Segda climbs another tree, sits on a branch, kicks its legs. "Don't want it to be hard," it clarifies.

"Okay. Well, sometimes stuff is hard."

Segda makes a hissing sort of noise.

"I'm gonna go to Ninpai and buy some eggs. You coming?"

"Yes."

"You want to ride or walk?"

"Ride!"

"It is a lot more fun than walking. Okay. Can you hold on to me?"

Segda can do that. It has little claws.

"Why'd you want to leave?" she asks when they're on their way to Ninpai.

"I don't wanna say."

"Okay. Do you know why your people built a road for humans to travel through if they don't like humans?"

"Dunno."

"Do they not like humans?"

"I dunno what they like."

"Don't they, like, say "don't go near humans" or "humans are all right" or "my best friend was a human" or - whatever -"

"They say don't run off, sometimes humans can come into town if they're the right ones. They take some of our chickens."

"The right ones being - villages that you're friendly with, or..."

"Specific ones. We see the same ones over and over, who come to take chickens."

"And do they say why they built a passage for other ones?"

"I wasn't born yet. I guess they just decided to."

"Okay. Do you know what you want to do once we're in a human city?"

"No." This word is a little higher-pitched and more drawn out than most of its words.

Pat pat. "I don't know what humans in this society do either. You can run around and learn to read and stuff."

"Human writing is stupid and hard."