The explorers from Sypho were preparing their trading voyage to Kronio and settling matters before starting out on the seas. The coastline of Dian was hospitable to venturing people, but the Syphans had recently had some conflicts with the village of Ankara, so plotting a path through or near that settlement might not be wise.
Santo and Xinta had been on an earlier venture to Ankara and knew the people well. A season before, these men had walked there, a two-day trip, on their way to Kronio which was another two or three days beyond. They wanted to trade with the Kronians for sidia from Pantea, the little island to the south, and metal tools that the Kronians had become expert at making. But when they had ventured this way before, then returned home via Ankara, they were set upon by a ban
