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Hastur," he added, with a bow, "that this meeting should be conducted according to formal protocol inthe casta language, we are ready to accede."

I was glad to note that he knew the rudiments of courtesy. Hastur said, "By your leave, sir, we willdispense with the translator, unless some misunderstanding should arise which he can settle. He is,however, most welcome to remain.

Young Lawton bowed. He had flaming red hair and a look of the Comyn about him. I rememberedhearing that his mother had been a woman of the Ardais clan. I wondered if Dyan recognized his kinsmanand what he thought about it

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It was strange to think that young Lawton might well have been standing here among the honor guard.

My thoughts were wandering; I commanded them back as Hastur spoke.

"I have come to you, Legate, to draw your attention to a grave breach of the Compact on Darkover. It has been brought to my notice that, back in the mountains near Ald-aran, a variety of contraband weapons is being openly bought and sold. Not only within the Trade City boundaries there, where your agreement with us allows your citizens to carry what weapons they will, but in the old city of Caer Donn, where Terrans walk the streets as they wish, carrying pistols and blasters and neural disrupters. I have also been told that it is possible to purchase these weapons in that city, and that they have been sold upon occasion to Darkovan citizens. My informant purchased one without difficulty. It should not be necessary to remind you that this is a very serious breach of Compact."

It took all my self-control to keep the impassive face suitable for an honor guard, whose perfect model isa child's carved toy soldier, neither hearing nor seeing. Would even the Terrans dare to breach the Compact?

I knew now why my father had wanted to be certain no hint of gossip got out. Since the Ages of Chaos,the Darkovan Compact has banned any weapon operating beyond the hand's reach of the man wieldingit. This was a fundamental law: the man who would kill must himself come within reach of death. Newsthat the Compact was being violated would shake Darkover to the roots, create public disorder anddistrust, damage the confidence of the people in their rulers.

The Legate's face betrayed nothing, yet something, some infinitesimal thightening of his eyes and mouth,told me this was no news to him.

"It is not our business to enforce the Compact on Darkover, Lord Hastur. The policy of the Empire is to maintain a completely neutral posture in regard to local disputes. Our dealings in Caer Donn and the Trade Gty there are with Lord Kermiac of Aldaran. It was made very clear to us that the Comyn have no jurisdiction in the mountains near Aldaran. Have I been misinformed? Is the territory of Aldaran subject

to the laws of Comyn, Lord Hastur?"

Hastur said with a snap of his jaw, "Aldaran has not been a Comyn Domain for many years, Mr.

Ramsay. Neverthe-

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less, the Compact can hardly be called a local decision. While Aldaran is not under our law-"

"So I myself believed, sir," the Legate said, "and therefore-"

"Forgive me, Mr. Ramsay, I had not yet finished." Hastur was angry. I tried to keep myself barriered, as any telepath would in a crowd this size, but I couldn't shut out everything. Hastur's calm, stem face did not alter a muscle, but his anger was like the distant glow of a forest fire against Hie horizon. Not yet a danger, but a faraway menace. He said, "Correct me if I am wrong, Mr. Ramsay, but is it not true that when the Empire negotiated to have Darkover given status as a Class D Closed World"-the technical language sounded strange on his tongue, and he seemed to speak it with distaste-"that one condition of the use and lease of the spaceport and the establishment of the cities of Port Chicago, Caer Donn and Thendara as Trade Cities, was complete enforcement of Compact outside the Trade Cities and control of contraband weapons? Mindful of that agreement, can you truthfully state that it is not your business to enforce the Compact on Darkover, sir?"

Ramsay said, "We did and we do enforce it in the Comyn Domains and under Comyn law, my lord, atconsiderable trouble and expense to ourselves. Need I remind you that one of our men was threatenedwith murder, not long ago, because he was unweaponed and defenseless in a society which expectsevery man to fight and protect himself?"

Dyan Ardais said harshly, "The episode you mention was unnecessary. It is necessary to remind you thatthe man who was threatened with murder had himself murdered one of our Guardsman, in a quarrel sotrivial that a Darkovan boy of twelve would have been ashamed to make more of it than a joke! Then this Terran murderer hid behind his celebrated weaponless status"-even a Terran could not escape thatsneer-"to refuse a lawful challenge by the murdered man's brother! If your men choose to go weaponless,sir, they alone are responsible for their acts."

Reade Andrusson said, "They do not choose to go weaponless, Lord Ardais. We are forced by the

Compact to deprive them of their accustomed weapons."

Dyan said, "They are allowed by our laws to carry whatever ethical weapons they choose. They cannotcomplain of a defenselessness which is their own choice."

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The Legate, turning his eyes consideringly on Dyan, said, 'Their defenselessness, Lord Ardais, is inobedience to our laws. We have a very distinct bias, which our laws reflect, against carving people upwith swords and knives."

Hastur said harshly, "Is it your contention, sir, that a man is somehow less dead if he is shot down from asafe distance without visible bloodshed? Is death cleaner when it comes to you from a killer safely out ofreach of his own death?" Even through my own barriers, his pain was so violent, so palpable that it waslike a long wail of anguish; I knew he was thinking of his own son, blown to fragments by smuggledcontraband weapons, killed by a man whose face he never saw! So intense was that cry of agony that Isaw Danilo, impassive behind Lord Edric, flinch and tighten his hands into white-knuckled fists at hissides; my father looked white and shaken; Regis* mouth moved and he blinked rapidly, and I wonderedhow even the Terrans could be unaware of so much pain. But Hastur*s voice was steady, betraying

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nothing to the aliens. "We banned such coward's weapons to insure that any man who would kill must see his victim's blood flow and come into some danger of losing his own, if not at the hands of his victim, at least at the hands of his victim's family or friends."

The Legate said, "That episode was settled long ago, Lord Regent, but I remind you we stood ready toprosecute our man for the killing of your Guardsman. We could not, however, expose him to challengesfrom the dead man's family one after another, especially when it was abundantly clear that the Guardsmanhad first provoked the quarrel."

"Any man who found provocation in such a trivial occurrence should expect to be challenged," said Dyan, "but your men hide behind your laws and surrender their own persona! responsibility! Murder is a private affair and nothing for the laws!"

The Legate surveyed him with what would have been open dislike, had he been a little less controlled. "Our laws are made by agreement and consensus, and whether you approve of them or not, Lord Ardais, they are unlikely to be amended to make murder a matter of private vendetta and individualduels. But this is not the matter at issue."

I admire his control, the firm way in which he cut Dyan off. My own barriers, thinned by the assault of

Hastur's an-

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guish, were down almost to nothing; I could feel Dyan's contempt like an audible sneer.

I got my barriers together a little while Hastur silenced Dyan again and reminded him that the incident inquestion had been settled long since. "Not settled," Dyan half snarled, "hidden from," but Hastur firmlycut him off, insisting that there was a more important matter to be settled. By the time I caught up with thediscussion again, the Legate was saying:

"Lord Hastur, this is an ethical question, not a legal one at all. We enforce Cornyn laws within the jurisdiction of the Comyn. In Caer Donn and the Hellers, where the laws are made by Lord Aldaran, we enforce what laws he requires. If he cannot be bothered to enforce the Compact you value so highly, it is not our business to police it for him-or, my lord, for you."

Callina Aillard said hi her quiet clear voice, "Mr. Ramsay, the Compact is not a law, hi your sense, at all. I do not believe either of us quite understands what the other means by law. The Compact has been theethical basis of Darkovan culture and history for hundreds of years; neither Kermiac of Aldaran nor anyother man on Darkover has any right to disregard or disobey it."

Ramsay said, "You must debate that point with Aldaran himself, my lady. He is not an Empire subjectand I have no authority over him. If you want him to keep the Compact, you'll have to make him keep it."

Edric Ridenow spoke up for the first time. He said, "It is your responsibility, Ramsay, to enforce thesubstance of your agreement on our world. Are you intending to shirk that duty because of a quibble?"

"I am not shirking any responsibility which comes properly within the scope of my duties, Lord Serrais," he said, "but neither is it my duty to settle your disagreements with Aldaran. It seems to me that would be to infringe on the responsibility of the Cornyn."

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Dyan opened his mouth again, but Hastur gestured him to silence. "You need not teach me myresponsibilities, Mr. Ramsay. The Empire's agreement with Darkover, and the status of the spaceport,was determined with the Comyn, not with Kermiac of Aldaran. One stipulation of that agreement wasenforcement of the Compact; and we intended enforcement, not only in the Domains, but all over Darkover. I dislike using threats, sir, but if you insist upon your right to vio-

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late your own agreement, I would be within my authority in closing the spaceport until such time as the

agreement is kept in every detail."

The Legate said, "This, sir, is unreasonable. You have said yourself that the Compact is not a law but anethical preference. I also dislike using threats, but if you take that course, I am certain that my next ordersfrom the Administrative Center would be to negotiate a new agreement with Kermiac of Aldaran andmove the Empire headquarters to Caer Bonn Trade City, where we need not trouble Comyn scruples."

Hastur said bitterly, "You say you are prohibited from taking sides in local political decisions. Do yourealize that this would effectively throw all the force of the Terran Empire against the very existence of the Compact?"

"You leave me no choice, sir."

"You know, dont you, that such a move would mean war? War not of the Comyn's making but, the Compact once abandoned, war would inevitably come. We have had no war here for many years. Small skirmishes, yes. But the enforcement of the Compact has kept such battles within reasonable limits. Do you want the responsibility for letting a different kind of war loose?"

"Of course not," Ramsay said. He was a nontelepath and his emotions were muddy, but I could tell that

he was distressed. This distress made me like him just a little more. "Who would?"

"Yet you would hide behind your laws and your orders and your superiors, and let our world be plunged into war again? We had our Ages of Chaos, Ramsay, and the Compact brought them to an end. Does that mean nothing to you?"

The Terran looked straight at Hastur. I had a curious mental picture, a flash picked up from someone inthe room, that they were like two massive towers facing one another, as the Comyn Castle and the Terran headquarters faced one another across the valley, gigantic armored figures braced for singlecombat. The image thinned and vanished and they were just two old men, both powerful, both filled withstubborn integrity, each doing the best for bis own side. Ramsay said, "It means a very great deal to me, Lord Hastur. I want to be honest with you. If there was a major war here, it would mean closing andsealing the Trade Cities to be certain of keeping to our law against interference. I don't want to

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move the spaceport to Caer Donn. It was built there, a good many years ago. When the Comyn offered

us this more convenient spot, down here in the plains at Thendara, we were altogether pleased to

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abandon the operation at Caer Donn, except for trade and certain transport. The Thendara location has been to our mutual advantage. If we are forced to move back to Caer Donn we would be forced to reschedule all our traffic, rebuild our headquarters back in the mountains where the climate is more difficult for Terrans to tolerate and, above all, rely on inadequate roads and inhospitable countryside. I don't want to do that, and we will do anything within reason to avoid it."

Dyan said, "Mr. Ramsay, are you not in command of all the Terrans on Darkover?"

"You have been misinformed, Lord Dyan. I'm a legate, not a dictator. My authority is mostly over spaceport personnel stationed here, and only in matters which for one reason or another supersede that of their individual departments of administration. My major business is to keep order in the Trade City. Furthermore, I have authority from Administration Central to deal with Darkovan citizens through their duly constituted and appointed rulers. I have no authority over any individual Darkovan except for a few civilian employees who choose to hire themselves to us, nor over any individual Empire citizen who comes here to do business, beyond determining that his business is a lawful one for a Class D world. Beyond that, if his business disturbs the peace between Darkover and the Empire, I may intervene. But unless someone appeals to me, I have no authority outside the Trade City,"