Kim And Diana II

From his vantage point, Kim sees a Tibetan lama and offers to accompany him on his pilgrimage to find the River of the Arrow. Mahbub Ali, horse-trader and spy, thinks that Kim, accompanying the lama, can safely carry an Intelligence message.

From her vantage point, Diana Crowfeather sees a Wodenite priest and agrees to guide him on his pilgrimage to find evidence for the Universal Incarnation. Targovi, space traveling trader and spy, thinks that this innocent journey is a safe cover for Intelligence work.

I do not expect Poul Anderson's The Game Of Empire to parallel Rudyard Kipling's Kim at every step but so far they have these similarities. Also, Kipling describes a busy street scene in the detailed style that I have come to expect from Anderson:

"...the press of all the races in Upper India...";
"...all manner of Northern folk...";
tending and feeding animals;
loading and unloading;
drawing water;
paying camel-drivers;
employing grooms;
swearing, shouting, arguing, chaffering;
cloisters rented to traders;
"...excited men and excited beasts..." (pp. 24-25)

I expect to enjoy Kipling's descriptions of India and will probably revisit Anderson's descriptions of the planet Imhotep.