The water had stained the whites of Teo’s eyes a gemstone green; it wept out as she blinked. “Go on.”

“When you came to me, you said you wanted to invest in an idol. But you were worried about ethics.”

“Is ‘ethics’ the right way to put it? I don’t like gods. Neither do our investors. I don’t mean it personally. I like things I can see and touch. Good strong deals. Clear terms of engagement. Accountability and limited liability.” A white grid ran down the front panel of her swimsuit, and as she breathed its geometry shifted from hyperbolic to planar to parabolic.

Kai swung a chair away from an empty table and sat, so she looked up at the Quechal woman rather than down. “I’m sorry for how I acted when we first met. And later.”

“Hey, no problem.” Teo planted one leg on the seat of a nearby chair and toweled off. “I wasn’t nice, either.”

The pool attendant returned with a drink menu. Kai waved him away, and he retreated with an expression of your-loss regret she recognized from the faces of a hundred high-touch salesmen. “Most of my work has been behind the altar, which gives me a different perspective on rules and regulations than most salespeople.”

Teo’s laugh was fuller and rounder than Kai expected. “I know how that feels.”

“I think I can get you into the pool.”

“Really.” Teo threw the towel on the table, reclined in a lounge chair, and laced her fingers behind her head so her elbows stood out like the peaks of wings. Wet trails ran from the corners of her closed eyes; drying, the pool water left green sparks on the skin. Bones clattered as the skeleton turned over to sun its back. “I thought that was impossible.”

“Well. My boss needs to approve it. But with help from you, I think I can sway him.”

Her nod wasn’t visible so much as audible: the back of her head knocking chair slats. “What sort of help?”

“Listen to a story?”

“Go ahead.”

“Say I had a client who wanted to deposit a lot of soulstuff with us. Say that client had concerns about our methods. It happens sometimes. You might want a fertility idol who was never more than ten percent exposed to any particular grain future.”

“I do so enjoy grains.”

“In situations like that, sometimes we sign a conditional agreement. You commit the funds to us pending proof we can build an idol that meets your needs. No transfer takes place. If you don’t see what you like, none ever will. But your commitment lets me convince my bosses to get us inside the mountain. Once we’re there, I can show you what you need.”

“Why didn’t you mention this to me before?”