t the Lords decree,
is." He looked around. "This area familiar seems . . . we should the
clanhome nearing be. I have only once to Homeworld been, though, so I
cannot sure be."

His memory was accurate; less than a minute later, the car came to a
halt in front of one of the branch clanhome buildings. It was of
average size, perhaps a quarter-kilometer on a side--plenty of room for
the five hundred or so who represented Ch'kara on Homeworld. It would
be good, Hovan thought, simply to be back in-clan, back in the
closeness and peace he valued so highly--and there was Ka'ruchaya
Yarra's promise. He looked at Steve, pleased to see the man's
expression was calm and interested.

Tarlac indicated the female standing motionless in front of the open
door and asked quietly, "Ka'chaya Yvian?"

"Yes, of--" Hovan broke off as he glanced upward, inhaling with a hiss
through surprise-thinned nostrils. "Yarra! She here came?"

Tarlac recalled one of the fine points of custom he'd learned, that the
Clan Mother very rarely left the main clanhome, and then only if it was
important to the clan's survival or honor. That Yarra was here, now,
could only be because of him, to show she regarded her alien
es'ruesten, her new clan-child, as fully one of Ch'kara.

It was something he hadn't expected; it was an honor, and it added to
his determination to succeed in the Ordeal, to bring credit to his
adopted clan. He climbed out of the car with the others and followed
them up the steps to accept her formal welcome. The Ranger, ranking
almost at the top in the Terran Empire, was the only one in the group
without Honor scars, so he ranked lowest here. When the others bowed,
holding out dagger hilts so the Ka'ruchaya could touch those and then
her n'ruesten, Tarlac knelt as was proper for an unscarred male,
drawing his blaster and extending its grip. He was pleased when she
welcomed him as she had them, touching the blaster's grip and then his
forehead.

Still kneeling, he looked up. "Ka'ruchaya, Hovan says you speak
English, so I want you to know firsthand that I had to qualify my oath
to the clan. I don't want to be accepted under the wrong assumptions.
I took my oath as a Ranger of the Empire first, and that obligation
will always be first for me."

"Yes, I English speak," Yarra replied, "and I your reservation
understand. I that expected, in one Hovan would worthy of adoption
find. You must, of course, that first oath first