Thus it was that Kit approached Arisia in a decidedly mixed frame of mind. He shot through the barrier without slowing down and without notification. Inerting his ship, he fought her into an orbit around the planet. The shape of the orbit was immaterial, as long as its every inch was well inside Arisia's innermost screen. For young Kinnison knew precisely what those screens were and exactly what they were for. He knew that distance of itself meant nothing--Mentor could give anyone either basic or advanced treatments just as well from a distance of a thousand million parsecs as at hand to hand. The reason for the screens and for the personal visits was the existence of the Eddorians, who had minds probably as capable as the Arisians' own. And throughout all the infinite reaches of the macrocosmic Universe, only within these highly special screens was there _certainty_ of privacy from the spying senses of the ultimate foe. * * * * * "The time has come, Christopher, for the last treatment I am able to give you," Mentor announced without preamble, as soon as Kit had checked his orbit. "Oh--so soon? I thought you were pulling me in to pin my ears back for fighting with Kay--the dim-wit!" "That, while a minor matter, is worthy of passing mention, since it is illustrative of the difficulties inherent in the project of developing, without over-controlling, such minds as yours. En route here, you made a masterly summation of the situation, with one outstanding omission." "Huh? What omission? I covered it like a blanket!" "You assumed throughout, and still assume, as you always do in dealing with your sisters, that you are unassailably right; that your conclusion is the only tenable one; that they are always wrong." "But they _are_! That's why you sent Kay to Lyrane!" "In these conflicts with your sisters, you have been right in approximately half of the cases," Mentor informed him. "But how about their fights with each other?" "Do you know of any such?" "Why ... uh ... can't say that I do." Kit's surprise was plain. "But since they fight with me so much, they must--" "That does not follow, and for a very good reason. We may as well discuss that reason now, as it is a necessary part of the education which you are about to receive. You already know that your sisters are very different, each from the other. Know now, that each was specifically developed to be so completely different that there is no possible point which could be made an issue between any two of them." It took some time for Kit to digest that news. "Then where do I come in that they _all_ fight with me at the drop of a hat?"