olonel Cortin would provide
them lodging, and Lucius and I will protect them from the Brotherhood."

"I'll see to it."

"We'll leave you to brief Mike, then."

"Thank you, Protector."

* * * * *

Once they were alone, Medart spent a few moments studying Odeon. "You
do look the same, except for your hands." he said at last.

Odeon looked at his hands, which no longer had the blue circled
triangles. That was a relief, now, not the terrible loss it would have
been before his talk with Medart last night. "You heard him confirm
that I'm still a Catholic priest, Jim. I would've thought that would
violate the separation doctrine."

Medart shook his head. "Not necessarily. Most of us are Omnist or
agnostic, that's true. Once in a while, though, there's a deeply
religious one, and there's nothing prohibiting a priest." He grinned.
"If you want to get technical, I'm a priest myself, and so are a couple
of the others--but since that's true of all adult Omnists, nobody pays
much attention to it. They'll pay attention to you, since you're the
first non-Omnist priest, but that attention in itself doesn't violate
the doctrine. As long as you don't try to impose your beliefs on
others, or imply that the Empire in any way favors one religion over
another, your beliefs and devotions are between you and your God or
gods."

"I can handle that, I think, if it won't prohibit me from exercising my
priestly functions for Catholics who need them."

"It won't, though it'd be best if you do any of that in private. It
may never happen, either; I'll warn you right now that Catholics are a
tiny minority, the Traditional branch only one of half a decade or so."

"That's the impression I got from the studying I did on Columbus. I'm
not thrilled about it, but it isn't unexpected." He paused. "Mind if
I change the subject?"

"Go ahead."

"I had limited telepathy before, as a side effect of Shayan's mental
contact. I'd like to try the Talent version, but mind-touching you
might not tell me anything, since he spoke to you last night."

Medart chuckled. *The feel is totally different--see?*

*Yeah. I like this version a whole lot better.*

*So do I. Ready for me to introduce you to His Majesty, so he can name
you one of us officially?*

*How-- Oh. Mentally, of course.* Odeon hesitated, shook his head.
*Jim, what's happened to me? I couldn't have figured that out
before--or at least not th