"Not you?"

"No, I mostly form expectations about what people will do for reasons."

"Well, you do a lot more explicit reasoning about situations than most people."

"I've noticed that."

"You seem better about that than most people."

"I want to win. I find that reasoning makes me better at it."

Nod.

"For you it's more than that, right?"

"I guess so."

"I don't want to pry. It seems rude given the circumstances."

"Thank you ma'am."

"That's all the political explanation I have for you."

Aya puts the will back and returns the key and departs.

Amait attends social events and seems much happier than she was out in the country.

Aya takes notes and keeps track of the needs of the other slaves they brought along and draws sometimes. A snake with many heads and tails, branching here and there till it spreads out in a rectangle over the page. A lizard with twigs growing out of it, and thorns. A shaggy lamb with cuttlefish eyes covered in long-antennaed butterflies.

Amait continues to periodically ask if she wants to keep the pictures.

"If I kept all of them they'd pile up."

So she sells some and gives some to people as presents. Gets Ayabel a nice set of notebooks and pens as a present.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome! Who do you think I'm going to try to bring around for the vote on the roads -"

...Aya consults notes, rereads her summary of the roads thing, checks her chart of people. Guesses.

She's right. Amait is pleased.