“Certainly those of Iron Claws,” their youngest guest put in with a laugh, paying no mind to the very evident awe of Bhen and Jahk. “My own exploits, such as they were, simply accompanied his, at times with a great deal of reluctance. One sword and four sets of claws, even accompanied by teeth, should not have accomplished half of what they did.” “Iron Claws offers the tale with a considerable difference of opinion, most especially concerning the value of that sword,” remarked Thoheeks Hwill with bland amusement, sending no more than a glance to his heir. “As a father of sons I, too, found it necessary to cultivate other sources, and the best of them is the prairiecat. No cat of my acquaintance suffers from reticence where battles are concerned.”

“Which is also as it should be,” said the Ahrkeethoheeks Bili into the gentle, agreeing laughter. “Members of the Cat Clan are justifiably proud of their battle prowess, and had we claws and fangs of our own, perhaps our reticence, too, would be overcome. But we’ve scarcely come here to speak of battles and cat-brothers. Is there not one last introduction to be made, Komees Sahm?”

“Indeed there is, my lord,” said his host, turning with a smile of pride to the girl, who had, till then, done no more than join in the general laughter. “It pleases me to present my daughter Lisah, youngest of all my get save Jahk, who has grown to more than adequate womanhood despite having been surrounded by naught save brothers and a father all of her life. Her mother was carried off by fever not long after bearing my last son; therefore has there been a dearth of womanly guidance for her.”

“Surely there were female servants who assisted in raising so delightful-looking a girl,” protested Thoheeks Hwill as Lisah bowed to the Archduke Bili, the duke’s steel-gray eyes seeming well pleased. “She appears quite mannerly and properly modest, a far cry from the outspokenness of too many other girls about these days, who consider their opinion the equal of a man’s.”

“My daughter is well able to appreciate the company in which she finds herself, Thoheeks Hwill,” Komees Sahm said hurriedly, seeing the raising of his daughter’s brows and knowing well what the gesture meant. “She, like her broth-cis, has participated in war training, a thing which became necessary when the female servants in charge of her as a child declared themselves incapable of coping with her . . . manner. Arms masters tend to view such a manner with different sight.”

“And most often produce a far less fascinating product,” put in Bryahn of Dunkahn, his lighter gray eyes showing a matching interest to his father’s. “1 must be sure to send my thanks to the High Lord Milo for his suggestion.”

“You find her acceptable, then,” the Archduke Bili said with approval, nodding his agreement. “The High Lord will be very pleased, and I, myself, am able to recommend a woman with war skills without reservation. Should your own skills exceed hers, that is, which be more of a caution than a reservation. Some men, I hear, prefer it t’other way about.” Again there was general laughter, but this time the girl Lisah failed to share in it. There was an oddness floating about which seemed just beyond the bounds of comprehension, and Lisah had never been one to allow the incomprehensible to pass without questioning it.

“There was a suggestion made by the High Lord Milo which concerns me?” she asked as the laughter wound down, looking at'her father’s guests and then directly at her father. “And for what have 1 been found acceptable?”

“For a truly great honor, daughter,” replied the komees with a wide smile, stepping forward to put an embracing arm about the giri. “The High Lord has had his attention brought to the fact that an inordinate number of nobly born girls in our district are husbandless, and that despite the two and three wives taken by the surviving noble sons and fathers. For that reason has he asked his nobles in more densely male-populated districts, such as Thoheeks Hwill’s demesne, that they seek for wives a time in ours, to even the numbers which have fallen so far out of balance. The thoheeks' heir Bryahn now searches for a wife, and his presence greatly honors us, most especially as it comes at the express request of the High Lord.”

“The High Lord Milo asked that they come here?" Dharrehn inquired with a good deal of surprise, in the process misinterpreting his sister’s suddden silence. “Father, is there a reason for that you have never spoken to us of?’ ’

“The ahrkeethoheeks tells me there appears to be a reason

I, myself, never before considered,” the komees responded, his great pleasure evident in his voice. “We all of us know how strongly mindspeak talent runs in our family, but what we failed to know was that the High Lord was aware of it as well. For many years he had hoped to see a merging between our family and that of Thoheeks Hwill, the Dunkahn line being fully as strong in mindspeak as we, and now such a merging has become possible. The first issue of the union will be more eagerly awaited by the High Lord, 1 am told by Archduke Bili, than by the sire and dam.”

This time nothing of the laughter touched Lisah, who was scarcely even aware of it. She was, instead, wrestling with a problem there could be but one solution to, considering her nature and the manner in which she had been raised. Her brothers had been correct about the awkwardness of the thing and her father was certain to be disappointed, but happily not forever. When the laughter was done, she smiled all about her.

“Should that be so, 1 find it a great relief that the High Lord is Undying,” she announced to those who listened politely to her words. “He will then find little difficulty in awaiting issue which will not appear till my return. I regret the necessity, my lords, yet must 1 plead previous commitments.”

Little of a visual nature could at first be seen on the faces about her, a phenomenon certainly caused, unbeknownst to the girl, by stunned shock. All eight were men of the world, and as such knew the way of the wagging of that world; to have been attacked with weapons there at the reception would not have caused a fraction of similar agitation. Lisah, who had known no more than her father’s court all her life, smiled even more broadly with relief at how well they accepted the disappointment, understanding nothing of the sudden, extremely amused look Sir Bryahn attempted to swallow. The prairiecat Wind Whisper also chuckled inside her mind, as though she and the man had exchanged certain thoughts, and then Count Sahm’s arm tightened about his daughter.

“Lisah, child, clearly you have somehow misunderstood the situation,” he began, searching, in accordance with his kindly nature and the love he felt for his only daughter, for a manner in which to explain the truth without giving hurt. “Sir Bryahn seeks a wife now, not some time in the future, and as I have already given my permission for the union, there can be no previous commitments. The matter has already been settled.”

‘‘But, Father, I have given my word based on your word,” the girl protested, feeling the deepening upset in all four of her brothers, who yet stood silent rather than support her when she was so clearly in the right. ‘‘Was I not told that my life was mine to do with as 1 pleased, and have not all of my brothers been permitted to ride forth to sharpen their battle skills in actual combat? Just recently I have arranged to do the same, and will ride with the Crimson Cat Company now being formed. Was there not a proposed marriage for Dharrehn when his company was first formed, and did he not decline due to previous commitments? I do no more than the same.”

A great many looks were then exchanged between the eight men, some clearly wishing that the High Lord Milo had not expressed such keen interest in the matter. Although unused to protests of that sort from women raised to the knowledge that they would one day wed at their fathers’ direction, they remained men of honor who could well appreciate the girl’s arguments. Duke Hwill of Dunkahn, most often short-tempered with ‘‘flighty, mouth-flapping females,” knew at once that this girl was not the same, that the giving of her word was looked upon as a Sword Oath, and became even more determined that such a prize would not be lost to his son.