When he was through, Jones rose slowly from his seat on the marble steps of the Administration Building. The Earthman looked at the hushed crowd for several seconds before he began to speak.
"Children," he said at last, "I have been here at Bel-rogas since the first—sixty-one long years. I have tried to show you, as best I could, what it means to follow the Law and the Scripture. I hope you have, by this time, seen where strict obedience of the Law may lead—or perhaps you have yet to see it.
"I have attempted to show you the wonders of nature that the Great Light has put here for you to see and use.
"I do not know how many of you will use this knowledge, nor how wisely you will use it, but you must always remember that the Great Light Himself will always answer all questions if they are properly asked of Him. The discovery of His way is the science of asking questions. And if you ask Him and he does not answer—then you have not asked the question properly.
"Ask again, in a different way, and you may have the answer. The answer lies in the question, not in the person who asks it.
"If the wrong person asks it, he may get the right answer, but he will not be able to understand it."
"I think I see what he means," said Rahn in an undertone. "Like in chemistry—if we want to know what a rock is made of, we have to analyze it. That's the right way to ask."
"Shh!" said Sindi sharply.
"Now the time has come for me to leave you,'' Jones went on. "I must return to the sky from whence I came. My place will be taken by a man who is quite capable of carrying on the great work that we came here to do. Smith has been with us for ten years, and has many years of work before he, too, is called back to his home.
"I wish you all well, children, and may the Great Light illumine your minds as He does the world."
As Jones held out his hand in blessing, Smith stood up and put his arm around the older man's. shoulder for a moment.
"Goodbye, my friend," he said simply. "I'll see you again in fifty years."
Jones nodded, saying nothing. He allowed his arms to fall to his side, and he stood silently, straight and tall, somehow mysterious in his alien dignity.
Then, quite suddenly, an aura of blue-white radiance sprang from his body. Slowly, he rose from the steps and lifted into the air. With increasing speed, he rose higher and higher.
The crowd watched in awed silence, tilting their heads far back to watch the Earthman disappear into the haze of the eternal clouds.
Sindi was putting on her best shorts and beaded vest on the morning of the Feast of the Sixteen Clans, twenty days after the ascension of Jones, when her roommate burst into the room.
"Sindi! There's someone downstairs to see you! And is he handsome!"
Sindi fastened her belt at her waist. "Don't blither, Mera. Who is it?"
"Oh, you! Always so calm! I don't know who he is.
He just asked if Sindi geKiv Brajjyd was here, and so I told him you were. He's riding on a big, pretty deest, and he's tall, and—"
"Oh, Great Light!" Sindi swore in dismay. "I'll bet I know who it is! It's Yorgen peBor Yorgen!"
She ran out of the room and down the hall to the front of the building, where a window looked down over the courtyard before the Young Women's Quarters. Cautiously, she looked down, keeping herself well back in the shadows of the gloomy hallway.
It was Yorgen peBor, all right.
Come to think of it, Sindi thought, Mera was right. Yorgen did look quite striking, mounted on the magnificent deest and looking as if the whole world owed him homage.
I wonder what he wants? He would have to get permission to come calling here. And I'll bet he has it.
She ran back to her room and finished dressing quickly, ignoring Mera's bubbling conversation. Some minutes later she stepped out of the door of the dormitory, holding herself stiffly erect.
"Good Feast Day, Sindi geKiv,'' Yorgen said in his smooth tenor voice.
"Good Feast Day. What brings you here at this early hour, Yorgen peBor?"
"I started before the Great Light touched the sky," he said. "I have brought a letter from your father.'' He handed her the neatly folded and sealed paper.
Sindi thanked him, took the letter, and broke the seal.
"To my daughter, Sindi, on the day of the Feast of the Sixteen Clans. Since I know you'll be riding into the Holy City to attend the midday services at the Temple, I thought you would like someone to go with you. Young Yorgen peBor will deliver this letter and escort you to the Temple. I hope you will both find light in your mind and do your worship with reverence in your thoughts."
It was signed, "Your loving father, Kiv."
Sindi looked up at Yorgen and forced a smile. "I'll be most happy to attend the Clan Day services with you, Yorgen peBor," she said. In view of her father's note, there was no other possible answer.
"The honor is mine," Yorgen replied politely.
"If you'11 wait here a few minutes, I'11 get ready for the ride. My deest is in the stables, and—"
"May I get your animal for you?"
"Would you please? That's sweet of you."
"Again, a pleasure, Sindi geKiv." Yorgen tugged at the reins, turned the deest smartly, and trotted off in the direction of the School's stable.
Sindi ran back into the dormitory, took the stairway at top speed, and dashed into her room. Mera was at the end of the hall. Evidently she had watched the whole procedure.
"What's up, Sindi?"
Sindi went to her desk and wrote furiously. "I'm going to the Temple with Yorgen peBor," she said without glancing up.
"Oh? I thought you were going to the chapel with Rahn."
"This is Father's idea, Mera. He has chosen Yorgen peBor for me."
Mera frowned. "I guess it's too bad you and Rahn are both Brajjyds. Still, in-clan marriages have taken place, you know."
"Don't be ridiculous," Sindi snapped. She continued to fill the paper with neat script.
''Well,'' Mera said, "it might not be sanctioned, but I happen to know that a lot of young couples who are of the same clan just go to another city. The girl lies about her name and they 're man and wife by the time they get there. You could go to Elvisen or Vashcor and—"
"Shut up, Mera. It's impossible. I couldn't leave Bel-rogas and neither could Rahn. I'll do things the way they should be done. I don't want to be sacrilegious.''
Mera shrugged and said, "All right, do it your way. I still think it's a foolish law."
Sindi tightened her lips and said nothing. She finished what she was writing, folded it, and sealed it.
"Give this to Rahn, will you?" she asked, handing the letter to Mera.
"Sure, Sindi. Have a good time."
By the time Yorgen peBor Yorgen returned with her deest, Sindi was waiting demurely for him on the steps of the dormitory.
The five-mile ride into the Holy City of Gelusar was punctuated only by occasional small talk. It was obvious to Sindi that Yorgen peBor seemed no more anxious for the match than she was. But what could either of them do? Marriages were arranged by parents; their judgment was wiser in picking a mate than a child's could possibly be.
Gelusar was teeming with people in their holy day finery, each one walking or riding toward one of the several smaller temples in the city. Some of the more important people were going to the Great Temple in the center of Gelusar, but even that gigantic edifice could hold only a small portion of the city's population.
Naturally, as a grandson of the great Yorgen peYorgen Yorgen, young Yorgen peBor would have a reserved seat in the Temple itself. He and Sindi would not have to stand outside in the Square of Holy Light, as many thousands would have to do when the ceremonies began.