avdin nodded wordlessly.

Her hands trembled as she sat down, and there were tears in her eyes.
"We came so close tonight, so very close. I _felt_ the music before it
was sung, do you realize that? I _felt_ the fear around me, even though
no one said a word. It wasn't vague or fuzzy, it was _clear_! The
transference was perfect." She turned to face the old man. "It's taken
so long to come this far, Nehmon. So much work, so much training to
reach a perfect communal concert. We've had only two hundred years here,
only _two hundred_! I was just a little girl when we came, I can't even
remember before that. Before we came here we were undisturbed for a
thousand years, and before that, four thousand. But _two hundred_--we
_can't_ leave now. Not when we've come so far."

Ravdin nodded. "That's the trouble. They come closer every time. This
time they will catch us. Or the next time, or the next. And that will be
the end of everything for us, unless we fight them." He paused, watching
the last groups dispersing on the street below. "If we only knew, for
certain, what we were running from."

There was a startled silence. The girl's breath came in a gasp and her
eyes widened as his words sank home. "Ravdin," she said softly, "_have
you ever seen a Hunter_?"

Ravdin stared at her, and felt a chill of excitement. Music burst from
the sounding-board, odd, wild music, suddenly hopeful. "No," he said,
"no, of course not. You know that."

The girl rose from her seat. "Nor have I. Never, not once." She turned
to Lord Nehmon. "Have _you_?"

"Never." The old man's voice was harsh.

"Has _anyone_ ever seen a Hunter?"

Ravdin's hand trembled. "I--I don't know. None of us living now, no.
It's been too long since they last actually found us. I've read--oh, I
can't remember. I think my grandfather saw them, or my great-grandfather,
somewhere back there. It's been thousands of years."

"Yet we've been tearing ourselves up by the roots, fleeing from planet
to planet, running and dying and still running. But suppose we don't
need to run anymore?"

He stared at her. "They keep coming. They keep searching for us. What
more proof do you need?"

Dana's face glowed with excitement, alive with new vitality, new hope.
"Ravdin, can't you see? _They might have changed._ They might not be the
same. Things can happen. Look at us, how we've grown since the wars with
the Hunters. Think how our philosophy and culture have matured! Oh,
Ravdin, you