Liz brought a bunch of library folks with her to the ship! I met some of ‘em in Rainbow. They went to Ye~ first, but because of her, a trader took Ye~ Earthan Colony to Rainbow instead of to slavery.

Kawar’s brother let out a string of expletives. Liz shuddered. He saw. “What?”

“Zheien don’t do that. They’re always polite.”

“I wasn’t bein’ impolite. That was Black English!”

“O, Lady Liz!” A diplomat bowed.

Kawar pulled him aside. “Lamont, we don’t want to cause an interplanetary incident--”

“You an’ Oreo, and I don’ wanna change who I am!”

Goes came running. “Friends, we nae wish to change anyone! I am Goes, First Prince Of MarKu. Speak as you wish to speak. All of Earth are welcome in our embassy.” He bowed to Lamont. Kawar often tried to get Lamont to come to our get-togethers, but he—now I understood some things Kawar said about his bro.

“Dese Earthan colonies, are dey jus’ fo’ Whitey, or will we have—you know, protection against discrimination?”

“My friend, I will nae tolerate any hate against any group. Did you see our progs? Nae can do violence or speak harms against another. They run here. You see that they nae stopped your speech, because you nae meant harm.”

“You mean a computer program can tell whether I’m bein’ rude?” He let out a few more choice words.

“Eae. Call me Goe and be my friend. I would like to hear what would please you and other Black people, in a city in our Earthan Colony. You may live where you wish, have whatever kind of house pleases, and my people will trade for foods of all kinds, including ‘soul food’.” He smiled.

“You’d bring soul food for us?” He laughed. “I like you, Goe! You de man!” They did a high five, just as hard a slap as Kawar and him!

Liz gasped and grabbed Goes’ hand. I grimaced!

Goe laughed. “Sa, a diplomat can prepare--”

“Quit hiding! All these Earthans have to learn. What if they thought it was okay to high-five a child, or an artisan?” Liz frowned at him. Good for her!

The cheerful smile dropped. She held a twin-fingered hand twice the size of the other one! Quickly, she hummed, and his shoulders went down.

Goe looked at Lamont. “O, I am sorry--”

Lamont held his hand. “Bro, I didn’t know I wuz gon’ hurt ya! Liz, how gentle I be?”

Goe wouldn’t let him apologize.

Doe came out of their room. “O, you brought friends to us!” Liz introduced him to everyone. They had lots of questions about the Earthan Colonies.

Doe’s brothers Pag and Her smiled, too. Pag had Sapph with him. He met her on Gowa and she started a revolt. I learned about that from a diplomat I healed. Kieta exiled her and Pag and we never saw them again!

She gasped.

Liz grabbed her hand. “It’s okay! Kieta’s not here!”

“And she won’t be!” I took her other hand. “Kieta did a lot of things I didn’t agree with! Wslarc—they’ll clone him—he’ll be Alb Seer’s Councillor. Azure’s Earth’s. Ray will be Elshar Zheiea’s. Suma will be Ye~’s.” How do I know these things?

Suma gasped. Liz stared. “But what about Wally?” By her was a white walrus. Wearing a fancy DS blue vest under a jacket with tails and top hat!

He tipped it. “Ma’am, I am only here as an observer. Suma is the Yeff Councillor. Wslarc is speaking with the 2nd Level, because the 3rd is—so disorganized! The 4th and 5th destroyed themselves, but I fear the 3rd will, too! A clone of Wslarc for Alb Seer, to oversee the Alb Council, this is a stroke of pure genius! Molly, you have good ideas for us.”

Liz bowed low with me. “I did not know I gave the Imwa any ideas.” Waved Liz a copy of the clear ankle brace on my right ankle. Taught her how to send healing into her ankle as she bowed and learned the technique. Maybe I shouldn’t say anything!

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“You saw Suma’s memory of seeing me and thought I looked like a walrus. It is easy to change to a—friendlier appearance, isn’t it?” He tipped his hat again.

Suma’s memories of Ni getting attacked by the Imwa terrified me! They weren’t symmetrical, but to me, they did look like walruses.

“Actually, we are related to jarfuses, that your Mike was reluctant to hunt. How odd, that of all the civilized races of Thorde, that he is a member of the most savage! Yet, he broke with tradition to become a healer. What a skilled healer. His people wanted him to stay in Maira and waste all of that potential! And, my cousins, the jarfuses, noticed.”

A wave of his flipper, and Mike, a Thordes healer who taught us all, appeared in the middle of the ship. He paled. Jumped back next to me, when he saw Wally.

“Oh, I am not here to judge you, Mike.”

“You can talk? Why am I here? I was healing—”

“I know who you were healing. I healed him for you. I am Wally, and I am an Imwa. But here is someone for you to heal. Remember when you were eleven, and your uncle and your father took you and some of your friends to hunt?”

We all saw Mike, who was larger than most of the boys. They were prancing around with their spears, bragging about their kills. One poked Mike’s white fur. “You didn’t even kill that. Your uncle did.”

The man with him shoved the boy. “He did kill it. I was with him.”

“You are a healer. What do you know of hunting?”

“You get hungry. Even healers must hunt, so we can eat. I took Mike with me for two seasons and he always works hard. Tell him, Mike.”

But Mike looked at his feet. Another man pushed Mike’s father. “Oh, you are too polite. What are you, diplomats? Mike, lift your head and tell him about your hunt.”

“Uncle, I respect you, but I also respect life. I enjoy healing more than killing.”

Everyone gasped, then they laughed at both Mike and his father.

Mairans have really hard lives. I had to talk to several who bullied people.

And we heard what Mike thought. Because of helping his father heal people, he knew less painful ways of killing animals. He was proud of knowing that he could give less suffering than these boys who enjoyed taunting, and giving pain, even to other boys. He would never be like that, even to please Uncle.

Liz frowned at Wally. Why’s he doing this? Suma shook her head at her. She knows ‘em better than we do.

Wally waved a flipper, and a much larger beast laid frozen on the floor. This one was like a white walrus, but maybe three times Wally’s size. Yellow light shone around him and his body relaxed with a groan. “Speak, Brother, and tell us how it feels to be hunted.”

Mike gasped and put his hands in the white fur. “Don’t move, my son.” Mike had lavender skin in Rainbow. He barely had any purple. Sweated.

The jarfus grunted like a laugh. Its round purple eyes, much larger than Mike’s lavender eyes, looked at him. “Oh, I felt how you dreaded to kill me. Your uncle enjoys hunting us. I respected you enough to volunteer for you.”

“You—chose to be the one I would kill that day?”

“Usually, we sent ones who would die soon anyway, but had what your people consider pretty fur. I am pretty, yes, but I am our leader. After you struck, you refused to strip my skin from me. Your father did not argue with you and your uncle was livid! Inside, I laughed. You risked being put out to die from your tribe, because you would not follow tradition. It was worth this pain. Now I will heal myself.” Yellow light flowed around him, then he got up.

Mike hugged him and wept. He folded his flippers around Mike and tears dripped from his eyes, too. Shocked, Mike wiped a tear. “You cry?”

“Oh, yes, we are much like you. We have sorrows. But we observed you. Why, when most Thordes are pleasant and civil, are your people still savages? Why do you base your economy on furs and meat? Other jeia do not.”

“We cannot grow food with tech as other jeia in cold climates—”

“Your grandfathers could have signed that treaty with Conebara. Instead, they made farms in Maira and wasted all of that seed! Mairans are not farmers!”

“They made farms in Maira?” Mike laughed. “How can any plant grow in frozen ground? Father grows herbs in containments!”

“Mairans did not have trade for containments, not for crops, but they saw how certain plants go dormant until there is a warm season. Unfortunately, they believed that they would do this without a containment, without a plan. They merely warmed soil and planted. There was not enough light or heat. Your leaders decided to trade us. We did not want you to die, so we chose more to sacrifice for you.

“In Rainbow, healers woke your father. They brought some of us to Rainbow and Molly would not allow hunting.” He bowed to me, and I returned it. “Then, we broke our long silence and Mairans became happier.”

“Goes convinced Tanhbee to talk to Conebara. Jeia are willing to trade us food for riding animals! We can’t do that now!”

The jarfus laughed. “You certainly can! We live as observers. Even now, my council is working that out. We resurrected our dead ones. Your jeia will have riding animals to trade, and others will not know the difference.”

Mike got upset!

Wally hugged him. “But we already see that Eriganh’s plan for hate is a bad one. I like Adia’s plan of love. It is more powerful, in a Cube.”

He waved, and hundreds of shocked Thordes appeared on the ship! They all watched Wally!