He saw Alicia's eyes widen with concern. "Fergus! where did you get that horrid great bruise on your cheek?"
"Your colleague Ordway drank not wisely but too well in the Nova Iorque and started a brawl. I got in the way of a roundhouse meant for him."
"Oh, dear! I was afraid of something like that. Cyril couldn't booze up on the Pará, so I guess he was making up for lost time. Would a drop of cologne help?"
"No, thanks; the skin's not broken."
"What happened in the bar?" she queried.
Reith summarized Ordway's behavior and Schlegel's subsequent challenge, adding: "Like all my tourists, they brought up Topic A."
"Krishnan sex?"
"Sure; who does what with what. I've gotten used to explaining about the bees and the flowers, as if we had bees and flowers here."
"I hope you don't tell them about us," she said.
"I haven't mentioned it. Why, don't they know?"
"No, though I suppose they'll find out sooner or later. I hope it's later."
"What's the difference? It's not as if we'd robbed the bank at Novo."
"The whole location crew would pry into my history, or try to match me up, or ... All movie people are gossips or romantic busybodies."
"My dear Alicia, they're bound to hear. The next Novo News will be out in a few days with the story. You can bet Meilung's checking the passenger list against the morgue right now—"
"Who's Meilung?"
"Meilung Guan—or Guan Meilung, if you prefer—is the reporter for the News. She was at the landing. I thought she'd buttonhole you people; but instead she got involved with that Balkan politician."
"I did see a cute little Chinese-looking girl with a camera; but mostly I was looking for you. I thought everybody would have forgotten me by now."
Reith chuckled. "Forgetting you, my dear, is about as easy as forgetting the Los Angeles earthquake. When word gets around, every Terran will have his psychic antennae quivering with curiosity about us. Novo's just a small town, where gossip is the leading sport."
Alicia sighed. "Anyway, let's not tell Cyril and Jack anything unless we must."
"I'll be as silent as Dejanai's tomb, as long as possible. As they say in Zamba, sooner recall a shaft that has left the bow than a word that has passed the lips."
For a while they rode silently, hearing the rhythmic beat of the aya's six hooves and watching Roqir's last rays cast a rainbow across the bright-hued vegetation. "Funny," said Alicia at last. "I feel as if I were coming home."
"Do you intend to become a Krishnander after your present job?" Reith asked. "What's a Krishnander?"
"That's what nowadays we call a Terran permanently domiciled on Krishna. I wondered if you planned to stay here."
Alicia smiled enigmatically. "I don't know. It depends ..."
Maybe she thinks it depends on me, Reith reflected, and briskly changed the subject. "Here's my property line."
The aya quickened its pace. Soon the gig drew up at a rambling, one-story building, designed in a hybrid Krishnan-Terran style, half-timbered with a wide veranda. Reith handed Alicia down and showed her to her room as his groundsman carried in her overnight bag and led the aya away.
"It's a fine evening," said Reith. "Let's have drinks on the terrace. What'll you have?"
"Just a little light falat, please. My, what a handsome, well-kept place! Some of these Krishnan things are beautiful!"
Reith grinned. "The fruits of my tourists' gratitude. My geese often get together to give me a draft or a gift certificate. Luckily, Sivird at the Outfitting Shop has good taste; he's helped me with the furnishings."
As an aproned Krishnan appeared in the corridor, Reith called out in Gozashtandou: "Oh, Kardir! Falat of Mishdákh on the veranda, please; and dinner in half an hour!"
Alicia cautiously sipped her wine. "Excellent! I haven't tasted Krishnan drinks since ..." After an awkward pause, she said: "Were you expecting me, Fergus?"
"No! You were a complete surprise—a shock you could have registered on the Richter scale. You haven't grown a day older, while I'm settling into middle age."
"I must say you're looking splendid; just as fit as ever."
Reith ignored the compliment. "Did you expect me at the ramp?"
"I thought you might be there. You see, I sold Kostis Stavrakos the idea of hiring you as our guide."
"So that's how a fat, juicy contract fell out of interstellar space into my lap! Thanks a lot, Lish; I can use the fric."
"Be sure to demand at least half your money at the start. The movie industry's full of fairy gold, and I don't mean sexual deviation."
"Advice noted. Who's this Stav—whatever his name is?"
"Kostis Stavrakos is the producer, the man in overall charge of the film project. You'll meet him when the shooting crew arrives." Alicia studied the long shadows across the meadow. "Tell me how you come to have a son when you're not married?"
Reith gave a sour smile, almost a grimace. "I wondered when you'd get around to asking." Soberly he explained: "I married one of my tourists, a girl named Elizabeth. A couple of years after Alister's birth, she left and got a divorce. Then she died; that's all."
With more tact than had been her former wont, Alicia forbore to quiz Reith for details. She said: "I wonder that no nice girl has lassoed you during the last fifteen years or so."
Reith smiled. "Ever try to rope a crafty old bull shaihan? A few local ladies have sent me signals, but I haven't followed them up. After two divorces and an annulment, I realize I'm not cut out for spousehood."
"Nonsense, Fergus! Any woman with the sense of a retarded flatworm would be glad of a fine man like you." She reached over and gave his hand a little squeeze.
But you weren't, he thought. Aloud he said: "Nope. Three tries; no brass ring. I'm no gambler, and I've given up that kind of roulette. 'Down to Gehenna or up to the throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone.' "
"Perhaps; but then he has nothing to do when he gets there."
Reith chuckled. "Kipling never thought of that angle, not having your X-ray insight." He heaved a small sigh. "At least I have Alister."
"You poor thing! And it's all my fault."
"No, it's not. You did what you were programmed for, and so did I. So stop feeling guilty!"
"The spouse who leaves normally feels guilt, while the one who's left loses self-esteem. I'll get rid of my guilt when you get back your self-esteem!"
Reith laughed gently. "It's a deal, though I don't know that one can do these things on order. Anyway, it's all behind us now. Tell me how the world's been treating you. Any adventures?"
Alicia shrugged. "I have no tale to tell. Since I left Krishna, I've been chased often enough, but nobody's caught me."
"Chased but chaste, eh? Have you turned back into the little blond icicle you once were?"
"Not really. But my psychotherapy took most of a year, leaving no time for romance."
"What's it like, this Moritzian treatment?"
"Like a surgical operation without anesthetic. And after it was over, I had to cram for my new job."
"How did you come to be hired by Cosmic?"
"Some exec there had read one of my books, and they got in touch with me. Stavrakos was looking for someone with Krishnan expertise to ride herd on his movie. My joining the team caused a fist fight between Stavrakos and Fodor."
Reith asked: "Who's Fodor?"
"Attila Fodor is the director, who thinks he's a reincarnation of Attila the Hun. They say he's so tough he holds his socks up with thumbtacks. Thinks he knows all he needs to about Krishna, and resents outside advice, especially from a woman."