ern yourself, ruesten. The
younglings you share, and those you share them with, will be leaving
for Homeworld tomorrow. I held the ship until I heard from you, to
give them the news myself. They will still get to Homeworld before you
do."

"I was not truly worried, Ka'ruchaya . . . but my thanks. It has been
a long time."

"I know. And I am sure this is your sleep time. I will not keep you
from your mat any longer. Dream well, ruesten."

"I will, Ka'ruchaya. Farewell."

With that, the contact ended, and Hovan went to dreams of the coming
reunion that were as pleasant as anyone could wish. Most of the
next week and a half saw Hovan and Tarlac together continuously, the
Ranger getting a crash course in all the basics of a Traiti clan, from
Language to customs and courtesies. The Ordeal was neither short nor
continuous, so he would be part of Traiti society for some time, both
aboard the Hermnaen and on Homeworld. The more he knew about his
adopted clan and culture, the better.

Even without that consideration, Tarlac was delighted at the
opportunity for such studies. An acute case of curiosity was another
part of being a Ranger, and the few fragments he'd picked up at first
only increased his interest. He wondered for a while at their lack of
teaching tapes, which meant he had to memorize everything the hard way,
but that was fairly minor. His only problem with it was that he didn't
expect to have everything perfect by the time they landed. Hovan
agreed, but assured him nobody would expect perfection, only that he
learn enough to avoid giving serious offense.

The first lesson, reasonably enough, dealt with military customs, and
Tarlac found out that wearing his gun had meant respect to the Traiti,
not a threat. They had classed Rangers with the military, as
fighters--and for one fighter to voluntarily meet others unarmed was a
deadly insult. The Traiti were aware that there was no way Tarlac could
have known that custom, but even so, the fact that he had come to them
armed was seen as a good omen.

Language took more time, but was essential since not many Traiti spoke
Imperial English at all, and even fewer spoke it as well as Arjen and
Hovan. Tarlac found Language a challenge. English had become universal
on Terra and its colonies, even where other languages were spoken; he'd
never had to speak anything else, though he'd learned to read the
cloudcats' tongue-talk.

And what the Traiti c