Flinx Transcendent_ A Pip & Flinx Adventure - Alan Dean Foster [129]
Later, while Flinx lingered near the rear of the craft, entertaining Pip and Scrap, Clarity wandered forward to take the seat alongside their driver. While Sylzenzuzex straddled the familiar thranx bench, Clarity availed herself of a standard human-conforming chair. It felt strange to be snakeless. Though she missed the familiar weight on her shoulder, she understood her pet's desire to spend as much time as possible with his often absent parent.
“You could not have timed your arrival much better,” she murmured in symbospeech by way of opening conversation.
Since the skimmer, once programmed, more or less flew itself, Sylzenzuzex was able to turn her attention away from the height-adjustable console and to her passenger.
“So it seems to have been.” A foothand gestured toward the back of the craft. “From the time we first met, it struck me that there existed a more than casual bond between us.”
“I can empathize with that. Because Flinx and I are also deeply bonded.”
What am I saying? Clarity found herself thinking. Was she jealous? Because Flinx had known and bonded with Sylzenzuzex before he had known her? That was absurd! Their timely rescuer was a thranx. Clarity knew she should be feeling nothing but gratitude. Or was female jealousy something capable of crossing species?
You, she told herself quietly, are being a world-class fool. Rectify it.
“I haven't had a chance to actually thank you. For saving us.”
A thranx could not blush, but the padre made the equivalent gesture. “Flinx saved my life. I suspect he would have survived this time even in my absence.”
“How can you know that?”
Antennae fluttered gracefully. “Because according to my esteemed Eighth, he always does. For example, despite the many difficulties and concerns that are unique to him, the many curious challenges and dangers and personal troubles he has endured, he still somehow managed to find the time to find you.”
Now Clarity not only felt like a prize fool, she was ashamed.
“He's been out of my life more than he's been in it.” She looked toward the rear of the skimmer. A brilliantly hued minidrag on each shoulder, Flinx was staring out the transparent canopy, enjoying the view as the skimmer entered Sphene proper. Despite his height, his appearance and manner were still boyish. One got that impression whenever one was around him, she knew. Provided you didn't look too deeply into his eyes.
“I'm sure he hopes that will change.” Click-whistling to the console, Sylzenzuzex made a minor course adjustment. The skimmer obediently turned slightly to starboard.
“We both do.” Clarity came to a decision without even realizing she had been debating the issue. “I know you two go back a long way, and I know you must have a lot to talk about. If you'd rather converse in private …”
The thranx looked over at her. “Wouldn't a private conversation automatically include Flinx's prospective mate as well as him? Or are your prenuptial standards so very different?”
“No,” Clarity murmured in reply. “No, I guess not.” With that classically cogent observation by Flinx's old friend, the last vestiges of incongruous resentment on Clarity's part vanished completely.
The sprawling extended-stay residence had been designed and built to accommodate, insofar as it was physically and socially viable, visitors to New Riviera from as many worlds as possible. Mindful of traditional thranx tastes, some of the facility was located belowground. It was in a spacious habitat on the third subterranean level that they reunited with Tse-Mallory and Truzenzuzex.
After formally greeting his young and suitably deferential female relative, the