Likely he would never see the Clump again. It was as well. He and his family would be paupers there. He had never owned anything but Logbearer itself, and even that was gone. But was it really beyond belief that these people could build another Logbearer']

When all the adults were eating, the children drifted into line at the cookpot. Rather was just ahead of three tall and dark young women, and just behind his brother Harry.

"Take Jill's place," Rather told Harry.

"Why should I?"

"Beats me. Will you do it?"

"All right."

The favor would be repaid. Rather would take Harry's place at the cookpot or in the treadmill, or show him a wrestling trick; something. These things didn't need discussion. Harry stepped out of line and talked to Jill where she was serving stew. Jill served herself and Harry took her place.

The blond girl joined Rather. "What's that for?" she asked; but she seemed pleased.

"I've been listening to the old ones. Now I want to talk to the girls. Come along?" If they wouldn't talk to a dwarf boy, maybe they'd talk to a girl.

They followed the Serjent girls as they made their exaggeratedly careful way across the commons' wicker floor. The refugees settled slowly into the foliage, keeping their eyes fixed on their bowls. Stew still slopped over the edge ofCariot's bowl. "The hole's too big," she said.

"You just need practice. -I'm Jill, he's Rather."

"How do you eat when you're at the midpoint?"

Jill and Rather settled across from them. Rather stripped four branchlets for chopsticks. Jill said, "I'd take a smoked turkey along. What do you use? Bowls with smaller holes?"

"Yes, and we carry these." Carlot produced a pair of bone sticks, ornately carved. "You're lucky. You've always got ... spine branches?"

"These are branchlets. The spine branches are the big ones."

The third girl, Karilly, had not spoken. She was concentrating fully on her bowl.

Mishael said, "You seem to be happy."

Rather found the comment disconcerting. "What do you mean?"

"You, all of you. You've got your tree and it's all you need. Lumber from the bare end of the branch. The clothes you wear, the cloth comes from branchlet fibers, doesn't it?"

"It's foliage with the sugar washed out."

"And the dye is from berries. Water comes running down the trunk into that basin, and you eat foliage and catch meat from the sky. And there's the CARM. Without the CARM you'd have to build a rocket to move the tree.''

"Right." Rather thought, We don't know how to do that. The CARM is all that keeps us from being savages. Is that how they see us? "We had to leave the tree to get our lines. And "the adults keep talking about earthlife crops. They couldn't bring seeds and eggs with them."

"You could buy them in the Market if you were rich enough."

Jill said, "We don't know those words. Rich? Buy?"