"And may your children and their children honor you forever,'' Kiv called after him as he turned and headed into the communicator office.
He remounted his deest, turned the animal's long, bony head gently, and trotted with Narla down the thoroughfare toward the Great Temple.
"He seemed worried," Narla said.
"They all do. If you'd had as much contact with farmers as I have, you'd understand. Every so often, the hugl march, and when they do, the farmers worry. Edris powder is expensive, but it's the only thing that will control the hugl. Fortunately, it does control them. It's a nerve poison, and it kills within a few minutes.''
"The way he talked, you'd think that the hugl were going to eat up every bit of organic matter in the whole world."
"Remember, darling, to a farmer, his farm is the whole world."
"It's almost as if the hugl wanted to destroy us," Narla said, her voice changing suddenly.
Kiv looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"According to the Scripture, 'To destroy a thing, one must cut at the root, and not at the branch.' And certainly, the farmer is the root of our economy."
Kiv laughed aloud. "I see what you mean. Well, it just proves that all living things obey the Law. But I'm sure the hugl don't do it consciously."
They rode on through the city, watching the peddlers and vendors hawking their wares. They passed by the Central Railway Terminal, where the little steam engines chuffed and puffed their way across the ancient overhead rails.
"We could have been to the School by now," Kiv complained. "Having to detour through the city like this is an awful waste of time."
"What would you have done?'' Narla asked, a smile crinkling the skin around her eyes. "Swim the river where the Klid Bridge was out?"
Kiv chuckled.
"It might have been cooler at that," Narla went on. "I'm going to be in bad need of a bath by the time we get to the School. It's so much dustier here in the city.''
Several minutes later the Great Temple came into view. Narla glanced at Kiv and said softly, "Should we go in, Kiv?"
Kiv thought of the interior of the Temple—the vast rows of kneeling stands, the brilliant white glare of the altar, where the beams of the Great Light were focused through the huge lens in the ceiling, and the restful silence of the flickering incense candles.
But he shook his head. "No," he said. "We should have been at the School by now." Catching the little spark of petulance that flickered for a moment in Narla's eyes, he added, "We'll come back on the next Holy Day. I promise."
She nodded in silent agreement.
"That's our road," Kiv said. "Over there."
The Bel-rogas School of Divine Law was situated five miles outside the city of Gelusar, up a long, twisting turf road. They trotted out to where the road began, and started up the hill.
The Earthman Jones was a tired-looking man with faded blue eyes and a short, stiff brown beard that provided a never-ending source of conversation for the beardless Nidorians.
"Glad to see you back," he said as Narla and Kiv entered the Central Room of the School's main building, after having stabled their deests outside. He was sitting comfortably on a bench in one corner of the big room, leafing through a ponderous leather-bound volume.
"Have a nice visit?" Jones asked amiably. "How were the folks?"
"My parents were in good health," Kiv said. "As were Narla's."
"Good to hear it," the Earthman said. He closed his book and replaced it on a shelf just above his head. "Well? Sorry vacation's over?"
"Not at all," Kiv said. "I didn't realize how much the School meant to me until the vacation time came. All year long I was waiting impatiently for classes to end so I could go back home—"
''—But as soon as he got home he started counting the days before School started again,'' Narla said. "He just couldn't wait."
"Impatient, eh?" Jones said. He frowned as if considering something.
"Yes," Kiv confessed. "Impatient."
Narla said, "It's been awful, Jones. He's been ordering me around as if I were his deest. We couldn't even stop off at the Great Temple on our way through Gelusar; he was in such a hurry to get back.''
"That's not true!" protested Kiv. "I did try to help repair that bridge, didn't I? And they wouldn't let me!"
"What bridge?" Jones asked.
"The Bridge of Klid. Roadbed collapsed. That's why we took the back road."
"I figured something like that must have happened. I've never seen two more bedraggled-looking people than you two. Why don't you head up to your room and get some of that dust off your skin?"
"Good idea." Kiv looked enviously at Jones' smooth skin. "You Earthmen are lucky," he said. "You have all your fur under your skin."
"A mere matter of Providence,'' Jones said. "For so the Great Light decreed."
"And so shall it be," Kiv completed.
"Come on," Narla said. "Let's wash up."
They started to move toward the great staircase that led up to the students' rooms. Kiv felt a warm sense of being home again when he saw the thick banister of glossy black wood.
"I suppose we're in the same room as we were last semester?"
"There's been no change in room assignment," Jones said.
"I was afraid of that,'' said Kiv glumly. He stared up at the winding staircase. "That means another year of struggling up seven flights of stairs." Drawing in a resolute breath, he said, "Oh, well. So shall it be, the Scripture says. Let's go."
Kiv took Narla by one hand, hoisted his saddlebag with the other, and they started up the stairs.
When Kiv came down, half an hour later, Jones was sitting exactly where he had been before.
"You look a lot cleaner now," Jones said.
Kiv smiled broadly. "It's astonishing what a quick shower can do. But Narla's still up there scrubbing herself; her skin's glistening by now, and she still maintains she's covered with dust."
"It's been a pretty dry month. The roads are dusty.''
"Don't we know it!" Kiv started to sit down, then recalled the little box that had been in his saddlebag. He clapped his hands together and dashed up the stairs, returning a few moments later with the box.
"I found this specimen on the road, when we stopped for midmeal. And forgot all about it till now, like the stupid deest I am." He handed the box to Jones.
The Earthman turned the box over and scrutinized the little animal within. The hugl still was battering the side of the box in an attempt to escape, but it had made no impression on the hard plastic.
"You notice that it's got black armor,'' Kiv pointed out.
"Oh, yes, I see that. I'm pretty well aware of what these things should look like, you know." Jones drew the box close to his eye and peered at the hugl.
"Beg pardon," Kiv said. He started to make the ritualistic bow of forgiveness, but Jones checked him with a quick gesture.
"All right, Kiv. I'm not offended.'' He gave the box a quick flip; the unfortunate little prisoner went over on its back. Jones studied the creature's underside for a moment, before the hugl managed to right itself.
"What do you make of it, Jones? Why is it black? All the others are brown, you know."
"Yes, I do know," Jones said, a trifle impatiently. But before Kiv had a chance even to begin apologizing again, Jones had uncoiled himself from the bench and was walking briskly across the Central Room.
"Come with me," he said.
Kiv followed, trying to keep up with the pace set by the long-legged Earthman. "Where are we going?"
"You have become impatient, Kiv. Always bursting out with questions?"
Kiv smiled. He recalled that not long before, he had been criticizing Narla for the same thing. Apparently he shared her fault, since he had managed to give offense to Jones three times within just a few minutes.