"You might even be more well-rounded and cosmopolitan than your mother and I are." Idriss scratched his square-cut beard. "We are so very proud of you. We're convinced you will be a worthy successor, so it's time you got started. Plenty to do."

"Oh, he'll surpass us." Alexa rested a hand on her husband's wrist. "The people will accept the change in no time."

Reynald bowed. "You both leave me with a grand legacy, but... why did you reach this decision so suddenly?"

"We just felt it was time," Idriss said, sounding regal.

Alexa smiled, obviously excited. "Besides, next month Sarein is coming from Earth on a diplomatic mission, and we have no way of knowing when she'll be able to visit home again. What better time could there be to hold your coronation?"

Reynald had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "That'syour reason for stepping down?" It seemed so like his parents' way of making decisions.

"Yes, and it's too bad Beneto couldn't be here as well," Idriss said.

He already knew what the next several weeks would be like. There would be a month to prepare and rehearse. People would come from settlements all around Theroc. His parents would enjoy the experience more than anyone else.

"Well, if that is the case," Reynald said with a sigh, "then we'd better not let my sister down."

Father Uthair and Mother Lia had ruled Theroc for three decades before passing leadership to their daughter, Alexa, and her husband. The old couple had been retired for thirty-one years and had never shown the slightest regret about it.

Reynald had always been fond of his grandparents, able to talk with them about leadership, the Ildirans, the Terran Hanseatic League. Much as he respected his own parents, Reynald felt that Uthair and Lia had a broader, more politically savvy perspective.

He sat in the warm glow of a phosphor fire in his grandparents' quarters in a high section of the main fungus-reef city. They had invited Reynald and Estarra to dinner. Though they pretended it would be a relaxed social evening, he knew Uthair and Lia wanted to "talk about things," now that his imminent succession had been announced.

Uthair and Lia loved to sit on their frilly balcony and stare out at the worldtree labyrinth, watching flying insects and colorful flowers. The old couple could talk with each other for hours, still interested in each other, though they had been married for well over half a century.

Estarra busied herself setting out dishes to serve a chowder of mushrooms and herbs, supplemented by skewers of spiced condorfly meat. "You make the best soup, Grandma," she said, sneaking a taste.

"It is my responsibility to teach you how to make it." Lia gave a mock frown. "And you're certainly old enough, Estarra. Eighteen! You're an adult... though your parents still pamper you like a little girl."

Uthair smiled. "You treated Alexa that way until she was twenty-eight, dear."

"It's a mother's prerogative."