And after a time his words became like music, a
lullaby, and she would slip back into untroubled sleep, her hand
unconsciously resting on his. Then he would gently lift it and set it
beside her, and smiling, rise to tell the others that she would be fine.
*
Kalus would have remained beside her door all day in silent watch, but
they would not let him. Though all at the noon meal of the partly
gathered colony were asked to let the newcomers be, by evening their
curiosity could no longer be disciplined. He was asked to join them for
supper, the first of the year to be eaten outdoors, and it was all but
impossible to refuse.
So as the remaining men and women returned from their various
labors---there were fourteen in all---Kalus took his place at the far
end of the long table, not to distinguish himself, but because he did
not wish to sit closely huddled among creatures he did not know. And
though by all appearances they seemed the best that modern man had to
offer (in fact they were), he could not help remembering the tales of
human treachery that Sylviana had read to him; and half fearfully, half
angrily, he kept waiting for some sign of it to surface.
But it never did. These people seemed to genuinely care about and
support each other, and to respect his wish to be silent.
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