The same applies to Stephanie, who to her own surprise can find no hint to the existence of creatures such as the one she encountered in any of the planetary databanks. Even though the criticism angers him, his mind is mostly occupied with the memory of Stephanie Harrington's mind glow. The two young beings experience a moment of deep psychic connection – unknown to both of them, the first bonding between a human and a treecat has just occurred.īack in the nesting places of his clan, Climbs Quickly is reprimanded by the Elders for letting himself be detected by the humans. In the middle of a nightime thunderstorm, Stephanie finally catches Climbs Quickly sneaking out of the greenhouse. Bored by the long Sphinxian winter, she is determined to find out who keeps stealing celery from greenhouses and gardens all over Sphinx.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Harrington, an eleven-year-old girl whose family has recently migrated to Sphinx from the planet Meyerdahl, has an argument with her father, who does not allow her to go out and explore the surroundings as she would like to do. The greenhouses they build to grow plants in the middle of winter especially interest him, as they are said to hold 'cluster stalk', a plant unlike any known to the 'cats, with a delicious taste. Intrigued by the telepathically conveyed memories of the strange beings' first arrival, he wants to learn more of them. Climbs Quickly, a young treecat scout of the Bright Water Clan, has come to one of the 'two-leg' ( human) settlements that have recently appeared on the surface of his world.

A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber