"Jack Vance - The Gray Prince" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

Kelse had been reflecting along similar lines. тАЬYouтАЩre different,тАЭ he said. тАЬSomehow I was expecting the
merry, frivolous, silly old Schaine.тАЭ

тАЬBoth of us are different.тАЭ

Kelse glanced contemptuously down at his arm and leg. тАЬQuite a bit different. You never saw these
before.тАЭ

тАЬAre they easy to use?тАЭ

Kelse shrugged. тАЬThe left hand is stronger than the right. I can crack nuts in my fingers and do all sorts of
interesting jobs. Otherwise IтАЩm much the same.тАЭ

Schaine could not restrain the question: тАЬHave I changed so very much?тАЭ

Kelse looked at her dubiously. тАЬWell, youтАЩre five years older. YouтАЩre not quite so skinny. Your clothes
are very nice; you look quite smart. You always were pretty, even as a ragtag tomboy.тАЭ

тАЬтАШRagtag tomboyтАЩ indeed!тАЭ SchaineтАЩs voice was soft with melancholy. As they walked across the depot
memories and images flooded her mind. The girl they spoke about was distant by not five but by five
hundred years; she had inhabited a different world, where evil and woe were unknown. The verities were
simple and obvious to all. Morningswake Manor was no more and no less than the center of the universe;
each of those who lived there had a predestined role to fulfill. Uther Madduc was the font of authority.
His decisions, sometimes benign, sometimes mysterious, sometimes awful, were as definite as the motion
of the sun. Concentric to Uther Madduc had been herself and Kelse; in an orbit less stable, sometimes
near, sometimes far, was Muffin. In general the roles were uncomplicated, except again in the case of


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Muffin whose status was often ambiguous. Schaine had been the тАШragtag tomboyтАЩ, nonetheless charming
and prettyтАФso much went without sayingтАФjust as Kelse had always been proud and handsome and
Muffin always dashing and brave and gay. Such attributes were implicit in the very fabric of existence,
just as the sun Methuen was unalterably pink and the sky immutably ultramarine. Looking back across
the years she saw herself against a backdrop of Morningswake: a girl of medium height, neither tall nor
short, engagingly lanky but durable, as if she were good at swimming and running and climbing, which of
course she had been and still was. Her skin shone tawny-gold from the sunlight; her dark hair was a loose
curly tangle. She was the girl with the sweet wide mouth and the alert marveling expression, as if each
successive instant brought some new wonder. She had loved with innocence and hated without
calculation; she had been mercurial, gentle with small creatures, quick with gleeful gibesтАж Now she was
five years older and five years wiser, or so she hoped.

Kelse and Schaine walked out into the soft Szintarre morning. The air smelled as Schaine remembered:
fragrant with the essence of leaves and flowers. Down from the dark green juba trees hung strands of
scarlet blossoms; sunlight seeped through the foliage to spatter patterns of pink and black on Kharanotis
Avenue.

тАЬWeтАЩre staying at the Seascape,тАЭ Kelse told her. тАЬThereтАЩs a party at Aunt ValтАЩs this afternoon, ostensibly
to welcome you home. We could have stayed at Mirasol, of course, butтАжтАЭ His voice trailed off. Schaine