'It will be hard if he refuses us. Very hard.' He sat opposite her against a nook in the wall and once more destroyed all preconception. His face was worried and drawn, full of very human emotion. Again she felt the presentiment of inescapable reality: that here before her was true Man, stripped of all pretense, reduced to his simplest terms. At length he looked up at her, and seemed anxious to communicate. Indeed, his eyes almost pleaded for some reassurance. She thought to herself, then offered a simple question. 'Kalus? What are the rest of your people like?' He shifted positions, drew one knee toward him, then answered. 'They are no longer my people. I am banished..... For what they are like, I don't know how to tell you. I can only say they are not much like me.' 'In what way?' Finally she had something. 'They act more and think less. I think they are closer to the true predators than I.' 'How do you mean?' 'Well. Let me think how to say it.' A pause. 'My name is Kalus, which stands for Carnivore, or Great Hunter. My father made it for me, hoping that such a name would give me strength. I am strong, Sylviana, but not, I think, in the way he wanted.' 'Go on.' Again he struggled. 'I draw no pleasure from the hunt. I don't understand. To my people it is the proudest and most important thing they do. But to me it is often ugly, and I kill only to live. Also. . there are times when I do not want to be aggressive. Like now. If the Mantis would let us stay here, I would trade that safety for all the meaningless battles..... Perhaps I am just a coward and a fool.' 'No,' she said emphatically. 'You're not.' She had to restrain herself from going to him then and there. Why did his anguish move her so? 'Maybe you're just better than they are. You feel things they can't.' 'I do not feel better. I thank you for saying it, but I do not think it is so. Barabbas, my new father..... It is easy for me to speak with you and say I do not love the hunt. But he must feed and protect many others. Please believe me, that is not an easy thing.' She let it go at that, sensing an undercurrent of anger, or something, in his words. Kalus was silent for a time, lost among his thoughts. But as the daylight began to fade, he too felt the need to know something more of his companion. Largest in his mind was the question of her origin, since it carried with it the one answer which truly mattered. Could she ever be his?