Read Online Tracker by C. J. Cherryh - Free Book Online

his guests would behave so well, and they would not do anything against the rules next year, or the one after that—
    But when it was the right year, if Irene could just wait until they all were of age, they could
all
just refuse to go back. And if he supported them in their request to stay, they could win. Three humans would never be welcome living in the Bujavid: there was too much jealousy over those apartments. But they could very easily live here at Najida. Najida had hosted nand’ Bren’s brother when he was here; and he was sure nand’ Bren would agree if he asked.
    They might do that—when they were grown.
    It seemed a very long time of behaving.
    But his guests were a favor that he could always lose, to politics, or to his father’s displeasure.
    When you get back to the world,
Great-grandmother had told him, just last year,
when you are back among atevi, among people who act properly, you will find atevi feelings in yourself, and you will have a much surer compass than you do right now.
    That meant a needle would swing to the world’s north, no matter how one tried to turn it somewhere else. That was what mani had meant when she said that.
    And sometimes his feelings really were like that: he did feel an attraction. He felt it toward mani, of course, and toward his parents. But he did not think mani had ever expected he would have such a strong swing of that compass toward three humans, who, as mani had explained it, had compasses of their own, which might eventually swing to a very different place.
    Mani had said his internal compass would get stronger and surer as he grew.
    Well, it had done that.
    It had done it, even during this visit of his three guests. He had gotten far more determined about his own future, and he had thought matters through. He had no question at all that his internal compass swung to his father, and to mani, and to nand’ Bren and even to Great-uncle Tatiseigi, who had really surprised him; but there was no question either that Gene and Irene and Artur had a very necessary place in that arrangement, and he was not going to lose them.
    Humans can change loyalty, nand’ Bren had told him once.
    â€œWill
you
change, nandi?” he had asked nand’ Bren right back, and nand’ Bren had looked a little distressed.
    â€œI could not,” nand’ Bren had said. “No. I would not.”
    He thought about that, as the bus began to roll.
    If nand’ Bren could be so absolutely certain of himself, could not these three?
    And if it was a feeling nand’ Bren had, could not these three have it?
    Gene wanted to come back. Artur worried about his parents, and tried to find what made everybody happy—which was why Artur was so quiet, and thought so much; but at some time in the future Artur had to make
himself
happy, and Artur was going to find that out. He was sure Artur could be happy here, with things to investigate, like rocks, and thunderstorms—
    Irene, now—
    Irene was the one who was not going into a happy situation, back on the station.
    Irene and her mother—like Gene, Irene had no father—did not agree. He certainly understood not agreeing with parental rules, but Irene followed them only because she had to. That was what Irene said.
    Gene had gotten arrested by security and gotten a bad mark on station. He did not so much defy the rules as ignore the ones that inconvenienced him. Cajeiri understood that.
    Artur would ask permission and then try to reason his way through the rules. Artur was fairly timid-acting, but that was because Artur was thinking how to get past the problem and still not break any rules.
    But if Artur ran out of time, Artur would do what he felt he had to.
    Irene, however—he feared Irene would just explode someday. That was what he always felt, dealing with her. Irene would reach a point she would just explode. She had changed her hair before she came down, gone from dark as atevi to fair