Damia by Anne McCaffrey

Rowan was a lonely person but not necessarily lonely for
him
, in spite of what Reidinger tacitly suggested.

CHAPTER
THREE

    O VER the next few years, by a serendipity Afra never quite understood, the relationship between the Rowan and himself deepened but never in quite the direction Reidinger would have preferred. Their professional rapport was shortly so fine-tuned that even the other Tower staff knew that Afra was the aide she had been searching for.
    On the emotional level, Afra became increasingly able to gauge the Rowan’s moods and, if necessary, would warn the Tower personnel to slap up their shields and endure. He could sometimes turn her state with an adroit pressure of positive reassurance. Sometimes he couldn’t, and the tension in the Tower would become thick enough to cut. Once or twice, when he felt she had gone beyond the bounds of permissible emotional display, he’d reprimand her, in kindly tone, heavy with surprise at her lack of control: though he hated to borrow any of his parents’ attitudes. On those few occasions when he did reprimand her, her turbulence would generally abate to a tolerable fury.
    As stationmaster, Brian Ackerman suffered more thananyone else. When he threatened to quit, Afra would appeal to Reidinger. Of course, Afra never “heard” what Earth Prime said to the Rowan, but she would be reasonably docile for the next week or so.
    Callisto was, in many ways, far more difficult a Tower than any other, including Earth’s. So there was greater pressure on its Prime and Tower staff. Some lower T ratings weren’t sufficiently flexible and were replaced, but gradually, over the next few years, a balance was achieved and maintained. Afra also suggested a roster of temporary replacements when some key personnel reached an overload point. As a T-4 in gestalt with the station’s generators he was able to, and did, send people downside for a few days’ relief, though, generally, the Rowan would oblige even if she was in a bad mood.
    Since Afra could ’port himself with an assist from the station’s generators, he availed himself of those periodic longer occlusions when great Jupiter or several of the smaller moons made traffic in or out of Callisto impossible. That was when he learned more of the planet of his ancestors.
    The first visit he made, however, was to Damitcha in his forest retreat. Though the old chief was genuinely delighted to see his young friend, his mind wandered and, even during the brief stay, Damitcha became confused, thinking he was in Capella port, or Betelgeuse, and wondering how Afra came to be so far from his home system.
    More frequently, Afra accepted Gollee Gren’s company on tours of the pleasure houses that abounded in the immense and sprawling capital of Central Worlds. These excursions were both relieving and tantalizing for Afra. He met many lovely women, skilled and innocent, but none of them could hold his interest very long. He returned most often to the calm and understanding Kama—even if she teased him that he came more to dally with Amos, the Coonie, than with her. But she knew that he found solace in her company, and she would arrange her time so that they could spend days together if he asked.
    Back at the Station he and the Rowan would engage inelaborate games, sometimes play-fighting with all the ferocity of mates. Sometimes, when the mood threatened to turn intimate, the Rowan would break away, hiding her head from the hurt she had imposed upon him. Afra’s stern methody upbringing helped him to school his expressions and turn his words to safer stances.
    Their relationship evolved into something approaching elder sister-little brother but with an intimacy such blood affiliations could not attain. Afra, for his part, found it easier to accept that role than the young lover of an older woman. The Rowan used her greater age on him unmercifully until the two finally grew tired of it, dropping the petty bickering for the silence of dear