(Words by Countess Axylides, tune by Zander Nyrond)
Circles turn and seasons fail,
Ships spin out and wend the trail,
Traders carry cargoes from Core to Edge,
Silk and glass and feed for fledge:
None questions the passage nor queries the fee
When stars are bending and space is free.
Circles are turning and men grow old;
Blood, like the void between, grows cold.
But traders still carry their cargoes true
And men still deal in the Dreaming Blue,
And none shall question the passage home
Of the old grey Urlord of Salak's dome.
Circles have turned and dreams are dead,
All but the trading ships have fled.
The routes between are paths well known
And speed ships follow where trust has grown:
Guild and Trader and Scout of fame
Gather to honour the one Just Name.
Circles will turn and space is curved.
Honour earns honour and faith is served.
But never a ship of the Free Fringe Line
Would carry the coffin of old grown pine
None question the Merodach or his fee
When stars are mourning and space is free.
NOTE.-- Severin Torrent, Commander Elect of Fleet Security Darkside of the Fringes, did more to maintain the fragile hold of the Urthan Unity over those debatable regions than any of his predecessors, and yet managed in the process to earn the lifelong respect not only of those he ruled but of those against whom his vigilance was most strenuously required: and this despite some question regarding his personal habits, which were known to be strangely at variance with the stringency of the moral code he enforced. Even that mysterious smuggler, outlaw and alleged Rhagan spy the Merodach was known to hold Torrent in high esteem, as was amply borne out by the famous incident of the Commander's funeral rites, commemorated above.