"Because it's his duty to be. Because the whole structure of the Vardda
society, which he is sworn to protect, is based on a few ironclad
rules, and you're liable to break every one of them. Oh, it isn't just
you. There are larger issues involved--I'll explain them, but that'll
take time--and you're sort of automatically mixed up with them. Kerrel
is a just man as he sees it, but his justice is not tempered with
mercy. I've seen him in action too often, Trehearne. You'll have
trouble enough. Don't give him a personal motive, too."
Edri's manner was so serious that Trehearne began to feel uneasy. A
great blank wall rose up before him, behind which lay the life and
complexities, the politics and philosophies and contentions of the
Vardda state, and he couldn't see through it or over it. He said, "I've
got an awful lot to learn. It scares me, how much. You and Kerrel don't
exactly love each other, do you?"
Edri shrugged. "He suspects me of harboring ideas not in agreement with
his own. On Llyrdis as it is on Earth, Trehearne, beware of a man with
a belief." Suddenly he laughed. "Well, that's enough of that. As you
just remarked, you have a lot to learn. We might as well get started."
Trehearne followed him obediently, to begin his re-education as a
Vardda.