“Everyone who was a citizen at the time of the Last Debate remained a citizen of the Remnant if they wanted to be. Lots of people left and came back. Admittedly, it hasn’t happened with an original citizen since immediately after the Relocation. I think my grandfather Nikias was one of the last. But it still holds.”

“But was I a citizen then? I was not a Master, for I never prayed to Athene to bring me here. The Children took oaths of citizenship and in token of that were given pins designed by Simmea, which I see you still use.” I withdrew my hand from Hilfa’s and touched the bee on my pin, and saw Jason and Thetis making the same automatic movement towards theirs. The pins were all identical, whatever metal they were cast in. I had forgotten they had been designed by my grandmother. Sokrates’s kiton was pinned with a plain iron pin. “I never took that oath, or went through any other form of citizenship. I regarded myself always as an Athenian citizen in exile.”

“And that’s why you called this house Thessaly,” I said. “I’ve always wondered about that.”

“Krito suggested I escape to Thessaly instead of drinking the hemlock,” he said, smiling. “If he’d suggested this plan, I’d have had even stronger arguments against. But I’m here now, and from what I’m hearing, things are much improved from when I was here before.”

“You’re Sokrates,” Thetis said, and indeed, that was enough. “Whether or not you’re a citizen in your own mind, or legally, nobody would dream of saying you couldn’t stay here. You’re Sokrates, and this is Plato’s Republic!”

“One of them,” Sokrates said.

“Do you want citizenship here now?” Jason asked.

“I’d have to examine the question, the implications and obligations, and also the details of your laws,” Sokrates said.

“You can take the course with Hilfa,” I said. “You’ll love it. You can argue as much as you like, and debate every single point.” Thetis and Jason were both smiling, probably remembering their classes. “You can both take oath together, if you decide you want to. But Thetis is right. Whether or not you take our citizenship oath, whether or not you’re part of a pod, everyone will want you to stay. Think how you were welcomed in Chamber this morning.”

“I wish you’d been on the course when I took it,” Thetis said.