He did not know. Always that uncertainty tugged at the core of him. Unknowingness within him, like an emptiness. Who are you, Tyr? What are you? And mad laughter answered, "You do not know. You will never know what you are. A god? Ho! Not you, not Tyr."
She saw the blankness in his eyes, and the misery. Her voice was soft, tender. "Tyr, can't you see? You are—Tyr."
He shook his head, heart dull within his chest.
She cried between a laugh and a sob, "But you are the first, Tyr, the first of your kind! I can tell you that. You are a biochemical newcomer."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know. No one knows. You have to prove it to yourself first. You have to learn about you, and then others will know. Who can best understand a new thing but the thing itself! Explore yourself, Tyr—and know!"
Katha hooked a finger in the black braid of her belt and made traceries in the sand with the toe of her sandal. "I had to come and find you. I could not let you die. Besides, there is something in what you do. If the Trylla could be made friendly to the ardth they would help us. Perhaps they could find the way to keep the Glows from dying. The ardth need help. You might be the agent to bring ardth and Trylla together."
From the depths of his bitterness, Tyr laughed harshly.
"I am but one against the ardth. I have no allies. Even the Trylla turn their faces from me. The only thing that keeps me going is the thought that a god must protect his people. Even if they hate him."
"Then think of the rewards that the Trylla may reap, if you unite them with the ardth in friendship. The ardth are not only conquerors, but colonizers as well. In the far-flung span of cities that spread from the home planets fanwise beyond even Fornax, there are many marvels.