Two Pious Merchants

"'Hermes rates a sacrifice from me, that we arrived no later than now.'"

-The Shield Of Time, p. 23.

"For a mere space yacht, even an armed one with ultrapowered engines, to get away from three cruisers, was more than an accomplishment; it was very nearly a miracle. Van Rijn still kept four grateful candles burning before his Martian sandroot statuette of St. Dismas."

-Poul Anderson, "Hiding Place" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 555-609 AT p. 559.

Two periods; two timelines; two merchants; one impulse - to give thanks.