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to do was enjoy herself; all play and no
work was her motto. She wanted adventure and excitement. She wanted
to join the Vada. It had been Lucy who had persuaded their father
to raise the Blue Flag to tell any Lind who were passing that there
was a human here who wished the chance to vadeln-pair.
    After the
Battle of the Alliance in AL 2, it had been decided that young
humans would attend a special pairing meeting in the woods beside
the battle plains above Settlement each year but, as time went on,
this had proved impracticable. An alternative was found and now, in
the first months of summer, any Lind wishing to find their human
life-partner had leave to travel throughout Argyll to look. The
Blue Flag was a quick and simple solution to show where they would
be welcome, for not all Argyllian families were happy for their
sons and daughters to soldier with the Vada.
    Already five
Lind had seen the flag and entered the farmstead, asking Gunter
Knutson for permission to meet the one who had raised the flag.
    Five times Lucy
had presented herself to the visitors and five times she had been
disappointed.
    Hannah herself
had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She didn’t think
she wanted to get married and usually unmarried girls stayed at
home unless they were apprenticed to a trade. In fact it was
traditional that one daughter, usually the least accomplished or
pretty, should stay at home to look after her parents in their
declining years. Shy, quiet Hannah had accepted this
philosophically and thought this her destiny. She showed no
aptitude for a trade and her mother was increasingly dependant on
her and Lucy (when she could be found) to help her with the
multitude of tasks that faced a busy farmwife in a farm as large as
theirs. Adela Knutson wasn’t getting any younger and Lucy did as
little work as she could get away with.
    So when the
farmhands shouted out that not one but two Lind were approaching,
Hannah shrugged her shoulders and continued with the washing
up.
    Lucy, who was
supposed to be sharing the task, dropped the platter she had been
drying into the greasy water with a messy splash and sped off to
the bedroom they shared to tidy herself.
    When Hannah did
emerge into the sunlight, an extremely excited and vocal crowd was
milling around in the farmyard. There was a great deal of noisy
shouting and exclamations of congratulations. Lucy must have found
her partner at last!
    To her surprise
it was not Lucy who stood beside the smaller of the two Lind, it
was young Robain, son of Gunter Knutson’s foreman who stood, one
arm holding on to the female Lind’s neck, tears streaming down his
face. Hannah knew that the violet-striped Lind with Robain had to
be a female. Male Lind only bonded with female humans and vice
versa.
    Lucy stood, a
thunderous expression on her face and muttering to herself, “it’s
too bad,” forgetting in her disappointment that female Lind did not
bond with female humans.
    “This calls for
a celebration,” exclaimed Hannah’s father, “a celebratory
feast!”
    Lucy stalked
off, ignoring the larger of the two Lind, who was standing a little
distance away and watching the scene with considerable
amusement.
    Hannah wondered
what to do. Should she go and comfort Lucy?
    She half-turned
to go after her sister and had taken not two steps when a ‘voice’
stopped her with a question and a command.
    : Where are
you going? Wait :
    She turned
back. Who said that?
    : Wait : the ‘voice’ repeated, louder this time. It was very insistent.
    That’s
strange , thought Hannah, where did that voice come from? Nobody else was acting as if they had heard anything. Confused, she
stood there.
    : Why are you
upset? :
    “What do you
mean?” she said aloud.
    : I can ‘hear’
what you are thinking and you are very loud :
    “Me?” The
question emerged as a squeak.
    : Yes. I
‘felt’ you as we arrived at your domta :
    “Can I speak
inside your head like you are doing to me?”
    : Try it