He shouldn't be jealous, just because it was Stefen who brought that light to her face and not him. And he knew he shouldn't be. But he couldn't help suffering a sharp stab of jealousy anyway.
:This won't be the last time you're jealous, old man,: said Stefen, and he somehow knew Stefen spoke only to him :She can't help what she is. There are those who will find her desirable only because she is exotic, and others who will be certain she cannot resist them. She was built for a single purpose, and it still marks her. You have hard times ahead.:
Skif's jealousy turned to despair; how could he ever hope to hold Nyara once she entered Valdemar and began to meet others? Why should she wish to stay with him? There were people of wealth who had far more to offer than he did. He couldn't even offer her protection from the curious and the unkind. He was a Herald and had duties; he couldn't be with her every moment.
:Don't be a bigger ass than you have to be,: Stefen said sharply :She loves you, for one thing. And for another - you will likely be the only creature she ever encounters who sees and desires her for her, herself, and not as an object to be possessed. She has had quite enough of that in her life, and believe me, she knows how to recognize it when she sees it.:
Skif blinked as a bee buzzed near his face. He also would have blushed, if Stefen had not resumed the conversation as casually as if he had not interrupted it to talk to Skif alone :There's no great virtue in being lifebonded, you know. It's a lot like having a Predestined Fate; often uncomfortable, frequently inconvenient, usually hazardous.:
Skif shook his head, and waved the bee away. He had often envied Talia and Dirk - how could Stefen say something like that? Wasn't being lifebonded the ultimate love?
'I thought lifebonding was something to be sought above all else,' Nyara replied dubiously.
:That's the poets' and Bards' interpretation,: Stefen said with a grimace :It has far more to do with compatibility than with love, and the match is more random than, say - finding two people from different countries with exactly the same eye color. When you're lifebonded, your choices are limited to the things you both want, because if your lifebonded is unhappy, so are you. It takes two very strong, well-established personalities to make a lifebonded pair work, because if one is passive, he 'II be eaten alive by the other.:
'That doesn't sound very pleasant,' Skif put in. 'In fact it doesn't even sound - romantic. It sounds like a disease.'
Stefen laughed :I don't know about a disease, but it isn't love, that's for certain, even though love usually cements the bond. Van thinks that it's likelier that someone with an extremely powerful Gift of some kind and a tendency to deep depression will be lifebonded than someone who is not so burdened and hag-ridden. That's so the Gifted-and-suicidal half has someone outside of himself to keep him stable and give him an external focus. But - all we know is that while it's rare, it isn't something to yearn after.:
'To think I've envied Talia all this time - ' Skif mused. And at Stefen's puzzled look, he added, 'That's the current Queen's Own.'
:Of course, the one with all the Empathy! 'Fandes almost swatted her once, when she thought the girl was going to lose all control: Before Skif could express his surprise, Stefen went on :I liked her, though - so, she lifebonded? You shouldn't be too surprised. I'll bet I can describe her lifemate. Strong, kind, thoughtful, intelligent, tends to keep his feelings to himself, the kind of man everyone knows they can depend on. Little children and animals love him immediately.:
'That's Dirk!' Skif exclaimed.
:So, that illustrates my point. Love now - a good, solid love is something infinitely rarer and more difficult to maintain, because you don't know everything your partner is feeling. Love takes work. Love means being able to apologize and mean it when you blunder. Love is worth fighting for!: Stefen sounded absolutely fierce :One of the very things that made what Van and I have a love-match as well as a lifebonding was that we were so different. It is like a marriage - you marry who you think your beloved is, and then discover who they really are over the years. It's that discovery that makes a marriage work :
:We did have things in common, lots of them, but you would never have assumed that from first seeing us. It made hunting and finding them all the sweeter. And it gave us chances to introduce each other to something new. You two have that same opportunity. Van and I took pride in being different - we enjoyed the diversity to be found among people of all kinds, and we enjoyed the diversity in the two of us.:
Before Skif could react to this, Need spoke up :All very pretty, I'm sure,: she said scathingly :But this is Skif we're talking about. You're assuming the young lout has enough imagination to recognize diversity.:
'Of course he has imagination!' Nyara exclaimed immediately. 'How can you say something so stupid?'
:Oh, he has about as much imagination as he has sensitivity,: Need continued as if she hadn't noticed Nyara's angry exclamation :Frankly, I think both of you are giving him more credit than he deserves.:
Skif wisely kept his mouth shut. He thought he saw what Need was up to. Furthermore, Stefen, after all his impassioned speeches, was keeping quite, quite silent -
