"It's just a living," Mattern said, "just a way of getting Lyddy. You know that was why I went into it. I thought you'd been listening to me all these years."
"I thought perhaps with the deepening of your interests—"
"They have only made me love her the more profoundly."
The kqyres took the equivalent of a deep breath. "You do not have a house or any regular place of residence. You cannot expect a lady to live permanently on a spaceship."
"I will build her a house."
"Will it not show her how carefully you have prepared for her if, first, you build her a palace worthy—"
"I have no time to build palaces."
"There is a tiny planet that circles the dim sun you call Van Maanen's star," the alien persisted. "It is always twilight there. The beings who live on that planet build crystal towers miles high and as fragile as spun glass, in dusk colors the rainbow never dreamed of."
"If she wants a crystal tower, I will have one built for her. But first I will ask her."
"Very well," the kqyres sighed, "since nothing else will satisfy you, let us return and fetch her."