Changeling by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Page B

course of four
years, apprentice fees for two years more, plus licensing
fees."
    Obrelt glared at her. "You say that so
calmly. Tell me, sister, shall I beggar the Clan to educate one
child? I allow him to be extraordinary, as he has managed to become
your favorite, though we have prettier, livelier children among
us."
    "None of whom is Ren Zel," Chane returned
tartly. She sighed then and grudgingly showed her lead card. "A
first class pilot may easily earn eight cantra the Standard, on
contract."
    Obrelt choked on his wine.
    "They say the boy will achieve first class?"
he managed a few moments later, his voice breathless and thin.
    "They say it is not impossible for the
boy to achieve first class," she replied. "However, even a second
class pilot may earn five cantra the Standard."
    "'May'," repeated Obrelt.
    "If he brings the Clan four cantra the
Standard, he will pay back his education right speedily," Chane
said. Observing that her brother wavered, she played her trump.
    "The Pilot's Guild will loan us his first two
year's tuition and fees, interest-free, until he begins to earn
wages. If he achieves first class, they will write paid to the
loan."
    Obrelt blinked. "As desirous of the child as
that?"
    "He is," Chane repeated patiently, "more than
a step out of the common way. Master Pilot von'Eyr holds herself at
your pleasure, should you have questions for her."
    "Hah. So I may." He walked over to the window
and stood looking down into the modest garden, hands folded behind
his back. Chane went to the table, poured herself a glass of wine
and sipped it, recruiting herself to patience.
    Eventually, Obrelt turned away from the
window and came forward to face her.
    "It is a strange path we would set the child
upon, sister, to a place where none of his age-mates may follow. He
will sail between stars while his cousins inventory stock in back
storerooms. I ask you, for you have given him his own room in your
heart: Do we serve him ill or well by making him a stranger to his
kin?"
    And that was the question that needed to be
asked, when all considerations of cantra-costs were ended. What was
best done for Ren Zel himself, for the good of all the Clan?
    Chane set her glass aside and met her Delm's
eyes straightly.
    "He is already a stranger among us," she
said, speaking as truly as she knew how. "Among his age-mates he is
a cipher--he is liked, perhaps, but largely ignored. He goes his
own way, quiet, tidy, courteous--and invisible. Today--today, when
the pilots returned him to me, it was as if I beheld an entirely
different child. His cheeks glowed, his eyes sparkled, he walked at
the side of the Master Pilot visible and proud." She took a breath,
sighed it out.
    "Brother, this boy is not a shopkeeper. Best
for us all that we give him the stars."
    And so it was decided.
    * * *
    REN ZEL ACHIEVED his first class piloting
license on the nineteenth anniversary of his Name Day. He was young
for the rank, especially for one who had not sprung from a piloting
House, but not precocious.
    Having thus canceled out half of his tuition
and fees, he set himself to paying off the balance as quickly as
possible. It had been plain to him for several years that the Clan
had gone to extraordinary expense on his behalf and he did not wish
his cousins to be burdened by a debt that rightly belonged only to
himself. That being so, he had the Guild accountant write a
contract transferring the amount owed from Clan Obrelt to Ren Zel
dea'Judan Clan Obrelt, as a personal debt.
    He was young, but he had a reputation among
the elder pilots with whom he'd flown for being both steady and
level-headed, a reputation they were glad to broadcast on the
Port.
    That being so, contracts came his way--good
contracts, with pay-outs in the top percentage of the Guild's
rates. Often enough, there was a bonus, for Ren Zel had a wizard's
touch with a coord string--or so his elders praised him. Those same
elders urged him to go for Master, and he thought he