"Ah, I am sorry to have troubled you with it! I know it well enough for the school's purposes, even if I will not be making friends among the Anglos any time soon. Fortunately I should not need to - it seems I am not immediately rejected by the Mandarin contingent after all."

"You do not seem objectionable to me."

"My parents' worries were thankfully unfounded! It is a great relief. I am sure the Anglos have questions about why the tiny white boy is mixed in with the Sinosphere, but I am happy to be here."

"I saw another Westerner in our half of the room. She was - that direction, I believe."

"Oh? Perhaps I should acquaint myself with her. The - ah, I see her - she is rather tall. And such hair! She cuts a dramatic figure."

"I've not met her, myself."

"Perhaps if she is amenable I can recommend her to you. Who knows what might turn out to be a valuable connection?"

"I have received contradictory advice!"

"Oh?"

"I have been told to befriend other children who will be doing maintenance assignments for their immediate practical assistance, and to cement my connections to Tianjin, and to attempt to make friends farther afield, and to focus on competence to the exclusion of all else in seeking allies, and to focus on loyalty to the exclusion of all else in deciding who I will even be in a room with."

"That is contradictory. Individually these all seem like wise strategies but I think sooner or later one will need to be focused on over the rest, if only to avoid paradox."

"Yes. I think I will settle on one once I have more information about whose strategies allow them to select me."

"For the record, I favor seeking alliances further afield - if I had not had the courage to approach Shanghai, I would lack valuable information and knowledge of how they operate."

Which is to say, weirdly. Not that he's going to say that.

"I have not spoken to them as yet."

"They were surprisingly accepting of me. I expected such a respectable enclave to be colder."

"Perhaps being cold does not serve them."

"Perhaps not! It certainly suited their leader to be warm - he was the one cradling the crying freshman. I thought it was so strange but I think I respect it now, compassion can strengthen interpersonal bonds and that seems to be their strategy, to be a sort of family."

"I wish them all well. What had saddened the freshman?"

"His brother had died, and he had been planning on - relying on him very much. I helped him to calm down a bit and plan for himself, which he was not doing."

"That was kind of you."

"Ah - thank you, but it was not only kindness. I think when you have the opportunity to be kind to an enclaver it is not as necessary to be a kind person as it might be to help someone else."

"To have thought of something kind, even choosing the recipient advisedly, is still something."

"I suppose you are right. You have a good outlook on the world."

"Thank you."