Tri’ava turned back from her contemplation of the moonlit gardens and twitched shut the draperies over the double glass doors. “Interesting you should mention Zabb. I think he’s as much of a threat as the Kou’nar.”

Roxalana shook her head. “He could have had Egyon do the job for him. Why wait?”

“Lani’s right. I think he’s just enjoying the sight of me helpless and imprisoned,” Tis said.

The bitterness couldn’t be masked, the Tis realized it was not just for herself, but for her sisters as well. Had Earth affected her so much that she now questioned the basic tenets of her culture?

“This is for your protection, remember?” Pandasala said. “We women are so precious.” A sneer trembled at the edges of the word.

So even Takis breeds malcontents, Tis thought.

Melant flung herself into a chair. “I think Panda regrets not being bitshuf’di.”

There was a touch of spite in the words. Roxalana made a slashing gesture before Pandasala could respond to the goading. “Both of you go. Tis doesn’t need to be agitated by your sniping.”

Melant pouted. “But I wanted to discuss our baby. The genetic work-ups were so encouraging, Tis. When you do recover your body, please loan it to me for a night.”

Tis tried to mask the hurt but knew she didn’t succeed very well. She was a very poor telepath, and she threw off emotions like sparks off a spinning firework. “My track record with children hasn’t been very good so far. Perhaps you should stick with Baiyin.”

Melant paused at the door. “He’s not going to be Raiyis.”

“Right now neither am I.”

Pandasala placed her hands in the middle of Melant’s back and shoved. Tri’ava gave a little wave and closed the door carefully behind her. For a long moment Roxalana and Tis regarded that closed door, then cautiously returned their scrutiny to each other.

“They’re angry. You’re all angry with me,” Tis said softly.

“You abandoned us, and now you’re back, but not as an asset, an ally to help us further our goals, promote our projects, advance our children. Instead you’re a burden. It isn’t enough that we have to protect ourselves, our children still in tails. We have to protect you as well.”

“Then don’t! I have my humans, and Taj, and though my mentatic skill is all but gone, I still have my wits.”

“Oh, no, Tis. We’ll protect you. Even finding you in this ridiculous scrape is better than believing you were a traitor – but you still leave us in a most untenable position. If you die, we suffer. The new Raiyis may decide that a living Sennari is a threat – more than a conspiracy. I don’t want to see my children die. I don’t want to see my sisters die.” She paused, and the severe lines around her mouth relaxed. It wasn’t quite a smile. “I don’t even want to see my little brother die.”

“The two humans -”

“May have formidable powers, but for the moment they’re useless to us. You’ll need guards, but leave the selection to me. You haven’t enough telepathy to weed out even the most obvious assassin.”

Tis hung her head. She had been so proud of the telepathy she had force-fed the borrowed human body. Once home, she realized just how rudimentary and useless it was.

“So you’re keeping me alive in the faint hope I might recover my body and leadership of the House. Other than that I’m useless.”

“You are inhabiting the body of an inferior groundling. Carrying a half-breed abomination. You’re not precisely an asset. But you are Tisianne, and…”

She whirled and left the room. But the thought lingered like the scent of her perfume. I do care for you.

“I want to see her.”

Mark was leaning over the desk, hands braced on the polished surface. They were in the office of the Raiyis, and Zabb looked very much at home as he lolled in the padded chair and swung lightly from side to side.

“Lilistizkar is the traditional visiting day. You’ll just have to wait.”

“And when is this lillyshit?” asked Jay. “Sometime in the next century?”

“Only three days.”

“I want to see her now.” Mark tried to sound threatening. Ended up sounding pleading.

“Quite impossible. Only husbands have unlimited visiting rights.”

“Then I’ll marry her.”

“Jesus,” muttered Jay.

Zabb’s smile deepened. Then, arranging his features into one of somber consideration, he said gravely, “I’m afraid as Raiyis I must refuse your offer for my cousin’s hand.”

“Come on, Meadows.” Jay took Mark by the arm and tugged. “He’s just fucking with us and enjoying the hell out of it. Don’t be a toy for him. We’ll just have to wait until visiting hours at the zoo. Maybe they’ll even let us feed the girls, bring them some grapes, chocolate…

“You have no conception of life within Rarrana. It is not a prison.”

“Can Tachyon leave?”

Zabb’s silence provided all the answer they needed. A chime indicated an incoming call. Zabb keyed the stage. The image of his secretary appeared.

“Yes?”

“Sir, Captain Nesfa,” the man said.

“Abyss take the woman!” Zabb said. “What part of no doesn’t she understand?”

“Will you speak with her, my lord?”

“No. Thank her for her continued interest in my well-being, but tell her I must decline her invitation due to responsibilities at home.” With a vicious jab Zabb killed the holo. “Now, where were we?”

“I was going to ask you if I can blow this Popsicle stand, go into town, check out the fleshpots of Takis,” Jay said.

“No.”

“Shit.”

Jay expected Mark to react with that little wince with which the other ace met all of Jay’s more outrageous remarks. But the hippie seemed to have withdrawn into some kind of fugue state, maybe an LSD flashback.

“If that is all…” Zabb began.

“Women are permitted in Rarrana without restriction?” Mark said.

Jay wondered if a space voyage had dropped Meadows’s IQ.

“Obviously.”

“Cool.” Meadows knelt and snapped open his briefcase. Pulled out the black-and-silver powder. A few seconds later, and Moonchild stood before them.

“Now, I would wish to see the Doctor.”

Jay was expecting Zabb to refuse, but there was a faint smile at the corners of that thin-lipped mouth. He didn’t seem to mind being trumped. “By all means. Just be out before the change. I would hate to have to kill you.,’

“Yeah, we feel that way about you too,” Jay said.

“He changes into a woman,” Roxalana mused. “What a useful man. We might have some hope of understanding between the sexes if more of them could do that.”

“Wish someone would give me the power to move in the other direction,” Pandasala said.

And Tisianne made a mental note that if she ever did escape from her current predicament, she would find some way to free Pandasala from hers.

“How beautiful she is,” Cillka breathed, and gently touched a strand of Moonchild’s jet black hair.

Moonchild bowed. “Thank you, gracious lady, but my time is limited, and we must reach a decision concerning the Doctor’s safety before I must leave.”

“Why can’t you stay to guard Tisianne?” Shi’tha asked.

“I exist for only an hour in human time.”

“Unfortunate,” Melant said.

“Yes, very. I have sought some way to free all of the individuals who make up Mark Meadows so that we might each pursue our own karma, our own futures, but so far I have been unsuccessful.”

“Your offer is generous, groundling,” Roxalana said. “But I can select guards for my brother.”

“Without offense, lady, I must say I would feel better if one of the guards was Mark.”

“Mark is a man,” Melant said with that careful patience one reserves for stupid children and animals.

“So are most of our guards,” Tisianne said suddenly. “The key is that they are neutered.” She gathered Moonchild’s hands in hers. “A vasectomy is easily performed. Easily reversed for my people. If you’ll do it, you can stay with me.”