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Authors: Marion Zimmer Bradley
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there, accentuated by
Regis' prematurely white hair; the curious cast of feature which marked off the old Comyn type on
Darkover.
Some of those old families, they used to say, were akin to the chieri. I can well believe it.
Regis said, "Are you willing to go back with us, then, to Thendara?"
"I came here for that," said the chieri, but he looked around him in an appeal that was like panic. "I am not accustomed to being—within walls."
Poor thing, what will he do on the plane? "I'll look after you," Regis said. "You mustn't be afraid."
"I am afraid because it is very strange and I have never been out of the shadow of my forests before this," said the chieri, and somehow the confession of his fear had a deep dignity which added to Regis'
respect and sympathy. "But I am not afraid otherwise and I am at your disposal."
Regis asked, "What is your name? What can we call you?"
"My name is very long and would be hard to say in your speech," said the chieri. "But when I was very small, I called myself s'Keral. You may call me Keral, if you like."
Regis called a servant and asked him to have the plane made ready at once. His brain was spinning.
It has not been more than a few months since the project to study telepath powers had been set up by the
Terran Empire's medical facility. Not more than a scant half-dozen Darkovans had been willing to give
themselves to this project. And now a chieri, oldest and least known of the nonhuman races of Darkover,
traditionally most alien to mankind, (despite old stories, never more than legends, of chieri and mortal) had come unasked and unsought to them, volunteering—when they had hidden for centuries even from
the Comyn, except for legends as impalpable as leaves blown on the wind.
How had this happened, and what would come of it?
He suddenly realized that he could not even decide adequately whether this strange being out of the
woods were male or female. In its positiveness and strength and in the prompt manner it had reassured
Danilo, it seemed like a man; yet the delicate voice and hands, the flowing hair and light garments, the
timidity and the way in which, as they passed the doors, it clung to Regis' hand in a renewal of panic,
was altogether feminine. Do they have gender at all, anyhow? There was an old joke about the
nonhuman cralmacs which had become a proverb on Darkover: the sex of a cralmac is of interest to nobody but another cralmac. He supposed the apparent sexlessness of the chieri was some such thing.
I'll have to remember that Keral isn't human. From the minute it went into rapport with me, it seemed
that Keral was all too human, one of my own kind, more than most of the people I'd known…
Small wonder the legends speak of men who died of love, having seen a chieri in the woods… and pined
away for a voice, a beauty more than mortal … Regis was shocked, startled at the turn his own thoughts were taking. He said to Keral, not looking at the chieri, "We will go soon," and went to take leave of his grandfather.
Chapter 4
Contents - Prev/Next
A HOSPITAL was a hospital, even at the far end of the galaxy. Waking early and not yet sure where he
was, before opening his eyes David felt the familiar ambiance around him, the years-long texture of the
life which had become second nature: the preoccupation of busy doctors, the subliminal feel of pain kept
under and at a distance, the hurried pace of healing.
Then he opened his eyes and remembered that he was on Darkover, uncounted light-years away from his
own home, and that if they had quartered him in a hospital it was not because of the M.D. that he could
still write after his name but because of the generally medical nature of this project.
Freaks and telepaths — and I'm going to be one of them! What kind of a planet have they landed me on?
All he remembered of disembarking last night—spaceports were all alike—was a glimpse of a great,
luminous, pale purple moon, and another, smaller and
Regis' prematurely white hair; the curious cast of feature which marked off the old Comyn type on
Darkover.
Some of those old families, they used to say, were akin to the chieri. I can well believe it.
Regis said, "Are you willing to go back with us, then, to Thendara?"
"I came here for that," said the chieri, but he looked around him in an appeal that was like panic. "I am not accustomed to being—within walls."
Poor thing, what will he do on the plane? "I'll look after you," Regis said. "You mustn't be afraid."
"I am afraid because it is very strange and I have never been out of the shadow of my forests before this," said the chieri, and somehow the confession of his fear had a deep dignity which added to Regis'
respect and sympathy. "But I am not afraid otherwise and I am at your disposal."
Regis asked, "What is your name? What can we call you?"
"My name is very long and would be hard to say in your speech," said the chieri. "But when I was very small, I called myself s'Keral. You may call me Keral, if you like."
Regis called a servant and asked him to have the plane made ready at once. His brain was spinning.
It has not been more than a few months since the project to study telepath powers had been set up by the
Terran Empire's medical facility. Not more than a scant half-dozen Darkovans had been willing to give
themselves to this project. And now a chieri, oldest and least known of the nonhuman races of Darkover,
traditionally most alien to mankind, (despite old stories, never more than legends, of chieri and mortal) had come unasked and unsought to them, volunteering—when they had hidden for centuries even from
the Comyn, except for legends as impalpable as leaves blown on the wind.
How had this happened, and what would come of it?
He suddenly realized that he could not even decide adequately whether this strange being out of the
woods were male or female. In its positiveness and strength and in the prompt manner it had reassured
Danilo, it seemed like a man; yet the delicate voice and hands, the flowing hair and light garments, the
timidity and the way in which, as they passed the doors, it clung to Regis' hand in a renewal of panic,
was altogether feminine. Do they have gender at all, anyhow? There was an old joke about the
nonhuman cralmacs which had become a proverb on Darkover: the sex of a cralmac is of interest to nobody but another cralmac. He supposed the apparent sexlessness of the chieri was some such thing.
I'll have to remember that Keral isn't human. From the minute it went into rapport with me, it seemed
that Keral was all too human, one of my own kind, more than most of the people I'd known…
Small wonder the legends speak of men who died of love, having seen a chieri in the woods… and pined
away for a voice, a beauty more than mortal … Regis was shocked, startled at the turn his own thoughts were taking. He said to Keral, not looking at the chieri, "We will go soon," and went to take leave of his grandfather.
Chapter 4
Contents - Prev/Next
A HOSPITAL was a hospital, even at the far end of the galaxy. Waking early and not yet sure where he
was, before opening his eyes David felt the familiar ambiance around him, the years-long texture of the
life which had become second nature: the preoccupation of busy doctors, the subliminal feel of pain kept
under and at a distance, the hurried pace of healing.
Then he opened his eyes and remembered that he was on Darkover, uncounted light-years away from his
own home, and that if they had quartered him in a hospital it was not because of the M.D. that he could
still write after his name but because of the generally medical nature of this project.
Freaks and telepaths — and I'm going to be one of them! What kind of a planet have they landed me on?
All he remembered of disembarking last night—spaceports were all alike—was a glimpse of a great,
luminous, pale purple moon, and another, smaller and
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