“What do you do, though?” she asked.
“I read through periodicals and journals and give my opinions on events that might have an effect on military operations.”
“The building of empires? Is that why you read father’s book?”
“It was an assignment. Twenty-three empires and a new one being born as we speak.”
“There are always empires being born, but not many of them actually come to maturity.”
“You know your father’s works?”
“Intimately, I’m afraid. I’m the victim that has to listen to his ideas before he publishes them. My mother used to do it, but she’s gone.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. It was a few years ago.”
“What is Narukun like?” Quint asked, desperate to change the subject.
Calee shrugged. “I can call it beautiful, but everyone calls their home that. The university where father teaches is nestled in a little valley that it shares with a village full of craftsmen of all types.”
“My father is a craftsman. He makes wagon and carriage wheels.”
“A wheelwright?”
Quint nodded. “He makes the best in our district.”
“What comprises a Racellian district?”
“A few villages and a town. We can’t go outside our district without permission, and for hubites, that means you can’t go outside your district. The town intersects with two other districts, so my father has a larger market for his wheels.”
“But he is suppressed by the government?”
Quint looked around to see if anyone could hear. “You might say that, but the system makes things orderly.”
“We will have to talk about that system with my father, sometime. He has a different vision for working people, let us say.”
“I got glimpses of his attitude in his writings on empire, but he hid his biases well,” Quint said.
“On purpose,” Calee said. “What do you do for recreation?”
Quint shrugged.
“Diversions. Plays, restaurants, readings, walks, those kinds of things,” Calee said.
“I learn magic strings,” Quint frowned. He didn’t want to tell her he had no one to spend time with. “Sometimes I sit out in the sun and absorb its energy.”
“In other words, you don’t have a life.”
“Under your terms, no,” Quint said.
She grinned. “If you will be our escort, then you’ll have to live a little different while we are here.”
“What specifically did you do in your university town?”
“The university put on plays, but,” she shrugged. “We don’t have to attend any plays. Father likes them better than I do. We did attend music and poetry events.”
“There isn’t much interest in that in the wizard corps and I don’t socialize with Colonel Gerocie’s staff,” Quint said.
“We can walk around the international quarter. Perhaps I can find out what other people do,” Calee said.
“Isn’t that what the escort is supposed to do?”
She laughed. “I doubt if you can do a good enough job.”
“Maybe not,” Quint admitted.
Chapter Twenty-Fiv
e
“How did the reception go last night?” Colonel Gerocie said on one of her occasional visits to his office. She looked around the redecorated office. “This is much better, by the way.”
“My landlady helped with the concept. Not that there is much of a concept.”
