Aliena Too Read Online Free Page A

name on the spur of the moment, that was it. I really did not mean to inflict it on you. I’m sure we can change it to something more appropriate.”
    â€œNo, this is fitting. We accept the names we are given by those with whom we must associate. It was true for Aliena, and for Star. I am glad to have you name me; it is the first bond between us and I hope I will sufficiently honor it. Please, would you sing that song, so I know it?”
    She was surprised yet again. She sang the song. She was a musician, not a superlative singer, but her voice was all right and she could hold the key.
    In the gloaming, oh my darling
When the lights are dim and low
And the quiet shadows stealing
Softly come and softly go
When the winds are sobbing faintly
With a gentle unknown woe
Will you think of me and love me
As you did once long ago?
    She continued with the second stanza, but the words got to her and tears washed out her voice. “I’m sorry,” she choked. “I can’t finish it right now.”
    â€œThere is a problem?”
    What was there but candor? “It reminds me too strongly of Quincy. The man whose body you are using.”
    â€œThis causes you pain?”
    â€œYes. Emotional pain. I love him and want to be with him, and I can’t. That hurts.”
    â€œYou must teach me this pain.”
    â€œYou really don’t know of love lost?”
    â€œI do not know it, lost or found,” he agreed. “It is part of the human condition. I am apt in other ways, but this type of emotion is alien to me.”
    â€œAlien,” she echoed, smiling tearily. “That’s an irony.”
    â€œI do want to learn it.”
    â€œI will try to teach you,” she agreed. “But not tonight. Right now it’s all I can do to finish the song.”
    â€œDo not be concerned. I have found the words. It was the emotion I needed, and you have demonstrated that.”
    Some demonstration! “Found the words?”
    â€œI am musical in nature. I was given the words to popular songs. But words alone are not sufficient for the art of music. Its essence is feeling. That is what I must learn.”
    Did he really know the whole song now? She could readily find out. “Please, sing it for me.”
    He sang, and she was amazed. Not only did he have the words, he had the tune perfectly, from her one rendition, complete with seeming feeling. He was a superlative singer, perfectly on key. It was absolutely beautiful. It did something to her, stirring her emotion in a new way, replacing her aversion with grudging admiration. She listened raptly until the conclusion:
    â€¦For my heart was crushed with longing
What had been could never be
It was best to leave you thus, dear
Best for you and best for me.
    It was over. “Oh, Gloaming, that was lovely!”
    â€œIt is the song you taught me.”
    It was way more than that! “You said you were musical. You vastly understated the case. You must be the best singer extant!”
    â€œIf it pleases you, Lida, then it is worthwhile.”
    She needed time to assimilate her shifting feelings. She had discovered in him a marvelous ability, but also a surprising lack. Could she really teach him love? “You are tired, Gloaming. You must sleep now.”
    â€œI am tired,” he agreed. “Thank you.” He closed his eyes and was immediately asleep.
    She continued to hold his hand, amazed. Quincy had always had a good voice, but his lack of ability to maintain the key had spoiled him for any singing that was not in the company of one who could stay on key. Gloaming had fixed that problem with a vengeance. To hear him sing was to be moved, and she had been moved. This was no alien monster!
    But neither was he Quincy. A different human mind in Quincy’s body would have been difficult to accept; an alien mind was worse. Yet now it was clear that Gloaming did need her, and not just to be able to sleep. And that realization,