"The very person to do so," caleb murmured.

There was a companionable silence for a few moments, until Nimisha spoke again.

"You know," she began, "while it's good to know my dam has taken charge of rondymense-" she couldn't help a giggle over that. "-we are going to have to figure out some way to shorten the long haul from here to there. Is that why they're letting you stay on here, caleb?" caleb grinned sleepily. "You figured it out, did you?" but he turned his head just slightly to catch jon's eye and svangel nodded with a little smile.

"Finally. Does she have an attache too?" "Well, he's there more to assist jeska, who's got a good grip on design, too-" "she should," Nimisha interjected with a snort. I taught her all I knew, and hiska likes her. So did all the other department heads once they figured out how smart she was." "Didn't take them long," caleb said, "once they saw how she rushed five b through to completion." "And that reminds me," Nimisha said. "It's confusing to have two fives. They need names."

"They do," syrona said, rousing again. "Said so this afternoon to jon. " "do I still own them both, caleb?" Nimisha asked.

"You certainly do. Lady Rezalla had to give me official permission to remove five b from the ship yard to make our getaway." "Good. That settles that," Nimisha said. "I'd like to name this one -she pointed one finger downward-"the querine-weleda." syrona sat up, wide-awake, and jon turned to regard Nimisha with bemused admiration.

"Oh, that would be such a fitting tribute to them," syrona said, her voice thickened with emotion. "They were a very dedicated pair." "And what name have you decided on for the five b?" caleb asked, though by the expression on his face, Nimisha rather thought he'd guessed.

"It's not just filial respect that's involved, but gratitude for all she's connived at behind the scenes to be sure we get to keep what we've made. it's also letting my mother as she so often does, have the last word." Nimisha grinned. "I officially declare that the five b is now the lady Rezalla."

About the author.

anne mccaffrey is one of the world's most popular authors. Her first novel was published in 1967. Since then, she has written dozens of books, of which there are more than twelve million copies in print. Before her success as a writer, she was involved in theatre. She directed the american premiere of carl orff's ludus de nato infante miriflcus, in which she also played a witch.

McCaffrey lives in county wicklow, ireland, in a house of her own design, dragonholdunderhill so named because she had to dig out of a hill to build it. There she runs a private livery stable, raising and training her beloved horses for horse trials and show jumping.

The End