They went on out the back door, very much aware of eyes following them. Kadi pulled herself tall, walking proudly beside Rimon, but he could feel the apprehension at the pit of her stomach. They stood in the back yard, not far from their playground swings. Soon they heard the sound of a lone horse.

Syrus Farris was riding alone, hastily, along the road to the house. Someone must have ridden to tell him the moment Rimon and Kadi had arrived. He galloped into the yard, an imposing figure on his huge black horse. When he pulled to a halt, the horse reared, forcing the two young people to retreat before the flying hooves. Then Farris controlled the animal and sat staring down at them, Rimon and Kadi at a clear disadvantage.

He took his time to zlin them before he spoke, his voice under careful control. "Rimon, why have you brought this Gen back with you?"

Aware of the gathering crowd, Rimon put his arm around Kadi's shoulders. She stood proudly, looking squarely at Farris. "Father," said Rimon, "this is no nameless Gen. This is Kadi Farris. My wife."

Rimon felt his father recoil and then surge with the fury that had always so unnerved him before. But he was no longer a child. He faced Syrus Farris as an equal.

Farris slid down off his horse. "Let's go inside where we can speak privately."

As they crossed the yard, Rimon could feel that the hard shell of his father's anger shielded a core of… fear? Despair? Disappointment in his son?

Farris indicated a bench in the hall. "You wait for us here," he said to Kadi.

"No," she said politely but firmly. "I will go where Rimon goes."

Farris gestured them inside and closed the door. As if stalling for time to think out what he wanted to say, he settled himself behind the desk, steepling his hands and running his tentacles between his fingers.

Rimon and Kadi sat down unbidden before the desk. Finally Farris asked, "Rimon, why have you done this?"

"Father… do you realize exactly what we have done?"

Farris was staring at his fingertips rather than at Rimon and Kadi. Almost imperceptibly, he nodded. "I find it difficult to reconcile my perceptions. What appears to be the case…"

"Is true!" Rimon said eagerly. "You know I was past turnover when I left here, Father. Kadi's field was climbing, but it's low now. Kadi gave me her selyn, and she didn't die! You have no idea how much better it is than killing!"

Farris' sensitive mouth curled as disgust rippled the enforced calm of his nager. "Rimon, I have had great patience with you because of the tragedy of your first kill. But now you have gone too far. You should have released this Gen at the border—people look the other way when someone can't allow one who was a friend to be killed. But to bring her home? Rimon, my son—take her to the Pens, and then we'll discuss your deed."

"Father, Kadi is my wife. Can't you see what she's done for me?"

The anger threatening to break through Farris' control met a barrier… no, a warmth that melted it away like icicles in sunlight. What was happening? Rimon, too, felt unbelievably calm and rational in the face of his father's implacability.

Kadi, Rimon realized, wanted desperately for Rimon and his father to discuss calmly what had happened. Without conscious intent, she was influencing their fields with her own, drawing them into harmony.

Suddenly Farris stared at Kadi. "You!" he gasped, and went hyperconscious for a moment. White with rage, he said, "Get out! Get out of this office and let my son have his own mind back!"

Bewildered, Kadi looked toward Rimon. "It's all right, Kadi," he said. "Wait for me outside."

When she had gone, Farris asked, "Can you think clearly now, Son?"

Startled to find compassion in his father's voice and nager, Rimon said, "Of course I can. I've been thinking more clearly than ever before since Kadi and I—"

"Rimon—don't you know what she was doing to you? And to me, for a minute? It's a trick—black magic."

"What?!"

"I've heard of it, among the gypsies. Gens who can control Simes… but I never believed it." Waves of horror shimmered through his nager. "She had you in her power!"

"Father, you don't understand. I love Kadi. She loves me —so much that she tried to give her.Jife for mine, but she didn't die because she wasn't afraid."

"She's certainly not afraid now," agreed Farris, "but where did she learn that? I've never before felt anything like what she did to me just then."

"I guess now that Kadi's established, her field is strong enough to reach out further. She used to control my field, remember? She always had to touch me to do it—but she kept me sane. You never minded her controlling my field when I went to pieces after every kill."

"I—I minded, Rimon, but what could I do? She was the only one who could bring you out of those attacks. I know she saved your life many times over… but that was four years ago. You've outgrown your dependence on her. You must let her go, Son."

"No. What Kadi and I have," Rimon said softly, "we can share with you. We can teach you—and everyone on the Farm. Imagine everyone sharing—Father, think what it would be like if it didn't matter whether your son or daughter established or changed over!"

Again revulsion rippled through Farris' field, although this time he allowed no physical expression. "Rimon, you know that is impossible. You weren't gone long enough to have reached need. Were you augmenting?"

"I had to—to save Kadi! After that I was in hard need, Father."

"But it was early for you. Perhaps that is why you didn't kill her. I've seen Raiders so high on shiltpron that they'll kill while still pre-turnover… and once I saw a Gen too far into shock to feel fear survive such an attack. So… if you were not truly in need, and she was not afraid, yes, what you tell me is possible. But you're too sensitive, Rimon, like your mother. What will happen at the end of the month, when you try it again? This time you'll kill her… and then what will you do? Wouldn't you rather let her go now?"

"Father, Kadi is my wife."

"She is Gen. She can't be anyone's wife."

"We have pledged to one another. By law, our marriage becomes binding when she bears me a child. And she will."

Farris' eyes lifted to the portrait of Rimon's mother, over the fireplace. His field was unreadable at that moment, but his sensitive lips compressed against some great sorrow. Rimon realized for the first time that it was not entirely from his mother that he inherited the sensitivity that plagued him. Finally, his father said, "You'll have to give her up, Rimon."

"No, I won't have to. Legally, Kadi is my property." He said it with distaste. He didn't own her—she was his wife.

Shaking his head, Farris pulled open a desk drawer. "Actually, she is my property, for you obtained her illegally."

As his father spread a sheaf of documents across the desk, Rimon's heart sank. Gone entirely was the momentary unity. Rimon was a child again, caught out in a prank more serious than he'd realized.

"I… I had to get Kadi away somehow," he tried to explain, "and I didn't have enough to cover the price they were asking."

"I knew that. I trust that my son would not deliberately cheat any man… for a lark. If I had not thought so, I'd not have paid your debt."

"But… how did they know me? I've never been to Reloc before."

"I have," Farris said. "Rimon… you didn't expect to get away entirely without paying, did you? Had you not been recognized?"

"I'll pay you back," Rimon said contritely.

"That is the least of your problems. You may have the Gen." He shoved the papers across at Rimon, scribbling his signature in the title-passed-to box. "It would be too disruptive to keep her here. Now, what are you going to do with her?"

"I've told you: Kadi is my wife. We're going to live together, raise a family, just like we'd always planned—only now we can love all our children equally, whether they're Sime or Gen."