had
ever seen.

She was only slightly less massive than the males, yet she was
undeniably attractive by Traiti standards, as he knew from the art he'd
studied, and she had an air of lithe grace. Tarlac, though he knew it
was inappropriate, found she made him think of a Valkyrie. She was no
fighter, couldn't possibly be if all he'd learned about the Traiti was
correct, but she gave the impression of a warrior maiden.

Seated between the driver and Hovan, Tarlac had a sudden feeling of
belonging here; despite his misgivings, he liked it. He'd already
decided, since there was no way to ignore his apprehension, to refuse
to let himself be distracted by his fear. He couldn't afford it.
While he still knew almost nothing about the Ordeal he'd agreed to
take, he had no doubt that it would call on every resource he had.

In the meantime, he'd learned enough to know that his original idea
about the status of females was not just mistaken but laughable. Yes,
they were only a fourth of the Traiti population, cherished and
protected from any possible harm, and even a discussion of endangering
one unnecessarily bordered on obscenity. But they weren't considered,
as he'd wrongly speculated, either inferior in any way, or as breeding
stock or valuable property. Far from it. If anything, they had more
status than any males except the n'Cor'naya, the Honored Ones who'd
passed the Ordeal. They were responsible for both religion and clan
life, things which were far more important to the Traiti than humans
had guessed.

The clans, not warfare, were the center of Traiti culture. And yet,
even with females running those two vital areas, it wasn't a
matriarchy. Males ran commerce and, obviously, the military; in other
fields such as science or the arts, gender had no bearing. The
combination made for a "government," if you felt generous about the
definition, that couldn't possibly work for humans. Not even if it had
been imposed by a god, as Hovan assured Tarlac it had. There were two
rulers, the male Supreme who was exactly that in secular affairs, and
the female First Speaker for the Circle of Lords, equally powerful in
religious matters.

But those two acted only when something concerned the entire race.
Everything else was handled on a clan level, from education to
deep-space colonization. Despite Hovan's attempts to explain, Tarlac
didn't quite understand how some of what the Traiti had accomplished
could be done on s