Shrouded Planet

I

There were times in the following years when Kiv felt that perhaps Smith had erred in his judgment, but when he took time to analyze his thoughts, he realized that it was fatherly concern speaking, not any real fault in the young man who had married his daughter.

Rahn peDorvis studied hard, and often neglected his wife without realizing what he was doing, but he was never purposely unkind. Both he and Sindi were graduated with honors, and Rahn apprenticed himself to one of the Holy City's leading physicians, Syg peDel Lokness. The young man's knowledge of the strange teachings of the Earthmen puzzled Syg peDel on occasions, but the lad was a hard worker and had a fine capacity for learning, and was never disrespectful.

Once, when Kiv went to the old physician to ask how Rahn was doing, Syg peDel remarked: "He should do well, Grandfather. He's full of ideas, but he doesn't say much about anything until he's got it all worked out. Sometimes, when I tell him something that I've learned through years of experience, he looks at me as though I'm repeating idle gossip—but he never says anything about it until he's checked it himself. And—I must admit it, Grandfather—a couple of times, he's taught me something I didn't know."

Three years after their marriage, in the beginning of the Year of Tipell, the final year of the 244th Cycle, Rahn and Sindi presented Kiv with his new grandson. It was Kiv who suggested the name: Norvis peRahn Brajjyd.

From the very first, it was obvious that the boy combined the best qualities of both his parents, tie had Sindi's good looks, determination, and quick wit, and he had Rahn's dogged persistence and depth of thought. Even as a child, he became absorbed in the work his father did, and by the stories his mother told. Once she even told him of the Earthmen's base in the Mountains of the Morning. She told it lightheartedly, hoping he would take it as it was offered, simply as a diverting story. But it made a vivid impression on him at the time; he took it as truth.

Rahn had a small practice of his own by the time Norvis could read, and the boy would sit around in his father's library, looking at the pictures in the anatomy books and struggling to fathom the meanings of the strange big words printed beneath them.

In the Year of Lokness, 245th Cycle, Norvis attended a ceremony that was to make a lasting impression on him. He was ten at the time, and understood little of what was taking place, but he watched avidly, silently, trying to comprehend all that he could.

The ceremony took place at the Great Temple of Gelusar, and every Brajjyd who could make it to the

Temple came to watch the investiture of the new Elder Grandfather of the Clan Brajjyd. The old Elder Brajjyd had become a Revered Ancestor only ten days before, having passed away in his sleep at the age of ninety-eight. The next in succession to the Council Elder of the Clan Brajjyd was Grandfather Kiv peGanz.

Norvis peRahn watched silently from a front seat while his mother's father took the Oath of the Council. After the Oath had been solemnized, the evening prayers were said, asking the Great Light to return on the next day to shed His blessings again on His people.

Norvis whispered to his mother, who was sitting next to him "Mother, is Grandfather Kiv going to rule all of Nidor now?"

Sindi smiled. "Not quite, Norvis. He just helps to run it. No man could rule all of Nidor by himself."

Norvis thought the remark over and nodded. It made sense. He was to remember that simple sentence all the rest of his life.

There was no question of Norvis' future. Like his father and mother and mother's father and mother's mother before him, he would attend the Bel-rogas School. Like his father, his chief interests lay in the fields of biochemistry, medicine, and genetics, though his outside interests were wider than his father's ever had been.

He was a sturdy young lad, middling of stature but well built. He was an excellent swimmer and a top-notch deestman, and at sports he was neither a daredevil nor a coward. He was cautious. He had a tendency to calculate carefully before taking risks.

When he was younger, his bursts of temper were often astounding in their violence, but as he neared young manhood even his temper came under his policy of careful calculation. Only when outraged by absolute personal injustice did he have a tendency to strike blindly before he thought.

He was never very close to his mother's father, Kiv, but Grandmother Narla made a personal pet of the boy. The office of Rahn the Physician was a good mile from the house where lived the Elder Brajjyd, but, even as a boy young Norvis would walk the distance just to see his grandmother—and when he was given his first deest, he trotted proudly through the streets of Holy Gelusar to show it to his mother's mother.

When Narla's final illness confined her to bed, Norvis, now a strong, wiry boy of fifteen, went to see her every day. He wished his father were permitted to take care of her, for Rahn peDorvis was one of the finest physicians on Nidor, but custom forbade it. Old Syg peDel Lokness had been dead more than nine years, so it was necessary to call in another physician, Klin peFedrig Ghevin. Norvis had little liking for the man—but he was efficient enough, and knew his medicine.

When Grandmother Narla died, Norvis had difficulty accepting the fact. He sat, dry-eyed, all through the Passing Service, and then went out and walked up and down the streets, wondering why she had gone. He felt that the Great Light had been unjust in taking away his beloved grandmother—but how can one fight the Great Light Himself? Norvis' deep personal sense of justice was gravely offended, but there was nothing he could do.

The next day, he became entangled in a minor quarrel with one of the boys in the neighborhood. The boy was a year older and several pounds heavier, but Norvis suddenly struck out angrily and went at the boy with flailing fists. Within seconds, he found himself standing over an unmoving figure.

The boy was only dazed, not badly hurt. Norvis sat down and cried until the light down on his face was soaked with tears. And after mat, he felt better about the loss of his grandmother.

He began at Bel-rogas in his seventeenth year, studying biochemistry and genetics as well as the Law and the Scriptures. He did much work directly with Smith, who guided him to deep understanding of his chosen subjects.

School was relatively uneventful until his senior year. That was the year that Norvis remembered ever afterward as the Year of the Ceremony of Lies.