Aries stared at her with black eyebrows lofted in displeasure. According to the Manual, girls never responded in this fashion. Was Sessily some kind of a little freak? He asked peevishly: "Wouldn't you like to visit the Glass Towns of Cianctus? And the canals of Old Kharay? And don't forget Xanarre, with the alien ruins and the floating cloud-cities."

"Right now I've simply got to visit the girls' room. You sit here and dream away to your heart's content."

"Wait one moment! I've decided to escort you to Parilia!

What do you say to that?"

"I say, make another decision, since I have different plans."

"Oh? With whom are you going?"

"Tra-la-la! That's my secret! I may even stay home and read a book."

"What! During Parilia? Sessily, I insist that you be serious!"

"Aries, please excuse me! If I stand here and wet myself I will be very serious indeed!"

Sessily departed, leaving Aries glowering after her.

Sessily, so he noticed, did not go directly to the girls' room, but stopped to talk to Glawen, where he sat alone. He looked up smiling and pointed to something in the book which lay open on the table. She put a hand on his shoulder and bent over to look; then she said something and went off to the girls' room. When she emerged a few moments later she went directly to join Glawen, without so much as a glance elsewhere.

With ostentatious displeasure Aries rose to his feet and left the refectory.

Glawen, like many others, had also become captivated by Sessily. He liked her saucy mannerisms, her jaunty style of walking, her trick of glancing sideways with a half-smile hinting of delicious mischief. But whenever Glawen thought to talk with her, it seemed that someone else came bustling up to monopolize her attention. He was therefore pleasantly surprised when she joined him at his table.

"Well, Glawen, I'm back, and I've got to ask you a question."

"Very well. Ask away."

"Someone ^old me that you said, in your opinion, I was a hateful little frump."

"Did they; now!" said Glawen, startled.

"Do you admit to that, Glawen?"

Glawen shook his head.

"Somebody else must have said it.

Aries, possibly."

"And you don't even think that I am?"

"Definitely not. I'd like to tell you sometime what I really think, but you're always with half a dozen others, and I can't get a word in."

Sessily said thoughtfully: "Aries just asked if he could escort me to Parilia. I said no, because I was going with someone else."

"Oh? Who?"

"I don't know yet. I suppose someone nice will ask me before too long."

Glawen started to speak but the bell rang for classes.

Sessily jumped to her feet and was gone. Glawen sat looking after her. Could she

possibly have been suggesting something so unexpected and so wonderful as to be almost incredible?

Aries tried to walk Sessily home as often as possible, but on this particular afternoon he was delayed in class and Sessily gratefully set off by herself. Glawen, who had been waiting, almost missed her, but ran to catch up.

Sessily looked over her shoulder.

"For a dreadful moment I thought it was Aries."

"No, it's me, and I've been thinking over your problem."

"Really, Glawen? How very kind! Has anything occurred to you?"

"Yes! I thought that I might ask to be your escort."

Sessily stopped short and turned to face him. She smiled up into his face.

"Glawen! What a surprise! Are you sure you're not just being kind?"

"Quite sure. Very sure indeed!"

"And you don't think me a hateful little frump?"

"I never did."

"In that case yes!"

Glawen turned and looked at her in sheer joy and took her hands.

"For some reason I feel very strange inside, as if I were full of bubbles." , "I do too. Could it be for the same reason?"

"I don't know." ;

"Probably not exactly the same. Don't forget, I'm a girl and you're, a boy."

"I haven't forgotten for an instant." "We're supposed to have different reasons for doing the same things." At least that's what Floreste says. It's what makes the world go round, according to Floreste."

"Sessily, what a wise person you are!"

"It's nothing, really." Sessily moved a step forward and kissed him. Then she jerked back as if aghast at her own daring.

"I shouldn't have. done that! You'll think me very bold."

"Well not too bold."