he 'd met the head of the league ; he 'd met the head zilaths and the laukums of most of the other cities ; he 'd become firm friends with teitu , who by all accounts was the heir in waiting , the hope of tarchna ; and he had a passing acquaintance , through arathia and arathenas , with many of the nobility and the priesthood of velzna ( nobility and priesthood being far from mutually incompatible , many nobles being priests , though some were not , and some priests were not noble ) ; but he had never met any ruler of velzna ; no zilath , no laukum , no priestly king .