"Timothy Zahn - A Coming of Age" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

A Coming of Age

you do."

I doubt that very much, Tirrell thought blackly as he led the way to his car. The Brimmers had most
likely never seen what could happen to a child who was brought up by a fagin. Tirrell had.

It wasn't something he was anxious to see again.




Chapter 3
Outside the lounge windows the last traces of sunset had finally faded from the sky, and the crescent
shape of Tigris's larger moon was occasionally visible through the swaying woodland treetops.
Sighing, Lisa straightened up in her chair and looked around her. The lounge was relatively empty;
most of the other preteens were probably either outside or else downstairs in the entertainment
rooms, enjoying the extra freedom Friday evenings brought. Of the few other girls present, most
were sitting alone, either dozing or just enjoying the silence. In one corner five others had teeked
their chairs into a circle and were carrying on a muted conversation. Lisa found herself staring at the
group, searching their faces for some trace of the depression she herself was feeling.

But if the imminent loss of their teekay was bothering any of them, they hid it well. Laughing and
smiling, they seemed as happy and unconcerned as Eights. Idiots, she thought peevishly and was
instantly sorry. It was she, after all, who was behaving like a kid. Closing her eyes, she sighed and
willed the world to go away.

A creaking of wood some time later made her open her eyes again. The group in the corner was
breaking up. Watching incuriously, she noticed a sort of hand signal pass furtively among the girls
as they threaded their way through the circle of chairs and disappeared out the door. Looking after
them, Lisa felt older than ever. Secret clubs were always cropping up in the hive, usually among new
preteens. Her own brief stint with such a club had been four years ago, just after her tenth birthday
and the move upstairs to her present room. Then, she'd been more than a little scared at the new
responsibilities her age was about to bring her... but on the other hand, the coming Transition had
seemed as distant and academic as the end of the universe.

To grow is to change. Gavra Norward's oft-repeated line ran through Lisa's mind, but it wasn't
especially comforting. I don't want to change, she thought angrily. I like being who I am; I like the
power andтАФ

She blinked as the thought caught her squarely across the face. The power. Not just the teekay, she
realized with sudden clarity, but also the authority and status that went with it. Preteens were the top
of the heapтАФmore important even than many adults, she'd often thought. And as for herself... well,
Gavra had said it just that morning. There's no one else I'd trust with a flock of Sevens. Lisa was one
of the best, and she knew it... and she was about to lose it all and become an anonymous student.



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A Coming of Age