every indication of having the right to occupy as much of it as they
wished. And that unruffled poise had its affect upon those behind. The
pound of feet slowed to a walk, a walk which would keep a careful
distance behind the two Terrans. It had worked--the Salariki--or these
Salariki--were accepting them at their own valuation--a good omen for the
day's business. Dane's spirits rose, but he schooled his features into a
mask as wooden as his superior's. After all this was a very minor victory
and they had ten or twelve hours of polite, and hidden, maneuvering
before them.

The Solar Queen had set down as closely as possible to the trading center
marked on Traxt Cam's private map and the Terrans now had another five
minutes march, in the middle of the road, ahead of the chieftain who must
be inwardly boiling at their presence, before they came out in the
clearing containing the roofless, circular erection which served the
Salariki of the district as a market place and a common meeting ground
for truce talks and the mending of private clan alliances. Erect on a
pole in the middle, towering well above the nodding fronds of the grass
trees, was the pole bearing the trade shield which promised not only
peace to those under it, but a three day sanctuary to any feuder or
duelist who managed to win to it and lay hands upon its weathered
standard.

They were not the first to arrive, which was also a good thing. Gathered
in small groups about the walls of the council place were the personal
attendants, liege warriors, and younger relatives of at least four or
five clan chieftains. But, Dane noted at once, there was not a single
curtained litter or riding orgel to be seen. None of the feminine part of
the Salariki species had arrived. Nor would they until the final trade
treaty was concluded and established by their fathers, husbands, or sons.