future?'
'You have been good to me Vaemar,' Dimity said again. 'You don't hate me?'
'Hate you? Why should I?'
'One great reason. I made building the hyperdrive possible. In time to win the war for humans. I could be seen as the greatest enemy the kzin species has ever had.'
'I could answer that several ways,' said Vaemar. 'When you translated and applied the manual for the hyperdrive I understand you did not even know of the war. And whether that was so or not, you did what you did for your kind. Any kzin who could have done the same would have done so. It would be irrational to hate you for that.
'Further, I think now that we needed to lose a war. As a race, we were becoming more than foolish with victory. We were becoming permanently intoxicated with it. We were so used to swallowing up feeble, peaceful races that we took for granted that was the only way things could be in the Universe. But the God was more subtle and more generous than we had come to assume. Our ancestors had prayed for enemies worth the fighting. They were given to us just before our own arrogance and savagery ate us up.
'There are other things. We were lucky, I think, to have met humans when we did and not just gone on expanding unopposed until we ran into something worse. We had missed, or deprived ourselves of, a great deal. I have read Honored Sire's meditations and have come to see how right he was when he perceived that humans have talents and abilities we lack-or have deprived ourselves of. I enjoy biology and mathematics, for instance, and reading of historical events, human as well as kzin. I sang 'Lord Chmeee's Last Anthem' for sheer joy in the words as well as Heroic blood-lust. It excited me-actually excited me!-to discover how the Normans of Earth combined barbarian vigor with Roman order and discipline to conquer so much from so tiny a base. Could I have enjoyed these things as a princeling in Honored Sire's palace? I would have been killed by my brothers or by Combat Trainer as a freak. Who knows how many other young kzinti died like that-intellectual misfits in a warrior culture? My brothers would have had to gang up on me, though, and there would have been fewer of them at the end of it, for in single combat I…' He trailed off.
'But there is another thing. As I grew up with Raargh after the human victory, mixing with humans, I thought long and hard on the future of my kind. And its future not here on Wunderland only. I believe that in the long run the best future for us is as partners with humans. When I say I believe in an eventual partnership of our kinds I do not just use words. What might we not do together! You have said it will take centuries and I agree, but perhaps I can do something to bring it about a little quicker here on this world at least. Hatred is not a good way to begin. And nor do I dislike you, Dimity. Dislike is more destructive than hatred, more long-lasting…
'And there is a further thing again. Not in this case a completely rational or utilitarian consideration. Your presence is more agreeable to me than your absence. There are bonds between you and me. When I am near you I feel I am near a like mind. Almost I could wish I was a Telepath at such moments-though say that to no other kzin! Almost I have wished I was a… no, that thought is not even for you! What could I do but take you in? Raargh knew what he was doing when he ran through fire to save you in the battle in the caves.'
Dimity reached out a hand, and scratched the kzin at the base of his ears. Vaemar permitted himself to purr.
'And if we are both genii, we are both misfits,' he went on. 'I have mixed with humans too long to be a kzintosh of the Patriarchy, even though I bear this.' He tapped the red fur on his chest. 'And you…'
'I should be teaching,' said Dimity. 'When I was a professor I was not a good teacher, but I think I communicate better now. I should have the ordinary domestic life that should be any human's lot: my own people, my own mate and children. Instead…'
'I know that by human standards you are beautiful,' said Vaemar. 'Even I can see that. Some have said you could have any mate you wanted. If he is not afraid of your mind.'
'What I want now,' said Dimity, 'is to know that for the moment I may stay here if I wish. I need a refuge.'
Vaemar sprayed a very little-a couple of drops-of urine on the fabric of her trouser leg. It reinforced his mark for all kzinti to know.
'Of course,' he said. 'You are my guest and chess partner as long as you wish. But you care to come to Little Southland.'
'Yes, I also need to run.'
'From what?'
'Everything.
'Footfalls echo in the memory 'Down the passage which we did not take 'Towards the door we never opened 'Into the rose-garden…'
'T.S. Eliot?' said Vaemar.
'Do not kzinti feel like that sometimes?'
'When we do, we usually go out and kill things. Or fight each other. You are free to hunt in my preserves if you wish. I have human-size weapons you may use.'
'Thank you, Vaemar, but I do not think that would help. I am looking forward to Little Southland. What of Karan?'
'Like me, she must learn to live with humans. It is harder for her in some ways, perhaps, easier in others. She is not Riit. But I think she has bred true. Tabitha has intelligence! I thought that was the case when I realized her vocabulary was far beyond that of a normal female kitten of her age-or normal kzinret of any age, to be sure- but now I know. She reads! She plans!'
'Are you glad, Vaemar? You and I know abnormal intelligence may be a curse as well as a blessing.'
Vaemar paced for a while before answering. His gait betrayed troubled thought.
'I am mortal,' said a voice on the screen. 'You are Elfkind. It was a beautiful dream, nothing more.'
'Yes, I think I am glad,' Vaemar said at last. 'It is a new thing, and like many new things I must accept it. She will not need to live her life as Karan did for so long, pretending to be a moron. You will help teach her, perhaps?'
'If I can. I would like to repay your hospitality to me somehow.'
'Are you sure you do not wish to kill something? My hunting preserve is free to you.'
'When do we leave?'
'Pack your equipment.'
'I already have.'
Chapter 6
'He took Dimity with him? Does Nils know?' Cumpston pinched his lip in a worried gesture.
'I didn't feel it was my business to tell him,' Arthur Guthlac said. 'I don't want to go dancing into that minefield. It was a difficult decision to allow Dimity to go off to him at all. You can imagine the opposition and the arguments we faced. But once we decided we had no right to interfere with her we stuck by that decision. You can't put that mind in a cage. And there had to be a demonstration of trust in Vaemar. A big one…'
'No,' said Cumpston, 'not our business to tell Nils. Especially not now, Arthur. We can't be their keepers. Anyway, you have other things to think about at the moment than raising taboo subjects.'
'And yet, I can't forget we're all bound together in funny ways.'
'How do you feel about the safety of those two misfits off together?'
'Let's not forget, those two misfits are probably the two most intelligent members on this planet of the two most deadly species known. I'm not overly concerned about them.'
'More deadly than Protectors?'
'That's something I hope we don't have to find out.'
'And Patrick Quickenden. He won't be too pleased.'
'That's not my problem. He's not a Wunderlander.'
'He loves Dimity too, you know.'
'I know. But we've got enough things to sort out without lovesick Crashlanders as well.'
