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“This is a beach. It’s a place humans go to have fun. They have them all over Earth.”

“Nothing like our sand dunes,” Kwon said. “You’d get eaten by the sand worms if you went to have fun on them.”

“I don’t think they have sand worms on Earth, not the biting kind.”

“Maybe you should paint our home?” Kwon suggested. “It could make your art more relevant to other Olickie.”

“This isn’t about making art that is relevant. It’s about creating something that moves me and anyone who looks at it.”

“I’m not sure I’m moved, but it does look good.”

Rane shook his head at his artistically challenged friend. “You have no appreciation for the arts.”

“What you do is amazing. I’ve never known any other Olickie interested in this sort of thing. It’s great you have a hobby.”

“It’s not a hobby. You know this is what I want to do.”

“But it isn’t what we do,” Kwon said, his tone suggesting this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. “We help to hold together the tattered fragments of peace.”

“You make it sound so dramatic.”

“It is. If we weren’t massaging egos and stopping diplomats from fighting each other over the table, there would be far more chaos in the star system. Our work is crucial. I know you don’t enjoy it, but—”

“I hate it.” Rane slumped against the wall. “I thought I could keep my head down, do the work, and use my art as an escape. It’s not enough.”

“It’s going to have to be,” Kwon said. “When you get distracted in your job, bad things happen.”

“Name one diplomatic mission that hasn’t been a success because of me.”

“How about the time that Forka stabbed the Senatorial representative from Dekab in the hand with a fork?”

“That was a misunderstanding. The Senator had his hand in the wrong place when my diplomat placed his fork down with particular vigor.”

“He stabbed him because you weren’t paying attention and didn’t notice when he called my diplomat incompetent.”

“They still agreed on the peace terms.”

Kwon shook his head. “There was the occasion when the Mehab smashed a plate of delicacies over my diplomat’s head because he called him a fluffy fuckwit.”

“It was a form of greeting.”

“It was a sign you weren’t paying your diplomat enough attention. That almost derailed the entire week of negotiations.”

“Once again, if you check the records, you’ll see the negotiation ended in a success.”

“Not without a lot of hard work from all of us. And don’t get me started on the President from Halina, who chased my diplomat around the meeting room with a knife, threatening to cut off his privates.”

Rane raised his hand. “Sometimes I get distracted, but everything works out. There haven’t been any total disasters.”

“Not yet,” Kwon said. “Cowes won’t take much more of this.”

Rane pointed at his paintings. “I must paint. I have to be able to express myself. This isn’t about throwing canvas and paints together and seeing what it looks like. My art is a part of me. I wouldn’t feel whole without it.”

“You’re willing to sacrifice everything you have for this art?”

Rane stood up straight. “I didn’t say that.”

Kwon was silent for a few seconds. “How far are you willing to push this interest of yours? Far enough that Cowes snaps and kicks you out?”