"They'd - be delighted, I'm sure, but there was an incident once of one of them grabbing Bloom's feathers when she was out in public. I can't offer the same kind of guarantee about children's behavior that I can about adults."

I hear the protectiveness in your song. We are big and dangerous, as individuals. I admit that the natural response to surprises at close proximity is to lash out... But I swear by the Onesong that, forewarned, I can and will make my reaction to surprise stillness instead of motion. You can have someone throw something at me at an unexpected time and I will freeze instead of lashing out. I'll even wear claw padding if that seems best.

"I'm sure I can find an interested bunch of children - do you have any other specifications?"

Extensively caring for one's hatchlings is common enough among animals but I want to see how complex Minds, how aliens, do it. I am not sure who would be best, but I could visit or be visited by multiple sets of people in time... I believe four year olds are at approximately the same life stage as we Bloom-students?

"I think so, yes. Maybe a selection from one of those recursive orange schools where they have older ones looking after younger ones."

Orange to begin with, I see! Caste is an extremely major factor in Amentan life so perhaps I ought to see purples after that if I am still interested.

"If the first visit goes well there'd be no shortage of kids excited to meet you!"

Claw-pads if you wish! And the surprising me as a test thing if you wish!

"I might surprise you, if you aren't just going to telepathically predict it."

I think you overestimate it. Powerful music, yes, but I am not constantly aware of the inner workings of every mind around me. It is possible to remain silent, too. If I was looking at you and watching for an attack perhaps I could see you intending to move a moment before you did, but you should be able to surprise me.

Bloom will be back soon for our lessons, I hope. That will be a distraction. We kind of need it. I can't imagine living in a city for long.

"It does seem to put you under a lot of stress."

It's made worse by the proximity to each other. Could you sleep with an uncaged predator in your room - even if you knew it was tamed and well fed?

"...I had a cat that slept in my bed for four years."

Weird. I couldn't do that. It's just - very stressful and vulnerable-feeling to sleep somewhere you don't control.

"The water in the desert is looking to be going smoothly so far."

None of us students have promised to stay in Baravi, you know.

"...yes, I'm aware."

I don't quite understand why you'd give up territory, even temporarily, and go through trouble like guards and water pipes and food and language teachers, given that we could all decide to fly somewhere else afterward.

"If no one does that our world will lose out on what you can offer. Besides, we can benefit from your being here even temporarily - there's been a tourism uptick, people are more eager to move to Baravi in case they can be a test subject, that sort of thing. And less tangibly Baravi's citizens feel good about belonging to a country that can and does host a contingent of Draak to promote the advancement of science and abatement of spring."

I think some Draak think about things that way. But you really want to just help yourself. It's always easy to think, 'well, what do I want'. The answer is usually prey, land, victory, or Shiny Things. 'The good of all' or 'the advancement of science' is - further from the primal selfishness that I believe is the core of my species. Of all species. The thing I would be without my mind. That's why I came here. Spring seemed like - something that I couldn't not go see what's up with.

...I thought you mostly don't let anyone in?

"People can swap. It's good to be a country people want to enter - it gives citizens lots of options and lets us pick better immigrants."

Huh. Well I have even less hope of understanding governments than understanding how Amentans feel about things.

I want those language lessons, too. Please let me know if/when I should visit some kids!

"I will!"

The language tutor shows up to teach Baravic literacy.

Ink, Star, and Longfeather show up! Ink knows the Draak system but the other two don't.

The tutor doesn't know the Draak system so it's not a very useful sort of background knowledge.