Rakkel watched the car drive away with interest. Xe liked the way the car's headlights made cones in the rain, and the way the wheels sprayed droplets like sparks from grindstones. It made strange, exciting noises, and moved with a sleek acceleration xe'd never seen before. The Trolley certainly didn't move like that - it went slowly, ponderously, with a sort of impending thoughtfulness.

Mme. Flore had offered to give xir a ride somewhere, but xe'd declined, curious about her vehicle though xe was. Xe may have agreed to work with her in this one instance, but that didn't mean xe trusted her.

Tomorrow, xe thought, would be interesting. But today xe needed to figure out where xe was going to spend the night.

A fleeting plan to put on a phony disguise and return to the Charming Garden Hostel was formed and quickly discarded.

Still, there were plenty of other hostels. A whole block of them. Xe'd chosen the Charming Garden because it happened to be closest. Maybe xe should go check out the others. They were bound to be friendlier. Xe set off to the north.

"No animals," said the man, grinning nastily. "We have a rule." He pointed at a sign.

"Right," said Rakkel, wearily. "Sure. No animals. That's quite reasonable." Xe'd had five arguments already which had ended on a variation of "we have the right to reserve service to anyone, for any reason." Xe didn't have the patience to rehash all of xir careful arguments about xir status as a living, breathing person, and how this kind of discrimination served nobody, really, and how the fundamental dignity of-

By that point, they'd generally stopped listening entirely.

Of course, the majority of the hostels had turned xir away because the woman from the Charming Garden Hostel had, it seemed, gone around to all her neighbors just to warn them about xir. Xe was easy enough to describe: "Hey, you're the dirty-looking mouse thing with the stripey tail," they'd all said. They'd recognized xir instantly.

This hostel had been the last one. Rather, Rakkel thought there might be more hostels nearby, down a block or something, but this one was the last one xe had patience for.

At the very least, the rain had stopped.

Xe turned around and walked back down the block for, xe hoped, the very last time. Xe'd had quite enough of hostels.

But where else could xe go? Welton had warned xir about the hotels, xe thought as xe put distance between xirself and the hostel district. But now xe had enough money for them. Probably. Maybe xe could try those. At the very least, they might turn xir away more politely. At the very, very least, xe doubted they'd call xir a "dirty-looking mouse."

Xe wasn't sure where to find the hotels, though. Welton had said they were "near the marketplace," as xe recalled, but that didn't narrow it down very well. Half the city was near the marketplace, and most of what remained wasn't near the marketplace because it was, itself, the marketplace. Still, xe knew how to get to the marketplace from here, whether it was the right part of the marketplace or not. Xe decided to walk back over to it and see what there was to see along the way.

Just south of the hostels and east of the Sedge, xe found a residential district. The streets here twisted and curved their way around rings of two story apartment buildings, painted in cheery colors and, like the hostels, had old-fashioned solar panels bolted in a mishmash across their rooftops, though these lacked the dirt and ill-maintained wiring that the others had. The road itself, however, had been attacked viciously: Gardens and parks extended down from the front porches of the buildings to encroach onto the street, where whole sections of cobble had been torn up to accommodate them, leaving a very narrow strip down the middle for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Rakkel attracted stares as xe walked down the strip. Xe still wasn't used to that. It didn't bother xir, though, so much as it amused xir. Xe made a game of seeking out the most hostile, disgusted, or just plain surprised of the staring faces and waving and smiling at them in particular. Most of them didn't react.

"Are you a bear, mister?"

Xe'd been so busy smiling and waving furiously at one particularly grumpy scowl that xe hadn't seen the child approach from the other side of the street. They were young, perhaps seven or eight, and wore a red and white striped shirt with purple popsicle stains all down the side.

"I'm a lemur," said Rakkel. "Are your parents here?"

"You look like a bear," they said.

"Bears have brown fur," said Rakkel. "Mine is grey, see?" Xe held out xir arm for the child to inspect. "Why don't you go ask your parents about bears," xe added. "I bet they know a lot."

"I meant a panda bear," said the child. "Panda bears have black fur and white fur. Just like that." They grabbed xir tail. "See? Black, white. Black, white." They walked their fingers through it.

"Please don't," xe said, pulling xir tail away. "You know, it's very impolite to grab someone's tail."

Xe'd meant to say it in a friendly tone, but it came out harshly; xe'd noticed the sticky popsicle residue all over the child's hand at just the wrong time, too late to stop the irritation from getting into xir voice. The child stumbled back, looking confused and hurt.

"What are you doing to my child?"

A mother came hurrying up. Rakkel could tell from her face that she was a mother: She wore that universal expression of motherly concern. Beneath it, she also wore an off-white shirt of some light material and off-white, baggy pants to match. The pants showed the stains of garden work.

"Just saying hello," said Rakkel. Xe stuck a hand out. "My name's Rakkel. I think your child is curious about me."

The mother took it automatically, but shook it unenthusiastically.

"I really think," she said, "that you should be more careful, shouldn't you? At least cover up. There are lots of children around here."

"Cover up?"

"Yes. Your fur is showing. And your... what do you call this?"

"I call it a 'tail,'" said Rakkel, bemused.

"Right. You should really tuck it into your pants. Or just don't wear it out."

"I can't 'not wear it out,'" said Rakkel. "It's attached to my body."

"Well, whatever. Just don't leave it where children can see it. Don't get me wrong," said the woman, "I don't have any problem with your type. I think people should be able to have whatever bodies they want. But please don't do it in public, okay? The kids might get ideas."

Rakkel was sure they'd get ideas. When Rakkel was young, xe'd gotten lots of ideas from all the other body modders walking around. Xe'd taken notes in a journal about the different kinds of body xe could have, carefully considering the pros and cons of each. A lot of it was informed by observation: Xe'd spent a year, for instance, absolutely certain that xe'd wanted a big colorful frill down xir back until xe met someone with that exact modification and learned that it would become impossible to lie down in the grass with it. Xe liked lying down in the grass and staring up at the sky more than xe liked the thought of having a colorful frill.

Ultimately, xe'd thrown it all out and become a lemur, like xir parents. But at least xe felt confident that it'd been a well-considered decision.

"I was just explaining," xe said, "that I'm not a bear."

"Panda bear," insisted the child.

"Shh," said the mother, "no, dear. This lady is a human. She's just... she's just wearing a funny suit, is all." She glared at Rakkel in a worried sort of way, both daring xir to correct her and pleading that xe wouldn't.

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"I'm not a 'lady,'" said Rakkel.

"It's not a suit!" protested the child. "I felt it! It felt like Maddy!" Maddy, Rakkel supposed, was some sort of pet.

Some of the worry went out of the mother's glare.

Rakkel knew better than to try to explain that it wasn't xir idea for the child to touch xir fur. Instead, xe hurried away without another word.

The mother didn't quite conceal her relief.

At the end of the avenue, Rakkel turned west toward the river, not wanting to stay in the residential area any longer. But as xe left the apartments behind, xe decided not to go all the way back to the water. Xe'd walked up and down the riverfront street a few times now, and xe wanted to see something new.

That's why xe found it.

"It" was a bookshop. Not one of the teetering, makeshift constructions of the market, but a proper bookshop, albeit a small one. It huddled in between two larger buildings which were joined by a balcony across their second floors, like a pair of folk dancers holding their arms in an arch for the smaller building to promenade beneath.

A book in the corner of the front window caught xir eye. It was one of those big, floppy, glossy-covered nonfiction books that has a big photograph of something exciting on the front to make up for the matter-of-fact title. In this case, the title was "Forash Rebellion: An Aftermath" and the photo - Rakkel came right up to the glass and pressed xir face against it to be sure, but though sunlight had bleached it over time, xe could recognize it without a doubt - was the ruined skyscraper from the walled-off island, silhouetted against a setting sun just as Rakkel had seen it.

Xe looked up at the sign hanging in front of the bookshop's door. It read "Deep Reading Bookshop" in extremely plain letters. Xe saw a symbol in one corner of the otherwise unadorned sign that looked familiar. Xe'd noticed it around the city in a few places without really thinking about it: A sort of stylized wireframe box with a knot of curvy lines in the middle.

Obviously, it indicates membership in some sort of secret society, xe thought. A Fraternal Order of Booksellers, Hostelers, and Other Assorted Professions. Oh, and Late Night Eateries - it'd been on Doople's sign as well.

Actually, come to think of it, Doople's shop wasn't even the first place xe'd seen it. The first place xe'd seen it had been Welton's duffel. Xe hadn't taken a good look at Doople's shop sign until later. So it was a Fraternal Order of Booksellers, Hostelers, Late Night Eateries, Welton, and Other Assorted... no, xe had to admit to xirself, something about this didn't quite hang together conceptually.

Shrugging, xe went back to the window and peered through it again. There hadn't been any prices listed on the sign over the door, which was where Rakkel's limited experience suggested they might be. Xe supposed they could also be on display somewhere inside the shop, but the glare from the sunlight made it hard to see anything. Xe cupped xir hands around xir eyes and pressed xir face closer to the glass.

The front door of the shop opened, making a sonorous electronic chiming noise.

Rakkel yelped, jumped up and whirled around to face the door.

"Hello?" The woman who stood there wore a kimono covered in embroidered images of fish. She had cherry-flavored hair, and large, plump cheeks surrounding a round mouth. The circular frames of her eyeglasses made her look even more surprised than she was.

"Hello," said Rakkel, warily.

"Can I help you?" said the woman.

"I'm interested in this book," xe said. Xe pointed through the glass.

"Certainly," she said, "but I'd appreciate if you didn't leave marks on my window. You're welcome to come inside, you know."

Rakkel opened xir mouth to protest that xe wasn't leaving marks, then noticed the perfect little nose print on the glass.

"Oh," xe said. "Sorry. Um, I can clean it off for you." Xe dug into xir messenger bag for xir handkerchief, then remembered xe'd lent it to Welton.

"It's okay," said the woman. "I'll get it later." She went inside. Rakkel followed.

"That one's been sitting in the window for a long time now," she said, walking over to the inside of the display. "I always thought the dramatic image on the cover would attract attention. I'm not sure it ever did, though."

"Woah," said Rakkel.

The woman looked up at xir. "Oh," she said, smiling. "You've noticed the aquariums."

Most of the space inside the shop was taken up by bookshelves, but what wasn't was taken up by aquariums. They covered every exposed inch of wall and the tops of all the shelves, and even in some cases even served as bookends for the books. Brilliant fish lit by shifting lights filled every one.

"They're incredible," said Rakkel.

"Thank you," said the woman. "One of my two hobbies. I'm sure you can guess the other one, as well." When she wasn't staring in surprise, her whole face cooperated to support her tiny, beaming smile. The cheeks curved up around it in a joyful caress.

Rakkel went to the nearest tank to get a better look. In this particular tank, all the fish were orange. Aside from the color, however, no two were alike. Xe saw big fish, small fish, long fish, wide fish, round fish, flat fish...

"Are these modded?" xe asked.

"Most of them, yes. I collect modded fish. I don't mod them myself - I think there's something cruel about that. Even if they're typically modded in the egg, so they never know another life. But other people mod them all the time, in batches, and then find out once the eggs have hatched that they've gotten something subtly wrong, or simply change their mind about wanting the fish in the first place."

"So you take them," said Rakkel.

"Usually, they're killed," said the woman. "There are strict rules about throwing them into natural water sources. Not that that stops everyone, but it's not hard to trace them back to the source, since the genes are automatically tagged. Occasionally, though, I find out that someone has some modded fish they don't want in time to intervene. I have enough contacts in the right circles by now that people know to clue me in."

"That's good of you," said Rakkel.

The woman handed xir the book. "It's selfish, really," she said. "I like to think I'm doing a good deed, but I suspect it only encourages people to make more. They know they can foist them off on me if things go wrong."

"It matters to these fish, though," xe pointed out.

"That's true!" She laughed. "Something I try not to forget."

Rakkel pointed at the book's cover. "What's this about?" xe asked. "Rebellion? What could this city possibly need to rebel against?"

"Read it and find out. It's one and a half credits, but if you don't want to buy it, I have some reading chairs back there." She pointed farther into the maze of shelves. "Over next to the shark tank."

"Shark tank?"

"Believe it or not, yes." Her eyes sparkled. "It takes work to maintain, let me tell you."

"I bet," said Rakkel.

Xe knew xe could easily afford the one and a half credits, and xe still needed to find a place to spend the night. But something in the woman's face, somewhere behind the enormous tiny smile, suggested that she wanted xir to stay. And xe certainly couldn't leave without looking at the sharks.

"I'm going to be honest," said the woman, following Rakkel as xe began walking back towards the reading chairs, "I've met any number of bio modded fish, but never a bio modded person. It's a lemur mod, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Rakkel. "I'm a lemur. You know, I think you're the first person I've met in this city who's gotten it right?"

"Really? What else could you even be? There aren't a lot of animals that look quite like lemurs."

"Apparently, there are," said Rakkel.

"Raccoons, maybe."

"Yeah, I get that one a lot." Xe shrugged. "It doesn't bother me all that much, really."

"Doesn't it?"

Xe didn't say anything to that. And then xe went around the corner and saw the sharks.

The shark tank, compared to the other tanks in the shop, was huge. It rose from floor to ceiling, and appeared to extend some distance above and below them as well. It measured a good eight to ten meters in diameter. Inside, sharks and rays swam in stately circles around a towering column of rough, coral-covered stone.

But what sharks and rays! None were the gray color xe expected. Instead, they rippled with rainbow shades in stripes along their sides, or flashed with neon greens and bright, violent purples, or sported plaid fins welded to an argyle body. One large, square-finned skate was covered in rows of fine calligraphy across its otherwise pale white scales.

As xe watched, a sleepy-looking cuttlefish drifted out from behind a rock, stared at xir for a few moments, then pushed itself back into hiding with a tentacle. The cuttlefish, alone among the sharks and rays, looked like a normal cuttlefish. Which was to say, more bizarre than the rest of the creatures in the tank combined.

"This is fantastic," said Rakkel.

"Put your ear up to the glass," said the woman.

"I'll smudge it."

"It's fine. I do it myself all the time."

Rakkel put xir big, fluffy ear against the glass. At first, the hum and whirr of the aquarium's filters almost drowned it out, but then xir ear began to register something else. Once xe knew what xe was listening for, it became easier and easier to pick it out: A deep, bassy chime, which pulsed several times and then extended into a strange, echoing music.

"It's that one," said the woman, pointing at one of the larger sharks, swimming near the bottom of the tank. Its scales shone with a pale, crystalline sheen, and its fins were semitransparent. "Only one of his kind," she said. "They couldn't get most of them to survive long past hatching."

"It's beautiful," xe said.

"Isn't it?"

"Is there a story behind the cuttlefish?"

"Oh, that's just Edward," she said. "He helps keep them in line." Her eyes sparkled.

"You really shouldn't have put the reading chairs here," said Rakkel. "I don't see how anyone could possibly get any reading done with this nearby to distract them. I could stare for hours."

"Ah, but see, that's the trick," said the woman. "Anyone who's too distracted to read will have to buy the book and take it home with them."

Despite this, Rakkel sat down in the nearest armchair with the book.

"Let me know if you need anything," said the woman as she moved back toward the front of the store.

"One thing," said Rakkel.

"Yes?"

"What's your name?"

"Larilyn," she said. "You can call me Larry for short."

"I'm Rakkel," said Rakkel.

"Pleased to meet you, Rakkel."

"My pronouns are xe/xir," xe added, realizing that xe probably needed to start telling people that up front if xe wanted them to get it right, like how Essabrou had pointed out that they were a porpoise instead of a dolphin.

"Sure," said Larry, "I'll remember that. Mine are she/her."

Xe felt a little awkward bringing it up. Back home, pronouns weren't generally a problem, and xe wasn't used to making a big deal about them. But Larry had taken it in perfect stride.

"Thanks," xe said.

Xe opened the book, tore xir wandering gaze back from the shark tank, and began reading.