For a while we were silent, wrapped in our own thoughts. I do not know about Nalte's, but mine were gloomy enough. I cursed the day that I had conceived the idea to build the huge torpedo that had carried me from Earth to Venus, and in the next thought I blessed it because it had made it possible for me to know and to love Duare.
It was Nalte who broke the silence. As though she had read my thoughts, she said, "You loved Duare very much?"
"Yes," I replied.
Nalte sighed. "It must be sad to lose one's mate."
"She was not my mate."
"Not your mate!" Nalte's tone expressed her surprise. "But you loved one another?"
"Duare did not love me," I replied. "At least she said she didn't. You see, she was the daughter of a jong and she couldn't love any one until after she was twenty."
Nalte laughed. "Love does not come or go in accordance with any laws or customs," she said.
"But even if Duare had loved me, which she didn't, she couldn't have said so; she couldn't even talk of love because she was the daughter of a jong and too young. I don't understand it, of course, but that is because I am from another world and know nothing of your customs."