“Please, friend, let there be no more tears at this parting. Not water tears from you nor crystal tears from me, would that I were able to manufacture them. It’s a gesture I envy you. A small but intriguing physical difference.”

“The only significant differences between us anymore are physical,” said Bhadravati.

“Only physical,” Ryo agreed, “and that means less each day. Shape and composition mean nothing when understanding is present.”

“I thought old Wuu was the poet and not you,” Bonnie said.

“A little of everything you admire eventually rubs off on you. I’m sure you’ll be happy to live for a while now with less weighty matters on your mind.”

“Well, I will have my classes,” she admitted, “and Jahan his research and his books to compose.” From the way they gazed at one another Ryo thought Bonnie might mate after all. The soft beeping sounded from around them. Other passengers began to move toward the waiting shuttle. Not all of them were human.

“We should board.” Bhadravati put a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, didn’t speak, looked back down at Ryo. Then she reached out and hugged him. Blue-green chiton slid against soft flesh. It was another gesture Ryo had learned but which he’d always observed performed by two humans. It was much too rough to be civilized, but he politely said nothing.

As they moved toward the shuttle he made the human gesture of farewell, waving two hands at them. He followed with the far more complex and subtle four-handed gesture of Thranx good-bye. At the base of the ramp Bonnie imitated it as best she could with only two hands. Then they disappeared into the ship.

He started toward the burrow entryway that led down into the busy terminal. The impatient Fal had withdrawn into the comforting confines below.

Bonnie and Dr. Bhadravati appeared content, and that thought made him happy. Everyone deserved contentment. They’d worked hard and long and deserved their share of mental peace.

The fruit he’d struggled so hard to plant had taken root. It had done more than survive. In ten years it prospered enormously and now showed signs of flowering into something far more than he’d ever dreamed of, more than mere friendship. The relationship between human and Thranx was becoming more than deep. There were signs, signs and portents, that someday in the far future it could become truly symbiotic.

And there was another benefit, one Ryo had not considered. One he hadn’t thought much about during the last busy, exciting ten years. The realization came as a shock.

He found something useful to do with his life after all.

A Biography of Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster (b. 1946) is the bestselling author of more than one hundred science fiction and fantasy novels. His prolific output and accessible style have made him one of the nation’s foremost speculative fiction writers.