again, a
world in which there was no place left for the two of them....

Dworn blotted the image from his mind's eye and bent to kiss Qanya once
more, while the Peace lasted.

A voice called, "Dworn!" A familiar voice--one that couldn't be real,
that must be a trick of his ears.

He turned. A little way off stood a small group of people watching them,
and in the forefront was a stalwart man of fifty, in the green garment
of a beetle with a golden scarab blazoned on his chest--

"_Father!_" Dworn gasped unbelieving.

They grasped one another's hands and looked into one another's eyes.
Dworn was only dimly aware of the others looking on--among them the
hard-faced Spider Mother, and the grizzled chief scorpion whose cohorts
had struck the decisive blow in the battle.

Yold smiled with a quizzically raised eyebrow. "You thought I was dead,
no doubt? You came on the spot where we were attacked and you saw--"

Dworn nodded and gulped. "I couldn't have been mistaken. I saw your
machine there, wrecked.... And now I've lost mine." His voice trailed
off miserably.

His father gave him a penetrating look. "I see. You're supposing that
means everything is over."

"Doesn't it?"

The chief smiled again. "When you departed for your wanderyear, you were
still a boy, though you'd learned your lessons and your beetle
traditions well.... But now you're a man. We don't tell boys
everything."

Dworn stared at his father, while understanding dawned like a glory
upon him. To live again, the life he'd thought lost--

"So far as I could learn, your beetle was disabled through no fault of
your own. In fact, by what these strangers tell me--" Yold nodded
towards the Spider Mother and the scorpion chief--"you've proved
yourself worthy indeed, over and above the customary testing. Of course,
there will be the formality of a rebirth ceremony--which I have to
undergo, too, so we can both do so together."

Dworn couldn't speak. Once again he had to remind himself that a beetle
warrior didn't weep--not even tears of joy.

Then the Spider Mother spoke up, her voice brittle and metallic. "The
girl will naturally be returned to us. After this business, I am going
to have to take pains to restore discipline in the Family."

Dworn saw Qanya's desolate face, took one step to the girl's side and
put a shielding arm around her. He felt Qanya trembling, and glared at
the Spider Mother's implacable face.

"I won't go back!" Qanya cried vehem