“When people are talking about how they feel, precision isn’t always what you want. You asked me why I was still asleep, and the answer is because I felt I had a long day. It doesn’t matter how many hours it was; what matters is how it felt, and so why I was still sleepy.”

“Why did it feel long?” she asked.

“Well I had lots of meetings, and lots of fishing. It’s the time of year when fishing is the best, and that means it’s more work. It’s good really.”

“Sosothis says that people should only do one job, the job for which they’re best suited. He says that’s what Plato says, and that doing two jobs is un-Platonic.” She looked unhappy. I’d heard this often enough from other people already.

“Working on the boat with Jason and Hilfa is my recreation,” I said.

“But maybe you wouldn’t be so tired if you didn’t do it?”

“I wouldn’t, but I wouldn’t have so much fun either. And we might not have as much fish, and fish is good. So I’m going to carry on doing it whatever Sosothis says, or anyone else either. People complained about it when I was running for consul, but they elected me anyway, so there we are.” I could still hardly believe I was consul, consul in my year, at thirty-five, elected to planetary office at the youngest possible age.

“Let’s wash together!” Alkippe said, bouncing. She grinned at me, and I saw that she had lost a front tooth.

“Yes, that will be fun.” She usually washed with Thetis. I rolled her around so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed. “You used to be small enough that I could swing you up off my stomach. Now you’re getting almost too heavy for me to roll.”

“Was I really small? Was I as small as a walnut?”

“When you were as small as a walnut you were inside my belly. When you first came out you were the size of both of Granddad’s hands put together. But you keep on growing and growing.” I smiled at her.

“I’m seven and a half. Next I’ll be seven and three-quarters, then eight, then eight and a quarter, then eight and a half, then—”

I stood and stretched as Alkippe demonstrated her grasp of counting by fractions, which was her favorite game this month. I prayed to Zeus, father of gods and men, that she would reach all those ages, and beyond them, ninety-nine and a half, ninety-nine and three-quarters … Her empty bed was a crumpled mess. Thetis’s bed against the far wall was neatly made. I couldn’t hear Ma and Dad moving around on the other side of the partition either. “We must be really late. Come on, quick!”