Uncharted Stars by Andre Norton Page B

that several others now coming forth from the temple were minded to join us, he kept his grasp on my arm and drew me a step or two away.
    Since time was a factor in any trading I would do here, I was willing enough to go with him.

VII
    He guided me down one of the side streets to a house which was a miniature copy of shrine and temple, save that the cone tip, though it had been cut away, was mounted with a single lump of stone carved with one of the intricate designs, one which it somehow bothered the eyes to study too closely.
    There was no door, not even a curtain, closing the portal, but inside we faced a screen, and had to go between it and the wall for a space to enter the room beyond. Along its walls poles jutted forth to support curtains of fur which divided the outer rim of the single chamber into small nooks of privacy. Most of these were fully drawn. I could hear movement behind them but saw no one. My guide drew me to one, jerked aside the curtain, and motioned me before him into that tent.
    From the wall protruded a ledge on which were more furs, as if it might serve as a bed. He waved me to a seat there, then sat, himself, at the other end, leaving a goodly expanse between us as was apparently demanded by courtesy. He came directly to the point.
    â€œTo Torg you gave a great gift, stranger.”
    â€œThat is true,” I said when he paused as though expecting some answer. And then I dared my trader’s advance. “It is from beyond the skies.”
    â€œYou come from the place of strangers?”
    I thought I could detect suspicion in his voice. And I had no wish to be associated with the derelicts of the off-world settlement.
    â€œNo. I had heard of Torg from my father, many sun times ago, and it was told to me beyond the stars. My father had respect for Torg and I came with a gift as my father said must be done.”
    He plucked absent-mindedly at some wisps of the long fur making a ruff below his shin.
    â€œIt is said that there was another stranger who came bringing Torg a gift from the stars. And he was a generous man.”
    â€œTo Torg?” I prompted when he hesitated for the second time.
    â€œTo Torg—and others.” He seemed to find it difficult to put into words what he wanted very much to say. “All men want to please Torg with fine gifts. But for some men such fortune never comes.”
    â€œYou are, perhaps, one of those men?” I dared again to speak plainly, though by such speech I might defeat my own ends. To my mind he wanted encouragement to state the core of the matter and I knew no other way to supply it.
    â€œPerhaps—” he hedged. “The tale of other days is that the stranger who came carried with him not one from-beyond-the-stars wonders but several, and gave these freely to those who asked.”
    â€œNow the tale which I heard from my father was not quite akin to that,” I replied. “For by my father’s words the stranger gave wonders from beyond, yes. But he accepted certain things in return.”
    The Sororisan blinked. “Oh, aye, there was that. But what he took was token payment only, things which were not worth Torg’s noting and of no meaning. Which made him one of generous spirit.”
    I nodded slowly. “That is surely true. And these things which were of no meaning—of what nature were they?”
    â€œLike unto these.” He slipped off the ledge to kneel on the floor, pressing at the front panel of the ledge base immediately below where he had been sitting. That swung open and he brought out a hide bag from which he shook four pieces of rough rock. I forced myself to sit quietly, making no comment. But, though I had never seen greenstone, I had seen recorder tridees enough to know that these were uncut, unpolished gems of that nature. I longed to handle them, to make sure they were unflawed and worth a trade.
    â€œAnd what are those?” I asked as if I had very little interest in