"Lew mentioned that you were from Renney, Domna Kate. I confess I know
nothing about it, except that your ancestor, the composer, came from there. He
is a favorite of my wife's, and she is yearning to interrogate you about him,
but that will keep. Please, tell me about your home world."
Kate set down her spoon, her bowl empty, looking quite relieved to be asked
about so ordinary a subject. "Well, there is not a great deal to tell. It is a
small place, at the edge of the Pollux sector. We are farmers and dairymen and
seafarers, much as our ancestors were when they were still on Terra. We speak a
tongue very similar to your own-it astonished me when Herm demonstrated the
likenesses. I lived there until I was sixteen, and then I won a scholarship to
the Fine Arts Academy on Coronis.
