The Integral Trees

He asked Minya the appropriate questions. She hadn't menstruated since a dozen sleeps before Dalton-Qui

Ordon took the hint. "I'll be right outside."

The Grad explained what was needed. Minya stepped out of her poncho's lower loop, lifted it and lay down on the table. The Grad palped her abdomen and her breasts. He tested the secretions of her vagina in plant juices Kiance had shown him how to use. He'd practiced such an examination in Qui

"No problem. A normal pregnancy," he said. "It's anyone's guess when it happened."

Minya sighed. "All right. Dioris said so too. At least it gives me a chance to see you. Could it be Gavving's?"

"The timing's right, but…you've been available to the citizens, haven't you?"

"Minya, shall I tell Gavving it's his?"

"Let me think." Minya ran faces past her memory. Some were blurs, and she liked it that way. Did they resemble Gavving at all? But the arrogant dwarf had claimed two of her sleeptimes—"No. What's the truth? You don't know?"

"That's right."

"Tell him that. We'll just have to see what the child looks like."

"All right."

Ji

Keeping his head clear wasn't easy under the circumstances, but he made the effort. "Don't move without me. I mean it. We can't do anything unless we can stop them using the carm."

"I wasn't sure you were still with us."

"With you?" He was startled…though he had had doubts. There was so much to learn here! But what was it like for the others, for Gavving or Minya? "Of course I want to break us free! But no matter what we do, they can stop us while they've got the carm. And have you seen a dwarf around?" Like Harp, he thought, but Minya hadn't known Harp.

"I know him. Mark. Acts like he's three meters tall, but he's less than two. Thick-bodied, lots of muscles, likes to show them off." Bruises healing on her arms helped her to remember.

"He's important. He's the only one who can use the old armor."

"We'd like him to meet with an accident?"

"If it's convenient. Don't do anything till we're ready to move."

She laughed suddenly. "I admire your coolness."

"Really? Look down."

She looked, and blushed and covered her mouth. "How long-?"

"Ever since you pulled up your poncho. I'm going to have a serious case of lover's plaint."

"When I first met you I thought…no, don't move. Remember the guard."

He nodded and stayed where he was. She said, "Grad…my guest I hope it's Gavving's, but it's already there, no matter whose. Let's—" She sought words, but the Grad was already moving. She finished in a breathless laugh. " — Solve your problem."

The poncho was ludicrously convenient. It need only be pulled aside. He had to bite hard on his tongue to hold his silence. It was over in a few tens of breaths; it took longer to find his voice. "Thank you. Thank you, Minya. It's been…she's…I was afraid I'd be giving up women."

"Don't do that." Minya's voice was husky. She laughed suddenly.

"She?"

"The other apprentice is a citizen who treats me like a thieving copsik. Either I'm dirt for the treemouth or I'm a spy. Anyway, it's my problem. Thinks."

"It wasn't a gift, Grad." She reached down to squeeze his hands.

"I'm sick of being treated like a copsik too. When do we get loose?"

"Quick. It has to be. The First Officer has spoken. We move the tree as soon as possible."

"When's that?"

"Days, maybe less. I'll know when I get back to the Citadel. Lawri's up there counting-down the carm's motor systems. I'd give either testicle to be in two places at once, but I couldn't miss the chance to talk to you. Can you pass a message to Gavving?"

"No way at all."

"Okay. There's a cluster of huts under the branch, and that's where the women stay when they carry guests, for more tidal pull while the baby's developing. So. Is there anyone at the treemouth that you want fighting beside you?"

"Maybe." She thought of Heln.

"Maybe isn't good enough. Skip the treemouth. if something happens, grab Jayan and anyone else you think you need and go up. A lot of the men spend their time at the top of the treemouth. We can hope Gavving and Alfin are there. But wait till something drastic happens."

Chapter Seventeen

"When Birnham Wood…"

THE HUGE SILVER PETALS WERE RISING, FOLDING INWARD. THE fu

Clave and Kara were alone. The other fire-tenders had gone elsewhere after the fires were quenched. The Sharman asked, "Do you know the law of reaction?"

"I'm not a baby."

"When the steam spits from the fu

"That's why they've been getting away with the raids."

"Yes. But no more."

The petals stood at thirty degrees from vertical. The sun shone directly into the fu

Kara said, "The jungle-heat spits when the sun shines straight into the blossom. It's not easy to make it spit at a chosen time, but…this day, I think."

It came as if by the Sharman's command: a soft, bone-shaking fumf from the fu

A cloud began to form between himself and the sun. A column of steam, racing away from him. He felt a tug, a tide, pulling him toward the sky.

"It works," he said. "I didn't…How long till we reach the tree?"

"A day, maybe less. The warriors are gathering now."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Without waiting for an answer, Clave dove into the foliage. His thoughts were murderous. Had she cost him his place in the coming battle? Why?

Four copsiks were ru

The Grad jumped violently. For a moment he was actually floating. Ordon bellowed laughter. "Hey, forget it, it's nothing. With a chance like that, how could you not? That's why Dloris got a little upset when she saw you weren't Lawri."

The Grad gri

"No, I don't need to get my kicks that way. I can visit the Commons. I just poked my head in and saw what you were poking and pulled it back out again." He put the Grad into the elevator with a friendly, forceful shove in the small of his back and followed him in.

He seemed friendly enough, but first and last he was the Grad's guard. The Grad was not to be harmed, the Grad was not to escape. He liked to talk, but…They had come to the pregnant women's complex the long way round, by way of the Navy installation on the fin. They had returned by the same route. Presumably Ordon had some business on the fin. The Grad had asked about it. Ordon had become coldly suspicious. He would not talk to a copsik about his work.