"You remember that night in the wine garden when Kerrel spoke of a man
named Arrin who had been arrested?"
"Yes. He was a friend of Edri's."
"Well, they couldn't find Arrin's papers. They wanted them very badly.
It seemed that Arrin had found some clue to the course of Orthis' ship,
on that last voyage when it was lost, and had been making calculations."
She paused, then added grimly, "Kerrel got the idea that Edri had those
papers."
Trehearne's yellow eyes took on a peculiarly evil glint. "Then Kerrel
was at the bottom of this?"
"Yes. It was his duty as agent of the Council to investigate, and he
did, and very cleverly. Well, Edri had the papers all right, and more
of his own."
Trehearne groaned. "The idealistic fool! Why wasn't he satisfied to be
a Vardda himself, without worrying about the rest of the galaxy!"
Shairn seemed relieved. Then, "That's what _I_ said! But knowing your
friendship for Edri, I was afraid you'd lose your head when you heard."
She went on quickly. "I know you'll have a reckoning with Kerrel over
this and your own score. But you'll have to be careful since he's a
Council agent. I can help you--"
But Shairn's voice faded out of Trehearne's hearing except for that one
phrase.
"--_knowing your friendship for Edri_--"
Yes, Edri had been his friend. He was sorry for Edri. But should he
let friendship be a chain to drag him back down from all that he had
dreamed and desired and finally achieved?
No! He would not let himself be trapped by friendship and by pity! He
had been merely indulging in emotionalism, to sympathize as he had with
the non-Vardda peoples' hunger for star-freedom, to remember as he had
the hopeless longing in their eyes, to brood as he had over the dying
of Torin.
A sick fatal foreboding grew in Trehearne as he realized the decision
shaping in his mind. He knew that it was shaped by emotion, not by
reason, and he felt a savage contempt for his own weakness.
He spoke, interrupting Shairn. "I'm sorry, Shairn, I was thinking. And
I think I've got to try to help Edri."
She stopped, looking at him with wide steady eyes. Then, rapidly,
"Michael! Don't be a fool!"
He smiled mirthlessly. "You've told me that before. I'm telling myself
now. But it doesn't work. It seems that I'm determined to be a fool."
"You're taking it too tragically! After all, Edri's not going to be
executed."
Remembering Edri's words about the fate of Arrin, Trehearne answered,
"I think he'd almost prefer that. Exiled to a remote star, never to fly
again, nothing to do but sit and wait for death--"
"But there's nothing you can do, Michael! He's convicted, sentenced.
They're taking him off tonight. So there's an end to it."