"I love you. And I'm not letting that asshole anywhere near Cathei."

Hug.

He waits for a notice about a court hearing.

Sure enough, he is ordered to bring Cathei to thus and such a place.

He shows.

Rug guy is there, and a judge.

"Gentlemen," says the judge, not acknowledging Rabka. "Would you summarize the matter from your perspective -" she asks Cathei's father first.

"She," he says, pointing at Rabka, "was mine for years, I got her when she was twelve. About a year ago she walked into a magic with the kid there, that's how she got the rainbow hair and the kid turns into a teapot, and wouldn't come out till I sold 'em both for a song to cut my losses. At some point this loon," he points at Malare, "bought the pair -"

"Refrain from personal insults, please," she sighs.

"Yes your honor - at some point he bought the pair and freed the child, which means now she's my free daughter, and that means I'm entitled to custody."

"I see. And you, sir?" she asks Malare.

"The kid's mine. Why would I purchase and free some other man's child? I have a family portrait, she looks just like I did at that age. I purchased them both eleven months ago, paperwork's all here for you to look at, and freed my daughter a week after that, I brought the papers for that as well though I don't think that's actually disputed."

"The kid looks like her mother," says rug guy. "You didn't answer the ad when I was trying to sell 'em out from the magic, you could've got her much cheaper then if you wanted her as early as that."

"Didn't see the ad. Saw her a couple weeks later in the market, the timing added up on the baby - I asked her if the baby was mine, she thought so, I bought them then. I wasn't watching the ads, when I first had her she said she didn't think you'd be inclined to sell."

"I don't care what she thinks, it's mine and if you're even entertaining the guess - I want him cited for trespassing and property damage -"

"Noted," says the judge.

"Complicating matters," he says to the judge, "there's an embroidery so Cathei reappears in her mother's arms occasionally, when either one of them gets upset. I can make my slave not call the baby back but it'll happen whenever Cathei starts missing her mother, too. I informed him of this and of the price point at which I'd sell Rabka back; he wasn't interested. I want custody of my daughter, but if you want to leave that question undecided and settle it on the grounds that it's impossible to separate her from her mother and I hold the title to her mother that'd be satisfactory also."

"The kid'll soon learn to stop if she's removed whenever she does it," opines rug guy.

"One-year-olds are not known for only wanting their mother when it's a good idea, and we spend much of the year up at my sister's plantation north of here, where it'd be very inconvenient to entertain regular visits from you to pick up my daughter who will reappear at her mother's side as soon as she misses her."

"Loan me Rabka, then," he says. "I'll rent her. I'm not buying her back for that ridiculous amount, she's not worth that for rainbow hair."

"The price point is because I've been able to use her embroidery to get advance word on shipping. The rainbow hair is not relevant. I am not loaning you Rabka both because it's not in my financial interest and because Cathei is my daughter, born nine months after I got her mother pregnant with a striking resemblance to me as a baby and an even more striking resemblance to my other daughter by Rabka, born a month ago."

"Let me see the portrait," says the judge.

Portrait! (It may have been done hastily a week ago, but the paint's definitely all dry and his father promised she didn't use any dyes that weren't accessible eighteen years ago or anything stupid like that.) In the portrait tiny Amait is beaming adorably at the painter and tinier Malare looks exactly like Cathei.

The judge looks at it, and at Cathei. "How many times are you saying you trespassed on his land?" she asks.

"Twice - first one was accidental, I had business next door and got turned around. I'll pay a fine, I assure you I've grown up since then and won't touch peoples' property again."

"In the relevant month or so how many times did you bed the slave?" the judge asks the rug guy.

"Every day. Might have missed one."

"Do you have any reason beyond the slave's uninformed word and the resemblance - which is also considerable to the slave herself - that the child may be yours?" the judge asks Malare.

"There's not a whole relevant month. How long have you had her," he asks rug guy.

"If you're claiming to have a way to know that exactly when a child was conceived, Mr. Finere, I'm sure everyone will be fascinated," says the judge.

"Since she was twelve," rug guy says, "but she didn't bleed till a few months before she got knocked up."

"Why were you going to sell her to a stranger at less than a month old if you thought she was your daughter?"

"Makes a difference if she's free," says rug guy.

"I freed my daughter, Cathei, which is the name I approved for my daughter. If in the eyes of the law this baby isn't my daughter then maybe this baby's still a slave."