Just by being here,
you are killing the Dry-towns. They're turning to you and leaving us,
and you let them do it."
I shook my head. "We've kept the Terran Peace for centuries. What do you
expect? Should we give you arms, planes, bombs, weapons to hold your
slaves down?"
"Yes!" she flared at me. "The Dry-towns have ruled Wolf
since--since--you, you can't even imagine how long! And we made compact
with you to trade here--"
"And we have rewarded you by leaving you untouched," I said quietly.
"But we have not forbidden the Dry-towns to come into the Empire and
work with Terra."
She said bitterly, "Men like Kyral will die first," and pressed her face
helplessly against me. "And I will die with them. Miellyn broke away,
but I cannot! Courage is what I lack. Our world is rotten, Race, rotten
all through, and I'm as rotten as the core of it. I could have killed
you today, and I'm here in your arms. Our world is rotten, but I've no
confidence that the new world will be better!"
I put my hand under her chin, and looked down gravely into her face,
only a pale oval in the darkness.
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