"Well, then he's not casting any magic I've ever heard of. Could have any rules at all. Or he could be telling a pack of lies. That's the most likely thing, of course. But if he were using our magic then he couldn't do anything with it by accident, it's not possible."

"Oh. OK. Cool. Thank you," she says, as the man ducks back behind his curtain.

"You are not killing people without knowing it," she informs Mahan. "Unless that's a thing that happened in Har, I guess."

"If I kill people I know it," he agrees. "More fountains?"

"Yeah but - can we go back to - if people die that's bad."

"It's pretty bad," Peth agrees.

"Spite said kill everyone is good."

"There is no way Spite said that."

"Spite said people don't understand not want to kill everyone. Spite said people think Mahan and Spite kill everyone. Spite said people don't understand I don't want to... the food, I want other people to give me food, I want other people to do the buildings nice. Spite said other people don't understand."

She looks like she doesn't know whether to be horrified or fascinated or amused. Eventually she rests her head in her hands and lets out something akin to nervous laughter.

"You poor thing. OK. When people are - very different, like you and like Spite, and very powerful - can do many things - people think they might not understand things everyone else understands. Everyone else understands that killing people is bad, OK? But you can kill many people and you don't understand everything, so they might worry that you don't understand that killing people is bad. And if you didn't understand you might kill people. Mahan understand?"

"Thank you. Killing people is bad. ...Don't understand everything, what other things are bad in Rainfold?"

"Uh." Oh man, how does she explain every possible bad thing, if Mahan can't come up with murder being bad on his own. "Might need more words. Theft is bad, taking things that are not yours. Going into other people's buildings without permission, bad. Hurting other people, hurting other people's things, bad. Dumping waste in the street or in the river, bad. Lying about a thing people pay you for, bad."

Oh, so they have a nice, civilized, reasonable code of laws. He'd sort of been expecting otherwise.

"What if child?"

"What if child what?"

"Child can't understand what things are bad. What if child does something bad?"

"Older child, like Peth, same as everyone else. Smaller child has parents. Small child without parents, child is taken to the ward orders and ward orders keep child out of trouble. Very bad thing with small child, courts decide."

"Parents is..." He mimes becoming increasingly pregnant and then holding a baby. "Yes? If parents don't want small child, take to ward orders?"

"Yes. Ward orders for children, eld orders for old people, poor orders for very poor, sick orders for people with diseases, mad orders for disease in thoughts. Imrainai is in sick order, cares for people with diseases."

At some point when he has more words he'll have to figure out why old people are on the list. Maybe he misunderstands the word? Maybe she specifically means senile people? There's no telling right now. "What order for bad things, killing, taking things, lying about selling things?"

"Cell order! Rainfold didn't have one, earlier. Now, if a person hurts someone or takes things, maybe hurt, maybe sent to cell order. Maybe better. Not sure yet."

"Rainfold does not have people? No, uh... words. In Har, things can be your things, people can be your things, taking your people is theft. No having people in Rainfold?"

She blinks. "Oh! No. No having people in Rainfold, no slavery. Other places have slavery. In Rainfold, all people, uh... people have themselves. So lots of people here, because people want to be sure they can have themselves."

"You mean you've been hanging out with him for like two days and you haven't even told him where he is?"

"I'm getting to it! Uh - in Rainfold all people are equal under the law. Mahan understands equal, understands law?"

"Law is things are bad in Rainfold, killing and theft and lying about selling things? Bad if I kill Imrainai or child or giant or bad person or Spite or everyone? Not, uh, bad if I kill Imrainai, good if I kill bad person?"

"Laws are - hm. Some things are bad but are not against the laws. Men sleeping in the men's building is not a law, order says it is good for them to do that but the government - king and queen, people who tell other people in Rainfold what to do? Government does not care, only order cares. And yes, bad if you kill anyone. It's against the law to kill anyone unless the courts have said."