Soundlessly and a few feet away two more people appear. One has braided red hair (the human kind), dressed in generally medieval looking clothes with a few leather-and-metal armor pieces and a sword, a few packs slung over her shoulders. She's holding the hand of the other new arrival but looking at the previously present one.

The other has short brown hair and also vaguely medieval clothes, non-martial. She looks around and bounces slightly. 

"Oh for fuck's sake."

She looks up and smiles slightly. "Didn't want to draw attention."

"Right." She pulls one of her packs down and starts pulling out clothes, tosses some of them over. Points some of the rest at her appearing companion. "You too."

"There's snow!"

"Yes dearest, there certainly is."

She looks at Xeyr again.

"Assuming you didn't get much then?"

"A little. There's train tracks, look high tech. Saw a town. Runner tracks without animal footprints."

"Right." She starts pulling off the armor. Draws the sword and holds it for a moment; it shrinks into a pocketknife she tucks away. 

All three get dressed. Still not particularly for the weather, but more so. 

"Take it you haven't eaten either?"

Headshake

Pulls out food and hands it over. Pulls off most of the packs.

"Leave this with you, go off exploring then." And at her appearance companion, "Think you can stay out of trouble?"

Serious nod

She has most of her covered at this point - long pants, long sleeves, gloves, hat over her hair. Pulls a scarf over her lower face.

Heads off.

She's on her way from town to one of the area's far more remote outposts, bundled up and listening to a recording on her headphones. She's humming quietly to herself, but even she can barely hear it over the sound of the snowmobile she's driving. She's scanning the horizon for bears, or for creatures that look like they might be bears, not so much for people. There are not supposed to be any people in this particular corner of the world.

She's pretty sure she sees a person anyway.

This is in fact a person!

She hears and sees the snowmobile and its driver. Considers a moment, then keeps walking, not making attempts to go elsewhere or conceal herself.

She brings the snowmobile to a stop, several yards away from the person.

"Hi!" She looks around uncertainly. "Are you, um. Do you know where you are?"

She briefly considers again. (Not exactly her area, usually, this.) Pulls down the scarf.

"Not particularly."

"So, Dezar Arin is like an hour back that way by snowmobile. And the research station is over... over there somewhere?" She points vaguely, then frowns. She thinks about asking how the person got out here, but decides this is not the most important thing. "Do, uh, do you need help?"

"Thank you, we would likely appreciate some." Pause. Yeah, not her area.

"Is there some kind of person you'd be generally inclined to hate on sight?"

She opens her mouth. Pauses for far too long. "Um. I think..."

This probably isn't that important of a question. It doesn't seem important, in itself. But it's important to be polite, and pointless dishonesty is impolite. On the other hand, it's a difficult question, not the sort of thing she expected to have to consider out here. She can't think of anyone she hates in real life. Possibly some people on the internet.

"I guess I'd recognize tidal on sight," she says, mostly to herself. "I don't know if I hate her."

She has no idea who tidal is. Presumably someone local. 

Well, hopefully good enough. She's pretty confident she could take this person anyway, if needed, though Xeyr would probably object. 

"In that case would you mind if we moved slightly? I left some - friends a bit back; the one of them's usually better at this sort of thing than I am."

"Oh!" She motions to the sled behind her snowmobile, which is only partially full of boxes. "Yeah! There should be room! At least if you don't have too many friends. But it's super important that we find them anyway, because this is the arctic, and it's always colder than you think it's going to be. Like, it seems OK when you just step out into it, but then when you're stuck outside you can get hypothermia and stuff." She looks disapprovingly at her outfit. "I think I have some spare clothes, too. So you don't get hypothermia. Because that would be bad."

She smiles a little (decides not to stop herself.)

(And arctic, that's certainly something.)

"Two friends. She'd love a coat when we get there. And thank you."

She gets on the sled. Pauses briefly to tug (gently) on Jewel's void thread. Then, "I think I'm secure." And she is ready to direct the snowmobile the way she'd come.

She follows the directions she's given. She hopes this won't throw her off too much. She's not actually that good at navigating.

M is perfectly good at directing. And there are footprints in the snow and everything.

Back where she left the others, Jewel is running around in the snow, occasionally stopping to throw some or construct something.

She is watching her, smiling slightly. 

They have both now dressed to M's level (without the scarves), covered hair and all.

Jewel turns when the snowmobile is still too far out for human senses. 

"She's coming back. She's with someone else." 

"Thank you, dearest. Stay close please." 

She waits, watching Jewel in peripheral vision, looking between the direction of the footprints and the ground.

She brings the snowmobile to a stop several yards away from the standing one. Pauses.

"Hi! I heard you were. Uh. Possibly in need of assistance."

She glances briefly at M, who says something in a very much non-local language. Nods slightly and looks back at the local.

"Yes, thank you very much. We're - lost travelers, you could say. We'd certainly appreciate anything that could help us settle in somewhere we could stay. We don't have much to pay you back at present - though of course you're welcome to anything we have. But we'd be glad to reimburse you in whatever way you would find helpful, once we can."

She bites her lip, thinking. "You are very lost," she agrees, finally. "I am kind of supposed to be doing deliveries right now, but this is a safety thing, and safety comes first, so I think everyone will understand if I head back now and then finish the deliveries later. So I guess I could take you back to town now, especially if you guys haven't eaten anything and have been stuck here for a while and--oh, wow, how long have you been out here?"

She looks over from where she's building a snow castle.

"We just got here."

"Slightly longer than that, in my case. We do have supplies though." She gestures at the packs. "And we'd certainly appreciate a ride to your town, but we wouldn't want to hold you up from your work, or possibly cause you trouble. We'd be glad to wait here until you returned, or to come with you if that would be better. We won't be in danger."

"Right. OK. This is the arctic. Like, I don't know if you've..."

She pauses, trying to think of a way that three people could have "just gotten" to the middle of a frozen wasteland with no vehicles. She can't really come up with anything. Maybe they mean it in the relative sense, like they're campers and they're not from around here. Yes. Campers. Without a tent or a vehicle.

Clearly, they have no idea what they're doing.

"Uh, I don't know if you know where you are? But this is not a safe place. Like, there's the cold, and there are bears--they told me there were bears--and, um--the point is, you can't stay out in the middle of nowhere, because soon it'll be night, and then the temperature will drop, and then you guys will freeze and die and maybe be eaten by wolves. And then there will be dead bodies on my delivery route! And that's not OK. So let's just, like, go back to town, and explain things, and then nobody will be dead, and my customers will be only slightly annoyed that they had to wait another four hours to get their stuff."

"Only in as much as you've told us already. The - somewhat inconsiderate method of transport that left me here doesn't give much information." It is probably not useful in this situation to explain she's spent multiple nights out already. "And in that case, thank you for your care, we are grateful to accept."

She jumps down off the sled to help with bags.

"Just happy to help," she says, getting off the snowmobile to help with the bags.

She glances at the snow castle. It's a pretty castle. Not what she would have spent her time on in a survival situation, but pretty.

"How did you guys end up out here, exactly?"

"One could say transportation trouble. Unfortunately not the kind where complaining about it is likely to be helpful." 

She beckons Jewel over so they can climb on the sled. (She wonders how likely the explaining things is to involve the local government. Isn't looking forward to it, particularly, though perhaps she's due. But that's up to the local, and risking getting her in trouble or pushing her against preference is of course unacceptable.) She reaches out to Jewel, who is perfectly glad to cling slightly. Such it is.

She nods, though she doesn't understand this explanation at all. She decides it will be easier to puzzle this out once they're inside.

"OK, so I know there's not a lot of room in the sled. Weight-wise it should be fine, but you'll have to sit pretty close together." She points at one of the boxes. "There should be a coat in there, if one of you wants to use it. Just one."

She climbs back onto the snowmobile and waits for them to finish settling.

They don't mind sitting close together.

She looks at Xeyr until she takes the coat and puts it on.

She starts the engine again, and they're off.

She's looking around and mostly at the sky, still cuddled in Xeyr's arms. It's some time into the ride when she speaks up, also in a quite non-local language.

<<Hair color is important.>>

She looks about to give another kind of look, but Xeyr reaches out before she fully does.

<<Oh?>>

<<They have - people categories? It's not about hair but it goes with hair.>>

<<Do you know what kind?>>

<<Blue is people in charge and land. Green is science things and art things. Yellow is offices. Grey is fighting and stuff. Orange is caring. Purple is labor work. Red is they don't like them at all.>>

<<Thank you dearest.>>

She raises a hand to the edge of the hat covering her hair, glances at their driver. Well, apparently they've gotten fortunate. Not something they should depend on lasting.

<<Any fruits or the like? It'll be easier.>>

She produces some dried berries.

She takes off a glove and squeezes them in her hand. A few moments later she takes off her hat, revealing hair that's now a dark purple. Teases out a strand to hang down before putting the hat back on.

She's watching her.

<<Think that's gonna help?>>

<<Might. Better than just having it all covered. I suppose I could have kept the color...>>

<<You'd rather be tortured than have people think you're fancy things, I'm sure not leaving you to the other one. Anyway I've got a scarf in here somewhere and no one's going to think I'm the worst thing they can plausibly think of, I'll just keep mine covered till we we can get dye or whatever they have hereabouts.>> She laughs shortly. <<Caretaking. Spirits.>>

She runs fingers over the new strand of hair.

<<Do you know why they don't like the red group?>>

[Jewel] <<They think they're dirty.>>

Quiet moment. She winds the stand of hair around a finger.

<<It's good that you told us dearest. And that you waited till we could talk.>> 

<<And don't let it run away with you.>>

Serious nod again. <<I won't.>>

She cuddles back into Xeyr some more.

<<Can I be green?

Please?>>

<<Yes dearest, you can be green.>> (There's details still to be found out of course. But.)

Cuddle. Smile.

Watching

She can't really watch them while she's driving, but she tries to listen. She knows they're speaking some kind of foreign language, but she's disappointed that she can't pin down which one it is.

It takes them about an hour to pull into Dezar Arin. It's a small town, with a population of about four thousand people. Two schools. One hotel. One train station. A couple restaurants. There are a few businesses that aren't strictly necessary for maintaining the community, but not very many of them.

She heads towards the deliveries warehouse.

They look around the town.

She's lying back on Xeyr, says outloud to no one in particular,

<<They like babies a lot.>> 

She brings the snowmobile to a stop in front of the warehouse, then hops off.

"I will be right back," she says, smiling nervously. "Don't go anywhere."

They don't go anywhere.

She heads into the warehouse and finds her manager.

"Hey! So. Sir."

"Aren't you supposed to be making the run to the research station?"

"Yes! Yes. I am. But I ran into these, um, these people, who were lost, and they needed someone to take them back to town, and I figured, that's a safety thing, right? You can't just leave people out in the middle of nowhere where they'll freeze to death. So I came back, and, uh, now that they're back I'll go out and make the deliveries just a little late, and that'll be better than leaving them, right?"

She smiles brightly.

"Why didn't you call?" Pause. "Did you at least call the station?"

She gives this question the careful consideration it deserves.

"I was distracted, and I forgot. I will call them now. And I'll make sure they blame me, and not you or the company."

Slightly less confident smile.

Dubious frown. "OK. Get it done, Kairda."

She leans against the wall to listen in as the snowmobile driver goes inside. She's talking to someone - some authority figure by the sound of it. They don't go out of her hearing range, which is nice. No need for getting Jewel involved.

She relays to Xeyr, who doesn't look happy, predictably. Going to be mostly thinking on things like hoping-they-can-repay, now. Well, M'll take over thinking of the other things, that's part of what she's for and all.

Doesn't sound like the driver's reporting them yet anyway.

She walks back outside and waves at the people on her sled, then calls the research station. She emphasizes her own thoughtlessness, mentions the stranded people in a way that is meant to imply that she hasn't done anything particularly heroic in saving them, and promises that the supplies will still be there by midnight. The person on the other end is disappointed, but mostly understanding. These things happen out here, and one has to be flexible.

"We apologize to have caused you trouble. If there's any way we can be of assistance -"

"No! No, no, it's totally fine! It could have happened to anybody!"

It actually probably couldn't have happened to most people, come to think of it. But it would be awkward to backtrack.

"Um. Do you guys have a place to stay? Money for a hotel room?"

"Not at the present moment, I'm afraid." Between themselves, they could likely construct some shelter in the snow, as she alone had not. But that is likely not the thing to mention, to this person and currently.

(M has a pretty good idea of what she's thinking and raises eyebrows at her.)

Awkwardly long pause.

"So, uh, if you don't mind my asking, what exactly are you guys doing up here?"

"If possible we'd love to be able to find work. Or travel to a location where we could, if this is not one. If you happen to have suggestions for what we might do in the interim, we would certainly be grateful. And glad to pay you back, again, once we have the means."

She nods at this non-answer, then glances at the visible strands of Xeyr's purple hair.

"Uh, I think one of the diners is hiring wait staff right now? There are other places you could apply to, but it depends what you know how to do. Or you could take the train south to Barmadi, they probably have more jobs there. But you probably want to warm up first."

"I typically do domestic labor or similar work. Cleaning staff and the like. But I will be glad to look at the options." Likely not the moment to mention her other area of work. "My friend does security, if that might be available."

"Oh! Yeah, probably! I can check for you guys! Um, I've been doing cleanup stuff at the kennel, too, but I was thinking about quitting soon, so I guess they'll probably have an opening in a little while. Anyway, we can't figure this stuff out from here, we should--oh, how long since you had anything to eat?"

"We had some supplies, though we were rationing them. Thank you, you are very kind."

"I mean, you can't just leave people. But I do have to actually deliver the things. I can make you something to eat, and then take you to the friend my niece is staying with, and then when I get back I can help you guys, uh, figure out whatever it is you're going to do?"

She smiles at the first sentence. "You are very kind. We would be grateful for that, thank you." (They don't desperately need the food, but it seems she might find it positive herself to provide. And it does not add so much to what there is to pay her back for.)

"OK! I guess we can probably just take the snowmobile."

She hops back on and prepares to take them home, since that's where all her food is.

They do not mind transportation by snowmobile.

Her house is fairly small. She is not aware of this. She parks the snowmobile in the yard and presents it proudly.

"Everything's so spacious here, don't you think? There are a couple apartment buildings, but even the rooms there are bigger than they were where I grew up."

They have been in palaces and they have lived in less than one room shanties. She has stood on empty planets and she has curled in cells too small to stand.

She smiles again. "It's good to be able to like your home. Where did you grow up, if I may ask?"

"Alar Nar. It's a nice place! But there are lots of people to compete with, you know? So this is easier, in some ways. And in some ways it's harder." She smiles at this, then goes to unlock the door.

It's already unlocked. She frowns.

She notices. She casually puts a hand in her pocket.

She pauses for a second, then confidently walks into her house. "Hey! I'm home!"

Someone answers her from the kitchen. "Hey, so are we!"

That explains that. She turns back to her guests.

"It's just Kor. He probably got hungry. Or Zada did."

She returns to a more regular on-guard.

Presumably the friend and the niece she mentioned earlier, unless it's someone else. "Kor?"

"He's like, he lives next door and stuff? And Zada isn't in school yet and daycares are expensive. And it's always spring here, so it's not like he minds."

She motions them into the house, then heads into the kitchen, where Kor is making cheese sandwiches. She's beginning to suspect that this is the only thing he knows how to make.

"Expensive" sounds like they might be able to help her with money, if nothing else, once or if they can obtain some. 'Always spring' can have a very large amount of meanings, though it sounds like it might have to do with the information about babies. 

They linger in the entrance hall and look around at the house. (She holds Jewel's hand.)

A very small person charges into the entrance hall and roars!

She thinks it's an impressive roar.

She smiles.

(She shrinks back slightly against Xeyr.)

"Your niece?"

"Don't be scared!" she says to Jewel, suddenly concerned. She leans in and gets quiet, as if confiding a secret. "I'm a pretend dragon."

She tries not to laugh.

"Yes, that's Zada. Zada, these are some people I met while I was working."

Smile. "Hello, Zada."

"Hey, Zada."

She glances at Xeyr and then M and also says hello, still mostly pressed back against Xeyr.

"Hello," she says, very seriously, before addressing Jewel again. "It's OK. Dragons are very scary."

She walks off toward the kitchen. "Do the new people have names?"

Oh. Frick. She forgot to ask their names.

"Yeah, of course. Everyone has a name. Do you want to ask them what their names are?"

She leans out of the kitchen again. "Do you have names?"

Well she supposes if they end up with a way to take official identities and decide to have more locally appropriate ones they can say these were nicknames.

"I'm Xeyr. That's M. This is Jewel. Does your aunt have a name?"

"That's auntie Kairda! But mostly she's just auntie. Cause there aren't any others. You have good names. Nobody else has them, so people won't get you mixed up!" She notes that they're still wearing their outdoor clothes. "You can take off your hats and stuff. Cause this's inside. So you can wear inside clothes."

They mostly divest themselves of outdoor clothes. 

She takes off her hat to shake out about ear-length now-green hair.

She keeps her hat on and digs in one of the bags. "D'you have a restroom here?"

"Over there. You guys can come and sit down, we're almost done. Milk's in the fridge." In addition to Kor's cheese sandwiches, she's gotten out some apples and a bag of carrots. She's working on scrambling eggs. "We don't have a ton of stuff--oh, let me know if you're allergic to anything. Zada, make sure you sit down to eat, so you don't get the food everywhere."

"We are not allergic. Is there anything we can help with?"

She disappears to the restroom and returns with her hair tied up in a grey scarf. (She doesn't know if that matters at all, but she had one, so.)

She notes the offer. "Mmm, I think we're almost done. Just help yourselves, OK?" She focuses on serving Zada and making sure she and Kor both eat something that isn't a cheese sandwich.

She glances at M, when she returns. "You're not from Voa, right?"

It would be helpful if she knew which food was cheapest but she does not. She serves herself and helps Jewel.

She doesn't really have a way of knowing whether this question has anything to do with her scarf, or something else. 

"We are not."

She dishes up the eggs. "I didn't think so. Where were you guys from before?"

She wants to guess Tapa, but no, she's sure she would have recognized it if they were speaking Tapai on the way over. There must be other places that use head wraps. And maybe they won't want to say. But they asked her, so she figures it's a fair question.

She happily eats eggs.

"We tend to travel a lot."

OK, definitely deliberately avoiding answering questions about who they are or what they're doing here. Interesting. Also sort of suspicious. But they're so nice.

She wonders whether serial killers are nicer than other people. No, that doesn't make any sense, if you were a serial killer you wouldn't be wandering around in the middle of the Arctic wilderness where there aren't any people. At least, you probably wouldn't be. No, if you were a serial killer, you might be nice, but mostly you'd be normal, because you'd want to deflect suspicion. And they're being super suspicious. So suspicious that they probably can't be serious criminals, because a serious criminal of any sort would be taking more care not to act suspicious. As a serious criminal, she feels like she has a certain degree of expertise in this area. So if anyone would know, it would probably be her.

Yes, sensible. She nods.

"OK! Anyway, I have to get back to delivering stuff. I did promise the guys at the research station. I should be back, like, really late tonight? You guys can hang out here as long as Kor's here. If he wants to take Zada back to his house, then....?"

He doesn't offer to let them hang out at his house.

"...then, uh, I think the hotel lets people hang out in the lobby? You probably don't have to buy anything to hang out in the hotel lobby. And it's warm and they have TV. OK?"

"Thank you very much again." M is looking at her, but she will not ask for a night at someone's house if it is not offered. "Is there a way we can contact you, or would you prefer that we not do that?" 

"Oh! Yeah." She takes out her pocket everything and pulls up her contact info. "You guys can come back as soon as I'm back! Or, well, that'll be really late. But I'll let you know when I'm back, and then you can decide if you want to hang out here again? Uh, can I get your contact info too?"

"You continue to be extremely kind. And I am afraid we do not have that form of contact. Is there a particular hour at which we could be in a certain place?"

"You don't have everythings?" he says, incredulously. "Where are you from, the 3100's?"

She glares sternly at him.

"You can come over for breakfast, if you want. I don't have to work tomorrow. Say seven in the morning?"

She looks at Jewel, again lowering her voice confidentially. "I don't have an everything either."

Presumably the hotel or some other location will have somewhere where they can learn this location's time tracking. "Thank you, we will be glad to do that."

"OK! I'll see you guys tomorrow, then! And like I said, feel free to stay as long as Kor's here!"

She hugs Zada, then motions for Kor to follow her to the entrance hall. She speaks quietly, hoping they can't hear her.

"I think they're kind of confused. And foreign. And confused. So make sure nothing catastrophic happens while I'm gone, OK?"

When she's satisfied that he's accepted this responsibility, she leaves the building and heads off to finish work.

She thanks her again and wishes her a good workday.

They can hear her. They won't give any indication of this. Among ways to be described, that is in fact a rather positive-for-them one.

Unless Kor starts talking to them, she's going to be surveying what she can see of the house for books, other pocket everythings, or other potentially informative electronics they might be able to ask to borrow.

There are no pocket everythings lying around. The kitchen is devoid of anything particularly interesting, apart from some colorful ceramic mugs and various drawings by Zada that have been taped to the cabinets. The living room has a bookshelf, dominated by science fiction and books about science and history, many of them written for children. There's an end table with a child's truck toy on it, though the cover for the electrical parts has been ripped off, and the wires don't appear to be in their original places. There's a TV set. There's also a short hallway that leads to the bathroom and two more doors, both of which are closed right now.

Kor frowns at them. Particularly at Xeyr. "So. You guys like TV?"

She notices the frown and stays by.

She bounces. "I like TV!"

She notices both the frown and M. "Yes, thank you. Would you mind if I read?"

"You like to read too?" she asks, as though this is weird and noteworthy. "We have lots of books! More than anyone! They have paper, and auntie can read them all!"

She smiles. "Your aunt is clearly very excellent. And yes, I do like to read. Would you like to show me some books?"

"I like books too. And TVs!"

She runs into the living room and pulls some books off the shelves. "These ones are good! This one is about caves, and this one is about the 'gesive system, and this one is about bugs, and this one is about every country in the whole world, and--Kor I can't reach the one with the supernova--"

He pulls a college astronomy textbook down and gives it to her, then presses a button on the TV and sets it to people playing bell and stick.

She will happily watch people playing bell and stick!

She will with thanks take the book about countries.

The atlas seems to be written for a child approximately two years old. The information it contains is simplified and incomplete, but it still gives a decent picture of most of the well-known countries, including Tapa, Anitam, and Cene. Voa itself is glanced over, on the assumption that the reader is already familiar with it, but it still contains some limited information about Voa's climate, history, and political system.

Zada sits down next to Xeyr and opens her astronomy book, occasionally looking over at the maps in the other one. She points out a paragraph of text next to an illustrated cross-section of a star. "This says, stars are very hot, and if you touch them, you will be very hot, too. So hot you will melt. Even your eyes will melt. But you don't touch them, because they're very far away."

This is not at all what the paragraph says, though it does confirm that stars are hot.

She laughs. "Stars are certainly hot and they are certainly far away!"

She is looking at the bookshelf herself, for what other social-relevant non-fiction there might be.

"How do I make this show me more things?" 

"Please," she adds, when M turns briefly to look at her.

"If I were to say 'don't touch stars is a good rule, it will make people not hurt.' What do you think some other good rules would be?"

"There's a button on the thing," he says, motioning vaguely towards the TV. "I dunno what happened to the remote."

He doesn't say anything about the bookshelf, but on the upper shelves there are some more advanced texts. A few focus on historical periods and the sciences, with an emphasis on space and prehistoric Amentans. One of them traces the history of pottery. Several collections of fables. Something about castle construction. A couple parenting books. Introductory textbooks for linguistics and economics classes the owner has never considered taking. Nothing on politics or government.

"Good rules are things that keep you safe! Like, don't touch the stove, and don't go outside without a coat on, and always wash your hands after you go to the bathroom, and never ever ever go play by the red building. And also always be nice to people, and don't hit them. Things like that!"

She will go click around the TV button, glance at Xeyr and M, and then try to find a news channel.

Historical periods, sure, that's something. Preferably not just prehistorical.

"Those sound like important rules. What do you think would happen if someone broke the rules?"

"They would get hurt! Or if they broke a big rule, then the police would come and stop them!"

There are a couple news channels. One is reporting on the renovation of a major government building. Another has people discussing the effects of trade restrictions with Orvara.

The books about history tend to focus on very specific subjects. Apart from the history of pottery and castle construction, there's one about the Voan filmmakers in the 3370s, another about an ancient Cenemi poet, a book titled The Rise of Agriculture, and one about the history and supposed effects of mixed-caste primary schools. There's also much simpler book titled The Amazing History Of Voa, in the middle of all the other books that look like they were written for one-year-olds.

Amazing History and mixed-caste primary schools, sure.

Trade restrictions with Orvara, that sounds news-y!

"Which rules do you think are big rules? Would the police come if someone touched a stove?"

Now this is a complicated question. She frowns thoughtfully. Touching stoves is bad because you might get hurt. When someone gets hurt badly enough, the adults call for special adults who take you away to fix things. The people who take you away definitely wear uniforms, but does that make them police? It probably does. She thinks there might be another group for getting rid of fires, and if you touch a stove then it's possible that fire might be involved somehow.

"The stove is hot," she says, trying to work this out. "And if you touch hot things, you melt. So that's real important always. And if you did it anyway and you got melted, then someone would have to make you not be melted anymore. So the police would have to take you away to get you fixed. But if there's a fire, then someone else has to come and help the police, because police don't know about fires."

She is not entirely sure this is how it works, but it seems like it makes sense.

He giggles.

Amazing History begins with a glowing account of the ancient Voan wars of conquest, followed by an imaginative description of daily life in the 2600s. It glosses over much of the rest of the ancient period, and picks up again with the creation of a much larger united state and the subsequent introduction of the caste system. It neglects to explain the specifics caste system, though it does state that "this meant everyone could focus on things they were good at, and Voa soon had much more food and other useful things." It continues on through the rest of Voan history, ending with an illustration of a middle-aged Governor Avalor leading the country into the future.

The book about intercaste education is written at an adult level, includes a lot of citations and footnotes. It argues against the practice, claiming that it makes children less capable of adequate specialization.

One of the TV panelists argues that limiting trade with Orvara will be bad for people who create certain specialized items. Another argues that the risk of pollution is too high.

"Well I will make sure not to touch any stoves!" And that is enough interrogation through children. (She wonders if locals here do actually melt in response to heat.) She looks through her book some more before swapping with M, pays attention to the TV news.

She rolls her eyes at the intercaste education book. She plans to looks up all these wars later on for the kind of things that don't get included in books for small children. 

This news seems to just keep talking about the same thing! What else is on TV?

He calls Zada over and reads the astronomy textbook to her while she sits on his lap. He doesn't know the answers to most of her questions, but he tries.

The TV has lots of things. Sports, dramas, cartoons, cartoons and dramas inappropriate for one-year-olds, taped theater performances, a documentary about the history of vaccination, a cooking competition, a show about cleaning and uncluttering houses, a channel devoted to talking about space...

She occasionally volunteers astronomy answers, in possibly unconventional phrasings!

Dramas can tell you things about the world, right?

They can!

This drama is about a person with yellow hair whose mother has been accused of stealing a large amount of money. The case is expected to finish in three days, and she is unsure whether the death penalty will be involved.

She sits on the edge of her seat and worriedly watches the plot!

She exchanges glances with Xeyr at the bit about the death penalty. 

Meanwhile it'd probably be useful to ask this Kor if he knows when he's planning on leaving, but that's not going to mean much unless they've gotten something about timekeeping first. Does this house have any visible timekeeping instruments?

There's an analog clock hanging on the wall above the stove. There's a fixed indicator at the top, and the clock face moves so that the current time is always at the top of the face. There are twenty-four numbered hour marks, indicating a twenty-four hour day.

She sees some potentially-timekeeping instruments around, but for all she knows they might be actually something-else-keeping. She visibly looks around, not letting her eyes fall on any of the instruments.

"Do you have somewhere I could see the time?"

"Yeah, above the stove."

"Thank you."

Then she will keep an eye on that and watch how it might change while they continue with the books and such.

She decides that she is done reading. It involves too much sitting still. She hops off Kor's lap and runs to her room, then returns with a box of small toys and begins arranging them on the floor.

"This is the shop," she announces. "We are selling things so we can go to space."

"That's exciting. If I buy things can I also go to space?"

"You have to have a lot of money to buy a spaceship. So we have to sell things. But you can sell things, too. You can be the assistant."

She gives Xeyr a hat to symbolize her role as assistant.

What a nice hat.

"How can I buy a spaceship? Is there a spaceship store? What will we do with a spaceship?"

She nods seriously. "We will go to the spaceship store when we have lots of money. And then we will go to space. But first we need a million trillion noavo. So you have to work very hard, OK? Like this."

She goes to Jewel and presents her with a few of the items from the store: a plastic train, a single glove, and a wooden spoon. "Hello. Would you like to buy something?"

"A million trillion! That is a lot! What will we do in space?"

She shrinks back a little and looks to Xeyr and M.

"It's alright, dearest."

Tempted sideways look at train.

Reassuring nonverbals.

 "I want a train! I do not have any noavo."

"We will have to see what is in space. There will be whole planets that go around different stars, and we will need to explore them. But first we have to buy the spaceship."

She turns back to Jewel.

"You will have to get some money, so then you can buy a train. What do you want to be?"

This is all leaving somewhat unclear exactly where this world is in space exploration. She'll check out some books on space if they're free, that might help.

She shakes her head so her hair bounces. "I'm green!"

"Green is not a job. You need to be something. You can be an artist, or a singer, or a doctor, or a scientist. Or you can build spaceships." She thinks about this. "You can have the train if you build a spaceship for us."

"I can build a spaceship! And I am a scientist. What can I build a spaceship with?"

"We have to draw it first. Then we'll know what you need."

She runs off to her room again and returns with a notebook and a pen. "You can draw it now. We'll sell other things until you do."

She presents M with the glove, the wooden spoon, and a felt hand puppet. "Would you like to buy something?"

Drawing spaceships!

Some of them look rather like spaceships they've seen before but that's probably fine.

She briefly looks at Xeyr with raised eyebrows. 

"I don't have any money either. I can guard your warehouse or something."

Books seem to be suggesting no far-range space travel but fairly routine travel to the moons (plural).

"We don't have a warehouse yet. You can guard the place where the spaceships are made, so that people don't steal them."

She bounds back over to Xeyr. "We can't go to space today. We have a scientist and a guard person now, but it will take at least three days to build a whole spaceship. You can help out tomorrow, though!"

"I'll certainly make sure that doesn't happen."

"I will be very glad to help."

And they can spend their time that way, reading and trading books and the lovely local child.

After a while, Kor announces that it's time for them to return to the other house. He stares at the visitors as he helps Zada put her coat on, expecting them to exit the house without being explicitly told.

They thank him and say goodbyes. They redress for the outdoors and exit the house.

The sun is on the horizon; it seems to move very slowly. To the right, there are more houses, including the one that Kor and Zada are walking to. To the left, there are a few houses, and beyond them a series of shops can be seen. The grocery store, a diner, and a department store are clearly visible. Ahead, there is a small hotel, which rises from behind a school building. Beyond that is the warehouse where Kairda stopped earlier, and beyond that lies the train station.

They'll walk toward the business area.

The most useful thing would be somewhere with public computer access, anywhere look like it might have that? Library?

There's a very small library sandwiched between a laundromat and a dentist's office, across from the diner.

Is it open? Does it have computers? Does it require anything particular to use them?

The library is open and does have computers. They are free to the public; you don't even need a library card to browse as a guest, though guest sessions are limited to one hour per person per day.

Makes more sense to not do theirs concurrently then. She takes the first one; Xeyr goes to look for more books. They're practiced at this, doesn't take her too long to start finding what she needs.

Springs, population controls, wanting-to-get-into-spaces. Tech level, weaponry and otherwise. Countries, governments and legal systems. Castes.

Reds. She calls Xeyr over on that one. Xeyr looks and reads and - stillness isn't the thing, M's about given up on describing them all right. She nods.

They swap out computers vs books when the time runs out. She researches.

She does get a computer concurrently. Finds some games. 

They look up the town as well. A map, if there is one, opening hours if those are available. Law enforcement.