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. Thorby filed it away as something he might try, more likely not. Leda said that a broken leg was "all that could happen." This is fun? Besides, she had mentioned how cold it could be. In Thorby's mind cold was linked with hunger, beatings, and fear. "Maybe I could learn," he said dubiously, "but I doubt it."
"Oh, sure you can!" She changed the subject. "Forgive my curiosity, Thor, but there is a faint accent in your speech."
"I didn't know I had an accent --"
"I didn't mean to be rude."
"You weren't. I suppose I picked it up in Jubbulpore. That's where I lived longest."
" 'Jubbulpore' . . . let me think. That's --"
"Capital of the Nine Worlds."
"Oh, yes! One of our colonies, isn't it?"
Thorby wondered what the Sargon would think of that. "Uh, not exactly. It is a sovereign empire now -- their tradition is that they were never anything else. They don't like to admit that they derive from Terra."
"What an odd point of view."
A steward came forward with drinks and dainty nibbling foods. Thor accepted a frosted tumbler and sipped cautiously. Leda continued, "What were you doing there, Thor? Going to school?"
Thorby thought of Pop's patient teaching, decided that was not what she meant. "I was begging."
"What?"
"I was a beggar."
"Excuse me?"
"A beggar. A licensed mendicant. A person who asks for alms."
"That's what I thought you said," she answered
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