After the feast, Rimon and Kadi began preparations to return home. The temperature was dropping sharply, and even the well-built house they were staying in had only a small circle of warmth near the fire.
Del and Carlana spent the evening with them, and as frost formed on the windows, Del said, "That does it. You're coming home with us until the cold spell is over."
"Yes," agreed Carlana. "The cold this time of year is vicious."
"We've got a good house—" Rimon said.
"Sure," said Del, "hut with the fire out, your walls will be cold. Besides, we can use three extra warm bodies at our place for a couple of days."
"People will gather in the tightest-built houses here in Fort Freedom," Carlana added. "Really—body heat makes a difference in this kind of weather."
Rimon knew his friends were avoiding mentioning the fact that their home was better built than his—especially that they had a wooden floor raised off the ground. Kadi and Willa would feel the cold more than the Simes—and, mostly for Kadi's sake, he agreed.
In the few months they'd been here, Del had expanded the simple cabin Rimon and Kadi had helped build into a three-room home with a loft where the children slept. The blue curtains Kadi had made still hung at the windows of the main room, but Carlana had added a couch with a yellow cover with two pillows of the same blue, and a braided rug on the floor of neutral browns and beiges with just a touch of blue and yellow.
There were double panes of glass in the windows—a real extravagance, but they kept out the cold. Another luxury was the stove. Not only did it heat the main room efficiently, but Carlana could cook on it more easily than over the open fire as Kadi had to do.
Rimon thought of his small store of cash, and the fact that the tax collector would turn up any day now—and this quarter he owed on both Kadi and Willa. No, he couldn't see how he could afford to buy even a stove, although, with two Gens to feed, and a baby on the way—it was a necessity.
The sense of challenge he'd felt last summer was gone. Then, roughing it in the warm weather, making it on his own where no one knew he was his father's son, had seemed exhilarating. The lack of ready money had seemed a minor inconvenience. But now, he looked at Kadi marveling at Carlana's stove, and the knowledge went through him. If he didn't have the money to provide for her, she could die from the cold.
The irony of it. The one thing Rimon knew was Gen-dealing. In nine months, he had claimed only two Gens. He could claim six more—but he could no longer sell a Gen like an animal, and if he kept them, he'd have to pay tax on them.
He reached turnover the second day at Del's, and both Del and Carlana began to treat him as if he were in hard need, never ever getting between him and Kadi.
Willa left her play with the children and attached herself to Rimon's side, his shadow, as Kadi spent most of her time with Carlana, or preparing meals.
The cold snap continued for four days. Only Rimon and Del went out at all, and then only to see that the animals were all right, hurrying back inside as soon as they could. The fourth evening, Del told Rimon, "Ana's using a lot of selyn—too much, too fast. And there's no telling what the weather will do next. Rimon—I've got to go to Slina's tomorrow—"
"Of course," said Rimon. "I'll help you, Del. If we each take a Gen on a horse, we'll be a lot warmer and faster than with a wagon."
Del studied him. "Thanks, Rimon. I hope the weather breaks before we need them, but—"
"But you can't take chances with your life, or Carlana's. I understand. Kadi understands. Willa is the only one who doesn't understand the kill, Del. If you or Carlana must kill before we leave, let's try to keep her from knowing about it."
Del nodded. "The children have never seen it, either. They'll grow up soon enough and have to learn, but for now—Rimon—how long can you shelter Willa?"
"Until she's had many transfers—so that if she does see a kill, she won't associate it with what she does for me."
Slina's Gens were the usual nonentities. Although Rimon held himself deliberately in check, he found they didn't even tempt him. Partly, he knew, it was the drug, but partly it was that they didn't seem to have what he wanted.
They took the Gens in through the back door to the small storeroom that shared a wall with the well-heated main room. When they emerged into the main room, though, Willa was at the side door, trying to see what they had brought. .
"No, Willa," Rimon said firmly, closing the door,
Willa made a questioning noise, and pointed to the door. Owen and Jana left their toys to find out what was going on.
"No, Willa," Rimon repeated.
This time the sound she made had a demanding tone, and her nager said she was determined to satisfy her curiosity. He would have to distract her.
"Come on," he said, "let's play with the children. You're going to miss them when we go home, aren't you? But Kadi and I will soon have a baby for you to play with. You'll like that, won't you?"
He wondered how much Willa understood as she studied him, listening intently. When Rimon turned Willa and guided her back toward where the children had been playing, Jana scampered to her toys, picked up a doll, and said, "Willa, play baby!"
Rimon went to look at Carlana, who was asleep on the couch. Her field was still dropping too rapidly. Tomorrow she'd have to kill. "Kadi, I think we'd better leave tomorrow morning."
"Yes," she agreed. "I'd rather not be here when Carlana has to kill, but until then I can ease her somewhat. She's having a wretched time, but Mama always said that kind of misery would stop when the baby started to show. Carlana ought to be fine after tomorrow."
"I hope so," said Rimon, not telling her of the unhealthily bright anomaly in the Sime woman's field, where the baby was wasting selyn. He knew Del had noticed it, too, but had decided it was not a danger sign. Rimon was not so sure.
That night, Rimon lay beside Kadi, keeping her warm as the wind rose outside. He and Del were taking turns re-stoking the stove, but even though it was going full blast, Rimon felt cold. He realized after a while that the ambient nager carried the chill from the Gens out in the storeroom, even though they'd been given all the extra blankets.
Rimon got up and went to see if perhaps he could get a little more heat out of the stove. He'd have to help Del split some more logs before he left in the morning. Inserting one more log, Rimon knew Del hadn't even noticed the chilling of the ambient. What makes me different?
Restless, he went to the window, certain that he detected a change in the weather. When he saw the clouds boiling up from the horizon, he knew he'd known it all day—snow. Would they be able to get home before it hit?
He went back to lie beside Kadi, consoling himself that at least snow meant the temperature would rise. Soon he drifted into an uneasy sleep, drawn down and down by the collective Gen nager.
They woke to a white-blanketed world, knee-deep, the heavy sky warning of more on the way. Rimon helped Del shovel out to check the stock and bring in more wood, glad to get away from the tensions in the house. There was no question of their going home until the roads were clear again, and they all knew what that meant. Maybe both Kadi and Willa can shield me from Carlana's actual kill-bliss.
Kadi was making breakfast when they returned. Del frowned. "Carlana isn't up?"
Rimon detected Del's worry, but Kadi said, "Let her sleep. Sleep is the best medicine."
"Not at this time of month," Del replied. "We've got four Gens in this house," said Rimon. "They had me sound asleep last night. Carlana's exhausted—small wonder if this nager keeps her asleep. It's good for her, Del."
Dubious, Del took two bowls of the cereal Kadi had made, stirred powder into them, then went into the back room. The food would drug the Gens again—thus the one Carlana must take today would be unresponsive.