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Show come away. At the scullery door they stopped and the two of them looked at each other. Then Janni's eyes slowly darkened and grew wide. "Aye but should we not t e l l . . . ? " she said to her mother. Dr'Anya pressed her mouth together and looked across the rooms to the terrace outside the mullioned windows. "Nay, child," she said firmly. "Not as yet." The bullet-headed robot went by the two of them just then, clumping and clattering, holding in its stubby hands a glass of warm milk that reeked of Tartary whiskey. The two of them looked after it a long time and then turned back resolutely to the work of preparing for the fete. By midday all the guests had come for Janni's celebration and were milling around outside on the terrace, admiring the foxflowers and gossiping together under the huge rackwoods. Janni and her young friends had taken a turn around the fields close to the house, looking in vain for the DragonGeese that had taken off the night before, though Janni had not told her friends just why they'd taken off! On the way back, they had gone by the granary and Janni glanced idly at the cold frames. The freshly dug ground in front of them had been patted down neatly and straw scattered around in a fair natural way. The children had taken the short cut back through the herb garden and when Janni turned from closing the gate behind her, she cried out with delight. The reds had come back of their own accord and were resting in a favorite spot in the spreading dewberry bushes under the window of the male sleeping room. Their sleek, red heads were buried under their wings as though in sleep, although they were making uneasy muttering and grumbling 227 |