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should when offered instruction from an elder. “One hears, nadi, and one will certainly remember. But we are very careful! We are almost felicitous nine, we are taught by the aiji-dowager and by our parents, and we are very careful!”
    A bow in return. “One has every confidence in your caution, young lord. Rest assured, I shall have staff move these things to the staging area, give them a little dusting and polish, and you shall have them waiting for you tomorrow.”
    “Thank you, nadi!” he said with a second bow, and they all walked back to the entry and took their leave in the brighter light of the hallway.

     
    He was all but bouncing all the way to the lift, imagining how marvelous his suite was going to be and where
he
would put things.
He
would put things.
He
would have a choice.
    He had seen vids about animals. Horses. And elephants. And dogs and cats and monkeys. He had wanted a horse. And a monkey and a dog and a cat and a bird and a dinosaur. He had wanted…oh, so many things he had seen in the vids on the ship. But humans had not brought any of them with them. He had been
very
disappointed that there were no elephanti or dinosauri on Mospheira.
    He thought of things one could keep in a cage like that. He had instantly thought of several varieties of calidi, that laid eggs for the table—but calidi were scaly and had long claws and were not very smart. Parid’ji were spidery and furry, and moved fast and
ate
eggs. Like monkeys. He had seen vids. They were a lot like monkeys, but they belonged to the forests, and he had never thought of bringing one to the Bujavid.
    Oh, his whole mind had lit up when they had said the cage was for that.
    And when they were waiting for the lift, where nobody could hear, he stopped and said, “Can you find a parid’ja, nadiin-ji?”
    His aishid looked worried. All of them.
    “One can find almost anything in the city market, nandi,” Antaro said. “Or at least—one can ask a merchant to find what is not there. But one is not sure one should, without permission.”
    “They are difficult to deal with,” Lucasi said. “Your father would not approve.”
    “I want one. And you are not to say anything!
Any
of you! I can prove I can take care of it. I have never asked you to do anything secret but this. Find me one, and leave it to
me
that I shall get my father’s permission for it. I am his son. He will approve things for me that he would not if you asked him.”
    There was a second or two of deep quiet. And very worried looks.
    “One will try,” Antaro said. “One has an idea where one might find a tame one. It may take me a while.”
    “Then you shall do it,” he said as the lift arrived. And ignored the frown Veijico turned on Antaro.
    He could hardly contain his satisfaction. He had the cage. He was going to have a monkey. Well, close to a monkey. He had something that was going to be
fun.
And he would have something alive that was going to be
his
and not boring, because it
thought
of things for itself and it was not under anybody’s orders.
    He had been sad ever since he had had to leave Najida, and sadder since he knew he was going to have to live in a room with no windows and just white paint.
    His room would not be all white. His room would be
interesting.
He could not go back into space. But he had his beautiful furniture, he had his own aishid, and he had that beautiful ancient brass cage and he would have a room full of plants like nand’ Bren’s cabin on the ship. And he would have something to do unexpected things.
    He had dreaded the move. Now he could hardly wait.

3
     
    T he rain never let up. The view of Tanaja and its busy port was gray and watery as the bus reached the improved gravel road, where there was at last no worry about bogging down. It was largely thanks to the skill of the driver that they had gotten out of their one difficulty in the highlands, and nobody had had get out in the downpour and push. It was, Bren thought, a very