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understatement, particularly from Phillip Woolf.
    “So Eliseer is putting Hamid in the shade?”
    “And in the full light of Orin’s attention, and he’s been quite solicitous lately.” Woolf’s narrowed eyes were turned outward on the city, but his mental focus was inward. “There are some rather ironic aspects in that. Eliseer is a Cognate House of Camine, which has seen better days and never was a major House, but when the two new Centauran Houses were established after the Fall, Jofry Selasis backed Almor Eliseer for First Lordship of one of them.”
    “The Selasids backed him? Why?”
    “Because both the last and present Lords Selasis underestimated the Eliseer. They had Hamid in their palm, and they didn’t think Eliseer would survive. They were ready to pounce when the House collapsed and have Centauri all to themselves, except for Drakonis, who wasn’t strong enough to offer them a real challenge.”
    “But that was thirty-four years ago.”
    Woolf gave him a wry smile. “It seems the Eliseer foiled the Selasids by flourishing. Loren Eliseer has done especially well for his House. Apparently he has an excellent intelligence system. At any rate, Camine Eliseer is in better shape financially than some Directorate Houses, and Lord Loren has put aside a respectable capital reserve and made good use of it. Lazar Hamid is deeply indebted to him at this point.”
    Alexand frowned slightly at that. “I’d think Hamid would go to Selasis for money.”
    “He would and has, but Loren Eliseer offered him loans at a substantially lower interest rate.”
    “I see. But what about Drakonis? Isador Drakonis seems to have flourished, too, and he’s certainly not in the Selasid palm.”
    Woolf nodded. “For one thing, his income is derived from energy franchises; he isn’t dependent on Selasis for freight. And Isador is a very adaptable man. But I think he owes his survival to some extent to Eliseer.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Ten years ago Drakonis was desperately in need of capital to enlarge the power plants on Perseus, and he made the error of borrowing from Selasis. The note came due a few months ago. It was a very secret transaction. I knew nothing of it, and our intelligence system is excellent. Nor did Mathis, and the Galinin intelligence system is second to none. But Eliseer found out about it. Drakonis had his back to a wall; he didn’t have the liquid assets to meet the note, but, fortunately, Eliseer stepped in at that point.”
    Alexand nodded. “With another low-interest loan?”
    “Yes. His profit margin on these loans is negligible, but the secondary benefits are incalculable. He blocked Orin’s gambit with Drakonis, and has Hamid indebted to him. He has mineral leases on ten thousand square kilometers of Hamid holdings, and three smelter sites on Pollux at this point. Of course it’s cheaper for him to put his smelters on Pollux; he doesn’t have to maintain habitat systems there. And there are rumors of a marriage between one of Eliseer’s sons and Hamid’s youngest daughter.”
    Alexand understood now why his father considered Eliseer a rising power, and why the House wasn’t, after all, such an unlikely candidate for a marriage alliance with Woolf.
    “How many sons does Lord Loren have?”
    “Two. Renay and Galen. They’re only five years old now. Twins, by the way; appropriate for the Twin Planets. Actually, it’s a Shang tendency, the twinning. Eliseer married Sato Shang’s second daughter.”
    Alexand frowned absently. “Father, you didn’t invite the Eliseer to the Estate to discuss a marriage.”
    “No, of course not. For public consumption, he’s here to discuss an orthoferrite crystal synthesizing process his techs have developed. And it’s not just an excuse for our meeting. That process has a staggering potential for commutronics and compsystems. If he can get it into production, it will make Eliseer a major House.”
    “If? What could stop him?”
    “A conflict