Shasali is delighted to meet each of them and smiles brilliantly and takes notes whenever given advice.

Some of the advice contradicts. Some of the advice from the same person contradicts itself. But they do all seem to mean well. Inlad is beaming. 

And her pocket everything will not combust if she writes down incompatible items in it. She smiles particularly often at Inlad.

" - so," he says when they have steered around the room a few times - 

"Dinner?" she wonders.

"I'd like that."

"Lovely. I believe the plan is that everybody in my batch prevails on Isel's personal hospitality until we have alternative sources of housing; somewhere near her home would be ideal. I didn't have an outward-facing job and don't know my way around the clean parts of my own city well, let alone this one."

"There are some nice places in walking distance, yes - you could stay with me but it'd be fairly unusual -"

"Numerically or culturally unusual?"

"The latter."

"Then unless Isel hints otherwise I'll stick with my cohort for the time being, although I do very much appreciate the offer."

"Of course. Thank you for coming tonight. Everyone adores you."

"Thank you for the introductions! You're too kind, I don't know how I would manage without your help."

He rather glows. "Good night."

"Good night, Inlad."

And she goes back to Isel's house and brushes down sky-blue hair and changes into borrowed pajamas and tells the new yellows and greens and oranges about her day and sits up reviewing her advice and sleeps.

She'll have an email.

Atina Fale is arranging an office for you six blocks from Isel's city place. You can tell people she said Kiala Aven's office was available; they will be confused if you mention me. The address is here, three blocks up Central and three along Rose. (East-west streets in this district are plants, in a taxonomic order that your botanist cohort-member may be among ten people in the city to make sense of; north-south the major arteries are East, Riverside, Park, Cobblestreet, Central, Capitol, University and West.) Be there around sunrise, ask the receptionist for the packages she's holding for you, unpack and set up your office before anyone else gets in. I do apologize if you dislike my taste in office decorations and will take no offense if you later replace them. Tell the receptionist you're hiring a local secretary and she'll be doing secretarial duties for you until you have, but you'll pay her overtime at the secretarial rate rather than the receptionist one. 

To put out a hiring request you visit this website, which will accept shasali.alan as a user (don't worry, you can change it to a occupation name once you're sure of one) and prompt you to set up a password. There should be sample hiring announcements; the one for a secretary is perfectly adequate. If you think you can handle interviewing candidates yourself then just give it a week and talk to the ones who look capable. I will recommend some candidates apply who I'm confident in. If you need help this is a good time to get a read on Litif, who is in the same building on the second floor.

The portal also has tools for managing the people who report to you; figure out how it works, attach a bank account so you can pay the receptionist her overtime (there'll be a money order that covers it comfortably in the packages awaiting you). Once she's a report of yours you can give her access to your calendar and arrange to meet people. I've attached a list of appointments to make.You should probably expect you'll be in your office all the first week, people will come by to gawk and say hello. Beyond that it's not at all traditional to be around more than three hours a day.

Regards, 
Aitim

Oh good. That makes everything much more straightforward.

Shasali is set up two hours after sunrise, money order deposited and receptionist shanghaied and furniture arrayed about the room and hiring request placed. She gets a late breakfast out of the cafe on the first floor and an extra pastry and prowls the second floor looking for Litif.

There's a placard on a door that is presently closed; after a little while it opens and a yellow walks out and leaves the door ajar. 

"Good morning, is Litif in yet?"

"Good morning - yes, she is -"

Smile. Tap tap on the doorframe.

"Come in," says an authoritative older woman's voice. 

The office is larger than Shasali's and has an elaborate tapestry on the side wall and windows that look out on a courtyard. Litif looks at least thirty-five and blinks at Shasali with slight puzzlement and has another sip of coffee as if this will resolve it.

"Hello, I'm Shasali, I'm new in town and trying to meet everyone." Smile.

"A tall order. Where'd you move from, what do you do."

"Lakla. I'm looking at judicial track, but nothing's firm yet."