He met the two men at the access way. “We’ll talk in the Liaison’s Office so that Meg can see the plans too.” He smiled, showing longer-than-human canines as a friendly reminder that trying to poach Meg wouldn’t be tolerated. Not that he thought either Intuit would, but it never hurt to reestablish territory.

Not that Meg was his territory, but he did have a responsibility to the whole Courtyard, and Meg was a vital connection to the nonedible human element that was now underfoot every time he turned around.

Simon led them through the back room and into the sorting room.

“Hi, Steve. Hi, Jerry,” Meg said, giving Simon a puzzled look.

“Morning, Meg,” Steve said. “Can I use the table?”

Meg moved a couple of stacks of catalogs. Steve unrolled the plans for the cassandra sangue campus on Great Island.

“We have thirty acres to work with, but we’re thinking to put most of the buildings together,” Steve said. “That will make it easier to run the water and sewer lines, as well as the electricity. And we wanted to keep plenty of grass and trees for the girls as well as the wildlife that’s already there. Eventually, we’ll build for a hundred residents. Older girls and adults will have studio apartments and some common areas for socializing. The younger girls will have rooms and common areas in their building. Pam Ireland, who’s working with the girls now and will be the administrator of the campus once it’s built, will have her own residence on the grounds. We’ll have a stable with a handful of horses—a couple of them to pull carts and the rest for riding. The Liveryman family is donating the horses and training them. They’ll also have someone looking after the horses as part of their contribution to the campus. Since the idea is for the girls to learn to do things and be independent, there will also be a small farm with a dairy cow or two, and some chickens. We thought about pigs, but figured cows, chickens, and horses will be enough for girls between the ages of eight and eleven to take in. Plus, we’ll have a kitchen garden, but that will probably happen next year. Our first priority is the living quarters.” He looked at Meg. “What do you think?”

Meg studied the plans. “You should have a place to swim.”

Steve winced. Simon didn’t think Meg noticed.

“We have a swimming pool at our community center,” Steve said, giving Simon a “help me” look. “We didn’t put a pool into the budget for building this place.”

“Not an official kind of swimming pool.” Meg looked at Simon. “Something like the one in the Crowgard part of the Courtyard.”