When the loading was finished, Jade joined Megan on the back bench. The mechanized luggage cart they’d brought from Cablans would be stored here until their return. It would be insulting, Megan thought, to bring so blatant an alien artifact into the Imperial Court.
Bloom untied the banhar—the large, placid quadruped that pulled the cart—and climbed onto the front seat. He gave a tug on the reins and an untranslatable word of encouragement to his beast, and they started off at a slow but steady pace. As they left, the women exchanged waves and goodbyes with the crowd, both pleased at such an auspicious beginning although Jade refused to show it.
Now that they had a little time to spare, Jade and Megan gave some attention to the town about them. It was not as primitive a place as Jade had
