Mark was just letting his breath out when the bird screeched again.

"Now, pitiful ambassador!" Graa spun Grumbles around again and jabbed his beak at Ambassador Li. "Offer me up a punishment for the crimes of Human Koen."

Ambassador Li cleared his throat. He'd been standing all this time, apparently thinking about serious things. "We will send him back to Earth tomorrow."

Graa's feathers flattened. "Clarify? You suggest banishment?"

"Your Excellency, it isn't — "

The feathers flared back out. "Scratch out the plan of banishment, and hold your breath while I present my reason for this demand. Koen will brag to the other humans about how he stole a pet of great value from the mighty general of the Pick."

"I promise I won't," said Koen. "I'm not proud of what I did. I'm very ashamed."

Graa shook his head like a wet dog. "Human Koen will also brag about how he lied in order to escape punishment. Imagine: the humans will laugh in their envy, and discord will grow in the choir of praise that is a necessary and integral part of the regalia of my office."

"We'll make him sign an NDA," said Mark, and Severo rolled her eyes.

Graa's head snaked around to point at Mark. "Confirm you refer to an interpersonal treaty by which Koen agrees to submit to inconvenience after he has been found guilty of blabbing."

"Yes?"

"Confirm that you are aware that I am aware that you have a professional film crew recording this conversation right now?"

Mark glanced at Bucolic Judgment, who swallowed a pomegranate and said, "Fantastic (sarcasm)."

"I command that you stuff your NDA back into your craw where it belongs." Graa stretched his neck, spreading gold-bedecked wings and casting reflected spots of moonlight across the Embassy staff. "Allow me to drive this concept into your skulls and store it where your brains should be: this story will not be of my humiliation, but yours."

Severo lifted her eyes to the trees, where she would have emplaced snipers.

But the Pick did not simply slaughter everyone at the feast. He waited, head and wings raised. The gold he wore was heavy, but his muscles did not even quiver.

Ambassador Li bowed his head. "Your Excellency, what do you suggest?"

"I do not suggest. I order you to make me another offer. What will you a sacrifice to my majesty?"

"Clarify? Are you asking for…I mean. I am sure that some sort of remuneration may be — "

"Tell me how much gold you're wearing." Graa clanked his wings. "Does your wealth triple the weight of your body? You have no material that I value."

Ambassador Li glanced into the faces of his colleagues and saw only the mirror of his own confusion. He had no idea what the Pick wanted.

Across the clearing, Koen thought he might.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

What was Graa feeling? Koen kept catching himself asking that question. Even stranger, he kept answering it.

"Why aren't you making the offer?" Graa jabbed his beak at Koen. "Why do you think I accepted your invitation?" That was the kek kek of frustration, the sound a raven might make perched above a carcass that was still being worried by the bear. And look at Mr. Grumbles. He shifts from foot to foot. His hands are up, ready to drive away his master's enemies.

"We, of course, hoped that you were ready to overlook this staffing mistake on our part and continue our valuable relationship," Ambassador Li said, but he was flailing. Groping blindly. None of these humans had any idea what the Pick was doing here, or what he wanted. When he shook his head, they thought he meant "no." What he really meant was "I'm disgusted."

"Our relationship is valuable to you only. Answer me! Were you really only begging? Do you really fail to understand your duty?" Some feather-bristling on the head, but Graa couldn't stop himself from wiping his beak on his feet. Confusion.

Koen knew what he had to do. It was, in fact, his idea. It gaped at him now, and if Koen wasn't careful, he'd walk right in.

Mark had been right. This wasn't the direction Koen should go. He should resist the forces pushing him forward, and go back. Back to Earth, where he could have a normal job and a normal life. Go through the motions.

Before his father's death, Koen had gone through the motions at funerals, vaguely guilty because his strongest feelings were about what he might make for dinner tomorrow. Those chicken thighs either needed to be eaten or frozen before they went bad. The alternative had been to wheel around and slam his face into the nearest tree over and over until this feeling stopped.

"Why did you invite me?" Graa demanded. "Answer!"

The humans looked at each other, looked at Ambassador Li, who was sweating.

Fling bounced to her feet. "It was my brain's idea!"

Graa's head swiveled to her and his wings fluttered. Shock? …Disappointment? "You invited me here? You wanted to see me humiliate the humans?"

Laura gasped and looked wildly at Koen. She'd been there in the cafeteria with Fling and the Ambassador, and she had been in the kitchen the next day with Koen and Mark. She'd just figured out Koen's plan.

"Why not?" said Fling. "My dorsal striatum producing dopamine whenever it is stimulated by questions about the torments you've devised.1"

"Balanced egg, Fling!" said Graa. "You are impossible."

Koen stared back at Laura. Her expression should have terrified him, but that wasn't what he was feeling. That rising sensation in his chest. It was the way he'd felt after the accelerator, when he'd first come to this version of Earth. Laura had been waiting for him, and he'd been so happy to see her again.

He would do anything to stay close to her. Even go where he was being pushed.

"No," said Koen. "I invited you."

Yesterday, in the kitchen with Mark and Laura, a plan had occurred to Koen. It had scared him at the time because of how easily it might work. Now, it scared him more, because Graa had an idea too. But neither could say it out loud, because Koen was too scared.

"You invited me, Human Koen. Confirm it." Graa puffed his beard and crest feathers.

And Graa was too proud.

"Yes."

The Pick Ambassador refused to ask Koen. He would only consent to be asked.

"I told Ambassador Li to invite you here because…" Koen felt as if he were back on the rope. The ground swayed below him.

"Tell me." Graa's voice was commanding, but his feathers were slicked flat against his head and neck. He was scared.

"Say it!" chattered Fling. "Leap!"

"I wanted to ask you for a job."

Stunned silence from everyone, except for Graa, who growled with pleasure, and Fling, who said, "Is that all? Go on, confess your love for each other!"

1Berridge KK, Robinson TE. What is the role of dopamine in reward: hedonic impact, reward learning or incentive salience. Brain Res Rev. 1998;28:309–369.