an he, himself, would ever
have. The boy (Anketam reminded himself that he shouldn't think of
Russat as a boy--after all, he was thirty-six now) had worked as a
special secretary for one of the important chiefs in Algia for five
years now. Anketam noticed, without criticism, that Russat had grown
soft with the years. His skin was almost pink, bleached from years of
indoor work, and looked pale and sickly, even beside Memi's sun-browned
skin--and Memi hadn't been out in the sun as much as her husband had.

* * * * *

Anketam reached out and took the bottle carefully from his wife's hands.
Her eyes watched him searchingly; she had been aware of the subtleties
of the exchange between her rough, hard-working, farmer husband and his
younger, brighter, better-educated brother.

Anketam said: "If this is a present, I guess I'd better open it." He
peeled off the seal, then carefully removed the glass stopper and
sniffed at the open mouth of the beautiful bottle. "Hm-m-m! Say!" Then
he set the bottle down carefully on the table. "You're the guest, Russ,
so you can pour. That tea ready yet, Memi?"

"Coming right up," said his wife gratefully. "Coming right up."

Anketam watched Russat carefully pour brandy into the cups of hot, spicy
tea that Memi set before them. Then he looked up, grinned at his wife,
and said: "Pour yourself a cup, honey. This is an occasion. A big
occasion."

She nodded quickly, very pleased, and went over to get another cup.

"What brings you up here, Russ?" Anketam asked. "I hope you didn't just
decide to pick up a bottle of your Chief's brandy and then take off." He
chuckled after he said it, but he was more serious than he let on. He
actually worried about Russat at times. The boy might just take it in
his head to do something silly.

Russat laughed and shook his head. "No, no. I'm not crazy, and I'm not
stupid--at least, I think not. No; I got to go up to Chromdin. My Chief
is sending word that he's ready to supply goods for the war."

Anketam frowned. He'd heard that there might be war, of course. There
had been all kinds of rumors about how some of the Chiefs were all for
fighting, but Anketam didn't pay much attention to these rumors. In the
first place, he knew that it was none of his business; in the second
place, he didn't think there would be any war. Why should anyone pick on
Xedii?

What war would mean if it did come, Anketam had no idea, but he didn't