Only there.”Emeric of Rhada, Grand Master of Navigators,The Dialogues, early Second Stellar Empire period From out of the night of a million stars came our savage brother, man, and we found meaning. We also found death. So be it. This, too, will pass.Vulk lament, authorship unknown,Interregnal period Kynan awoke.He had been dreaming that he had been in a battle on a rain-swept cliff far above the sea. In the dream he imagined he heard the death songs for Kreon, the star king; women’s voices and the sound of muted battle horns. There had been some pain, too, but below the level of complete perception. Now he lay in a barely conscious peace, aware of the soothing comfort of a Vulk mind-touch.He opened his eyes and saw the raftered ceiling of a familiar room. He was in his own chambers at Melissande. Firelight splashed the timbers and ancient stones. Through a partially open window, he could hear the sound of the Gonlan Sea.He remembered. It had been no dream. Two priest-hating AbasNavs had tried to kill him on the track to Melissande.“The war mare led us to you,”
