y well."

"I understand. You never anyone met, who more to you than the Empire
meant." Hovan shook his head. "That a thing of much sadness is."

Tarlac didn't answer. They were at the dining room by then, and food,
not conversation, was in order.

Not long after their meal, the two were being escorted through the
halls of the single building atop a low hill called Godhome, located in
the center of the Traiti capital. Tarlac, not wanting his skepticism
to be too obvious, had cautiously asked why the gods needed a material
home.

They didn't now, Hovan had told him, and they hadn't since the Supreme
Lord of the Circle, Kranath of St'nar, became the first of the new
gods. The old gods, he explained, the ones the Traiti called "those
who went before," had left Godhome as . . . something. Nobody except
the Speakers had any real idea about its purpose, and they were saying
nothing until the twelfth Lord completed the Circle. At any rate, it
had seemed appropriate to join the centers of spiritual and temporal
power.

Their escort ushered them into the large open double office shared by
the Supreme and the First Speaker; both rulers were waiting for them.
They greeted Hovan first, his due as a Cor'naya, and Tarlac used that
brief time to study them. The Supreme, like all male Traiti leaders,
had Honor scars, but didn't appear distinctive otherwise; he seemed to
be middle-aged. The First Speaker, on the other hand, looked young--was
certainly no older than Hovan, to outward appearance. But she
radiated an aura that awed Tarlac, of immense and serene wisdom that
seemed tremendously old, or perhaps ageless.

When the two turned their attention to him, Tarlac didn't respond to
their greetings in the Traiti fashion Hovan had taught him. Instead he
saluted and introduced himself, as he had when he'd met the Emperor for
the first time. "Ranger Esteban Tarlac, of the Terran Empire. It's an
honor to meet you."

Hovan translated that, and then the Supreme's reply. "I sorry am, that
my invitation more a compulsion was."

"From what Hovan's told me about the way the war's going for you, you
didn't have any more choice putting it that way than I did accepting.
I just hope it does some good, for both sides. May I contact Emperor
Davis, to tell him what I'm doing?"

He knew from the Supreme's tone, even before Hovan translated the
words, that the answer was negative. "Fleet-Captain Arjen said, when I
him interview