the corner of one eye she noticed that Logan had drifted silently into the mess and was now sitting at a table, swankee mug in hand. For some reason he was grinning.
Storm looked across at his half-brother. “All right, your turn. I’ll let you tell her and ask the question.” He stood and reached for Tani’s hand. Together they left the room, pulling the door almost to behind them.
Laris looked at Logan, able to tell from his body language, now that she looked more closely, that he was full of anticipation.
“Tell me what? Ask me what question?”
“Be patient, I’ll get to it. But first, do you know why beast masters and their teams were first created?”
Laris remembered a discussion months ago at the start of the voyage. “Yes, I think so. Weren’t they originally made as first-in-scouts for Survey? They found that on Earth-type planets it was quicker and cheaper to land a small scientific group to do the official tests and form a base camp, and use a beast master and team on a sort of roving commission. They went all over the area in several places, living off the land as much as they could and learning about the world. Survey found that that way dangers and seasonal problems were more easily—and a lot more cheaply—discovered and resolved.”
“That’s right,” Logan said. “And before you ask what’s that got to do with anything, Terran High Command has reactivated the Survey department—all of it, including beast-master teams. Command has talked to Brad and he negotiated with the Arzoran government for a suitable piece of land. They’ve sold the Survey people an area that runs from the fringe into the real desert, and back toward the peaks near Storm’s and my ranches.”
His smile widened. “That isn’t all. Just before we lifted off, a couple of the Survey people came with Versha and asked Storm and Tani to be part-time tutors for new beast-master teams in the First-In Scout Academy they’re building.”
Laris felt as if her heart was going to explode. “New beast-master teams?”
“That’s right. When Terra was flamed by the Xiks, we lost almost everyone who knew how to do that training. Of the ones who survived, Dedran killed maybe half with his schemes, and most of the rest are either unsuitable or uninterested. I’m not a beast master but I’ve lived on the only Federation world that has a native race sharing a world with Terrans, and I grew up with the Norbies.
“I know their laws and customs, and how they think. So Survey has asked me to join them to tutor new scout-trainees in the area of dealing with native peoples. I’ll also be training the rest of the time to be a Survey camp-master. I’m asking you to join us.” He waited.
Laris hesitated. Exactly what was he asking? Did he want her to join him in particular, or just to be a beast-master trainee? And what about Prauo . . . ?
*He is no fool,* Prauo sent. *He knows that where I go, you follow, or you lead and I follow, depending on the trail. I think this may be a good trail, sister mine. Let us hunt.*
Logan recognized her confusion and in case he was uncertain as to why she hesitated, Prauo had sent tightly to the young man alone a second message. *Make it more plain what it is that you ask of her.* He added the sense of Laris’s confusion and Logan nodded, his gaze shifting from the big feline to Laris’s face.
“Laris, listen. I’m asking you to be a beast-master trainee along with Prauo. The two of you would work together as a team with several genetically enhanced beasts as well. Apart from that”—he took her hands in his—“I don’t want us to be apart. Stay with me. I’ll be training as well as tutoring, and we’ll be working together.” He swallowed, forcing more strength into his voice, which had begun to waver in the face of her continued silence.
“I love you. I want us to work together and be together for always.” He took a deep breath and added what he hoped would be the clincher: “You, me, and Prauo.”
Laris was still unable to speak. Her throat seemed to have locked up. She loved Logan, she wanted to join him, but somehow she couldn’t say anything. It was her brother-in-fur who broke the silence.
*I want a separate room if she joins you. I’ve passed your cabin when you were sleeping and you snore!*
The amount of indignation he managed to put into that accusation started Laris giggling. That turned into a shout of laughter, while Logan grinned and swept her into his arms.
“You tell your friend he’s a liar. I don’t snore, but if I did he still doesn’t have to worry. I wouldn’t have him sleeping with us unless you put it in the marriage contract. You won’t, will you?”
“No.”
“And you’ll marry me?”
“Of course. Prauo wouldn’t approve of anything else.”
Outside the slightly ajar door Tani turned to Storm and gave him the thumbs-up. They tiptoed away after that, leaving Laris and Logan to each other, Prauo also having discreetly vanished.
It was late that day when E’l’ith visited the ship to demonstrate that Tani’s solution worked. With her, to the human’s astonishment was T’s’ai and his aikiza. Purrraal padded along sullenly behind the small group.
E’l’ith bowed. *All our gratitude for returning your results, Jiisar Tani,* she sent, using the most formal honorific of the liomsa. *We tested Arrraal and it worked. He has his intelligence and his freedom. He is legally an adult of his people. Already we have set up many places where tonight we can apply the solution to more aikizai. As you have said, it may not work for all aikizai, but if it works for enough of them it will mean that our aikizai do not die out as a people. For that they rejoice.*
T’s’ai bowed to Laris. *It was our choice. Since I forsook my honor in seizing you, I surrendered my aikiza to E’l’ith’s experiment. If Arrraal had died in the testing or not succeeded in attaining the final stage of his development, I would have slain myself.*
Prauo blinked and sent to Laris alone. *Nice. He makes Arrraal risk his life for his liomsa’s honor, then promises to kill himself, abandoning his aikiza to die alone if the experiment fails but his brother lives. Remind me to ask you not to love me that greatly, my furless sister.*
*I know. I don’t understand these people, and you know what? I don’t think I want to.*
*I agree, so it’s as well we don’t have to stay.* She could feel his joy. *We are free, sister, and all the star roads lie before us. Two shall walk them with you, and I think you shall rejoice in the trails we three find to travel.* To which Laris could only send her own happiness and agreement.
The arrival of the Patrol cruiser a day and a half later was something of an anticlimax. The only interesting things about the extremely boring negotiations which followed, at least to Laris’s mind, were that E’l’ith, with Saaraoo accompanying her, would be the liomsa delegate to the Terran Federation, while Purrraal chose to travel with them as delegate for the aikizai.
It took time, but in another month The Trehannan Lady lifted off and swung to head for Arzor. Her crew and their ship were heading home. In their cabin Laris lay comfortably on her bunk, Prauo sprawled on his own berth nearby.
Bonding flowed between them, the very light, almost subliminal joining that was their love and friendship. Furless sister, brother-in-fur. Long and far had they traveled together, soon they would admit another to their bonding, which would only enhance it.
Soon there would be new trails to follow, new worlds for them to discover, and on some of those they might find more than they bargained for, but that—as yet—they did not know. Nor would they have cared if someone had told them. Just now, life—in their mutual opinion—was very good, they were together, and both were content that it was so.
About the Authors
ANDRE NORTON, named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America and awarded a Life Ach
ievement World Fantasy Award, was the author of more than one hundred novels of science fiction and fantasy adventure. Beloved by legions of readers the world over, she thrilled generations with such series as Beast Master, Time Traders, The Solar Queen, Witch World, and others. She died in March 2005. Visit her Web site at
www.andre-norton.org.
LYN MCCONCHIE is the coauthor, with Andre Norton, of the Beast Master science fiction novels Beast Master’s Ark and Beast Master’s Circus, and the Witch World novels The Duke’s Ballad and Silver May Tarnish. She has also written her own fiction. A native of New Zealand, she has twice been awarded the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel by a New Zealander; in 2003 for Beast Master’s Ark, and in 2005 for Beast Master’s Circus. She lives in Norsewood, New Zealand.