erward." He paused,
assessing Hovan's reaction to the half-teasing complaint. Hovan was
looking puzzled. "Those damn bugs ate on me for six days straight!
And their bites itch worse than rapid-heal. You could've warned me,
you know."

"Warn you of insect bites?" Hovan shook his head. "Insect bites are
no danger. What warning should I have given?"

"Ummm. I guess none, really. You probably wouldn't even notice them,
and I didn't have any repellent. But some Ter-- . . . uh, humans--can
be killed by bug bites. Allergic reactions or diseases they carry,
usually."

The Traiti was instantly serious. "Have you noticed any symptoms?"

Tarlac chuckled. "Just the itching. Nothing to worry about."

Hovan walked silently for a couple of minutes, more convinced than ever
that Steve would be successful in the rest of the Ordeal. He wondered
why his human ruhar had started to say "Terran" and switched in
mid-word to "human." Steve spoke informally, but he was careful of his
words; why was he making such a distinction now?

Tarlac had caught Hovan's look of surprise at the word change, and had
a shrewd idea of his sponsor's thoughts. Well, he knew why he'd made
the switch; what he didn't know was whether he should pass that
knowledge along to the Traiti. What he'd learned in his Vision, and
the fact that it had been in a Vision--since he now knew firsthand, so
to speak, how rare any intervention was--made it clear that the Traiti
hadn't told him of their Terran origin because none of them knew about
it.

It wasn't absolutely necessary to tell them, though it would simplify
things. The fact of their Terran origin would be sufficient for the
Emperor, as it was for the Ranger; His Majesty could grant them by
Imperial Edict the citizenship that was already theirs by right of
birth, which would save them the shock of knowledge that had come close
to paralyzing Kranath and himself both. What might it do to ordinary
people, Traiti and human? Tarlac asked himself. Traiti reactions might
easily be as serious as the prisoner psychosis. He just didn't know
enough, even yet, about Traiti psychology, to be able to feel any
certainty. And he was certain enough of human psychology to know that
most wouldn't want to believe it. They might accept it, conditioned by
centuries of trust in Rangers, but that wouldn't end the war in itself.
It could even make it worse.

Still . . . while humans, as might be expected, wanted