Perivor proved to be a pleasant island with rolling, emerald-green hills where sheep grazed and with dark plowed fields where meticulously straight rows of crops flourished. Baron Astellig looked about with some pride. " It is a fair land,” he observed, "though doubtless not so fair as far-off Arendia."

"Methinks thou wouldst be somewhat disappointed by Arendia, my Lord," Garion told him. "Though the land be fair, the kingdom is much marred by civil turmoil and by the misery of the serfs."

"Doth that sad institution still prevail there? It was abolished here many centuries ago."

Garion was a bit surprised at that.

"The folk who inhabited this isle ere we came are a gentle people, and our forebears sought wives from among them. At first these common folk were bound in serfdom, as had always been the practice in Arendia, but our ancestors soon perceived that this was the grossest injustice, since the serfs were kinsmen by marriage." The baron frowned slightly. "Doth this civil discord thou spake of truly mar our ancestral homeland to any great extent?"

Garion sighed. "We have some small expectation that it may abate, my Lord. Three great duchies warred with each other for centuries until one Mimbre finally achieved nominal mastery. Rebellion lurked ever beneath the surface, however. Moreover, the barons of southern Arendia make bloody war upon each other for the most trivial of reasons.”

"War? Truly? Such affairs arise here on Perivor, as well, but we have attempted to formalize the conflict to such degree that few are ever slain."

"How meanst thou 'formalize,' my Lord?"

"Such disputes as arise are- except in cases of outrage or gravest insult customarily settled by tourneys." The baron smiled. "Indeed, I have known of a number of disputes that were counterfeited by the mutual contrivance of the principals merely as an excuse to hold such tourneys which do entertain nobles and commons alike."

"How very civilized, my Lord," Zakath said.

The strain of phrasing such involuted sentences was beginning to wear on Garion. He asked the baron to excuse him, pleading the need to confer with his companions, and rode back to talk with Belgarath and the others.

“How are you and the baron getting along?” Silk asked him.

"Quite well, actually. The intermarriage with the Dals has altered certain of the more irritating Arendish tendencies."

"Such as?"

"Gross stupidity for one thing. They've abolished serfdom, and they usually settle disputes with tournaments rather than open war." Garion looked at the dozing Belgarath. "Grandfather."

Belgarath opened his eyes.

"Do you think We’ve managed to get here ahead of Zandramas?"

"There's no way to know for sure."

"I could use the Orb again."