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"The first time, yes. By a middle-aged man. He wasn't too rough, actually, but he was so dirty and
clumsy, I felt like dying."
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Jon glanced again at the huddled girl. "Is that why ?"
"Sure, I thought you realized. She's a roundear, so isn't worth much on the market, so the guards knew
there wasn't anything to lose."
"The guards?"
"Didn't you know? No, I guess you didn't, because they don't do it to virgins, of course. Just to us who
can't lose that kind of value."
"You mean you, too?"
"All of us. Or at least any they want. If we cooperate, they give us little things, like extra rations or clean
water. If we don't: well, then it gets ugly."
"And Flambeau "
"Didn't cooperate," Thomflower finished. "She's new here, like you. She didn't understand."
"I guess I'm pretty well off", after all," Jon said, shuddering.
"Depends how you see it," Thomflower said, shrugging.
Jon thanked her, and went to the room. She sat down near the huddled girl. "Flambeau," she said.
There was no response.
"Flambeau, listen to me," Jon said. "My brother is a roundear."
Slowly the girl lifted her head. She had black hair and brown eyes, and would have been quite pretty if
the hair weren't matted and the eyes swollen from crying.
Then she dropped her face again. "Don't tease me!" she said, and her body was racked with renewed
sobs.
"No, he really is. I'm half roundear, too, only my ears came out like my mother's. When they said you
were one "
Jon stopped, because the girl's hands were clamped tightly over her ears, effectively blocking the sound.
Well, if she really thought she wanted to die, Jon would just call that bluff! She opened her hand and put
it down under the girl's nose, showing half a dozen dragonberries.
Flambeau saw them. She snatched at them, surprising Jon. In a moment, she had swept up three and
popped them into her mouth.
"Wait!" Jon cried. "Those are "
The girl lifted her head again. She swallowed. "I know. Thanks."
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Jon had not meant to have the girl really commit suicide! Now what was she to do?
Well, she could alert the other girls and have them haul Flambeau to the bucket and poke a finger down
her throat to make her vomit up the berries. That would save her life. But to what purpose? If she really
did want to die, maybe it was better to let her do it in peace. Jon knew how rough it could be on a
roundear, because of Kelvin, and how it could be for a girl. So maybe Flambeau had reason.
Her alternative was to let nature take its course. She was in doubt, so she did nothing which meant the
second choice. She did not feel at all easy about it, but that was it. If she was cooperating in a death,
maybe that was just the way it had to be, here in this awful place.
Lunch came. Thomflower supervised the doling out of portions of the rough bread and thin soup. It
wasn't much, but no one complained; they were all aware of how readily and capriciously it could be cut
off.
Flambeau remained on her bunk, where Jon had laboriously hauled her. The girl had a well-fleshed
body, and would have been a real prize on the market if it hadn't been for her round ears. At least what
little she would have brought would now be denied to the owners of the Marts. That was a very small
consolation; Jon now wished she hadn't ever shown her the deadly berries. But what was done was done;
she reacted as she had when she wasn't sure whether Kelvin had survived the dragon's toss: she went on
with her business. What else was she to do?
But after about three hours, Flambeau stirred. She was alive! Jon went to her. "I'm sorry I gave you
those dragonberries!" she cried. "I didn't think you'd really "
The girl opened her eyes. "I found him," she said.
"What?"
"I found your brother. With the round ears. He's a hero."
Jon laughed. "You were dreaming! My brother's a great guy, but he's not really a hero. Just the notion of
fighting puts him in a cold sweat, though he does it when he has to."
"Kelvin," she said. "He has a gauntlet."
"Kelvin doesn't have any such thing!" Then Jon did a double take. "How did you know his name? I
never told you!"
"I was there. I ranged out from my body and found him. He was easy to find, because he's the only other
roundear in the vicinity. All I could think of was what you said, so I just concentrated on those round
ears, and suddenly I was there. He's handsome!"
"You what?" Jon understood the words, but they weren't making much sense.
"I went out and found him. I could see him and hear him, but I couldn't talk to him, because I was only a
ghost." Then Flambeau did a double take. "What am I saying?"
That was better! The girl was as confused as Jon was. "You swallowed three dragonberries and almost
died. I guess you could have been a ghost! But you weren't, because you recovered, and here you are.
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How do you feel?"
"Very weak," the girl said. Then: "My name is Heln."
"They told me "
"My given name. After my roundear mother, Helen. Heln Flambeau."
"Oh." Jon was disconcerted. "I'm Jon. Jon Hackleberry."
"I know. Kelvin spoke of you. He means to rescue you."
"You dreamed all that?"
"I don't think it was a dream," Heln said.
"You mean to say that the dragonberries didn't poison you, they just sort of sent your soul out wandering
for a while?"
"I suppose so. I didn't exactly wander, I could go anywhere I wanted. I just sort of flew, only I could get
somewhere without even flying, just by being there. So I decided to be where there was that roundear
you spoke of, just because " She shrugged. "Now I don't think I want to die anymore. I I got
something terrible happened, and I really wanted to die, but now I have something back that sort of
makes up for it. It's as if I've entered a whole new realm, and what happened in the old one doesn't
matter so much anymore. I've left that old, spoiled life behind. Now I want to live, and travel astrally
again."
"Better not," Jon said. "Those berries kill most folk, and if you took too many, too fast "
"Yes. I'll wait. But now I have something to live for. I want to meet your brother, in the flesh. Kelvin's
nice. He's my age."
"He's nice," Jon agreed. Could she really believe this? She decided to be forthright. "Look, Hein, this is
hard to believe all at once. I really don't know if you were dreaming or if you really did it. Could you tell
me more about my brother?"
Hein smiled. "His eyes are sort of blue, and his hair brown. He's thin. He wants to rescue you, and get
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