Recognition by Ann Herendeen Read Free Book Online Page A

my disorientation at
the surrounding escort, he permitted a kind thought to flow between
us:
You’ll get used to it, ‘Gravina
.
    Dominic, without breaking step, let loose a
stream of expletives, the harsh, foul-mouthed speech of the
drillmaster, reprimanding his man with silent fury, mind to mind. I
listened in fascination to the range of expressions available in
the Eclipsian language compared with the meager, unimaginative
selection of Terran profanity. The man reddened in
embarrassment.
    Sorry to be the unwitting cause of trouble, I
thought of intervening, saw Dominic’s fierce profile—a hawk
stooping for the kill, the eye of opaque silver—and suppressed my
charitable impulses. His anger stemmed less from the professed
reasons of insubordination and dereliction of duty than from a
personal jealousy. Dominic was guarding our special communion, and
saw any telepathic exchange with me, no matter how innocuous, as an
invasion of his territory.
    Our group made slow progress at first. The
wide sidewalks of the Terran Sector swarmed with pedestrians.
People gawked and commented, trying to peer in between my
protectors’ bodies to see what unfortunate soul was being taken
away, wondering with prurient interest what primitive punishment
awaited me. Most of them recognized the distinctive uniforms of the
Royal Guards but knew that Dominic and his men posed little threat
to Terran citizens in their own sector of the city. Dominic had
constantly to shout to people to make way. He walked with his sword
held in front of him, like the man who had announced the ‘Graven
participants at the meeting, yet had to rely on his height, the
sinister look of his face, and his obvious willingness to use the
weapon, to forge a path.
    We approached the broad avenue that leads to
the Terran Protectorate complex. The center lanes were choked with
traffic, the personal vehicles Terrans cannot live without. Despite
the fact that the cars are restricted to the Terran Sector where
everything is within walking distance, all attempts to prevent
their importation had ultimately proved futile.
    The flow of vehicles is controlled by a
signal of alternating red and green lights. Our group reached the
curb just as the traffic was resuming after a long pedestrian
interval. Dominic swore and pulled a dagger from his belt, holding
its jeweled handle, with what looked like a large prism as the
finial, to face the sun. The light turned green again for us; the
vehicles, taken by surprise, were caught in the crosswalk. As we
wove our way around and through the honking cars, Dominic slammed
his hand down hard on the hood of one with a terrific bang. The
driver almost abandoned his vehicle in fright. “Pedestrians have
the right of way!” Dominic yelled at the closed window, an inch or
two from the man’s cowering face.
    How he hates it!
I felt a frisson of
excitement, as when he had kissed me. Everything of the Terran
world, the vehicles and the noise, the heated buildings with their
elevators, was a reminder to Dominic of the encroachment that
threatened him as Eclipsian and ‘Graven. My own alienation from the
world I had been born into found vicarious expression through the
anger of this man who was in some way my partner. I remembered the
thought in my head when I arrived, the fierce exultation that the
Terrans were not allowed to enclose their part of the
city—Dominic’s thought undoubtedly, the first telepathic
communication from my “lover.”
    Once we passed through the checkpoint
dividing the two sectors of the city, the mood shifted
dramatically. There was little of the curiosity about the situation
or my identity that I had picked up from the Terran crowds. The
Eclipsians were used to seeing Royal Guards, knew the ‘Graven
prefer to shield their women from view and had no desire to risk
staying within reach of Dominic’s long arms and weapon to find out
anything more.
    Although the streets were narrow, with no
real sidewalk separating