Bok was at the congregation center in the morning, just as Tahk had expected. The slightly elder Kig-yar was sitting at a conference table discussing something with Rtas when the two finished talking. At that point they both noticed Tahk.

"Good morning, Tahk," Rtas said.

"Just the Kig-Yar I wanted to see," Bok said, straightening a stack of papers in his talons.

"I believe I'll leave you two to it," the Sangheili congregational leader said , politely inclining his head as he walked away from Bok and repeating the gesture as he passed Tahk.

When Rtas was gone, Bok pointed to a now vacant chair. "Tahk, come take a seat."

The ex-sniper complied.

"So, I understand you want me to help you establish a presence on Eayan?" Tahk asked.

"Indeed," Bok squawked. "I understand that you are from the homeworld," he said in a tone that implied he wanted Tahk to tell him more about his past.

Picking up the hint, Tahk responded, "Yes I'm from Eayan, but I'm a city boy. I'm not that familiar with rural Kig-yar culture and I've never even heard of…" he paused, his face scrunching as he searched his memory, "What was the island even called again?"

"Shek zen Julan," Bok supplied, with a soft chuckle, "and I'm not surprised you've never heard of it. It's only forty kilometers across and has a population of only around 450."

Tahk pushed his chair back from the table and stood. "That does sound tiny," he said as he walked to a the nearby sava dispenser and poured himself a hot Styrofoam cupful of the orange-naturally caffeine-filled drink that got many Kig-Yar and Sangheili alike through mornings filled with paper work. "I'm much more used to cities with a couple million, or several hundred thousand at the smallest." He offered Bok a cup.

"No, I'm good, thanks. Had one with breakfast. One a day is my limit."

"Good rule to have," Tahk said as he returned to his seat. Taking a sip, he said, "I'm not sure why you wanted me to come along."

"Because you are from Eayan. More specifically you are from Ruuht. And urban Ruuht or rural Ruuht, it's still, Ruuht."

Tahk nodded, recognizing the point.

"What's more, many of the people who've come there over the last three generations are from the cities."

Tahk put his sava cup down on the table with an abruptness that surprised even him. Something that Bok said wasn't adding up.

"Wait a second. You said their population is still around 450, but they've been receiving immigrants from the cities for three generations?"

Bok nodded. He should have done a better job explaining.

"Prior to sixty years ago no one lived there. It was the private property of a local countess. She opened it up for settlement around that time. She used her wealth to get medical supplies and farming instructors from the mainland."

Tahk took hold of his cup again and was about to bring it to his beak again, when he thought of another issue they'd need to confront.

"Is the land still privately owned?"

"The whole island? No. The big house outside the village, that still belongs to Ðath Kor, seventy-first Countess of Shek zen Julan."

"Do we have reason to expect trouble from her? The great houses still wield considerable influence on the homeworld."

"I wouldn't expect so, given that she's the one who invited us."

Tahk had to hold his mouth still to swallow the sava without involuntarily spitting from shock.

"A great lady wants to convert?"

"I didn't say that," Bok clarified. "I said she invited us. She is curious about our Faith and wants to discuss it. I can handle that part alone if you don't want to join, but I need someone to go with me, particularly someone who is familiar with Eayan's spaceports."

"Ah," Tahk said. This all made much more sense. "And now that I know what you are doing, I would love to help you describe our faith to her."

"Thank you, Tahk. I really appreciate this, and you putting your wedding on hold."

Tahk shook his head, "Well, my wedding isn't for a few months anyway."

"Maybe if this becomes a permanent mission, you and Chol might want to join me there."

"We'll see. A lot of it will depend on the countess."

A lot of Eayan's internal politics still had to do with the remnants of the old pre-spacefaring nation states. The royal families still contained significant sway in terms of inherited wealth and the only option for ambitious Kig-Yar of the middling sort—those who were traditionally merchants or skilled laborers—to accumulate enough wealth and influence of their own was to turn to piracy on the high seas. Sea piracy proved unnecessary as the families of the great entrepreneurs of the industrial era had made great wealth with their inventions, but after a few generations, the entrepreneurs' grandchildren had effectively made themselves into a new aristocracy that was no more eager to add new members than the old had been. The result for ambitious young Kig-Yar outside those families to turn once again to piracy—this time in space between the homeworld and the system's habitable asteroids. The only thing that really broke the power of the noble and entrepreneurial families was the arrival of the Covenant, but after the multispecies theocracy had annexed the Y'deio system they were content to leave the homeworld much as it had been, so that for most Kig-Yar the chance for advancement was obvious: leave Y'deio.

Tahk had to wonder what this Countess and her family were up to. Were they truly trying to improve lives for the Kig-Yar of Ruuhts great cities which were often riddled with crime and disease, some royal, noble, and entrepeneneurial individuals had truly taken an interest in improving the lives of their lowlier hatched fellow Kig-Yar, but even more were running scams to make themselves rich enough to rival Covenant Hierarchs. Of which sort was the Countess?

The space flight to Eayan was rather uneventful. They'd first disembarked the transport ship in Tilu City where they'd boarded an aircraft for Dazhak, a medium seized city of some 10,000, about thirty kilometers inland from the northwestern Ruuhtian coast and a further fifty away from the island.

The spaceport itself in Tilu brought back memories to Tahk. It was busy, bustling and crowded, just like Zagga city where Tahk had hatched—well okay maybe Tilu was a bit bigger, but the general feeling was the same. His home was on Sangheilios now and he hadn't really missed Eayan, but somewhere in his heart he felt just a twinge of homesickness for Eayan once he stepped out of the transport and was surrounded by other Kig-Yar. He was home and that felt good on some level. He also remembered the state he'd been in when he'd been here last and was glad to be out of that and knew that it was all too easy for a Kig-Yar to fall into the the place where he had been with the kind of lifestyles so many of them led. It was particularly hard here on Eayan. Thinking that made Tahk's heart heavy. They hurried on from the disembarking platform to their aircraft transport to Dazhak.

It was necessary to use atmosphere-bound aircraft to get around on much of Eayan. They had flown on an interstellar transport from Sangheilios to Eayan landing at the spaceport in Tilu City, the main port of entry for all outside-system traffic to Eayan. Certain habitable asteroids, like T'vao, had spaceports in smaller cities, but if you were coming from out of system, it was pretty much an established fact that you would land in Tilu city. From their you would take an air craft to the "spaceport" in your final destination.

In contrast to the real spaceport in Tilu, the "airport" in Dazhak seemed large and empty to Tahk. It was probably just the fact that there were so few aircraft in so much space. It really didn't seem that big on their descent. Dazhak itself seemed large and empty. The buildings were more spread out and not nearly as tall. No, this didn't really feel like home, even though all the other beings he was encountering were Ruuhtian Kig-Yar. There just wasn't a lot happening here, and that wasn't his Zagga home…that was his Qasun-dependent-village-of-Vadam home. The pace of life there was slower, but in a comfortable way—there was always some kind of work to do. This Dazhak wasn't a village or a city. It was something in between and suffered from having all the conveniences of a city's infrastructure to eliminate the practical work you found in a village, but not enough people or things to do to fill the available time. He was actually looking forward to the transport to the coast and the ferry over to the island. It was almost as small as Qisun. He could adapt to living there a few weeks…he hoped.

Bok and Tahk were the only beings on the ferry aside from the ferryman himself. Tahk approached the older Kig-Yar who stood at the prow with his hands on the ship's steel railing, Shek zen Julan in the distance.

"Something about this…" Bok said, "feels ancient."

"Well, our ancestors were sea pirates once upon a time," Tahk said gradually beginning to notice something that Bok must be feeling as well, either that or the cold air and wisps of sea foam were getting to him. He put his own hands on the rail. He preferred warm climates, but the briskness was refreshing for a change. Perfect for a quick working vacation.

"Here we are on the homeworld, traveling by sea at the whim of a Countess. Welcome to Eayan circa 850."

"Very appropriate that you should say that," Bok responded. "The Countess looks to our pre-Covenant history for inspiration." Bok glared at Tahk with one eye. "That could be either good for us or bad for us."

Tahk nodded. If she was a militant Kig-Yar nationalist she would be opposed to a human religion like Christianity which they represented. However if she was just specifically anti-Covenant, she might be interested in learning from any of the belief systems of the Covenant's former enemy, humanity. Still, she was curious, which was how a new faith often took root.

"The fact that she wants to learn more about what we believe is an encouraging sign. Ancient Eayan was multicultural and had many religions. Even if the Countess doesn't convert herself, she might tolerate a mission on her island."

Tahk caught himself.

"I forgot, it's not 'her' island."

"Well it kind of is. Even if it belongs to the people now, she still has it in part in her title,"

"Then it is hers. Monarchs on Eayan are still monarchs, not like on the human island countries…"Tahk racked his brain, "what were they called, 'Britain' and 'Japan?'"

"That's them," Bok said.

"Here, even where there is a local legislative body, hereditary aristocrats can buy votes." He paused to let his words sink in. "The only check on the aristocrats is the entrepreneurial families who equal them in power and influence."

"And didn't they cease to make inventions to improve society after the Covenant came along?"

"That's right," Tahk said.

"And these two aristocracies never mingled?"

"Right again. The old aristocracy regarded the old entrepreneurs as tradesfolk who had gotten above themselves. They didn't want to mix with them. Still don't."

"That's what makes the Countess so unusual," Bok said. "Her grandmother was an agricultural innovator."

Tahk let his eye bulge, a Kig-Yar expression indicating curiosity.

"Her farming techniques yield crops that Kig-Yar, Sangheili, and San Shyuum alike found very tasty and made her incredibly rich."

That was odd, Tahk noted. The nobility didn't get their hands dirty with agriculture. That was peasant work. He didn't have much time to ponder these thoughts however as the island, which had always been there, now filled their entire vision. The nearby docks beckoned.