Only for a moment did Kincar remain so steadied, and then, the stab of the Tie less, he pulled away, glancing up to see that it was Lord Dillan whose hands still rested on his shoulders.  The rigid brown mask, which, to his untutored eyes, served all the Star Lords for a face, had a new expression.  And Dillan's voice, when he spoke, was warm with concern.

"What is it, Kincar?"

But the young man freed himself with a last twist and stood, one hand at the breast of his scaled shirt, schooling his body, his nerves under control.  He who carried a Tie was honored above his fellows, as well as burdened, but his guardianship was not for the knowledge of others - certainly not for the outland-born Star men.  So he fronted all three of them with the same wariness with which he would face a company of strangers in a time of clan feud when enemy was not yet sorted from friend.

When he made no answer, Lord Dillan spoke to the woman.

"What happened?"  He used the common speech, purposely, Kincar suspected.  Kincar himself wanted nothing more than to be out of that room and away from their prying eyes.

"I used the atomar on the mord - it has a ray-burned, wing."

"The atomar," Lord Dillan repeated, his attention once more fixed on Kincar, as if by his will he could force the truth from the young man.

"He fears the Star machines -"  That was a newcomer speaking, and there was contempt in his voice.  Vulth stood in the door, eying Kincar as he would some wood creature brought in by a hunter.  "It was so that he flinched upon passing the gates - as well I saw.  Doubtless at his hold they held to the old belief in night demons and howling terrors -"

Kincar was ready with a hot retort to that, but he did not give it voice.  A good enough explanation for his behavior if they had to have one, one that made him less of a man, that was true, but it was better to shrink in the regard of these (though that in its way carried a hurt also) than to reveal what he carried.

A brown hand closed about the wrist of his sword hand, keeping him where he was, and the Lady Asgar was beside him.  Something in her manner must have relayed an order to both Vulth and Lorpor, for, after glancing from her now impassive face to that of the Lord Dillan, they went out, Vulth unhooking the upturned corner of the cloak door and letting it fall to give the remaining three privacy.

Kincar tried to follow, but that hand still gripped his wrist.  Short of forcibly twisting free, he could not leave.  But when the Lady Asgar spoke, he lost his desire to do so.

"The Tie of the Three is a heavy weight for the bearing -"