Renata let him take her hand. In one way, she understood: her empathic talent conveyed to her the sincerity of what he said, and how deeply it was felt. In another way, she did not really understand at all. How were comfort or pity incongruous with admiration or love? If you found someone worthy of admiration or of any degree of love, of course you would want to comfort them, and if they suffered you would feel pity for them. Naturally you would act to comfort them as best you might. She had learned this, young, at Hali.

Hali: a place Robin had never been and would never be, where a discipline was taught that Robin would never need. At Hali, a three-second backflow of energy could scorch flesh. Anything that would disrupt the perfect harmony of the circle could not be tolerated, must be soothed away. The honesty of linked working telepaths was absolute and unforgiving, for good reason. It was a discipline Renata could not unlearn now that she found herself among people with whom she need not take such care.

"I cannot separate those concepts," she admitted forthrightly. "The distinction you draw I respect because it is meaningful to you. But it holds no meaning to me. I know you wish me to understand you do not take me lightly. Is it, too, that you fear I take you lightly?"