HOME, SWEET HOME — Learning another way to live

On one of their walks, the three friends came upon a group working beside a crystal building. One member had only just taken up the craft. She asked questions, watched, and tried again, while the others taught her patiently.

Feliz knew her from other work she had done.

“I wanted to learn this,” she told them. “I’d been watching them work for a while.”

Changing occupations was quite natural on that planet. Some stayed with one kind of work for a long time; others discovered a new interest and went to learn. These changes reflected both each person’s inclinations and the community’s needs.

Skyblue thought of the dwarves and smiled.

Machines did the heaviest work. The rest gave those who did it room to develop their abilities. No one needed to accumulate possessions to prove their importance: things came into being for a purpose, and once they had served it, their matter and energy were returned to the earth with gratitude.

Skyblue touched a small piece of crystal that was about to become part of the ground again. She thought of the village treasures, guarded for years with no one allowed to enjoy them. Here it seemed easy to understand another way of living. She would need to remember that simplicity when she went back.