“Don’t!” Sam yells at Little Jalese. She and her brother have discovered the statue at one end of the atrium pool “You’ll break something!”

“I wouldn’t worry,” Hajarean says. “This place is pretty kid-hardened by now.”

“It’s amazing,” I say. “The place, I mean.” I’ve hardly brought my gaze down to eye-level since we arrived, this time through the main entrance into the residential area. By any other name, this is a mansion. Water flows, and the leaves of overhanging branches stir in the breeze and dapple the light coming down into the atrium. We’re not inside nor entirely outside, but a place that combines the two.

And there is a woman, rising from where she had been reading on a chaise-longue in the shade and coming to us. She’s middle-aged, but slim and elegant and beautiful, with her dark hair pinned up and her long dress making a slight swish against the cool flagstones. Her feet, I notice briefly, are bare.

“And may I introduce my wife—” Hajarean begins, but Sam steps in.

“Lady Hanima,” Sam says, and bows, takes the lady’s hand and kisses it, the old-fashioned way. Only I’m not sure the gesture has any meaning here in Jeodin. I just stare. It’s the first time I’ve seen a human carry the grace I’ve come to associate only with the Satthei. Perhaps it doesn’t take so much time after all.

“Welcome to my house, friends of Simon,” Hanima replies warmly. It takes a moment before I realise she had spoken in English. Heavily accented with Jeodine, but English.

I can tell Sam’s also noticed it, because she’s frozen, still holding Hanima’s hand. “Your husband taught you to speak English?” she asks.

Hanima nods. “This is the first time I to speak it with another person,” she says. “It’s true,” she continues in Jeodine. “Oh, it’s all true.” She smiles, almost laughs in fact, with suppressed excitement. She’s radiant.

“Hajarean told you about… the other world?” Sam asks. Hanima nods. “Well then, yes, my lady. It is all true,” Sam says, releasing her hand at last. “Unless he lied about stuff,” she can’t resist adding. “Did he tell you he was the supreme ruler of that world? Because if he did, that’s a lie.”

Hanima laughs gracefully. “He tells me it is a place of many wonders and achievements.”

“No more than this is, my lady. Your house would be admired for its beauty and grace, and so would you.”

Hanima smiles. Radiant, again. “I have been warned about you, Samila,” she says, with a little mock-sternness. She softens it with another smile. “And you too, I understand, remember that other place.” she says, turning to me. I’ve been standing slightly aside with Asuti, who’s decided to stay by my side rather than join in with the exploring.

“Yes, my lady.”

“Please, both of you, you are my husband’s friends, therefore you are mine. Please call me Hanima, or just Hani. And who are you, my dear?” she asks Asuti.

“My name’s Asuti, my lady,” Asuti says.

“Well, you’re all very welcome,” she says. “Let us show you the rooms that have been made ready for you, then you can be settled in before lunch.”

“Thank you my l— Hanima,” I say.