"Vonda N. McIntyre - Little Faces" - читать интересную книгу автора (McIntyre Vonda N)

caring what others thought about her. She yearned for such audacity, such bravery.
"I asked about her, of course!" she exclaimed, trying to redeem herself. "Not the companions, but Shai
and Kinli and Tasmin were all near enough to talk to. They all said, Oh, is she found? Or, She's a legend,
how lucky you are to meet her! Or, Give her my loving regard."

"Tasmin has a daughter with her. She'd never hear anything against her. I suppose Seyyan never asked
anything of Tasmin that she wasn't willing to give. Kinli wasn't even born last time anyone heard anything
from Seyyan, and Shai тАж" She glanced down at her hands and slowly, gradually, unclenched her fists.
"Shai fears her."

"She could have warned me."

"Seyyan terrifies her. Is she here?" She closed her eyes, a habitual movement that Yalnis did, too, when
she wanted information from her ship's senses.

"No," Yalnis said, as Zorar said, "No, I see she's not."

"She said she would, but she changed her mind. It hurt my feelings when she disappeared without a
word, and she never replied when I asked her what was wrong."

"She changed her mind after you mentioned Seyyan."

Yalnis thought back. "Yes."

"Would you have believed her, if she'd warned you?"

Yalnis remembered Seyyan's word and touch and beauty, the flush Yalnis felt just to see her, the
excitement when she knew Seyyan looked at her. She shivered, for now all that had changed.

"I doubt it," she said. "Oh, you're right, I wouldn't have believed her. I would have suspected jealousy."

Zorar brushed away Yalnis's tears.

"What did she do to you?" Yalnis whispered.

Zorar took a deep breath, and drew up the gauzy hem of her shirt.

She carried the same companions as when she and Yalnis first met: five, the same number Yalnis had
accepted. Yalnis would have expected someone of Zorar's age and status to take a few more. Five was
the right number for a person of Yalnis's age and minor prosperity.

"You noticed this scar," Zorar said, tracing an erratic line of pale silver that skipped from her breastbone
to her navel, nearly invisible against her translucently delicate skin. "And I shrugged away your question."

"You said it happened when you walked on the surface of a planet," Yalnis said. "You said a flesh-eating
plant attacked you."

"Yes, well, one did," Zorar said, unabashed. "But it didn't leave that scar." She stroked the chin of her
central little face. Just below her navel, the companion roused itself, blinking and gnashing its teeth. It
neither stretched up aggressively nor retreated defensively. Yalnis had never seen its face; like the others,