"No, we moved to Lonabar when I was about six."
"Lonabar? Never heard of it—I'll check up on it later. Your stuff was all here, wasn't it? Did any of the red-headed person's things get mixed in?"
"Things?" She giggled sunnily, then sobered in quick embarrassment. "She didn't carry any. They're horrid, I think—positively indecent—to run around that way."
"Hm-m-m. Glad you brought the point up. You've got to put on some clothes aboard this ship, you know."
"Me?" she demanded, "Why, I'm fully dressed—" she paused, then shrank together visibly. "Oh, Tellurians—I remember, all those coverings! You mean, then ... you think I'm shameless and indecent, too?"
"No. Not at all—yet." At his obvious sincerity Illona unfolded again. "Most of us—especially the officers—have been on so many different planets, had dealings with so many different types and kinds of entities, that we're used to anything. When we visit a planet that goes naked, we do also, as a matter of course; when we hit one that muffles up to complete invisibility we do that, too. 'When in Rome, be a Roman candle,' you know. The point is that we're at home here, you're the visitor. It's all a matter of convention, of course; but a rather important one. Don't you think so?"
"Covering up, certainly. Uncovering is different. They told me to be sure to, but I simply can't. I tried it back there, but I felt naked!"