"You've got a greenhouse of your own, right?"

"I think I'll be able to grow it."

"Just making sure, I mean, it's not native."

"Is it more complicated than that it likes it warm?"

"This cultivar's finicky about humidity sometimes. Should be fine."

Other than that they'll sell Promise the cuttings and leave her be.

Then Promise will fly them all home and find them places to be and warm up the ones that like it warm.

Nothing else will demand her attention for a while. The days get slowly shorter and quickly colder. A group of several people, two of them human-looking, pass by on foot on their way south to Chequy Tower. A zoologist wants to have a look around and take some pictures as long as Promise doesn't object.

"That's fine - how does that work?" she asks of the camera.

"Uh, it has a light-sensitive thing, in the back, and light comes in through this window, and when I push this button it lets the light touch the light-sensitive film in the back, and later I take the film to someone else who knows how to take it and turn it into pictures that look exactly like the light that got into the camera. It's like a very realistic portrait, but faster."

"...cool! Where did you get it?"

"Oh, uh, probably in Chequy Tower, I don't remember for sure. You new to, you know..." The zoologist gestures vaguely. "Modernity?"

"...yes. It's interesting, though."

"It's pretty cool. Cities smell a lot better these days."

"How does modernity help with that?"

"Generally better waste disposal systems and also perfume?"

"I haven't been to a city before that either," she says.

"Huh! What brings you so close to civilization now?"

"I got lost, actually."

"Wow. - Uh, another wonder of modern technology is GPS, by the way."

"What's that do?"

"Tells you where you are by listening to - uh, things in the sky that go around the planet, that one of the human countries put there, actually. I'm sure there's a library in Chequy Tower where you can read about it."

"Huh. I should go. What do the librarians want in exchange?"

"It's sort of free if you don't break any laws - it's a nice thing, see, so it makes people want to visit, and the more people visit and trade the richer the town gets."

"How does me visiting and reading the books make the town richer if I don't pay for them?"

"If you wanted to stop by one of the stores, like to buy a camera, it'd be kind of a trip from here. So maybe you wouldn't bother. But if you're already there looking at books, then maybe you stop somewhere else while you're there."