In Chap­ter XXI of “The Com­ing Race,” the nar­ra­tor reflects on Zee’s deep­en­ing affec­tion for him, dis­tin­guish­ing it from the play­ful fond­ness of Taee. This atten­tion, how­ev­er, instills not pride but fear in him, giv­en Zee’s for­mi­da­ble com­bi­na­tion of wis­dom, pow­er, and pop­u­lar­i­ty among her peo­ple. Zee embod­ies the epit­o­me of pro­tec­tive and nur­tur­ing instincts, extend­ing her benev­o­lence not just to her fel­low beings but also to ani­mals and chil­dren, heal­ing, com­fort­ing, and teach­ing with a per­va­sive desire to alle­vi­ate sor­row and impart knowl­edge.

The nar­ra­tor mar­vels at Zee’s grace and majesty, espe­cial­ly when her cer­e­mo­ni­al head­gear, a coro­net adorned with opal-like gems, radi­ates light, ele­vat­ing her appear­ance to some­thing almost celes­tial. Despite her supe­ri­or qual­i­ties and the nobil­i­ty of her race, the nar­ra­tor strug­gles with the con­cept of love towards Zee, mus­ing that man’s pride might pre­vent affec­tion for a woman per­ceived as supe­ri­or in all aspects.

The nar­ra­tor ascribes Zee’s inter­est in him to a blend of her nur­tur­ing ten­den­cies and per­haps the nov­el­ty of his dif­fer­ence from the Vril-ya. He con­trasts his own human qual­i­ties with the supe­ri­or phys­i­cal and intel­lec­tu­al attrib­ut­es of the Vril-ya, pon­der­ing how such a being could stoop to favor a mere “bar­bar­ian” like him­self. This pref­er­ence fills him with both awe at her imper­fec­tions and dread of the poten­tial dan­gers their rela­tion­ship could incur.

Deter­mined to act hon­or­ably, the nar­ra­tor resolves to con­fide in his host, Zee’s father, about her feel­ings toward him, aim­ing to diplo­mat­i­cal­ly address the sit­u­a­tion with­out betray­ing Zee’s dig­ni­ty or his respect for her. This deci­sion reflects his adher­ence to moral and civ­il prin­ci­ples even in the face of an extra­or­di­nary and daunt­ing emo­tion­al entan­gle­ment.