She stood there, small and frail in the sunlight, delicately, lushly curved. She wet her lips and they were very red in the sunlight and against her pale white face.
"No," said Marsden thickly. "I'd better take you back inside to your friends, maybe."
"Why, don't be ridiculous. See, they're all outside anyway."
Marsden's gaze took in Talbor City's one street. The crowds had thinned considerably; people moved off toward the outskirts and the farmlands in twos and threes, the Earth people scattered among them and going to see Talbor with them. Marsden felt lost and alone and a little frightened, for he knew he would go off into the country-side with Alice Cooper in another moment, and he hardly trusted himself.
"They're not my friends, Harry. We're traveling together, but we hardly know each other. You don't just make friends with anyone, it isn't civilized. People are always out to get you, to trick you, to make fun of you and take advantage of you. Oh, you've got to be careful, I always say. Shall we see Talbor now?"
"I should go home and start plowing."
"I'm leaving tonight, Harry." Her hand slipped under his arm and nestled there. His bare arm tingled.
"What would you like to see?" he asked uncomfortably.
"Everyone has a different crop to grow," Marsden explained later. "On my farm it's barley."