Chapters 5-8 Summary

Supaari VaGayjur is calm when Paramount Ljaat-sa Kitheri announces that he must sacrifice his newborn daughter because of a defective foot. Alone in his quarters, Supaari blames Emilio for his woes. As a merchant, Supaari had served as trade go-between for the strangers from H'earth and Hlavin Kitheri. When the humans unwittingly create chaos, Supaari preserves the survivors' lives and believes that he is helping despondent Emilio by placing him with the master poet Hlavin, in exchange for the rights to found a breeding line with Hlavin's sister Jholaa. A second mating is unthinkable, so all is lost.

Chapter 6 finds Emilio's old friend John Candotti visiting, hours after the Pope's troubling visit. Assigned as his linguistic assistant, John describes the physically powerful members of the new crew, already months in training. Besides John they are Frs. Danny Iron Horse (the father...