Lee Scoresby arranged some furs over Lyra. She curled up close ter and they lay together asleep as the balloo on toward the Pole. The aeronaut checked his instruments from time to time, chewed on the cigar he would never light with the inflammable hydrogen so close, and huddled deeper into his own furs.
「This little girls pretty important, huh?」 he said after several minutes.
「More than she will know,」 Serafina Pekkala said.
「Does that mean theres gonna be mu the way of armed pursuit? You uand, Im speaking as a practical man with a living to earn. I t afford to get busted up or shot to pieces without some kind of pensation agreed to in advance. I aint trying to lower the tone of this expedition, believe me, maam. But John Faa and the gyptians paid me a fee thats enough to cover my time and skill and the normal wear and tear on the balloon, and thats all. It didnt include acts-of-war insurance. A me tell you, maam, when we land lorek Byrnison on Svalbard, that will t as an act of war.」
He spat a pieokeleaf delicately overboard.
「So Id like to know what we expe the way of mayhem and rus,」 he finished.
「There may be fighting,」 said Serafina Pekkala. 「But you have fought before.」
「Sure, when Im paid. But the fact is, I thought this was a straightforward transportation tract, and I charged acc. And Im a w now, after that little dust-up down there, Im a w how far my transportation responsibility extends. Whether Im bound to risk my life and my equipment in a war among the bears, for example. Or whether this little child has enemies on Svalbard as hot-tempered as the ones back at Bolvangar. I merely mention all this by way of making versation.」
「Mr. Scoresby,」 said the witch, 「I wish I could answer your question. All I say is that all of us, humans, witches, bears, are engaged in a war already, although not all of us know it. Whether you find danger on Svalbard or whether you fly off unharmed, you are a recruit, under arms, a soldier.」
「Well, that seems kinda precipitate. Seems to me a man should have a choice whether to take up arms or not.」
「We have no more choi that than iher or not to be born.」
「Oh, I like choice, though,」 he said. 「I like choosing the jobs I take and the places I go and the food I eat and the panions I sit and yarn with. Dont you wish for a choi a while ?」
Serafina Pekkala sidered, and then said, 「Perhaps we dohe same thing by choice, Mr. Scoresby. Witches own nothing, so were not ied in preserving value or making profits, and as for the choice betweehing and another, when you live for many hundreds of years, you know that every opportunity will e again. We have different needs. You have to repair your balloon and keep it in good dition, and that takes time and trouble, I see that; but for us to fly, all we have to do is tear off a branch of cloud-pine; any will do, and there are plenty more. We dont feel cold, so we need no warm clothes. We have no means of exge apart from mutual aid. If a witeeds something, another witch will give it to her. If there is a war to be fought, we dont sider cost one of the factors in deg whether or not it is right to fight. Nor do we have any notion of honor, as bears do, for instance. An insult to a bear is a deadly thing. To us... inceivable. How could you insult a witch? What would it matter if you did?」
「Well, Im kinda with you on that. Sticks and stones, Ill break yer bones, but names aint worth a quarr