Nim twists out of Esme’s arms, drops to the floor, and is gone through the terrace door before anyone can say a word about it. She doesn’t like new people in the house. She never has.
“And this is Darina,” Esme says. “My best friend. She came with me from Concord.”
“Darina,” Zen repeats. “It’s a pleasure.”
“Welcome,” Darina says. Her face has gone pink. “Dinner’s ready.”
We sit, and the two Scorpii females I hired bring out the dishes and withdraw to the kitchen. Zen looks over the table without picking up his fork.
“This is human food.”
“It is.” Darina passes him the bread. “I taught the cook every dish myself. There was a fight about the spices. I won.”
Zen takes a bite, and his eyes close briefly.
“Then I take back everything I’ve ever said about human food.”
“What have you said about human food?”
“Nothing I’ll repeat at this table.”
“Now I have to know.”
“Then you’ll have to earn it.”
Darina laughs, and after that, the two of them stop being careful with each other by slow degrees. They start polite, then curious, and Esme catches my gaze across the table and holds it while Zen refills Darina’s glass without being asked.
“How do you find Otheera?” he asks her. “Most humans I’ve escorted through the gate can’t wait to leave it.”
“Most humans never see more than the gate.” Darina sets down her fork. “In Concord, I wasn’t allowed past the gardens. Here, I walk to the market on my own. I cross the bridges, stand on the terraces, and look out over the whole valley, and nobody tells me to get back inside. I love it here. I love all of it.”
“You may be the first human I’ve heard say that.”
“Then the others weren’t paying attention.”
“And nothing about it frightens you?”
“The prices at the spice stall frighten me.”
Zen laughs, and Darina looks pleased with herself.
“Esme tells me you work in the city,” she says.
“I’m a city guard, like Osric. We’ve been friends for years.”
“Then you can tell me stories about him that he won’t.”
Zen glances at me across the table.
“How many do you want?”
“All of them.”
“As you wish,” he says.
“Careful,” I say, and the two of them ignore me completely.
The females come back to clear the plates and bring out the next course. The house is louder than it has ever been, and I find that I like it.
