"That's right," Kate said cheerfully; she saw some of the man's staff wincing, and grinned at them, too. The way they acted, you'd think this solid stone building would fall over if anyone spoke louder than a murmur.

"But surely you-you're not-I mean, you're more of a . . . er . . . honorary title . . ."

That was going too far. "Mister Minister, I am a Ranger, same as any other Ranger; I qualified on the same course, and I can and will demonstrate my skills any time you or anyone else questions them." She had no weapon, of course, but she could break this fellow's neck-or any other bone-without one.

"Oh . . . certainly, certainly. Now, uh . . . we are having a reception in your honor this afternoon, in the Palace. I hope you aren't too tired . . ."

"Not at all." She was never too tired to party.

The Palace was another pile of gray stone, with outcrops on one side of a curious buff color.

Inside, the formal rooms had the same sort of dull, dark look as those in the Minister's offices.

Kate was on her best behavior, smiling like a car dealer. She had been through her share of fancy events, and knew that her role, as honored guest, was to smile and tell everyone how beautiful things were. She told the new Speaker what an honor it was to meet him, and thought what piggy eyes he had. She told his wife what a lovely dress she had on, even though she longed to tell the woman that she should never in this world wear that shade of green, it made her look sick. She told the Foreign Minister, whose name was Pedar Orregiemos, that she liked his ruffled shirt, though she contemplated mentioning that a ruffled shirt plus those pretty rings in the ears would have branded him an obvious mango in the Lone Star Confederation. Then she overheard part of a conversation and learned that the local slang for the same thing was "pet."

It was all intensely boring, since she didn't know enough yet to make sense of most that she heard. Her feet hurt, and her head was beginning to throb. Then Pedar bustled up to her leading a tall blonde woman whose face Kate recognized from her briefings.

"And this is Ranger Briarly," Pedar said. "Brun Meager Thornbuckle . . ."

Kate looked at the blonde woman who had been a prisoner so long, whose father was dead, whose predicament had led directly to her own presence here-and saw a familiar shadow in those blue eyes. Automatically, she softened her approach. "Hi there-I hope you can forgive my havin' that kind of a title."

"Well-" the woman's voice was slightly husky. "You don't look much like their Rangers."

"Hon, they aren't Rangers; they're trash. Lower'n a groundhog's burrow. A brick can call itself a diamond-doesn't make it one."

The woman grinned, her face suddenly relaxing. "And you're the genuine diamond?"

"Pure carbon crystal, that's me," Kate said. "Cubic, but not zirconium."

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry-slang's hard to translate. Listen, my feet hurt-can we go sit down somewhere?" If she could make friends with this woman-and she liked her already-maybe she could get the embargo lifted faster than anyone had thought. Even Kate at her most optimistic hadn't thought she'd get to meet the cause of it all, or that the woman would want to meet her. But that was obvious from the satisfaction on her face: she'd come here with a purpose, and Kate was part of it.

"The reception's nearly over, Sera-Ranger-" Pedar said. "The car will soon be here to take you back to your hotel."

"Why don't you come with me?" Kate asked Brun, as much to annoy Pedar as anything else. "We could have dinner-"

Brun smiled. "Thanks-I'd like that." Pedar scowled, and Kate grinned to herself. Had he thought he was going to move in on her himself? Fat chance.

They ate in Kate's suite, which was as dull as everything else she'd seen so far. What was the good of silk on the walls if it was gray? And muted green and blue upholstery . . . cold, unwelcoming, dull.

"You people don't like bright colors much, do you?" Kate asked, halfway through a main course of some nondescript meat with a lot of fancy vegetables heaped over it. They hadn't even had steak on the menu.

Brun looked around. "This isn't very bright, is it? I'm used to it, I guess. Castle Rock is pretty

conservative."

"That's what you call it? That Foreign Office is like a funeral home; the only color in it is your Minister, and he's-"

"Awful," Brun said, wrinkling her nose. "Such a little climber-"

"Climber?"

"Oh, yes. Minor family, so he pushes and climbs, trying to make himself bigger. Well, he got a

Ministry, though who knows what he did for Hobart to get it."

"Hobart's your Speaker?"

"Right. But Pedar wants more . . . you wouldn't believe, he's after my mother."

"Your mother?" Kate reminded herself that this was Lord Thornbuckle's widow.

"Yes. He had the nerve to tell me, when Mother'd left for Sirialis, that he could now offer so

much to a lonely widow-I nearly threw him out the window."

Kate shook her head. "I wondered if maybe he was a . . . what is it, pet? . . . with those rings and that shirt."

"No-the rings are Rejuvenant rings. They're actually the medical codes: they can be implanted or

worn, but a lot of people like to wear them."

"How many times has he been pickled?"

"I don't know. I didn't count. Several. Why do you call it pickled?"

"Preserved, you know." Kate held up one of the wrinkled green things she hoped was a pickled

cucumber. "Lasts nearly forever."

"Mmm." Brun ate silently a few minutes, then asked, "What do you make of our Speaker?"

Kate looked at her, mind on full alert. "You're asking a visitor to criticize your government?"

Brun flushed a little. "He's a Conselline, and we're in the Barraclough Sept-"

"Is that families or religions?" Kate asked.

Brun made a face. "Maybe both. Let's just say that the Consellines and the Barracloughs have been

rivals for a long time, in a genteel sort of way. I don't like Hobart, but I wondered if maybe an

outsider would see him more clearly."

"He's nobody I'd buy a ranch from," Kate said. "Not without walkin' over every inch of it, and checkin' the title since God made it. He's got a mean mouth, and his wife's scared of him."

"You saw that?"

"Oh, yes. Just like I saw that you didn't like Pedar with the rings and ruffles holding your hand when he led you over. But you wanted to talk to me."

"You don't miss much, do you?"

"Rangers don't. Now why don't you get down to what you really wanted to talk about, so we can enjoy dessert later and not have to tippytoe?" Kate pushed her plate away and leaned back, fixing Brun with the look that had brought confessions out of the Harkness boys.

"I hate it when everyone is smarter than I am." Brun pushed her own plate back.

"They aren't, when you leave your brain on," Kate said. "It didn't take a lot of intelligence to recognize that you wanted to meet me as much as I was glad to meet you."

"You haven't met Esmay," Brun said. "She's smarter-"

"Spare me." Kate ran her hands through her hair, fluffing it out. "I heard plenty about Miss Genius on the trip over here. Everyone says she's so wonderful, and I'll bet she is. But-she isn't you."

"No, she's-"

Kate wasn't about to let her take off down that trail, whatever it was. "Lord, girl, you sound like you haven't got a friend in the world. Didn't you ever have a best friend?"