Thrr-mezaz frowned. "I thought Klnn-dawan-a was going to be coming."

" 'She will be,' " the message came back. " 'She'll be leaving from Shamanv and ought to arrive there a fullarc or two ahead of me. She'll have the package with her.' "

Thrr-mezaz felt his tail twitch. The package: their private code word for the secret and highly illegal cutting Thrr-gilag and Klnn-dawan-a had somehow managed to get from Prr't-zevisti's fsss organ on Dharanv the previous fullarc.

A cutting that was probably Prr't-zevisti's last chance at life. But that wouldn't matter a flick of the tongue if anyone caught them with it. "Any problems on that side?" he asked.

" 'None that I know of. I haven't spoken with Klnn-dawan-a since I left Dharanv.' "

"So why are you coming here, too?" Thrr-mezaz asked. "I thought you were supposed to be going to the Mrachani homeworld."

" 'I was. I've been taken off that mission.' "

Klnn-vavgi muttered something under his breath. "Taken off?" Thrr-mezaz echoed. "Whose flat-headed idea was that?"

The Elder nodded and vanished. "I'll bet you twenty fullarcs' pay it was politics," Klnn-vavgi growled. "I can see the Speaker for Dhaa'rr's tongue marks in it from here."

"Maybe not," Thrr-mezaz said, uneasiness speeding up his tail again. "I talked to my father last fullarc, and he was trying desperately to locate Thrr-gilag. Something serious is going on with our family back home, and Thrr-gilag's being dropped from the Mrachani mission may be one of the repercussions."

"Must be something really serious to get Thrr't-rokik desperate," Klnn-vavgi commented. "I've only met him a couple of times, but he never struck me as the excitable type."

"He's not," Thrr-mezaz agreed grimly.

"I take it you don't want to talk about the situation?"