So for the next few days, they had what quickly began to seem like a camp out at Pakt’s house. The guldman lived in an eight-bedroom house with his wife, three sons, and daughter. Even with three guests in the house, there was enough space for everyone who wished to have his own room. Nonetheless, the house was a bit crowded, though no one in Pakt’s family seemed to mind, especially the boys. They were boisterous, friendly, and curious, and they appeared to welcome the upheaval the visitors brought to their household.

“Do you work with our father? Is he the smartest man ever?”

“What’s that you’re wearing? Is that a necklace? Men don’t wear necklaces in Geldricht.”

“I’m ten years old, and I can beat up all the boys in my class.”

“Why is your hair that color? Is it that color everywhere?”

“Do you know how to save people’s lives like my dad does? I’m going to be a bilololigist just like him when I grow up. Bio—bilo—bililo—”

“Biologist,” Nolan said absently. He was trying to make neat folded piles of his clothes so he could find what he wanted quickly in this unfamiliar environment. Hiram, who had already unpacked in his room, was lounging in a chair nearby and listening. Sochin had merely dumped his clothes in his room and gone out searching for Pakt.

“Why is your skin that color? Is it that color everywhere?”

They were brawnier and more energetic than the indigo boys Nolan encountered when he returned home to visit relatives, so it was hard for him to gauge their ages. The ten-year-old, for instance, he would have pegged as twelve or thirteen by his size alone, though his conversation did not indicate such an age. He gave up trying to guess about the others.

“Yes, I’m blue everywhere,” he answered. “Just like you’re gold everywhere.”

“Can I see?”

“No, you can’t see, and that’s a rude question to ask,” Nolan answered tranquilly. Hiram, for some reason unmolested on the other side of the room, choked back a laugh.

“My father says it’s important to ask questions or you’ll never know the answers.”

“Well, and your father is right, but some questions are asked only with great delicacy of people you know well, and neither of those conditions has been met in this instance.”

It was said with his best high-caste hauteur, and it made the boys shout with laughter. Nolan could not help smiling. “Now, maybe you’d like to show us where your father is just now. I think I’m done here.”