"Well?"
"We will take the risk. But understand--we _must_ leave you if the
peril grows too great. And will--inevitably."
"Thanks," Stuart said, and meant it. "One thing. What about Kari? Who
is she?"
"A hundred years ago she was human. Then she was brought here, and the
Aesir possessed her--as we possess you. She has grown less human in
that time, as the alien grows stronger within her. She has only faint
memories of her former life now, and _they_ will vanish soon. Contact
with the Aesir is like an infection--she will grow more and more like
them. Perhaps, eventually, become one of them."