Sweet Starfire

than average too. I only had one brother,” he heard himself say.
    “The one who was a Harmonic?”
    “Yes.” He was quiet for a while. “Jeude was a late bloomer in a sense. We didn’t realize he was a Harmonic until he was in his late teens. Just thought he was a little different—quiet and thoughtful. A bit eccentric in some ways. My parents had just begun to acknowledge that he might be Harmonic when they were killed.”
    “Oh, Severance,” she said gently, “what happened?”
    “They were geologists with a big mining company on QED . There was an accident. An explosion.” He sensed her movement, and the next thing he knew, she was stretching out her hand to touch his. “Jeude took it hard. Very hard. And he refused to be separated from me after that. He wouldn’t hear of being sent to Clementia.”
    “So you let him run mail with you?”
    “He was good at it. Very determined. Once in a while I let him take a ship out alone while I made deliveries and arranged contracts here on Renaissance or on Lovelady. He liked going to QED by himself with just Fred along for company. Said it gave him a lot of time to think. I knew I should have insisted he go to Clementia for training, but he kept resisting the idea and I just didn’t have the heart to force him. He got killed because of my lousy judgment.”
    “Was he killed on that red plain? The one you light-painted on board ship?”
    She might not be a Harmonic, but there were times when the lady was too damn intuitive. “He went straight into the ground answering a distress signal in a QED sandstorm. Nothing that flies can survive one of those storms. The only thing a pilot can do is run from them. But Jeude didn’t run.” Severance felt his hand clench into a fist under the sleeper cover. Very deliberately he forced himself to flatten out his palm. “Fred survived. The rescue crew found him wrapped around Jeude’s leg when they arrived. The ship was destroyed, pieces of it scattered over a wide area. They never did find all the cargo.”
    “I’m so sorry, Severance.”
    “I know.” He didn’t doubt it for a moment. Cidra’s compassion was as real as her ability with Moonlight and Mirrors. Sweetness and light were her inner core of strength. He shook off the brooding feeling as he thought about the conflicting image. “It’s in the past, Cidra. I wish I hadn’t mentioned it.” Severance rubbed his eyes wearily, thinking that he hadn’t talked about Jeude to anyone for a long time.
    She didn’t press him. Her hand slipped back into her sleeper, and she turned on her back to stare at the low ceiling of the tent. Another distant clanking sound echoed in the night, and a small scream split the air close to the camp.
    “Overcash is right. Renaissance is somewhat overwhelming,” Cidra said quietly.
    “Frightened?”
    “No, of course not. I understand about the security systems and the deflectors and all. There’s nothing to worry about.”
    “Cidra…”
    “Too bad they haven’t come up with some way of blocking out some of the night noises, though. It’s very hard to sleep with so much jungle racket.”
    Severance said again, “Cidra.”
    She ignored him again. “I hope Fred is enjoying his stay with Desma. He certainly seems to like her. He’ll be in for a shock if he wanders into the lab, though, won’t he?”
    Severance unfastened the opening of his sleeper. “Cidra, come in here with me. There’s room for two.”
    Her head snapped around. “Severance, no, I don’t think that would be a very good idea.”
    On one level he agreed with her. But he couldn’t spend the rest of the night listening to her tension. “Then relax. I’m not about to fight my way through those trousers you’re wearing. I’m just offering a little human comfort.”
    “I’m not a child.”

    “Did anyone ever hold you until you fell asleep when you were a child?”

    There was a long silence. “Harmonics don’t touch each other, except when they’re in full telepathic communion. My parents were never able to experience that kind of bond with me.”
    He heard the careful explanation and then reached across to unfasten her sleeper. “Come here, Cidra. I’ll hold you until you fall asleep.”
    “Really, Severance, that isn’t necessary. I’m just fine the way I am.”
    He sat up and pried her gently out of the sleeper. She resisted slightly at first, and then, with a warm, scrambling rush she was inside his sleeper, curved against his