“Very few high-caste blueskin men have chosen to follow a career, as I have. And you’re quite correct—if a blueskin man does not marry, he becomes a burden to his family. In the noble families, of course, it’s easy to support half a dozen extraneous mouths. In the mid-caste families, so I understand, there’s some tension when a man won’t marry as he’s bid. But more and more men are taking their educations seriously, so that they can choose to go to the city and work if they elect not to marry—so they aren’t dependent on their families. I have to admit, the first time I heard a blueskin man tell me he was never going to return in-country, I was shocked. It had not crossed my mind that my sojourn in the city was anything more than—than an interval, a small recess in the planned course of my life. But the longer I am there, and the more I grow to love my job, the more I begin to think—why not? Why not stay here the rest of my life? I am productive and happy. Why should I have to give this up?”

“And why should you?”

He shrugged. “Because I am too deeply steeped in tradition to withstand the uproar that would create. Because I respect my mother and I do not want to hurt her. Because I love my fiancée.”

“Interesting,” Kit said dryly, “that you put the most important reason last.”

Hot color flooded his cheeks; he looked away. “So I will live as my father lived,” he continued, ignoring her interjection, “but perhaps my son will not. And if change can come to the indigo traditions, why can’t it come to the gulden ones?”

“It is coming. I told you it was. The very fact that the Lost City exists is a sign of change. Fifty years ago, no guldwoman would have made it to the city. Simply no one would have aided her. And if she did make it that far, there would have been no one in the city to help her. And even if someone had helped her, her father or her brother or her prospective husband would have tracked her down. She would not have been able to live. And now … The Lost City isn’t much, but it’s a start. The children raised there will not be subject to the strict rules and rituals that have governed their ancestors. Like you, they will say, why not? And they will learn skills, and take jobs, and marry city girls who will not permit themselves to be dominated … But all that takes so much time. Generations, usually. And it is amazing the change has even been allowed to begin.”

“Then why was it?”