Damia by Anne McCaffrey Page A

companions.
    Perhaps following the dictum that familiarity breeds contempt, the Rowan took to spending most of the station downtime in his company. Afra, for his part, began to accept the gender differences between them in an attempt to aid him in his dealings with his less cerebral relationships. If Kama guessed, she never mentioned it. Nor did the Rowan ever seek to find out more about Afra’s “downside” friend.
    That consideration only underscored Afra’s comprehension of the Rowan’s loneliness which tore at him viciously, sometimes at the expense of his seeking out Kama. His deep compassion for the Rowan constantly teetered on the verge of offering to provide her physical as well as mental comfort. He fought within himself over the fear that by not providing her with a physical bond he was denying her the lover she so desperately wanted. But he feared more the consequences of his being wrong: of robbing the Rowan of the only person to whom she could spill her soul. And, deep within himself, Afra feared that perhaps she would accept; for he did not want to be the youngster in his love, he desired to be the consoler, the anchor for a young spirit blown by the winds of life.
    But, as her loneliness manifested itself more frequently, Afra began to hope that she might turn to him. Certainly he was the most likely candidate in the galaxy, even if he knew that she could not requite his abiding love for her.
    Unconsciously he sought alternate solutions to the Rowan’s agoraphobia, a problem that seemed to affect all Prime Talents, of being unable to teleport without violent reactions. After her first space voyage, the Rowan had arrived at Callisto Station in a near catatonic state. While Afra knew that Callisto, also, had had the same violent reaction to space travel, he wondered if there might not be a cure, especially for one as young as the Rowan. If, he reasoned, the Rowan could escape Callisto Station and “bring Muhamet to the Mountain,” she would at least have the opportunity to dabble without it being immediately known to all her fellow workers. So he suggested that she try to overcome her space cafard by making small ventures off the surface of Callisto in a special capsule, cushioned against any movement and opaqued from any source of exterior light or view. With his mind to minimize the act of ’portation, the Rowan tried to neutralize her agoraphobia. Gradually, she was able to endure being ’ported beyond Callisto for short periods. Afra did not dare force the exercises.
    Then the eighth planet of hot Deneb, bombarded by an alien task force, made contact with Callisto for desperately needed medical personnel to cope with the plagues spurted from space at the colonial planet. And the mind that made contact was male, young, powerful, and unattached.
    When the Rowan proposed a mind-merge to defeat the invaders in Deneb’s skies, Afra was both elated and wary. But the mind-merge with Jeff Raven, successful as it was in destroying the intruders, was not sufficient to induce the Rowan to leave Callisto and join this potent young male on his home planet. Her despair hit a paralyzing nadir so deep that Afra, and Brian, feared for her sanity.
    Afra’s rage on learning that Reidinger wanted to use the affair as a way of breaking the Rowan’s phobia surprised everyone in its intensity. Reidinger, in particular, had come to consider the young Capellan of a placid temperament. While he put his anger on hold with the appearance of the very distraught Rowan, he intended to do battle again withReidinger as soon as possible; after all, he had been
handling
the situation quite adequately, damn it!
    The day was draining, more from the tragic air of the Rowan than the efforts of moving cargo. At the end of it, as Afra considered how best to help his Prime, a young man in plain travel gear arrived in the control room.
    “You come up in that last shuttle?” Ackerman asked the stranger politely. Afra lost the answer as he