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Rimon and Kadi sat down unbidden before the desk. Finally Farris asked,
"Rimon, why have you done this?"
"Father& do you realize exactly what we have done?"
Farris was staring at his fingertips rather than at Rimon and Kadi. Almost
imperceptibly, he nodded. "I find it difficult to reconcile my perceptions.
What appears to be the case& "
"Is true!" Rimon said eagerly. "You know I was past turnover when I left
here, Father. Kadi's field was climbing, but it's low now. Kadi gave me her
selyn, and she didn't die! You have no idea how much better it is than
killing!"
Farris' sensitive mouth curled as disgust rippled the enforced calm of his
nager. "Rimon, I have had great patience with you because of the tragedy of
your first kill. But now you have gone too far. You should have released this
Gen at the border people look the other way when someone can't allow one who
was a friend to be killed. But to bring her home? Rimon, my son take her to
the Pens, and then we'll discuss your deed."
"Father, Kadi is my wife. Can't you see what she's done for me?"
The anger threatening to break through Farris' control met a barrier& no, a
warmth that melted it away like icicles in sunlight. What was happening?
Rimon, too, felt unbelievably calm and rational in the face of his father's
implacability.
Kadi, Rimon realized, wanted desperately for Rimon and his father to discuss
calmly what had happened. Without conscious intent, she was influencing their
fields with her own, drawing them into harmony.
Suddenly Farris stared at Kadi. "You!" he gasped, and went hyperconscious for
a moment. White with rage, he said, "Get out! Getout of this office and let my
son have his own mind back!"
Bewildered, Kadi looked toward Rimon. "It's all right, Kadi," he said. "Wait
for me outside."
When she had gone, Farris asked, "Can you think clearly now, Son?"
Startled to find compassion in his father's voice and nager, Rimon said, "Of
course I can. I've been thinking more clearly than ever before since Kadi and
I "
"Rimon don't you know what she was doing to you? And to me, for a minute?
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It's a trick black magic."
"What?!"
"I've heard of it, among the gypsies. Gens who can control Simes& but I never
believed it." Waves of horror shimmered through his nager. "She had you in her
power!"
"Father, you don't understand. I love Kadi. She loves me  so much that she
tried to give her life for mine, but she didn't die because she wasn't
afraid."
"She's certainly not afraid now," agreed Farris, "but where did she learn
that? I've never before felt anything like what she did to me just then."
"I guess now that Kadi's established, her field is strong enough to reach out
further. She used to control my field, remember? She always had to touch me to
do it but she kept me sane. You never minded her controlling my field when I
went to pieces after every kill."
"I I minded, Rimon, but what could I do? She was the only one who could bring
you out of those attacks. I know she saved your life many times over& but that
was four years ago. You've outgrown your dependence on her. You must let her
go, Son."
"No. What Kadi and I have," Rimon said softly, "we can share with you. We can
teach you and everyone on the Farm. Imagine everyone sharing Father, think
what it would be like if it didn't matter whether your son or daughter
established or changed over!"
Again revulsion rippled through Farris' field, although this time he allowed
no physical expression. "Rimon, you know that is impossible. You weren't gone
long enough to have reached need. Were you augmenting?"
"I had to to save Kadi! After that I was in hard need, Father."
"But it was early for you. Perhaps that is why you didn't kill her. I've seen
Raiders so high on shiltpron that they'll kill while still pre-turnover& and
once I saw a Gen too far into shock to feel fear survive such an attack. So&
if you were not truly in need, and she was not afraid, yes, what you tell me
is possible. But you're too sensitive, Rimon, like your mother. What will
happen at the end of the month, when you try it again? This time you'll kill
her& and then what will you do? Wouldn't you rather let her go now?"
"Father, Kadi is my wife."
"She is Gen. She can't be anyone's wife."
"We have pledged to one another. By law, our marriage becomes binding when
she bears me a child. And she will."
Farris' eyes lifted to the portrait of Rimon's mother, over the fireplace.
His field was unreadable at that moment, but his sensitive lips compressed
against some great sorrow. Rimon realized for the first time that it was not
entirely from his mother that he inherited the sensitivity that plagued him.
Finally, his father said, "You'll have to give her up, Rimon."
"No, I won't have to. Legally, Kadi is my property." He said it with
distaste. He didn't own her she was his wife.
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Shaking his head, Farris pulled open a desk drawer. "Actually, she ismy
property, for you obtained her illegally."
As his father spread a sheaf of documents across the desk, Rimon's heart
sank. Gone entirely was the momentary unity. Rimon was a child again, caught
out in a prank more serious than he'd realized.
"I& I had to get Kadi away somehow," he tried to explain, "and I didn't have
enough to cover the price they were asking."
"I knew that. I trust that my son would not deliberately cheat any man& for a
lark. If I had not thought so, I'd not have paid your debt."
"But& how did they know me? I've never been to Reloc before."
"I have," Farris said. "Rimon& you didn't expect to get away entirely without
paying, did you? Had you not been recognized?"
"I'll pay you back," Rimon said contritely.
"That is the least of your problems. You may have the Gen." He shoved the
papers across at Rimon, scribbling his signature in the title-passed-to box.
"It would be too disruptive to keep her here. Now, what are you going to do
with her?"
"I've told you: Kadi is my wife. We're going to live together, raise a
family, just like we'd always planned only now we can love all our children
equally, whether they're Sime or Gen."
"You're still determined to attempt this, in the face of all common sense?"
"Yes."
Farris got up, went to the mantel over the huge fireplace, and picked an
artifact of the Ancients, a pure metal globe of the world with the continents
embossed in high relief, though worn now with Marna's constant polishing. As a
child, Rimon had loved to make up stories about how that relic had been handed
down in his family as an award for service and loyalty to an Ancient Queen.
Pure fantasy. His grandfather had found it in the ruins. And Rimon had
outgrown fantasy.
"Yes, Father, we're going to live together for the rest of our lives."
Farris put the globe down and turned to Rimon. His nager was grim and cold
around Rimon as he said, "You can't stay here, then."
"But& this is where we can do the most good!"
"This is where you can do the most harm, Rimon! You've already disrupted the
whole Farm. I shudder to think what rumors are flying the Gen in such a state,
your nager in this condition. And when Simes talk, Gens listen. We'll be lucky [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]