A girl stood on a ledge above him. Both hands were raised to the mass of rich black hair tumbling about her cape-hung shoulders. She was almost as tall as Grim, her long legs encased in tight golden skirts, her midriff bare below an ornate bolero that hugged her breasts. Seeing him, she brought her arms down fast, slant dark eyes widening. Grim chuckled. "If I thought you could understand me, I'd ask you what kind of a crazy place this is." The girl went back two steps, still staring at him. Her brow wrinkled. She said, "I do not understand you. Please--go away! If you are one of Althaya's men--" Grim stared in amazement. He had spoken in the space _patois_ that was used by the Fleet and the Caravan crews from Mars on outward. But the girl had spoken to him in the pure, almost archaic mother tongue! He had to stop and recall the idioms and phraseology that men still used on Tellura. Grim, like most others of his breed, had never been on the Earth. They were born and bred among the stars and there they usually died. "What is your name?" he said haltingly, remembering lessons in the Fleet school. "What is this place? And what in the name of Hades makes all--this?" He waved his hand at the distorted trees, at the little animals, at the oddly humped ground. The girl did not look at his gesturing hand. Her sloe eyes were fastened to his face; in fright, he thought. She whispered, "Where is Althaya? Where is the Red Priestess?" Grim said gently, "Look, honey. I'm a stranger here myself. You're the first normal looking thing I've come across--and even you are several shades above average." He let his eyes drift over her, and she straightened angrily. "I am the Black Priestess of Kohonnes. I am Tlokine." "Okay, okay. Don't get sore. Come on down and let's be friends." Something in his amused blue eyes decided her. She let a smile turn up the corners of her wide red mouth and came down gracefully. "That's better," Grim chuckled. "Tell me all about this place." "This is Stormland. The god Kohonnes made it by sending out his breath and creating it. And when he is angry he sends his breath again--and his world reshapes itself nearer to his heart's desire." Grim stared at her oddly. "You cribbed that from Omar. Shows you _do_ know something about the Earth. And the sun? And Kohonnes, what is he?" "Kohonnes is the creator of Stormland. He made me and Althaya and her people. He made the sun, too. His breath goes out and reshapes everything. If you want to avoid the anger of Kohonnes, you stand within the red markers. He never harms anyone in there." * * * * *