"I don't mean his talking one, I mean he could sell shines or pet animals."

"Opportunity cost's even higher there. I'll take extra shifts."

He takes kids on field trips to the market and about town and so on.

Kids are agreeable about this and the other creche workers appreciate it, it's good to get kids exposed to stuff.

It is! And more fun than being stuck in one place all the time!

One day when Aitim is not taking an extra shift and is having friends over one of the friends switches languages. Kib, swinging through the room to get dried figs and a cup of water, stops in his tracks.

"-hmm?"

"- nothing -"

(Kib is not lying well enough to fool Aitim, but the friend returns his attention to what he was saying. Kib leaves.)

Aitim finds him once his friend has left.

"Was that Harthanic?"

"Yeah. What -"

"I don't speak a word of Harthanic. Recurring Dream Character does."

" - in places where babies do not appear on hilltops that would be the weirdest thing I've ever heard."

"It's pretty fucking bizarre!"

" - you're sure you didn't learn it as a little kid or something, and forget -"

"It's not even spoken here, your friend is from Lapis."

" - then..."

"I mean, maybe my creche had a worker from Lapis for a while when I was two and I have forgotten all about it but like..."

"Sometimes babies are appearing on hilltops and you don't want to fail to notice, yeah. Is there precedent for - what, prophetic dreams?"

"No! No there is not! And my dreams are set decades ago!"

" - well, okay, can you verify them, do they have locations in them you could go look up - should've invited you with me when I visited Lapis -"

"They're in Lapis, and - I knew it was a real place but I've never been, figured I'd made up all the layout and all the Harthanic -"

"Well. Not the Harthanic. No precedent at all -"

"Ah, yes, I just neglected to mention, everyone with brown eyes has mysteriously informative dreams, this is common knowledge and I somehow forgot."

"Whatever it is the fact that you're the only person it happens to would be about as weird as it happening at all!"

"But I haven't heard of it before. Ever."