A number of folk, as they left the room, paused to wish Glawen good luck. Aries sauntered across the room.

"A good number!" he stated.

"A very fan- number, considering everything. I'd placed it a bit higher, as you know, but I'm glad to see that all turned out favorably. Although you don't want to be overconfident! 24 is by no means a free pass."

"I know."

Scharde took Glawen's arm and the two returned to their chambers,

' Deucas was divided into sixty districts, or "lands."

Marmion Land was that strip of pleasant savanna along the northeast coast directly opposite Lutwen Atoll. Already Yips were crossing over to set up camps and remain until apprehended and ejected by Bureau B patrols.

where Glawen instantly rushed into his bedroom and changed into| ordinary clothes.

He returned to the parlor to find Scharde at the window, brooding across the landscape. Scharde turned and pointed to a chair.

"Sit. We have important matters to discuss."

Glawen slowly seated himself, wondering what was afoot.

Scharde| brought out a bottle of the light fresh wine known as Quiritavo andJi poured a pair of goblets half full. He noticed Glawen's expression andl grinned.

"Relax! There are no dreadful secrets to be shared with you on your sixteenth birthday just some precautions: practical planning,;

so to speak." ;

"In regard to Spanchetta?"

"Quite right. She has been humiliated and everyone is laughing at her. She is seething with fury and padding back and forth like some awful beast in a cage."

Glawen said thoughtfully: "If Aries is wise, he will slip down to the Lions' Lair and hide under the table."

"And if he is very wise indeed, he will never mention that due to his loose tongue we were able to catch her out in her tricks."

"Isn't what she did illegal?"

"In principle: yes. But if we brought charges, she would simply assert that she had made a mistake, and it would be hard to prove otherwise. To Spanchetta, it's already water under the bridge, and unless I miss my guess, she'll be scheming and plotting in new directions."

"That is insanity!"

"Insanity or not, be warned and be careful, but don't let her become s an obsession. The world can't stop because of Spanchetta. You've now got lyceum to think about, which will be more than enough to keep you busy, especially with Bureau B's supplementary work."

"When will I start going out on patrols?"

"That's a long way off. First there's the matter of your flying permit, then your special training. Of course, if some emergency comes upj anything can happen."

"By emergency, you mean the Yips."

"I don't see how to avoid it. Every day there are more Yips with no place to go but Yipton." :

"Then you really think there will be trouble." j Scharde considered before responding.

"It's not inevitable, if proper decisions are made and made soon. Already the Yip Oomphaw is starting to act oddly, as if he knows something we don't."

"Is that possible? What could he know?"

"Probably nothing, unless he's been talking with the Fairness and Peace people at Stroma."

"I've never heard of them."

"They are a political faction among the Naturalists. We have, essentially, two options: to capitulate and abandon the Conserve, or to maintain order by whatever means is necessary."

"That doesn't seem a hard choice to make."

"Not at Bureau B. We believe that sooner or later the Yips must be vacated from Lutwen Atoll and be resettled off-world. In terms of the Charter, no other solution is possible." Scharde gave his head a gloomy shake.

"The hard facts are that our opinions have little force. We are agents of the Society at Stroma. It's the Society's problem and they must make the decisions."

"Then they should do so, or so it seems to me."

"Ah, but it's not so simple. Nothing ever is. At Stroma the Society is split down the middle. One faction supports the Charter, while the opposition rejects any actions which might lead to bloodshed. The present Conservator identifies with the second group: the Party of Fairness and Peace, they call themselves. But he is retiring and a new Conservator is moving into Riverview House."

"And what party is he?"

"I don't know," said Scharde.

"He'll be here for Parilia, and then we'll know more about him."

Parilia, a three-day festival in praise of the wines of Araminta, was celebrated each autumn and considered the high point of the year.

Glawen said: "It would seem that the Yips would want to be resettled, rather than living in what amounts to a warren at Yipton."

"Naturally! But they want to settle Marmion Province."

Glawen made a disconsolate sound.

"Everyone at Stroma must know that if the Yips were allowed into the Marmion littoral, they'd swarm over all of Deucas."

"Tell that to the Fairness and Peace people at Stroma, not me. I already believe you."

The long summer came to an end. Master Floreste's troupe of Mummers returned from a successful off-world tour, the profits of which would help fulfill Floreste's great dream:

a magnificent new Orpheum for the glorification of the performing arts. Glawen celebrated his sixteenth birthday and immediately started flight training

under the supervision of the airport manager: one Eustace Chiike, a native of Old Earth, i The lessons, the flyers and Eustace Chiike himself, with his tales ofj odd folk in remote places, for a time dominated Glawen's life. Chiike," while barely past the first flush of youth, was already the veteran ofai hundred picaresque adventures. He had traveled the Gaean Reach far and wide, at every level of the economic ladder: all of which had yielded him a working philosophy which he often shared with Glawen." "Poverty is acceptable because then there is no way but up.

Rich people worry about losing their wealth, but I like this worry far more than the worry of scratching the wealth together in the first place. Also, people are nicer to you when they think you are rich although-: