'So are mine. What's the song?'
''Greensleeves.''
'I don't know it. Sing it.'
'I can't sing lying on my side.'
'Sit up, then. There's room.'
He floundered into an upright posture, facing her across the length of the tent, Sol's still form stretched out diagonally between them. He was glad, now, that it was dark.
'It isn't suitable,' he said.
'A folk song?' Her tone made the notion ridiculous.
He took a breath and tried, having run out of objections:
Alas, my love, you do me wrong
To cast me out discourteously
When I have loved you so long
Delighting in your company.
'Why that's beautiful!' she exclaimed. 'A love ballad.'
'I don't remember the other verses. Just the refrain.'
'Go ahead.'
Greensleeves was my delight
Greensleeves was all my joy
Greensleeves was my heart of gold
And who but my lady Greensleeves?
'Does a man really love a woman like that?' she inquired meditatively. 'I mean, just thinking about her and being delighted in her company?'
'Sometimes. It depends on the man. And the woman, I suppose.'
'It must be nice,' she said sadly. 'Nobody ever loaned me his bracelet, just for company. That kind, I mean. Except-'
He saw her eyes move to Sol, or thought he did, and spoke to cut off the awkward thought. 'What do you look for ma man?'
'Leadership, mostly. My father was second-ranked in the tribe, but never the master, and it wasn't much of a tribe. He finally got wounded too bad and retired to the crazies, and I was so ashamed I struck out on my own. I want a name everyone will admire. More than anything else, I want that.'
'You may have it already. He is a remarkable warrior, and he wants an empire.' He refrained again from reminding her what that name could not provide.
'Yes.' She did not sound happy.
'What is your song?'
''Red River Valley.' I think there was such a place, before the Blast.'
'There was. In Texas, I believe.'
Without further urging she began singing. Her voice, untrained, was better than his.
Come and sit by my side if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
But
