Then of course Sokrates wanted to argue with Athene, and Ikaros wanted to come along, and Marsilia said she needed to make plans with Neleus for the debate the next day, and Thetis said she was tired. Only Hilfa agreed with me. But I was persistent, so Neleus agreed to put Alkippe to bed, and Ikaros agreed he could wait until tomorrow, and off the five of us went.

We walked through the gate and saw the starlight glimmering on the sea. The wind was coming up from the west, bringing clouds with it. The temperature was falling. There would be rain by morning.

We came down into the harbor, and turned onto Hilfa’s street. It was less than nineteen hours since I’d been there before, but everything had changed. He opened the door and we all went in. Hilfa and Marsilia fetched wine and mixed it. This time we all had matching winecups. We stayed standing, slightly awkwardly, until we all had wine. Then Hilfa and Sokrates took the chairs, and the sisters and I took the bed. They sat together on one end, and I perched on the other end.

“Well,” I said, and then started to giggle. It wasn’t the wine, it was how solemn everyone’s faces were as they turned them to me. Hilfa’s was always solemn, of course, but the others weren’t. “It seems to me there are a few things we need to talk about,” I said. “First, do we really want to form a pod, or were we only saying that to defend Hilfa?”

“I want to form a pod,” Hilfa said at once. His markings were clear, and he seemed confident, indeed, the most relaxed of all of us.

“I certainly won’t back out now,” Sokrates said.

“I won’t back out either,” I said. “I think this is exciting and fun.”

“I definitely don’t want to back out,” Marsilia said. “But I feel I rushed everybody into it. I should have thought faster about how to respond to Jathery.”

“I do feel rushed into it,” Thetis said. “But I’m getting used to the idea, and I think I like it. I want to know if it’s real or not.”

“That’s what I’m wondering too,” I said. I looked at the women, and saw two pairs of identical velvety brown eyes fixed on mine with completely different expressions. Thee looked worried and Marsilia looked as if she was remembering the bit of Plato that says you shouldn’t express your feelings.