Storm waved him into the warmth of his room. The baby was gone, but clothes, blankets, and cleverly handmade toys were everywhere. The connecting door to Ruff's room was ajar, but apparently Ruff, Pece, and Tallar were gathered in the next room with the human apprentices. Jindigar noted how they had vacated the room next to Cyrus's, the doors closed, affording privacy despite the thin walls.

Storm's corner fireplace gave off a pleasing warmth; the candles, a dim light. Without even asking, Storm poured a mug of tea for Jindigar. "This is the kind you like. You probably need it after that."

Jindigar laughed. "Cy's not hard to talk to."

"He's very professional—but Jindigar, he's going to pieces." The Lehiroh sat down across the table from Jindigar, cradling his own mug of tea.

"I don't think it's that bad."

"He was shouting at Krinata! Oh—he's not Lehiroh, but I've known enough humans to recognize a critical level of sexual tension when I see it. I tried to help him—he wouldn't let me touch him. Some humans are like that. So Orel went to him—but he thinks of her as female, and that's even worse. If the Oliat has to call us to work again—frankly, Jindigar, this is very hard to say. Cy is the best—I mean, the best Outrider I've ever worked with. But right now I don't trust him. His temper is hanging by a thread. And he won't do anything to help himself."

Trying to think what to say, Jindigar drank some of the tea. Orel was the mother of Storm's baby. Obviously they all loved Cyrus, but being Lehiroh, they weren't upset by a mere sexual rejection. They were simply worried for a dear colleague, and Storm, knowing from vast experience that Dushau hardly noticed such things, felt it his duty to consult the Oliat Center.

"Storm, it's not that Cyrus won't help himself. He can't. Not any more than I can help myself right now. But only another couple of days at the most–and I'll Dissolve without ever calling on you again. And you may find that Cy has made some peace with himself now."

"Should we try approaching him again?" asked Storm with the intonation that asked, You mean, you convinced him to find another outlet?

"You can ask him why he refused. You may find it's just that right now, anyone but Krinata is simply repulsive."

"I could understand that. But if that's the case, I think we*d better replace him on the team."

"I wouldn't put it to him that way. Krinata needs him– and he's her Outrider. You know Cy. He rants about the aristocracy being dead, but he's Lord Kulain through and through. Nothing in the galaxy will induce him to abandon a responsibility, but especially not this one—to the Lady Zavaronne." And Krinata's the same way.

Storm ran a hand through his hair and flipped it back. "Well, I guess you can see that I've never really gotten into cross-species sexuality, especially not with humans. But—I'll have to talk to Ruff. I suppose we'll have to seduce him somehow. The problem is, none of us know that much about humans, and I don't think our trainee Outriders would help."

"It might be better just to wait a few days—the whole problem should be resolved by then."

Storm looked at him sideways, then shrugged, "I'm not going to inquire about Dushau personal habits, but if you think it's possible to ignore a thing like this for a few days, we've just found another time-scale discrepancy between Dushau and ephemerals. Jindigar, that man's going to break, one direction or another—in a matter of hours. I just want to see it do no harm."

Summoning his human Emulation for a moment, Jindigar thought that perhaps Storm was right. Jindigar's exercise had given Cyrus some peace, but the previously aroused sexual energies had not been grounded out. In fact, Cyrus might be more sexually volatile now that he was in touch with his primal drives. Jindigar conceded, "Running your team is up to you. If you can work it out, so much the better. But I really can't see us having to call on you again. Right now I'm afraid to convene at all."

They fell into a discussion of the Oliat's technical problems that lasted over three mugs of tea.

When Storm saw Jindigar to the door, he was grave and reserved. Jindigar felt that there was much news of the ephemeral world that Storm was withholding. After the tedious dealings with ephemerals of the last few hours, Jindigar felt himself utterly uninterested in the affairs of the rest of the community. He knew that was a bad sign but also that it was a perfectly natural development.

If only, when news of Krinata's death reaches me, I can be

this uninterested.,

FIVE

Cassrian Hatchery

Krinata tackled the debriefing theory professionally, and Jindigar suddenly felt that his scheme was going to work. He found some Aliom students with experience on the debriefer, and Threntisn consulted the Archive for the method of tuning the machines without the aid of a Sentient computer. Then he went into seclusion, barricading his Archive from any possible intrusion by the Oliat.

Darllanyu returned to them calm enough to ask Krinata, "How is Cy?"

"He understands now," she answered with certainty.

"Don't ever hurt him, Krinata," pled Darllanyu. "He nearly killed himself saving my life when we were trapped in that hive. He deserves the very best that life can give."

"I know he does."'

With sudden insight Jindigar realized that Dar felt about Cy very much as he felt about Krinata. One day he'd have to ask if she'd known him in one of his previous incarnations.

Jindigar swallowed churning emotions, none of which were appropriate to the debriefing drill they had yet to master. "Krinata, I'm going to relax the adjournment and let you maintain the linkage pattern—" That was the Inreach's job. Krinata didn't have the training, but during debriefing, she had to handle it. He warned the others, "If she fumbles, I'll reinstate adjournment quickly, so brace yourselves."

Llistyien sighed, "Good thing I didn't eat this morning. This always make me nauseous."

Zannesu said, "I agree. Jindigar, are you sure I shouldn't take Outreach for this one?"

"It wouldn't work," insisted Jindigar, not thinking about all the horror stories he'd heard through the years. "Ready?" And he put them through the drill.

When, after four tries, Krinata had not managed it, he set Llistyien to Emulate human, bringing up the ephemeral point of view for the Oliat. This limited them severely both in the span that constituted "now" and in the spread of territory that was "here." It became very hard to see purpose in what they were doing, so that as they repeated the drill a fatiguing sense of futility settled over the Dushau Officers.

But Krinata's spirits rose. //Why didn't you tell me that was all you wanted!// She redoubled her efforts, each try yielding a fraction more success that only whetted her appetite for more. Jindigar had used this method to teach her before, but they had never tackled anything this complex.

It took the entire day until Krinata finally held steady three tries in a row, and Jindigar adjourned and sent them all off to exercise away the tension and to sleep.

But he was too keyed-up to retire. He had spent the whole day focused on Krinata, yet at Center, he could not avoid awareness of Darllanyu leashing back surges of possessiveness with all the discipline at her command. She had triumphed over her need for a mate's care—this time. He admired her strength in winning that battle while a part of him squirmed in pleasure at how much she wanted him. Mostly, though, he wanted to hold her close and make sure she'd never have to fight such a battle again.

He wandered outside into the twilight evening. A balmy breeze wafted up from the river, a kind breeze laden with moisture and fragrant with night-blooming flowers. He set out to walk the perimeter of the compound. If he went into then-quarters now, he would surely tell Dar how he felt—and that could be disastrous.