So Asanka, Lyr and Suak grew into adulthood together. There came a time when Asanka was in his late teens that Suak grew big enough to trigger the Kalonian plateau defences. Then Crinomu made a loose collar for the alegoyle's neck with a coded transponder which allowed Suak to fly at will over the plateau, for by now he had bonded totally with Asanka. Yet it was this change to the defence protocols which Gyrun blamed for the tragedy that resulted in the death of Cassia. Somehow there was a failure in the systems of station three and an alegoyle attack caught the horse unawares, ending in a fatal chase. Though Suak raised the alarm and tried to draw off the attack from his wild kindred he was unable to do more than briefly distract the three larger creatures and Orietta's faithful mare met her end on the soft downs of the Kalonia plateau that she had come to regard as her home.

Orietta was distraught and as he watched his mother weeping over the body Asanka felt his first intimations of mortality and a disturbing sense that his childhood was over. Two events which followed closely were forever linked in his mind. Hirrilow announced that Asanka was old enough now to learn something darker about the politics of the Enclaves. He explained to the young man exactly what the curse of Kalonia meant and how the arrival of his mother and his own birth had both compounded the sins of the Kalonian station of Seers in the eyes of more orthodox Enclaves. For the first time, Asanka heard the name of the station of Trassamul, highest amongst Enclave "equals" in the Conclave and foremost in denouncing Kalonia as a traitor to the Vow of Earth. 

"Trassamul moves against us more openly now than ever before," Hirrilow said. "They claim to know much of what happens in the station and it appears that they do. They must have a spy for our curse prevents them from obtaining information through the vurtiverse. I have my suspicions as to who that spy may be but I dare not to act on them yet.

"I am concerned too about the attitude of the local Rider tribes. Embelin reports that they have been organising in unusual ways which suggest some disturbance in the social balance. It is unclear why this is happening now or where it will lead but I do not think it a coincidence."

Less than a week after the disquieting meeting with Hirrilow, Crinomu took Asanka down to a deep room below the surface of the dome. It was a place the youth had never seen before. "This is my treasure trove," he said. "I negotiated for this space with the original builders of Kalonia long before the Seers took over this station. I want to show you something from the times before the Vow Of Earth, something I brought back from the Galactic Compact."

The strange device rested in a shielded case under the dark green light of the Kalonia station. "This instrument is called a klane," Crinomu said.

"Many thousands of years before the Vow Of Earth, one amongst a group of human settlers on the fecund moon known as Glysaranda 4.IV made the first ever klane. Over more than five hundred years it was perfected by a succession of designers until it became a totemic symbol of that moon, known far and wide for its cultural significance. The klane was first and foremost a tool, and a tool of great subtlety for it is capable of serving many purposes and it was crucial in the taming of the wild southern jungles of Glysaranda 4.IV. The klane is also a weapon and it is in this role that it found fame. The knight wanderers adopted the klane for their own. With the klane they fought duels according to baroque codes of honour incomprehensible outside Glysaranda 4.IV. Off world they took the klane into battle against the Dark Legions in the desperate days when the Golden Allies made their last stand and called on all the Systems of the Arm to aid them. This is all long forgotten now and in truth it was scarcely remembered even before the Vow Of Earth when I had an interest in the place and time this klane was created. I doubt there is anyone left on Earth but myself who knows of Glysaranda 4.IV and the culture that gave rise to the klane. If there are any in the Galactic Compact who have records still, we have no way of knowing. This particular klane is a collector's item. It belonged to a famous knight wanderer of the fifth dynasty called Jalesh and comes from the time when, in my opinion, the art of fashioning klanes was at its height for the instruments of that period are of surpassing refinement, potency and beauty. The story of how such a venerable weapon came into my hands is a long and intricate one in its own right and I do not wish to tell it now. Suffice to say that it has been resting here in Kalonia from the time before the destruction of records and the start of the Season of Innocence. It was ancient then and it is doubly so now, yet such was the skill with which it was made that it will still function. I wish you to have it now for I fear you will have need of it."

"I am not a master of the klane; there is no living master of the klane. But I can teach you something of the way it may be used as a tool and a weapon," Crinomu said to Asanka. 

They began to train; Crinomu demonstrating the functions of the klane and then wielding a museum piece of a sword from classical Earth history to partner the youth as he practiced with the incomparably more complex instrument.

"Within the handle there is a stabilized free quark resonance battery which draws from the raw potential of vacuum zero point energy, bleeding back very slowly what was stolen from the dark energy fields in a shattering instant in the quantal forge where it was fashioned. The klane does not really have an infinite energy supply but at the maximum rate of power the frequency flow allows you might as well consider it infinite for all practical purposes." 

The klane felt slightly warm and firm in Asanka's hand and seemed to dance with the intent of his muscles as if it knew where he wanted it to go next. He imagined that he could feel the hidden energies flowing through it; light and sharp and sparkling with the joy of action after its long sleep. 

"Around the handle is a quadruple switch gauge which controls the modality of the klane; the shape, strength and radius of the fields which it can deploy from the blade as well as the flow of energy to the blade, the spin, heat and fluxion currents. The knight wanderers had elaborate formal conventions within their duals about the accepted modes which may honourably be matched to one another and much was written about the lore of klane choreography - the sequences of customary attack and defence. You certainly don't need to worry about such arcane niceties even if I knew them myself (which I don't).

"We'll start with just one very important rule. Rotate the black tooth on the fourth gauge five clicks to the left of that thin top spline line and depress it into the barrel so that the forces are muted to training levels. I don't want any accidents whilst we're having these mock battles!"