Ursula attempts to find out more about Bineer Ketko but the conversation proves to be both puzzling and frustrating. A trip to the mess tent to clear her head leads to a chance meeting with Zakaros, who has a request for her to consider. This leads to an unexpected revelation.

The Voyage of the Visund

A tale of Anmar by Penny Lane

88 - Cross Purposes

Disclaimer: The original characters and plot of this story are the property of the author. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended. This story is copyright (c) 2024 Penny Lane. All rights reserved.

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Netheran was waiting outside the Sick tent, a mug in his hand, as Ursula and Tyra reached it.

"Good freshness, Mistress. All has been quiet during the night, though Bineer is now awake and doing his best to confuse everybody."

"Good morning, Netheran. What about the other patients?"

"Sarrik presently attends them, Mistress, although all but two require little particular attention this morning, I deem. The Zebrins have served breakfast to us all so you may ease your concerns about food. Two of them are within collecting the trays, they have already cleared the disease side."

She nodded. "I am struggling to adjust to so much efficiency! What about Bineer? Did they leave him any food and if so, has he eaten any?"

"Mistress, they did and he has, though he will still drink nothing but water. He is very weak but had enough wits to eat some of the fruit and bread provided."

"Hmm. It looks as if we need to be careful here, if we want to get any more pel inside him. You are a healer, is it customary for you to, let us say, describe your potions and so on in, um, various ways to get them into your patients? I do not know what those of Faral would consider... what is that word? Unseemly?"

Netheran grinned. "Aye, Mistress, I know exactly what you imply and of course we do need to, er, be vague in our descriptions from time to time. Any country healer will do the same, I have no doubt that you know what farm folk can be like."

She smiled back. "I do - and it is not just farm folk! Very well, let us go in and begin, but first," she turned, "Tyra, go and ask the Zebrins for some cold pel, please. Left-over will do. It needn't be as strong as what we used yesterday. Bring it back in something that doesn't look like either a pel-pot or a mug."

Tyra also smiled. "As you desire, Mistress."

Ursula gestured to Netheran. "Shall we go in?"

Ursula first visited the men in the other half of the tent to satisfy herself that all was being handled by the two Faral healers. She said a few words to them and then moved to the 'disease' side. D'Nandis greeted her with a "Good morning, Mistress."

"Good morning to you, D'Nandis. Are you feeling better?"

He smiled. "Aye, Mistress, better than yesterday! I do not know, of course, but it seems to me that the disease is leaving me and that I am indeed recovering. Is this what you expected?"

Ursula looked at Netheran who replied, "It is what we would expect to happen, D'Nandis. What you had is a well-known disease of the young and it has taken its usual course in one of your age. If the Mistress agrees, you should be well enough to leave this tent tomorrow, although I would caution you against too much activity until you have regained most of your strength."

Ursula nodded. "I do agree. I can already see that the color has come back to your skin and that you seem much more alert. Do you want me to ask your countryman to come and visit you?"

"If it is no trouble, Mistress, then of course I would like to see Kapis. I assume that he is also getting fitter?"

"I have spent most of two days in this tent so I have not seen him since he left, but I have no doubt that he will be able to visit."

"Thank you, Mistress! I will patiently await his arrival, then."

"Probably not until later today," she cautioned. "First, I have to attend to our other patient."

D'Nandis gave her a knowing grin. "As you say, Mistress."

Ursula turned to see the eyes of her other patient fixed upon her. Bineer Ketko lay back upon the pillows, his face pale beneath the odd coloration. Though he must have been propped upright to eat some breakfast it was clear that he had little physical strength. She moved along and sat down facing him on the next empty bed.

"Good morning," she greeted him. "How do you feel?"

"How should I feel?" he replied shortly. "I am in the place of Ab Karbna. I feel whatever I am destined to feel."

Ursula also heard the word limbo, which surprised her.

Now, what does he mean by that? Does he think he has died and gone somewhere to be judged? Brought up as I was, I know little about any religion and what I do know leads me to suspect all of it.

"That may be so," she countered, "but I need you to tell me what you feel, please."

He stared at her and then ignored her question, instead asking, "Honored Mother, I have heard your words to others, though I am not certain which is dream and which reality. Do you rule this place?"

That stopped Ursula for a moment, but she replied cautiously, "I am no mother but I am the one in charge of this camp, so in theory I do."

He looked confused. "If you rule then you must be a Mother. How can it be otherwise?"

She answered, "To be a mother means that I must have borne children. I have no children, so I cannot be a mother unless you mean something different by that word."

He opened his mouth and then closed it, frowning. Finally he said testily, "I do not know the rules of this place! It is not what I expected. We are taught differently in the real world. You of Ab Karbna, do you not know this?"

"Since I have no idea what or where Ab Karbna is, I cannot answer that."

He tried to lift up his arms and then drop them in what Ursula took to be a gesture of frustration. "Perhaps I am wrong, then. Perhaps I am sick in the head, but this is not Zeniak, there are too many moons!"

So he does come from Earth, then, although I am puzzled as to exactly where he might have come from. I have to ask him some questions and that could take some time and effort.

Netheran is listening, so I have to be careful with my phrasing. He does not know my origins.

"There may be another explanation," she began. "If this is not the world you know then it is possible you are still alive but on another, real, world."

"Another real world? We are taught there are many worlds but the only one humans can be born on is Zeniak. Anywhere else is where the tchodbut and k'lemina reside. They visit our world, it is said, but we can only visit theirs once we die."

Those two words did not translate, to Ursula's surprise, but she took them to mean such things as spirits, angels, demons or the like.

"But you are plainly not dead, Bineer. This world is as real as yours, what did you call it? Zeniak."

His lips curled. "But nothing is as it was on Zeniak! The moons, the rivers, the night sky, even the sun goes around the wrong way! The trees and plants are all strange to me and some of the animals have the wrong number of legs! Nobody I meet knows the customs of Nesma, everything is madness. I have no wings, I cannot fly to another world, I can only be dead - and my name is not Bineer!"

"What? But that is what we were told your name was. Is Bineer some kind of title or rank, then?"

He stared at Ursula. "How do you not know this, Honored Mother? Bineer is the name of my treean, my self-name is Ketko."

Oh. It sounds as if his people name him surname first and then personal name. I do know of countries on Earth where they do that.

"Very well then, if you want me to call you Ketko then I will do so. But what is treean? Is it like family, perhaps? Or clan, something like that?"

He looked at her as though she was stupid. "Treean is more than family, if by family you mean birth-mother and birth-father, mother-sisters and father-brothers. Treean is more than clan, since all in clan are related to one another in some way. Treean is less than Horde, who are all who live near the same river. Why am I telling this to someone who should already know all this?"

She replied patiently, "Because I do not know these things, Ketko. The language you speak and the language everyone here speaks are different, so that we attach different meanings to some of those words. Your own tongue makes you think a certain way and that is also affected by what you were told as you grow up. The people here did not grow up the way you did or learn the things you know."

The stare he returned was sullen. "How do you know all this and yet do not know what treean is? I still think I am in the land of the dead."

"It seems that I can learn other languages very easily. From this I do know that how you think inside your head depends on what language you speak. If you do not know the word for something then you will find it difficult to think about that subject. You are not dead. I do not know what treean is."

At that moment Tyra entered carrying a small jug.

"Mistress, here is the potion you asked for."

"Thank you, Tyra. Oh, I'll need a beaker for it. Netheran?"

"Surely, Mistress." The Faral healer left and returned immediately with an empty water beaker. "Here, Mistress."

"Good, thank you."

Ursula looked into the jug and saw a reddish-brownish liquid, with a much lighter color and consistency than what they had been forced to use the previous evening. She decanted some of the liquid into the beaker and handed it to Ketko.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"It is medicine, you have to drink it. I managed to get some into you yesterday afternoon, it is probably the only reason you are still alive today."

He grunted and then lifted the drink to his lips.

"Strange taste. What is in it?"

"Selected herbs. Where you came from, were you a healer?"

He took another sip. "Me? No, indeed, Honored Mother." He gave Ursula a proud look. "I am - was - a Thinker of Spaces, Savant Grade, though I do not know if I can make use of any of that in this insane world."

What I'm hearing is sounding strange. Where on Earth does he come from?

Ketko drained the beaker and handed it back to Ursula. She looked at it, and then him, and asked, "Do you want any more?"

"I prefer water. That potion does not taste so bad, but why should I drink any more? Do you not have to measure doses for your patients?"

"Of some medicines, yes, since certain herbs can be very dangerous. For this one, it will not harm you if you drink more - and, given how ill you were, I would prefer that you drink more."

"Then... perhaps I will have a little more."

Ursula emptied the jug into the beaker and handed it back to Tyra. Ketko took the beaker and had several more sips.

"In our travels along the river," she explained carefully to him, "we have met a person who comes from another world and we know of at least one more. It looks like they both came from the same other world and they have told us a little about the places there. Perhaps it would be helpful if you can describe where you lived, so I can try to find out what part of the other world you came from."

"But I told you! I am of the Nesma Horde."

"That does not tell me anything. You are assuming that I know the name of your horde connects you somehow to a place but I do not know if that is what you mean."

Ketko stared at Ursula, frustrated. He returned the beaker to her before saying, "Forgive me, Honored Mother. You are right, it is an assumption I should not have made. So. Nesma is the name of the largest city of my horde which is ruled by our Great Mother. In fact, though I am of that horde, I lived in a town many kurvant upstream named Tropsha."

"Upstream?"

He sighed then explained, "We all live in a large region known as the Great Plain. It is mostly surrounded by mountains of various sizes, though to the south-west there is desert. Roughly in the center of the Great Plain is a lake which is fed by seven rivers, in turn named the Nesma, Kopit, Sarsan, Entra, Voruna, Sepf and B'Daress. Each of the rivers is peopled by a Horde named after that river. The city where the Horde of each Great Mother rules is also named after that river."

Now I'm beginning to wonder if it is me who is insane! I cannot think of anywhere like that on Earth... Oh, wait, I do know of the Caspian, the Aral Sea, what is left of it, and Lake Baikal. They are isolated lakes, are they not? But if he had been from somewhere around one of those I am sure I would have heard about a society like that? Perhaps somewhere on another continent? Are there not lakes in Africa, in both Americas?

I am assuming that it is a large lake... it might not be. 'Large' is of course relative to what one is familiar with.

Unfortunately my geography is not so good outside of those countries I have actually visited. After all, I was just as confused when I visited Farren in Wallesan's kitchen. If I had been dropped in South America I might not have recognized half the food in front of me.

And I do not really know the regions far to the east of where I was brought up. For all I know he could be from the Gobi, China or... but he does not have eyes like mine.

"Honored Mother?"

"I am trying to work out if I know where this lake of yours is. Does it have a river that flows out of the lake and eventually to the sea?"

He looked at her as though she was crazy, not him. "A river flowing out? I have never heard of such a thing! With mountains and deserts all around how would that be possible? And what might the sea be? Another lake?"

"On this world are many lakes," she explained, not knowing if that were actually true. "Most have rivers flowing in one end and out the other. It is not important. Living where you were I understand why you might not know what the sea is, it does not matter for this purpose. Tell me, how big is your lake? If you stand at one side of it can you see the other?"

He paused. "It depends, Honored Mother. It is nearly always very hot to visit the lake itself. I have done it once, as part of a measuring expedition. We found the lake to be forties of kurvant wide. I was told that when the heat haze is low then the forests which lie on the slopes beyond the further side can just be seen. Oh, and apparently at night lights can just be seen along the other shore. Is that what you wanted to know?"

"It was, thank you."

So the lake is big but not large enough to be called a sea. However, the Great Lakes in North America are really inland seas, are they not? Names are awkward things!

So seven rivers flow into this lake and none flow out. Where does the water go? He said it was very hot there. Evaporation? If so, the water must be...

"Can you drink the waters of the lake?"

"No, Honored Mother, it is impossible! The waters are poison to such as ourselves. However, it appears that there are creatures that can live in those waters and there are brave men who go out in boats to catch them for others to eat. I do not know why we do not get poisoned when we eat them."

"I do know why but it is a long story and technical. The same thing does happen on this world."

"Technical? I thought you were a healer!"

"I am a healer but I originally came from a land far away from here where we are taught more about how the body works, so I know the details. I am not just a healer, I am also a surgeon."

Ketko frowned. "You said that word but I heard another word as well. I have noticed that sometimes. I thought that was how it was in Ab Karbna. Do you know what is happening?"

"Ah."

It looks like I will not be able to delay telling him some of the truth for any longer, which means I have to make sure the knowledge goes no further.

Ursula turned. "Netheran, I have a problem, a personal problem. I regret that there are things I have to tell Ketko which are restricted."

He looked solemn. "I understand, Mistress."

"I will have to ask you to leave this end of the tent for now and stand outside to ensure that no-one else enters or overhears. Do you think you would be able to hear me talking from outside?"

"Hear you talking, Mistress, aye, but not to understand what you would be saying. I think I understand your need, Mistress, you may trust me, I will swear to it."

"Oh, thank you, Netheran, I know this is awkward. I should not have to put you in this position."

He shrugged. "Bineer Ketko is your patient, I understand patient confidentiality and that it works both ways. Do you want me to call anyone else to help ward the tent?"

Ursula thought. "No, I do not think so, Netheran. Thank you again for your understanding."

"As you desire, Mistress... but what of D'Nandis here? He is in no condition to be moved, I deem."

She smiled. "D'Nandis is from the Six Cities, from K'kjand as you call it. I was told that his people are no strangers to oaths. If, as already requested, he comes to work for myself and the Norse then he may need the knowledge I am about to tell Ketko."

"Do you tell me? Curious indeed, but I shall not pry. If I may call you should someone from the mess tent approach."

"Yes, do so, please. I will probably have finished by then."

Netheran bowed and went out, leaving both patients with expressions of curiosity.

"Very well," she said, turning to D'Nandis. "I think you know what I want from you. Do you swear never to tell anyone what you hear in this end of the tent to anyone not presently inside it?"

"Mistress, I am curious to learn what is so special that you require oaths but aye, I will so swear that nothing spoken in this room shall be mentioned outside it."

Tyra said, "Heard and witnessed."

D'Nandis heard that and smiled. "I had forgotten how they did these things here in the east. Are you satisfied, Mistress?"

"I am, D'Nandis, and thank you."

Ursula turned to Ketko, who appeared surprised. "What is so important that you require oaths, Honored Mother? Do you need one from me as well?"

She considered. "Not at the moment, thank you. Looked at one way, you might not believe what I have to tell you at all. Looked at another way, most of the camp probably thinks you are crazy anyway so if you were to tell them anything you would likely not be believed."

"Explained that way I have to agree. We of Nesma do not repeat stories told us in confidence, I will listen to what you say and tell no-one. What secret do you hold, then?"

"Let me ask you a question, first. What language are we talking in?"

"Zenian, of course!" came the immediate reply, but then his brow furrowed. "Another assumption! I have of course assumed that I have been speaking Zenian in this place but you say it is not Ab Karbna so that cannot be true. We know that speech becomes corrupted the futher away you are from Nesma, if this is not the Great Plain then I must... be... speaking... something else, which I have never learned! How can this be?"

"What do you mean, speech becomes corrupted?"

"We of Nesma have found it strange, Honored Mother. The speech of people who are of other Hordes becomes stranger the further away one travels from our river. What they speak around the far side of the lake has become so corrupted that many cannot understand it. Why this should be I do not know." He added, "Thinking about it, you spoke earlier of other languages and I wondered what you meant then. I was about to ask you but then your sword-sister came in and I was distracted."

"Ah, I think I can explain that easily enough. The people who live near one another can all understand one another and because they continually speak to each other their language stays familiar to all of them. Do you follow that?"

"Follow? Oh, I see what you mean, do I understand? Yes, Honored Mother. But what of other Hordes?"

"It isn't only different hordes, it could just be towns or cities some distance apart along the same river. Language changes slowly all the time and unless everyone intermixes all the time then the sounds in different places can shift in different ways and eventually become unintelligable to outsiders."

He nodded slowly. "I never thought of it that way, Honored Mother, but that could be true. It annoyed me when we used to travel the Stoneways to the territory of another Horde that their words sounded odd. It did not occur to me that our voices would sound odd to them."

This is beginning to sound odder. Stoneways?

"The Stoneways?"

"The roads which connect place to place," Ketko explained. "Some are just tracks or paths, of course, but each Horde, in general, has a Stoneway along each side of their river connecting the towns and villages. There is also a Great Stoneway which travels completely around the Great Plain connecting all the Hordes." He paused. "But this is not why you wanted oaths, Honored Mother. Why do I hear echoes for certain words?"

"The oaths are because I, also, sometimes hear echoes of other words," she told him. "That is because, like you, I was not born on this world but another one." Out of the corner of her eye she saw D'Nandis take notice and his eyes widen. "If we had just been brought here and left, not knowing the local language, then we would have an even harder time adapting, would we not?"

Ketko nodded. "That is certainly true! It has been hard enough making sense of this crazy place! If I had also to learn to speak like these people then it would have been even harder." He looked at Ursula. "But I can speak their words! Even though I am in a strange land with strange moons I can understand the words people say, even when they do not make any sense. How?"

"All right. Now, you have to think about that 'being brought here' business. It did not just happen accidentally. That means that someone must have done the bringing, yes?"

He looked troubled. "The logic cannot be denied. Who or what has brought us here? The tchodbut? K'lemina? Do you know, Honored Mother?"

"I do not know what those are. Whoever brought us - and others - must have abilities and knowledge far greater than our own, but my point is that whoever they are, they can somehow give us other languages to prepare us for whatever we face when we get here. Does that make sense?"

He concentrated for a while on the novel concepts and then nodded. "It must be true, Honored Mother."

"Then, what happens, so I was told, is that you hear an echo whenever a word is used that is different in one of the languages you already know, or you use a word that is unknown here on Anmar."

He looked at Ursula. "One of the languages? Great Spirit, how many are there?"

"Almost uncountable numbers. Before I came to Anmar I knew four and since I arrived here I now understand at least four more. I suspect that you might find something similar in time."

He stared at Ursula before relaxing back onto his pillow and closing his eyes. "Life was so much simpler when I thought I had come to Ab Karbna. At least then I thought I was just being punished for the bad things I had done during my life. Now, Honored Mother, you have made my situation worse! Yet I am forced to admit that your explanations have the ring of logic."

He opened his eyes and looked at Ursula. "Is there any way you can prove this to me?"

"I think so. On Anmar, you'll have to hear a new language spoken before you know it exists and then you should be able to speak it." Ursula turned and smiled at D'Nandis. "Why don't you tell us your story, please, beginning in the place you were brought up? In your own tongue, I mean."

"As you wish, Mistress." D'Nandis turned his head so that Ketko could hear him clearly.

«My name is Yabortarsil Benemar'than Doras D'Nandis an K'kjand, and, Mistress, as you can tell from my name, I actually do come from K'kjand in the Six Cities. I am twenty-eight years old and my family is concerned in the construction trade, my father may be what is called here in the east a Master Mason, but he designs structures rather than cutting stone. I am a third son, so would not normally follow -»

After a while Ursula raised her hand and D'Nandis stopped. «Thank you, D'Nandis. That was extremely interesting and we may talk again later.»

His eyes widened. «Mistress, you speak our tongue perfectly! If I had not already trusted your words then you have easily confirmed what you told us.» He added, «When I am well again you may call upon my services at any time.»

«Thank you for your trust.» She nodded to him and then turned to Ketko. «How much of that did you understand?»

«All of it, Honored Mother! I am astonished. I could not have a clearer demonstration of your words.» He leaned back. «Your story explains much and yet leaves me so much more to understand. You say that this world, Anmar, is not Ab Karbna. Does this mean that I am really not dead?»

Keep it simple for now.

She slipped back into the local tongue. "So far as the world you were born on is concerned, you should consider yourself to be dead, I think. You cannot return there since we have no idea how we got here and we have no idea where that world is. Here you are alive and, if you keep drinking the potions, you should soon be fit and well again. I will caution you that you are alive and that means you can be injured or killed here on Anmar just as you could back on Earth."

"Earth? Where is that?"

"That is the name of the world you were born on, though you know it by a name in your own language, of course."

He looked doubtful. "If you say so, Honored Mother. I do not know that name."

Ursula thought carefully. He does not appear to be confused about himself, so I have to assume that he was a man on Earth. Better to leave that particular discussion until he meets Maralin, I think. If he has to know at all.

But there are other more pressing matters he should be made aware of. Yod isn't after anyone now but others might be. That other-worldly knowledge could still be dangerous in the wrong hands.

"You now have approximately the same body you had before. I say approximately because it is not the same body but a copy, you will not have anything wrong with you that you had on the other world. You will not, for example, have any of the scars you may have acquired before, any old injuries. On the other hand, you should find that your memory has improved."

"Yes!" he interrupted. "I have noticed that already."

"You should be able to remember almost everything that happened to you on Earth." Or so I was told. "There is a serious danger there, that there may be people in this world who want you for your other-worldly knowledge and they may not ask you politely to give it to them. That is why I asked D'Nandis for an oath, to keep your origins secret. The recent war caused by Yod was partly because they desperately wanted to get hold of someone like you whose knowledge they wanted to keep for themselves."

"Oh." He looked surprised. "That had not occurred to me, Honored Mother. I have tried to tell people about myself as I traveled but no-one would listen. Why would they be interested in what I know?"

"Since I know nothing about you, I cannot answer that, but, for example, even my own meager knowledge of medicine is better than what they have here in the Great Valley. Any small thing could cause big changes here, give somebody an advantage. A new weapon, perhaps, could change everything. That is why you should not speak of your origins to anyone else."

"You are a wise person, Honored Mother. I will heed your words."

"Oh, I have to tell you that finding that you know a new language is not the whole story. You might now know the words but not what some of them mean and it does not give you the ability to read or write that language. You have to learn to do that the hard way."

He nodded weakly. "Yes. That makes sense." He closed his eyes again. "I feel very tired still, Honored Mother. I would like to rest a while and think over what I have just been told."

"Of course. I will come back just before lunch, I think. We have finished what I wanted to say so I can call Netheran back in should you have any needs."

She turned away to see D'Nandis raise a hand. "Mistress," he said quietly, "The reason for the oath is plain to me now. Once I leave this place I would have words with you."

"Of course, D'Nandis. Just keep getting well, that is all I ask."

Ursula left that end of the tent with Tyra and told Netheran that he was free to return inside if he wished. The two women paused at the end of the boardwalk.

"I think I would like to go back to the barge and change," she said. "This is the same dress I wore yesterday, I only intended to wear it while we went to the latrine and bathroom but then things began to happen, you know?"

"I know exactly, Mistress, I have oft become distracted in the past when intending to do something." Tyra replied. "If we may take a short-cut across behind the end tent we can save some time."

But the ground where the burned pirate buildings had been was a roughly-plowed morass and the space at the end, between the building and the river, filled with a pile of oars from the galley. On the stripped galley they could see that a temporary hoist had been erected and various men were transferring the deck-lockers from the usable galley over onto the ground. It looked as if it would be difficult and dangerous to pick their way through to reach the Green Ptuvil. The two looked at one another.

"Mess tent?"

"Mess tent."

On the way Tyra asked, "Mistress, why do you think he kept calling you 'Honored Mother'? It sounded strange to me."

"It sounded strange to me as well! I do not know why, Tyra. Perhaps it is because I am a healer and they are thought of with a certain respect where he comes from. On Earth, I remember, some of the women who nursed in the medical buildings of various countries were called Sister or even Matron." She shrugged. "Another mystery! Maybe we will find out later."

Once at the tent they found an empty table and sat. One of the kitchen staff came, bowed, took their order and departed. Ursula looked around. Most of the tables were empty, the men all out doing their jobs, but two had groups who were obviously taking their breaks.

"That land the man talked about sounded strange," Tyra remarked. "But the Sirrel is all I have know so that is not surprising. Earth sounds like a very interesting place, Mistress."

"It sounded strange to me as well," Ursula replied. "Earth is a big place, just as Anmar probably is, but I have never heard of a people like his there." She shrugged. "I am not familiar with everywhere, though, so it is not surprising to me either. Perhaps we can find out more when we go back."

"As you say, Mistress."

A server appeared with a plate of tiny sweet pastries. While they were each selecting one an officer arrived with a tray with mugs and a pot of pel.

"Your pel, Director. Ah, if I may ask, your assistant came earlier and requested some cold pel. If you might explain, for my own satisfaction. If I know the purpose of such an unusual request we might better satisfy it in future. I assume that it was for some kind of healing?"

Ursula accepted the tray with a smile of thanks. "Yes. There are two things I learned yesterday that I did not know. One is that we all drink pel and there may be a good medical reason for it. There is something in pel which our bodies seem to require, but we have been drinking it for so long the reason has mostly been forgotten."

"Ah! Aye, Director, that was explained to me this morning. I find it amazing that we all drink this but know not why."

"I suspect it may take a long time before the truth is discovered - or perhaps I should say re-discovered. The second thing I learned was that this particular patient, for some obscure reason, does not drink hot drinks under any circumstances and does not even drink wine or beer. That is why I asked for cold pel and to avoid any obvious connection with the hot drink."

"And that is the reason he fell ill? He drank no pel at all? I am amazed again! So you gave him the cold pel in the manner of a potion, I deem."

"Which it is, of course. Most potions are just herbs steeped in hot water or even boiled, which is exactly how pel is prepared."

"As you say, Director! I never thought of it that way. If you require any more cold pel, you or your assistant has only to ask."

The officer bowed and departed just as Zakaros appeared with another younger man. He came to their table and bowed.

"Mistress, if I do not interrupt anything? If you may spare a moment or two I have a request for you."

Ursula gestured. "Of course, Zakaros, we are just having a drink before returning to the Tent of the Sick. Please seat yourselves. Do you two want a drink? I can ask for more mugs if you do."

"Thank you no, Mistress, we have both recently had our mid-morning breaks and were just returning when I noticed you and your assistant sitting here. If I may introduce Ezran Inksman, he is a young Yodan among the captives whom I discovered this morning by chance."

She smiled. "Actually I met him yesterday, since he was one of the trusty captives the pirates used to do their cooking for the camp. Zakaros, Ezran, please sit."

The two chose the bench facing Ursula and Tyra and sat down.

"Mistress," Zakaros began, "although we originally came from different regions within Yod there is a kind of link between our families which draws us together. Though I have never met Ezran until this morning, because of that link I believe that he may be considered trustworthy enough for what I propose."

She frowned as something struck her. Zakaros? Ezran? Can it be possible? Here on Anmar? Why not? I believe that it was said that only two of the original tribes survived, the other ten were 'lost'. What better way to 'lose' some of them but to bring them to Anmar?

"Your names, I have just realized... I always thought that Zakaros might have had Greek origins, but now I see you with Ezran I have had another idea, a novel one."

The older man looked confused. "Mistress? Ah, Greek? What is that?"

Mindful that Ezran did not know the secret she replied, "It occurs to me that it is possible that your people originally came from somewhere else entirely. If I say your names differently, Zakariah and Ezra, does that mean anything to you?"

The two looked at each other, dumbfounded.

Ezran breathed, "She knows! Could she be one of us?"

Zakaros hesitated. "I am privy to some of her history, it is not likely, but because of that same history I believe that she may know our secret."

He turned to Ursula and said, "You are not of the people, are you? But you know of us - from before."

Ursula dipped her head in acknowledgment and then chose her words with care. "It is true. Your people still exist where I came from but their history is a complicated one." She lowered her voice. "Your people must have been on Anmar for a very long time, I think. It would be wrong of me to assume that those of you who are here must live in the same way as... those where I come from."

"I cannot answer that, Mistress," Zakaros said, "since I lack the information that you apparently possess. All I can ask is that you treat us as what you see and let our actions speak for us."

"Of course. For yourself, I am satisfied by what you have done so far, Zakaros, and have found nothing to complain about. What is it you propose?"

"Mistress, as you know I have been cataloging the items the pirates stole as they were transferred to the barge for removal to Bibek. I enjoyed that work, it was well within my ability, but it was time-consuming and it would have been completed quicker if there had been an assistant by my side. Since I finished that task I have been considering what your new Navy might require -"

As Ursula opened her mouth he held up a hand and waved it. "If I may explain! I know nothing about matters concerning watercraft or those who man them - yet. I have learned much through helping Captain Tor and hearing what you and Her Highness propose to do, and it seems to me that your Navy will require people like myself to manage the supply side of your department. This is something that I do know how to do, and I can do most of it, I deem, without knowing the fine detail of how to build, sail, row or fight any water craft."

He is using his brain and thinking ahead. I have also been thinking about the organization and wondering just how I was going to get it off the ground. It looks like Zakaros has the answers. He is used to that level of management and, as I thought before, he is an asset we can ill afford to lose.

"You want to take Ezran on as our first employee."

"As you say, Mistress. Although he has not used his true talents for some while I feel sure that, from what I have seen and heard today, he will be useful to us."

"I will have to make sure that Her Highness knows what is happening but yes, agreed." Ursula smiled at the younger man. "Welcome to the Federation Navy, Ezran."

He stood and bowed. "Thank you, Mistress."

She said to Zakaros, "But there is more."

"Aye, Mistress. If he is to be of use he must needs learn the Garian numbers. I believe that I am now sufficiently familiar with them that I can teach them to him myself, by your leave."

"Done, Zakaros... Zak. Teach him what he needs. It probably won't take you very long. We will have to sit down together later and rough out an organization for the department. You can tell me everything I am doing wrong."

He smiled at the use of the short version of his name. "I will not fail you, Mistress." He stood. "Come, Ezran, let us leave the Mistress to her break. We will find somewhere quiet and then I will explain to you something that will make your work so much easier."

Ezran stood, the two bowed and made their way out of the tent. Tyra looked at Ursula.

"Mistress? There is some secret here, I deem. Am I permitted to know it?"

Ursula sighed. "It is just a historical thing, Tyra, concerning events that began thousands of years ago on Earth and have continued there right up to the present day. Unfortunately, while I know of those people, everybody does, my own knowledge is limited. I will tell you what I can remember while we finish our break. A very long time ago, there was a people, a tribe, perhaps, who believed in a particular God. You know what a God is?"

"I think so, Mistress. Aren't they supposed to be like the Maker, living somewhere we cannot see them? Amazing things were said to have happened but nobody could ever prove that it was a God or Gods who actually did those things." Tyra frowned. "There was something... The Convocation? Father spoke of that on occasion but I do not remember the details."

"Hmm. Somebody in Joth told me about the Convocation but this is different, this is Earth not Anmar and they believe many different things there. The people I am speaking about now have become known as the Jews, though they might not have had that name then. A long time ago the Jews lived -"