“Chay’s doing, mostly. He traveled a great deal when he was a young man, visiting some of the foreign ports where his father had established business contacts. He saw societies so grand he could scarcely describe them. He had never had much respect for the indigo, you know—none of the gulden do—but in the foreign cities he encountered women of great elegance and power who seemed to awe him greatly. And I think he began asking himself some of the questions you are asking. ‘Why is my society this way? Who is benefiting and who is hurting?’ But he has to proceed very slowly, of course. Chay is ruler only so long as those he rules respect him.”

“I don’t understand you,” Nolan said. “Sometimes you seem to embrace this savage gulden lifestyle. Other times you seem to hate it. Which is it? How do you feel?”

Kit put her hands in the air and twisted her palms indecisively back and forth. “I love it, and I hate it. I love the structure, the symmetry, the definition. Everyone knows his role and does his best to fulfill it with grace and honor. When it works, it’s beautiful. When you have a kind patriarch, a loving mother, children who strive to do well and please their parents and learn all the skills they need—then it is a peaceful and harmonious place. I love to walk into a house and know where the women will sit, what the children will be wearing, what the ritual greeting will be. I know I will be treated according to my station—which, since my father was a great friend of Chay’s, is high. I know what is expected of me. There is great comfort in that.”

She paused, took a deep breath, seemed to consider, and exhaled slowly. “But. So often the machine does not work quite so smoothly. A husband is abusive or merely stupid. A daughter rebels against her chosen husband and is dismissed onto the streets. A man dies, and his children cease to exist. These things appall me. As you say, if we could give them options, they could find a different way to function within the society. But the gulden have never been keen on options before this.”

“I still don’t understand you,” Nolan said. “I don’t know how you can have such patience with the gulden lifestyle and show such scorn for the indigo—which certainly is no worse!”