“Falmiensazex has told me of your desire to leave us. Indeed, to leave Paszex and Willow-wane to fly off to Hivehorn on some bizarre quest”

Ryo glanced toward Fal, who was not looking at him. “Did she tell you that my reasons involve more than merely a crazed desire?”

“She did not elaborate. She merely said that it had to do with a desire that you felt required satisfaction but could not describe in detail.”

“That much is true enough,” he admitted.

“Such feelings can be treated.”

“Physically I’m fine, Clanmother. Mentally I’ve always been slightly different.” He noticed his sire making small, half-unconscious gestures of sad affirmation. “But never aberrant enough to warrant treatment. My personal achievements and successes speak to that.” He did not need to point out the shining star set in his shoulder. Ilvenzuteck had witnessed its setting.

“They do indeed,” she said. “If they did not, we might be holding this conversation under more difficult circumstances. But this has nothing to do with eccentricity or any desire of yours. You have responsibilities here: to the Inmot Company, to your hive, to your family, and,” she added with a gesture, “to Falmiensazex. To your family-to-be. Many ancestors are sitting in this chamber with us. They fill the empty saddles and sit in judgment. You cannot abandon them, too. We all have our secret desires, our secret wishes. Unfortunately, the universe is not so constructed that we may be permitted to fulfill them.”

“I’m sorry, but—”

She interrupted him, as was her privilege. “You must not pursue this thing. It drives you toward destruction. I will not let you throw away so promising a life, Ryozenzuzex. As your clanmother, I forbid it. That holds no legal power, as you are aware. But if you hold to your heritage at all, such abstracts will not tempt you.”

“And if I try to go anyway, ‘heritage’ notwithstanding?”

“I have registered my decision with the hive council. Hivemother Tal-i-zex concurs. So do your parents and your premate. So will your employers. Many witnesses to this conversation will testify to your oddness of habit. They will do so to protect you from yourself, out of love for you.”

Ryo calmly studied the assembled faces and bodies and saw this to be so. He would have expected nothing else.

“It is your future happiness they hold dear. As I do,” Ilvenzuteck said gently.

“I do not doubt that,” he replied, truthfully enough.

“If you try to leave,” she continued softly, “your clanmates will stop you. If you get past them, the hive council will have you recalled, citing your importance to the welfare of the hive.

“You have done well on the scale of this hive, slightly in terms of Willow-wane itself, and not at all in terms of interplanetary society. Speaking practically, you could not reach Hivehom. You have not the resources. Your credit is locked in mutual file with your premate Falmiensazex, and a limit node has been placed upon it.”