"As I told you," said Hal, "I'll do my share of whatever's to be done." "There you are," said Amanda. "That takes care of him. Now, what have you got that I can be useful at?" "Thank you, then," said Amid. "All right, you can drop by our infirmary, if you want to. We don't have much sickness here, but small accidents will happen. Old Man is walking right now, so we could use someone who knows something about acupressure for pain relief and such - the sort of thing you Dorsai all know." "A place like this, on an Exotic world," said Hal, "and you need the skills of a Dorsai for battlefield-style medical handling?" "Amanda radiates the will to recover more than most, as I imagine you know," said Amid. "We have one person here, as I just mentioned, who calls himself simply 'Old Man,' he does the same thing, but even he's not as good at it as Amanda."
"Oh?" said Hal. "I'd like to meet him." "You'll see him when you get out to the circle," said Amid. "He's got a sort of aura about him that seems to make people heal themselves faster and more comfortably. Actually, his name is Laoren, which, I gather, is Chinese in origin. But when he came here he asked us to simply call him by its translation in Basic, which is 'Old Man.' He's somewhat unusual, an Exotic from a family that had preserved their ethnic purity for more than a century and a half. You know how, on these two worlds of ours, we've always approved rather of mixing ethnic strains than keeping them separate." "I believe I saw him, as we came in," said Hal. He frowned with the memory of the sunlight flooding his eyes.
"It wouldn't be surprising if you had," said Amid. "He does rather stand out. Also, you probably noticed he wasn't repeating the Law aloud as he walked. That's another thing about him. He only speaks when he has to and we've gathered he appreciates people not trying to draw him into conversation. I don't mean to suggest he's withdrawn, socially. He's probably one of the most genuinely merry people I've met. But he just doesn't talk much."
Hal and Amanda finished their breakfast and they all went outside. In the fresh mountain air of the new day, Procyon beamed down at them out of a cloudless sky and the temperature was rising with that swiftness that promised a warm, if not hot, afternoon. "Come to think of it," said Amanda, with a glance at the sky, "have you had a solar radiation shot in the past three years, Hal? Because Procyon's not like Sol-- "I'm up to date," said Hal. He glanced at her exposed arms and legs, normally so pale, that were now a smooth, light tan. "How about yourself? You look as if you might be letting the local star get to you." "Oh, I'm up to date, too," said Amanda. "I wouldn't slip up on that. It's just that I'd stand out like a bright light among all these Exotics if I'd stayed my usual skin color. So I amended it, to help me fit in."
Ahead of them, the circle was moving as it had been the evening before, and Hal now particularly took note of the small cluster of men and women off to one side, who were obviously the waiters. There were no more than half a dozen or so of them. "Do those in the circle deliberately cut their time short, if they see a lot of people waiting?" Hal asked. "They could, of course," said Amid. "But I don't think it happens very often. Once in the circle and once in the proper frame of mind, you see what's going on around you but it doesn't seem to have much, if any, importance - I can tell you that from personal experience. I think we've got one or two in the waiting group there, though, that are just out here to see you. "
They had been walking toward the circle as they talked. "You're sure word of who I am hasn't been mentioned?" "I'd be the first one any of the people here would come and tell, if they thought you were who you are," said Amid. "Some may have seen a picture of you, but if so, since you haven't been announced, they're doing the polite thing and keeping it to themselves. " "A picture of me?" "Yes," said Amid. "It's been spread all over the Younger Worlds as part of the Others' propaganda against Earth. I don't mean they've published it separately. But there've been references, of course, to you, Ajela, Rukh and some other people, as charges against them were publicly made. Not you so far, Amanda, by the way." "Good," murmured Amanda. "I'd just as soon my picture wasn't too welI known." "Yes. But I'm afraid, in your case, Hal," said Amid, "there's a whole generation of children on the Younger Worlds growing up who're being taught to spit after saying your name. You're supposed to be the evil sorcerer crouched spiderlike in your lair in the Final Encyclopedia, cooking up evil things for good people on all the Younger Worlds."
They had joined the waiting group by the time Amid had finished saying this, all of the people in the group, with typical Exotic politeness, avoided looking directly at Hal and Amanda, or in any way appearing to attract the attention of the newcomers. As those walking passed, Hal had time to notice individuals. There was a drinking water fountain just beyond the far end of the circle, and three small buildings that were obviously personal waste-disposal units for the walkers. "Three?" Hal asked Amid, pointing at them. "Yes. Oh, I see what you mean," Amid laughed. "No, it's not that we've got three sexes around here, but you'll find when you get in the circle that you don't think of stopping for anything until something reminds you. Then you may be in a hurry. What we've found that tends to happen here is that someone will make a comfort stop and inadvertently set off what you might call a chain reaction. Jathed would have sneered at such niceties as drinking fountains and chemical waste-disposal units here, but my brother thought otherwise - by the way, there's Old Man turning the far corner, now."
Hal looked and saw the oriental-appearing walker who had attracted his attention when they had first arrived, the day before. As Amid had said, Old Man was just now coming around the far end of the circle, on its side that was closest to the waiters, so that he was now walking toward Hal and the rest of the waiting group.
True to what Hal had been told, the eyes of those in the circle - and Old Man was no exception - seemed to take in all that was visible before them, but show no particular interest in it. Old Man's eyes looked at and through Hal as he strode toward him. "Has he been walking all night?" Hal asked. "I believe so," said Amid. "You saw him in the circle when you came in?" "Yes," said Hal.
It was hard to believe Old Man had been at this for hours. He moved with a particularly light and springy step, as if he was about to leap into the air with the next stride, and Hal guessed that for all his long white beard and white mustaches, the other could run like a deer if he had to. In fact, in spite of his skinniness and the evidence of his age, there was an impression of power and youth about him. It was startling, for in appearance alone, he was almost frail. He was hardly taller or heavier than a twelve-year-old boy, except for the largeness of his hands and a surprising width of shoulders under the robe he wore, which Hal now saw figured with white blossoms upon a background of a red color so dark as to almost seem black. Old Man's hair was as white as his beard and so sparse that the skin of his round skull under it was visible in the sunlight. "He's in remarkable physical condition," Amid was saying, beside Hal. "He has a sword of sorts he brought here with him, and he exercises with it when he isn't otherwise occupied. It's very graceful. It looks as if he's dancing, when he does it."
They fell silent. There was something about the words, repeated and repeated in their ears, that not only made conversation unnecessary but drew their minds, if not their bodies, into the circle of those who moved before them. Hal found his thoughts running over the oriental schools of martial exercises with the sword that he could remember, He made a Mental note to watch Old Man at his exercises the first chance that made itself available.