Farther out on the roadway, the crowd from the temple had grown to at least two thousand people. They milled about uneasily, as if they were trying to find a purpose. Paul could see many faces turned up toward the broken spire. Uniformed boys mingled with them. From what Paul could see, the boys weren't using force, although he was sure they were armed. They had probably gone out there to keep the crowd from boiling over.
'Is Dorland making any progress?' Karyn asked.
'A little,' Paul replied. 'Elli understands why we 190 William Greenleaf
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need help, but I don't know if she'll be able to give us any.'
'The Sons won't give up.' She looked down at the bodies on the ground below. 'We'll have to kill them to stop them for good.'
Paul turned and went back down the steps.
Selmer and Jacque had positioned themselves in the outer corridor so they could watch the open archway. They were armed with one grenade
launcher and a carbine. So far, none of the Sons had come close enough for them to use either. Inside the chamber, Doriand was perched on the pedestal in front of the chauka. Sabastian had cleared a place to sit near the back, from which he watched and listened without comment.
Elli's communication came to Paul as he sank down beside Doriand:
*Kra 'ith (leader) Tern (negative)*
Paul felt a vague, dreamlike weariness. He made an effort to concentrate on what Elli was saying, and tried not to think about how tired he was and what was happening outside.
'She keeps talking about Lord Tern as if he is the kra'ith leader,' Doriand said.
'A lousy one,' Paul commented.
Doriand ignored him. 'I think she's trying to tell us that Lord Tern is leader of the Clarion kra'ith'
'A kra'ith can be an entire planet?'
'That's the highest level. But I'm not sure about her definition of leader.'
*Tem (negative) kra'ith (nonacceptance) (leader)*
'We think of a leader as a governor, or a manager,' Doriand went on. 'The leader of a planet—
whether he's a president or an emperor—oversees planetary trade, the internal economy, military functions—things like that. But I don't think the kra'ith leader is responsible for any of that.'
'What does he do, then?'
'He imparts his emotional insights to the others in the kra'ith'
'Emotional insights?'
Doriand nodded. Then he nodded again as if
he'd thought of something else. 'That would go along with the social orientation of the kra'ith. The members support one another emotionally.'
*Lord Tern (negative) kra'ith. Kra'ith (members) follow him as (leader)*
Paul fidgeted. The sensation that he heard the words without hearing was beginning to grate on him.
'She's saying the only way to stop Lord Tern is to produce a new kra 'ith leader,' Doriand said. 'But I still don't know how to do that.'
