Aenean Night

The Rebel Worlds, CHAPTER SIX.

Windhome, battlemented ancestral stronghold of the Firstman of Ilion, stands on a former cape, now a cliff towering above the Antonine Seabed. The Wildfoss River cataracts past. Windhome has a courtyard and an old Firstman's office now full of modern communication equipment. From a balcony off the office, McCormac, Firstman and Admiral, watches the rise of the inner moon, Creusa, which moves visibly, its shadows moving and phases changing noticeably. It looks as if waves again move across the Antonine and surf hits Windhome ness. He also sees Dido, the evening star, where Kathryn had worked as a xenologist in the jungles. She had always loved best the moments when Creusa moved above the Antonine. He wonders whether she will ever see them again. She will not.