sent abject shame. She negated. «You heard me, then?» he asked. «No. Red Earth sent me. You were out so long he began searching.» «To Red Earth, too, I owe expressions of shame,» he said. She would not look at him. He couldn't blame her. His seemingly foolish behavior had sent her out into the storm. Moreover, he had been unconscious when he entered her establishment, and, as he inhaled the good, Breather-manufactured air, he had involuntarily voided his gills. A small cloud of heavy, poisonous stuff had accumulated along the floor. He bent down and breathed it in, storing it inside his gill sack. He would void it later outside. In cases of dire emergency the niceties were sometimes forgotten, but Rack could not forgive himself for having soiled her private air and for having used an unforgivable amount of it. She would be on short rations until the overworked Breathers made up the deficit. He was deeply in her debt. «There was a reason,» he said. «Yes, I'm sure of that.» Her eyes were still cast down, her inner lids closed. «You're Beautiful Wings the Power Giver?» «Yes.» «Would a small gift repay you even in part for your sacrifice?» He had seen his pack on the floor. He opened it and brought out the precious nugget of hard material. He moved to stand in front of her, hand extended. Astoundingly, her face began to glow through the delicate covering of tiny, bejeweled scales. He found himself looking at her as he had never looked at a Power Giver before, noting her delicate proportions. She was small as Power Givers went, with long, delightfully curved limbs, a slender waist, and a graceful chest on which her bulges, protected by silvery scales, were quite pronounced. He had always been an admirer of the graceful beauty of the Power Givers, but never before had he been so smitten with any one individual. He was suddenly speechless. «It is not necessary,» she sent. «I want you to have it. It is a material of certain scarcity and it would adorn you.» He pictured the beautiful yellow hard material mounted in the Material and lying on her rounded chest. The glow of her face became even more pronounced. It was certainly strange behavior for a sensible Power Giver. But he was also feeling very strange. Was it simply the near brush with death? Even now he could feel the depletion of his resources. His body weight was extremely low. «May I ask how much my rescue hurt you?» He waited politely for her answer. She sent a picture of her condition. He was pleased. She was vibrantly healthy. Apparently her excursion into the storms had cost little. «Fortunately,» she sent, «you moved within a short distance of my establishment.» «Then I insist on your having this.» He pressed the nugget into her hand and the touch electrified him, sending a surge of pure goodness through his body. Alarmed, he stepped back, his eyes falling, his suspicions growing. Now it was his face that glowed through his scales, for in the bulge over his pelvic area the large, protective scales were tinted a dull russet. He knew then why she had covered him, knew why he was looking at her with an interest he had never felt before. He seized the coverlet in agitated haste and draped it over his middle. He sent waves of embarrassment and atonement. «It is merely nature,» she sent. «It's just—it's just—» She went blank. He had exposed himself shamelessly. His state of confusion resulting from his experience was no excuse. When entering the state of readiness, one secluded oneself from polite society and bore the change in solitude until, fully readied, one went in search of a mate. To expose one's first tint to the opposite sex was unforgivable. He could only send regret and ask for forgiveness. «You were unaware,» she said. «I understand.» He closed off, unable to bear his shame. She fingered the nugget of hard material, opening her inner lids to see better. «It is truly beautiful. Is this the justification for your trip?» «Beautiful as it is, no.» He opened his pack and showed her the strange object. She examined it with wonder and looked at him fully for the first time. «What is it?» she asked. «I don't know,» he said. «But my not knowing helps to explain its importance. As you can see, it is not the Material, nor is it anything with which we are familiar in our high state of civilization.» «Is it a thing fallen from the space outside?» she asked. «That again I do not know.» He looked at her and felt a strange, sweet feeling of peace. And in her absorption in examining the object she forgot to hide her own feelings. On the delicate bulges of her chest her scales flowered, opening slightly, as the flower of the slime source opened under the thick, salty waters of the sea. His heart pounded. She was incredibly young. The change should have been sun circles in her future, and yet here was the unmistakable sign. The flowering of her chest bulges was revealed only momentarily before she became aware of the erotic sensation and closed them, glowing furiously. «Beautiful, Beautiful Wings,» he sent, searing her with his emotion. Then, as she recoiled, he eased. «I knew your father, Northern Ice the Healer. In my travels I talked with him often, and I knew you as a child.» «He is dead these several sun circles.» A surge of emotion swept through his body, making his interior go soft and flowing. «I am not mistaken?» he asked, sending a replay of the unconscious flowering of her chest bulges. She answered with a shy negative, and delightfully feminine in her movements, reached for an opaque sheet of the Material with which to cover herself before looking at him. Wild thoughts flooded out of him, thoughts about nature, fate, luck, bringing them together, amazement that she should begin her change so young, pleasure in his picture of her. «Am I truly?» she sent. «Am I truly beautiful?» «Affirmative, affirmative, affirmative,» he sent, repeating his picture of her. «There are many others,» she said. «They do not matter.» «I have heard that a Healer is prone to love the first Power Giver changeling he encounters, but that this love is not necessarily the indication of a wise choice,» she said. «It is true. Our custom will require that I seek.» She closed. He sent one last beautiful picture into her mind and got a grandly complimentary, girlish picture in return. Then the moment was gone. «You are to seek Red Earth's establishment as soon as you are able.» «True,» he said. «I have much to report.» «He was fretful.» «I little doubt that.» «Will you be reprimanded?» «I don't think so. Not when I show him this.» He took the strange object from her hand. «Red Earth, although he won't admit it, is as curious as any Healer.» He read the state of the air in the establishment, monitored the activity of her Breathers, who were working overly hard because of the drain of two sets of lungs. «But I have taken enough of your air. I have ample stores to reach Red Earth's establishment.» «I will take you.» «No!» He was emphatic. He would not allow her to go out into the deadly storm again on his behalf. «I have been so instructed.» «Then we shall disobey,» he said. He allowed himself one more breath of her air, bowed, and left her. As he went out into the lock he sent a picture of his returning. He felt a warm glow in answer. Since his own establishment was nearer than Red Earth's, he jogged, in a homeward direction through the barren landscape, joyous in the feeling of renewed strength. He vented his gills in the lock and entered his establishment, where the air was so rich it made him giddy. He breathed furiously, causing much agitation among his Breathers, and felt his weight build, his chest expand, and his tired, empty cells fatten. Refreshed, he started out again through the dark, thick storm, dressed now in the loincloth of readiness. Beautiful Wings' coverlet, used during the trip from her establishment, was cleaned and ready to be returned to her, a task he hoped to perform in the very near future. He made the march to Red Earth's establishment in short time, feeling only a slight drain on his reserves, so fat was he with air. He announced his arrival, was admitted to the lock, vented his gills, shook the ash of the outside from his scales, and sneaked a look at the russet bulge in his loins. Inside, Red Earth was lounging on his rack. Rack greeted him cordially, holding back the sensational information. «You are fat and refreshed, I see,» Red Earth sent grumpily. «I will use none of your air,» said Rack. «A pleasant change,» Red Earth said, a reference to Rack's hungry breathing of Beautiful Wings' air. «A nugget of hard material is scant exchange for life.» «If you were observing so closely,» Rack said, «did you also see the valley of the hot water?» «I have more to do than follow the ramblings of an irresponsible Healer,» Red Earth sent. «Then I have much to tell.» «I am interested only in the breakdown of your cenesthesia and the reasons for your being stranded in the wilderness, and in those subjects solely for the reason of preventing such happenings in the future. Perhaps your punishment will inspire other Healers to use more caution.» «I do indeed deserve punishment,» Rack admitted. «However, I think there may be some mitigating circumstances.» «Your state of coming readiness is noted and will be considered.» Red Earth gave a mental shrug. «We cannot, even in an event such as this,
neglect the possibility of creating a new unit of life.» He let slip his foolish hopes and Rack grinned inwardly as he saw pictures of speculation. It would indeed be ironic if a disgraced Healer should be the sire of the New One. «I am not speaking merely of my condition,» Rack said. He slowly produced the object, holding it on the palm of his hand. He stood directly in front of Red Earth. The bare dome of Red Earth's head did not move, but Rack could feel the push and probe of the Far Seer's senses. He was gratified when Red Earth expressed interest and surprise. He extended the object, and Red Earth took it in his hand. For long moments the Far Seer examined the object, then with an explosion of emotion, threw it from him. It hit the soft, yielding wall and fell to the floor. «From the subsurface!» Red Earth flared. «True,» Rack admitted. A blast of anger and shock poured into his mind, but he stood his ground. «You dug,» Red Earth accused. «Not true,» Rack answered. «I sensed the taint of soft earth, the deadliness of the earth.» Waves of anger, fear, and sorrow emanated from the Far Seer. . Rack began to be seriously concerned. He was well aware of the law against digging. It was a law so absolute that even in the mind of the oldest Keeper there was no record of its having been broken. «If you will listen—» he said. «Not I.» Red Earth sent sadly. «No, I will not listen. There will be a council. Then we will listen.» «That will take time,» Rack said desperately, remembering the flowering of the delicate scales on Beautiful Wings' chest bulges. He sent a powerful picture of his need, his love for Beautiful Wings, the pull of nature, the necessity of proper timing. His russet tint would deepen to flame red. The flowering of Beautiful Wings' chest bulges would become involuntary and
