- Prologue

of here at breakfast!'

Asu started to say something, but then choked the words into a really ugly face and a good seething hiss, apparently in deference to yos'Senchul, standing quietly behind them.

Her accent with her hands wasn't all that good yet, Theo saw, but still, the words thrown toward the floor were quite indignant, and included rude, useless, slow, and maybe sunless.

'Which Erkes package is that?' came a firm voice from the back, followed by, 'Will you recycle your own snack pack, Turley? Not my fault you drew the line again. I think they're trying to tell you something!'

Clanks and plastic squeals ensued, followed by a thud.

'That big one fell again!'

'If they've dropped something of mine, I'm going to . . . I'm going to . . .'

Theo grinned and filled in, 'Going to go to the Delm of Korval?' she asked, remembering how Father had challenged her as a child, leaning on her favorite book to help bring a sense of proportion to her young complaints.

'Do what?' Asu turned, squinted down at Theo with a wry expression, waving her hands at the same time.

Theo's fingers told Asu will repeat suggestion and she said out loud as seriously as she could muster, 'Are you going to take this problem to the Delm of Korval?'

'How could he help?' the other girl asked, apparently genuinely puzzled. 'I mean, that's silly. He's dead, anyway, even if he could.'

'He's dead?' Theo stared at her, feeling her grin slide toward a gap. 'You mean there is a Delm of Korval? Or—was?'

Asu shook her head sadly.

'Yes, there was one, of course there was. But he died. Very sad.'

'No, wait,' Theo said. 'I thought he was a story—a myth for littlies!'

A voice from behind the short wall interrupted their discussion and promised more delay.

'This thing is tagged by you, Turley. I need your signature before I can move it!'

'You got a go from me,' the counter guy called.

'I need your signature or a thumbprint, not a verbal!'

Turley sighed dramatically, looked at the line, which had grown considerably at yos'Senchul's back, and called out, 'A moment more only, duty calls!' before hurrying toward the back.

Asu shook her head, continued: 'Why would you think Korval was a myth? They've got ships everywhere. They make Diamon Lines looks small!'

Asu sounded exasperated, so Theo continued in the same tone. 'I thought the Delm of Korval was a myth because I saw him in a storybook for kids!'

'Ah . . .'

That was yos'Senchul, who had obviously been listening in with some interest.

Theo rounded on him.

'Well, that's where I knew about him. The book was called Sam Tim's Ugly Day, and it was by Meicha Maarilex. I found it at a Try and Trade when I was a littlie, and made Father read it to me over and over—it had the story in Terran at the top of the page and in Trade at the bottom . . . and 'way in the back, it was written out in Liaden. That's how I started reading Trade and Terran together—even though the words weren't always exactly the same as Father read to me from the back.'

She sighed, knowing exactly where that book was, and knowing that with any luck at all Coyster would be sitting on the desk under the bookshelf, staring up at the mobile, or curled asleep on the bed or . . .

'And this book was all about Delm Korval? I think I have heard of the author but did not know she had written about Korval.'

The instructor's voice was low, but she'd managed to catch his words despite her own distraction.

'No, but that's why it was interesting. There was Sam Tim, you see, and his day was ugly to him. He complained some. Nothing was going right, over and over, and he kept wanting it all fixed. Everyone in his family, and all his neighbors, and the storekeepers, they kept saying to him, 'And if we can't solve this for you, what will you do? Take your problem to Delm Korval?'?'

'Ah, an excellent question to ask someone suffering from the day without delight, Al'kin Chernard'i, as we have it in Liaden.'

Theo nodded, and looked back to Asu.

'See, it was obvious that Sam Tim was always looking too high for his answer, that he ought to be able to solve some things for himself. That, really, you only go to Delm Korval with really important problems. So then we started using that for us. If I was having problems with something, or complaining, Father would ask me, 'So, is this problem worth taking to Delm Korval?' It was a joke.'

'Truth, also,' yos'Senchul said. 'One would wish not to be seen by Delm Korval over matters of little consequence.'

'But you say he's real! I thought he was like, you know, Mr. Winter who lives over the mountain and brings the snow.'