"...watching you fold up into ten different fancy outfits sounds hilarious," says Uamok.

"Horses race? On those legs?" says Zoi.

    "They do! I think you should come watch, if you don't mind a late lunch, it's lots of fun."

"I'm not sure you'll fit into any of the clothiers' shops, but we can figure something out."

"Is there magic that would let her walk through walls?" wonders Kiv.

"I'm more worried about space inside the shop than getting you through the door - I can teleport you in and out, but only if there's room."

"Well, if I have to wait outside I have to wait outside," says Uamok. "But maybe I can squeeze in."

"All right. Oh - I'm bringing Kat back to Greens this afternoon, too, she has a class to teach there. Was there anything you wanted to talk to her about before she goes?"

"Don't think so," says Uamok.

"What's the class?" asks Skon.

    "A sex class, apparently," prince Maziar translates Raafi's blush. "I'm not sure you'd be welcome to sit in on it but if you're curious about how humanoids do it I'm sure she won't mind telling you."

"I don't see how else we'd find out besides being told since it's done in private," says Uamok.

"Does that make finding a mate really nervewracking, if you find one for the first time and have never seen it done -" says Iss.

"It can be. Here at least most of us have our first time with someone we aren't very serious about, though, which helps. Or men do, anyway, and I think it matters a little less for women."

"What matters less? Being nervous?" asks Zoi.

"And not knowing what they're doing, yes. How we do it - finding partners, I mean - is that men are the ones to ask, but women are the ones to decide who they want, and if she decides he isn't going to satisfy her, well, that's too bad for him."

"I meant it would be nerve-wracking to have sex if you'd never seen it," says Uamok. "Not that it would be nerve-wracking to pick somebody to try it with in the first place."

    "I suppose that is a slightly different problem. But knowing that it doesn't really matter if you're not very good at it to start with does help, there's less to be nervous about."

"And we do talk about it. Not usually in very much detail but enough that the basics aren't a surprise."

"I guess," she says dubiously. "Okay, off we go."

"Can I ride?" asks Kiv.

"Sure, smallness," she says, and she puts him on her back.

And off they go, through the courtyard they first appeared in, where a group of messengers in blue-trimmed yellow uniforms are preparing to leave with messages; some of them are saddling up horses, and Prince Maziar pauses to let the group watch. One of the messengers spots Kiv after mounting his horse and waves.

Kiv waves back. Zoi inspects the horses; it's weird that they let him get so close.

They're honestly not that thrilled to let him get very close, and one of the riders speaks up about it - "watch out, they kick."

Zoi skitters back to his group.

"We can find a calm one somewhere if you want a closer look," Prince Maziar offers, leading the group onward.

Outside the courtyard is a wide plaza, paved with stone tiles and dominated by a large marble sculpture depicting houses, fields, and scenes of daily life, with water bubbling gently out of an aperture at the top and flowing through the scene like a river. The plaza is busy with people going to and fro; most of them are humans, and about two-thirds of them look similar to the royal family, while the remainder have slightly lighter skin with a slight greenish cast to it and curlier hair. There are a knot of gnomes gathered in the shadow of the fountain, too, and a very well-dressed catfolk speaking to someone in a fancy brown robe similar to the blue and yellow ones Reedbearer Amaani and Sandkite Fahami were wearing at dinner last night, near one of several decorated stone kiosks scattered around the area.

Prince Maziar pauses to let the group look around, and stops short when he notices the catfolk. "I think that's ambassador Ambata, and we weren't expecting him for another month - I should go see why he's here, will you be all right for a minute?"

"Sure," says Uamok, admiring a kiosk. Skon is dipping a foot in the fountain.

There are about a dozen kiosks, all painted with different designs; the one the ambassador is at is done up in green and brown with a grain motif, while others have various creatures, tools, or other natural or civilization-related designs. On closer inspection each one seems to have a well-dressed attendant, too, watching the crowd or speaking to people in ones and twos at the tables inside. "These are mail houses," Raafi explains of them. "There's one for each god in the local pantheon, one for the royal family, and one for each noble house, and anyone can come talk to the attendants and leave messages if they have a problem or complaint."

The water of the fountain is slightly cooler than Skon might expect, but seems otherwise normal; while he's there a man comes up to the fountain a ways away from him to fill a bucket from it.

Skon isn't sure if he's supposed to swim in the fountain, so he doesn't, just experiments with how the water flows and then returns to his family, who are checking out each kiosk one at a time.

The attendants seem content to let them look, unless they approach them to talk. Each kiosk has a wide stone pillar making up one wall and a canopy stretched out over the rest of he space, with letter slots on the outside at human and gnome height; the one nearest them is decorated with birds of prey and pomegranates, the one next to it has a water motif with reeds, fish, waterfowl, and mermaids, and the one after that has rearing horses and spears.

They start arguing with each other over which is best. Skon drifts over to the catfolk to eavesdrop.