_In the court of the Sphere Of All Time, one pair of silvery eyes departed._ * * * * * Toka sauntered back to the lounge room of the bridal suite. Another door on the right swung softly in and Kolano stepped from a dim passage. "Great Prince Toka finds these rooms satisfactory?" "So far." "After we dine, Toka shall be more satisfied." The scent of her touched into his nostrils. The main portals were swinging in for a cortege bearing trays of food and drink. The table serviced, Toka and Kolano were left alone. Slender green tapers gave off a delicate odor and the menu was exotic. But there was a platter of leaf-wrapped packs of Sandcliff's water berries, no doubt part of the stores from the raft. Toka felt little appetite but he tore open a pack's corner and spilled his hand full of the black fruit. There was a magic in these berries, a magic to heal all wounds--and to give renewed strength.... He met Kolano's silvery gaze. "You and the Old Ones--unlike the common Kosannans--know I am not of divine origin." Kolano shrugged. "For ages untold, your coming has been foreseen in the Sphere Of All Time." "And you and the Old Ones?" "The Old Ones were born of palace princesses and selected to study for the Council by the Old Ones of their time. I, too, am of a palace princess--and was selected by the present Old Ones to be the mother of your son." Toka eyed her sardonically. "I don't know if the Sphere Of All Time reported this, but in my part of the Outer World we believe people should love each other first." "I have loved you since first I saw you in the Sphere." Kolano's silvery eyes were alight for him. Toka shifted his gaze away. "Perhaps it might be best to wait a while." "Perhaps Toka needs only to know me better." Toka stood up and sauntered away. At that moment the main portals swung in for the cortege to clear away the dining service. As the portals swung shut again, Toka glanced cynically at Kolano. "Everybody knows just when to come and go." "The Sphere has long told the times of all your needs and actions--past, present and future." "All right," Toka challenged sardonically, "what am I going to do next?" "You are going to bed. And I am returning to my private rooms." Touching open the passage door, Kolano departed with a soft smile for him. He was alone and free--but for a vow. He opened the great portals. The Hall Of Life stretched away vast and deserted. To the continuity had been added the scene of his recent dinner with Kolano. _If he could find where they had those scenes stored_.... But another thought held him. _If the future did show Kolano and him as she had intimated_.... Toka turned back into the bridal suite. If he was going to get free he would, and if he wasn't.... It was a line of reasoning typically Kosannan! The ceiling's glowing had dimmed. Toka turned down the silky covers of the great bed.