"Guantra is your friend. You would not steal the woman of a friend.
"You gave her up. You ran from her, hoping to lose yourself in the desert, thinking Ilse would forget...."
Kortha stirred restlessly, but relaxed. He listened, absorbed.
"Ilse found you in your smithy. You wanted to find Guantra to get his advice, so you went to Yassa. Hurlgut sent men to kill you. You slew them instead, and fled again. Ilse came to tempt you, but you were saved by Guantra. He sent Ilse away, and brought you to safety."
Kortha sighed softly.
"Guantra is your friend, Kortha. The two of you might easily rule Mars. Two friends to lead Mars to its rightful place among the planets. You and Guantra. True friends...."
Kortha whispered, "Guantra is my friend. Ilse is a wanton seeking my love. Hurlgut hates me, for Hurlgut is jealous."
"That is correct. Now repeat all that I have told you, after me."
Their voices susurrated in the draped room. Their voices fled from wall to wall, and sank into oblivion. The candle that marked the hours and the days burned lower. Only the voices lived, and the teeming brain of Kortha that was taught by an unsleeping, patient, mechanical teacher.