"Helipad," she repeats, beaming again. 

"Your language has so many words for things that don't even exist on Corth! I love it!" 

"What sorts of things have been invented on Corth recently?"

"Um...it depends what you mean by 'recently'?"

She thinks about it. 

"In the last century - sorry, twenty-five of your years - people on Corth have invented eyeglasses to help people see better, a cloth-making technique called knitting, locks on canals...a couple of new alphabets, but that's not really the sort of thing you wanted to know... This one artist came up with a method for making paintings look three-dimensional even when they're flat, that's really cool. Oh, and woodcuts, they're pretty new as well."

She starts rambling about woodcuts. "You carve a picture into a block of wood and cover it in ink and then you can stamp it over and over and have lots of the same picture! Personally, I think it's more fun to make new different pictures, but not everyone is me." 

"I see. Yes, we've invented a lot of things here that Corth's a long way off from."

Puna grins, and shakes her hair back from her face. 

"I'll have to ask someone about catching up on all of that." 

She consults her rainbow models again. "Maybe greens? Would greens be good people to ask about inventions? Oh, and I was going to ask yellows about computers as well..."

"Greens are good to ask about inventions in particular and history in general, but yellows, especially computer yellows and librarians, would be a good choice too."

"Okay! I'll see which I meet first," she decides.

"And then I'll ask them where I should go to find out more. People who know lots of things tend to be good at knowing where to find information, even if they don't know it themselves."

"Yep. The first greens you meet may not be historians, they're more likely to be scientists, but they'll have school friends who went into history."

"And they'll be able to tell me about science!"

She leans up in her seat to peer out of the window again; it's set a little high for her to see out comfortably. 

"Are we getting close?" she asks. 

"Yes, it's not far now, see that white and blue and silver building? That's the palace."

A lean to the side reveals it.

"Ooooh, pretty! Is that where you live?"

"Yes, most of the year."

Puna stares out of the window at the palace as they start to descend, legs swinging.

"Where do you live the rest of the year? Is that place nice too?"

"My wife's family has a place a bit north that we often spend the winter or part of it at. It's lovely."

"Huh! If you were a motu you'd live with your wife's family all the time," Puna comments.

She grins up at Shiresk.

"It's the little differences between species that I find most interesting to learn about, because they surprise both sides. The things people don't think to mention, so they just come up suddenly in conversation." 

"Why would we live with her family all the time?"

"That's how it works for motu, the husband moves in with his wife when they get married," Puna explains. 

"Most women move out to their own home eventually, but usually not until their mother dies, because then the youngest daughter inherits - and she doesn't want her older sisters around!"

She giggles. "Not that I'd know, I don't really have a sister." 

"I think we - care less about gender than that. And it's usual if only one child inherits that it be either the eldest or the favorite or the one with the most children of their own."

"That sounds confusing!" she says, still laughing.

"But I guess it works for you. I think the reason it's the youngest who inherits is that they have less time to build up their own resources, so they're the least able to go off on their own." 

She bounces up to look at the palace again now it's closer. It's still pretty.

"What about the boys, then?" The helicopter positions for a landing.

"They get married, mostly."

She is maybe a little bit distracted by the fact that the helicopter is doing a thing.

"I think the ones that don't just keep living with their sisters? I guess they could get a house of their own if they wanted, but there wouldn't be much point having a whole house just for one person, would there?"

"Apartments haven't been invented?"

'Apartment' is a new word, which is just about interesting enough to distract her from helicopters. 

"Sort of? Houses can be separated off into different areas for different family units, or individual people, but it's still nicer to live with family than with strangers, isn't it?" 

"Depends, some people don't get along as well with their families."

"I suppose. I like my family, even though we're all really different from each other..."

And now she is thoroughly absorbed in watching out of the window as they land.