“And your homeworld is like our world here?”
Vorgens nodded. “Very much. It’s a little smaller than Oran VI. . ..”
“What is Oran VI?”
“Huh? Why. this planet—your world, here.”
“Of course, of course,” Sittas said, smiling. “That is the Terran name for our world. In the hill villages, where I am from, we see very few Terrans.”
“What do you call the planet?”
“Its name is Shinar,”
“Shinar,” Vorgens repeated. “That means … urn, something to do with home, isn’t it?”
The priest nodded. “Home, yes. It also means peace. and life, and many other things besides.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Then Vorgens said, “I’m surprised to see a native priest with the Komani raiders.”
Sittas smiled. “They have souls. I am a priest.”
“Yes, but they are looting your people—turning your planet into a battlefield-…”
“Does that make them impossible to change? Does that doom them to our everlasting hatred? Were not the Komani of this very clan once the allies of the Terrans?”
“Yes,” Vorgens admitted. “The entire Komani nation fought on the side of the Terrans in the Galactic War, but that was a century ago, and now …”
“And now you loll one another. Does that mean that you cannot stop the killing and live in peace once again?”
“I see.” Vorgens said. “I understand,” To himself he added. We have a lot in common, old man. You and I may be the only sane ones on this planet.
Sittas changed the subject abruptly, and the young Star Watchman told the old priest of many things as they walked through the long afternoon under the cool trees along the nameless ridge. Vorgens found himself talking for the first time in years about his homeworld.