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By Root 750 0

pair of visitors, who came all too frequently. His associates at the complex seemed a little afraid of the large old man and his thranx companion. Barryn could not understand why. The man was big, but also old, while the thranx was merely small and old. Just because they doted on Clarity, he pointed out to his friends, did not mean they would interfere should she choose to enter into a relationship. As to the perpetually absent paramour of whom she sometimes spoke, that entity might be as much an invention as the flying snake's toxicity, with both intended for the same purpose: to ward off unwanted attention. He should be glad of both minidrag and make-believe suitor, he knew. Otherwise the interest that would have been shown to Clarity Held would have been insufferable, and the competition for her attention far more congested.

“Can I buy you lunch?” He did not try to take her arm as they strode inland and up the slight slope that led away from the dock. Having seen her shrug off physical approaches from others he knew better than to force the issue.

She smiled up at him. Despite what others said, he chose to take every smile as an encouragement. “You know that between insurance through Ulricam and aid from friends my stay here is fully paid for. Including meals.”

He made light of her rejection. “So you'd deny me the pleasure of paying for it twice? If I pay, you can have two desserts.”

This time she laughed. Even better than a smile, he mused. The portents were promising. Perhaps later, under cover of the storm clouds and the warm rain that would come with them, he might make bold enough to try to share more than a dessert.

“You're very sweet, Tam.”

“Hey, who else but a sweet guy would offer a woman two desserts?”

Even as he said it, a voice in his head was telling him to shut up. He was big and strong and words had never been his forte—as he had just proved. That had never caused him any trouble with women, however. They never seemed to catch on to the fact that his frequent silences arose not from a sensitive desire to listen to what they had to say but from an inability to put coherent sentences together. This manifest intellectual deficiency seemed to perturb them not at all. They could talk all they wanted to and he would sit in silence. And when they chose not to talk, they could stare at his chiseled features unaware of the silly grins that parasitized their features.

For reasons he could not fathom, this time-tested methodology had failed to make an impression on Clarity Held. It was almost as if she wanted to have an intelligent conversation, wanted him to talk. He did his best to comply. Usually he did better than “Who else but a sweet guy would offer a woman two desserts.” He knew he had to progress, even if the strain made his head hurt.

Pick a subject she enjoys talking about, he thought. Even if you couldn't care less about it. That always works.

“So—tell me more about this guy you're engaged to.”

“We're not engaged,” she replied quickly. That surprised him. It also, of course, did not displease him. “Our relationship goes deeper than that. We don't have to have a formal engagement. We have—shared experiences.”

A safely enigmatic retort, he decided. Could mean anything or nothing. Or it could be another evasion, like the scientific gibberish about the flying creature's venomous capabilities.

“I can't figure it out, Clarity. If you're so tight with this guy, how come nobody ever sees you with him?”

She shook her head and her tight blond braids flew from side to side, sending the last adhering droplets of lake water flying. They were halfway to the nearest building, climbing the walkway that split a lawn of cultured, ankle-high catharia. Thumb-sized beurre flowers of azure and gold sprang from the three-sided flanks of tapering blue-green stems.

“He has to travel a lot.”

“On business? What is he, based in Sphene?”

This generated a broad smile. What had he said, Barryn wondered, that was so amusing?

“Not exactly,” she murmured casually. “His work takes him a little farther afield than that.